46' Buczkowski would send a hard pass forward but it would get blocked and Long would get to the ball and send a long through ball for Morgan to run unto and she would beat both centerbacks and get a 1v1, Barnhart would come out and collect the ball before Morgan could shoot.
63' finally!!!! From Tymrak with a pass to Holiday and Holiday just holds the ball and waits for Rodriguez to make a diagonal run, a diagonal run!!! and then through balls perfectly right to her running feet and then Rodriguez waits for Angerer to commit and then shoots in the wide open net. Great build up, and finish.
74' Julie Foudy commenting on that Kansas City got caught sitting so deep and is in danger of playing too deep too early. And I totally agree!!! They are defending this lead. Giving Portland too much time on the ball.
80' Kallman again 1v1 defends Long and forces the ball out to the touchline on a run of play by Portland.
82' Buczkowski would have a bad turn over, giving it over to the wrong player in Boquete but would recover and knock the ball out. Good recovery.
83' I know Kallman took the foul just outside the ball and a yellow card, but she saved a certain bad situation since she was just outside the box. But Boquete would force the turn over and beats 3 Blues players. Good professional foul and the free kick would get knocked into the wall. So even better.
Vlat actually made two changes that I wanted. First ever. (Well, I wanted Silva, but Meritt was gassed.)
87' GOOOAAALLL!!!! Holiday scores a beauty of a goal by a perfect feed from Hagen. This is what a HOLDING forward does for our formation. Able to hold it, shield off the defender and then turn and send a THROUGH ball!!! Yes a through ball and allowing Holiday to run onto who continued her run. This is what FCKC needs!
90" Gorry subs in for Tymrak after a beauty of a build up play with LePeilbet, who would then dish off to Holiday and then Holiday would pass to Tyrmak making a run and Tymrak could of easily scored if not a Huffman getting a foot in to deflect the shot since Angerer was exposed.
Wow that extra rest came in super handy. The Thorns were gassed in the 2nd half and KC took advantage. 2 beautiful build up goals also. The coaching staff made great decisions in this game too. I'm so excited right now!
Fantastic effort. Not only offensively (those goals were beautifully constructed), but even more so defensively. I still remember how Andonovski was criticized at the beginning of the season for some bad decisions but I had no doubt that he's gonna figure it out.
The big criticism we all had was that they abandoned their successful 4-2-3-1 for a 4-4-2. And look what formation they used to win this game... What was it? Oh yeah, the 4-2-3-1.
FC Kansas City 2-0 Portland Thorns FC FCKC goals: 63' Amy Rodriguez (14th) assisted Lauren Holiday (8th), 87' Lauren Holiday (9th) assisted by Sarah Hagen (2nd) FCKC Substitutions: 84' Sarah Hagen (Amy Rodriguez), 86' Amy LePeilbet (Merrit Mattias), 90' Katrina Gorry (Erika Tymrak) Portland Substitutions: 57' Jessica McDonald (Tobin Heath), 79' Meleana Shim (Christine Sinclair) Starting XI for FC Kansas City: 4-2-3-1 ----------------------------------Amy Rodriguez ----------------Erika Tymrak---Lauren Holiday---Merrit Mattias ----------------------Jenn Buczkowski---Jenna Richmond Kassey Kallman---Nikki Phillips--Becky Sauerbrunn---Leigh Ann Robinson Starting XI for the Portland Thorns FC: 4-2-3-1 ---------------------------------Alex Morgan -------------Christine Sinclair---Tobin Heath---Vero Boquete -----------------------Amber Brooks---Allie Long Stephanie Catley---Emily Menges---Rachel Van Hollebeke---Rebecca Moros Game day temperatures would rise all the way to 105 degrees. Some insane heat wave at Kansas City. Surprised there were even fans coming out to watch the match and it did look there was a decent crowd there to support the Blues. Kansas City for their part would come out in a 4-2-3-1 to much to our relief since our worry was the porous defense that the 4-4-2 seemed to get exposed by other teams, the 4-2-3-1 has always been more suited for our style and it proved its worth today. Portland in turn would come out in a 4-2-3-1 as well, the same formation they used to shut down Seattle in their previous match. The match would start in a defensive slugfest with both sides coming out with 2 holding midfielders. The middle of the pitch turned into a battle ground where the 2 leading playmakers Lauren Holiday of Kansas City and Vero Boquete of Portland were under heavy marking pressure from the opposing sides. Jenn Buczkowski and Jenna Richmond both were heavily focusing on Boquete and even if an outside back was covering Boquete, one of either Buczkowski or Richmond would come over and support them and add more pressure on Boquete. Holiday in turn was getting marked by Long and Brooks but she would also get pressured by the back line as well. Both players were constantly getting physically tackled and in some cases cards were given out because of it. Amy Rodriguez who was our lone forward was frequently in on the attack, whether it was due to heavy marking or to some of her missed chances since she did have 2 1v1's against Nadine Angerer. The score would remain tied in the first half with a mostly defensive struggle to create scoring chances. In the second half, this would start to open up and maybe its because of the heat effecting the players on the pitch. Portland looked the more tired team out there and Kansas City was beginning to build more and more into the attacking half. The break through came in the 63rd minute, with a build up with Erika Tymrak and Lauren Holiday, Tymrak would slot a pass to Holiday and Holiday would simply hold it up and wait for Rodriguez to make her run, Rodriguez actually did the correct move and made a diagonal run and this allowed Holiday to send a perfectly weighted ball that would get to Rodriguez's feet and she would then wait for Angerer to commit and then Rodriguez would then deke her and score in the open net. Wonderful build up, beautiful through ball and great finish from all 3 players in that play. At this point Kansas City started sitting deep and in the 70th minute, Julie Foudy would call out the Blues for sitting so deep, when Portland would string together several attacking plays deep inside the defensive side of the Blues and the Blues looked to be scrambling to get the ball out. For another 10 minutes, the Blues would continue to kick the ball out and try to relieve pressure. It wasn't until Sarah Hagen would sub in to replace Rodriguez adding in fresh legs that things turned around. Hagen proceeded to provide more pressure up top and with her fresh legs started pushing forward allowing players like Holiday and Tymrak to make runs behind her. Soon after Hagen would take a pass and with her back to goal and a defender on her back, Hagen would shield and wait for Holiday to make a run and then would turn with the ball and then a beautiful through ball to a running Holiday would be be unmarked and on a 1v1 on Angerer and would shoot, beating Angerer for the second goal and the clincher for Kansas City to move on. Kansas City would proceed then to run out the time, stringing some wonderful long passing sequences that prevented Portland from regaining much possession and tiring them out even further as they chased after the ball. Wonderful way to close out the match. Take aways from the match: Lauren Holiday: Came away with 1 goal and 1 assist. Played her heart out with heavy marking pressure and lead the club to victory. What more can you ask from our general. She was the it factor with her vision, creativity with her through ball to Rodriguez for the game winner and then her beautiful build up with Hagen, who would understand that Holiday was going to continue her run and then feed her a beautiful feed and then Holiday finished for the second goal. Despite a team committed to marking her and keeping her contained, Holiday worked through that and over came the heavy defensive pressure that was mounted on her by Portland to produce a stellar game. Player of the match in my opinion. Erika Tymrak: Another very good game as well. Combined with Holiday repeatedly and was constantly forcing Moros to always back mark and in a ways prevented Portland from going wider because Moros was too busy marking Tymrak to ever press forward. Didn't get an assist for the first goal, but her work rate helped in the build up to that goal and did have a good scoring chance on Angerer but Huffman would get a foot in to stop the dangerous shot. Jenn Buczkowski and Jenna Richmond: Both had wonderful games, won't show up in the stats, but both were very committed to keeping Vero Boquete under wraps, even if she was already getting marked by another player, they would support the player by coming in a double teaming Boquete. Wonderful effort to keep Boquete contained, even though Boquete was probably the best player on the pitch for Portland. Amy Rodriguez: Had a good match, had 2 early 1v1's but couldn't convert, but on the goal she scored, that was perfect finishing on her part, waiting out Angerer and then slotting the ball into the open net. Sarah Hagen: Played less then 15 minutes but made a massive impact. She rejuvenated the Blues attack with her fresh legs and started pushing up which allowed the Blues to move forward from their deep defending position. The Portland defense simply had no response to this since they looked very tired out there themselves. Hagen with her back to goal would use her size and her holding ability to shield a defender off and wait for Holiday to make her run after she received the ball from Holiday and on a 1-2 play, Hagen would then turn and slot a perfect through ball into the box to an open and unmarked Holiday who would score. Does Andonovski have the courage to start her over Rodriguez next match? We'll see, because having Hagen play like that allows Holiday to get activated into the attack, and this is what I mean by a true holding forward that can activate Holiday. Hagen illustrated this on this one play. Take the ball from Holiday and then wait for Holiday to continue her run and then slot her a through ball to make another play whether it be to shoot or to provide another pass. It creates dynamic plays and we need a forward up top like this. Kassey Kallman: Out of the defenders, probably Kallman stood out for me with her individual play. She won't ever be an offensive threat, doesn't have the speed or probably the technical skill to play on the flanks, but what she does defensively is so important. She was constantly facing 1v1 situations with both holding mids guarding and marking players like Boquete. Kallman had to deal with players like Sinclair, Heath on the wings who would try to beat her 1v1 and in every attempt, Kallman would face up to them and keep them in front of her and prevent them from passing her and stopping any crosses as well. Kallman also took a yellow on a challenge on Boquete, but I thought that was a very good challenge since Boquete turned 3 Blues defenders and was almost to the box and Kallman simply grabbed her and forced her off the ball, taking the yellow. The resulting free kick was hit into the Kansas City wall so the foul didn't cost Kallman. Smart and understands what is going on. Over all, wonderful win by Kansas City, team win, played incredible defense and finally broke down the stubborn Portland defense with several thoughtful through balls and build up plays. Now we wait for Seattle or Washington tomorrow.
This may be a crazy claim but I honestly feel this one of the best defensive performances I've seen by any NWSL team all season. Portland had 1 shot on goal!
Portland has so many weapons, but everything flows through Vero. Andonovski said in post-game that he wanted this game to be Vero vs Buzz instead of Portland vs KC. Along with Jenna Richmond, they frustrated her all game long for sure. That made it relatively simple for Brun (hands down defender of the year again) Phillips, Rodriguez and Leigh Ann Robinson to clean up anything that broke through. KC's formula for success in this one was strong defense, FCKC style possession through the midfield and pretty runs at opportune times for the score.
rodriguez made a million diagonal runs in the game. she always does. what she also does is make some getaway runs which other players cannot do because they don't have the speed. she also does hold up the ball altho not nearly as well as does hagen. none of this is news to vlatko. he knows what each brings and picks based on what he needs from the team. looks fine to me. it also creates a big defensive problem when there's a turnover with both in the above stated spots with neither hagen nor holiday having the speed to recover. so as not to give any more free attacking options to the opposition than necessary, the coach chose arod as his starter, and brought in sarah toward the end when the opposition had wilted. seems perfect to me. now next week he may surprise with his starters in the final. but i doubt it.
That's the mark of a good coach. He was willing to try some new things to see if they worked and if it cost them some early points, that was a small price to pay.