{This is my first game report written from watching an away game on the YouTube stream. It was a mixed bag: camera angles and announcers were subpar, but being able to rewind sure comes in handy. This game’s stream is available here.}
A game that was strikingly better in the second half than the first and that, overall, probably deserved the 1-1 result. Both teams had chances for the win–only the crossbar denied Amy Rodriguez‘ header after a pretty cross from Heather O’Reilly in the first half, and only a goalline clearance kept the Dash from taking the points in second half stoppage time.
#THE GOOD
Almost every time Carli Lloyd and Kealia Ohai have the ball with space between them and the back line, it’s worth stopping whatever you’re doing to watch. Those moments are full of attacking potential, and should continue to generate very good things for the Dash.
O’Reilly was a beast, with the player of the match award going, for me, to either her or Lauren Holiday. O’Reilly’s speed and tenacity and refusal to take a single run off made her a constant threat to the Dash back line, especially down the right flank at the start of the game, and complimented the touch, composure, and blasts from distance provided by Holiday. Those two were involved with at least a touch in almost every FKC attack. It’s amazing O’Reilly couldn’t get a game–and probably properly so–with the USWNT. That is one deep national team!
Erin McLeod really deserves to be in the conversation of the world’s best goalkeeper right now. She was again fantastic: aggressive and cat-quick both vertically and horizontally.
Morgan Brian is so impressive in possession. It’s part of what often goes unnoticed, but she just controls the ball so well in tight spaces, moving her body around it to shield off the defender, finding the angle where the touch is available. But, see below …
Likewise, yes, Camila had a good enough first half, restored to a wide midfield role. Much more comfortable, a good outlet for the defense, very good at drawing fouls in dangerous positions. But, see below …
Dash coach Randy Waldrum continues to provide one of the most flexible, dynamic front lines you could ever see. Especially in the second half, when Jessica McDonald came in for a gassed Meghan Klingenberg, there were now four players rotating freely up front, five when Brian joined in as the Dash pushed for a late winner. It’s a great contrast between the discipline of the back line and the freedom of the front, but it demands a huge amount from the deep lying midfielders to keep the two parts of the team balanced and connected.
This game saw the death (hopefully temporarily) of the #NCE. There was much mourning, as Jordan Jackson was preferred to Niki Cross in the holding role for this game. This led to a different shape at the back: the #NCE often created a shallow triangle, with Cross just in front of the two DC’s; here, especially in the first half, Klingenberg, Jackson, and Ella Masar were in a line in front of the DC’s, making it a back five with two wingbacks. This is sad, but it is in the GOOD section, because Jackson was quite good throughout, holding the space behind Brian in the first half and scrambling desperately to cover for Camila in the second.
You could use a lot of this game as a primer on how to play DC. Both Toni Pressley and Becky Sauerbrunn had very strong games, especially in reading what was in front of them, and attacking passes, intercepting them, and carrying forward into space. Yes, Pressley had the OG, but such things happen: it was a pinball effect on a hard cross, and there’s not a lot she could do. (Pressley also got some criticism in the second half, but every time if you re-watched it, she was put in a really poor position by the lack of a Dash defender on the left … you know this tune, see below.) It was especially impressive watching Sauerbrunn, who took on the pressing role Julie Johnston played at the WC, and did fantastically, showing more versatility than I had credited her with previously.
#THE UNGOOD
Morgan Brian’s first fifteen minutes were pretty rough–she gave the ball away directly from the opening kickoff, and then was highly ineffective in the passing game, which is a requirement for her role. She improved as the game wore on, and even sent a lovely diagonal ball to free Ohai on the wing in the second half, but the first half performance was troubling.
Kansas City deserves a real stadium. It’s cute and quaint to see the people strolling around the field, but there’s little to differentiate it from a high-end U18 club team’s facilities. That’s a sad state of affairs for the town claiming to be the center of American soccer fandom.
And, yeah, we have our usual report on Camila. There are two points here. The first is that, while she was better in midfield, she still has to improve her passing game: too often, her balls would find where Lloyd or Ohai or Tiffany McCarty are, not where they will be, and her teammate would have to slow down, or even retreat, to receive the ball. But that can be improved upon. The bigger issue is the same one we’ve seen before: when McDonald came on, Camila moved back to her spot at left back. The very next KC attack was an all too familiar sight: the DMC (Jackson in this case) chasing down a player charging down Camila’s flank while she trailed behind ineffectively. Moments later, Rodriguez again left her well behind, with little evidence of Camila’s desire to scramble back into position. And then, there she was again, getting nowhere near O’Reilly before she sent a cross that Rodriguez was wide open to receive on the far post. It’s troubling that either the Dash don’t have a better option out there (which can’t be true: I’m looking at you, Melissa Henderson, Carleigh Williams) or that Coach W doesn’t see how weak Camila is defensively.
Dynamo Theory writeup here.