Stars Win! Congratulations. Tarpley with the goal; Dalmy with the assist. A great start - away without Christiane. Look forward to seeing some actual reports, but it's good news!
Good away win for the Redstars but Athletica will be dissapointed they couldn't get the ball in the net. They had most of the play & should have scored at least a couple of goals.
Certainly will be interesting to see reports - especially about GK play. Sounds like Jonsson was busy, but handled it all well. Matchtracker shows Tarp's goal was from in close, so maybe there was a defensive breakdown.
I want to congratulate you guys on having a game thread here with at least some posts because there wasn't even a game thread made in the St.Louis forum. I know it's a home game and most people were at the game but even so I just thought maybe a few posts could've been made in a game thread there too. You guys look to have a strong team and should do even better when Cristianne comes back. You talk about games being webcast does that mean if anyone goes to the Red Stars site they can watch Red Stars games?
Both points definitely true - though I wouldn't use "breakdown," but "miscommunication" would definitely fit. (I got back from the game a few minutes ago and just finished editing Wikipedia pages....) STL definitely dominated the first half, and though our level of play was noticeably lower second half, we still were able to do better statistically. As per the STL forum not having a game thread up, if you would have seen the attendance you wouldn't be questioning. We FILLED that stadium, and all the extra bleachers around it. ^.^ The sound just goes straight up, though, so you really couldn't hear anyone - Laclede's Army, the group of Chicago people who were there, or even the loudspeakers - very well.
Excellent attendance. There were a few open seats in the bleachers, but more people standing along the sidelines that empty seats. Probably a sellout. My game report, and remember this is coming from an Athletica fan, so I'll admit that up front. Athletica dominated play for most of the first half, however, I thought Chicago actually had the best scoring chance late in the half. The wind was a bit of a factor early and Athletica was with the wind in the 1st half. The second half was fairly even, until Chicago scored their goal, after that they played defensive. I didn't get a good look at the goal as it was at the opposite end from me. The people I talked to say the shot was perfectly placed and that Solo got her finger tips on the ball. It was a fairly rough game. Chalupny got beat up pretty bad, as did Karen Carney. Chalupny got tackled in the box, ruled a corner kick. From my vantage point, it was hard to tell whether the Chicago defender got the ball or not, so I won't say either way. Chalupny appeared to be hurt, but managed to get up after a couple of minutes and limped for awhile afterwards. Carney got taken down hard by Melissa Tancredi early in the second half, which couldn't have felt too good considering their huge size difference. The only yellow card was Nikki Krzysik late in the game. Several of the players appeared not to be happy with calls and Hope Solo had words with the officials after the game. In my opinion, there were bad calls both ways. Cristiane and Garriock (I assume they were injured) didn't play for Chicago. Cinalli was injured and didn't play for Athletica. Both goalkeepers played well. Jonsson had excellent command of the box and her defense was generally rock solid. Athletica had several chances off set pieces but either kicked the ball too close to Jonsson, who picked them easily out of the air or shot a couple of free kicks inside 30 yards directly into the wall. Athletica also hit a couple over the cross bar, but not really dangerously close. Athletica was able to build well throughout the game, but could not put anything together in final third and therefore had few dangerous chances. A very hard fought game. Good win for Chicago. Tough loss for Saint Louis.
Just got back from the game. We had a lot of fans that went to the game. Most of us by bus. The place was packed, albeit a smaller stadium but well done by Athletica folks. About the game: First of all great win by Chicago. To be honest Athletica controlled the ball majority of the time. I was very impressed with the way they played. The Red Stars came out a little nervous and had trouble putting together some fluidity in the first half. They did better in the second. The foul on Chalupny could have easily been called a penalty but we were on the other side of the field so it wasn't completely clear. Megan Rapinoe got subbed in the second half. she was have a tough day but from what I understand she's been sick for a few days. #9 for Athletica was dangerous the whole game. I thought Klein played really well for the Red Stars as well as did Ostberg. Tarpley's goal was a nice putt away from a cross from Dalmy, although Athletica's D may have had a quick lapse on an otherwise solid performance. Although both Defenses played very well. Solo made a couple of nice saves, one at close range in the first half. Jonsson was solid in goal collecting everything that came her way. I still say she is evey bit as good as Solo. We Red Stars fans had a blast and the hospitality shown by Athletica folks was first rate. I was actually surprised at how good their team is. I certainly hope their fans keep coming out to see this good team. Solo after the game was letting the refs have it. I wish I knew what she was saying. I'm tired so that's it for now.
What was the formations of the team...how did they line up. Matchtracker put the players in the wromg position. I guess i can work it out for most of the players but for some i'm not sure what position they were in.
I think Saint Louis lined up like this: Solo Ellertson-McNeill-Larsson-Tancredi Woznuk-Stoia-Daniela-Chalupny Hanks-Aluko Gray subbed for Ellertson. Francielle subbed for Aluko (it seemed to me at that point, they may have actually moved Chalupny forward). By the way, and I didn't mention it in my original post, Chicago did bring a nice crowd down. They had most of a small section, plus part of another section. The crowd was officially listed as 5,008, which I think is over capacity.
Question to the fans who saw the game: I know teams haven't fully settled to mid-season shape yet but, how was the level of play compared to the opening match in LA? On paper these two clubs have overall better firepower than the first game. Higher quality or about the same?
Thanks for the game reports folks. I tried to give rep to multiple people but was told I must spread it around*. Will someone please put up the formation Chicago used? Very glad to learn that the attendance was excellent. *There's been some snafus and rep weirdness of late so I'm not sure what's going on there. I'm not sure why I can't give rep.
I would say that the quality was fairly similar overall, maybe a little better at times. It seemed to me that in the LA/Wash game, both teams relied an awful lot or tried to rely an awful lot on their signature players (Marta and Wambach). I thought that both Chicago and Saint Louis spread the play around a little more. Chicago certainly started very slowly, but improved quite a bit as the game wore on and their goal was certainly a nice play. Saint Louis looked pretty good, until they got deep in Chicago territory and then they just couldn't put it together. Part of that, I think, was solid backline play by the Red Stars. Part of it was the players only being together for 2-3 weeks. When you figure for Saint Louis, Chalupny, Aluko, Woznuk, and Daniela all played overseas in early March and were unable to be in camp, that is to be expected. The same goes for Chicago with Rapinoe, Tarpley, and Lloyd, and I assume probably Ostberg and Jonsson as well. I was really surprised that Rapinoe for Chicago and Daniela for Saint Louis did not get more involved. I expected both players to be key players for this game. It could have been the flow of the game, unfamiliarity with teammates, and I think someone mentioned that Rapinoe may have been under the weather. I also thought Hanks looked pretty worn out late, but with Cinalli out, I guess they didn't have an offensive player to sub in for her. Instead they went with Francielle at midfield for Aluko. I can guess at Chicago's backline, but probably one of the Chicago people can give a more definitive answer regarding that. I know Dieke, Ostberg, Krzysik, and Dalmy were on the backline. It seemed also that Klein was involved a lot with the defense, but I guess she was midfield, along with Lloyd and Rapinoe. I'm not sure how they were playing their offensive players. At times, it almost looked to me like Carney was playing midfield, but not sure how they aligned up front with Carney, Masar, Tarpley, and later Adams.
She's certainly hardnosed enough to be a back. I think Karen Carney, unfortunately, found that out a couple of times, very painfully.
I'd like to see a video of that. We know Hope likes to speak her mind so I'm sure she chewed them out well. Were there any pretty obvious fouls that were not called? Like all the hits Chalupny took?
There were calls missed on both sides. The refs allowed them to play and called it fairly evenly with that in mind. I think Athletica took exception to their team captain and best player getting knocked around a bit. And when she went down in the 2nd half, I at first thought she was hurt seriously, but she remained in the game and it didn't seem to affect her much after a couple of minutes. I know at one point in the 2nd half, Lori complained briefly when walking by the ref and from what I've seen, she's generally not a complainer. But as I mentioned Carney for Chicago also took some hard shots. There were also a couple of missed hand balls, nothing serious there though. Someone said that there may have been some missed offsides calls, but I was usually at the ends and not in position to see that. Hope is a different type of person from what I've seen. To give an example, one minute she's was making her point with the refs after the game, obviously pretty angry, the next minute she was hugging a player from Chicago, the next minute, she was signing autographs, smiling and chatting with fans. She's not fake in any sense of the word as far as I can tell and she says what she thinks. I've heard her say that she doesn't like to be told that she played well, if she really didn't. We were also sitting near her watching the first game between LA and Washington and she seemed to be really concentrating watching the game. Our group president, Rokagrl13 gave her a Laclede's Army scarf after the game and she happily accepted and wore it as she signed autographs. I might say, it looked darn good on her, too.
It could be more tempting and easier for opponents to knock Chalupny around because she is pretty tiny at 5'3" right? Hope got international attention for speaking her mind after being benched for Scurry in the World Cup. She was on ESPN, in Sports Illustrated, and even national sports radio talk shows. I always thought she did the right thing because it's obvious she was the better goalie and she was confident she could do the job and she proved it the next year by avenging our loss to Brazil and winning the gold at the Olympics.
Travelled up from Dallas for a first taste of live womens' soccer with a few other of FC Dallas' Inferno supporters group. We stood with Laclede's Army, but I was quietly rooting for Chicago, mostly because of Nikki K and David Wagenfuhr's little sis, even though she didn't play. I was pleasantly surprised at the level of play, particularly St Louis' passing game and Chicago's strong defense - you wouldn't know these teams have only been training together for 3 months. Both teams were a little toothless up front - for Chicago that's understandable being without Christiane and seemingly playing a 4-5-1 for the majority - but I think St. Louis in particular really need to sign a quality striker to finish off the numerous chances they were creating. They were certainly the more creative of the two sides and at the very least need to work harder on their finishing. The referee let a lot go, but she was at least consistent. I know Hope Solo was upset that there weren't more calls given, but I don't think either team gained any advantage from the refereeing as the non-calls were going both ways. All in all, a good start to the WPS season, and very good to see a close to sellout crowd, particularly with the stadium being so far from civilisation. I'll post photos later, assuming I have any good ones. Good luck for the rest of the season, and here's to Dallas getting a team in 2010!
In her blog, Jonsson states that the wind was a big factor. Also, it seems that they played on artificial turf and not grass.
Yes it was but you couldn't tell that it was artificial turf. It was the most grass looking artificial turf I've ever seen.
It was a pretty high grade turf, but it was turf. They just put it in the last couple of weeks. It actually looked pretty good. The wind was a factor in the first half. It helped Athletica control play, but I thought it also caused them a problem in that anything played in the air often went to Jonsson, too far for the forwards to get to. The wind died down considerably after half and really wasn't much of a factor in the 2nd half.
I am a Red Stars fan first and foremost but I am also a Notre Dame fan, so I do wish Athletica success since so many former Irish are on the team, other than when they play the Red Stars.
Photos! Unfortunately my night settings need work, so lots are blurry. Kickoff Masar on the wing Chalupny takes a corner