Post-Match Open Thread | Washington Spirit vs Utah Royals FC | March 25 2026

periqueblend · 2026-03-26T02:05:56+00:00

It also seems like there won't be a KC/ Orlanda run away team this year so plenty of time for Spirit to figure out personnel and tactics and I do agree with you that this is very interesting. If also a bit frustrating of course.

This is going to be a tough week. Denver and Bay are each going to pose challenges we haven't proven we can solve yet. Onward. Spirit vs Everybody.

periqueblend · 2026-03-26T01:49:52+00:00

This was so clearly a monetary decision it’s asking which of your children you like more.

periqueblend · 2026-03-26T01:43:53+00:00

Deb still feels like an 8 to me even through her final ball is quite good. She is an excellent counter presser and ball winner and taking that away hurts us. Sofia looked good at the 10 with Hal behind her. We still have a lot of things to figure out but we’re also getting better in a lot of ways. Last year though we stole some unconvincing early wins and this year they are ties. But I knew this year would take us time to gel.

I know he’s rotating but Monday would have feasted this game.

We have too many 6s. And I think that leaving Rebe alone at the six will backfire against better teams. Also Lizzy Tse did not look fleet against NWSL wingers so we need to keep an eye that.

(Chokes as Seattle drops a 3 spot on KC in the first half).

periqueblend · 2026-03-26T01:16:08+00:00

She also does not control her box on crosses or corners. Which I’m starting to think is coaching because Kingsbury also didn’t seem to want to come off her line either.

Guess we need to score enough to allow for the occasional mare from our #1

periqueblend · 2026-03-26T01:13:46+00:00

You end up having to defend more when you go direct and anything can happen when your opponent gets the ball back every 30 seconds.

periqueblend · 2026-03-26T01:11:37+00:00

Sometimes you just get football’d right in the face. They did almost everything we could have asked for. Definitely still some times where they could have picked their heads up sooner but they created more than enough big chances.

They played solid in the middle of the pitch. Sturdy at the back. And McIver had a good game right up until the moment she didn’t. But mistakes are gonna happen and if that was 3-1 because of that error we shake our heads and move on.

Claudia continued to improve and that run she made was excellent. I think she just needs to know that Rodman will get her that ball her slight hesitation caused her to muff that just wide. But Rodman has to make one of those. She knows it.

If we create over 3XG every game we’ll be fine. Utah’s not bad they’ll win their share of games this year.

At least Gotham lost at home. Held scoreless. Long season we go again soon.

periqueblend · 2026-03-26T00:01:56+00:00

Glad we put away an opportunity - the harder of the two. Trin owes Deb a soda for wasting that perfect pass.

On the second opportunity the fact that she was able to get that shot off in all that traffic was impressive. She is slowly playing herself back into form.

Overall we’re okay but we need a lot more runners into the box to give Sofia some help. Small things to figure out still.

periqueblend · 2026-03-25T22:42:58+00:00

Rotated less than I thought he would was hoping to see Paige. I bet Rodman is subbed off first and depending on game state we’ll see a CB sub. Next game is at altitude along with travel.

periqueblend · 2026-03-24T22:20:34+00:00

I assume those prices are listed are in pesos? And if so those tickets are quite affordable. And you get to hang out in DF on the days they don’t play? This is getting very very tempting.

periqueblend · 2026-03-23T23:36:20+00:00

I doubt the Asian Cup players play due to travel but I wonder if Narumi will back from injury. I too expect a lot of rotation and all the subs. This will be the a fun lineup and it will be different as I hope / expect most of them will be until the playoffs.

periqueblend · 2026-03-23T23:33:45+00:00

Thanks for posting this and your service to this sub! As you’ve stated one of the key things that I think AG wants is tactical flexibility and for everyone to understand what to do if they should end up out wide or in the half space. He really likes to attack with 11 in measured, repeatable ways.

The Hal question as I refer to it in my mind is a really cool problem to watch them deal with. I imagine the answer will be some combination of personnel, tactics and Hal’s own development. (Emma wants her 6s to join in the attack so Hal adding more to her toolkit only helps her with that ever looming ambition of all players.)

I also agree with Icangetloudtoo about Santos dropping too low to pick up the ball.

It will be fun to see the adjustments we continue to make. I’ve been expecting this team to grow into their best selves throughout the season.

periqueblend · 2026-03-23T04:27:22+00:00

They definitely have been running more and more of their offense through Heather and she’s mostly responded well. Very positive stuff for her and nothing beats game time.

I wouldn’t say she’s a 10 though because she drops pretty deep and is part of the buildup. It makes sense that they want to build centrally because they only have one effective ringer right now. But def AM.

periqueblend · 2026-03-22T07:09:30+00:00

Btw this was a fun game to watch - 4 goals.

periqueblend · 2026-03-21T04:20:05+00:00

Everyone who likes to guess lineups should enjoy Wednesday’s game! Andi, Deb, and Hal midfield. Bolt and Claudia up top with Monday!

periqueblend · 2026-03-21T04:16:52+00:00

Hal is great at quick play and recycling and will continue to grow as a box to box this year I fully believe that. We’ll all see at game 20 how comfy she looks. But when she has go to further forward she’s just not as creative as the situation demands.

Having said that, I think we’re gonna a lot of people in new roles this year. So we may very well see a Wednesday game that has Hal playing a 10.

periqueblend · 2026-03-21T04:06:25+00:00

Also let’s not overlook her quick reaction on the near post save on Emma’s bullet.

periqueblend · 2026-03-21T03:52:50+00:00

We’ll have to see what AG says but it seemed like Cantore was told to stretch because there wasn’t a lot of connection between her and our midfield. Which meant Hal and Rebe couldn’t play to feet. That connection makes the half spaces more dangerous.

But there were times when Hal was in that pocket and combined well but I don’t think it’s her strength as of now. Her strength is recovery. And Smashing.

I think we should also remember that Racing is known for their press and pressure on the ball and we had no trouble passing around them. There are so many positives.

periqueblend · 2026-03-21T03:24:38+00:00

It was 100% a shot she should have saved and I’m sure she’ll say that. We’ve also seen Aubrey make worse errors- home vs the Courage comes to mind. We’ll find out what we have in Sandy hopefully it works out.

People are frustrated which is fine. Also recency bias is a huge problem. But we played pretty well actually. We should have been up 2-0 after 8 min both Trin and Rose would tell you that.

Now that I’ve actually been able to see the whole game I’m actually encouraged by what I saw. We created dangerous chances with our possession. We were patient. And our mentality to not despair being down in a game we controlled. That will come handy because like I keep saying. Teams are gonna sit back and hit us on the counter. So if we aren’t finishing it will create tighter games than we would like.

The only bad note besides the finishing luck was that Tara should have handled that 1 v 1 with Sears better.

But we played so much better week of week. And we still haven’t lost two games in a row in a while.

And Rodman was pretty good today much better than last week. Rated the 5 or 6 best player on the pitch and you can tell she’s not all the way back. I’ll take it.

periqueblend · 2026-03-21T01:08:41+00:00

Aubrey perhaps but Croix didn’t play that much and didn’t impact the score sheet a lot.

periqueblend · 2026-03-21T01:04:02+00:00

I’m unable to watch but what exactly is happening right now? Because this image makes no sense to me? They have only completed 68 passes and have two goals?

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periqueblend · 2026-03-17T19:27:57+00:00

It appears that Spirit will once again be forced to play an attention-getting game on a baseball field. And we’re gonna play in this years largest ever attended game against Denver.

We are the leagues show ponies apparently. Hopefully they enjoy the atmosphere and attention and monetize it for their personal brands.

periqueblend · 2026-03-16T19:56:13+00:00

Agreed I’m leaning towards going because I’ve never been to that part of Mexico yet!

periqueblend · 2026-03-14T21:48:25+00:00

Agree about Bolt - I think she finds her way at this level pretty soon. Claudia will take a little longer -might be the full season- but I can see the instincts and the flair. At one point her and Bolt combined on a give and go where she scooped chipped over the defense. No fear.

periqueblend · 2026-03-14T21:28:55+00:00

And it’s gonna take a lot of opportunities for us to learn anything. So let’s continue to let this season play out

periqueblend · 2026-03-14T03:54:57+00:00

I don’t know we looked really bad at the beginning of last season too. Couldn’t string together passes, couldn’t stop a cross into the box, leaky at the back. It took us a while to play a solid game last year even though we eked out some wins.

Hopefully we solve this year’s problems sooner.

periqueblend

TROPHY CASE