Defense Will Be The Difference For WPS Chicago Red Stars in 2010

Bridgeview, IL  (March 28,2010)

Yes, the Chicago Red Stars have added a lot of potential offensive power. That will be the subject of a future column. But first, let's address the old adage that "offense sells tickets but defense wins games."

The above quote is true in so many ways. The better the defense, the more offensive opportunities there are. And of course the better the defense, the less pressure on the offense to score.

I doubt you'll find anyone around Toyota Park or WPS offices who thinks Chicago will struggle offensively as much as last season. But take that certainty and multiply it by a factor of itself to quantify the certainty that Chicago will field the most improved defense in the league.

First, many of Chicago's defensive lapses last season could be attributed to the glaring hole in the backfield. The elephant in the stadium last season was actually the fact that the elephant wasn't in the stadium.

Chicago had built their team around the assumption that Kate Markgraf would provide a one-woman stone wall in front of Sweden's uber keeper, Caroline Jonsson. Add US International Marian Dalmy and reinforcements like Brittany Klein, Natalie Spilger, and Nikki Krysik, and things should have been pretty solid on the defensive end.

But, when Kate Markgraf came up pregnant with twins, her club was unable to find a way to compensate for a gaping hole where a wall was supposed to be.

Having learned from that fate, Chicago made their first draft pick a brick wall, to compliment the stone wall (Markgraf) that will be back in the lineup, and, from what we are hearing, in full form from the get-go.

While Jonsson's effectiveness in goal was a subject of animated debate, the club management's official line is that Jonsson did not disappoint and the excess goals allowed were beyond her control. Well, maybe a few of them, but there were even more that, despite the uneven play of the defense, should have been stopped. So Jonsson's decision to return to Sweden to finish college and play pro at home also did not disappoint. 

In her place will be former Athletica backup Jill Loyden. But Loyden is not any backup. She was playing behind the world's best female keeper, Hope Solo, and in Solo's absence, the understudy looked an awful lot like the leading lady. 

Now, envision this picture. Jill Loyden in goal, Kate Markgraf in the middle in back, Whitney Engen starting or getting lots of sub time somewhere in the backfield, and then add a world-class supporting cast.

All of a sudden the other seven WPS clubs are having to develop a bunker-buster strategy for playing Chicago. All of a sudden Chicago can start brainstorming how to use their own missiles taking aim at the opposite end.

The dissolution of LA Sol seems to have benefited FC Gold Pride primarily. They look to be the offense with the most weapons. But Chicago is undoubtedly the club with the best weapons' defense system.

Next: Previewing the Red Stars Offense. Coming soon.