Freedom Insider

By StarCityFan

Washington Freedom (4-5-5, 17 points, 4th place) at FC Gold Pride (11-3-1, 34 points, 1st place)
Saturday, July 24, 7 p.m. EDT
Maryland SoccerPlex, Boyds, Md.
All-time series: Even at 2-2-1
Last meeting: Gold Pride 3, Freedom 2

FC Gold Pride and the Freedom have been going in opposite directions since I wrote the preview for their last meeting: the league leaders have won three in a row to pad their lead, while the Freedom have lost two, holding at the same number of standings points. The Freedom in fact have not won a match since downing the Philadelphia Independence, 2-1, at the SoccerPlex on May 30.

With only 10 games left in the season, it’s crunch time. Starting today, Washington plays four games in 12 days that could decide its postseason fate. By the end of the evening on Aug. 4, the Freedom could at best have 29 points, likely good enough for second place and close to clinching a playoff spot, or they could still be mired at 17 points and needing to win most or all of their remaining games to reach the postseason.

Having to play the first-place team in that situation does not bode well, and against Team Marta (Sol last year, Gold Pride this year), Washington is 0-4-1. However, the Freedom did put on a battle the last time these teams faced each other, roaring back from a 3-0 deficit with two late goals to make the game competitive. And I may be a bit biased, but I think that if Kari Seitz had been refereeing that match, Gold Pride would have finished the game with 9 or 10 players. Seitz, you might remember, had the guts to red-card Los Angeles Sol defender Allison Falk in last year’s championship for fouling Natasha Kai when she was the last defender able to interfere with Kai’s attack on goal. Unfortunately for the Freedom, this referee was not so bold, despite one brazen foul and several very arguable ones in similar situations.

Again, I’d like to see Nikki Marshall up top. She gave the Gold Pride back line fits even in the few minutes she played in the prior match, scoring one goal and threatening repeatedly. With Abby Wambach back, that should give the Freedom the “lightning-and-thunder” combination they’ve been missing ever since Lisa De Vanna broke her leg. Lene Mykjåland, alas, has not been living up to expectations – I keep wondering if our Scandinavian is having issues with the heat of this miserable summer.

Sarah Huffman and Allie Long are back from national team camp and should bolster the midfield. If Marshall plays forward, Kristi Eveland will be in the back line, as she was in the previous game against Boston. The defense needs to hang tough for the full 90 minutes, though I think the key won’t be shutting Gold Pride down (practically impossible with Marta, Christine Sinclair and Tiffeny Milbrett up front) so much as scoring enough goals to stay ahead of them. So I’m hoping for an old-fashioned Washington Freedom 4-3 barnburner. Let’s see if they can chalk up their first-ever win against Team Marta.

P.S. There was a preview of last weekend’s Boston Breakers match, but it vanished in the ether somewhere between my email and the website.

[Note from Jim: It is lost somewhere in the website - I had it all ready to go, hit publish and it vanished. I was away from my computer all day Sunday so I couldn't fix the problem and have been traveling since then so my apologies to StarCityFan and all the readers.]

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I discussed this topic a little in my recap of Sunday’s loss, but it’s something that I’ve heard being discussed a lot lately so I thought I would delve into the topic a little more. Can anyone out there tell me what’s going on with Alex Singer?

The No. 8 overall pick in the 2009 WPS Draft, Singer was a key piece on last year’s Freedom backline, starting 13 of 16 games for a total of 1,143 minutes. Granted, her playing time tapered off as the season went on but a lot of that seemed to be due to a concussion she suffered midseason. She had played every minute of every game to that point and seemed adept at holding her own against the top-level talent in this league.

At the conclusion of the season, Singer seemed to be in good enough shape that she went with F Lisa De Vanna to play in Australia’s W-League and from all accounts it seems she played well there. And she seemed to be doing well enough that she earned a spot on the Freedom’s protected list. In fact, it seemed more people were concerned about why we were keeping Allie Long over Lori Lindsey.

So, if Singer was considered one of the 10 best players on the team at the time of expansion, what happened since then? She has logged only 60 minutes in 4 games played, and was one of only two players not to play last week when the team was extremely short-handed.

I don’t know how much sense it makes to shake up a defense that has produced 4 shutouts already but given the fact that the Freedom have struggled to score since learning De Vanna broke her leg while on Australian National Team duty, it seems like it might make sense to move Rebecca Moros or Nikki Marshall up top so Lene Mykjaland and Christie Welsh can revert back to their roles coming off the bench since they seem to be more productive in that sense.

Moving Moros or Marshall would then open a spot on the backline and given Singer’s experience starting with Cat Whitehill and Becky Sauerbrunn last year, doesn’t that seem like it would be a natural evolution of the lineup? The one wrinkle to all this is it seems Kristi Eveland has earned the role as the first defender off the bench but maybe it makes more sense to keep the rookie in that role and see if Singer still has what it takes to contribute to this squad. If she can’t, then maybe she needs to be the next one to go.

I hate sitting here at my computer and second-guessing Jim Gabarra’s decision not to play Singer because truthfully I have no idea what is going on behind-the-scenes. It could very well be that Singer suffered an injury in practice at some point and isn’t fit to play or it could be that she really has fallen that low on the depth chart. But since I can’t find any mention of either of things, I can only sit her and postulate on what I know. And what I know is Alex Singer used to be considered a top defender on this team and now she isn’t.

Hopefully as Gabarra continues to tinker with his lineup in an effort to jump start his club, he will keep Singer in mind. And hopefully if I’m missing something really obvious in this situation, someone will be kind enough to let me know.

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I don’t really know what to say about yesterday’s ugly loss other than I guess it was nice to see the Freedom continue to try to fight back until the final whistle. If you want more analysis than that, check out some great recaps here, here or here.

The losses of Abby Wambach, Sarah Huffman and Allie Long to WNT duty certainly hurt but the real issue is the Freedom have not found a suitable replacement for the loss of Lisa De Vanna. What we have seen since the injury is that Lene Mykjaland is a great sub for De Vanna and Christie Welsh is a nice fourth forward – someone who can provide fresh legs at the end of the match but can’t be counted on for more than 20+ minutes at a time.

And when Wambach is away, that only leaves Mykjaland and Welsh up top. Nikki Marshall seems to be a nice option to move up when desperate but who knows what impact moving her to forward full time will have on the defense. There may not be another forward that can step in at this point in the season but this is an issue that won’t be going away before the end of the season either.

At this point I think it would be beneficial to see Jim Gabarra shake up the roster a little more in an effort to not let this season get away. Alex Singer continues to sit on the bench and maybe she needs to start playing so Marshall and/or Rebecca Moros can move to forward (Moros played both forward and midfield last season).

Will that solve the Freedom’s consistency issues? Not likely, but it could be enough to keep this team from falling out of contention by August. Hey, when you’ve gone five straight matches without a win what do you have to lose?

LINKS

Here are some stories to take your mind off the Freedom’s woes…

• ‘Taz’ chasing WPS dream with Force (Reporter-Herald) – 2010 Freedom draft pick Lauren Robertson hasn’t given up on her quest to play in WPS.
• Freedom Newbies: Rookie Nikki Marshall (BleacherReport.com) – Speaking of Marshall, here’s an in-depth profile on the rookie.
• Show Your Support: The Washington Freedom’s Bravehearts (All White Kit) -Jenna Pel talks with one of the Freedom’s two supporters groups in this Q&A.
• Soccer: All or nothing for Wambach (Omaha.com) – The WNT is in Omaha tomorrow so the local paper talked with the Freedom’s star to preview the match. The best thing about this article is it talks both about Abby’s time with the WNT and the Freedom – that doesn’t seem to happen too often.

That will do it for today. As always, feel free to leave your opinions in the comments below.

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By StarCityFan

Washington Freedom (4-3-5, 17 points, 4nd place) at FC Gold Pride (8-3-1, 25 points, 1st place)
Sunday, July 11, 6 p.m. EDT
Pioneer Stadium, Hayward, Calif.
All-time series: Freedom hold 2-1-1 advantage, last meeting was a 1-1 draw

Cutting-and-pasting the information above from the last meeting between the two teams and then modifying it provides some insight in itself. Going into the last meeting, Washington was in second place and only two points behind FCGP. Since then, the Freedom have gone 0-1-4 to drop from second to fourth and fall eight points behind the pace, as Gold Pride went 3-1-1. It would be a nice time to turn that around, but I’m not hopeful.

The spanner in the works is that the US National Teamers have been called into camp. The Freedom will be without Sarah Huffman, Allie Long, and Abby Wambach for this game (and probably the next), while Gold Pride will be missing Nicole Barnhart, Shannon Boxx, Rachel Buehler and Kelley O’Hara. It’s a blow to both teams, but I think more to Washington. We will be without our marquee player and our pesky defensive midfielders while Gold Pride still has Christine Sinclair and Marta. If nothing else, we may find out just how much credit Allie and Huffy deserve for the Freedom’s improved defensive play this year.

To look on the optimistic side, Gold Pride is missing some key players as well. Boxx is simply one of the best midfielders in the world, and it’s a big step down from Barnhart to whomever will be starting in goal instead: Erin Guthrie was selected in the fourth round of the college draft this year, and Brittany Cameron was picked up as a free agent, so unless one of them turns out to be a sleeper like Karen Bardsley, they won’t be nearly as formidable.

For the Freedom lineup, I see Christie Welsh starting in Abby’s position, and perhaps she and Lene Mykjåland can get the ball past an inexperienced goalkeeper – or maybe Nikki Marshall will move up front again and show how she became Colorado’s all-time leading scorer even before her senior year (I was pretty excited by that little experiment – were you?).

In the midfield, I would expect to see Beverly Goebel and Brittany Klein. This might be promising. Goebel’s done well so far, and Klein earned her WPS All-Star position last year through determination and hard work. So perhaps we won’t be in as much trouble as I’m afraid of.

Anyhow, it should be an exciting match, and only the second Freedom road match to be on the Fox Soccer Channel. If any of you want to watch the game with some like-minded souls, feel free to join the Freedom Fighters viewing party at the Murphy’s Law Irish Restaurant, on the west side of Wisconsin Avenue just a few blocks north of the Tenleytown Metro station. See you there!

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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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