FC Kansas City 2-1 Skyblue FC FCKC goals: 33' Amy Rodriguez (11th) assisted Lauren Holiday (6th), Lauren Holiday (8th) assisted Frances Silva (1st) Skyblue goals: 87' Nadia Nadim (2nd) FC Kansas City Substitutions: 45' Frances Silva (Sarah Hagen), 74' Liz Bogus (Erika Tymrak), 77' Morgan Marlborough (Amy Rodriguez) Starting XI for FC Kansas City: 4-4-2 (Diamond Midfield) -------------------------Amy Rodriguez---Sarah Hagen ----------------------------------Lauren Holiday -------------------------Erika Tymrak---Katrina Gorry ---------------------------------Jenn Buczkowski Leigh Ann Robinson---Nikki Phillips--Becky Sauerbrunn---Amy LePeilbet Starting XI for Skyblue FC: 4-4-2 (Diamond Midfield) ------------------Maya Hayes---Nadia Nadim --------------------------Sophie Schmidt -----------------Kelley O'Hara---Katy Freels ----------------------------Ashley Nick Cami Levin---Lindsi Cutshall---CoCo Goodson---Caitlin Foord FC Kansas City would come out in a 4-4-2, but not with the 2 holding mids like I thought they would have. Katrina Gorry would start and the formation would switch from a box midfield to a diamond with Buczkowski as the lone defensive midfielder. Through out the match, the Blues would dominant for stretches the possession and create several good chances. Erika Tymrak would hit the cross bar, Rodriguez would have several open looks and Katrina Gorry would get her chances as well. Finishing was the issue again but in the 33rd minute Rodriguez would get a nice pass into the box and slot her shot which would hit the post and deflect into goal. A pretty close goal since that post deflection could of easily bounced out. Kelley O'Hara later in the match would hit the post and deflect as well, but would not go in but get knocked to the byline instead. The second half Sarah Hagen would get subbed off early and Frances Silva would come in. Was Hagen injured or did Andonovski want to rest her? With Silva subbed in, Silva would make an impact in the possession and would be dangerous on the right side. Her best play would be her combination with Holiday. Silva just outside the box would hold the ball up, waiting for someone to make a run into the box. Holiday obliged and made the run and Silva would send a gorgeous through ball into the box freeing Holiday for a 1v1 against Loyden and slot a shot underneath her for the pretty goal. There were some mistakes by the Blues, the worst being the Gorry turn over. Gorry would send a chipped back pass into her own box. The ball would float in the air and Nadia Nadim being the goal poaching player she is, ran under it and was clear and free on a 1v1 against Nicole Barnhart and easily beat her. From then on the Blues were sitting deep trying to defend the Skyblue attack which at that point looked very flat. The Blues would hold on and take the 3 points from this match which they needed to secure send place in the league standings. Take Aways from the match: Lauren Holiday: 1 goal, 1 assist. MVP and the general that really sets the attack up. Had to do a lot of defending and back marking because the Blues were only going with one defensive midfielder and Gorry did quite a bit of floating when the Blues were defending in their half. Holiday and Tymrak connected well today and were constantly looking for eachother but Holiday showed that she has quite a bit of chemistry with Silva. Becky Sauerbrunn and Nikki Phillips: Both played a dominant defensive game. Man marked and handled any attempted link ups to the Skyblue forwards by pressing forward and man marking them. Buczkowski would cover the passing lanes, but Sauerbrunn and Phillips did quite a bit of marking themselves to shut down dangerous attacks. Amy LePeilbet: Played a good match. Wasn't a liability on the wing. And actually blocked a very dangerous shot inside the box on a bad give away by Gorry. Katrina Gorry: Had a bad game. Had 2 bad turn overs in her own half. One of them caused a counter that LePeilbet would have to make a great block to save a good shot on goal and the other one, really didn't understand why she tried to chip a pass back inside her own box. That ball was easily intercepted and a goal was the end result breaking up a sure shut out for Barnhart. Gorry also did not defend. Floated and didn't try to back mark. Any tackles she made was with a player in front of her but otherwise Gorry was a non factor on defense and forced Sauerbrunn and Phillips to pinch deep into the midfield to hug players as they took passes which is dangerous if they don't have back up from their midfield. Frances Silva: Why is Gorry starting and not Silva? Gorry may be apart of the Australian national team, but Silva is a much better fit player for Kansas City. Silva was making an impact on the attack and on the defense. Unlike Gorry, Silva was constantly back marking and chasing down Skyblue players with the ball. On the attack, Silva's vision was constantly showing through with her passes, her through balls. Her patience to wait for plays to develop, allowed the second goal to happen as she waited for Holiday to break through the Skyblue back line and then slotted her a through ball. That kind of vision is rare and special. Tymrak and Holiday and I would say Richmond also have it. Play all 4 players at the same time Andonovski. They play your style of football.
Seattle has 5 games left to play. All they have to do is win one game and they win the title. Well actually if KC won all of their remaining games and scored 18 goals giving up 0, while Seattle would have to lose 4 games, give-up 18 goals and score none.
Yep, Silva was part of the creative effort than earned 4 good scoring opportunities. She faced up and attacked. Could be worse though, Chicago won't play Hoy and DiBernardo and that would sicken you even more than Silva not playing. Chicago's coach is completely blind. That said, I belive KC would be better off in the 4-2-3-1, playing off his strengths with Holiday, Richmond, Buzz, Tymrak and Silva. It's a midfield driven gameplan and strategy. Not having the guts to bench Arod and Apple for half of a game is Vlatko not trusting his own system. The floodgates would open if he did it.
Your kissing the tip of the iceberg with this, but he doesn't need to bench ARod or Apple to implement his system. Amy Rodriguez is a capable winger, she won World Cup silver and Olympic gold playing as a winger for the US. While she has always had a problem with finishing, her speed and skill set is best exploited on the wing, not as close as possible to goal. All you have to do is go back and look how ARod has scored this season, combination, build up, a few distance shots, two easy tap ins that she still nearly missed. She's only scored one goal on a break away all season long, but KC continues to try and force feed the baby. Meanwhile, Sarah Hagen just finished a tour of duty with Bayern playing as a classic false 9 in a 4231. She scored 38 goals in 50 matches, 38! Her 3 goals for KC are all classic target striker goals, a perfectly chested ball and volley, a header from a physical battle, and a chip from very close range. All 3 were on the first touch. but Amy Rodriguez wants to play forward.
It has got to be frustrating as a fan to see such small crowds for the teams home games, especially when the team plays such great soccer. The two teams that are my favorites are Kansas City and Seattle. They play a brand of soccer that is enjoyable to watch. I hope that they both make it to the finals. It would be a great game for promoting the league.
None of KCs sports teams operate downtown and while Durwood isn't exactly downtown, it's close. The Royals, Chiefs, and Sporting KC all operate out of the suburbs. And sadly FCKC hasn't done a good job of marketing to the hipster college crowd that lives in the area and families don't seem willing to travel to the city." Prices are an issue too, to get a decent seat is $22 per person which to most people doesn't sound like a lot but when Kansas Citians can get similar quality seats in their backyard at Royals and Sporting KC games it doesn't make sense financially. And the TV broadcasts probably make it easier for some to not watch the game in person too.
Gorry brings energy to the game but looks oddly misplaced in an offense full of players with great vision and combination skills. Am I the only one who would like to see Holiday drop back and put Tymrak at the #10 spot? -----------------------------------Sarah Hagen---------------------------------- -----------Amy Rodriguez--------------------------------Frances Silva-------- ------------------------------------Erika Tymrak--------------------------------- -------------------Lauren Holiday--------------Jenn Buczkowski-------------- Leigh Ann Robinson---Nikki Phillips--Becky Sauerbrunn---Amy LePeilbet
tymrak loses the ball too much to do that. it will essentially make holiday a "cleaner" back there which is not her strong suit.
If KC had draft picks.... -------------------------------------Sarah Hagen--------------------------------------- -----------Erika Tymrak---------------------------------Shea Groom----------------- -----------------------------------Lauren Holiday-------------------------------------- ------------------Sarah Killion--------------------Jenna Richmond------------------- Leigh Ann Robinson---Abby Dahlkemper--Becky Sauerbrunn-----Meritt Mathias
Teams would be blind not to pick out Shea Groom in next year's draft. I mean Frances Silva dropped to the 3rd round which was very fortunate for us. How many draft years would teams actually over look players with playing vision like these Tymrak and Silva? Besides when people compare Groom to Tymrak, its not just me that is doing it. I'm willing to bet with a smart manager will draft Groom in the first round. She is the second best midfielder in my opinion available. I rate Groom higher even more then Sam Mewis. Groom has single handedly taken over games by herself, Mewis has not.
Hey, I was pushing for Houston to draft her. They need to tap into the A&M fan base, there are a lot living in the Houston area, and getting a Shea Groom and maybe trading for a Mathias or Mautz, former Aggie Alum, would help.
Houston will more then likely pick up the second pick in the draft. And with Skyblue having Boston's first pick, they probably will draft Morgan Brian, if they don't, which would shock me, then Houston will draft Brian. Where I see Groom dropping is late in the first round or early in the second round. Teams like Boston, Houston desperately need a play maker in the middle of the pitch to direct the offense. Yeah I am actually open to the idea of Mattias heading to Houston. She is a very good defensive player but her best position would be right outside back. She just doesn't work well in the midfield because she doesn't do enough linking with the midfielders or forwards. And at Kansas City, we have Leigh Ann Robinson. So I really don't want to see Mattias playing over Silva.