Just wondering what Carolina's formation was last year (eg in the Founder's Cup) and how people think Carolina will line up this year....any thoughts?
The Courage played a lot of 4-3-3 early last season before Birgit Prinz arrived, but were mostly playing a 4-4-2 during the second half of the season with Prinz and Fotop starting on top. I would expect the Courage to continue using a 4-4-2 formation this season whenever Prinz and Fotop are both available.
In the season opener here in San Diego, as I recall the Courage used a 4-3-3 formation with Barnes starting on the left, Fotop in the center and Yankowski on the right. Carolina came away with a 2-1 victory, but were really lucky to score at all that day since both goals deflected off of Spirit defenders. I'm not sure who started in the Courage's second match of the season against San Jose, but I believe that they mainly used a 4-3-3 formation again. In the home opener against Atlanta McDermott stayed with the 4-3-3, but decided to move Unni Lehn up and play her as a forward in an attempt to generate more offense. Unni played out on the left during the first half, but was much more effective when she was moved over to the right during the second half. That second half against Atlanta was one of the best halves of soccer I saw the Courage play all season.
Re: Re: Carolina's Formation I was at the Spartan DH last April and you are correct in the Courage's formation for that match.
Carolina @ San Jose Match Wasn't this the match that San Jose dominated for long stretches, but "Lucks" came up huge and made something like 12 or 13 saves? I was listening to "Inside Soccer" that day and they were interviewing someone who was in the press box at Spartan who actually announced a goal scored by Fotop early in the match. Not exactly PBP coverage, but I also had a friend there who was calling me every so often with updates including right after Hege scored the winning goal.
Re: Carolina @ San Jose Match Yup. I was sitting in the stands opposite the press box and all the folks around me were impressed with Luckenbill in that match.
You're right, Nordby1 Yeah...12 saves, a WUSA record. Then Mullinix had 13 saves in a game later on in the season.
Re: You're right, Nordby1 That's right, "Lucks" had 12 saves and then didn't Siri break the record when she had 13 saves against Boston during one of the PAX telecasts?
So far... played a 442 or 433 at times.... Kind of looking for something like Adam & co. do on the Charge boards. Was there a regular starting line-up for the 442? Who were the center backs & wings, same for mid and who played L & R up front and was the mid a diamond or some other formation? Luckenbill D D D D M M M M F F And any ideas for 2003?
As you correctly identified, the only constant in the starting lineup for the Courage this past season was "Lucks" in goal. I'm not really sure how many times the Courage were able to use the same lineup last season when Birgit and Fotop started on top. I can easily find Courage lineup information for the 2001 season by checking my 2002 Courage Media Guide, but right now I don't know the best place to look for that information for the 2002 season. IMO the best lineup the Courage used last season was the same one they used in the Founders Cup. On defense, Slaton started at left back, Burt at right back with Fettig & Baxter as the central defenders. Riise, Lehn, Roberts, and O'Hanley started in the midfield with Prinz and Fotopoulos on top. To get a lot more speed in the lineup Venus James was the first sub used coming in for O'Hanley at the beginning of the second half.
Semis vs. Atlanta I just checked the lineup that the Courage used against Atlanta in the semis and as I thought it was almost the same lineup as the one used in the Founders Cup Final. I was at that match and remembered Brooke O'Hanley starting, but she actually started on defense in place of Danielle Slaton who did come in for Brooke late in the first half. I almost forgot that Venus James started in the midfield because she didn't have one of her best matches that day, but her sub, Carla Overbeck ended up scoring the winning goal in overtime.
Thanks for the good information Nordby1. I looked for starting line-ups on the Courage site and couldn't seem to find anything.
Staci Wilson I just checked the Courage site and Staci is listed as having started 9 games last season, which is actually more than I thought she did. Staci came off the bench 5 times during the 2002 regular season and also came off the bench late in the Founders Cup Final and played a huge role helping to preserve the Courage's 3-2 victory.
Not a comment about formations, but a tactical issue that I think is important to understanding the makeup of the team and fits in nicely with the discussion: Remember that the Courage last year were a team that used the counter-attack to great effect. There were plenty of times when the defense sent a ball out the other way for a forward to latch onto. And when Birgit Prinz finds herself in a one-on-one situation, it's going to take a lot of work to stop her from scoring. All the articles I've read about the new coach say that he favors a speedy, attacking strategy. The Courage certainly has the personnel to play such a game, and shoring up the defense through the draft should protect them. I don't want to see the team get into a "live by the sword, die by the sword" situation, and I think with back line players such as Fettig, Slaton and Boyd, they'll be OK.
Bruce Arena's strategy -> put the best 11 players you have on the field, and line them up as best suited to those 11. With the reduction of rosters to 16 players, teams are really going to be forced into set patterns. Things that will greatly affect the Courage given the 16 player roster: The status of Overbeck. At this point she either needs to play - or go away. We can't waste a high dollar roster spot on a late sub. If she stays and plays, we have to be mindful of her lack of footspeed in defence. National Team callups. Almost certainly we will be missing Slaton for good parts of the season. There's a decent chance that TRob will be gone with her. Additionally Riise, Lehn, Prinz, and (forgot her name) the new Canadian will all likely miss time to callups. Other players, like Fotop, might get a one-off chance to impress Heinrichs. These callups are going to really hurt. With only 16 roster spots in a World Cup year, we're really going to have to wait and see who the 16 players are before we know what the team is best suited for. The large SAS stadium pitch and the hot and humid North Carolina summers definitely favor faster, younger, and fitter players. A lot of soccer games are won by the team who is can still running in the last 15-20 minutes.
Breanna Boyd's Position What defensive postion does Breanna Boyd typically play for Canada? Has she only played as a defender for Canada and at the Univ. of Nebraska or has she also played other positions?
Birgit Prinz When I first saw Birgit play for Carolina I was so impressed that she was actually even better than I had heard she was. In that first match against New York, at times she looked like some totally unstoppable runaway freight train. I couldn't believe that as big as she is, she is also so fast. With a little luck in her WUSA debut she could have easily had a hattrick. I think the score of that match ended up being something like 4-1, but didn't Birgit hit the post once or twice and then have several other near misses. So much for her needing time to get used to playing in the WUSA.
Rosters Reduced to 16 Andy makes some good points. If the roster sizes are reduced to 16, it is going to be very difficult to have any players on the roster who aren't going to be able to step in and play at least 60-70 minutes or more. When Carla came back from her surgery last year did she have some sort of an injured reserved status or did she always have to take up one of the full roster spots because she is a Founding Player?
Re: Breanna Boyd's Position With the CWNT I've seen her Left Central, Right Central and Right outside defender. At Nebraska, I think she played central for the most part and occasionally sweeper. Nebraska also put her forward in some cases where it was late in the game and they were down a goal. I saw them do that in pre-season against Notre Dame..put her up forward for the last five minutes and she scored the tying goal. Heard they put her up front with Latham in the latter stages of the sweet 16 loss to Santa Clara....by all accounts it was working quite well but time ran out before the two of them could get the equalizer.
Nebraska keeper is a sweeper keeper, coming out of her box every now and then. Boyd played centrally, and reads everythign very well, nice speed to cover balls palyed into the corners, and has a nice ability to pass the ball.
I haven't heard anything about her playing/non-playing status but with her pregnant (not sure when she's due) I really don't see how she can even consider taking a roster spot for this season. Front office bound?
ok, no i kno ive had the flu all week, and i might be alittle off, but did u just say that carla was pregnant?
Versatile Lehn Moves Where She's Needed I was looking to see if I could find some more information about Unni Lehn's knee injury and instead I came across this article that discusses Unni Lehn's ability to play several different positions for the Courage and how early in the season McDermott preferred to use a 4-3-3 formation. Versatile Lehn Moves Where She's Needed