Morgan, Pride work to get back in sync
After missing the first half of the season, it’s no surprise there was some miscommunication between Alex Morgan and her Orlando Pride teammates when she returned on Saturday.
Morgan entered the Pride’s 1-0 loss to the Chicago Red Stars Saturday as a second-half sub, and wasn’t sure what position to play when Orlando made another lineup change.
“When … Chi [Ubogagu] came in, I didn’t know what we were playing, who was playing what position ’cause Camila was the 10 and then [I was] not sure where she was and I wasn’t sure where Chi was,” Morgan said after the loss. “So there was a little bit of confusion. I wish the communication was just better.”
Part of the Pride’s communication issues stem from Morgan’s lack of time with the team. After spending the first portion of the season playing in France and the past few weeks recovering from a hamstring injury, Morgan has had little time to train with her teammates, especially star forward Marta.
“Alex just really came into full training this week and we’ve been away all week playing three games,” Pride coach Tom Sermanni said. “They’ve never actually gone out in an 11-v-11 together, so hopefully, once we get that going, there will be more cohesion there.”
Now that the team has a full week before its next game and Morgan is healthy, she hopes communication will be less of an issue going forward.
“I obviously feel 100 percent, but I wanted to kind of get my bearings and get that confidence as the game wore on,” Morgan said. “And I feel like I did and I feel like next game, we’ll all feel even better.”
After being scored on three times during their past two games, the Pride are looking for ways to improve defensively. One big issues has been penalty kicks. Orlando allowed one Saturday night after giving up two earlier in the week.
“It’s just about being disciplined defending. It’s as simple as that,” Sermanni said. “We hit a lot of balls in their box and none of their defenders gave away a penalty. … We just need to be more disciplined in our defending.”
The penalties, which have cost the Pride two goals in the past two games, are especially frustrating to Sermanni because of how easily they can be avoided.
“We tend to self-destruct with things,” he said. “… We do it well for periods in the game and then, as I say, we have moments of indiscipline and it ends up costing us. So, the only way to stop it is to not do those things.”
After getting off to a rough start on the road this season, the Pride were able to take comfort in being able to consistently pick up points at home.
But just as Orlando has started winning on the road, the team has begun to struggle at Orlando City Stadium. The Pride have been shut out during their past two home games.
“We were on a bit of a roll and then our last home game we lost to Houston, that was disappointing, and then we go and get a great win, come back, same thing,” Orlando goalkeeper Aubrey Bledsoe said. “We’re frustrated. We wanted to keep moving up the table.”
With 12 games left on the schedule however, the Pride know there is still time to turn things around and make a run at a playoff spot.
“Still a lot left to the season, I think that was week 12 so halfway there,” Blesdoe said. “Things are starting to click. I think we played some really good football today so hopefully the results will come.”