Dashing: 16 April v Chicago Red Stars

Welcome back to Dashing, an occasional series on Houston’s professional women’s soccer team. As a reminder, I try to focus more on tactical/evaluative comments than game reports. Fantastic game writeups can be found in the usual places: Dynamo Theory, KeeperNotes, etc. {A new entry, or, at least, new to me: Midfield Press.}

Last night saw the Dash open their 2016 season against the Chicago Red Stars, a team generally considered to be in the top third of the league. The result–and more than the result, the play itself–was, honestly, quite a surprise, as the Dash came away 3-1 winners in a game easily as one-sided as the score.

On to the usual stuff.

#THE GOOD

• Amber Brooks, where have you been all my life? That’s right, in a game that saw offensive dominance by the Dash and three goals, I’m starting with the holding mids. That’s because Brooks and Andressa were absolutely fantastic throughout the game. They were pretty static in their roles: Brooks would “stay,” and the young Brazilian would “go,” and they were spectacularly efficient. Andressa’s calm and touch on the ball was on display throughout, and Brooks was a classic destroyer, breaking up play, winning second balls. This is the kind of performance that knits a game together and, potentially, a season.
• The Dash were noticeably improved from last year in regaining and retaining possession. They aren’t employing anything like a gegenpressen philosophy, but last year the team would often disrupt the opponent only to lose the ball themselves. That did not happen nearly as often, especially on the right hand side, where Poliana, Andressa, and either Janine Beckie or Rachel Daly were able to work a lot of very effective, precise touches to hold the ball.
• Daly had a great debut: a ton of hard work, a lovely goal, and a nice assist to Carli Lloyd for the go-ahead score. Beckie was solid as well, contributing good work on the wing, and taking her goal well.
• Julie Johnston is pretty incredible. I don’t think this game was particularly great for her, but you could still use it as a primer on how to play centerback: always in the right position, always taking a smart angle towards the ball, attacking at times. She’s a great, great player.
• Poliana had a good game. She was very effective on the flank, and made four or five deep runs into Red Star territory. Additionally, she is the tallest Dash defender, and dropped to a more central position quite effectively. There were some ungood moments: half her forays ran into cul-de-sacs, and all the skill on the ball doesn’t matter if she can’t get her head up for the pass.

#THE UNGOOD

• Becca Moros was exposed for pace several times. When the challenge was tactical, when she needed to read the game, she was very good; but when it was her having to catch up to–or even stay even with–an opposing forward, she was toast. Most preseason analyses of the Dash speak of a need for a dominant centerback to partner with Ellie Brush. If Cari Roccaro recovers quickly and is unscathed by her hip surgery, she may the answer. If she doesn’t, the Dash may spend most of the year missing Toni Pressley (who I evidently held in higher regard than most).
• The Chicago offense, which other than an opportunity gifted to Christine Press, was largely invisible.
• Carli Lloyd. The media–at least the Houston media–has jumped on the Carli led them to victory notion, but that’s not what I saw. Lloyd rarely touched the ball and showed her usual defensive indifference. She had a good chance in the first half that didn’t come off, a couple nice moments in midfield, and she finished off Daly’s cross with skill. But it wasn’t a dominant performance, at best it was in the slightly impactful range, and that’s not good enough from Lloyd.
• Chioma Ubogagu looked nervous and out of place in a cameo at the end of the game.
• Morgan Brian‘s injury. That said, I wonder what the team looks like when Brian is healthy: I would hope that the defensive midfielders proved they should be there every game. So, my only guess is that she goes in for Beckie, and Lloyd becomes part of the attacking threesome. But that doesn’t sound right.

#FAVES

• Watching Brooks and Andressa was a pleasure. The double-pivot is not easy to pull off, and can often lack dynamism, but they were fantastic.
• The second goal was very pretty: a long pass, hard work from Daly, and a perfect header from Lloyd.