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Aug. 23, 2017 at Seminole Soccer Complex

Availability: HC Tom Sermanni, F Alex Morgan

HC Tom Sermanni

The Orlando Pride are on a four-game unbeaten streak, winning three of their last four.

It’s been good. And I’ve said this before: It’s been good most weeks. You know, obviously, life is a little bit tougher when results aren’t going well, but with the results—and I think more the performances, everybody, at this moment in time, is upbeat and confident.

On Oct. 14, the National Women’s Soccer League Final will be held in Orlando City Stadium. Sermanni isn’t envisioning playing in that match yet.

Not yet. What we’ve gotta do is try and make sure that we secure a place in the top four. You know, we’ve worked really hard all season. We’ve chipped away. We’ve kinda got on semi runs at times, and now we’ve got on a little bit of a roll. And particularly the next three games are really critical. And, you know, that’s all we’re thinking about at the moment. And then hopefully get ourselves in the top four, and then we can worry about what happens next.

Morgan has scored seven goals in her last six games. In her past two games, she’s recorded braces.

I mean, Alex is a goal-scorer, and with those really instinctive goal-scorers, once they get on a run, then they tend to really get on a roll and score goals. And that’s what happened to Alex. You know, we talked about the team getting on a run, and you also want to then look at your key players getting on runs to do what they do well. So what Alex is started doing is scoring goals, and then when you do that, as a striker, you become more confident, and you get into situations where you feel that you’re going to score in every game. And she’s in that mode at the moment, and hopefully that will continue for the rest of the season.

When it comes to the difference between this year’s team and the 2016 squad, Sermanni sees it in his team’s offseason recruitment.

I think there’s a significant difference. You know, I think what we’ve done very well this year is recruited. When you look at the players that we brought into this team, every one of them has played exceptionally well. Year 1 is always very difficult. You know, we had a terrific group of players last year. We were severely disrupted by the Olympics. And what we’ve managed to do in the offseason, I think, is do some terrific trades. You know, you look at Ali Krieger, Alanna Kennedy, Camila [Martins Pereira], Chi Ubogagu, Rachel Hill. You know, all five, six players that we’ve recruited have all done exceptionally well.

Hill suffered an ankle injury in a 1-1 draw with the Chicago Red Stars on Aug. 5. She played seven minutes in the 2-1 win over the Boston Breakers on Aug. 19.

Fantastic. You know, she’s back. She’s fit again. She’s a quick healer, which is good. She’s healthy and managed to come on for 10 minutes in the game at the weekend, and, you know, just having that balance of players on the bench that you know can come in and make an impact is so critical to teams and particularly at this stage of the season.

For Sermanni, he believes his team is playing its best soccer now.

Yes, I think we are. I think, as I say, I think early in the season, there were times when we’ve played really well, but I think the place we’re in at the moment is where doing things in a more complete way. So our performances are solid for most of the 90 minutes, and, you know, our game-management’s been good. Our structure’s been good. Our decision-making’s been better. So, hopefully that will continue, and that’s what, I think, has turned the corner for us.

[How to maintain our recent form is] a good question. It’s hard to know. You know, with some teams, they get on a run, and they find it difficult. With other teams, they got on a run, and they become very difficult to beat. So hopefully we’re the latter. But I honestly don’t know the answer to that right now. I think if we get two good results in the next two games, then I would say we are the latter, and we’re the team that’s getting better. But what I’m seeing and I think you see out here even today at training—I think the cohesion in this squad, the tempo that we’re playing at, the comfort that we have with each other is really strong at the moment. And that breeds confidence with individuals and with the team. And, you know, if we can keep that going, then we know we’re a team that’s going to create chances and going to score goals. So if we can combine both of those, then hopefully we can keep this run.

Both Morgan and Marta Vieira da Silva are in the top five for goals in the NWSL so far this season. Morgan is fifth with seven; Marta is third with 11.

(jokingly) Well, I mean, it’s hard when you get two average players up front that you’re trying to get the best out of, but, you know, we’re doing our best to toil with those two. No, it’s fantastic. You know, you’re talking about two of the better players in the world playing together and on the same page. So I think the key thing now with Alex and Marta is that they’re now in a situation where they’re really reading each other’s game very well. And that’s critical in whether it’s an attacking partnership or whether it’s a defensive center-back partnership. That cohesion and comfort with each other is really critical, and what we’re seeing now is that between Alex and Marta.

Pulls everybody up. When they see those players playing like that, that drags everybody along with it because if your key players are playing well, it helps all the other players round about. And, you know, we’re in a good spot at the moment in the sense that our key players in Alex and Marta and also Alanna Kennedy, Steph Catley are all playing exceptionally well. And that helps everybody ’cause that helps, as I say, how we play, the tempo of the game, the keeping possession, etcetera. So, you know, it’s really important that those critical players keep playing well ’cause they’re the ones that either win you games or don’t lose you games.

Sermanni attributes part of Morgan’s success in her second season to the Pride’s new roster.

You know, it’s hard to compare our team to the team this year. So, I think it’s all about the team and the differences and the changes that we’ve made. Being a first-year team is very difficult for everybody. You bring the whole group of players together with virtually no time to prepare them, and you’re throwing ’em in there, and then, when you add the disruptions that we had last year, it was very difficult to get any kind of continuity. This season, we’ve had more continuity. As I say, we’ve got high-quality players in the team. So when you put that combination together, it helps players like Alex, and then obviously they start scoring goals, and that helps all of us.

Sermanni wasn’t too concerned with what fans had to say about the team when the Pride weren’t winning. He understands that’s part of the nature of being a fan.

I mean, fans are always questioning things. That’s what supporters do. And, you know, everybody has an opinion of what people should do and what they shouldn’t do. And, obviously, a lot of that is based on results. But, as a group of players and a staff, we’ve always had confidence in this team, and we’ve always felt that the team been on the verge of doing well and getting results, and now we’re beginning to see that end product, and just hopefully we continue it. But, you know, that’s why fans are fans because they’re passionate, they want the team to do well, and they have their opinions on what the coach should do.

F Alex Morgan

Morgan has described her team’s recent successful run of games as “really fun.”

It’s been really fun the last couple weeks, to kinda jump up to tied for third place and now in contention for playoff. We know that we have the final here in October, and we wanna be a part of that. So that’s always in the back of our heads, and I think everything’s just clicking at the right time. So, everyone’s feeling really good, healthy, other than Jas Spencer, and she’s getting back there. So, it feels good when we’re all on the field. It’s fun to play.

In 2011, Morgan and Marta played together during Morgan’s rookie season with the Western New York Flash.

It’s been fun to play next to Marta. I mean, I played with her once before in 2011, but I was a rookie at the time—my first year as a pro, so it was really all new for me, and I was pretty young, so, this time around, it’s a lot different. I think we’ve both evolved as players, and so it’s just so easy to find her on the field, to play with her, to know what she’s thinking, and I think you guys are seeing that with the goals and assists we’re scoring from each other, and I think that’ll only continue to progress.

Morgan is seeing her team put together pieces for a complete game.

I think that throughout the season we’ve seen glimpses of greatness, of us playing really well together, but I think we’re finally now seeing all those parts put together for a complete game. And I’m not saying that we’re playing 90 minutes flawlessly, but we’re sure playing a lot more of those minutes the way we wanna play rather than earlier this season and last season, and that feels good, too, that there’s not as many lulls. And our possession rate is high, which we’ve always wanted. This style of play, what we’ve always wanted to implement, is now working on the field. So you’re seeing that a lot better today.

When it comes to championship runs, Morgan believes in the power of momentum.

I honestly think it’s all about momentum, and we’re gaining momentum at the right time. It’s just all working out well on the training field during games at the right time, so you just want your team to feel confident and to believe in each other and trust in each other, and I feel like this that group has that going right now.

Morgan attributes her form this season to the Pride’s supporting cast. Last season, she had just four goals and an assist in 15 games and 15 starts. This season, she’s scored seven goals with two assists in eight games and seven starts.

I just think that the support players, you know, throughout the team, is much better this year. You know, we have Alanna, who has her first year here. Camila, Ali Krieger, Marta, I mean, these are a significant amount of our players, so it’s just a different team, to be honest. And this style that Tom has always wanted to play, we’re finally now able to play with the players that we have put on the field, so it’s been really fun, and I think, just for me, I’ve gotten such great service. I mean, I’m not a player that’s gonna take on five defenders. I’m a player that’s gonna look in behind or maybe take one defender faced up or finish my few chances that I have in front of goal, and that doesn’t come without great service.

Since the beginning of the year with French side Olympique Lyonnais, Morgan said she has felt “really good.”

Yeah, I felt from the beginning of this year, starting in France, it’s just felt really good. I challenged myself a lot there. I really fought hard for playing time, so, now, getting here, I wanted the transition to be as quick and as easy as possible. I felt like it has been really. I couldn’t have hoped for anything better, but Tom sat down a lot of the players, a lot of the starters on the team and just said that it’s in our hands, what we want to do with the rest of season. And this was before our—maybe after our Chicago game. So, three or four games ago. And I feel like we’ve really turned it around. Players have stepped up, and it’s just been fun to be a part of that and to execute my chances on goal. It’s been fun, obviously, to get on the score sheet in consistent games, but all I want is for the team to win.

Morgan tries to approach games with a short-term memory.

I think as a forward, like, you always wanna be very forgetful, and I say that in a way, like, if I’m shooting shooting 10 shots on goal, I need to be just as confident in that 11th one. So you have to have a short memory because you have to forget that and play in the moment. And I feel like as I get in this rhythm of scoring more and more goals and contributing more, I feel like I’m able to kind of let maybe shots that I could’ve scored and but didn’t go a lot easier. So it’s just—I feel like the confidence has risen throughout the team along with myself, and that’s just helped me shrug off bad plays and kind of be able to feel in the moment for the plays that I do end up scoring on.

Back when Morgan and Marta first played together for Western New York, Morgan didn’t have an opportunity to fully play with the Brazilian.

My first pro season was really difficult because we were going through the 2011 World Cup, so I think that I was probably available for 10 of the 20 games we played in season. So, it wasn’t that many. Marta was being away [for] Brazil as well. And we had some amazing players. We had Christine Sinclair, also, in the front line, so I felt like, just in general, it was a lot more difficult to play with Marta and Christine Sinclair just in the sense that I don’t think I had the soccer knowledge that i do have now. So, I feel like we started fresh. I mean, it’s been over six years we’ve played together, so we started off fresh, and I felt like it just clicked pretty quickly, and it’s been amazing.

For Morgan, she sees Marta flourishing in a new and competitive environment in Orlando.

I mean, Marta just keeps the ball and makes it look so easy. She gets out of dangerous situations so easy. Taking on three, four or five players, and I feel like, for me, attacking with Marta, she draws defenders. So the fact that she’s able to draw defenders towards her and then dish the ball to me, it’s just amazing to be able to play with someone of just that stature, and I’ve been wanting to play with Marta ever since my first year because I felt like it was a little bit of a blur, my first pro year. So it’s been really fun playing with Marta. I think that she’s found a new gear here playing on these perfect grass fields, being in a really competitive environment where every game matters. I think this is, in terms of competition, just having every being competitive, this is probably the most competitive league in the world. You don’t have a game where you can just put out maybe your subs and have your starters take a break. That’s not how this league works. So I feel like Marta being the competitive player she is, she’s just thriving in this league, and it’s fun to be a part of that.

I think it’s gelled really easily. I think, also, what helps is having Camila and Monica [Hickmann Alves] here as well. That’s just eased her transition with our little Brazilian flare on this team. And obviously with [majority owner] Flávio [Augusto da Silva] bringing his presence as well with the club. It’s just been great to have all three of them. And it’s been fun to play with them, and I feel like, now, getting into the last chunk of our season, I feel like we’re in a really great spot.

CEO Alex Leitão and Flávio visited the Pride after training to deliver words of encouragement.

Yeah, I—you know, obviously not starting out the season with the team, I’m not sure if Flávio and [CEO] Alex Leitão had a chance to come out to talk to the team before, but it was great just having them come out together and just address the fact that we are on a good run, and that they are 100 percent believe in us, and that this club and this city is so much behind the women’s team as much as the men’s team. So, that was really nice to hear. I know the men haven’t been on a great run, so it’s good that we’re able to kind of carry the club right now, and hopefully the men will pick it back up. But you could just see that Flávio and Alex really believed in us. And it was nice for them to come out when we’re on a winning streak because, obviously, if they come out otherwise, when we’re not on a winning streak, then you know it’s not good news. But they just have really encouraging words, and that was nice to hear from the owner.

For more on the Pride, as they try to solidify their playoff spot, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.