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 (4-2-3, 15 points, 3rd place) at Philadelphia Independence (5-3-3, 18 points, 2nd place)
Saturday, June 26, 6 p.m. EDT
John A. Farrell Stadium, West Chester University, West Chester, PA
All-time series: Tied at 1-1. Freedom won last meeting 2-1 on May 30

Philadelphia’s head coach Paul Riley has to be the front-runner for WPS Coach of the Year at this point. He’s taken other team’s cast-offs, interspersed them with some outstanding but previously unclaimed internationals, and produced a collection of players who don’t realize they’re supposed to be sitting at the bottom of the league like a proper expansion team.

The Independence, in fact, are in second place in the league, four points behind FC Gold Pride and three ahead of the Freedom, though it must be pointed out that they’ve played one more match than the former and two more than the latter.

Two key players in this surge are Lori Lindsey and Amy Rodriguez, neither of whom had great success with their original teams last year. Lindsey was a decent but not outstanding midfielder for the Freedom in 2009, finishing with two goals and an assist. There are many fans who objected to her being left unprotected in the draft, but I think few would argue that she would have prospered in Jim Gabarra’s system to the extent she has in Riley’s. For Philly she already has two goals and five assists, behind only Abby Wambach in the latter category, and was named the WPS Player of the Month for April.

Rodriguez’s turnaround has been even more impressive. Highly touted as WPS’s very first pick in the general draft, she accomplished very little in 2009, scoring a mere one goal under Tony DiCicco’s tutelage. For Philly, she has three goals and two assists just in her last four matches. She’s in a tie for second-place in the league in goal-scoring with four and is in fifth place in assists with three. She was named the WPS Player of the Week in Week 8 for her goal and assist against Sky Blue FC.

Another player to watch is the statuesque Allison Falk, perhaps the only player in the league who can compete with Wambach for headers, and who has two goals and an assist despite being a central defender. Internationals of note include forward Lianne Sanderson of England, midfielder Caroline Seger of Sweden, and Canadian goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc.

And when those players are unavailable, you have someone like Danesha Adams coming out of the woodwork. With many of the European internationals away for qualifying, Adams got her first extensive playing time of 2010 against SBFC last weekend and came through with a goal and an assist.

In fact, one factor that might make the Freedom’s job easier is that the Indies will be playing their third match in eight days, while the Freedom are coming off a bye week. If endurance becomes any sort of factor, the Freedom should come out ahead. A win would put the Freedom into a tie for second with two games in hand and keep them from getting too far behind FCGP.

Freedom Roster Changes

Rather than review the Freedom players and what they need to do yet again, I’ll share yesterday’s exciting news on the roster front. I’ll get the depressing stuff out of the way first, as Lisa De Vanna and Briana Scurry have been diagnosed with season-ending injuries (leg and head, respectively) and will not be back this year. On the positive side, rookie M Beverly Goebel has been rewarded with an upgrade to a full roster slot for her very capable performances this season. And to fill the developmental slot left open by that move, the Freedom have signed 2009 WPS All-Star and fan favorite Brittany Klein.

Klein is one of those players who’s very easy to root for. At only 5’3″, she lacks the size and strength to get her way through brute force, but she works hard and gives her all on the field every game. A Red Stars fan on Big Soccer commented, “If the rest of this team played with half the intensity of Brittany Klein, we’d be talking of a repeat title.” Touted as an extremely accurate passer as well, she had the most minutes of any Chicago player last year, scoring one goal and three assists from her midfielder position. I would not be at all surprised to see her contribute similarly to the Freedom during the remainder of the season.

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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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