Tag: Tom Sermanni

Predicting The Pride: Head Coach Edition

Posted on by RJ Allen

It is the lot in life for most head coaches to be let go of the team they are leading. This came to be true for Tom Sermanni, as the Orlando Pride wilted down the stretch losing the final four matches of the season, and were winless in the last six fixtures.

While most fans of the league focused on the NWSL championship between the Portland Thorns and North Carolina Courage, Orlando Pride supporters look to find answers on who the next gaffer of the team may be. 

Pro Soccer USA reported early this month the team was already interviewing potential replacements. Looking at who the club may target, I came up with this list of prospects. If you follow the tendencies of the organization, it makes it seem unlikely the team would replace Sermanni with a coach from the college ranks due to his coaching pedigree, and his history as U.S. women’s national team coach.

The club will target a higher profile manager, so in no particular order, these are some possible dream candidates that would be interviewed if I were the general manager for the Orlando Pride.

Steffi Jones, Former German Women’s National Team Head Coach

Steffi Jones rose to prominence through the German Federation, first by being appointed the Director of Women’s and Girls’ Soccer in 2011. She transitioned to the coaching staff of the German women’s national team as an assistant to Silvia Neid on April 2016 then taking over for her when she stepped down September of that year. Jones run of form as manager ended after 22 matches with a poor showing in the SheBelieves Cup back in March of this year finishing with an overall record of 13 wins, 4 losses, and 5 draws.

The knock against her, like former Houston Dash coach Vera Pauw coming into the 2018 season, is a lack of experience coaching at the club level. Additionally, she would also have to get up to speed quickly on the inner workings of the league she would be unfamiliar with. However, perhaps Jones could also find the similar success Pauw found in Houston on her lone season, it would take the veterans on the Pride squad buying into a potential new system going into a World Cup year.  

Chance of Hire: Another time might work.

Pia Sundhage, Sweden U-17, U-15 Women’s National Team Head Coach

The name of Pia Sundhage should be very familiar with women’s soccer fans either with her tenure as coach for the United States women’s national team from 2007 until 2012 winning Olympic gold in 2008 and 2012. She departed to become the coach for the women’s team in her home country of Sweden. During her time there, she is best known for leading Sweden to a silver medal at the 2016 Olympics where Sundhage’s team was able to knockout the U.S. team in penalty shoot-out. The defensive style of play was called out by Hope Solo after the match, and things got weird. Sweden was able to take out the Brazilian team next in the same manner. Interestingly, against Sweden in the penalty shoot-out both Alex Morgan and Marta missed their kick.

After she stepped down as manager of the senior team in 2017, she’s been coaching the Swedish U-15 and U-17 teams. In addition to coaching, Pia performs public speaking, and seems to be settled in her life. However, last year there was a report in the now defunct Excelle Sports stating Sundhage was courted to come back to the United States to coach in the NWSL. Now this didn’t happen, but could the Orlando front office entice her to the Sunshine State?

Chance of Hire: More hope and a prayer than wait and see.

Emma Hayes, Chelsea F.C. Women Head Coach

Emma Hayes has been in charge of Chelsea F.C. Women since 2012 where she lead her club to two Women’s Super League titles, and two Women’s FA Cups achieving a club double each time in 2015 then in the 2017-18 season. Prior to her time with Chelsea, Hayes lived in the States where she coached the Chicago Red Stars for two season in Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS), the league at the time which preceded the NWSL, in 2009 and 2010. Prior to Phil Neville’s appointment as manager of English women’s national team, she had been a name rumored to be high on the Football Association wish list.

Hayes established herself as a highly desirable coach with her stellar reputation, and proven results has also allowed her to set down firm roots in London. She operates a business outside of soccer, and also had a child. Chelsea has been accommodating to her needs, and schedule. She would make an excellent coach to any NWSL side; however, with her life so well formed in England, is there much of a draw to coach in America?

Chance of Hire: Apologies, but I can’t make it.

Emily Lima, Santos F.C Head Coach

Emily Lima, the current head coach for Brazilian side Santos F.C., made history when she was the first female appointed coach of the Brazilian women’s national team in 2016 taking over for Vadão; however, her 7-5-1 record lead to her dismissal less than a year from her appointment. When Lima was let go, several of the players retired from the national team, and protested the level of support from the Brazilian soccer federation. Coach Lima afterward joined Santos F.C. where just after one year she lead the team to the Paulista Feminino championship and a quarterfinal appearance in the women’s Brazilian Championship.

For anyone familiar with the Orlando Pride front office, Coach Lima checks a lot of boxes. She would be familiar with several of the players on the roster, her recent success at the club level is also appealing, and the style of play she would bring to the City Beautiful could be the answer to the poor performance from the roster in 2018. Could a limited English speaking ability hamper what could be a promising prospect?

Chance of Hire: Could the stars align?

Lisa Cole, Washington Spirit Academy Coach & pro team scout

Lisa Cole had an eventful 2018 NWSL season. She started by joining the coaching staff of Vera Pauw at the Houston Dash from the Papua New Guinea U-20 Women’s National Team in January, but on April 26, Cole would tweet she was no longer a part of the Dash coaching staff. A month later, the Washington Spirit would announce her in a dual role as a coach for their academy; as well as, a pro team scout.

Being a scout for the Spirit, Coach Cole is knowledgeable on both the college game and within the league on the level of talent with players. She would also have some familiarity with players on the Pride roster; as well as, the opponents the team would face in the upcoming season. The question would be if Lisa Cole is a name the front office and fanbase would get excited over. The club tends to like to make a big splashy acquisitions, so not sure if Cole would be on the club’s radar, and if she is if they would prefer a flashier name.

Chance of Hire: Never tell me the odds.

The Orlando Pride have yet to announce who will lead the team going into the 2019 season, but the fan base is certainly hoping to return to the playoffs after the dismal tailspin resulted in the seventh place finish in the standings. Here’s hoping the club provides an opportunity to a highly-qualified coach with experience in the women’s game, expertise handling big name players; as well as, player development. We’ll be knowing something shortly if the hints prove to be right.

Problems With the Pride: Don’t Put It All On Tom Sermanni

Posted on by RJ Allen

When the Orlando Pride were announced in the team’s introductory press conference by the fountain of Lake Eola which is the basis for the team logo, Tom Sermanni was named the first head coach in team history. Since being appointed as gaffer he’s gone on to a 25-26-14 overall record. His tactical vision was able to turn a struggling squad year one into a playoff contender by year two. Granted, the front office was able to sign Marta–one of the greatest players in the game–and her inclusion sparked a potent attack, along with the return of Alex Morgan from an overseas stint in France.

Fast forward to year three of the club’s existence: the path to the playoffs is a bit bumpier, and the offense averaging 1.38 goals per game down from 1.89 the team produced last season. The impatient fan base has started to wonder if Sermanni, who earned a contract extension last season, is the right person to lead the team. Concerns have been raised about tactics, substitutions, and motivation of players down the final stretch of the season.

Recent poor home showings against last place Sky Blue FC and the Portland Thorns have turned the final four matches of the season into must win affairs. But while these performances weren’t great, it is a little too easy to put the blame for disappointing results on the coach.  American fan culture tends to focus on national team players and big name internationals, with some super fans who focus most of their attention on a specific player rather than her team. In this ecosystem, complaints about coaches are common, but few ever put the blame on the players.

Addressing this idea, Sermanni commented, “I know that we’ve got a whole lot of perceived star players, but to be honest, the second half was abysmal in every regard. I’m lost…Our lack of willingness to actually just simply defend is just so poor. And then we go in their malaise where nobody seems to be able to get the team, pick them up and get us back in the game. To be honest, for most of that second-half performance, I apologize to the crowd for coming and keep supporting us because our team on the field didn’t deserve that support in the second half. It was extremely poor.”

Yes, the gaffer is ultimately responsible for results, but we shouldn’t let that absolve players from accountability for mental mistakes and loss of focus. When the players follow the direction of Sermanni and stick with the plan, the team is successful. As team captain Ashlyn Harris said after the Thorns match: “I think the first half we were really committed to the game plan and our commitment to go forward and our commitment to defend was some of the best that I’d ever seen. Unfortunate part about the game is, if you don’t produce and you don’t put chances away, this is what happens. We had them by the throat probably the first 10 minutes and we just didn’t capitalize and as we let the game wear on and wear on and wear on, the momentum clearly shifts. We had one lack of concentration and it cost us the game. We just mentally crumbled.”

The major problem for the Pride this campaign has been lack of consistency more than any true structural issue. In Sermanni’s words, “I would love to be able to say it’s this, or it’s this, or it’s this, it’s either individual lapses where we suddenly get caught out, it’s ball watching when we’ve got the ball and then suddenly we get caught on the counter attacks, or we’re dominating games and we’re just not ruthless enough to put chances away.”

He continued his message a different match, “Déjà I’m saying similar things every week. We started out terrific first 15, 20 minutes, probably searching into the first 30 minutes. I thought we dictated the game, the tempo was good, our attacking was good, movement was good. But then we don’t score. You dominate and dominate in games and you don’t score.”

Frustration and pressure continue to mount for the Pride, and Sermanni has to bear some responsibility. The question is why the players are unable to consistently meet expectations. With calls for his dismissal floating out there right alongside #InTomWeTrust, there’s clearly a lot of theories. But it’s too simplistic to put it all back on the coach. He’s not on the pitch kicking the ball around or defending the opposing team’s striker. He comes up with the game plan and picks the best players to execute this for 90 minutes. But at the end of the day, the players themselves have to go out and earn the results.

Forecast for the Orlando Pride: Gray Skies Ahead

Posted on by RJ Allen

The Orlando Pride started its three-match homestand with a frustrating draw with the Seattle Reign. Both teams were missing key players this match due to national team duty: Alex Morgan and Ashlyn Harris for Orlando, and Megan Rapinoe and Allie Long for Seattle. The hosts may rue this performance which saw 17 fouls called against them versus four on the visitors while being out-shot, out-possessed, and out-passed. Now Coach Tom Sermanni will need to prepare his squad for Orlando’s next match on August 5 against Sky Blue FC.

After all the league results, the Pride sit in fourth surrounded by teams with a game in hand. Realistically, Orlando has a favorable schedule with three of the last five at home and squaring off twice with winless Sky Blue. Statistical prediction website, FiveThirtyEight puts the Pride’s chances of making the playoffs at 63% favored in both matches against Sky Blue, as well as the Chicago match. Orlando tallied 40 points in the 2017 season, and if the Pride want to match that the team will have to find a way to earn 11 more points. Additionally, if Orlando wants to host a playoff game, Sermanni’s side will need to hope teams like Utah, Houston, and Chicago play spoiler to keep the Reign within reach. This series of fortunate events doesn’t appear likely as I predict Seattle will finish the regular season with 41 by capturing 11 points from six matches.

Tied in points with the Pride at 29 are the Portland Thorns, who hold the tiebreaker due to goal differential. While Portland face several challenging matches, visiting North Carolina and Orlando, the Thorns also host Sky Blue and Chicago and can earn a result against the Washington Spirit and Seattle. Based on the schedule, the standings will continue the trend of teams being tightly packed. I expect the Thorns to come away with 11 points by the end of the season and end with 40 points.

One point behind Orlando sit the Chicago Red Stars with 28 points. The Red Stars have the hardest road to the playoffs. Chicago will host Sky Blue, but afterward face the Courage, Reign, Thorns, and Pride while closing the season against the Royals. Fans of Chicago will say the team playing teams currently ahead of them in the standings can be six-point swing matches because the Red Stars will be able to close the gap to make the playoffs. I don’t hold the same faith as Chicago supporters. I predict the Chicago Red Stars finish with 33 points after only adding five points the rest of the way.

The gridlock in the standings will remain that way. On the outside looking in will be the first year side, Utah Royals finishing with 34 points, and the Houston Dash, who were the bane of the Orlando Pride under first-year coach Vera Pauw, with 33 points. Both teams may be disappointed not to make the playoffs, but in actuality should be commended as each team had its share of injuries to key players they couldn’t completely overcome. Laura Harvey’s side will look back at the numerous times it drew an opponent, while Houston’s slow start this year was what ultimately doomed the squad’s playoff hopes. 

An area of concern for the Pride has to be the offense which has been missing in 2018; the flow of the offense has been choppy and inconsistent. If the team can match the 12 goals from last season in the last stretch, it would only manage 39 goals.  As Coach Sermanni stated after the home match versus Seattle, “What we haven’t done well enough this year is actually finish the chances and finish them when we’ve been on top of the game. So, I think that probably is as much to blame as anything.”

Ultimately, the Orlando Pride will not equal last season’s point total falling short with 37 points, but still good enough for a fourth place finish. However, it’s worth noting the Pride have missed opportunities at home where the only way to match last year’s win total of six at Orlando City Stadium is by winning out against Sky Blue, Portland, and Chicago. In 2017, the Pride scored 12 goals in its last five games finishing up with 45 goals and a +14 goal differential. Orlando is a flawed team trying to make playoffs again, and the home stretch is going to be nerve wrecking for the Pride. The best outcome I can see at the end of the season is a trip to North Carolina for the first round playoffs. Brace yourselves.  

Q&A: Orlando Boss Tom Sermanni Talks W-League, Salary Caps, and Beating Portland

Posted on by RJ Allen

The Orlando Pride off-season has been anything but conventional. The team made the most out of a third-round pick, while trading away popular mainstays like Steph Catley and Jasmyne Spencer to add additional pieces. The team also bypassed the Boston Breakers dispersal draft to bring Sydney Leroux to town—all while they once again dealt away their 2019 draft picks. We spoke with Coach Tom Sermanni shortly after the Leroux trade was announced to catch up on all the goings-on with Orlando.

Backline: Tom, you started your offseason by heading overseas to the UK. Can you talk a little bit about what your intent was when you went over there?

Tom Sermanni: It was a couple of things. We don’t always get a chance to see live other leagues in the world and see what’s happening, what the standards are like—what the quality of the soccer is like, and what the style of the soccer is like. So part of it was an observation on the game in England, and the second thing was to look at players. Look and see if some player caught the eye or may be below the radar. A little bit of scouting involved in it, and a little bit of information-gathering.

BS: How would you compare the style of play in the FA WSL to the NWSL?

TS: I think our league is far more robust, physical, quick, and competitive. The English league, I was quite impressed with the style of soccer some of the teams try to play. The tempo was different and slower than the tempo that we play at. The only kind of exception I saw to that was when I saw Chelsea against Rosengård in the Champions League, and that was a real proper NWSL-type game. The teams, the organization is good. The players are much more aware of their job, much more disciplined, and generally the standard, I think across the board in the women’s game, continues to increase. I think the edge we’ve got here is there’s such a competitiveness in our league that you don’t get in other leagues at this stage.

BS: So in the trip to the UK, were you seriously considering a specific player there, or was it more a matter of gathering a list of names to consider in the future?

TS: Yeah, it’s probably more of that. I thought it would be a long shot to go there and get somebody and have them back for this season. Simply because contractually, those players are tied up to at least the end of the season, which is in June, and you’re not going to get them out of their contracts early in most occasions. Secondly, the kind of player we are looking at and want to bring here are obviously the better players, so they are in even more demand. It was more gathering information, and also having a look at players that become available and [we] could be interested in.

BS: You ended up traveling down to Australia for quite a bit of time to the W-league. Can you talk a little bit about the time you spent down there?

TS: Part of it was to see my wife, because my wife is living and working down in Australia. And again, it was also partly to look around the league and see what’s out there, what players are coming through, because in reality, I’ve been away from Australia now for six years. So you lose touch with the base of knowledge I naturally had there when I was the coach. It was good just to go back there to see some of the players that may be coming through the system, but weren’t around when I was there. I think it was great to catch up with our players. You know if you’re a player and you’re playing away, halfway around the world, it’s always handy to see a friendly face. So it was good to catch up with our [Orlando] players, as well. And again, part of it was to see how the league is going, what the standards are like.

BS: You obviously had a hand in the formation of the W-league. How would you describe the play now versus when it first started?

TS: I think there’s been significant progress made in a lot of areas. I think the playing level has gotten better. I think part of that is because of the relationship between the NWSL and the W-League. There’s probably 20 to 25 NWSL players down there, and what’s happening, over the last three or four years is that the teams down there, like all teams, learn from their mistakes. Teams down there have got their scouting of the NWSL players to a very good level now, so they’ve got some consistency and continuity bringing those players down there, and those have helped raise the standards in the league.

Coming from what I see now, one of the big advantages was to give the domestic players a chance to play in a national competition, and we’re seeing more and more young players getting opportunities to play at a senior level, and that’s continuing to develop the league. Basically, when we started, apart from national team players that were under contract, players weren’t getting paid to play in the league. There’s now a salary cap. There’s now a minimum wage. The minimum wage at the moment is 10,000 AUD [Ed. note: roughly $7,930], and that’s going up next year—which is great when you consider the number of younger players in there, and the fact that you only play 14 games. They’ve got a players’ agreement in there now [Ed. note: Tom is referring to the CBA struck between the players’ union and the league ahead of the 2017-2018 season] which is a huge step forward.

A third thing which is interesting is the number of double-headers with the men’s teams. The women’s game is on first, and literally as soon as the final whistle goes in the women’s game, the men’s teams are on to do the warm-up, get ready, and start their game. When we started the league, if we wanted a double-header, the A-league teams wanted the game to finish two hours before the A-league game started, so there was no point in a double-header. Now, it’s two games back-to-back. That’s a huge step forward, and also means that W-league teams are playing in very good stadiums almost every week.

There’s still a ways, resources are tight, there’s not a lot of money in the league, but when you step back to look to where we started it, and those days ten years ago, they’ve stepped on quite significantly.

BS: Would you say that the W-League style is similar to the NWSL, or is it its own style?

TS: No, it’s a bit more of its own style. It’s not quite as direct. It’s not as fast. Teams will tend to play a little bit more build-up kind of play. So the style is a little bit different.

BS: Let’s change gears and touch a little bit on the draft. You drafted Nadia Gomes. She’s has a lot of pace, is able to play a couple of different spots on the pitch. Are you keen to put her in the back, or are you wanting to see how she is in camp before you make any kind of decision?

TS: We don’t have any preconceptions about where we see her play, to be honest. We just like the qualities that we saw. We thought Nadia would go a lot earlier than when she did, so we didn’t have much hope of getting her. That was a pleasant surprise that she was still there. I think she’s got, from what we’ve seen in her video, the type of qualities that will fit in well with our team and also fit in well with the NWSL. And that is that flexibility, we feel she’ll end up playing several positions. We feel she’s got the pace and ability to cope in this league. That’s very important in the next competition, and she’s got the added advantage of being left-sided. She’s got a lot of promise and a lot of things we liked about her.

BS: Let’s talk a little bit about Boston. The club didn’t spend a lot of time on Breaker players for the dispersal draft. At what point did you make the decision to trade away your spots in that draft?

TS: I think it was about five minutes before the deadline (laughter). No, no. It just came about with some other pieces. With having to pick eighth and 11th, we weren’t quite sure what players we were going to get, and where players were going to get picked. We had been negotiating to bring Syd Leroux here, and that was one of the pieces we wanted to finalize. So trading those spots from Boston gave us that ability to make that trade, and we felt that was more important for us and the team we’re putting together. We’re really happy with the core of the team that we’ve got, and we just wanted to add a couple of players. So it made sense to get a deal done that we wanted to get done as opposed to go through the luxury of the Boston players we may have wanted.

BS: Let’s talk a little bit more on Sydney Leroux. How do you think she improves the squad overall?

TS: She’s a quality player first and foremost. What I think she brings to the team is that extra physical presence that I think we lacked a wee bit. We find is that it is a very physical league, and I think a lot of time last year, we felt we were playing in games, and we were the better side, and played the better soccer—but some of those times, we were muscled out a bit, and so I think what Syd brings is a physical presence that compliments what we’ve got vying for those positions. I think she’s coming into the prime of her career. I think she’s got an extra incentive now with having a little one. She’s now no longer an allocated national team player, so she’s got an added incentive of trying to get back to the national team.

Her and Alex have played a long time together and have a great relationship and partnership both on the field and off the field, and then you put Marta into that mix, and you’ve got a really highly potent strike force. I think just her personality around the team, around the squad, and in the town and in the community is another big attribute.

BS: You mention allocated players. Going back to the January camp for the national team, were you surprised that Ali Krieger didn’t get called, or do you have a comment on that?

TS: I mean, I’m disappointed for Ali because she had an outstanding season for us last year. Arguably our most consistent player, played every minute of every game, so I’m disappointed for Ali.

I don’t like to make comments on selections because I know what it’s like as a coach. You have to pick players, and sometimes you pick players, and sometimes you don’t. It’s not appropriate for me to comment on players other coaches select, whether that’s on the national team or whether it’s players Rory starts in Chicago or Laura at [Utah] or wherever.

So from our perspective, we’re obviously disappointed for Ali, but she’s a great professional, a great player for our team, and you never know, things can change in soccer. I’m confident that she’ll have another stellar season, and perhaps another opportunity in the national team.

BS: Now, is there any concern in the club from an allocation status perspective—that with fewer allocated players, you might be running up against the salary cap?

TS: Yes (laughter). I mean, it’s a really difficult job, you know, getting below the salary cap when suddenly this happens. The minimum wage goes up—as it should—and then we had a successful year last year, so you have to try and reward players, particularly ones that are on lower contracts, and then suddenly you get hit with this. I don’t know about other clubs, so I can only speak for our club, but it’s very hard to manage under the salary cap.

I think another thing the salary cap potentially does is put the league at a disadvantage, because it’s hard to compete out there in this market for the quality players. The women’s game is different than the men’s game, because we are competing with the best leagues in the world and trying to get the best players in the world here. Trying to do that with the salary cap is a challenge.

BS: Is there anything that you can share about the players not under contract—Alanna Kennedy and Chioma Ubogagu?

TS: We’re very close to concluding contracts with them, and we’re confident both of them will be with the team at the start of the season [Ed. note: the club confirmed that Carson Pickett, who Orlando acquired from Seattle in January, is under contract].

BS: Let’s talk a little bit about Rachel Hill. How do you think she’s developed over in the W-League? With the addition of Syd, tactically, where would you say Rachel will be playing? Perhaps in the midfield, taking up the role Camila did for the team last year?

TS: I think she’s a different player to Camila. I think Rachel will be someone who can play in a wider role. I think she can play anywhere across that front line, and she can probably play in a slightly more defensive position in a wide area. I don’t see her as a center-of-the-park type of player in midfield. Camila is a little bit different because apart from center back and goalkeeper, Camila can play anywhere. She’s a different type of player from Rachel. I think we just want to see her continue to develop. Like any squad, the aim of the squad is to continually get stronger and stronger, which means there’s more competition in the squad, better quality in the squad, and obviously with the signings, we’ve done that.

BS: So with the players you have and the pieces you’ve added, do you anticipate a tactical change in formation or do you feel you can keep the shape that you had?

TS: We have completely open thoughts on that. As a coach, I don’t say, “we play 4-3-3,” and set the players in that system, or “we play 4-4-2.” What we want to do is take the strengths that we’ve got and have flexibility about whether we play a 4-4-2, or three center backs, or whatever. So we really have an open mind, and probably find is that something organically will happen that will decide how we play, and it could be during the season.

BS: Going into the season, obviously, you made the playoffs last year, and the plan is always going to be to at least equal the result that you did for the season. As part of the goals for the season, will you perhaps include finally beating Portland?

TS: (Laughter) That’s a great point! That’s something we want to do. We kind of want to get that monkey off our backs. I think all of our games with Portland have been tight games. When I look back at that very first inaugural game [in 2016], where we lost 2-1 to Portland, it was a game I felt we probably should have won, to be honest, but what we haven’t been able to do to Portland is actually get in front—we’ve always been chasing the game, and hopefully that will change because I think they’re the only team we haven’t had a positive result against [Ed. note: Orlando took a point from Portland at home last year]. So the answer is yes, we do want to beat them.

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We wish Coach Sermanni the best of luck as his team comes together. Orlando added Brazilian defender Poliana to the team this week, and as Sermanni continues looking to improve his side, keep an eye out for further offseason moves from the team.

Who May Tom Sermanni be Looking to Lure to Orlando?

Posted on by RJ Allen

The National Women’s Soccer League off-season is in full swing, and it’s been lit. While teams around the league have hired a new manager, rebranded, or re-signed players for the next season, things on the Orlando Pride side have been fairly quiet. The team has several players using the off-season as an opportunity to play overseas. Monica is playing in Spain while Aubrey Bledsoe, Steph Catley, Rachel Hill, Alanna Kennedy, and Toni Pressley are down in Australia.

However, it’s not just six members of the roster crossing the globe–or as I like to say “Where in the World is Tom Sermanni?”–because the gaffer for the Pride has been racking up some frequent flyer miles scouting for players to bring to the City Beautiful. Here is the list of matches Sermanni took in while he was in the United Kingdom according to his Twitter account:

October 29: Man City vs Birmingham City

November 4: Chelsea vs Bristol City

November 8: Chelsea vs FC Rosengard

November 11: Liverpool Ladies vs Birmingham City

November 12: Chelsea vs Reading Women FC

A quick observation shows the Orlando Pride manager went to three Chelsea matches and two matches for Birmingham City which more likely means some of the players on those rosters were his intended scouting targets. Nonetheless, there’s always a chance a player on an opposite side played well enough to catch Coach Sermanni’s eye and make his shortlist.

Let me save you time, fair readers, by saying Crystal Dunn is not on this list. Also, let’s quickly recap the Pride’s international roster spots which currently for 2018 will be five spots. As of this writing, those positions will be filled by Marta, Monica, Camila, Catley, and Kennedy. The decision the club will have to decide is if Camila will be placed on the season-ending injury list as she recovers from her knee injury she suffered the last match of the season against the North Carolina Courage. By placing her on that list, the league would allow roster relief where Orlando could bring in an international replacement player since Camila is an international player. Additionally, with Steph Catley and Alanna Kennedy out of contract, it’s not a guarantee both players will decide to return to Orlando. Sermanni places great value on international spots, and it’s also not beyond the realm of possibility if Orlando ends up trading for another international spot.

On predictions sure to be wrong, I once again don on my soothsayer’s hat and present a list of potential players Coach Sermanni could have been scouting.

Meaghan Sargeant: Birmingham City  –  Defender

The 23-year-old defender has been playing for Birmingham City since 2014. Known for her versatility, she can play across the backline as well as in the defensive midfield. The Sheffield native has represented England most recently at the U-23 level. During her match against Manchester City, she was wide on the right side of the pitch, but after going down one player, Sargeant moved to a center back position. On the second match Sermanni witnessed against Liverpool, her role was predominantly as a center back. She played the full 90 both times and has been a regular on the starting XI. Her last contract with the club was signed February 2016.

Drew Spence: Chelsea Ladies – Midfielder

Veteran midfielder Drew Spence displayed her skills while Sermanni was observing for two matches. Known for her passing ability in the midfield, she could become the facilitator in the Orlando offense, yet working on her improved defensive capability would allow Spence to distribute the ball from the backline. Her physicality could be exactly what the Pride could use to counter other teams efforts to slow the Orlando attack. Turning 25 this year, Spence signed a one-year contract this past September allowing her to stay with Chelsea, a team she’s been with since 2008. On the international stage, Spence has limited appearances with England’s senior team.

Bethany England: Liverpool Ladies – Midfielder

Beth England arrived this season to Liverpool via a season-long loan from Chelsea. Prior to being shipped to Liverpool, the 23-year-old from Barnsley, England had signed a contract extension which runs to 2019. England is an attacking midfielder who could potentially fit into the role vacated by Camila as she heals from her knee injury. She has represented her national team at the U-19 and U-23 sides.   

Ella Masar McLeod: FC Rosengård – Defender

Ella Masar McLeod is no stranger to the NWSL. She last played for the Houston Dash in 2015, and as a proven veteran who knows the league could certainly be appealing to Coach Sermanni. An added twist for Masar is her desire to play for the Canadian national team alongside her spouse Canadian goalkeeper Erin McLeod. Unlike most players, the opportunity to return to the league for both players ideally in the same city is going to factor into any decision Masar will make. As for interest from the Pride, Ella Masar McLeod would add an experienced fullback who can also join the potent Orlando attack. Additionally, she played with Marta and could integrate into the squad.

Hayley Ladd: Birmingham City – Midfielder

Another option from the Birmingham City side for the Pride is 24-year-old defensive midfielder from Wales. Ladd joined Birmingham City from Bristol City this past September where she signed a two-year deal. Even though she’s a defensive-minded player, Ladd also is not afraid to join the attack at times, having scored once this WSL 1 season. Recently for her national team, she scored the match-winning goal against Kazakhstan from a free kick during the latest round of Women’s World Cup 2019 qualifying in November. If Tom Sermanni could work out a way to get Ladd in Orlando, she could be the physical presence the Pride are looking to add for the next season.  

Rachel Furness: Reading FC – Midfielder

Current North Ireland Player of the Year, Rachel Furness, could step into the Orlando Pride midfield to reinforce the spine of the squad. Furness, 29, has the talent to replace Camila while she is in recovery. Furness is a key part of the offense creating opportunities for herself as well as for her attacking teammates. Her contract with Reading runs through June 2018, but perhaps if Sermanni can work his magic she could find herself wearing purple in NWSL.

Prior to the end of the regular season, Tom Sermanni stated he would be focusing on finding international talent to bring over to strengthen the Orlando Pride for the upcoming season. He may not succeed in recruiting from the trip to the U.K., but the club and the coach were very much serious in being ambitious even with the limited amount of international roster spots.   

A Conversation with Orlando Pride Coach Tom Sermanni

Posted on by RJ Allen

It’s been a long road for Orlando Pride Head Coach Tom Sermanni. The 2016 season of the Nation Women’s Soccer League brought many challenges to Sermanni’s side as they finished ninth in the table for their inaugural campaign. The start of the 2017 looked to bring more of the same for Orlando, but the gaffer was able to ride out only one win in the first seven matches, and eventually guide his team to a playoff spot, a first for an expansion team in the league.

With the regular season coming to a close, and the post season on the horizon, Coach Sermanni was kind enough to speak with me after the home match versus the Portland Thorns. The Pride had just earned its first point ever against Portland, so I took the opportunity to talk football with Coach.

Backline Soccer (BS): So Tom, the season is coming to an end you’re hoping to go into the playoffs, how much time have you spent thinking about the draft and into next year?

Tom Sermanni (TS): Not, honest, not a lot of time on the draft because at this time we only have a third round draft pick, so it really, that’s not…unless we do some trading, and that’s not really a major priority for us. To be honest, but we already for several weeks now started to–

At this point, Coach Sermanni took the time to greet Thorns defender Meghan Klingenberg who was a player for him in his time as manager of the United States women’s national team. He wished her well, and his face reflected his genuine feelings for her. Without missing a beat, Tom picked up where he had left off.

TS: So, it’s about looking at where we need to strengthen the team; we need to work out what we’ve done. What I think we’ve done very successfully is bring in good international players. We need to look at how many international spots we got next year, and where we can strengthen from there. One of the difficulties we’ve had coming in as a new team is to be able to get good quality domestic players, because teams don’t give them up. When you come in as a new team it’s hard to do that, so we’ve had to look at the international market and be creative in other areas. So obviously, the international market is something we need to look at.

BS: Any other options?

TS: The other one is looking at players– U.S. players, who perhaps have gone overseas to play and want to come back to the league. So we kind of cast the net out there. We got some names that we want to talk to, and hopefully chip away and strengthen (the team).   

BS: How did you improve the team between last season to this year?

TS: I think what we’ve done is made significant progress with the strength of the squad this year. Obviously, it was the management that brought Marta, but we brought five other players in here. I think if you include Marta, we brought in six very good players who have contributed, so we got the bases of a very good squad. So it’s now a case of just adding little bits and pieces to the structure that’s in place.

BS: So this season for the league there’s been a bit of turnover for the coaches, what are your thoughts on that. For a coach, most of the time your last day is going to be a bad one.

TS: Yeah. (Tom once again pauses to have a quick exchange post match with players exiting the locker room, then without missing a beat picks right back.) It’s always disappointing when I see a coach lose a job because we’re all out there working hard. At the end of the day in any league, some teams have got to win and some teams have got to lose. It doesn’t mean just because your team is losing that you’re necessarily doing a bad job. You look at particularly the Sky Blue occasion, they were really still right in the frame to make the top four at that stage. I feel for coaches that lost their job during the season, and also in the women’s game there tends to be a little bit more stability, so I’m hoping that the status quo can be maintained a little bit better, and coaches are allowed to have time to build the teams.

BS: Now, do you think you’d want to see more female coaches come into the league or do you think it’s hard to find a quality female coach?

TS: Look, I think that’s a complex question. The simple answer is yeah, we need to see more and more females coming into the profession, and as the game continues to develop professionally then there’s a greater chance of that happening. What you have to do is build over time depth of coaches. When you go to a typical coaches course, there might be 40 guys and there might be two women. Out of the 40 guys, maybe only ten of those guys get jobs, so if you only have two women maybe none of them are getting jobs. So for me, it’s a bigger issue than just saying bringing women professional coaches in, it’s an issue where there needs to be more at the youth level, development level staying in the game, and working their way in the system. I think a lot of time, there’s what I call “talking-ism” which doesn’t do anybody any good, but see we want a woman for this job, so they put a woman in the job whether that’s the right fit for her or the right fit for the team. I’m ranting about this in a long winded way because this is something I do believe in strongly. We need to encourage more and more women to be in the women’s game, but there needs to be more then it goes to the top. Does that make sense?

BS: Yeah, it does.

TS: There’s a lot of players now that have been professional players for several years now for their career, and if they finish, stay in the game at the coaching level. That’s what you want to look at. The other reality is that coaching is a tough job. When I say it’s a tough job, it’s a job that is fickle. There’s no security. You don’t know what going to happen. The hours are unsociable, you’re on the job 24/7 which is still great. It’s just the reality of the job, and often when females leave the game they go on to start another life…for women when their career looks like it’s coming to an end, they often have to think about “Okay, where am I going to go to actually start making a living for all the money I’ve given up being a poorly paid professional.” So there’s a whole range of stuff around getting more women’s coaches. There needs to be a big effort to more so then you get more in NWSL.

BS: If you had to have another assistant or Coach Smith left, what qualifications would a female have to have for you to add her to the staff?

TS: No different to a male. It’d need to be someone that you think has good knowledge of the game. Who is able to relate to the players, is able to work in with the staff, same as it would be for a guy. It’s not different. Hopefully, it could be one of the senior players saying “Look, I’m looking at retiring. I’m interested in coming on in the coaching staff.” I would take them onto our coaching staff in a heartbeat, but you’re still looking at the same thing. You’re still have someone who’s going to be able to do the job or you think has potential to do the job.

BS: There’s been some international teams that have also sacked their managers. I know you’re good where you’re at, but any temptation or a thought of jumping back into the international game?

TS: Going back into the international game? I enjoyed my time in the international game. Apparently, I was 50 to one for the England job, so I need people to put on money, so my odds get a bit more respectable. I would never say no, but obviously…and I don’t know what my future lies here. My contract is up at the end of the season. I enjoy my job, I enjoy the club. We have the basis of a very good team. So if I’m fortunate enough to be here next year, hopefully we can continue to keep growing this team. But I never discount anything, to be honest, I don’t say no I never want to go back to an international job. What I would say, pardon me, if I was going back to an international job it would need to be somewhere where I felt there was a chance to do something as opposed to just a job. So it would need to be a program that you think has potential to grow or you feel that you can take it somewhere.

BS: It’s a real trick because you have several countries that may not support the women’s game or you have New Zealand for example where you don’t have a lot of time together as a squad, and so it becomes an issue.

TS: Yeah, those are hard. Those kind of jobs are probably better for younger coaches coming up through, trying to make their mark on a team. They have the energy, and that kind of stuff. Probably not so much for someone at my stage of my career. So certain jobs that would appeal to me if they came up and if I was without employment, but I’m not out there looking. I enjoyed bits of the international game. You got every program that you think you can take somewhere. When John Herdman went into Canada, it was a real web, but the potential was there. When I went to Australia, there was a potential to move into Asia, so you’re building stuff, so when you got those situations. Then it’s good. Sometimes as a coach, you need to get a job because you haven’t got a job. Sometimes, you’re lucky enough to be in a job where you feel you can make a mark, and take a team somewhere you can build something. Generically, lucky most of the time to have those jobs, and this (Orlando Pride head coach) is another one that’s kinda got those qualities.

BS: You’re a manager that likes to build. You’re done a great job building the Pride, second year contending, the developmental academy, is there anything that you’d like to see in the club structure that you’d like to improve on?

TS: There’s not a lot to be honest. You’re restricted here. You say developmental, and it would be great to have that development phase all the way through, we have the academy, we have the ECNL which is part of it. Unfortunately, the college system comes in the way, and that stops that development. You don’t have control over the destiny of those players both being able to keep them, and at a critical time you don’t have your hands-on development with them because they are at college for four year. It’s difficult to get the development underneath here. Hopefully as this club progresses and it gets bigger, is younger teams getting into the philosophy of how Orlando Pride plays. You want to see that continuity, and maybe at sometime, down the track but I don’t think it’s anytime soon you might end up with a reserve team.   

BS: Changing gears a little bit, in your opinion, why is not a women’s open cup in the United States, and what needs to happen to get that on?

TS: I think the major reason is first of all, the difficulty that everyone’s had to get a professional league established, and you can go off in a whole range of different ways because then you’re juggling too many balls there. What we got to do is, we have to get this league set up and established. I read an article recently not about expansion, but about getting the standards of the ten teams higher. I’ve talked about that until I’m blue in the face, and I’m 100% in favor of that. So what we need to do with these ten teams, I mean Orlando Pride is up there, Portland is up there,and there a couple of others, and there’s a drop off. We need to get that right. That is priority number one. Get that right, then you can start at looking at other things. You don’t just want to be piecemeal, we’ll have a U.S. Cup and things aren’t all over the place. So for me, get this league right. Get ten teams, get standards we need to set. Conditions for players, training arrangements, standard of grounds, get all that sorted, then start adding to it.

BS: Do you think it’s the responsibility of U.S. Soccer to do that for the league. It’s the federation’s responsibility to have an open cup. Even though the federation supports the league, doesn’t NWSL have to do it.

TS: It’s a balance to that, but ultimately the federation is a major decision-maker. And I think they have said and are trying to do the right things, but again it’s a balancing act. The teams in the league that started this league five years ago when nobody wanted to come near it. Either  individual owners and groups of owners have put their heart and soul and the money in there. Then like anything the league jumps with teams like ours coming into it. There’s an old saying a fleet is as fast as its slowest ship. You then have to start bringing up those teams to a better standard, and that’s part of the federation partly responsible, the league itself is partly responsible, and the owners are partly responsible to say “okay, we’re in this, a new bar has been set, and we need to get to that bar.”

BS: It’s been five years of existence with the league, you’re still talking about stabilizing the league. How many more year are we talking in those terms?

TS: You have to go back historically here. You look at the MLS (Major League Soccer), and I was here in 2001 and MLS was on its knees, and that was at six, seven years in. If it wasn’t for (Philip) Anschutz bankrolling four or five clubs. It was a real (feeling of) which way is this going to go. You can go back ten years, teams are still playing in rubbish fields. It’s only ten years ago. New York City (FC) playing in a postage stamp. It’s a balance of time, patience, vision, organization, and then having the foresight to get things in place. It’s a real balancing act to get it right, and you have to have a little bit of patience, and at the right times you have to get the right decisions to get the league chipping on and improving.

BS: So there’s no set timeline, but in your opinion if you’re going to put a number on it…

TS: A couple of years. I think the idea of MLS team (affiliating with an NWSL team) is a great idea because you already have structure in place, you have finance in place, knowledge in place, facilities, you have the whole thing. So for me, what I believe it’s something the federation is working hard on. I think if I’m an MLS club, I think it’s great to have an Orlando Pride as part of it. I think we add a lot to this club, if it’s done properly, and I think from a financial perspective if you do it right, it’s actually not a financial burden. It’s somewhere where you add value to the club, so I would like to see in the coming years if the smaller owners are struggling to make the investments they’re making then MLS clubs then step in and take over the teams. But and I’m very, very conscious of this, the guys that were in there putting the money in there when nobody else was interested. You need to value what they have done for this league.  

Route Two Soccer – Portland and Orlando Fight Out an Interesting 0-0 Draw

Posted on by RJ Allen

Portland showed how to defend against Orlando, without doing much to threaten on the other end

The Orlando Pride entered Saturday’s match against Portland on an offensive tear, winning five of their previous six games and scoring 17 goals in the process. But that high-flying attack ground to a halt against the Thorns and raised some questions about whether Orlando might be a bit of a ‘flat-track bully’ – beating up on their weaker opposition but struggling to break down tougher teams.

After all, Orlando’s five-game winning streak came against the teams currently ranked 10th, 6th, 9th, 7th, and 9th in the table. Meanwhile, against the other playoff teams, they’ve only managed a single win – and scored just six goals – in seven games.

Of course, this narrative may only be as strong as the current week’s results. And they could easily turn the tide next week. But there are some reasons to think that Orlando is uniquely likely to devastate weaker teams while struggling against more organized opposition. And the signs were all in clear evidence against Portland.

Orlando attack with lethal quickness

The hallmark of the Orlando attack is the speed of their assaults. The ball pings back and forth in the backline, while they wait for a chance to open. And when it does, they pounce. Marta is the orchestrator, finding pockets of space to receive the ball and quickly pass it along. Morgan is the tip of the spear driven through the opposition’s backline when she can rush onto the ball and bury her chances in the back of the net. And the supporting cast has done excellent work to facilitate this process. Camila has come into her own as a driving attacker. Ubogagu has finally found a role that allows her skill on the ball and quick touches to flourish. Weatherholt and Kennedy have done strong work as the water carriers who keep things afloat while the attacking four get themselves into position to spring an attack.

They have made a wonderful show of it over the past several months and done more than enough to earn their spot in the playoffs. But they, as yet, haven’t really shown that there’s much of a Plan B here.

Writing about Orlando back in May, I argued that they had turned a corner and looked ready to make a run up the table (for once, I got one right!). But I also noted that this progress was more a function of doubling down on a strength than it was about having solved their weaknesses. Put simply: Orlando doesn’t have much of a midfield.

Now, they’ve excelled in spite of that fact by moving the ball with lightning pace out of the back: sending balls over the top, or relying on Marta and Camila to pick out through-balls for the strikers to run onto. They are explosive in the attack, and it can simply be overwhelming if you lack team speed, or if your defensive unit is even slightly ragged. Leave five extra feet of space between the center backs and Morgan will slip right through and score before you have a chance to realize your mistake.

However, without a more diverse range of attacking options, you run the risk of good teams counteracting your strengths. And that’s exactly what we saw happen on Saturday.

Orlando needs space to run into; Deny them that space and the goals will dry up

Portland appear to have come into the match with a clear, and fairly simple, game plan: defend compactly and starve Orlando of the space they need to thrive.

That’s not an easy task. It depends on a comprehensive performance by the entire defensive unit. Defending deep can limit the danger from through-balls, but it also puts your back against the wall. One mistake in defensive positioning, one missed tackle, one poor clearance, and you could find yourself down a goal. But if the team is well drilled and the individual performers are up to the task, it can be stultifying.

In the center, Sonnett and Menges put on a clinic, consistently stepping up to clear away crosses and long balls up the middle. On the wings, Klingenberg and Reynolds worked hard to close down on wide attacks, not giving them time to pick out a pass, and ushering them into less dangerous positions.

Their midfield setup was also designed to facilitate this work. Portland is often quite fluid tactically, shifting freely from 4-3-3 to 4-5-1 to 5-4-1 and even stopping in a traditional old 4-4-2 in the middle sometimes. They shifted a bit less this week, with Sykes occasionally dropping back as an auxiliary fullback on the right, allowing them to set up a seven-woman backfield, as the back five combined with Long and Horan in the middle. The idea of dropping back is to put quick pressure on Orlando anytime they advance into the final third; not necessarily to win the ball but simply to disrupt and frustrate the Pride’s attack. Close down their passing lanes and you force them to either retreat or play a low percentage pass.

It’s a setup that demands a lot of the central midfielders, and to the extent that there was a problem, this is where it manifested. Allie Long has never really been a true holding mid, and some of the reasons for that were all-too-apparent here. She is a pretty good ball-winner but isn’t really a ‘holding’ midfielder, in the sense of managing space and providing a defensive shield. She overcommits to challenges, which is dangerous if she misses and lets the opponent behind her. But it’s even more dangerous when she connects. She drew one yellow and easily could have had two more. It’s the NWSL, where most refs operate on the principle ‘if the leg isn’t broken it wasn’t a booking,’ but even so, she was living on the edge. It was no surprise, therefore, that Parsons made a switch relatively early, bringing on Amandine Henry for Long in the 60th minute. The difference was immediate and noticeable. Presumably, Henry was being given a rest after a cross-continental flight to play for France. But if Portland and Orlando meet again, one would expect her to play the full 90 and bring a bit more calm and coherence to the role.

The final piece of the puzzle is physicality. As I have often noted, the NWSL is notable for the amount of rough play that goes uncalled. And Portland certainly counted on that. They aren’t an especially physical team, but they did their best to act like one in this game. With a pliant referee, they were able to get pretty stuck in and make things exceptionally difficult for Orlando. Morgan, in particular, seemed to get increasingly (and understandably) frustrated with the physical play, which disrupted her touch and movement.

All in all, it was a nice bit of tactical suppression. Coach Mark Parsons deserves credit for identifying Orlando’s weakness and moving to exploit it. And his players deserve a lot of credit for executing the plan well. The center backs and Franch in goal deserve special plaudits for their quick reactions and careful attention to the Pride strikers.

And this has been a theme all year for Portland, who have secured a home playoff berth primarily on their ability to kill off games and frustrate the opposition. That’s certainly not what I expected going into the season, but it’s been interesting watching them adapt and manage games in this way.

Orlando needs a Plan B

The Pride have some devastating offensive pieces, but it’s possible that they aren’t quite the unstoppable force they seemed to be a couple weeks ago. This is a team built primarily around movement off the ball and use of open space. Deny them that space and they look far more human.

Portland, despite a lot of physical proximity to the goal, without the space in which to move quickly, they found little joy, often resorting to shots from distance or poor angles. All in all, they managed to get off 14 shots, but only two that were on target.

The problem is that they simply don’t have the resources to build attacks through intricate passing in tight spaces. Marta is, of course, one of the all-time greats under those conditions, and Ubogagu has her moments. But there isn’t much else. And with a limited set of options, the defense can over-commit to shepherding those players away from dangerous positions. As the saying goes: “you can’t stop Marta; you can only hope to contain her.” But without additional outlets to build intricate triangles around the defense, ‘containment’ will often be enough to get the job done.

We’ve seen a couple modest efforts at unlocking this problem, none of which have been developed fully enough to really work. First, you can push wide and send in crosses. The problem here is that Orlando isn’t particularly good in the air, and Portland (really) is. Second, you can shoot from distance and force them to come out to close you down. But this is problematic too because Orlando doesn’t have much in the way of good long shots, with Camila being the major exception. Third, you can turn defense into offense, pressing aggressively in your opponent’s half. Win the ball there, and you’ll have precisely the space that you were looking for.

This final approach was the most successful. For the opening 20-25 minutes, Orlando was pressing high and making things very difficult for Portland. This has been a consistent problem for the Thorns all season. It’s not entirely clear why they are still so listless playing out from the back, but it’s certainly an opportunity to be exploited. However, that sort of high press is exhausting, particularly in the Orlando afternoon sun. And it’s also dangerous. Orlando has made a lot of progress defensively from the early season problems, but that’s largely due to solidifying the shield in front of the backline. Press high and you risk opening up gaps there. Give a player like Sinclair space to operate, and you risk being hoist on your own petard. A quick outlet to Raso or Nadim could turn a broken press into a goal conceded in mere seconds.

Orlando have a very good team and will be very interesting to watch in the playoffs. But if they want to win the title, they would do well to think about how they will pierce this sort of deep defensive wall. After all, the three teams left for them to think about are far stronger defensively than the opponents they have been battering in recent weeks. A viable Plan B would go a long way toward making their dreams of winning a championship become reality.

The Unused Sub: The Home Stretch

Posted on by RJ Allen

THE TABLE IS SILLY, THE SEASON IS SILLY
Turnabout is fair play in the NWSL. Seattle beats Sky Blue in a bonkers 5-4 match because of a stoppage time winner, Sky Blue beats Seattle in a bonkers 5-4 match with a goal in stoppage time too. Look, can we just agree now that all regular season matches between the two just be scoreless draws in 2018? It will save a lot of aggravation for everyone, physically and mentally.

And yes I still miss the sharp-dressed man, Christy Holly.

Looking at every team’s position over the course of the season, a couple thoughts.

That moment in the sun where the Houston Dash were in first place. Also let’s pour some out for Boston Breakers and their two-week run of being in the top four.

No surprise that Seattle and Sky Blue have been hanging around the 4 to 6 neighborhoods all season long. That final spot in the playoffs is going to come down to the final week, I think so buckle the hell up for one crazy ride.

If the Chicago Red Stars keep this fall and finish level on points with Seattle, they are going to rue that midweek loss against Seattle. They should have closed the game out and for Seattle, if they get into the playoffs, that milestone win against Chicago is going to look back as the win that saved their season.

It’s spectacular that Orlando spent a month at the bottom, have been subpar for most of the season and are right in the mix for playoff spot. I can certainly understand why Tom Sermanni has a good case for Coach of the Year considerations.

WEEK 18 PREDICTIONS
Bottom line for this weekend’s predictions: nothing will get settled as far as painting a clearer picture of who is joining the North Carolina Courage in the NWSL Playoffs.

FC Kansas City OVER Orlando Pride.

The Fightin’ Vlatkos will continue their hot streak and jack up the road to the playoffs to make everyone think louder and stronger, “HMMM…. Could they?!”

Seattle Reign FC and Portland Thorns play to a DRAW.

A win gives either team their 50th in league history. Seattle needs it more than Portland does. For one weekend, both Seattle and Portland soccer teams on the NWSL and MLS will be in Seattle for big ol’ derpy rivalry weekend and yeah, the ladies will play to a draw. Seattle Reign FC fans will continue to live in anxiety as to if this team can claim a playoff spot with four games left to go.

Washington Spirit and Chicago Red Stars play to a DRAW.

Spirit get the lead and will carry the lead long enough to make us think yep Chicago is falling off the cliff but then will get some stoppage time equalizer and we’ll all go ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Boston Breakers OVER Sky Blue FC.

I hilariously called it right the first time at the start of the season and I’ll stick my neck out and say the Breakers do it again.

And honestly, with the forecast of Hurricane Harvey hitting land around Friday or Saturday, it’s probably fair to wonder if Houston Dash versus North Carolina Courage will even happen. Yes, the game is scheduled for Sunday. It’s hard to say at the time of writing this what the result of that match will be because we may not even get a match on Sunday. So for now, Houston Dash versus North Carolina Courage gets a ¯_(ツ)_/¯ prediction from me.

And here’s your tunes to send you into the weekend.

Song: “Shot At The Night” | Artist: The Killers

Route Two Soccer – Orlando is Making Progress

Posted on by RJ Allen

When the news came on Monday that Houston and Randy Waldrum had parted ways, it felt like a logical move. The calls for his dismissal had grown louder (including a long Twitter rant from yours truly last week), and it was increasingly hard to see a path forward for the team under Waldrum.

The question now is whether any of the other NWSL stragglers might soon find themselves in the same position. And the name that tends to dominate those conversations is Tom Sermanni. Like Houston, Orlando is an expansion team. And like Waldrum, Sermanni is a highly regarded coach who will probably get some cushion. That said, it’s hard to imagine Orlando giving him the same kind of extended leash that was handed to Waldrum. They did not sign Marta in order to have her languish at the bottom of the league all season.

At the moment, Orlando sit in 8th place with six points from seven games. That is not good, but in a league with this sort of parity, it also means they’re only a couple strong results away from being back in the thick of the playoff race. So while you never want to ignore the table, the question is less about results per se and more: “are they making progress?”

And on that front, my answer is a (tentative) yes. Orlando haven’t fixed their problems, but they do seem to be moving in the right direction.

Orlando’s weaknesses

In order to make that case, I want to first diagnose what I see as Orlando three main weaknesses, in order to clarify how they’re trying to resolve these problems.

  1. The midfield (or lack thereof)

This is, by far, the biggest problem for Orlando – something that was readily apparent before the season started, and which remains just as clear today. The Pride have plenty of useful players in the midfield–who can pass the ball reasonably well, who are somewhat mobile, with some decent defensive skill. But there aren’t really any standouts.

At times, Camila has looked like an exception—willing to take on defenders, and demonstrating some flashes of brilliance. But she is also prone to mistakes and doesn’t really have the cool, calm sort of ball control needed to keep the engine humming. And Kristen Edmonds was excellent in 2016 but was probably playing at her peak then, so it is no surprise to see her drift back into merely being a solid contributor. Combine these with Maddy Evans, Dani Weatherholt, and Monica, and you have a nice set of complementary parts but no one to tie it all together.

This isn’t necessary a death knell. It’s possible to cobble together a workable midfield from less, but it takes some real doing. And it’s a problem Orlando hasn’t solved yet.

  1. Finishing

On the whole, finishing tends to even out. Create enough chances, and the goals will follow. It can be frustrating to watch a team unable to convert, but over the long haul, if you’re giving your strikers opportunities, the results will follow. But Orlando are really putting that maxim to the test this year. We don’t have the sort of advanced statistics necessary to really compare teams, but my gut tells me that Orlando has one of the worst Goals vs. Expected Goals ratios in the league. The chances have been there; the finishing has not.

It’s possible that’s simply bad luck. But it’s also possible that it’s a problem of roster construction. After all, look at the teamsheet and you’ll find a group of forwards with immense skill and physical ability, who nevertheless haven’t been able to really make it stick at this level. Chioma Ubogagu, Jasmyne Spencer, Jamia Fields, Danica Evans … this is a Who’s Who of talented players who haven’t quite been able to put it all together yet.

You can’t help but wonder, therefore, whether Orlando might be in much better position if Alex Morgan hadn’t spent the last two months in France. Turn just a couple of those frustrating misses into goals, and Orlando could easily be sitting on 10 or 11 points and the season would feel a lot different.

  1. The defense

Going into the year, the backline was supposed to be Orlando’s greatest strength. Filled with top level internationals like Steph Catley, Alanna Kennedy, Ali Krieger, and Laura Alleway, this was expected to be the foundation stone upon which the team could build. But so far, it’s looked anything but solid. Orlando has yet to produce a clean sheet and has conceded 11 goals. Only Houston and Washington have let in more.

Stalwart defenders like Krieger and Alleway have looked shaky at times. Kennedy sometimes appears stuck in second gear. And even Catley—one of the world’s best fullbacks—has been below her normal level. In fact, their best defender so far has probably been Toni Pressley—who wasn’t even penciled in as a starter two months ago.

Addressing the weaknesses, or: Why on earth are they playing a 4-3-3?

These problems are real – especially the first two – and they are why I never really bought the idea that Orlando was a playoff challenger going into the season.

Still, every team in the league has weaknesses. The question is how they manage them. And this is where the questions about Sermanni really come to a head. Because he seems to be, somewhat inexplicably, committed to playing an attacking 4-3-3.

The exact composition has shifted a lot, but the preferred midfield trio seems to be Monica, Edmonds, and Camila. In the attack, things have been even more fluid, with the only constant presence being Marta. But their talisman has been shifted all across the frontline, playing everything from inside forward to winger to central striker to a traditional Number 10 role. You get the sense, actually, that Sermanni is just giving everything a try, hoping to figure out which role will give Marta the greatest chance to influence games and to figure out which players serve as the most useful complements to their new star.

But this can feel at times like re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. No matter how you set up Marta, there are structural limits to what they can get out of a 4-3-3, with this sort of personnel. Given the intrinsic weakness of the midfield, it feels borderline malpractice to set them up with a numerical deficiency like this. Time after time, Orlando has struggled to keep a grip on the game, while teams with four and five players in the midfield have swarmed them defensively and run right through them in the attack.

And losing the battle in the middle of the pitch has knock-on effects everywhere else. Indeed, if you want an explanation for Orlando’s defensive woes, this is the first place to look. I tweeted a couple examples of the problem last week:

 

Defense is a team effort. The pocket of space between the back four and the midfield is arguably the single most important zone on the pitch. Good attackers make their living by moving in and out of that space. If the defense stays put, you are free to operate at will. If they come out, it creates holes into which your teammates can move. Good defensive teams are good because they manage this space well. And with Orlando’s 4-3-3, they simply haven’t been able to do that this year.

Sky Blue 2 – 1 Orlando: Another frustrating result

We saw all this playing out again this week, as Orlando suffered another frustrating defeat away at Sky Blue. Watch Sky Blue’s first goal, for example, and it’s clear that it stems from a lack of numbers in the midfield. A poor touch sends the ball loose and neither Edmonds nor Camila have the requisite skill or strength to recover it. Then, once the ball is lost, there’s no support behind them, and Sky Blue has numbers in transition. Just a few seconds later, the ball is in the net and Orlando’s lead is gone.

Or: watch from 37:00 to about 38:15, and you’ll see Orlando’s defenders calmly passing the ball back and forth with their keeper while Sky Blue sits and watches. It’s almost a caricature of soccer (as in the classic Simpsons episode). Literally nothing happens because Orlando’s midfielders runners … well … aren’t, and there’s nowhere for the ball to go. It’s a stagnant offense and Sky Blue is justifiably willing to let them pass it horizontally.

So there are still real problems here.

Signs of life, or: Maybe the 4-3-3 can work after all?

However, for all that the 4-3-3 feels like an error, there are ways to compensate.

Your best hope is to develop a support structure that links together the midfield with the attacking trio. For example, as I wrote when discussing Houston a few weeks ago, the 4-3-3 is a very close cousin of the 4-2-3-1, when your wingers drop into the midfield without the ball, the transition can be almost seamless. Alternatively, if your central striker is a good playmaker, she can drop into the midfield and create a de facto 4-4-2 diamond. This is something that you see a lot from Christine Sinclair, who lets her flanking strikers pinch in as she drops back to receive the ball, giving her excellent angles to distribute the ball sideways to the overlapping fullbacks.

The problem for Orlando has been a lack of clarity on how they’re trying to compensate. But increasingly it seems that the most effective setup is to deploy Marta centrally, allowing her the freedom to roam in the empty expanses of the middle of the pitch. Rather than looking to work a bunch of clever midfield triangles, Orlando seems to be moving toward a version of the 4-3-3 that more closely resembles a coiled spring. Hold the ball patiently at the back, work it to the sides, and then pounce when the opportunity arises.

It’s by no means ticking along perfectly yet, but this is a viable model for the Pride. And it represents a somewhat clever inversion of the conventional wisdom. As I said, when I looked at this team in the first month of the season, it seemed crazy to stick with a midfield three when this was already a point of weakness. It was doubling down on a problem.

But in a certain sense, it actually makes a lot of sense. Orlando simply isn’t going to win a pitched midfield battle, no matter how they set themselves up. So rather than tilting at windmills, they’re looking to capitalize on their great comparative advantage: Marta. Yes, she’s not (quite) as good as she was five or six years ago. But she is still one of the best players in the world and is particularly good at holding the ball under pressure, wriggling out from double and triple teams, splitting defenses, and picking out open teammates on the run.

In this iteration of Orlando’s 4-3-3, she’s finally been given the freedom to play that role to the hilt. The goal is now quite simple: get Marta the ball 40-50 yards out, force the defense to converge on her, and let the rest of the attack build out from there. This setup lets the midfield hang further back, and provide a bit more defensive cover while trusting the fullbacks to shoulder more of the burden in linking play going forward.

And if you go back to that section I mentioned above, from the 38th minute, where Orlando shuffled the ball around aimlessly with no outlets, you can see precisely how this is all supposed to work. Because yes, that minute was terrible, but look what happens right after. At 38:19, Krieger plays a long ball forward, which draws Freeman out from the Sky Blue backline. When the ball falls in behind her, Freeman’s step forward creates space for Marta to move into. She takes the ball, evades a tackle, and crashes into the box. A nice recovery from Killion snuffs out the attack before she can shoot, but the movement here is a good sign.

Sermanni has a plan – it’s worth giving him time to see it out

Orlando remains very much a work in progress. And the glimmers of hope I have discussed here are just that: glimmers. Things may very well not work out. Orlando has a lot of talent on their roster, but so does every team in the league. Even if they play reasonably well going forward, they could easily still end up finishing 7th or 8th. But the crucial difference between Orlando and Houston is that the Pride can tell a coherent story about how they are improving and what success will look like.

Ultimately, it wasn’t the results per se that necessitated Waldrum’s dismissal. It was the realization that the team was at best just treading water. For whatever reason, Waldrum wasn’t able to acknowledge and/or address the clear shortcomings of his team. The same does not appear to be true for Sermanni. His approach won’t succeed. But he does have an approach. And in my opinion, he deserves the time to see it through.

Can Orlando Pride Capitalize over Sky Blue FC for First Road Win?

Posted on by RJ Allen

With a quarter of the 2017 season in the books, the Orlando Pride sit 8th on the table, three points out of the playoff picture.

Going into Week 7, Coach Tom Sermanni’s side travel out to New Jersey to take on Sky Blue FC for their first meeting of the season. The timing for this week’s match may favor the Pride since Sky Blue is coming off a midweek loss to the North Carolina Courage on the road. Perhaps looking ahead to Orlando, Coach Christy Holly fielded a less than optimal starting XI Wednesday, and had to chase the match late which ended 2-0 in favor of the Courage.

Orlando have finally started to get in rhythm taking points in its last three matches, and have established a sense of identity missing in their first three. The most serious concern going into the match will surround the Pride netminder, more likely to be Caroline Stanley as regular backup goalkeeper Aubrey Bledsoe recovers from a concussion. A full week of practice to rally the Orlando back line will help as the defense looks to clamp down on league golden boot leader Sarah Killion, national team player Kelley O’Hara, and Australian star Samantha Kerr. Another weapon Orlando will be facing is Costa Rican international Raquel “Rocky” Rodriguez who, along with O’Hara and Killion, make for a stacked midfield.

Former Rutgers Scarlet Knight standout Kristen Edmonds is going to need to regain some of her 2016 form on her collegiate stomping grounds and work her way into the Pride attack; however, she’s been pressed to work on the defensive end alongside Dani Weatherholt while Camila has taken up the attacking midfielder role. Edmonds needs to provide better link play to the Pride offense to keep a quick transition, since her contributions so far haven’t been anything to write home about. She hasn’t been able to provide service from her free kicks which helped her last season.

Tactically, Sermanni may feel it more important to focus on the defensive side while on the road with Stanley in the back, but don’t dismiss Orlando’s attacking mindset with Marta leading the blitz against Canadian Kailen Sheridan and Captain American, herself Christie Pearce and the rest of the back line. The Pride need to take advantage of any fatigue plaguing Sky Blue after their rainy midweek game and travel to and from North Carolina. Orlando has demonstrated it can take it to a strong home side to get a result. Sermanni needs to be prepared to face SBFC’s 4-2-3-1 by changing his 4-3-3 formation to something that works to give better match ups for his side.

Orlando will need to be more physical for Saturday’s match without giving up fouls to the home side in dangerous spots. Orlando will need to take the ball up the flanks, and pressure the young Sky Blue defenders with crosses with multiple attacking players making runs inside the box. The Pride can’t push the ball forward with only a couple of players and hope to maintain possession or lob the ball over the top and be successful unless they can break on a quick counter-attack.

I do believe Stanley and the Orlando defense will have enough to keep the Sky Blue attack in check. This is one of the best opportunities to get the first road win of the season, putting to an end an 11-match road winless streak dating back to last year. One of the Pride’s secondary attacking option will need to make an impact to keep defenses honest, and create some space for Marta or Camila who should be taking the ball into the 18 if the Pride play direct or off a cross from one of the backs getting forward. This test will finally convince doubters that Orlando is a legit team. Orlando will get its first victory over Sky Blue and win 2-1.