2-0, the good guys, and it was good all around. Own goal on a Spirit defensive brainlock, and a Pichon strike to provide breathing room. Melissa Moore was stellar and has now gone over 250 minutes without yielding a goal. Rachel Kruze got her first start and was exceptional. McVeigh was subbed in with the game still in doubt and was good in the time she was in the mix, providing a crucial snuff-out of a SD drive when they were pressing like all get-out. Scasna is back, and made an immediate impact and showed no ill-effects so far of being off the field for the past 6 weeks. She was cleared Monday to play, she told me afterward. Charge win their first game at home this season and are now 3-1-2 in their last six. 6,345 at 'Nova today under sun-baked skies; then the heavens opened up. Also in the house: Michelle Demko and Erica Iverson Stats: Shots: 13-11 SD Shots on Goal: 6-3, SD Fouls: 14-12, SD Offsides: 8 each Corners: 2-1, SD Saves: 6-2, Moore v. Branam Pags, surprisingly, did not start today; maybe jetlag from flying back here from Salt Lake. Next up: Team Midgy, a/k/a the Beat on 6/22 in their only appearance at Atlanta. Paul
Coach K: "I think having three games in seven days, or eight days, whatever it is, is a lot. You throw a trip to the West Coast in and a trip to New York and back and then playing at home in this heat, I think it's a lot. "We played low-pressure and tried to preserve as much energy as we could. I think we've become much tighter in our defending and limiting our opponents to a few chances as opposed to a lot of chances. The communication in the back is pretty good, Melissa is the key to that. I give San Diego credit for creating a few chances, particularly in the end." Melissa: "I think I've always had confidence going in. Things happen in certain games, it's just part of being a professional player, you have to keep each game as it is We've always done that as a team, you can't really dwell on the past. You just kind of go game to game, that's what we've (done)." http://www.philadelphiacharge.com/press_room/breaking_news/368431.html for the rest of the story. Paul
Oh, yes.... One more thing; Charge are only 2 points out of the final playoff spot, and they won the season series with the Spirit today, if it comes down to tiebreakers and whatnot. Paul
Great victory. Our defense was good. I think it was Tanaka and Fair who were covering Pichon at various times. They both were doing a good job in trapping Pichon. She had 7 offsides in this match and only one or two of them were questionable calls. Has to work on that. Moore had a great game. Kim Pickup had the most shots on target for the Spirit. Think about that for a moment. That is good. Solid defense but we are missing Mitts on the wings. Kruze moves forward well but she isn't as good as Mitts in moving down the field. Otherwise, she was solid tonight. The offense was there tonight too. However, the same things occur over and over again. The high ball forward to Pichon or somebody else. The player is to flick it forward. However, most times Pichon or another player does that, there's nobody to flick it to. Also Pichon is playing largely as a single forward. This can't continue. Sure, she puts pressure on the defense but they are expecting it. We need to get Burt and Misaki forward quicker or have them start as forwards. I suggest that when Kelly comes back in order to resolve possible problems between she and Melanie, that we start Melanie as a forward and she doesn't play as a deep-lying forward. She has a good shot and is an excellent midfielder but we need to spread the offense on the counterattacks. Amazingly, we do well enough on corners or long throw-ins into the box but not with our heading. The goal by Melanie last week was a good indication. Mark also needs to employ more subs especially with the heat and the amount of games that we have in such a short time. I would have taken out Pichon and Hoffmann in the second half. Put in Scasna for Pichon. Not for Burt. We were winning. They didn't need to be in the game anymore. Save their energy. Take them out. Avoid an injury. Our defense was doing a fine job. Sure he will just change the team around next game but I'm not a fan of that. A soccer team needs continuity as much as possible. Look at that first goal. A lack of communication and not the best positioning by a goalkeeper. Continuity is the key. Players who play the most with each other start to know each other better. They know each others' limits and their special skills. Anyway, how long can this go on? We saw it at the end of last year. One forward. She went through a dry patch. We are basically playing with one forward now. No dry patch now. But how long will that last? Put in 3 forwards. Or even two regular forwards. Rest Pichon. She has played 90 minutes in every game that she has payed in except for one which was the first after a game where she suffered a minor injury. She had the only 3 shots on goal in this game. The other 8 shots were not on target. We have other players who can score. Let's utilize them more often. Imagine if we had a healthy Scasna, Hoffmann, and Pichon upfront with Kelly playing behind them. That would drive defenses nuts. They'd have to cover the forwards(and with Pichon they usually double-team) and then watch out for a world-class midfielder who can shoot from 15, 20, 25 yards like it's nothing. Potential. Reach for the stars!
I was shocked that Coach K didnt take out Pichon toward the end of the game,especially after she took that hard collision in the beginning of the game. He had Masa de Moya warmed up on the sidelines. Pichon is the energizer bunny, but on a hot, humid day after playing the full ninety twice this week, I thought she would have gotten a breather. It was hard to evaluate this game fairly because SD was missing their midfield. However the Charge played well and are starting to look like the team that we all thought they would be. The GOOD I think that the addition of Burt in the midfield, and switching Mittsy to central defense have been the keys to our turnaround. Burt is a great ball handler and controls the wing very well, and Mitts just gives us that physical, hardnosed defender in the middle that we need. Yesterday she stook her ground as Fleeting came at her, and Heather just stopped her cold. IMHO she has handled the switch great. She doesnt get involved in the attack too much any more, but I think her defense is more important to the team, and with the addition of Burt, Misaki playing well, and now Scasna back in the mix, the "O" is going to be OK. I also thought Kruze played an excellent wing back. She has some skills and earned herself some more playing time. Coach K did a great job of inserting McVeigh in the midfield toward the end of the game. She came in and made some nice plays making a positive impact to the game. She got some confidence back into her system, and could be a nice role player the rest of the season. BTW, Scasna has some wheels!! She played the last 10-15 minutes I think, and she got the crowd buzzing with some hussle plays and winning a few balls in the offensive zone. THE IFFY. I still think Makinen is iffy out there. She did a decent job, but there were times when she had an opportunity to win the ball with a little bit of physical play, and either pulled up to avoid contact, or lost possession all together. I dont see what she brings to the pitch that made the Charge trade for her. Oh well. KSP
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/sports/6092719.htm Delaware County Daily Times: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=8321518&BRD=1675&PAG=461&dept_id=18170&rfi=6 Camden Courier Post: http://www.courierpostonline.com/news/sports/s061503e.htm Paul
This was a great win! Shame New York won, otherwise the table would be looking very good indeed. Nice to see Scasna back, if they can ease her back to full fitness that will give us another option. The best thing we can say about the team is that for me it's hard to see where to fit her in... Next up, Captain Kelly
"I was shocked that Coach K didnt take out Pichon toward the end of the game,especially after she took that hard collision in the beginning of the game. He had Masa de Moya warmed up on the sidelines. Pichon is the energizer bunny, but on a hot, humid day after playing the full ninety twice this week, I thought she would have gotten a breather." This is true. "I think that the addition of Burt in the midfield, and switching Mittsy to central defense have been the keys to our turnaround. Burt is a great ball handler and controls the wing very well, and Mitts just gives us that physical, hardnosed defender in the middle that we need. Yesterday she stook her ground as Fleeting came at her, and Heather just stopped her cold. IMHO she has handled the switch great. She doesnt get involved in the attack too much any more, but I think her defense is more important to the team, and with the addition of Burt, Misaki playing well, and now Scasna back in the mix, the "O" is going to be OK." The problem with saying how great Mitts played in central defense yesterday(and she can play great anywhere except for keeper) is that Fleeting was tired and a little slow due to the jet lag and the heat.(It doesn't get that humid in San Diego or in Ayr) Burt's position is excellent. However, what is stopping us on some counterattacks is the fact that Pichon is also going into the midfield and doing what Burt is doing. She goes into the midfield and wins balls. However, if you're the top scorer and a quick runner to boot is winning balls in the midfield then you need others around to speed down the field for a quick pass towards the goal. And who is she going to pass it to then? Also the offsides continue and in this game, it was better trapping by the Spirit's defense. Scasna is back and hopefully this means that Mark will employ two regular forwards. Kruze played great in this match. Having her as a wingback will make up somewhat for my disappointment of losing Mitts to the central defense. Kruze can move forward well but I prefer Mitts on the wings. She and Benson are two of the top defenders in the league in moving forward. Makinen didn't have the best of games.
Sometimes to make an effective "team", players have to play other positions in order to make the team complete. You have to admit Mitts interior D play more than makes up for the loss of her in the attack. Whats better for the team the combo of Mitts and McVeigh, or Mitts with Fair/Kruze? If we get everyone healthy and can start Pichon & Scasna at forward with Kelly and Hoffman sharing the attacking midfield role, I think that the offense can live with Fair or Kruze at the outside back. KSP
Latham was also tired. She had played on Thursday for 75 minutes in Guasave, Mexico where the high was 98 or so. "Sometimes to make an effective "team", players have to play other positions in order to make the team complete. You have to admit Mitts interior D play more than makes up for the loss of her in the attack. Whats better for the team the combo of Mitts and McVeigh, or Mitts with Fair/Kruze?" Perhaps but McVeigh is getting better and she could be in central defense.
Misaki has played right wing quite a few matches, and the one evident point is, she lacks the footspeed to get forward. What she is good at is the more technical control and short passing. Interestingly Kruze relatives were sitting next to us..a media source prior to the match showed us the starting line-ups with Kruze in the starting list, the speculation being mcveigh was done...the Bob Ford Inky article along with Mcveighs play in place of tullock should discount that rumor... the charge play very much like a bruce arena team, lots of possession in the back, with a slow build-up, then the longish ball into space for pichon to run onto... getting scasna back should add her into the mix there, a couple nice plays from scasna, she reads what to do well and anticpates...Scasna parents were there yesterday... scasna dad continues to be a professional coach in europe, so he's mentored her quite well... marienette, what can we say, but the best finisher in wusa, branam left foot kept her from a2nd goal, and the female assistant had a difficult time with the long balls, knowing when they were on or off, about 5 were off, but she blew 2... pichon must have family visiting too because on the north side she was speaking in french with a group... big match upcoming...will reveal all....makinen is an upgrade to fair in the d-mid role...
Not a bad performance against a depleted team!! The Defense was pretty good. Add Fair at the R-Back position and we might get more offense. Atlanta is the true test of where the team is. This week was good for points, but I still don't know where the team is at in terms of play. Consistent play.. We shall see.......
The confidence level should be good, since we beat San Diego with their top guns in *their crib*, as well as winning here without them. It'd be too much to hope for Kelly to make a cameo next Sunday...better wait until the Boston game (or even SD on 7/5) for that. Paul
Apparently Heather said on "Sports Rap" that Kelly would be back for the last 7 games of the season. I would interpret that as being back to full 90 minute fitness by then (July 13th), with little sub cameos for a couple of weeks before then. Hopefully starting with Boston on June 28th, like Paul said. Wasn't the attendance for the Spirit game really good? It can only get bigger the longer the Charge revival lasts. I do hope they beat Atlanta, if results go their way, that could finally push them off the bottom.
The Atlanta match-up is interesting... I assume Mitts draws Dominguez... Tietjen gets Hooper... Makinen gets Parlow... same strategy for the Charge as the past several matche, soak up the pressure and hit them with the counter game... Scasna offers a nice offensive option, I would assume she gets 20-25 minutes against Atlanta... Kruze and Misaki have established their ability to contribute... Burt gets to go back to Atlanta..she's played very well with the Charge... match will be one of divergent styles...
I concur with the sentiments regarding the decision to keep Pichon in late. There was that scary moment in the 1st half. Since PHL have yet to demonstrate that they are more than a one-trick pony, perhaps it would have been a better decision to protect the crown jewels by taking Pichon out. Maybe she didn't score enough goals . . . . . Play down the flanks was virtually non-existent. Too enamored of whacking the ball forward. Players have acres of space in front of them, yet choose to whack it instead of dribbling forward. Makinen was playing at 2nd gear, but that's better than in 1st gear the early part of the season. If she can develop better dribbling and passing skills, the backs would play to her instead of whacking the ball upfield. Heather played well, taking in the big bodies that SD threw forward. Stepping up when she had to was admirable, albeit unnecessary, if Makinen had any clue how to play her position. Now that McV's been relegated to the bench, I focused on Tietjen's play. She's terrible. She gave up on a ball inside the PA that an SD player won back & took a shot on goal that Melissa saved. Two more plays involved her & Sullivan, where the dwarf outjumped her twice & took shots afterwards. Not to mention a handful of headers inside the PA that she let SD win. This was an all-WUSA defender? As luck would have it, SD didn't convert. Nice to see Scasna get some PT. Scasna's contributions going forward will be much-needed relief for an offense that lacks creativity.
weather conditions very very warm and humid, so a ton of aesthetic dribbling creativity was NOT advised... charge did a lot of lateral passing in the back, then the quick long ball looking for pichon on diagonal runs... hoffmann actually was dropping back into midfield quite a bit emulating 4-5-1... Misaki lacks the footspeed to get forward... Scasna, I would expect to see on the right side replacing Misaki... NY and SD matches have reflected a continued better play... ideally Scasna takes the burden off pichon, and the return of smith adds some offensive punch off the bench...
I didn't advocate dribbling for aesthetic reasons. What I observed was that players had time and space with the ball at their feet, yet chose to whack it upfield. But maybe that's part of the gameplan. It was warm and humid for Pichon too, and she was doing all the running out there. Then again, Pichon dropped back several times to carry the ball forward, or to receive them from throws-in. It all goes back to last season about Kelly Smith before she got injured. She was the holder, organizer, attacker, and scorer all rolled into one. The rest of the field players have to play their roles well, and maybe Pichon wouldn't have to run around as much. I agree with Hoffmann dropping back to play balls forward. It seems to suit her style more, instead of running out front. Scasna will probably be broken in slowly. She will give PHL an additional attacking and creative option. As Dennism posted, you can't rely on Pichon forever.
weather conditions were terrible due to the extended winter, neither team was acclimated to the intense humidity...even Burt who came from Atlanta, was hitting the water bottle repeatedly only Zhang seemed NOT be be affected.. with Tullock and Makinen in central mid field, they need to be leery of wearing themselves out, as there are NO adequate replacement.. Kruze actually played well at right back, not making any defensive lapses... as soon as scasna came onto the pitch, she and pichon went to work together... warming up, they warm up together ...... 249 SDCORELESS minutes... that's the key... are they back defensively?? San Diego went to 3-4-3 for the last 20 minutes...only the two free kicks near the end represented plays of significant danger... Sullivan was doing her pichon imitation, and SD was trying the Charge tactic to her.. Danila is a big woman...like to see wambach and danila mix it up... HEavyweight championship of wusa.