Making a slight change at the header, going to put where the teams are going to be playing. rankprev.teampointsgameswinslossesdrawsgoals forgoals againstgoals diff. 11Seattle Reign FC53221615491831 22FC Kansas City4123126538308 33Washington Spirit342210843541-6 44Portland Thorns FC332297638335 55Chicago Red Stars282177725223 66Western New York Flash2722811337325 77Skyblue FC22205872234-12 88Houston Dash182151332239-17 99Boston Breakers142141523451-17 FC Kansas City projected roster: Goalkeepers: Nicole Barnhart, Sara Keane Defenders: Becky Saurbrunn, Nikki Phillips, Leigh Ann Robinson, Amy LePeilbet Midfielders: Lauren Holiday, Jen Buczkowski, Jenna Richmond, Frances Silva, Erika Tymrak, Katrina Gorry, Mandy Laddish Forwards: Liz Bogus, Amy Rodriguez, Morgan Marlborough, Sarah Hagen NWSL injury report: OUT: None DOUBTFUL: None QUESTIONABLE: None PROBABLE: Nicole Barnhart (right ankle sprain) Chicago Redstars projected roster: Goalkeepers: Karina LeBlanc, Taylor Vancil Defenders: Julie Johnston, Rachel Quon, Jacqueline Santacaterina, Michelle Wenino, Kecia Morway, Tayrn Hemmings, Abbey Erceg Midfielders: Lori Chalupny, Vanessa DiBernardo, Julianne Stitch, Alyssa Mautz, Zakiya Bywaters Forwards: Christen Press, Adriana Leon, Jennifer Hoy, Melissa Tancredi, Emily Van Egmond Samantha Johnson and Hayley Brock are on injured reserve. NWSL injury report: OUT: Hayley Brock (TMJ surgery), Samantha Johnson (facial lacerations and deviated septum) DOUBTFUL: Lori Chalupny (lower back pain) QUESTIONABLE: None PROBABLE: Melissa Tancredi (right groin strain), Shannon Boxx (left hamstring strain), Zakiya Bywaters (right hip flexor strain), Vanessa DiBernardo (lower back pain), Rachel Quon (right hamstring tightness) Projected Starting XI for FC Kansas City: (4-4-2, Box Midfield) Same line up as last week. Projected Starting XI for the Chicago Red Stars: (4-4-2, Diamond Midfield) With Lori Chalupny's doubtful for this match, I expect Adriana Leon to take over her spot. Match Overview: This is the last match left for the Blues and with 2nd spot clinched in the league table, Kansas City will be hosting at least one play off match. With the last match against Boston lightning delayed and then finally canceled, I guess it was fortunate that Kansas City was able to pull out the result in a 2-1 win. Chicago is one of the few clubs in the league that have 3 matches in hand and are still in the hunt for a playoff spot but they need a fair bit of help with Portland being 5 points up and Washington 6. They would require that one of these club's form take a steep nose dive and proceed to tank the last few matches for Chicago. Other then this being the last match, much of the focus for the Blues should be shoring up their pressure defense in the midfield since they gave Boston considerable space to operate and link up to their forwards. In a 4-4-2, their 2 forwards keep a high line so the Blues have a much harder time outnumbering the opponents in the middle of the pitch where they normally suffocate the opposing team and deny them time on the ball and possession. In fact, Boston had about 50% of the possession against Kansas City and that has to be worrying against a much weaker possession side in the Breakers. Hopefully this improves for this match. Win, loss or draw, the Blues are in good position to at least avoid Seattle in the first round, who everyone wants to play in the first playoff match will be a good question? Do we want Portland who thrashed us last time? Or do we want Washington that also like Portland won the season series over the Blues. In either case both should be challenging opponents for us.
KC will avoid Seattle in the 1st round. The rain-shortened match against Boston clinched 2nd place in the standings. and homefield in the semi-final. Good news for Chicago, who will now see many of KC's regular starters on the bench.
#FCKC Starting XI: Keane, Robinson, Sauerbrunn, Phillips, Buczkowski, Mathias, Bogus, Holiday, Silva, Marlborough, Rodriguez #CRSvFCKC— FC Kansas City (@FCKansasCity) August 9, 2014 So Keane is starting and Tymrak is a sub, I guess they are getting rested for the playoffs.
#CRS Starting XI: GK LeBlanc, Quon, Erceg, Johnston, Hemmings, Boxx, Mautz, DiBernardo, Bywaters, Tancredi, Press #CRSvFCKC— FC Kansas City (@FCKansasCity) August 9, 2014
Yeah you are right, dunno what I was thinking, then again everyone wants to avoid Seattle first round.
9' Very bad turn over by Buczkowski with a Blues corner kick, the ball would get knocked out of the box and Buczkowski would have the ball under control and would try to pass under pressure and would turn it over. Press would go on the counter and dribble against Phillips and Phillips would do well to shield her to the side and Press would fire a shot at Keane and Keane would parry it wide, the rebound would bounce into the box and Tancredi would get to the ball before any Blue player could and tap in the rebound for the goal. Buczkowski is so bad with the ball at her feet when she gets pressured. Not a good ball player like Richmond is.
27' Christen Press is using her speed to rip apart the right side of the Blues defense. Sent a perfect pass into the box but Alyssa Mautz, wide open would mishit the ball and flub it.
30' gets a through ball from Buzkowski and turns Erzeg and gets an open look just outside the box and uses her left foot to fire a laser which beats LeBlanc but hits the left post.
39' Holiday gets a pass just outside the box, turns and fires a hard shot on Leblanc and forces a diving save to stop the goal.
40' GOAL Ugh, chicago long balls forward, Hemmings runs under it and sends a pass to a wide open Press who runs onto the ball and waits for Keane to commit to a direction and then chips her for the second goal. Where was Sauerbrunn? Only Phillips was able to get back but Press just out ran her to get to the ball.
42' GOAL Normally I am not a fan of Mattias just rushing to the byline and crossing in, but in this case her cross actually gets to Marlborough who chips it by LeBlanc. Right after this Holiday would turn on Johnston and get a wicked shot off on LeBlanc and force a tip save from her.
The 4-4-2 without Richmond? Vlat never learns. What's the point of having two forwards if you can't get the ball?
First half observations: -That turf is giving the Blues some trouble. Has been harder to play their possession style. Forcing a lot of direct play because the Chicago player would get to the Blues player as they try to take extra touches to settle the ball forcing long balls from them. -Chicago looked to have more of the possession of the half -Christen Press is destroying the right side of the defense. Set up a goal and several other good chances from the right side. Phillips and Press have been battling all match long with Phillips trying to mark her but Press has been winning the battle with her speed. -Mattias, Marlborough, Bogus, Silva. Will any of these players get subbed with the normal starting XI player? Have to see how much Andonovski wants the result over resting his starters.
45' Leon subs in for Bywaters for Chicago. 45' LePeilbet subs in for Silva? Not sure what this sub will do? Defensive sub over an offensive player? Edit: LePeilbet moves to right back and Mattias moves up to midfield. Still don't think this is a good offensive move.
53' Bogus takes a shot from well outside the box and misses high. Not a good shot selection since she had defenders in front of her. Why take this shot. Hold it, pass it but its a zero percent shot, pick your head up and think about what your move should be.
61' have to laugh at the hand ball called on the Blues, the ball really bounced on that turf and clipped LePeilbet and just outside the box, Press would fire a good shot forcing Keane to make a good save.
63' Wow, Leon curls a shot around a diving Keane and it clips the inside post and bounces out but isn't called a goal. Chicago gets robbed but that was a goal.
64' Missed the Hagen substitution for Rodriguez on this comment thread. Just using this as reference for my end of match recap.
FC Kansas City 1-2 Chicago Red Stars FCKC goals: 42' Morgan Marlborough (2nd) assisted Merrit Mattias (2nd) Chicago goals: 9' Melissa Tancredi (2nd) assisted Christen Press (1st), 40' Christen Press (4th) assisted Taryn Hemmings (1st) FCKC Substitutions: 45' Amy LePeilbet (Frances Silva), 64' Sarah Hagen (Amy Rodriguez), 71' Katrina Gorry (Lauren Holiday) Chicago Substitutions: 45' Adriana Leon (Zakiya Bywaters), 79' Jenn Hoy (Vanessa DiBernardo) Starting XI for FC Kansas City: 4-4-2 (Diamond Midfield) -----------------------Amy Rodriguez---Morgan Marlborough ----------------------------------Lauren Holiday -------------------------------Liz Bogus---Frances Silva ---------------------------------Jenn Buczkowski Leigh Ann Robinson---Nikki Phillips--Becky Sauerbrunn---Merrit Mattias Starting XI for Chicago Red Stars: 4-4-2 (Diamond Midfield) ----------------Melissa Tancredi---Christen Press ------------------------Vanessa DiBernardo --------------------Alyssa Mautz---Zakiya Bywaters ---------------------------Shannon Boxx Rachel Quon---Abbey Erzeg---Julie Johnston---Taryn Hemmings Well when you saw the starting line up for FCKC and then Chicago's, you saw who was going for the win and who was planning on resting their starters. Kansas City came out in a 4-4-2 diamond midfield and you know how much I have complained how defensively weak that formation is for the Blues. Chicago came out in their traditional 4-4-2 diamond midfield but unlike the Blues, they were much better on their back end then the Blues were. Part of that is the style the Blues play. They try to choke the middle of the pitch off and to do that, they need to bring the back line up and play a high line. This results in shortening the field and allowing the Blues to try to outnumber the opponents for balls and try to force turn overs. The problem with this is that it exposes our back line to through balls and over the top attacks and Chicago took full advantage of this. One way to combat this is to play 2 defensive midfielders because Jenn Buczkowski is just not enough to control and limit attacks up the middle. Chicago on the other hand, plays deeper in their own end, play more over the top balls and are willing to spread out to run under balls. Finding space and attacking up the middle is harder to do against Chicago, which is why they have given Seattle a lot of trouble with their possession attack because of this. FCKC needs to play 2 holding mids if they want to continue to play their aggressive pressure the middle of the pitch defense. Its just too risky otherwise since the high line today was getting exposed by Christen Press that was constantly making runs on the right side of the pitch and destroying any defense there. Nikki Phillips seems to have been given the duty to mark her since both Press and Phillips were constantly manning up against each other but Press being the World class player she is, was using her speed and sheer ability to over power the defenders on that flank and being just a dangerous pest for the Blues. She would pick up a goal and an assist because of this. The first half would see all the goals scored with Christen Press providing a beautiful feed to an open Melissa Tancredi for the first goal, then Press would add another when Hemmings would provide a pass and Press would be 1v1 against Sara Keane and would simply out wait Keane until she committed to one side and then Press would chip her. Kansas City would score late in the first half on a Merrit Mattias attacking run down to the byline and her cross would actually find a player and Morgan Marlborough would chip the ball in beating her defender to the ball first. The second half Karina LeBlanc would have to come up big against Lauren Holiday and Holiday would try several very dangerous shots near the box, the most dangerous was a one timer on a turn around by Holiday that LeBlanc would have to be very alert to parry over the cross bar. Adriana Leon would score for Chicago as well, but the referee's would miss the goal going in since Leon's shot would bend around an outstretched diving Keane and bend around her to go inside the far post and then bounce out from the side bar. The ball clearly went in, but the referee obviously did not get a good look at it. At least that non call did not come back to haunt Chicago and they would pick up a crucial 3 points. Kansas City on the other hand were clearly resting players, they sat 5 starters and started subbing starters off to give them more rest by half time. Either way, lets hope that we don't see that diamond midfield for Kansas City. Take aways from the match: The hard turf: Made possession very difficult for Kansas City. In fact there was a hand ball right near the Blues box when the ball would bounce high and hit Amy LePeilbet's arm and it would be called. The Blues were taking extra touches to try to settle the ball down and because of this, Chicago was able to get players to the Blues players and pressure them and force them to go more direct with their balls. Blue's defense: Hard to blame them too much since they got seriously exposed because of how high they played. Maybe they should of adapted and played deeper to protect themselves, but they were constantly under siege by through balls and over the top balls that allowed Christen Press to do some serious damage. Press's goal, Becky Sauerbrunn was actually not even in the video, Phillips was the last defender, that should show how badly the Blue's defense was getting exposed. Jenn Buczkowski: I can understand playing her over Jenna Richmond since she has years more experience and played in the WPS as well. The problem with this is that she is highly over rated as a defensive midfielder. As a holding mid, you need to be able to hold the ball and take tackles and move the ball forward and link with your midfielders. You have to be a linking midfielder as well as a defensive player. Buczkowski is a decent defender in her own right but as a linking player, she is very poor at it. Anytime she gets pressured, she has quite a bit of problems dribbling out of danger and it would show up today and cost the Blues as she turned the ball over in her own end, started a counter for Chicago with Christen Press leading the attack and the back line could not recover and Tancredi was wide open for Press's pass. These kind of mistakes have been happening all year and Richmond is an exceptional linking player and is getting better and better defensively. Richmond needs to be always on the pitch if Kansas City wants to play the style of football they want to play. A high line pressure the middle of the field defense, ball controlling offense. The Blues need Richmond for her linking ability. She can shed tackles and keep the ball as well and she has very good vision to provide distribution as illustrated by her 4 assists. Richmond always needs to start. She is that vital to our possession offense. Other then what I pointed Blues were playing a B team against a A team. So the Blues were obviously going to be slightly on the back heel, but some of the problems playing this diamond midfield were clearly shown and Chicago was able to take advantage of them. The regular season is now over for Kansas City so its now wait and see who we will play. Washington or Portland? Or maybe in Chicago could slide into the playoffs, Who knows.
Actually, I like Jenn a lot. It's the 4-4-2 diamond, not her. KC's midfield was getting ripped because two forwards are up top and spread out. Even on the national team, Pia's 4-4-2 only had one big target forward DIRECTLY in front of goal, while the other sped around; Pia's 4-4-2 is based on long balls to the forwards from the flanks, which is unattractive soccer and no longer good enough to win. KC's 4-2-3-1 and Seattle's 4-3-3 are more attractive and technical brands of soccer, something that Vlat runs away from because of his "need" to play Arod and Hagen at the same time. Chicago too has big problems, because they also play the 4-4-2 diamond, but won't even make Press the forward. Bywaters, Chalups and DiBernardo are good enough to play the triangle in a 4-3-3, Hoy and Leon are certainly fast enough to run up the flanks. But Dames insists on playing Tanc and the 4-4-2. Does Dames even watch film? Talk about screwing over Hoy.
i fully expect vlatko to go back to the 4-2-3-1 in the playoffs. it's the best setup for the way he want his team to play. especially defensively, and especially if he gets to the final and has to play the reign.