Freedom Insider

By StarCityFan

If you wanted to see fireworks on Sunday night at the SoccerPlex, you had to stick around for the pyrotechnic kind because there weren’t any during the game, as neither the Washington Freedom nor the Chicago Red Stars could put the ball in the net.

The Freedom’s problem was that they seldom seemed to be able to get their attack organized enough to make a serious threat. I can only remember a handful of exciting moments that weren’t from set pieces. In the seventh minute, Lene Mykjåland got the ball and headed for the back line. She passed the ball over to Abby Wambach then got it back right as she passed through the line, but she wasn’t able to get a shot off before Chicago goalkeeper Jillian Loyden nabbed it. As the first half was winding down, Wambach got behind the defense but from a challenging angle on the left side, and her shot went just barely wide of the right post. In the 60th minute, Lene did a beautiful job of weaving through the defense in order to get off a centering pass, but Abby didn’t run onto it in time. Two minutes later, Abby and Sarah Huffman came charging downfield against a retreating defense. Abby’s centering pass was right to Sarah’s feet in front of goal, but Huffy was called offsides on the play. In the 77th minute, Nikki Marshall, now playing forward, had a two-on-one break with Abby, but Nikki’s cross from the left flank was off-target and cleared for a corner kick.

Chicago had far more chances, but either the Freedom back line or Erin McLeod came up with a big play, the shot was from such a distance that McLeod just gobbled it up, or the shot was taken by Ella Masar, who despite her two-goal game last week seemed unable to hit the broad side of a barn from three yards away.

In the very early going, a Red Stars player whose identity I didn’t catch made an acrobatic over-the-back kick off a throw-in that sprung Masar into the box just outside the left post, but her shot went wide left. Ella had the ball in front of goal in the 14th minute but was stripped from behind. Cristiane wasted an extended Chicago possession two minutes later by taking a shot from 25 yards out that went high. Two minutes after that, Chicago had a two-on-one break, but Masar’s shot went over the goal from about 10 yards out. In the 35th minute, Chicago took a free kick from 35 yards out that Erin tipped over the bar. The resulting corner kick provided a nice heading opportunity, but the ball went straight to Erin. Cristiane sprung Masar in the 37th minute, but Erin managed to save the shot. Four minutes later, Cristiane got through with only Marshall to beat, but Nikki managed to knock the ball out for a corner kick. The corner kick resulted in one of those heart-in-mouth sequences when the ball is being knocked around among a scrum of players right in front of goal. A Chicago player who couldn’t have been much more than a yard out knocked the ball toward goal, but somehow Sonia Bompastor managed to get in the way of it and clear it out of danger.

Three minutes into the second half, Cat Whitehill made a bad clearance to Cristiane, who took a quick shot trying to catch McLeod off her guard, but Erin was ready and managed to grab it. Megan Rapinoe wasted another Red Stars possession in the 54th minute by taking a low shot from about 20 yards out that went wide left. A free kick from 30 yards in the next minute went right to Erin, as did a long shot that concluded another passing sequence a minute later. I was beginning to wonder if Chicago had any other strategies in mind.

Shortly thereafter, Masar got in a footrace with Whitehill, but despite the speed differential, Ella was prevented from getting a shot off. In the 65th minute, Rapinoe sprung Cristiane behind the defense, but Marshall’s catch-up speed was just enough for her to slide-tackle the ball out-of-bounds cleanly before Cristiane could get a shot off. That corner kick resulted in an off-target header, as did another one a minute later, with Masar managing to head the ball wide from three yards out. She was almost immediately replaced by Casey Nogueira, a development I found worrying as Nogueira is a deadly finisher.

In the 73rd minute, Cristiane and Kosovare Asllani tried to do some clever passing in the box to get McLeod out-of-position, but they tried one pass too many, and Erin was able to get to the ball. Chicago took another long shot that went wide shortly thereafter. There was a scary moment for the Freedom in the 81st minute as Whitehill fell when trying to clear the ball, instead sending it rolling slowly towards Nogueira. But the Freedom defenders in the area quickly converged, and forced Nogueira to give up the ball to Karen Carney, who got off a good shot but one that McLeod managed to grab. In the 84th minute, Nogueira got her own breakaway. Erin came out to challenge her near the perimeter of the box, but missed. Fortunately for the Freedom, Casey’s shot trickled just wide of the right post. Chicago had one last chance on a good-looking cross in stoppage time, but the player in front of the goal couldn’t get her head to it before it went by.

All in all, the Freedom were fortunate to keep a clean sheet. Some of it was luck, some of it was poor finishing by Chicago, and a lot of it was hard work by the back line and McLeod. At the other end, it’s a bit of a mystery as to why the Freedom attack was so anemic. I wonder a bit if our young Norwegian is having problems adjusting to the scorching weather, as she seemed to disappear for long periods of time during the game.

Interesting developments include Marshall’s first minutes at forward and Brittany Klein’s first few minutes (starting at 87) for the Freedom, period. It will be interesting to see if there’s much more of either.

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By StarCityFan

Chicago Red Stars (2-4-2, 8 points, 5th place) at Washington Freedom (4-2-2, 14 points, tied-2nd place)
Saturday, June 12, 7 p.m. EDT
Maryland Soccerplex, Boyds, MD
All-time series: Even at 1-1-2, this is the first meeting in 2010

Roster report
Freedom: Lene Mykjaland unavailable, Lisa De Vanna on injured reserve
Red Stars: Kelsey Davis, Nikki Washington unavailable

Talented but struggling teams make me nervous. You never know when they’re going to break out. Chicago is definitely struggling, with only two wins on the season. But they’ve recently hired a new coach, and they’ve got a better roster than their record would indicate. Up front are dangerous forwards in Kosovare Asllani, Cristiane, and Casey Nogueira. Cristiane is so far the only WPS player to have scored a hat trick, and I’ve personally seen Nogueira – when playing against the amateur Freedom – totally smoke professional-caliber defenders. The dig against both of them is that they’re not willing to put in the work rate that success at this level requires. If that changes, look out. They actually looked pretty impressive on the attack last week, and only Hope Solo’s first Hope Solo-esque performance of the season turned that match from a blowout into a scoreless draw.

The midfielders include Megan Rapinoe, Katie Chapman, Karen Carney, and Formiga. Formiga, you might recall, was the very first pick in the 2009 International Draft. Rapinoe is a solid player off the US National Team and a WPS All-Star last year, though she’s been slowed by injuries. Chapman and Carney are talented English internationals.

The Chicago defense has allowed the fewest goals in the league this year. Kate Markgraf has finally returned from maternity leave, and alongside her are Marian Dalmy, Whitney Engen, and Natalie Spilger. Dalmy is a sometime national teamer, while Engen was the best defender on a Tar Heel team that Anson Dorrance said was the best defensive team he’d ever coached. Spilger is unheralded but has played solidly.

Their starting goalkeeper is Jillian Loyden, who got little time last year playing behind Hope Solo for Athletica. She made only three starts for Saint Louis, but two were shutouts (one a Player of the Week performance) and she only allowed one goal total. By the numbers, she’s the best goalkeeper in the league so far this season.

Meanwhile, the Red Stars were totally snubbed in All-Star picks, the only team to have no players voted into the match. If the new coach is any good at all, he’ll be using that for motivation. So Washington needs to be ready.

There’s ample reason to be optimistic. The Freedom are playing the best they have so far in their WPS existence. The defense in particular has settled in, allowing only three goals in their last five games after giving up six in the first three. Not coincidentally, the Freedom are unbeaten in their last five games.

At the other end, the offense is short-handed in the absence of Lisa De Vanna and Lene Mykjaland. It’s been comparatively subdued (by Freedom standards, at least), scoring only five goals in the last four games after putting in eight in the first four. The usual situation so far has been that Abby Wambach draws attention to herself, which gives other players an opportunity to make something happen. Last week it was Allie Long; the week before it was Rebecca Moros. The Freedom have plenty of weapons – eight different players have scored so far this year – and I can’t see them being stymied by even the best WPS defense.

For the Freedom, it’s a chance to rack up some points before their long, tough stretch that begins at midseason. The Red Stars meanwhile, need to make a statement that they’ve been underrated while starting a climb back into playoff contention. Particularly since this is the first match between these teams this year – and they’ll play each other three more times – the result could go a long way toward clarifying where these teams will be at the end of the season.

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By StarCityFan

The Freedom have now completed eight games of their 24-game season. Let’s take a minute to see where things stand.

Washington has a 4-2-2 record for 14 standings points, tied with Philadelphia for second place in the league. As usual, they’ve scored the most goals as well as given up the most. They’ve played five home matches with a 3-1-1 record and three road matches with a 1-1-1 record, and they have a five-game unbeaten streak going. During those five matches, they’ve given up only three goals after giving up six during the prior three games.

However, their schedule has been fairly easy up to this point, with five home matches and all but one road match against expansion teams. So, really, they ought to be in second place or better. Most of the results so far haven’t been a particular surprise. The exceptions would be losing to the Breakers in the opener and tying FC Gold Pride in the most recent game. Boston’s win is the only one the Breakers have managed this season, while the latest match is the first home game FCGP hasn’t won outright this year. (The loss in Philadelphia was a surprise at the time, but considering how well the Independence have been doing overall, it’s not much of a shock in retrospect.)

Looking ahead, I’m figuring that it’s going to take around 32 standings points to make the playoffs, and, lo and behold, the Freedom are almost halfway there only a third of the way into the season. However, the going gets tougher the rest of the way. So how hard will it be for DC to make the postseason again?

After looking at their remaining schedule, I want to split it into two eight-game chunks. However, the chunks aren’t contiguous, so let me explain.

The toughest part of the Freedom schedule is the 8-game stretch from July 11 through August 14. Only two of these games are at home, with six on the road, and the two home matches are both against teams at the top of the standings: FCGP and the Independence. The road matches include two more in the Bay Area, two against Boston, and one each against Atlanta and Sky Blue FC. I’m figuring, somewhat pessimistically, that the Freedom will go a mere 1-5-2 in this stretch, picking up only five standings points during this “hump” third of the season.

On the other hand, look at the two four-game “shoulder” sequences before and after this difficult patch. Of the next four games, two are at home against the Chicago Red Stars, arguably the most inept of the non-expansion teams this season. The two road matches are against Philadelphia and SBFC. The Independence have been surprisingly formidable, while the defending champions have been surprisingly vulnerable, saved at times only by the brilliant play of their backup goalkeeper, Karen Bardsley. So I’m figuring the Freedom can go 2-1-1 here, winning both home games and tying one of the road games, for seven standings points.

Finally, at the end of the season, three out of four matches are at the Soccerplex (Red Stars, SBFC, Beat), and the only away game is against Chicago. So let’s be optimistic and believe that the Freedom will finish strong, as they did last year, with three wins and a four-game unbeaten streak. That’s a record of 3-0-1 for another 10 standings points.

If you add all that up, you get 36 points, which should be enough not just for a playoff spot but for a home playoff match.

Of course, it’s not going to happen this cleanly. The Freedom will get upset at home but (one hopes) steal some points on the road. This outline might be better used as a guideline for what’s needed and for expectations. Don’t panic if the Freedom go into a midseason slump during the toughest part of their schedule – if they get any more than five points out of that stretch they’re doing well. On the other hand, if they don’t go into that stretch with at least 20 standings points, then they’re going to need more than five out of it.

To conclude, here’s a glance at each of the other teams, in standings order:

FC Gold Pride – Few people are surprised that the team that collected Marta and Camille Abily from last year’s first-place Los Angeles Sol is doing well. Christine Sinclair having a career year doesn’t hurt, either. The WPS’s only West Coast team lost their opener, then won five in a row before being upset by the Red Stars and then tying the Freedom. Their schedule has been balanced (four at home, four away, opponents neither easy nor difficult), so their record seems to have been come by fairly. They’re clearly the team to beat this year.

Philadelphia Independence – By contrast, many people are surprised that an expansion team is in second place at this point. Philly has one of the best playmaking midfielders in the league in Lori Lindsey (am I going to start sounding like a stuck record if I use the phrase “career year” one more time?), top defenders in Heather Mitts and Allison Falk, and not just one but two of the best goalkeepers in Val Henderson and Karina LeBlanc. They got off to a slow start with two draws (one scoreless), but then won four of their next six games. They’ve likewise had a balanced schedule so far, and face a big test this weekend as FCGP comes to play them at West Chester, their first matchup against the league leaders.

Sky Blue FC – The defending champions haven’t been living up to their title, but they’ve been plagued by absences for medical reasons (I’d say injuries, but I think Christie Rampone would take offense). Key players injured have included Natasha Kai, Carli Lloyd and Jenni Branam, with Rampone having just returned from maternity leave. As mentioned before, goalkeeper Bardsley has kept them in the hunt with some sensational performances (“career season”, yadda yadda). They’ve also had a comparatively tough schedule, with five away games to only three home games, and two matches against FCGP already. If they can get healthy, one has to figure they’ll be doing better. At this point, you have to think that these three teams, plus the Freedom, are the ones to expect to see in the 2010 playoffs.

Chicago Red Stars – After firing their coach, the Red Stars rebounded by upsetting FCGP but then played the Atlanta Beat to a scoreless tie. Scoring is a problem (only four goals this season), while the defense and the unsung Jillian Loyden in goal have kept opponents to a league-leading minimum six goals. Their schedule has been easy in some ways but difficult in others: five home games to three away, but they’ve have had to play FCGP twice and St. Louis and Philly once each. The team has more than enough firepower in Kosovare Asllani, Karen Carney, Cristiane and Casey Nogueira to singe the nets if Omid Namazi, their new coach, can light a fire under them. But that remains to be seen.

Boston Breakers – The Breakers have only played seven games to most other teams’ eight, but that doesn’t fully explain their next-to-last position. They haven’t won since their opener against the Freedom. The schedule has been a little on the difficult side: three home, four away, matches against Athletica, FCGP and their nemesis SBFC, whom they’ve never beaten. With four All-Stars on the roster and a future Hall of Fame coach, they should be in contention. Hard to say why they’re not.

Atlanta Beat - So which team has the most players on the All-Star starting roster? Believe it or not, it’s Atlanta, with six. Of course, five of those are recently signed Athletica refugees. (Athletica would be leading with six if they still existed.) Atlanta has been the classic inept expansion team so far this season, with no wins and only two ties in seven matches. It didn’t help that their first four matches were on the road while waiting for their home stadium to be finished, but even at home they’ve struggled, having yet to score a goal in their new stadium. Their schedule has been very unbalanced against them, with only two home games out of seven, and five matches against the top three teams in the league. As a result, they’ll have an easier run the rest of the way. If they can get a shot in the arm from an injection of most of the best Athletica players, then they might climb into the playoff competition. But it’ll be an uphill battle.

The bottom line is that there’s more than enough talent to go around, and with only seven teams each one has a decent share. Before Athletica’s demise, you could have argued that Atlanta didn’t have the talent to compete, but now that they’re “Atlantica,” that’s not going to wash. So, barring a rash of injuries, it becomes a question of who wants it the most, who is the most confident and who can work together as a team the best, rather than the accumulated sheer ability on the roster. The Freedom don’t have a whole lot of marquee names, but they do seem to be pulling together behind Abby Wambach, who’s having a season for the ages. Let’s see who can match them.

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WPS opened its version of free agency on Wednesday and while there appears to be plenty of impact names on the open market, everything has been pretty quiet since the opening of the market.

Granted, it took the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL years before their offseasons became just as important as the regular season but you would think with the number of well-known stars out there, something would have happened by now.

For those of you who haven’t checked out the list, some of the big names on the market include Han Duan, Cristiane, Formiga, Daniela, Carli Lloyd, Leslie Osborne, Aly Wagner and Heather Mitts. Apparently Chicago is hoping to bring back Cristiane, but other than that, things have been pretty quiet.

The makeup of the current roster suggests there are about five full roster spots open at this point and I would hope the team would choose to fill those spots between free agency and the draft, and not necessarily through tryouts (although Kristin DeDycker was a great tryout pickup last year).

Given that, I would imagine the team hopes to fill one of those roster spots with either Lene Mykjaland or Louisa Necib, given that the team retained both of their rights again this season. Given the fact that Mykjaland almost came over last year and that Becky Sauerbrunn is playing with her Norwegian club right now, I would say it is more likely we see her.

So with four spots left, the topic becomes who should the Freedom go out and get? Should they go after one of the big USWNT names out on the market? Or should they make a couple of small moves to improve the depth of the squad? One other name I noticed was on the market is Christie Welsh, a former Freedom W-League player. Could there be a reunion with her in the near future?

If I am Jim Gabarra, I bring back Welsh, consider giving DeDycker a full roster spot and potentially look for a defender either in free agency or in the first round of the draft. With the addition of Mykjaland that could be going a little attacker heavy but with Ali Krieger hopefully coming back midseason, maybe the Freedom defense can hold out long enough for the cavalry to arrive.

The potential is there for a big move to be made, but as I look around the league I fear things are shaping up for the Freedom to have the quietest offseason of the league. Regardless, it will be fun to sit back and watch things unfold.

So now I open the floor up to you – who do you think the Freedom should sign this offseason? Vote in the poll or leave a comment.

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