Aaran Lines was on Soccer is A Kick in the Grass radio program last night 7/21/14. WYSL 1040 AM 92.1 FM. Podcasts at: http://www.soccerisakickinthegrass.com He said Abby might get some minutes on Friday. He also pointed out the Abby had 11 goals and 8 assists last year, so she directly contributed to more than 50% of the 36 goals they scored last year. (18 games played vs. 6 this year) I have said that Abby "unbalances" a team. Looking at it from a different POV, Abby "tips the balance" toward winning for the Flash. The team sorely missed her this year.
Nice job! McCall's infectious spirit inspires many in many different ways. Here is one posted on YouTube by Sanjana Espinosa; I guess it's fitting for 7/25: Christmas in July.
Look on the bright side, they will be wearing everyone's favorite pink jersey (well mine at least). Also, is it becoming a thing now that WNY plays on friday? I dig it.
I hope there's a roster shakeup in the offseason, because this group collectively isn't getting the job done. Half of the players can go, as long as we keep those that are at least trying to win.
The Flash can still make it to the playoffs, and the scenario is not far-fetched. They MUST win the next four games: Sky Blue twice, Breakers, and last game against Red Stars. They can win all of those. Plus BOTH the Red Stars and Washington Spirit must lose two games. Those losses may very well happen. That would put WNY at 36 pts, and both the Spirit and Red Stars at 34 pts (or fewer). Red Stars play: Washington, Kansas City, Boston, WNY. WNY must win. Then a Red Stars loss to FCKC would be the second loss for Chicago. Spirit play: Kansas City, Red Stars, Seattle, SkyBlue. Spirit could very well lose to FCKC and Seattle. Plus the Washington vs. Chicago game may result in a loss for one of the two teams. So, until WNY loses or ties, as far I am concerned, they are still in the hunt. The WNY at Chicago game on 8/16 may be a win-or-go-home scenario for both teams.
-Washington has 3 bad matchups for them, and they will be missing Jodie Taylor for the next two matches. -Chicago doesn't match up well against KC or Washington. However, they did wreck Boston both times they've faced them before. -Boston will be missing Sanderson when we face them again, and IMO she was the difference for them when they beat us. -Every single match is an absolute must-win, and if we want to get that last playoff spot, we're going to need everybody to show up the entire time they're on the field. That first half against Boston was embarrassing, because you had one player busting her ass, and the other 10 relying on her to do everything.
Spirit win 2-1 vs. FCKC. WNY was hoping for FCKC. Now I care who wins the Red Stars vs. Spirit game - Red Stars need to win to give Spirit a loss heading into the the Spirit game with Seattle.
Our playoff hopes are hanging by a thread right now. While mathematically we are still alive, I just don't see it happening. The way things have gone for us this year, I wouldn't be surprised if we were out of it by the end of the week.
Tonight's the night - Abby is back, but can WNY continue its spell over SkyBlue? Forecast calls for isolated & scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon, but clearing by 7:00 pm - temperatures in the low 80's - it could be muggy out there in the grass. Nadia Nadim is scary; she scores in unsettled situations and WNY defense has been unsettled a lot this year. I doubt Reynolds starts due to injury, so its probably Taylor & Williamson in the middle, Edmonds on one side, and either Allen or Palmer on the other. I prefer Palmer. I like Edmonds attitude: On the train back up to buffalo to give everything I have for the next 4 games. I believe we still… http://t.co/SvnYD1LUK0— Kristen Edmonds (@Kris10edmonds) July 27, 2014
Reynolds has been ruled out with an ankle sprain, and I would be very shocked if Edmonds doesn't start tonight. Although Palmer has proven herself over the last couple games, I'm thinking Lines will give Allen another shot, either tonight or against Boston on Sunday.
One thing we did not have vs. Boston was Losada did not start. I don't know why. She needs to start. Assuming Abby is not game-fit, do you start her and keep her in as long as is prudent, then bring in Jasmyne OR do you save Abby on the bench? I would start her with strict instructions that it is not Feed the Abby time. Do your thing, but instead of short Jasmyne you get tall Abby.
I don't know why Vicky didn't start either. Maybe Lines was dissatisfied with her performance against KC, which was a pretty awful showing from her, and he wanted to give Sonia another shot at earning some more time. It ended up backfiring and hopefully Vicky gets her starting spot back tonight. There's no way Abby is game fit after two months on the sidelines, so I would start Jas and have her wear the defense out, then bring in Abby later on.
I agree about Abby's fitness. Well, we'll see what Lines does. For me, there is only one game to play for the rest of the year and that is tonight. I would not save anything for the Boston game on Sunday, worry about that starting at 10 pm tonight.
At the position the WNY are in, I wouldn't hesitate to put in Abby because there's always a chance she can make something happen. Coming off an injury, she is not going to be at her best but just to have her presence back and her leadership might boost the team. Also we now have a big threat in the box during set pieces. This is the end of the line, I said that actually last week too but I noticed we are still have our nose barely above the water still so let's turn all these last games into wins!
It's not just the offensive set pieces that you want a player like Abby in there. She does just as much work on the other end as well. Houston most likely would not have scored that game winner back in May if she had hadn't had to leave the game and had been defending that set piece. That part of Abby's game often gets overlooked when people talk about what she brings.
I agree that Abby does well on Defensive set pieces, but in watching her play for 2 yrs. now at Sahlens I find that she doesn't get back to help on D as much as she should.
Well, that's it, then. We are out of the playoffs. Not mathematically, but realistically. Time to think about next season and who to get rid of from this season. Everyone is fair game IMO, and it'll be up to them to earn a place on the squad next year.
The problem is that the defense wasn't as great last year as it appeared. It was AD that was great. Without her great saves, the weakness of the defense is shown. They are still the 4th best defense this year, though. So it's still pretty good.
How did we go from a league-best backline to one of the worst? Individually they're all good defenders, but the cohesion that we saw last season never materialized. The entire squad needs a massive overhaul in the offseason. Time for Lines to channel his inner Harvey and start the wheeling and dealing. They can start by demanding another allocated player from the federation. That whole "Abby is worth 2 players" BS is not going to cut it next year if she goes elsewhere, like many are speculating. Give us a third allocation, US Soccer. I don't care which team you take from to give us one, we should get one. Hell, take Brian out of the draft process and allocate her to us. That's fair IMO, since the other feds have given us crappy fringe players the last two seasons. Looking at the current roster, here's who I would keep: Kerr, Lloyd, Edmonds, Taylor, Vicky, Spencer, Williamson, Wys, Abby, Palmer, and AD comes back. Everyone else can be dropped. It would be a shame to lose long time Flash players like Zerbs, but with the increasing quality of play, I don't think she can hang much longer.
Can't believe you are complaining about your two allocations when teams like Chicago got two half allocations; Press arrived in June and Boxx around the same time while still recovering from child birth. There are teams with better and more allocations than the Flash but there are teams with worse.