FC Kansas City vs Boston Breakers August 6, 2014

So last match I was away for the weekend seeing some family. From what I gathered the Blues played pretty good and had their chances to win.

rank	prev.	team	points	games	wins	losses	draws	goals for	goals against	goals diff.
1	1	Seattle Reign FC	50	21	15	1	5	45	17	28
2	2	FC Kansas City	38	22	11	6	5	36	29	7
3	4	Washington Spirit	34	22	10	8	4	35	41	-6
4	3	Portland Thorns FC	33	22	9	7	6	38	33	5
5	5	Chicago Red Stars	28	21	7	7	7	25	22	3
6	6	Western New York Flash	27	22	8	11	3	37	32	5
7	7	Skyblue FC	22	22	5	8	7	22	34	-12
8	8	Houston Dash	18	20	5	12	3	21	35	-14
9	9	Boston Breakers	14	20	4	14	2	33	49	-16

Looking at the table now. Washington has really placed themselves in a very comfortable position to make the playoffs now with their 2 wins recently. And its looking more and more likely that Chicago and Western New York will have to wait next year to compete for the playoffs.

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)

Boston Breakers projected roster:

Goalkeepers: Alyssa Naeher, Jamie-Ann Kranich
Defenders: Jazmyne Avant, Cat Whitehill, Julie King, Courtney Jones, Ashley Grove, Nikki Washington, Chelsea Stewart
Midfielders: Lianne Sanderson, Joanna Lohman, Kristie Mewis, Bianca D'Agostino, Madlyn Evans, Mollie Pathman
Forwards: Heather O'Reilly, Kathryn Schoepfer, Nkem Ezurike, Jasmine Reeves

NWSL injury report:

OUT: Courtney Jones (right ankle sprain)
DOUBTFUL: None
QUESTIONABLE: None
PROBABLE: Jazmine Reeves (left mid foot sprain)

Projected Starting XI for FC Kansas City: (4-4-2, Box Midfield)



There is a chance that the Blues could come out in a 4-2-3-1 formation but with Amy Rodriguez and Sarah Hagen starting, it will always be a 4-4-2. This is the same line up as last match with the exception of Amy LePeilbet who started last match but I have Phillips starting here.

Projected Starting XI for the Boston Breakers: 4-4-2 (Diamond Midfield)



This is probably the optimal starting line up for Boston, but it almost never happens, which is very puzzling. One has to wonder why the coach of the Breakers hasn't been willing to go with this line up more.

Match Overview:

The draw to Seattle was disappointing in some ways since the Blues could not say they were one of the clubs that beat them this season. They had 2 draws and 1 loss to Seattle. Still with that draw, the Blues stay 4 points up on Washington and more then likely with 2 matches left will clinch home field advantage going into the playoffs.

But back to the match on hand, Boston is in such a poor position currently. Not only are they last in the league table, but in my belief their whole roster has been badly mismanaged. Players that have chemistry like Jasmine Reeves and Nkem Ezurike rarely ever play together consistently. Instead its a mish mash of who starts and who sits. Very hard to predict the starting line up with the Breakers.

To add more fuel to the fire, Boston also has traded their top pick away to Skyblue which is unfortunately a very short sighted thing to do. This sadly allows Skyblue first choice in next years draft. I think Randy Waldrum will need to work hard to do a trade to get the first pick so he can draft Morgan Brian since he desperately needs a playmaker in his possession style offense.

Heather O'Reilly and Jasmine Reeves have quietly had good seasons for the Breakers with both scoring 7 goals. Not much is mentioned about their play as they are not in the big picture for the playoffs, but in the case of Reeves, its probably a given that she will win the rookie of the year honors this year. 7 goals is a bit hard to ignore even though I am willing to put Jenna Richmond up there since she has played much more often and has had to play a more important role for FCKC.

The Blues will need to focus hard and finish their last 2 matches strong. The last few matches have been uneven in the effort and finishing and scoring is now a problem again. Part of that could be the change in formation since players are not as open as they were before since the ball possession in the middle of the pitch is much harder to maintain without that additional midfielder that the Blues used to have. With 2 forwards, it becomes much harder for the Blues to maintain the pressure, clog up the middle style since the opposing team has much more space to operate.

Whether the Blues stay in this 4-4-2 formation for the playoffs will be very interesting. I have a feeling this 4-4-2 will not be as effective for the Blues since their style demands that they pressure players at the middle of the pitch and force the opposing team to run the gauntlet of markers to link with their forwards. This is how the Blues maintain possession and force turn overs. The problem with the 4-4-2, there just is too much space for the opposing team to operate in the middle and it allows them greater time with the ball if we are talking about a good possession team. Washington in fact had about 50% of the possession when they beat us and I wouldn't call them a possession team.

The Blues will have the Breaker this game and Chicago next. They need to really focus hard and play to their strengths because they will need to go into the playoffs feeling good about their game. The last stretch is now upon the Blues. Hopefully we can see a more dominant team in the next couple of matches.

 

Not surprising I missed this, since the Boston Twitter has been useless for line up changes. They don't seem to update that on a regular basis. Avant and Grove are still on the roster page on the NWSL which isn't a surprise since they don't always update it.

 

#FCKC Starting XI:Barnhart; Robinson, Sauerbrunn, Phillips, Kallman; Buczkowski, Richmond, Tymrak, Holiday; Hagen, Rodriguez #FCKCvBOS

— FC Kansas City (@FCKansasCity) August 7, 2014

 

Don't think we'll get a Boston starting XI since they haven't put it on their twitter.

 

You know if this game gets canceled and Portland somehow passes the Blues in the standings. I wouldn't mind the Blues taking the Thorns in their stadium. 20 thousand fans would be cool to see in a playoff match and the Blues can get revenge for last years loss and beat them at home.

 

I'll be damned, they are playing at night. Very interesting.

 

8' Rodriguez scores on a through ball from Jenna Richmond. Good finish by Rodriguez to deke Naeher. Got a feeling this is the same commentator that kept mixing up Rodriguez and Holiday for one of the goals in the last cast since he had Buczk0wski sending the through ball.

 

16' O'Reilly ok the penalty kick scores. Good call since Kallman stuck a foot in to trip Sanderson. Phillips really missed a bad tackle to spring Sanderson into the box so its not all Kallman's fault but Kallman should know better not to be sticking your foot in like that. Easy call.

 

20' Rodriguez gets another through ball, completely open and free on a 1v1 and somehow mucks up that chance. I don't know how Rodriguez does that.

 

26' Sarah Hagen scores from a steep angle for the second goal for FCKC. Naeher probably should of covered that better since it bounced on the far post in. Assisted by Rodriguez, and instead of back passing like she normally does, she actually passed to a running Hagen freeing her for her 1v1. Tymrak and Richmond gets bonus points for setting up the 1-2 passing play between them to get Rodriguez the ball.

 

39' Getting tired of the repeated long balls by Phillips. Just giving the ball up on a turn over.

 

Well first half is over and probably the end of the match considering we have lightning in the area.

Have to say, I hate that 4-4-2 formation. Boston had about 50% of the possession and against a direct team like Boston, this is unheard of. And a big big reason why is the lack of pressure on the middle of the pitch. The Blues have a hard time outnumbering the players in the middle of the pitch, cutting off passing lanes and forcing turn overs. And because of this, Kansas City is constantly sitting deep defending from attacks which was happening in this first half. Boston mounting good pressure in the box? Against a possession team like Kansas City? I hate seeing that.

Both Rodriguez and Hagen are sitting high and because of the amount of space in the middle, Boston was able to move the ball forward, link passes up and most importantly provide service to the forwards which is normally what Kansas City deny. They deny service to the forwards. This 4-4-2 is not the style of offense or defense that Kansas City prefers.

 

Yeah looks like the rest of the match is cancelled and I guess Kansas City wins 2-1.