Athletica practicing light this week; Wizards fire Onalfo
With two essentially meaningless games this week against the bottom two teams in the league to end the season, second-place Athletica will be doing mostly shooting and technical work at practice this week, according to coach Jorge Barcellos. Captain Lori Chalupny said that’s good news for a team that’s had some problems capitalizing on its opportunities.
“Finishing is something I think you just have to keep doing,” she said. “The more you’re around the goal and the more you’re working on finishing I think the easier it is in a game when all of a sudden you find yourself with a chance.”
Once again, Daniela did not practice with her teammates as they did a 2v2 shooting drill, but she did do some touch drills on her own. Although none of the players or coaches are willing to talk specifics about the situation, it seems like the best-case scenario would be for the Brazilian midfielder to be available as a second-half sub in the Super Semifinal and/or a potential final.
After last week’s scrimmage, count forward Sarah Walsh as someone who agrees that would be better than nothing.
“She just knows the run you’re going to make and the runs that strikers should be making,” the Australian striker said. “She’s playing the balls through. It would be amazing if we could get her back.”
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While Jorge Barcellos’ team keeps getting better, the other professional team in Missouri is headed the other direction. After a shocking 6-0 loss at Dallas Saturday night, Kansas City Wizards management has seen enough. Head coach Curt Onalfo won’t get to see Jimmy Conrad’s return to the team, as he was fired on Monday. Onalfo was 27-29-22 in three years for Kansas City.
An interim head coach will be announced tomorrow at 9:45 a.m.
UPDATE: KC’s interim coach is technical director Peter Vermes, a former player for the Wizards an the US National team who also coached the U-20 national team in 2006.
Without doubt, finishing will be the determinent in how far we go. Seeing Nikki Cross’ shot from outside in the last game makes me think occasionally shooting from outside would be helpful in pulling the defense out. It would help unclog the penalty box area tends to be congested and where shooting becomes more difficult. It’s worth a try. Go Green!
The problem with losing Aluko is not only do you lose her goal scoring, you also lose your assists leader. A lot of times, her moves and speed don’t just help her to score, but to cross the ball into the middle. She just missed connecting with Lori Chalupny on such a play on Saturday. Plus she draws a lot of attention which opens up space for other players. Walsh certainly has to be part of the answer and Cinalli and Cross need to be bigger threats. One thing that will help balance things a little bit is that every team will be missing one or two players.