Chicago Red Stars Sack Coach, Find a Way To Beat WPS Leaders

Coincidence? Throughout their short history the Chicago Red Stars have struggled with underachievement. Despite having an arsenal of offensive weapons, they have been unable to score. Despite having a world class defense, they have suffered from momentary lapses, falling behind early and choking.

Then, head coach Emma Hayes was relieved of her duties. Suddenly, the defense plays like a concrete wall. The offense executes a play just as it had been run in practice. Gooooaaaal! Defense holds. Red Stars win, 1-0. And it isn't just any win. The opponent is league leading FC Gold Pride. Coincidence? I think not.  

One of the things that had been plaguing Chicago until today was their tendency to fall behind early and then lose composure, being unable to catch up. It almost happened again.

In the 18th minute, the Bay Area's Christine Sinclair found the back of the net, but  was whistled for a foul against Red Stars goalkeeper Jillian Loyden. Marta lofted the ball over the Red Stars defense and the ball bounced off the ground in between Sinclair and Loyden. Sinclair challenged Loyden for a jump ball, but fouled Loyden in the process before Sinclair tracked the ball down.

It almost happened again, but it didn't. That was as close as Gold Pride came. Otherwise Chicago dominated the first half, but without scoring. The half ended in a 0-0 draw.

Not long into the second half, the Red Stars did what they've only done three times in the first six matches.

In the 55th minute, Kosovare Asllani netted her first WPS goal on a perfect pass from defender Marian Dalmy. "It was just the way we practiced it," Asllani said.

Dalmy sent up a dish from the right side. Asllani had the easy tap-in goal to give Chicago a 1-0 lead. It was the team's first lead at home this season, and put an end to a five-half scoreless drought.

Asllani nearly had a second goal in the 62nd minute, but the ball went over the crossbar and hit the top netting.

On the other side, Brazilian phenom Marta and her Canadian counterpart Christine Sinclair were neutralized by Chicago's defense. 

Going with a four-player back line, co-ancored by Kate Markgraf and Whitney Engen in the middle, with Natalie Spilger and Marian Dalmy on the flanks, the Red Stars defense played flawlessly. 

Gold Pride challenged once more, toward the end of the match. In the 81st minute, Marta made a shot with Chicago keeper Jillian Loyden off her line, but Dalmy filled the hole, deflecting the shot on the goal line. Marta got behind the Chicago defense and got within 10 feet of the goal. But Dalmy scrambled back, converged on Marta and stuck her foot in the way of Marta's attack to keep Gold Pride off the scoreboard.

In the net, Loyden made two saves for the Red Stars to maintain a clean sheet and post her second shutout of the season. Gold Pride goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart had three saves.

The story of the match was the way the Red Stars did consistently what they did so rarely under their previous coach: putting together a collective team effort. In the post game interviews Acting coach McDermott and Asllani both emphasized the team's cohesiveness as a major factor in the impressive win.

"I just think the team really came out tonight and competed well together, and that was one of the primary goals they had—to make this a complete team effort," McDermott said.

"And you can look at the great goal Kosa (Kosovare Asllani) scored coming through with excellent timing created by Marian Dalmy, but you could find a moment through the game where each player made an impact.

"Dalmy on the goal line certainly a huge impact, Pinoe (Megan Rapinoe) after she was physically done, the hard runs she was making, so you could find different moments throughout this game when each player stepped up and played her role and made a contribution. So I think it was just a really good, comprehensive team effort tonight."

Kosovare Asllani was voted player of the game by the fans. "I was proud of the team and how we worked with each other, and the only word I can come up with in my head is 'teamwork.' I'm so proud tonight and I feel like it wasn't just my goal, it was the team's goal. Everybody had a real big part in this," Asllani said. 

"I think everybody started to think that we really need to work with each other because we have, in my opinion, the greatest team in the league and I feel like we are supposed to be on top and we started tonight," she continued.

She then added, "We are really excited and I feel like it is our start, in my opinion. We had a couple of games that we had dominated that we didn't win, and after all, the winning is the most important thing. And I think we got good confidence from this game."

With such an impressive win as her WPS coaching debut, McDermott was asked if she would keep the job. "No," she said. "Being General Manager is a big job, it takes a lot of time and involvement. We can't afford to have one person doing too many things."

When asked what the time frame for hiring a new coach she said, "We're beginning to make a list of candidates. We're going to take as long as it takes to find the right person."

She also added that acting as coach will make it easier for her to know what the team needs from a coach and what style of coaching would be most effective.

When asked what the club's approach would be to the free agents made available by the folding of St. Louis Athletica, McDermott said that for now, it is important for the players to celebrate their new success and not have any distractions. Does that mean Chicago may not pursue any St. Louis players? It seemed like an inference to this writer, but time will tell. 

The only real down-side of the evening was an inexplicaably poor attendance. Despite having an opportunity to watch AC Milan train in Toyota Park from 5-6 pm with admission to the match, despite warm dry weather on a holiday weekend, it was the season's lowest attendance so far, at 3,845.

FC Gold Pride at Chicago Red Stars
May 29, 2010 -- Toyota Park, Bridgeview, Ill.
Red Stars 1, Gold Pride 0
Gold Pride   0   0   -   0
Red Stars    0   1   -   1
SCORING SUMMARY
1. Kosovare Asllani 1 (Marian Dalmy), 55.
Red Stars: Loyden (GK), Markgraf, Dalmy, Engen, Spilger, Formiga, Carney, Chapman, Rapinoe (Nogueira 57), Cristiane (Sitch 91), Asllani (Masar 67).
Gold Pride: Barnhart (GK), Riley, Buehler, C. Chapman, O'Hara, Marta, Sinclair, Graczyk (Bosio 76), Edwards, Milbrett (Wilson 60), Dew (Gulbrandsen 83).
STATISTICS:
Shots: Red Stars 13, Gold Pride 14
Shots on goal: Red Stars 5, Gold Pride 2
Saves: Red Stars 2, Gold Pride 3
Corner kicks: Red Stars 2, Gold Pride 2
Offsides: Red Stars 2, Gold Pride 1
Fouls: Red Stars 7, Gold Pride 1
Referee: Jose Carlos Rivero
Referee's assistants: Ian Anderson, Victor Herrera
Fourth official: Ian Gut
Attendance: 3,845

Photo by Tracy Allen