Freedom Insider

Who expected that outcome?

Coming into Wednesday’s game with a 0-2-1 record against the  Boston Breakers this season, the Freedom did exactly what they needed to in order to stay firmly entrenched in the WPS playoff race – pick up a win.

While Abby Wambach will be the first one mentioned since she scored the game’s lone goal, a huge assist goes to the Breakers Alex Scott. With her dangerous tackle on Sonia Bompastor drawing a red card only five minutes into the game, the Freedom played the entire game with a woman advantage.

Give credit to the Breakers though for holding the Freedom scoreless as long as they did, but you could tell watching the match last night that a Freedom goal was imminent.

Understandably, Boston coach Tony DiCicco is not a happy man (and his comments seem similar to a previous meeting between these two clubs) as the Breakers are not only still fighting for their playoff lives, they have to do it at second place Saint Louis this weekend without Scott, who has been the team’s top defender this season.

Even though the Freedom have been the only team to play with a player advantage this season (they have done it four times), this was the first time they actually scored in this situation. Of course, Kelly Smith would have forced a tie in stoppage time if not for a leaping save by Erin McLeod (also similar to that May meeting in Boston).

Now in third place with two games to play, let’s see if the Freedom can hold up as they make one final trip to the West Coast to take on cellar-dwelling FC Gold Pride.

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I watched the live stream on the Chicago game online (or at least tried to when the feed was actually on and not showing highlights from Red Stars games past) and boy did the Freedom make things intense. This team has a knack for picking up points off of last minute goals, making themselves soccer’s version of the Kardiac Kids.

Obviously, most of the recognition for this win will go to Abby Wambach (2 goals) and Allie Long (game-winner in 89′) but credit the entire team for not giving up after falling behind 1-0 early or after allowing the tying goal in the second half.

This win not only keeps the Freedom in the playoff race but will add more fuel to the Chicago-Washington rivalry as the Red Stars were eliminated from playoff contention. It also gave the Freedom a win over a team other than Sky Blue FC, FC Gold Pride or Saint Louis. For more on the WPS Playoff picture, check out KC Albertina’s rundown.

Not to be outdone

The W-League Freedom did their best impression of the WPS squad over the weekend too, as they captured the Eastern Conference crown on a goal by Brittany Tegeler in the 85th minute for a 2-1 win over the Charlotte Lady Eagles in Atlanta. The W-League Freedom too fell behind early before tying the game up in the 76th on a goal by Meghan Lenczyk. The win means the Freedom advance to the W-League’s semifinal round and will host the Ottawa Fury on Sat., Aug. 1 at 6 p.m. ET at the Maryland SoccerPlex.

Partying at Tommy Joe’s

Finally, a video and some photos from a recent event the Freedom participated in. Enjoy.

Boston’s up tomorrow – let’s hope this playoff bandwagon keeps rolling along.

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So, it seems the Washington Freedom have once again switched gears – back to the team that can score goals in bunches but also allows goals in bunches.

I have no idea why their karma seems to be so lopsided but it seems that when they are playing great defense, the offense goes MIA and when they finally start scoring goals they forget they have to keep the other team from scoring as well.

Don’t get me wrong, it is great that Lisa De Vanna and Sonia Bompastor once again found the back of the net, but if it wasn’t for a timely Cat Whitehill goal the Freedom would have been on the losing end of their match against Sky Blue FC instead of a thrilling 4-4 time that goes down as the highest scoring game in Women’s Professional Soccer history.

The question I want to find a way to answer though is how do we find a balance? It seems that whatever mindset Bompastor has, the team adopts. If she plays more of an offensive role, the team scores goals in bunches (and often late in the match) but if she plays her more “natural” position of defender, the team locks down and neither goal seems to see many goals.

I don’t know if there is an answer to the problem on the roster but essentially we need either a second Bompastor or (more feasibly) we need someone to actually fill in the hole of where Sonia is not playing. Now in a tie for fifth with the playoffs seemingly slipping away, this question needs to be answered fast if Washington is going to play games past Aug. 8.

Here’s to hoping the team finds someone willing to help Sonia carry the load.

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The last time these two teams played – only a couple of weeks ago – it set me off on a rant about how I think Washington-Chicago is the first league-grown rivalry in WPS.

Given the opportunity to finish a game at full strength, the struggling Red Stars did what every good rival does, rises to the occasion to give the other team all it can handle (and in this case Chicago became the first team in WPS history to erase a deficit and come away with win).

Makes you wonder what would have happened if those other games had been finished at full strength. I’m not going to go into the game itself – if you need info check out the WPS story here – but as you know, I will offer my thoughts on what happens next.

First, it was nice to see Abby Wambach get back on the board. That was much needed and hopefully that gives Abby the confidence she will need this weekend when finishing against Karina LeBlanc of LA, who has made more than one great save against Abby.

Allie Long has had one roller coaster of a season but it seems the team is lost without her. The Freedom have won games without Sonia Bompastor, without Abby and without Erin McLeod (although not many) but the team has struggled since Long broke her toe. Apparently she has more of an effect on the team than we thought.

The Freedom have now lost two straight heading into their final matchup with LA. The Sol have beaten the Freedom twice by a combined score of 5-0 but both of those games had the Freedom making the cross country flight to LA. Will that flight have any affect on the outcome this Sunday? If the Freedom continue to play like they have the last two games, then probably not. I still think Homare Sawa needs to step up on the offensive end for the team to even have a chance but I will get more into that in the next day or two.

And on a slight tangent, according to Steve Goff of the Washington Post, Wednesday’s move to waive Joanna Lohman was to clear a roster spot for Sarah Huffman, who went down the first week of preseason with an ACL injury. There is a hope that Huffman will be back in time for the playoffs and she could be a spark for the team at that point. Of course, the Freedom need to remain in contention in order for that plan to work. The idea is for Huffman to help ease the loss of Sonia Bompastor, who would miss the playoffs and All-Star game for the European Championship.

This is an important stretch for the Freedom (of course what stretch of the season isn’t important) and how they respond Sunday will give us a realistic view of what the team could accomplish if they even make it to the playoffs. Of course maybe getting to the playoffs in the third of fourth position is a safer proposition if you believe in curses.

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So, it appears the Freedom are in the right spot – the only two teams to beat us twice this season are LA and Boston, the two teams ahead of us in the standings after last night’s 1-0 loss to the Breakers.

Watching the match last night, it became apparent that the Freedom struggle against physical teams. Now, we do have one of the most physical players in the world in Abby Wambach, but after her the Freedom really is more of a team built for speed. I know that seems hard given that the defense had been really slow until the addition of Ali Krieger (who showed off that speed multiple times last night) but Lisa De Vanna, Sonia Bompastor and the offense have capitalized on being able to outrun opposing defenses to the long ball.

Last night though, Boston neutralized our attack by keeping De Vanna and Bompastor in front of them, effectively using Christine Latham as a physical, holding midfielder as a counter. The broadcast crew showed Latham describing herself as “The Beast” in a pre-recorded interview and that is exactly what she was.

Washington never seemed to find that rhythm in this match and it seems that the teams we struggle with the most have been the most effective in knocking the Freedom out of sync. This is what Chicago has done so effectively against the Freedom, especially when the Red Stars have played with only 10 players.

Jim Gabarra knows his team struggles against physical teams and his answer has been to play Kristin DeDycker in the midfield in an effort to fight muscle with muscle. While that tactic worked against FC Gold Pride back in May, it is not enough. Gabarra needs to find some way to spring De Vanna when she faces an opponent trying to push her off the ball.

Defending WPS Player of the Week Erin McLeod had another spectacular game, making high-flying save after high-flying save, Latham just got lucky on her header by putting it where McLeod had just come from. She kept this game a lot closer than it probably should have been and if she had shutout Boston she probably would have been the front runner for Player of the Week again.

Despite the loss, Washington still is playing a lot better than it was at the beginning of the season. Now Gabarra and company need to find a way to fix the last major flaw they have. No team in this league is perfect, or unbeatable, but the top ones (like LA) have found a way to play past their limitations. Washington now needs to do the same, which won’t be easy considering Chicago and LA are the next teams standing in the way.

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