Tag: nwsl

soccer

Alex Morgan and the Bedbugs That Ate the NWSL

Posted on by Beau Dure

As with many other Internet shoutfests, it all started with an innocuous tweet:

Can’t blame Sinclair for venting there. Bedbugs are every traveler’s nightmare. The big hype about bedbug resurgence came about a couple of years ago, and I’m still putting my bags up on hard surfaces to minimize the risk of anything hitching a ride back to my place. (I draw the line at the “pry the headboard off the wall, put your bags in the bathtub and wrap anything that you own in several layers of Saran Wrap” survivalism that was en vogue for a while.)

So we have one incident in which a hotel — one with a fairly notable brand name — had bedbugs. This won’t escalate into any sort of —

Uh oh.

Morgan’s since-deleted tweet says “There’s no other way to address continuing problems.”

If you go around and ask NWSL people, you’ll get the response, “What continuing problems? This was a one-time thing. It’s been handled.”

And bedbugs are, frankly, luck of the draw.

For the record, I was wrong about MLS. Alexi Lalas has clarified.

Morgan also mentioned mold, which should actually raise larger long-term concerns about this hotel because (A) it can make you sick and (B) given proper maintenance, it simply should not appear.

None of these nuances, of course, made it into the Twitter response.

https://twitter.com/alassadee13/status/633423425457946624

But some on Twitter at least shifted blame from the NWSL:

https://twitter.com/et_home13/status/633731045456609280

And there were these clever ones:

https://twitter.com/nathan_scott35/status/633714466232864769

And there’s this angle:

https://twitter.com/THEADMIRAL6/status/633425957311766528

The mainstream media, on the other hand, pretty much took the ball and ran:

(From that story: “The bed bug fiasco is just one example of the inequalities between male and female professional soccer players. As a simple point of comparison, the all-male New York City Football Club announced its partnership with the four-star Grand Hyatt back in March. No bed bugs have been found there…yet.” Yeah, that’s a fair comparison.)

https://twitter.com/STERLINGMHOLMES/status/633685515330392064

Well that’s fair and balanced.

Let’s be real clear ourselves here — no one is saying anyone should take a vow of silence over a bedbug encounter. And no one is saying we don’t wish women’s soccer players had it better. If it were up to me, women’s soccer players would live in Dan Borislow’s condos but have a professional training staff at all times. Best of both worlds.

But let’s also acknowledge this — professional women’s soccer is fragile. If you think living conditions and wages for the Ella Masars and Chantel Joneses of the world are grim, consider what Lori Lindsey, Sarah Huffman and Becky Sauerbrunn did when they played amateur ball. We can’t change this just by yelling at people.

You can certainly blame the media. They’ve added the “s” to “bedbug-ridden hotel” without making the slightest effort to clarify what Morgan was talking about with “continuing problems.”

And no one even asked the NWSL. It took me all of 12 minutes to get this response:

“During a recent road trip, a Portland Thorns FC player reported finding bed bugs in her hotel room at the team hotel in Kansas City. The hotel apologized, quickly provided a new room, and insisted the problem had been corrected. Upon learning of the situation, the League immediately spoke with both clubs, and FC Kansas City had already addressed the issue. For the remainder of the season, rooms have already been secured at another hotel. Player safety and comfort is important to all teams of the NWSL, and we are always seeking ways to improve our club and League operations. We regret this situation and apologize to the player involved.”

In any case, the damage has been done. The NWSL is now the league with the bedbugs. And if you care about conditions for players, you might also wonder if this was the best way to go about business for a league that still needs sponsors and a real TV deal to turn the corner.

Little wonder Morgan deleted the tweet. She knows the power of her words with her 2 million Twitter followers. If she didn’t before, she surely knows now. Because as much as we question the national team players’ dedication to the NWSL, they don’t want it to disappear. Right?

So maybe the next time something good happens in the NWSL, she might consider mentioning it?

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NWSL, Spirit-Flash report: We want more of this &*&&%ing league

Posted on by Beau Dure

Tonight’s Washington Spirit-Western New York Flash game was infuriating, frustrating, bizarre, comical and downright baffling. And I’m pissed off.

I’m pissed off because … the season is almost over. And I want more of this.

I don’t want to see a bunch of national team players who’ve already had a ticker-tape parade and endorsement deals strutting around on a dadgum “Victory Tour” playing meaningless exhibitions. Not now, anyway.

I don’t want to see sycophantic pseudo-journalists and radio hosts booking these players for interviews in which every question is some variant of “So how did it feel when you got that medal?”

I want to see Crystal Dunn racing toward the goal, stopped only by the skill, speed and impeccable timing of Whitney Engen.

I want to see Chantel Jones atoning for a howler by flinging herself across the goal and to the upper corner to swat away Dunn’s best shot of the night.

I want to see Franny Ordega turning a defender one way, then another, then another.

I want to see Christine Nairn blasting 35-yard shots that either go in or rattle the crossbar.

Farther afield, I want to see Christen Press challenging Becky Sauerbrunn. I want to see Alyssa Naeher single-handedly keeping the Boston Breakers from utter catastrophe.

I want to see stuff like this:

And I want to see players develop. I want to see Nairn shake the habit she showed tonight of getting caught in possession. I want to see Kealia Ohai pushing herself to make that extra move to create chances. I want to see Julie Johnston trying to organize a back line to contain Dunn, Ordega and Diana Matheson.

Last and not least, I want to see referees develop. I want to see Kari Seitz and Margaret Domka come back from the accolades of a World Cup or Olympic assignment and be humbled by botching a domestic game. (I can only hope their assessors are honest with them.) I want to see PRO called to account for refs who think grabbing an opponent’s shoulder and shoving her down is a legal shoulder charge.

There’s some debate over a play late in tonight’s game in which Ali Krieger tried to take a quick restart, only to find Michelle Heyman standing in her way. Krieger kicked, and the ball wound up on a Spirit arm. The call: handball on the Spirit. I thought it was an atrocious call, figuring Heyman deserved yellow for delaying the restart. At the time, I based this solely on that old standby of referee critics: “What I recall seeing in other games.” Others have told me Krieger was supposed to ask ref to give her the 10 yards.

I think I’m right, based on this passage from the U.S. Soccer Advice to Referees:

Typical examples of causing a delay in this way are kicking the ball away when a decision has gone against them, picking up the ball and not giving the ball to the attacking team or to the referee, moving to retrieve a ball some distance away and then walking slowly to bring the ball back, and standing so close by the ball as to effectively interfere with all reasonably likely directions for the restart. These ploys must be met with an immediate response because, as a result, a delay is no longer theoretical; it has been forced and the challenge to Law 13 must be dealt with swiftly.

Heyman was practically on top of the ball, so I think the part in bold applies.

But the part that had Mark Parsons engaging in a lengthy postgame rant was just basic control of the match. It wasn’t even so much this match as it was his team’s last two or three, where he says referees have just let obvious fouls go. This match, he says, wasn’t proper soccer and was difficult to watch. Parsons went out of his way to say the ref didn’t decide the outcome of the game. Just its quality.

Refs, like players, aren’t going to get better prancing around the country like the Harlem Globetrotters. They’re going to get better when they’re on the field for a domestic league game that matters.

A game that makes fans stand up and applaud when a Nigerian player leaves the field after a terrific effort. A game that makes fans in the USA’s capital embrace a Canadian. A game that rattles coaches’ senses so strongly that Flash coach Aaran Lines thinks he had a perfect view of the goal line when he’s 70 yards away on a bench. (And thinks his team had momentum at the end of the game.)

Bottom line: This NWSL season is ending far too quickly. Players need more. Refs need more. Fans need more.

So next year, my advice would be to take a break for the Olympics. Play a few friendlies — give the non-international players a couple of games to stay sharp and the fans a nice discounted night out. But then play longer into the fall.

That might cut down on players spending their offseasons elsewhere, but maybe that’s not a bad thing. Tori Huster has been going back and forth between the NWSL and Australia, and now she’s banged up and not starting.

Regardless of how long the season goes, it deserves more attention. You want development? It’s here. You want drama? It’s here.

And I’ll give the reminder I always give the posers who’d rather sit around eating meat pies in their basements watching soccer on TV instead of going out to see the supposedly lesser games live … nothing beats live soccer.

TV isn’t going to do Crystal Dunn’s slicing offensive moves any justice. YouTube certainly won’t. You have to be there.

Not just once every couple of years, when the national team decides to come to your town to walk through a game, graciously accept your applause and then sign about 8,000 autographs. Several times a year, whenever you can make it to the stadium. (Weeknight driving to the SoccerPlex is not fun.)

You’ll see drama. You’ll see development.

The Spirit only have one more home game left this season.

And that pisses me off. Not that I think they deserve a home playoff game — based on their current results, they don’t. I just want to see more.

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Big heart makes women’s soccer special

Posted on by Beau Dure

Yes, women’s soccer can be frustrating. Two U.S. leagues have disappeared in the past 12 years, and the third is redefining “low profile.” Fans (and sometimes players) argue on social media about the strangest stuff. (This 18-month-old Alex Morgan dis was favorited tonight.) The U.S. national team sometimes looks like it was selected five years ago — the tactics sometimes look as if they were drawn up 15 years ago.

Let’s forget all that for a minute and back up.

 

One bias I’ve always had is for the players who fought their way through the Dark Ages of the mid-2000s. Kevin Parker wrote about the ones who passed through Washington, and Jen Cooper covered it in her Mixxed Zone podcast about “the 99ers and the 90 percent.” The “90 percent” refers to the players who aren’t national team stars but make a pro league competitive, providing challenges that the national team players need to stay sharp. And without them, you don’t have local teams that give fans a chance to see these players in person more than once every couple of years.

Some players don’t have a sense of that shared struggle. Some do. Tonight at the SoccerPlex, they did.

Start with the autographs. I don’t really “get” autographs, to be honest, and I’ve seen a few fans who are a little too demanding, insulting players who aren’t the big stars. But you have to be impressed when players sign for as many fans as possible, trying to make that connection. Tonight, Carli Lloyd from the visiting Dash signed a lot. So did Meghan Klingenberg. So did Spirit stars like Ashlyn Harris and, I think, Ali Krieger.

Lloyd even signed one of the cockroach banners the Spirit Squadron held up in reference to … something I missed on Twitter. I didn’t quite get it, but Lloyd did.

Then there’s this:

Typo in Jen’s tweet — she has ALS, sometimes called Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Lloyd did indeed make time to go over to see her. So did Krieger.

But this fan got much more. As Spirit players left the field one by one, they went over to her. She wound up with as many eight players at a time all chatting with her. She may not have full control over her body any more, but she had a huge smile.

The Spirit players got her up out of her chair for a picture. Then Crystal Dunn, all five-foot-nothing of her, carefully placed her back in the chair before everyone started smiling and laughing again. If laughter’s the best medicine, then this woman is going to pull a Stephen Hawking and live with ALS for decades to come.

In case you forgot, Dunn also did this tonight …

And she scored twice more in the 3-1 win, including a header off a corner kick. Again, she is not tall.

Back to the postgame — I’m in awe of athletes and other celebrities who meet ailing people. Imagine what it’s like to be presented with a person who has been told he or she might live much longer. Now you’re responsible for creating a magical moment. No pressure.

When you see the way these players interact with fans, you see how special they are in ways beyond their skills. It’s almost unfair that these people who have been blessed with talent and determination also have the social graces and kind hearts to make others feel special as well.

And you can see it in how they interact with each other. Houston defender Niki Cross played her final game tonight, and in deference to the time she spent with the Spirit, she was honored with a pregame bouquet courtesy of Ashlyn Harris, who has been close with Cross since they were teammates in the early days of WPS. Fans chanted her name when she came onto the field as a second-half sub.

So women’s soccer is in that sweet spot right now — popular enough to have sought-after stars but still maintaining a sense that we’re all in this together.

You may not guess it from Twitter, but I’m an optimist. I think women’s soccer can maintain this spirit even as the sport matures and the mainstream media picks up the tactical and technical debates the hard-core fans and bloggers are doing now.

The players can handle it. They want to be pros. They deserve to be pros. They deserve the attention not just of the autograph hounds or the pundits who turn up out of the woodwork every four years, but the everyday sports fan.

So I left the SoccerPlex feeling pretty good about the sport. Both teams played dynamic, attacking soccer. They didn’t take advantage of the referee’s lack of attention. It was a great show with a wonderful display of heart.

Tomorrow, we’ll get back to the criticism and debate. It’s all meant to be constructive. We all care. We all see something special in this sport, and tonight reminded us why.

 

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soccer

Crystal Dunn brings the fun that women’s soccer needs

Posted on by Beau Dure

Not to take anything away from Carli Lloyd, a clutch performer of the highest caliber and someone who has worked very hard to get where she is, but something was missing in the Sports Illustrated cover story on her after the World Cup.

If you have yet to read the story, the upshot is that she got really upset after being cut from a U.S. youth team, so her family turned her over to James Galanis, who made her a good player by essentially telling her to quit the rest of her life.

“Forget about friends, forget about family, forget about boyfriends,” Galanis told her. “If this isn’t No. 1, let’s just walk off the field right now. What I’m saying to you, Carli, is that at 10 o’clock on a Saturday night, if I call you and say, ‘I’ll meet you at the field in half an hour,’ and you’re at a party with your friends, don’t tell me, ‘Sorry, Coach, I’m at a party.’ You’ll turn to your friends and say, ‘Sorry guys, I have to leave; I’m going to training.’ Do you understand the commitment here?”

Yikes.

We know hard work is part of world-class soccer. But there’s something else, something every bit as essential as running beep tests, maybe even more essential than ditching a party at 10 p.m. on a Saturday night because your private coach needs you right this very minute.

And like a lot of things in sports, that other essential thing can be found in an NSFW clip from Bull Durham:

Yes, fun. This game is supposed to be fun. FUN, BLEEP IT!

Who plays soccer and has fun? Megan Rapinoe, for one. She’s also the most creative player the U.S. women’s team has. That’s not coincidence.

Then there’s Crystal Dunn. If the USA wins the World Cup again in 2019 (FIXED from 2015 – see comments), maybe Dunn will get the nod for the big article, and we can hear how she streaked past a lot of dour German players for the winning goal. (Actually, that’s a stereotype — German legend Conny Pohlers is one of the funniest players I’ve ever encountered. But she’s retired.)

Dunn brought the fun to the SoccerPlex on Saturday night, tearing at the Seattle Reign’s back line and scoring a goal that looks like some sort of video game glitch in which a player suddenly zips from one part of the screen to the other:

The abrupt edit in that video doesn’t do justice to how quickly Dunn zipped past her defender to score that goal. It was as if a wormhole opened above the immaculate grass of the Maryland SoccerPlex just a few yards away from the beer garden.

“Oh sure, I’d have plenty of fun if I had wheels like Crystal Dunn,” you might say. But Dunn also plays a bit of joga bonito, the beautiful game. Look closely next time you see her with the ball, and you may see her make a subtle shift to unbalance her defender. Or she might put her foot on top of the ball as if she’s going to pull it back, only to slip it forward.

She’s got skills. And like an old-school soccer player who enjoys playing soccer, she likes to use them.

(Quick aside: Isn’t it funny that, for all the fuss over Anson Dorrance’s North Carolina program being behind the times and playing a physical brand of soccer while other college programs are focusing on soccer skills, three of the most skillful Americans — Dunn, Tobin Heath and Yael Averbuch — all played for Dorrance at UNC?)

And she’s a fun interview. She has a disarming self-effacing wit, joking about being caught offside so much. “I know I’m fast, but I just get so excited!” (I’m paraphrasing because my iPhone ate this interview. Bad, bad iPhone. Must have been worn out from all the tweeting I did on it while the Plex was Internet-less.)

Who else looks like she’s having fun out there? Diana Matheson. In her case, she’s just glad to be back after months of traumatic injuries. But she’s thrilled to be combining with Dunn as well.

Asked by Kevin Parker (@starcityfan) about that Spirit goal in which Matheson and Dunn took on four defenders, Matheson deflected all the praise to Dunn: “She probably took on three of them.”

Matheson also signed many, many autographs, as did many players. It was reminiscent of Abby Wambach after the 2011 World Cup, working her way through a line in Boston that snaked through the Harvard campus. Matheson didn’t mind, with one caveat:

“They were pushier, too. They were getting aggressive.”

So for the good of the fences at the SoccerPlex, maybe folks should back up a bit.

Other notes from the Spirit’s 3-0 win over Seattle:

– Seattle coach Laura Harvey’s comments could be summed up in three words: “We were poor.” She wasn’t angry, just stating the facts as she saw them.

parsons

– Washington coach Mark Parsons said he was wearing the same shirt he wore at the draft, when he also thought he got the better of Seattle and his good pal Harvey. My phone camera doesn’t do justice to how much he was sweating in that shirt on a steamy night at the Plex.

Parsons saw this game as a momentous achievement for the Spirit, stressing his respect for the Reign and Harvey. “Brave, intelligent and effort made that a complete performance. We’ve been striving to play soccer defensively like that, being hard to beat, hard to break down. … Offensively, we want to be a team that can build patient and can break and counter. I’ve said for a while until we beat a top team playing this style, we’re always going to fighting to get there. Tonight, we got there.”

– Speaking of the draft and the defense — at some point, those of us who cover the Spirit need to write about those players. Seattle’s Kim Little had her moments, but second-round pick Megan Oyster and fourth-rounder Whitney Church slammed the door on the top-scoring team in the league, and it’s no fluke. They’re only getting better. Estelle Johnson and Katherine Reynolds provide the experience, and now Ali Krieger and Ashlyn Harris are coming back into the lineup. The defense hasn’t often been seen as the Spirit’s strength, but we might need to rethink that perception.

– Women’s pro soccer SoccerPlex record 5,413 saw the game. The Spirit should probably take a page out of the Freedom’s book and put some concessions and portable toilets on the far side of the field as well when they’re expecting a crowd of that size. The concourse was borderline impassable at halftime, and I’m sure much of the crowd missed the first Spirit goal less than a minute into the second half.

– And among the crowd tonight:

Expect a few pics of Spirit players returning the favor.

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soccer

Quick Breakers-Spirit thoughts

Posted on by Beau Dure

Take the internationals off two of the top teams in the NWSL, and what do you get? A Breakers team trying to shut down Crystal Dunn by any legal means necessary and sneak one on the counterattack.

And to Boston’s credit, it more or less worked. Sure, the Spirit outshot the Breakers 16-8, and Boston’s Jami Kranich made eight saves to Kelsey Wys’ one. But Kranich didn’t really have to stand on her head in this one. Her best save may have been on Christine Nairn’s 45-yard on-target effort, though she gave up a rebound that could’ve been dangerous. Kranich could’ve done nothing to stop Amanda Da Costa’s blast from the top of the box, and Wys was wrong-footed by Maddy Evans’ deflected strike a couple of minutes later.

Final: 1-1

Boston coach Tom Durkin said he wished Nairn and Dunn had been in Canada for the World Cup. A lot of people around the NWSL surely feel the same way.

The Spirit played attractive soccer, using the wings effectively and enjoying a lot of possession. But by the end, they were whacking the ball in Dunn’s general direction, hoping she could beat four defenders and score. She often beat three, but not the fourth.

So the lingering question here is the Spirit attack. Three chances wound up at Joanna Lohman’s feet, which seems like an unusual fluke of circumstances. Dunn had six shots; Nairn had five. Shouldn’t someone else be in there?

Granted, the Breakers had much less going up front. Morgan Marlborough and Stephanie McCaffrey were credited with zero shots. But the defense held, and the midfielders got a few shots.

Both teams are in good shape to move through the next few weeks without the internationals in play. It’s going to look a little different after that.

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Washington 1-0 Sky Blue: Lightning strikes

Posted on by Beau Dure

I hope no Washington Spirit players are expecting a nice, happy training session when they get back to work next week just because they pulled off a 1-0 win over Sky Blue on Saturday.

“About the 60th minute, I was already thinking about training and I wouldn’t know where to start, because there were about 200 things you would want to touch on,” coach Mark Parsons said. “Last week, when there were a few slip-ups, that’s normal.”

This was not.

Goalkeeper Kelsey Wys might get a pass, having stood her ground against a 21-shot onslaught, nine on goal. Maybe Crystal Dunn, who saved one of those shots off the line and created some opportunities, including a long lob for the winning goal in stoppage time. And Francisca Ordega, who looked like she wouldn’t be able to continue after a first-half knock to her ankle, got on the end of that lob from Dunn and willed the ball past Sky Blue keeper Brittany Cameron for the winner. Besides, it’s Ordega’s last practice before she goes to play for Nigeria in the World Cup.

The rest of the thirteen players who saw the field will be getting an earful.

Thirteen players? Not fourteen? The Spirit didn’t use all three subs.

“I didn’t make more subs because I couldn’t decide who needed to come off more,” Parsons said. “‘Cause it was bad. Really bad. And they know it.”

The backline, Parsons said, was heroic. Not solid and organized, but heroic. Estelle Johnson made a couple of last-second tackles. Whitney Church stood her ground nicely. And they were under pressure because Sky Blue played a much more direct game than the Spirit expected, blasting the ball up to twin forwards Nadia Nadim and Kim DeCesare. Nadim outmuscled Spirit defenders to win several balls, while DeCesare forced Wys’s best save with a clever redirection.

“Fair play to them — they came in with a game plan,” Parsons said. “I thought they were the better team tonight. They didn’t take their opportunities. We stopped them.”

“That’s the best by far we’ve played, the most chances we’ve created,” Sky Blue coach Jim Gabarra said. He was planning to be direct the first 10 minutes, anyway, but he decided to stick with it when Sarah Killion (knee) was unable to go.

When the Spirit managed to get forward, which wasn’t often between roughly the 25th and 85th minutes, Dunn and good friend Maya Hayes had a fun battle for a while. Hayes is typically a forward but assigned to the Sky Blue backline this time, shadowing Dunn for much of the game.

“It was really fun to see her out there,” Dunn said. “She’s a forward at heart, and I was joking with her that it’s really weird seeing her back here. She’s really fast, really tenacious.”

Dunn was also whistled offside many, many times. The stats say the Spirit had six offside calls against them — they may all have been against Dunn. Some were questionable. Some weren’t.

But even as the Spirit go through what’s sure to be a serious training session in a couple of days, they can be happy in knowing that they’ve really got something here. Wys is ably filling in for Ashlyn Harris, who’s off with the national team. Dunn, who only had a brief time to re-integrate herself with the Spirit after flying back from fill-in duty in national team camp, is the best American player left in the league with the World Cup players gone. They’ve got Caroline Miller and Tiffany Weimer ready to join the fray with Ordega gone.

And they still have the best field in the league, which held up nicely despite an apocalyptic thunderstorm that pushed the game’s start back a few minutes. Fans stuck it out, and the Spirit drew more than 3,000 on an evening in which driving was a nerve-racking experience.

They won’t get this lucky every night. They might not need to.

 

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Hipsters, posers, bros and women’s soccer

Posted on by Beau Dure

The Washington Spirit’s Tiffany Weimer wrote a guest post at the Post with a frightening thought on the women’s soccer audience:

It’s not just an older generation that doesn’t give us the time of day. There are young, hip people who dislike women’s sports and soccer. There are also people who absolutely love the Premier League, Champions League and Major League Soccer. Those same people don’t like women’s soccer.

In other words, “bro” culture? Or just hipsters and posers who like the EPL, Euro and MLS accoutrements but don’t give a crap about the game?

When I first started talking soccer online about 20 years ago, I found people were willing to support any sort of soccer for the good of the game. I don’t get that sense any more. It’s my form of soccer or crowd noise or whatever.

And that’s a pity. Spirit games are fun.

Source: Guest column: NWSL and women’s soccer are in the game – The Washington Post

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NWSL: A worthwhile investment, not a charity

Posted on by Beau Dure

Women’s soccer players are giving up a lot to play professionally. That was the point of my recent post at SoccerWire and Jeff Kassouf’s piece on players retiring in their 20s.

Deciding to play or retire isn’t easy, as Colleen Williams eloquently describes in her piece about stepping away after a couple of knee injuries. Some people are still chasing a spot on the national team. Some just want to keep playing as long as they can.

The thin silver lining here is that players’ opportunities are improving. Imagine how these pieces would’ve been written in 2007, when players who weren’t in the national team pool were either out of the sport entirely or playing for free in the W-League or WPSL.

What you’ll often hear in response to these laments is that professional soccer is neither a charity nor a cause. And that’s true.

But let’s phrase the argument for backing the NWSL a little differently, borrowing from youth soccer …

The goal of youth soccer is twofold — grow the sport’s talent pool and its fanbase. The latter is often overlooked, though far more youth soccer players will grow up to be fans rather than elite players.

That’s also the goal of women’s pro soccer. And that’s why it’s worthy of investment — by U.S. Soccer, by sponsors, by anyone who cares about the game.

We’re all lamenting the fossilized talent pool for the U.S. national team. Tom Sermanni’s efforts to expand that pool were in vain, but if the NWSL continues to grow, players will have opportunities to play their way in at some point.

And NWSL games give more fans a chance to see players in action — both national team stars and local heroes.

So it’s not a charity. It’s something with value worth supporting as fans and backers of the game.

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Takeaways from Washington Spirit v North Carolina

Posted on by Beau Dure

North Carolina is always an interesting test for NWSL teams in preseason. They’re often missing a couple of players from various national teams (Katie Bowen started for New Zealand against the USA earlier in the day), and the remaining players are athletic and aggressive.

That skillset is especially challenging for midfielders who need to rev up to regular-season playing speed. A little mistake or hesitation, and you’re going to be dispossessed and/or on the ground.

“In the past, they’ve been one of the teams we’ve played first in preseason,” said Tori Huster, one of the few Spirit players with any institutional memory. “I think Mark (Parsons) wanted us to get a game (before the regular-season opener) that was going to be similar to the NWSL with the pressure. They pressed all over when I was in college (ACC rival Florida State), and they did it again today.”

The Washington Spirit passed that test, more or less, against the Tar Heels on Saturday. They’ll regret their lack of scoring against a short-handed college backline, but the Spirit controlled most of the action and got in a good workout. If not for goalkeeper Lindsey Harris and some finishing that might be called “preseason-quality,” the score would’ve been closer to 3-0 than the eventual 1-0.

“We were outbattled last week by (Virginia),” coach Mark Parsons said. “There’s not many tougher teams or faster teams than UNC. We were really strong — very intense, very physical — and that was good to see.”

A few takeaways:

– Estafania Banini has some skill and speed. She seems to be faster with the ball than without. She might frustrate her teammates if she doesn’t get them the ball. A questionable decision to take the ball on her own rather than passing paid off when her 24-yard shot hit the left post and went in, but at other times, she waited far too long to look for a teammate.

– As a whole, the final ball was lacking — a couple of bad touches in open space, a couple of bad decisions to pass or not to pass. “We just need to continue to play together,” Christine Nairn said. “After we look at the video, we can only improve.”

– The passing game is promising. In the first half, the Spirit struggled passing the ball in their own half but did pretty well combining in the attack. Yet the goal came from a 60-yard blast from goalkeeper Kelsey Wys up to Banini, and the second half started with a more direct approach. Perhaps that was a bit of impatience, but it loosened up the UNC defense. The Tar Heels, not playing college substitution rules this time, faded toward the end. Then Huster started to carve them up with clinical through balls, several of which should’ve been finished.

– The center midfielders are interchangeable, with Huster, Nairn, Joanna Lohman and sub Angela Salem switching between attacking and defensive midfield throughout. “With Joanna Lohman and Angela Salem, they’re able to shift down into that No. 6 position and spray balls out,” Huster said. “A couple of times, I got bumped into what you’d call a No. 10 position. We were able to get some combinations together. …

“Mark’s going to be asking (us) to play all these positions because he’s going to ask us to rotate. And that’s just the flow of the game as well.”

Other notes:

– Parsons said he would’ve made some attacking subs if this were a regular-season game, but he wanted to build fitness among his starters. He attributed some of the mistakes to fatigue.

– No surprises on roster cutdown day, Parsons said. The players under contract all made the team. They’re listed on the site, and they include players who haven’t reported yet (looking your way, Mexico) but are expected this summer or after the World Cup. Cuts will be necessary if everyone’s healthy when the latecomers arrive.

– UNC goalkeeper Lindsey Harris was outstanding.

– Parsons is a little worried about his team as they head into the heat next week in Houston. This game wasn’t as frigid as last week’s game against Virginia, but it was still chilly and breezy. Nairn, for one, fought back sniffles as she said she was looking forward to getting into hotter weather.

– The game was well-reffed with one notable exception — Huster was fouled multiple times, and as usual, nothing was called. It’s uncanny.

Update: I had a rough formation and some game highlights written in my notes, and I figured I’d add them here for posterity and future reference:

FW: Del Rio

Wings: Banini left, Da Costa right

Center mids: The fluid Nairn-Lohman-Huster triad

Backs, left to right: Reynolds – Johnson – Oyster – Singer

Keeper: Wys

7′ Reynolds get up from left back, cross to Nairn cut out.

8′ GOAL Wys long ball to Banini in left channel. Cuts inside recovering defender. Has two passes open but rips from 24 yards off the left post and in.

12′ Good work on left Nairn to Del Rio.

13′ Fristenberg strips from Johnson, who’s dawdling with the ball at midfield. Long-range shot with Wys off line goes wide.

22′ Wys a little unsteady on long, looping shot from Fristenberg

23′ Wys lets things bounce, UNC 15-yard shot goes wide

27′ Free kick floats nicely. Huster doesn’t go for it. Lohman doesn’t connect cleanly.

43’ Boyles hits bar. Wys not in comfortable position.

HALFTIME: Dydasco for Da Costa; Brown for Wys

61’ Huster needed more on pass to Dydasco, who made good run

63’ Salem for Nairn; Church for Singer

70’ Del Rio great layback to Banini, who mishandled it and it goes to the keeper

73’ Good sequence – shot, keeper tries to punch it away, Salem nearly puts away rebound

75’ Great sequence from Salem and Lohman at top of D. Del Rio shot, terrific save Harris (maybe not struck as well as it should’ve been)

77’ Banini gets the ball in tons of open space, dithers, lays it back/gets tackled back to Del Rio, another shot straight to keeper.

81’ Through ball finds Dydasco, who rounds keeper but keeper recovers. Dydasco gets a second chance but is too late, and it’s blocked.

86’ Del Rio surges through, caught and fouled but stays on feet and shoots. Another stop for Harris.

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soccer

‘Enduring Spirit’ epilogue (sort of): An August snapshot

Posted on by Beau Dure

Sometime during the NWSL season, it occurred to me that people might be interested in an epilogue to Enduring Spirit, summing up the team’s successful second season. Perhaps they would be more interested in that than they were in the book on the first season. Perhaps I’d even recoup a bit more of the money I lost writing Enduring Spirit.

Circumstances have conspired against that work being completed. I was sick for a while, and a couple of injured fingers (one broken, one badly sprained) cut into my productivity on the computer keyboard. And the people involved aren’t racing to tell me interesting stories about what happened through the season.

So instead of adding an epilogue to the book and also publishing it separately for the low, low price of 99 cents, I’ve decided to empty out the notebook for anyone who’s interested. I went to a late-season practice to draw a contrast between Season 1 and Season 2, and I had a few interviews worth sharing.

The result: A snapshot of the Washington Spirit on a beautiful August day. Enjoy.

Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014

Nearly a year since I last saw the Washington Spirit practice, some things hadn’t changed.

Mark Parsons’ voice was still the dominant sound. Lori Lindsey was no longer the captain but was the most vocal of the players on the stadium field, which was in its usual pristine shape despite a hard rain the night before. Emily Fortunato was still the voice of wit and wisdom on the sideline when she wasn’t tending to Ashlyn Harris, who was coming back from concussion symptoms and complained of “heavy legs.”

But a few things were different. Practice seemed a little more serious this time. The impish humor of Conny Pohlers was missing — teammates insisted this year’s German veteran, Kerstin Garefrekes, was also funny, but she wasn’t joking around here. The vertically challenged duo of Diana Matheson and Crystal Dunn clowned around briefly, but the players mostly kept their practice faces on.

This was an older Spirit team. Most of the youngsters had gone elsewhere. Jasmyne Spencer had a productive year with Western New York. Stephanie Ochs, newly converted to the back line, was in Houston with Tiffany McCarty and Kika Toulouse. Holly King and Lindsay Taylor were out of the league. Julia Roberts, waived by the Spirit, wound up in Seattle and got called up briefly to suit up for the Reign. A couple of more experienced players were also gone — Marisa Abegg went back into retirement and started her medical career, Conny Pohlers was back in Germany, and injury-plagued Candace Chapman wasn’t able to make the team.

The Spirit roster still included Caroline Miller, but she had suffered yet another injury setback and wasn’t at practice. Colleen Williams, injured in 2013 just as she broke into the lineup, tried to come back but was waived. She went to Sky Blue in her home state and once again suffered a major knee injury. Between Miller and Williams, the 2013 college draft was surely cursed.

Aside from top pick Dunn, who already had national team experience, Parsons had a roster of experienced pros. Undrafted rookie Bianca Sierra made the team as a hard-nosed (and foul-prone) defender, but Parsons traded her to Boston for talented, oft-controversial attacker Lisa De Vanna.

The rest of the newcomers were experienced. Garefrekes had been a German national team mainstay for years. Danesha Adams’ resume dated back to WPS. Yael Averbuch also played in WPS and was well established in Europe and in the national team pool. Niki Cross and Alex Singer had bounced between WPS and top German teams. Christine Nairn and Renae Cuellar had some success already in the NWSL. So had Veronica Perez, who was most famous for scoring the winning goal in Mexico’s upset of the USA in a World Cup qualifier in 2010. And Jordan Angeli, the WPS star who had tested her oft-injured knee in training with the Spirit in 2013, had come all the way back to get a roster spot this year.

Jodie Taylor was the breakout star. An English forward who made a name for herself in Australia, she shook off an early drought to become one of the most reliable scorers in the league.

So even with veteran attacking pest Tiffany Weimer out of action for the season, the Spirit had a serious infusion of experience. (Weimer also edits Our Game magazine, for which I’ve volunteered a few articles.)

“The quality and experience some of these players bring to the table is second to none,” said Tori Huster, one of the holdovers on the Spirit team. “You look at our roster — you look at our bench, even, in some of these games, and it’s like, ‘Wow, she’s not playing?’ There are some really good quality players on this team that I am lucky to play alongside.”

Parsons had figured out what a lot of the league’s pundits had not: This league eats young players for breakfast. The 2014 draft had a lot of hype, and most of the first-round picks had productive years. But beyond the first round, only five players were consistent starters. In Seattle, Parson’s countrymate Laura Harvey rebuilt through free agency and trades, and Parsons did the same. Leaguewide, the only team that had any success with draftees was Kansas City, where Kassey Kallman and Jenna Richmond were solid role players on a team that thrived on the connection between national team players Lauren Holiday and Amy Rodriguez. Chicago stayed in contention with Julie Johnston and Vanessa DiBernardo in key roles. Boston and Houston had several rookies in the mix, and they battled for last place.

So the youthful exuberance was dialed back a bit. This was a Spirit team less prone to fill its Twitter timelines with selfies from the road. In practice, they moved confidently through each drill.

But the biggest difference hanging in the air: This team was in playoff position.

The Spirit had given away a wondrous chance, leading 1-0 at Seattle against the league’s top team before conceding a late goal, a change of pace for a team that was used to scoring those late goals rather than giving them up. The disappointment from that missed opportunity was hanging in the air.

“We’ve done a great job when mistakes happen of learning from it, eliminating it and moving forward,” Parsons said. “Saturday at Seattle, we could’ve killed that game off and managed the game better. The other team want rhythm and intensity. We could’ve done a far better job in the final 10 to break that. I’m not talking about time-wasting, I’m talking about what can we do in the game that slows the opposition down. How do we break up their linking play? …

“I was disappointed, but we’ve got so many situations to learn from.”

Yet the Spirit controlled its own destiny in the season finale — beat Sky Blue, which harbored faint playoff hopes of its own, and Washington would make the playoffs. Even with a loss or draw, Portland and Chicago would have to win their games to knock out the Spirit. There was even a chance the Spirit could clinch in a few hours, depending on Chicago’s midweek game.

Nairn, who had spent 2013 with a non-contender in Seattle, noticed the difference. “Everything is taken a little bit more seriously. It’s a little bit more demanding.”

Huster saw a change in the late-season goals: “There is a little more on the line this year. Last year, I think we were really hungry just to get a point, even. As hungry as we might be just to get a point on this weekend to get into the playoffs — or three points, whatever it may be — also, in the back of our minds, we still have three games left. We’re really hopeful to finish out the season on a good note.”

From Parsons’ perspective, though, the two Spirit seasons had their own challenges.

“Last year, I distinctly remember training sessions — I guess you weren’t there — we got into it more than we did today because what we were working on wasn’t happening,” Parsons said. “And we actually had a heated discussion with a couple of players. Maybe you caught us on a fun day when you last come in (last year). We were focused, ready to get the job done.”

Any heated discussions this year?

“We’ve had a lot,” Parsons said. “I think you have to, otherwise you’re not moving forward. Right now, we’ve had enough struggles, we’ve had enough failure and setbacks to learn from. We’re all very aware of each other right now, in our personalities, and the group is in a great place. Yeah, we’ve had some rocky moments through the season. Nothing too serious, but whether it’s discussion on how hard we’re working, why we’re doing it, or the actual mentality in our previous session or game wasn’t right …

“I think we’re just all on a great page right now. But it’s taken a lot to get there. You have the honeymoon period of preseason — you haven’t put a team sheet out, so everyone is hunky-dory and happy, everyone is bonding well, I think we had an unbelievable preseason. The first 2-3 weeks of every season is really tough unless you’re winning every game and everyone’s getting a bit of action. You start showing your cards, and that’s where managing people and managing top pros who want to play comes in.”

And merely getting to the playoffs, which would happen if the Red Stars faltered, wasn’t enough.

“We’re chasing third (place),” Parsons said. “My mentality, and I shared this with a couple of players yesterday, is (a Chicago loss or tie) gives me a sigh of relief for a couple of seconds. But the target of third place doesn’t change. So we have to win. Because if we don’t win Saturday, we put it in Portland’s hands to go and get third place. … So our target is three points against a team (Sky Blue) that’s had our number this year.”

It wasn’t that the team had dominated opponents, save for a stunning three-goal explosion in the first half against title contender Kansas City early in the season. Instead, they had a knack for the dramatic.

  • May 17: Spirit 3-2 Flash. The Spirit equaled its win total from the previous season with a comeback from a 2-1 deficit in which Western New York made it rather chippy.
  • May 26: Spirit 3-2 Dash. Nairn won it with a stoppage-time blast to the far upper corner from 30 yards out, sending fans to Twitter to lobby for the highlight to be on SportsCenter.

http://instagram.com/p/oe2TaDp4j3/

  • July 2: Spirit 3-3 Breakers. A wild game full of controversy. In the 90th minute, former Spirit defender Bianca Sierra made contact with Jodie Taylor, who fell and earned the tying PK.
  • Aug. 2: Spirit 2-1 Red Stars. Late in the game, Ashlyn Harris made a brilliant save, leaping across the goal mouth. (She had been thoroughly checked out by the trainers after a collision early the second half, but concussion symptoms popped up later.) In the dying moments, Matheson sprinted about 20 yards to keep a ball in play. She got the the ball to De Vanna, who expertly held the ball before laying off to Averbuch. Then Averbuch ripped a shot from just outside the box to seal the win over the fellow playoff contenders.

https://twitter.com/Sarah_Gehrke/status/496419406365216769

“These rosters don’t really vary that much with talent,” Nairn said of the parity-ridden NWSL. “Sometimes, it’s the team that’s going to put the hardest tackles in, that one sprint that no one wants to make, just the tangible things you can control. You’re not always going to have the best game of your life, but you can control your hustle and your effort and all those things.”

If you were seeing this team for the first time at this practice, you might not get a full impression. Adams, buried on the bench through much of the summer and plugged in at the back line at one point, looked sharp and scored off a turnover. Dunn, a contender for Rookie of the Year, was easily dispossessed when she tried to make a move at midfield. Matheson, no longer carrying the team to the extent that she did in 2013 but still an essential part of the attack, had to laugh at herself after flubbing an easy pass. Lindsey looked and sounded like the team leader despite handing over her captaincy to Ali Krieger at the beginning of the season. Ashlyn Harris didn’t participate in the scrimmage, leaving Chantel Jones facing off against Adelaide Gay, a former Portland keeper who had spent the season with the Spirit Reserves and filled in as the team’s PR liaison when someone abruptly departed a couple of games into the year.

After scrimmaging, many players lingered on the field to work on finishing. Jones had been tagged in the summer’s viral charity event, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, and she fulfilled her end of the deal with a loud scream.

“Freeeezing,” Jones said of the ice bucket. “A lot of people, when they do it, they just pour the ice in right before, and it’s not cold. That has been stewing all training, and it was freezing.”

Huster stayed on the field a while. No, she wasn’t adding forward to the list of positions she had played in two years with the Spirit. “Gotta get some extra touches in,” she said.

The former Florida State midfielder had been shoved on to the back line on an emergency basis much of 2013 and parts of 2014. She showed well enough to win the team’s Defender of the Year honors in 2013. This year, she had emerged as a strong midfield cornerstone.

“I played mostly defensive center mid, if not a linking center mid, in college,” Huster said. “So I’m kind of used to that role. But I really hadn’t played there in two to three years. I’ve been outside back, center back and a little bit in the midfield, but not as much as I’d like. It is a little bit of a transition, but with the good players I have around me, it’s pretty easy.”

Huster also felt the team knew it still had a bit to learn.

“The ideas that Mark is giving us as a group overall definitely help us and keep us on the same page,” Huster said. “We still have some work to do there to be on the same page at playoff time.”

The last two players on the field were Adams and Angeli, who had made it back from three years in soccer limbo to get occasional playing time with the Spirit and bring her good attitude everywhere she went. Neither player had seen much time the last few weeks.

Choosing players for the starting 11 or the the traveling party was one of Parsons’ biggest challenges.

It’s tough for the staff, tough for players. When we built the squad, we talked about that, we knew about it. Players that are 26, 27, 28 that have been playing regularly in previous teams or previous leagues — most teams have 13 or 14. There’s not many that has 18, 19, 20 like us. We’ve built that as a strategy. Challenges do come. You look at teams that have almost played the same lineup every week — I’m sure they have their own struggles, but they have some players who are just excited to be on the roster, (and) that’s less challenging.

I’ve made some really tough decisions on traveling. Leaving anyone on this squad at home is probably the hardest decision every week. It’s heartbreaking, it’s tough, but it’s the part we need to get on with.

So it is a tough bench. No matter what we put out, it’s a strong bench. We’re also excited that players have continued to make an impact.

I also feel that building some consistency in the last few weeks is key, which has been really challenging for anyone that is just on the brink of getting into that starting 11. You’ve got to respect that, and you’ve got to respect that everyone wants to play and everyone wants a chance to compete throughout the week to get that opportunity.

One person Parsons admired but frequently omitted: Angeli.

She’s one of the most important people in our changing room and in our team. She got caught on the end of some very tough calls at times. If she is on the sidelines, not playing, then you hear her from the first to the 90th, you hear her before the game, you hear her at halftime, you her at the end. Incredible personality and character. We’re just privileged and very fortunate to have her with us. …

Jordan is an exceptional person. Every single week, every single session she comes out, no matter the day or the weather, with a point to make. It’s been key to keep competition high and key to keep people on their toes. We’re lucky we’ve had her this year. Last year, we missed that.

One more player who popped up in our conversation: Lori Lindsey, the erstwhile captain who was still leading:

“She’s been a leader throughout. I think two things happened. It was us trying to figure out letting competition drive selection. She’s a winner, she wanted to improve, I think she really drove on and improved.

“We challenged her to continue to be a good leader. We needed her voice. We needed to hear her. She got an opportunity again. When she is on, when she is ticking, when she is moving the ball, we are at her best. We made life very difficult with our decisions at the beginning, and she bounced back stronger.”

I had to wrap my post-practice conversation so Parsons could tend to some business. He got an important phone call, but also, De Vanna had sent word that she wanted to chat with the coach. She came up, saw me interviewing Parsons and said with a smile, “Don’t listen to him. It’s all rubbish.” Parsons smiled, too, but there was a hint of conflicts past in the exchange. De Vanna had shown a few signs of on-field discontent, to put it mildly, over her brief time with the Spirit.

The Spirit would go on to make the playoffs. But before they got there, De Vanna and Lindsey made headlines — one for being left out of the traveling party for internal reasons, another for making a graceful exit from the NWSL.

The Spirit made the playoffs and dropped a tough 2-1 game against Seattle, pushing the league’s runaway top team to the limit. Fans made sure the players got a warm welcome and thanks for the season.

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