Washington Crushes the Spirit of the Chicago Stars with Late Game Winner
Chicago Stars fall short against Washington Spirit losing 3-2 on Saturday May 10th
Positive Pressure
Many people would claim you can’t find positives in a loss. I disagree because I think what most Chicago fans want is for the team to compete instead of sitting back. The Chicago Stars have made some minor tweaks in their game play since Lorne Donaldson was fired a couple weeks ago. Mak Hemmi has taken over at the interim coach and you can see how these small changes have made positive impacts for the on the pitch product. Chicago has been high pressing teams more frequently in an attempt to get turnovers. I love that Mak is implementing these changes against top level teams and it seems to be working. Chicago has had very competitive matches now for two straight weeks against Gotham and Washington.
The high press does require players to exert a lot of energy but Chicago does a good job of communicating when they want to press and when they don’t. This pressure has caused teams to not be able to dominate the possession statistic like they had at the beginning of the season. Instead, Chicago has kept pace with teams for the most part and even out shot the Spirit despite the loss. I personally never bought into the narrative that Chicago didn’t have enough talent to compete within the league. I believe they had the talent they just weren’t using the right strategy and it seems like they are now finding their footing.
Julia Grosso has officially found her way in Chicago. Grosso has now strung together a few very nice matches. Grosso has always been an excellent passer because of her vision, she was just struggling to get more touches on the ball. She has now found space to receive the ball and progress it down the pitch to create shots for herself as well as her teammates. I’ve been very impressed with her play over the last several games and how she’s looking more like the player we see on the Canadian National Team. The goal that Grosso scored against Washington was a fantastic shot right inside the 18 that was absolutely drilled and had eyes for the far corner of the goal. I can’t wait to see more Grosso goals for the Stars this season.
The second goal scored by the Stars was started and scored by Staab. Around midfield Staab had the ball and passed it off to the first goal scorer, Grosso. Julia then made a pass to Ludmila who lofted it into a dangerous part of the box with some funky spin. Kingsbury tried to gather the ball but it took a weird hop in front of her and deflected off her glove. While all of this was happening, Staab had made a run into the box opposite of Ludmila and the ball that had deflected off Kingsbury ended up at her feet and she put it away. This is why crashing the goal and finishing your runs is so important. You could see the joy on Staab’s face after getting the goal against her former club.
Fixable Errors
Chicago lost this game because of a few errors they made. I’m not trying to say that Washington’s pressure and offensive prowess didn’t help to cause these issues but I think it’s important to say these things are fixable. Chicago didn’t get “outclassed” in this game by Washington. Instead, Schlegel made an error tracking back defensively trying to clear a cross that ended up as an own goal. When is own goal going to come back to being a Chicago Stars fan like they were a few years ago? I miss those days.
Marking still seems to be an issue for this club as it has been over the last few years. It’s always been confusing that a team that is usually so sound defensively in the run of play struggles with their marking on set pieces and corners kicks. If Chicago could figure out their issue with marking players they could really limit the goals they are giving up because over the last couple weeks they aren’t giving up a ton of shots on goal during the run of play.
Simple communication issues seem to be leading to goals against the Stars. During the Spirit game, both the second and third goals were caused by communication breakdowns of who was responsible for marking players. It’s fairly easy to see when there is a communication breakdown because after a play you will see players coming together and discussing with a lot animated pointing. I feel like we saw that several times in the game against the Spirit.
The second and third goal scored by the Spirit were also created by fantastic balls in from players that made the Stars hesitate or question what they should do defensively and also communication with Naeher. Hopefully as the season goes on the communication can get better and players will have a better feel for where their teammates will be.
Substitution Questions
With an interim head coach you will always have some issues with game management situations. I think Mak Hemmi has waited too long at times to make substitutions and also subbing out the wrong players. Schlegel is a player that usually is subbed out in games because she puts in so much work throughout 60-70 minutes. I think Mak should be subbing Schlegel out a little sooner so a player like Groom or Cook can come in and get more touches and play themselves more into the game.
I’m also perplexed at the consistent subbing out of Joseph this season. Unless Joseph has some sort of minutes restriction due to injury I think Joseph should be getting full 90s this season. Instead of subbing out Joseph, I think Ludmila could be the player subbed out as she is similar to Schlegel in the amount of energy she exudes in 60-70 minutes. I think it would be better to bring in a player like MJ who could bring that same energy Ludmila does in the first 60-70 minutes and create some dangerous chances late in games.
Overall, I have liked the selection of players who are getting subbed into games since Mak took over as the interim coach. I think Chicago just needs to make those subs a little earlier so they can impact the game more. Chicago seems to be finding their stride as a club under Mak and I’m really enjoying the product on the field in the last two games. Credit to the coaching staff and players for coming together after such a change and looking stronger and more unified. Prior to the coaching change, Chicago seemed to play a more disjointed and individualized brand of soccer that seemed to lack trust in teammates. Over the last two games, players seem more trusting of knowing where their teammates will be on the pitch and play as a unit rather than singularly.
What’s Next?
Next up the Chicago Stars will play the North Carolina Courage on Saturday, May 17th, at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina. The game will be at 4:00 pm and you can catch it on NWSL+, Paramount+, FOX 32, or Marquee. North Carolina is a team that is similar to Chicago this season having struggled to score goals at times. North Carolina has also struggled to possess the ball but really gave Orlando a run for their money when they played. This game will be a tough task for the Stars to try and shut down the talented midfield that North Carolina deploys. If Chicago can win the midfield battle against the Courage they should be able to utilize their speed on the frontline against the defense of the Courage. The Courage also have Casey Murphy in goal who is a solid keeper but has made some unusual errors this season. Getting shots on target in this game will be key and following up on any loose balls like Staab did against the Spirit.
During the match, you can join the Red Stars Report community in our Discord server’s Match Chat channel. Join in on the conversation live or hang out and see what others are discussing throughout the match.