Club remains in mix for No. 5 playoff seed
Dash coach James Clarkson thrives on building a game plan and guiding his players so that they can execute it perfectly.
That’s challenging enough when there is just one game to prepare for, but this week Clarkson said it feels like three, four or five games all on one day.
Such is life in the NWSL, where viewership and ratings trump a traditional scheduling format for the final day of the regular season in which every match begins at the same time.
When the Dash (9-9-5, 32 points) kick off against the Washington Spirit (10-7-6, 36 points) at Audi Field in D.C. at 1 p.m. Sunday, they will have the luxury of knowing exactly what they need to do to clinch a playoff berth for the first time in franchise history.
Of course, they may already know if they’ve made it, too.
The Dash occupied the sixth and final playoff berth when the final round of games began Friday. They were tied with the North Carolina Courage on 32 points, but because they own the head-to-head tiebreaker, all they need out of the final game is to match what North Carolina does.
If the Courage lose to first-place Portland on the road Saturday night, the Dash clinch a playoff berth. Then all they would be playing for Sunday is playoff seeding.
“(Saturday’s North Carolina game) could potentially change everything,” Clarkson said. “That’s been the challenge this week and it’s unfortunate. I would much prefer it to be everybody playing at the same time. Then everybody has to prepare the same way.
“So, we’ve had to go through all the scenarios that we potentially could face. What are we going to do if we have to win? How will we win? What are we going to do if we have to draw? How do we see the game out? How do we manage that? What if we’re losing and we need to get a goal?”
When Clarkson spoke with the media Thursday, he said it would be a big deal to host a playoff game and that he would heavily consider that prospect Sunday if a playoff spot was already in the bag.
On Friday night, however, Chicago defeated Orlando to move out of reach of the Dash. Now the best Houston can do is the No. 5 seed. The Dash would earn that with a win Sunday and a loss by Gotham FC, which kicks off one hour later.
If the Dash need to get a positive result Sunday to qualify for the postseason, Clarkson said there will be no mistaking what is at stake. It will be the biggest game in his coaching tenure — even bigger than last year’s NWSL Challenge Cup title.
Because the Dash never sniffed much success before Clarkson, Sunday could even be viewed as the biggest game in the club’s history.
“If we want to be successful and we want to win and get a star on our jersey and things like that, we’ve got to get into the playoffs,” Clarkson said. “I think we’ve made progress from 2019, but progress is actually getting into the playoffs and then having a proper run at it. And if we want to do this and we want to do it consistently, we’ve got to make that first step and we’ve got to be able to deal with the pressure.”