Sept. 25, 2017 at Seminole Soccer Complex
Availability: HC Tom Sermanni, F Alex Morgan
- The Orlando Pride had their first-ever National Women’s Soccer League berth confirmed after the Seattle Reign fell to FC Kansas City 1-0 on Sept. 24.
- This is the second year of the Pride’s existence, as they finished in ninth out of 10 positions in 2016.
- Orlando will play either the Portland Thorns or North Carolina Courage, two teams it has and will face in the final two weeks of the regular season, in the 2017 NWSL Semifinals.
HC TOM SERMANNI: “[I was watching the Seattle-Kansas City game] very closely. It was probably as stressful as being on the sideline at the Portland game at the weekend. To make matters worse, I was watching it with some supporters and friends, and the stream kept stopping, but it didn’t stop when the ball was out for a throw-in at the halfway line. It stopped when a Seattle player was about to cross it or shoot or do something. So, that made it even a little bit more stressful. But, you know, all in all, after the whistle went to the end, it was a very good time.”
“I was just happy. I mean, just delighted for a whole range of reasons and a whole range of people. You know, I think, first and foremost, the players. You know, they stuck by us and what we’ve tried to do this season even though we had a really shaky start, and they could’ve kind of gone another way and not quite believed in what we’re trying to do, but they, you know, stuck with us. Obviously, the support staff behind have been fantastic; the support we get from [the media] has been great. And our supporters and the people in the club. So, I feel really happy for everybody involved with Orlando City and Orlando Pride.”
“[It’s a huge relief]. It was huge. I mean, it’s funny—as it gets—you know, when we were a ways off being in contention, in some ways, the stress was less. As we got closer and closer, and as you kinda got one foot in the door, the stress levels tend to get higher because you know that you’re really close and that, you know, but you’re just still not quite over, you know, quite all the way through the door. So that became a little bit more stressful, and, you know, obviously, if Seattle had won 3-0 last night, then this would be an entirely different week to what it’s going to be.”
“[Training was] just happy a bit. It’s kind of relieving. They’re still tired from Saturday’s game ’cause Saturday was a tough, tough game. You know, Portland are probably one of the most physical teams in the league. And everybody—I think there’s a sense of quiet happiness, rather than euphoric—you know, you’re jumping up and down in the dressing room kind of happiness.”
“[A confirmed playoff berth changes our strategy] probably quite significantly. You know, what we do if there’s any doubts about players, then, obviously, we’re not going to play them. An opportunity, perhaps, to give a start to some players that have really deserved a start, but, because of the run we’re on, we haven’t been able to do that. So we really need to sit down and think about all those issues, as opposed to sitting down and saying we need to win this game at the weekend. What do we need to do for that? So, it will be a different strategy, had we not been in the position we’re in now.”
“It’s really out of—it’s almost completely out of our control what happens. You know, we could end up third, we could end up fourth. So we might end up playing Portland, and we might end up playing Carolina. I mean, we won’t know that until probably, potentially after the game at the weekend. So we’ve really just got to look and plan and be ready to play either of those teams that come a week [from] Saturday.”
“Well, I think when you’re in the top four like this, any team can win it. I mean, if you look at last year, who would have put any kind of odds on [the] Western New York [Flash] winning the championship, and they’ve come from behind twice, I think, and gone away to Portland to win when they—when people gave them no chance. So, when you’re in the situation you’re in now, anything can happen. Anything can happen. It’s down to the day; it’s down to how your players turn up in the day. Little bit of luck here and there, and, quite often, what I’ve found, when you get into big games, it’s usually all about big players. You know, and if you look whether it’s men’s soccer or women’s soccer, when it comes to World Cup finals or it comes to major, major things, you know, they’re the ones that usually make the difference, and, you know, we’ve got some major players, big-time players who turn up in the big occasions, and hopefully we can do that.”
F ALEX MORGAN: “Yeah, it’s really nice. I mean, I feel like we played really well against Portland and know that we very well will probably face them either in two weeks or three weeks, but not getting that win was, you know, was a little frustrating ’cause I felt like we dominated most of the game, so we were eagerly watching as Seattle played, and, yeah, luckily for us, it’s not coming down to the very last weekend of regular season.”
“Yeah, I think everyone was kinda watching on this team, and we have a little group text that we have going, and we all kind of congratulated and were super-excited after, and Seattle had a good run, you know, but I’m just really happy that we’re not finding out the last weekend. We’re not leaving it to the last minute. I feel like we’ve done really well to turn our season around in the last two months, so it’s nice to see this hard work paying off, but, at the same time, the work has just begun.”
“You know, I—playing North Carolina next weekend and Chicago playing Portland, it’s those four teams that are gonna be possibly facing the same teams or facing each other kinda mixed up little bit. So I just don’t want us to, you know, take anything for granted, even if we are playing the same team twice in a row. I want us to take it as a new opportunity, and I feel like this team just is really excited and so invested in the fact that we have made playoffs and the fact our season is extended a week and hopefully two weeks. It’s—this team is just very unique. I think everyone is just emotionally, mentally just so in it.”
“Yeah, well on the club level, this is the highest that we possibly can attain in the U.S. We don’t have a Champions League or anything like that, so this is the biggest thing that we work for once a year. And I was lucky enough to, you know, achieve something similar in France earlier this year, but, now, you know, focusing just 100 percent on Orlando moving forward, I feel like this is something that I haven’t achieved since I was with Portland for the inaugural NWSL season. So that was a long time ago, and it feels really good to be back in this position and have the opportunity to bring a championship here in our second year. But, you know, this is the biggest thing that we’re looking to go after right now. I’m not having World Cup on my mind or anything like that right now. It’s all about NWSL championship.”
“I think we’re very confident. We have been playing some of the best soccer of the season. We are continuing to play better and better and for longer period of time during matches. It’s not just five minutes here we’re stringing together passes. It’s 20 minutes, 30 minutes. It’s having really great periods of time where we’re possessing the ball and imposing our style of play, and I think that’s really important. But, at the same time, we’re in our second season, so I think to say, ‘Oh, you’ve never beaten this club or this team.’ It’s difficult to look at those stats when you’re only in your second year.”
- Last season, Orlando finished in ninth place with a 6-13-1 overall record, posting the second-worst goal differential (-10) behind only the last-place Boston Breaker (-33).
- In 2017, Orlando has compiled the fourth-best record in the league with one game remaining, going 10-6-7.
- Through 23 games, the Pride have scored the most goals in the league (42) and have allowed fourth-fewest.
- Orlando has also recorded the second-best goal differential (13), tied with North Carolina and behind only Portland (15).
HC TOM SERMANNI: “Yeah, I mean, I think it’s difficult to compare the two years. You know, we had a—we talked about last year, and we knew we were going to have difficulties, particularly at the Olympics, particularly with virtually no preparation going into the season with a new team. So, you know, I gotta give—although we finished second-bottom last year—the effort from the players last year, every game was first-class. I could never walk away from the game and say the players never gave any effort. I think what we’ve done well is—and the players we’ve recruited have fitted in better than any of my expectations. They’ve exceeded my expectations by a long way. And that’s helped us this year. And, obviously, another year together, and everybody getting to know each other. You know, players, staff, the whole thing. Having that extra year, we’re much more cohesive. People know what I expect. I know what, you know, the players expect, etcetera. And it’s just made life a lot easier.”
“I’ve had it in the past, and I’ve had the opposite in the past when you had a start like we started, and I’ve had teams, then, that haven’t been able to then kick on like this team has. You know, so I think the difference with this team and a couple of—I think when I had the [Australian women’s national team], we had a spell like it that you have just a complete air of confidence that team going out that you never know if you’re going to win or lose a game, but you know you’re going to get a performance, and you know that if a team if a team’s going to beat you on the day, they’re gonna have to be good. And I’ve got that feeling about our team, and there’s just that continuity and that confidence in the group. And that helps everybody. And I’d say part of that has been brought about. Obviously, you start getting a run of good results, confidence gets high, players get comfortable with each other, and you just get—and you balance that with, you know, some really resilient players in our team and players that are used to winning now. You know, Brazil are used to winning, U.S., obviously, are used to winning, Australia, now, are used to winning. So you put all those factors together, then you start to get your confidence and a real winning mentality.”
F ALEX MORGAN: “I’m not sure. I think having—just having Tom coach in his second year kinda get used to the players little bit more, get a lot of new players this year of high caliber has really helped and just the club being so invested in the players, in this team. It’s been incredible, and I feel like we’ve just had a good run. The momentum is on our side, and I think we’re in the perfect position leading us into the playoffs.”
“I don’t know. I feel like it’s something unique about this group. I just think in years past, it’s been difficult to get players excited for an extension of the season, to play a couple weeks extra. I know a lot of players, you know, are tired by the end of season. They wanna go see their families, which are somewhere other than the city they play in typically, so this year just seems different. It just seems like everyone’s invested. It seems that no one’s talked about what they’re doing come Oct. 15 or anything like that. Everyone just wants to, like, be in it, be here in Orlando, and I think that’s pretty unique because a lot of times players’ minds are all over the place, but, this year, it just seems like everyone wants the same thing.”
- In its first year of existence, Orlando City Stadium will host the 2017 NWSL Championship.
- Since the 2013 inaugural season, no team has won the championship in their home stadium.
- The Western New York Flash played in New York in 2013 but lost to the Thorns 2-0.
- Seattle lost 2-1 to Kansas City in 2014 in Washington but in a different stadium.
- Portland did not play in the 2015 final, wherein Kansas City beat Seattle 1-0.
- Western New York defeated the Washington Spirit 2-2 (3-2) in the Houston Dash’s home stadium.
HC TOM SERMANNI: “[Having the National Women’s Soccer League final in Orlando’s] not really [on our minds]. You know, obviously, you can’t hide away from it because it’s a fact it’s out there, and we’re the club that’s hosting it, so you’re in it every day. But it really—it’s not in your mindset in relation to preparation. You’ve just gotta try and shut it out there. You know, we don’t bring it up as such, but you can’t—it’s one of those. You can’t hide from it, but, at the same time, you don’t want to be trying to overly rely on that as a motivational factor.”
“It certainly helps. You know, I think it would be fantastic for the club and everybody involved with the club and the city. You know, if we can get to this final, we get a full house at the stadium, all dressed in purple—I mean, that’d be a phenomenal way to end the year. And I just hope we can do it. But, you know, we’ve got a game—a very important game and a very difficult game—to get passed. And that’s all that we can focus on at the moment.”
F ALEX MORGAN: “Yeah, we definitely want to be here while the championship is played in Orlando. It hasn’t been done before in the NWSL. When I was with Portland, we won it in Western New York. When Houston hosted it, they weren’t able to make it into their own championship game, so I think it’s [a] unique opportunity. It’d be the first that it’s ever done in the NWSL, and it’s just such a great opportunity for the fans and for this city. And, you know, we definitely wanna be a part of it, but, at the same time, it doesn’t matter where it is, we still wanna be in the final. So it’s just kind of an extra and a bonus that it is in Orlando.”
- Morgan has so far recorded nine goals and three assists this season.
- Last year, she had four goals and one assist in three less appearances and four less starts.
F ALEX MORGAN: ““This style, I think, suits me well, suits a lot of players well. Tom’s been wanting to implement, you know, this style for a long time, and now that we have the quality of players, I think that’s really helped. We just have a mix of a players. You know, we have players like Marta [Vieira da Silva] and Camila [Martins Pereira] who are gonna take on players and dribble, and then you have simple players like Alanna [Kennedy] and Dani [Weatherholt] and Ali [Krieger] in the back. You have speedy players up top. So you kind of combine them all together, and I think you’re seeing that sort of style that Tom has wanted us to play, and you’re seeing it being done at really high quality.”
“For me, I just want us to continue to be successful. It’s been a really great year, for me, personally, so far, and I wanna continue that. I wanna be able to achieve anything possible that I possibly can this year. And the only thing left is the NWSL championship. That’s all that’s on my mind right now. It’s not about how many goals I score. It’s really just about this team’s success, and if I can contribute to that in any way, then I will.”
- Left-back Steph Catley left the Pride’s 0-0 draw with Portland on Sept. 23 early in the second half after experiencing knee pain.
HC TOM SERMANNI: “No, no, at the moment, touch wood, we have a couple knocks and bumps and bruises and bits of pieces, but there’s nothing seriously on the agenda that any player’s looking doubtful at this stage.”
“[Catley’s] good. It’s an irritation, an inflammation thing. So it’s not like a tear or a strain, which, you know, you’d have to be concerned about with the time frame. So, it was more the fact that it was a pain factor that made it difficult for her to run, and we just couldn’t take that risk at that time in the game because, you know, I was pretty much aware that she just wasn’t running freely. But she’ll be fine. She’ll be good. You know, it didn’t help playing two full games in Australia and traveling for 36 hours. So, two weeks’ time, she’ll be fine.”
- Krieger is in an elite class of NWSL players who have played every minute of every game this season.
- The United States women’s national-team defender has played 2,070 minutes, starting all 23 of the Pride’s games.
- Additionally, Krieger has recorded two assists.
HC TOM SERMANNI: “I didn’t know [Krieger had played every minute in the season]. Wow, okay. (jokingly) I’m going to drop her for the next game then just to, you know, cause some controversy. Upset her. Like, she’s a—there are different kind of players you have in the team, and there are players that you just put in the team sheet straight away, every game, every day, and Ali’s one of them. You know, so she brings all the factors that you want from a player like that. Stability, leadership, performance and—so there’s those kind of those players. And it’s great. You know, you like to have a team that’s got two or three or four of those that you pencil in every week, and, you know, we are fortunate that we’ve got Ali, and she’s such, you know, a resilient athlete as well that she turns up every day at training, puts on a great shift and does the same in every game.”
F ALEX MORGAN: “Well she’s brought a great voice. She’s loud back there. She’s good at organizing. I think she’s just rock-solid, and so you just know you have that quality in the back. You have that person with so much experience on the international level and on the club level. And she’s someone that’s not afraid to tackle, that’s not afraid to get aggressive but also can play simple and then can pick out when I’m running in behind. You know, she had a great ball the other day against Portland, and I think I was called offside, and I don’t think it was offside, so, you know, I just think her being able to pick out players and just impose that, like, confidence within the team has been huge.”
For more on the Pride, as they prepare for their first-ever playoff appearance, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.
