WASHINGTON -- It would be wise for all involved, from fans to those on the field for the United States, to take a deep breath and remember that the 2019 Women's World Cup is still a long ways off.
Yet it is also inescapably true that, as the host, France will be part of that tournament.
That means that after Tuesday night at RFK Stadium and a shocking 3-0 loss for the United States against France in the SheBelieves Cup, the Americans have a measure of how far they have to go. It's one they won't soon forget.
"We were trying out the new system against world-class players, so we knew we were going to be tested," U.S. defender Casey Short said. "We knew questions were going to be asked. So we learned some things, and we move on, right?"
It's difficult to think of any other option. This was the worst loss on American soil since the United States was eliminated from the 2003 World Cup by the same score against Germany. A win would have meant the title, albeit a relatively meaningless one. The scope of Tuesday's defeat meant that the U.S. women finished last.
The French, for all their style and talent, had scored just two goals in five games in this event over two years. They scored two before this game was 10 minutes old, then added a third for good measure. They earned every bit of it.
Along with a loss against England on Saturday, this marked the first back-to-back losses for the U.S. women since setbacks against Sweden and Denmark in the 2014 Algarve Cup in Portugal. Those cost the coach at the time his job (or at least sealed Tom Sermanni's fate). That won't be the case now, even if U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati looked as glum as anyone postgame.
Winning a World Cup that re-established the national team as not just the world's best but also one that can draw more than 20,000 people to decrepit RFK Stadium on a rainy weekday night earns a coach some capital. Ellis will have all the space she wants to reshape the roster and style of play. She will be judged not on results in 2017 but on those in 2019 and, in all likelihood, 2020.
That is why unlike with their European counterparts preparing for this summer's Euros, the Americans' results in the tournament mattered a little less than the experience. That is why a loss on a late goal against England on a frigid night in New Jersey was less cause for concern than that result hinted. It was part of the process. But Tuesday's loss was the product of the process -- and nowhere more glaringly than in how France picked apart the back line of three defenders that Ellis has utilized since the end of last year.
"It was obviously the most pressure we've had to deal with, in terms of pace of pressure and how fast it was coming," Ellis said. "They basically matched three up on our three, in terms of us trying to play out."
The United States nearly played itself into trouble within the first minute. The Americans played the ball backward through Morgan Brian and Allie Long off the whistle. But Brian was dispossessed. A moment of hesitation from Long soon thereafter, with the ball she tried to shield rolling too slowly to get over the end line, left France sniffing around the goal.
Calamity was avoided -- but only briefly. Minutes later, after Brian was knocked off the ball on what was ruled a fair play, goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher was left with little choice but to come out aggressively and challenge France's Eugenie Le Sommer. The whistle blew, Naeher saw a yellow card, and Camille Abily converted from the penalty spot.
Barely a minute later, as the United States tried to push forward in response, French defender Wendie Renard launched a one-pass counter that left Le Sommer in a foot race with Long, who had little covering support. One of the world's best forwards, Le Sommer gathered the ball, avoided a sliding and slipping Sauerbrunn and beat Naeher at a tight angle to make it 2-0.
Any hopes of a rally -- the U.S. women created some chances -- ended when Abily scored in the 63rd minute. Ahead of Long and Sauerbrunn by several yards, Short couldn't recover in time when France's Eve Perisset slipped behind her and delivered a well-placed cross to Abily.
In three different ways, France exposed the high-risk part of what is inherently a high-risk, high-reward style. Removing a player from the traditional four-defender back line allows the United States numbers to hopefully control possession moving forward. But the penalties for failure are stiff.
"We kind of knew this was going to be the true test, if we decided to go with the three-back in this tournament, because we're playing the top teams in the world," Sauerbrunn said the day before the game against France. "I thought we did a really good job in both [of the first two] matches. Obviously, England scored on us on a set piece. I think during the run of play we've shown the new formation, the three-back, can hold strong. And I think it's due to everyone on the field putting in a really good shift defensively. That helps us out so much."
To that end, the breakdown Tuesday wasn't solely about the three players at the back of the U.S. formation. A turnover in front of them put them in peril on the sequence that led to the first goal. Short wouldn't have needed to make a last-ditch scramble if the players ahead of her on the field had won the ball back before it was played to Perisset.
"Our responsibility to get back, win second balls, becomes a lot more important," said Sam Mewis, the holding midfielder who enjoyed a generally impressive tournament in three starts. "It's a fun formation to play. I've said that before. But there is a lot of pressure defensively, and I think my defensive role needs to improve if I want to play in there. Instead of letting the ball get back to where it's most dangerous, I should be winning more tackles in the middle."
For France, the win is significant beyond the fact that beating the United States on its home turf is always a big deal. The reaction at the final whistle was muted, but this was the first tournament title of any kind for the French senior team. Abily and Amandine Henry downplayed the feat afterward, noting that it was only a friendly tournament, but it was a good step toward the Euros.
If not a clear step backward for the U.S. women, it was evidence of the steps that remain. That goes well beyond the number of defenders on the field, but the formation embodied the evolution underway for the Americans.
"I think it's got its definite benefits," Sauerbrunn said of the three-back formation after the loss. "It's still a work in progress. I'm not sure what Jill's plan is, but I wouldn't be surprised if we continue to work on it. I'm excited to keep working on it. I think when we finally really get it down, I think it could be a really good formation for this team."
As Ellis is fond of pointing out, the important part is not so much the specifics of formation or alignment as how the team plays -- and how it wants to play. She wants her team to play like it is the best in the world, to control possession and dictate terms.
"That was a big theme for us going through this tournament: the confidence to play, to deal with pressure, to want to try and play out," Ellis said. "Because the way our game is headed is, yeah, who has the ball stands a better chance of winning. We've tried to work on that specific thing in terms of this tournament, confidence on the ball."
That there is still work to do and perhaps players to bring in is not cause for panic because there is still time to do those things.
But time is not infinite. The 2019 World Cup awaits -- and France with it.