2016-2017 W-League Perth Glory at Newcastle Jets- recap 11/19/16

2016-2017 W-League Perth Glory at Newcastle Jets- recap 11/19/16. Newcastle defeated Perth 1-0 in front of their home fans.

Good day, mates! We’ve got some action from Down Under. If you want to know what happened to some of your favorite NWSL players, look no further! In Australia’s W-League, there are 9 teams represented. In this match, we will recap the Newcastle Jets hosting the Perth Glory.

3650 fans attended the match at McDonald Jones Stadium on November 19, 2016. Lineup below taken directly from W-League website.

• LINEUPS
• FORMATION

– See more at: http://www.w-league.com.au/matchcentre/Newcastle-Jets-Women-v-Perth-Glory-Women/888646#sthash.YuOX3tM3.dpuf
Read more at http://www.w-league.com.au/matchcentre/Newcastle-Jets-Women-v-Perth-Glory-Women/888646#1lZoiOZR0d7XaEqC.99

NWSL Players in the game

NWSL fans will undoubtedly see some familiar faces on both rosters.

• Four Chicago Red Stars were playing in this one. Alyssa Mautz and Vanessa Di Bernardo are on Perth, where Arin Gilliland (playing wing midfielder instead of defense) and Jen Hoy represent Newcastle.
• But other NWSL players are also here. Notably Sam Kerr, the speedy forward who played a few games this year for Sky Blue, is also a Mathilda on Australia’s National Team.  Kerr’s teammate Nikki Stanton from Sky Blue is also on Perth.
• Formerly of Washington Spirit, now Boston, is underrated defender Megan Oyster. And also Washington goalkeeper Kelsey Wys had the net for the Jets.
• Some fans may remember Ari Romero, formerly of the Houston Dash. She has not played the past 2 seasons in the NWSL, but is now a center back for Perth..

Keys to the game

Perth’s strength is their offense, with the dangerous forward Sam Kerr, and the talented attacking center midfielder Vanessa Di Bernardo, their plan is simple – attack! attack! and attack! Newcastle captain and fullback Gema Simon will have her hands full trying to contain Kerr and friends. If the Jets can slow down the Glory attack, then it is simple matter of being able to use speedy Jen Hoy to lead the counter-attack.

First Half Highlights

• 2′ (second minute) Di Bernardo had a nice shot from about 30 yards out hit the crossbar.
• Unfortunately for Kelsey Wys, her game was over in the 9th minute, when she collided awkwardly with Vanessa Di Bernardo, and twisted her knee as she fell. She tore her right ACL and will miss considerable time.
• Claire Coelho replaces Wys at goalkeeper.
• 15′- There was some controversy as Jets forward Kingsley kicked the ball in the penalty box, and hit  defender Charalambous in the hand. Referee Lara Lee apparently had a good angle and decided that a “no-call” was best for the situation. Perth dodged a bullet there.
• 22′ – A great opportunity by Perth was saved by Clare Wheeler. She was standing on the goal line during a Di Bernardo corner kick, Kerr headed the ball, and it bounced around to Wheeler, who kicked it out of trouble.
• There were a few opportunities by Kerr, Di Bernardo, and Mautz before halftime. All stopped by the Newcastle defense. It is apparent that Wheeler is coming back from her attacking center midfielder role, and defending first.
• Newcastle also had a couple nice opportunities as well. Hoy hit the side net at the 39th minute, and in extra time Gilliland had a nice cross in the penalty box, but Kingsley overran the ball.

Second Half Highlights

• In the 47th minute, Gilliland had a nice pass to Kingsley who tried to cross it to Jen Hoy. But Hoy was taken down in the penalty box by Ari Romero. The referee granted a penalty kick (PK).
• GOAL! Hoy converted the PK as goalkeeper as goalkeeper Melissa Maizels guessed center high, but Hoy went to the goalkeeper’s center right low. Newcastle leads 1-0.
• Perth had several opportunities the next 20 minutes. Mautz shot from 25 yards about the 53 minute, but it was an easy save.  In the 62 minute Goalkeeper Coelho was dribbling outside the penalty box with the ball, and Perth was unable to steal it from her, and punish her for her carelessness. And a minute later Mautz was wide open on a long pass, but had a poor touch and the ball crossed harmlessly across goal line.
• Di Bernardo is oddly subbed out at the 73 minute. With her departure, Perth is much less threatening, but Kerr did keep it interesting at times.
• Neither team gave up on the game, as for a while Newcastle especially threatened a few times, wanting to put the game out of reach. Kingsley was  one-on-one with goalkeeper Maizels in the 84 minute and the goalie made a good save.
• In extra time Perth finally awoke after an offensive  lull for several minutes, and Mautz missed a shot. A minute or so later, Mautz passed to Kerr who headed the ball, but missed the goal.
• Game over after about 3 minutes of stoppage time.

Final score 1-0 in favor of Newcastle.

Comments about the teams in general

• Overall, Newcastle frustrated Perth by playing defense by bringing the forwards back to help out. They tended to “clog up” the middle, forcing Perth to launch balls directly.
• Neither team could attack the ball through the midfield, showing that the defense for both sides was fairly strong. Defensively neither team made many mistakes.
• Neither team was able to string more than 3 or 4 passes at a time for much of the game. Again, this can be a result of good defense, rather than poor offense. However, both coaches need to address their possession problems. There was a noticeable look of impatience from both squads.
• 71st minute Nikki Stanton received the only yellow card of the game. There were 20 fouls total, with Perth having the majority at 13 fouls committed.
• Overall, both played a quality game. At times, Perth looked to be the superior team. But by rights, the game could have been 1-1. So, Newcastle will happily take the victory.

Individual Player Comments

• Newcastle’s Nenadovic took many of the set pieces, but her kicks were a little errant. But she looks like she has the potential to be dangerous with more experience.
• Nikki Stanton alternated with Di Bernardo at times with their set pieces. Neither made any spectacular free kicks, but neither had any embarrassing kicks either.
• Gema Simon held her own against Sam Kerr. Kerr would move to different positions on the field trying to be freed up with some success. But the center backs also held their ground, forcing Perth into too many low quality shots from distance.
• Around the 70th minute, but throughout the game, you can notice Kerr’s frustration with the referee as she felt none of the calls were going their way.
• On Di Bernardo’s early exit, ESPN sideline reporter Amy Duggan was able to ask the Perth coach, and he explained that she had a hamstring issue the past few weeks.
• Claire Coelho won “player of the game” for having a clean sheet to her credit, despite not starting at goalkeeper. Overall, she performed admirably, with only minor mistakes that did not cost a goal.

About once per week, the games are broadcast on the ESPN3 website. Look under “Replay”, then ” Soccer” and then “W-League”. You may need to change the date as it defaults to “Last 7 Days”. The A-League is the Australian Men’s League. And since ESPN has the same deal with both, it may be possible that some of the women’s games might be hidden there.

Final Comments

• Every week, I will try to give a recap of these games throughout the winter, or rather the Australian summer.
• I thought the TV commentators Stephanie Brantz and Heather Garriock did a nice job with the game. In “lull periods” of the game, they would say something interesting about the players, usually during injury time. Sometimes with NWSL games, if things were slow, then the commentators would go into bizarre random discussions, sometimes about other sports, and then they somehow miss a goal description.
• The W-League site has some interesting information for any “stat geeks” out there. Under the “Results and Fixtures” tab, you can go to the game, and it will give offensive, defensive, and heat map type statistics. Not much detail for individual stats that I saw at a glance, but are interesting enough for those who follow the game closely. One of the charts has “average positions”, which shows where the players spent the majority of the game. It shows the players may have been “man-marking”  or “zone-marking” quite well. (The NWSL should have more stats, but it costs too much money!)

The game can be found on ESPN3 website. Link to game below:

http://www.espn.com/watchespn/player/_/id/2936364/

The W-League website:

http://www.w-league.com.au/

And sadly, my condolences to the Brazilian Chapecoense Club team’s families and to the families who lost loved ones aboard the chartered Avro RJ85 plane that crashed near Medellin, Colombia on November 29, 2016. Our prayers to all.

Below are a couple of  links to the story.

http://www.espnfc.com/copa-sudamericana/story/3007152/plane-flying-chapecoense-to-copa-sudamericana-final-crashes-in-colombia

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/30/americas/colombia-plane-crash/index.html