Plus: a new goalkeeper and USWNT news!
A 5-2 loss is hard to take. Aside from the opening match in horrendous weather conditions, this is the first Courage outing in which the team looked truly out of sorts at times. Even so, there were some outstanding moments. The first half was genuinely fun to watch! The first goal was earned in the most textbook-Courage way, in just 12 minutes!
But a couple of bad mistakes and brutal second half showed San Diego exploiting every weakness the Courage have and systematically racking up a massive goal differential.
While the season is still on the early side, pressure soon will begin mounting to pick up some points and ensure a playoff spot.
Let’s take a quick look …
Recap: Courage v. San Diego Wave
The first 20 minutes encompassed a lot of back-and-forth looks for both teams. After a good shot from Delphine Cascarino was easily handled by keeper Casey Murphy, the Courage built from the back to score first. They connected on an incredible round of passes from Denise O’Sullivan to Manaka Matsukubo back to Sully and to Ryan Williams. Look how absolutely perfect this triangle is, in which Ashley Sanchez forces defenders to keep an eye on her while Williams runs free up the right side of the pitch:
Giotto couldn’t have made a better geometric shape, and he didn’t have to play soccer while drawing. We got another look a second later between Williams, Sanchez and Manaka:
Ultimately, Williams crossed to the other wing back, Feli Rauch, who scored. On the podcast I could only describe her goal as “punching the ball into the net with her head.” Great playing all around, and a goal in just 12 minutes.
San Diego was able to equalize around the 20’ mark, thanks to a quick transitional play to Cascarino, who made a nice cross to Perle Morroni.
Close to the half, the Courage made an error due to an aggressive press from San Diego. It’s not the first time this season we’ve seen a player make an aggressive move, and immediately capitalize on an error from keeper Casey Murphy (we’ve seen it from a certain golden boot contender Katie has banned me from naming, who plays for the Gothams). In the Wave match, Murphy was forced to make a quick behind-the-player pass to Kaleigh Kurtz, and Gia Corley was there to immediately strip the ball. With a quick pass to Adriana Leon, Gotham was up 2-1.
Coming back after the half, and down a goal, the Courage played a little livelier. At 52’, they beat the press with a few quick, high passes upfield to Manaka, who took a shot, which rebounded off of Jaedyn Shaw, but Manaka stuck with it and scored.
At 2-2, the game still felt in hand. But unfortunately, Kristen McNabb countered just two minutes later, and the Courage unraveled from there. At 60’, Murphy came very far off her line and couldn’t get to the ball time to beat Leon, who got a brace.
The Courage showed a little more form at the very end of the match, but not enough to close the gap. The final goal came at 90+5’, when María Sánchez put the nail in the coffin.
San Diego demonstrated a strong strategy against this year’s Courage squad:
- They played an aggressive press, which turned into two easy goals in this match.
- The Wave executed several quick transitions, which can catch our wingbacks playing up too high in our current formation.
- They forced several turnovers, which has been a consistent issue.
- And San Diego made a quick goal, just two minutes after our equalizer. Allowing quick responses has also been a challenge for the Courage this year.
To illustrate an example, Katie clocked this formation early on, with Sanchez, Shaw and Manaka bunched up toward the middle of the pitch. Sometimes this works fine (see our first goal). But throughout this match, Rauch often had to drop back to keep an eye on Cascarino, leaving a ton of room on the left side for an attack.
With two weeks off for an international break, we’ll see how the Courage respond in another road match this Sunday.
Look ahead: Courage v. Washington Spirit
Washington Spirit stole NWSL headlines this week with the announcement that coach Jonatan Giráldez would take the open OL Lyonnes position. Before departing, he’ll coach three more games, including next weeks matchup against the Courage. He’s departing after less than a year in his position.
Assistant coach Adrián González will take over as head coach.
It’s difficult to say whether this will have any on-the-field impact, but the Spirit have been surprisingly hot-and-cold this season. In their most recent matches, they dropped one 0-3 v. Gotham; lost 4-3 to Angel City, tied Utah 3-3; barely scraped by against Chicago; and beat Seattle Reign last week.
It’s a formidable squad with Aubrey Kingsbury in goal, Casey Krueger on defense, former Courage midfielder Narumi Miura locking up the middle alongside superstar Croix Bethune, who back from injury. Ashley Hatch rounds it out having a great season up top.
We’ll see if the Courage stick with their formation and grind it out, or change things up a bit to try to throw a Spirit squad that doesn’t always fire on all cylinders.
Courage news and updates
- The Courage signed keeper Katie Cappalletti, who has been training with the team all season. Recently, Hensley Hancuff retired from the game to pursue some other opportunities.
- International friendlies roundup:
- Manaka called up to Japan
- Sully called up to Irelend
- Both Shaw and Riley Jackson played for the US U23 team against Germany
- Manaka was named NWSL player of the week for her outstanding performance, including a brace, against Chicago. It’s a little gratifying from a journalism standpoint, as the national press tend to ignore her performances.
Around the league and beyond
- The USWNT beat China 3-0 in a friendly. They also posted a 3-0 win over Jamaica, including a brace from Utah forward Ally Sentnor.
- The U23 team, featuring Jackson and Shaw, beat Germany once and lost their second matchup, with a 2-1 score line for each match.
- Forbes wanted to offer another league-wide valuation beyond the usual ones done by Sportico during a sale. The Courage are listed at 11th, estimated to be worth $90m, just behind Orlando and Utah.
That’s it for this week! As always, you can get in touch with tips, suggestions, corrections and more: contact@lionspitch.com.
Next match: Sunday,June 8, 4:00 pm ET
North Carolina Courage v. Washington Spirit
Away
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