assistant

Vlatko Andonovski has a recurring joke about when he was employed because the ’s head coach.

He describes assembly Present gamers a number of months after resigning from the U.S. Ladies’s Nationwide Staff, with the Present having completed eleventh out of 12 groups in 2023, and saying: “” He got here to the Present after enduring a disaster of religion after the fallout from the USWNT’s spherical of 16 exit on the Ladies’s World Cup.

However Andonovski isn’t the one coach to land in Kansas Metropolis nursing a damaged coronary heart.

Assistant coach Freya Coombe was fired from her earlier publish as head coach of in the course of the 2023 season. That 12 months, ACFC had a tough begin and was struggling to compete.

“It’s no secret it was very powerful,” Coombe stated on Friday, two days earlier than the Present’s semifinal playoff sport towards the . “Not having the ability to full a season there and getting fired halfway by means of the season, that was powerful, and for me it was like, ‘OK, can I get again to a degree the place that is enjoyable?’”

That query carefully mirrors the one Andonovski requested himself after the World Cup — “Do I actually love this sport anymore?”

Judging from how a lot Coombe and Andonovski speak about having enjoyable in 2024, the reply for each is a powerful “sure.”

“There are components of being an assistant coach the place you don’t have the identical stage of strain as a head coach,” Coombe stated. “You don’t should make these powerful choices. You don’t should make these powerful calls, whether or not it’s participant choice, whether or not it’s ways. So I feel there’s a component of that which does make it somewhat simpler, however I feel the setting that has been created at Kansas Metropolis undoubtedly helps that.”

It might be exhausting to not have enjoyable on a crew that’s been as dominant because the Present in 2024, which may’t be mentioned outdoors of the context of the crew’s poor season the 12 months earlier than. There’s a euphoria to seeing a loser make a giant swing and swiftly ascend the ranks, simply 4 factors off the league-leading Satisfaction within the common season standings. The Present tied the Satisfaction for finest aim differential at +26, an enormous leap from eking out a -6 aim differential final 12 months.

It helps to have a record-setting goalscorer in your crew, too. has been a query few opponents have managed to reply. Although it’s actually attainable (see: the ’s 4-1 rout of the Present in August), it’s tough to perform.

“She’s so technically gifted,” stated Coombe. “She sees the sector so nicely, her consciousness of house and strain and time is totally implausible, and I can’t wait to see what she will be able to ship subsequent 12 months.”

On the opposite finish of the sector is KC’s protection which, whereas not as stingy as Orlando’s, has nonetheless achieved an admirable job amid a number of personnel modifications, together with their beginning goalkeeper, with changing Present stalwart A.D. Franch in late August. The crew additionally made modifications to each heart backs, buying the rights to in July and in August.

After totally integrating Prepare dinner, Sharples and Schult into the beginning lineup, the Present went from conceding 1.5 targets per sport to 0.3, together with its quarterfinal playoff sport towards the .

Coombe hesitated to say Sunday’s match may be a sport of protection versus protection, with each groups wanting in the direction of their talismanic goalscorers and their capability to transition — KC with Chawinga and Orlando with and . She did, nevertheless, acknowledge the Satisfaction’s protection, calling it “unimaginable this 12 months”.

She was way more open to singing the praises of Present midfielder , who has had such an excellent season that it demonstrates the magnitude of Chawinga’s efficiency to eclipse what DiBernardo has been to this Present aspect.

“She will be able to play anyplace within the midfield,” Coombe stated. “I feel that’s only a credit score to her, and her capability to see house, discover house. Her timing is impeccable, her touches are sensible, and she or he’s received such an amazing soccer mind, after which nice technical capability to go together with it. And I’ve been so impressed together with her this 12 months.

“I’ve all the time identified that she’s an amazing participant inside the league, however I feel that this has been a few of her finest soccer that she’s performed, and it’s a credit score to her and the way exhausting she works.”

DiBernardo can get excessive and rating, she will be able to cross from broad, and she or he is aware of the best way to place a well-weighted ball from lengthy vary proper right into a goalscorer’s path. Her heads-up play, having the ability to rapidly launch Chawinga, is not at all her solely device, but it surely’s an important one for the Present — particularly towards a hard-nosed protection.

Coombe additionally credited DiBernardo’s communication with the teaching workers, though that’s been a two-way road. If DiBernardo’s decision-making capability has been top-notch this season, it’s partially on account of being given the liberty to make choices.

“I feel Vlatko makes certain that the whole lot could be very, very clear to the gamers when it comes to how we wish to play,” stated Coombe. “And I feel that one factor that’s so nice about how he coaches, and (assistant coach Milan Ivanovic) coaches as nicely is that they’ll acknowledge there’s other ways to get there. Nevertheless it’s very clear that is what we’re making an attempt to attain, after which there is a component of freedom for the participant to discover a method to get to the place we wish to go.”

As for Coombe herself, it appears KC fits her.

“It’s probably the most enjoyable I feel I’ve ever had in a soccer setting, while on the similar time sustaining such knowledgeable setting for not only for gamers, however for workers as nicely,” she stated.

That’s right down to Andonovski’s management, she stated, from the high-level ways down to simply sitting and consuming collectively each day.

“That’s a credit score to the setting the place now we have a stunning coaching facility, the place we are able to sit and have breakfast and have lunch,” Coombe stated. “However all of us sit collectively, and we regularly sit there for a lot longer than we’re consuming and simply have enjoyable, inform tales. We’ll go on the street, and it’s typically round sitting down collectively, consuming collectively, planning collectively. We simply have plenty of enjoyable.”

Regardless of the crew’s outcome towards Orlando, it does really feel as if this has been a therapeutic season for Kansas Metropolis, at the very least on the sector. It’s, in spite of everything, a sport — and video games ought to be enjoyable.

This text initially appeared in .

Kansas Metropolis Present, NWSL

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