When the Washington Spirit, hoisted the 2021 NWSL Championship, it was certainly well ahead of schedule and almost improbable. The team and league was locked in a nasty ring of scandals, one of which involved their own coach at the start of that season. There was a nasty fight over their ownership on top of all that, and a COVID induced forfeit. But, the team appeared to put that all aside to win the Championship. It was just 2 full seasons ago, but today it might as well have been a decade. Coach in the Championship game? Gone, after abuse and racist incident in practice. They finished rock bottom in 2022, and struggled mightily down the stretch in 2023 culminating in a last game collapse that ended Mark Parson’s tenure early. What looked in dynasty at the end of 2021 has turned into a bit of nightmare on the field for a talented NWSL side. Off the field things appear much better. They are certainly not afraid to spend money has owner Michele Kang has moved them to Audi Field permanently and has spent heavily on support staff around the team. She is also amassing the female equivalent of City Football Group (with less sportwashing) acquiring Olympique Lyon women’s team and the London City Lionesses. And now she has pulled off the biggest coach hire probably in the NWSL
Jonatan Giráldez Steps In
If it weren’t for NY/NJ Gotham buying basically every free agent this year, this probably would have been the biggest story of the NWSL offseason. Giráldez has just had three seasons at FC Barcelona Femeni, but in those three seasons he has transformed the team into European powerhouse. They have dominated the Spanish league, winning the past two seasons and are well on their way to their third title. They won the UEFA Women’s Champions League last year and are currently in the Quarterfinals this year. Giráldez is without a doubt one of the hottest coaching prospects, and the fact that the Spirit were able to convince him to leave a Spanish giant is quite a statement by Michele Kang. They even were rumored to drop an additional $500,000 to get him at the start of the year. He turned it down to finish out the year at Barcelona.
So what type of coach is Giráldez at Barcelona? This article from Total Football Analysis, outlines some of the styles and tactical tweaks he brought to this Barcelona team in 2021. He has generally lined his team in a 4-3-3 and rely on short passing and a flexible midfield to generate gaps and passing spaces. He also relied on Jennifer Hermoso to drop into space and open up opportunities and spaces for other attackers. He didn’t re-invent the wheel too much at Barcelona from the previous manager. He was already gifted a talented side, but certainly made small tweaks. Here he will have a slightly different task of trying to perform a small to sizable rebuild of a squad and pull them out of the rut they have been in for the past two years.
Unfortunately for Spirit fans, Giráldez will not be here to start the season. He will remain at Barcelona until the end of the European season. In his place as interim coach until mid-June will be Adrián González who is the former head coach RCD Espanyol in the second division. Before leaving, he led the team to the top and in position for promotion. Obviously leaving a head coaching job for a temporary position and then demotion to assistant coach is not a common one. In his first media appearance González talked with excitement about the project Michelle Kang was building in Washington and wanted to be apart of it. He also had some high praise for the players involved. The respect appears to be mutual. Andi Sullivan sat down with us a few days ago and expressed some very positive thoughts about González. It appears preseason under him has gone well. Sullivan even outlined that the team would be focused on more controlled and slower build-up in the attack, which is very similar to what we see from Barcelona. Obviously we expect some changes to the roster and new additions, but so far the vibes seem to be good amongst the team.
Rebuilding?
So let’s talk about the roster. As of writing there are 24 players on the roster. If you are just checking in and are some familiar faces that are missing. Let’s start with Sam Stabb, the team’s best defender last year and set piece master. She was shipped to Chicago for #3 NWSL draft pick which they used on USC midfielder Croix Bethune. Obviously the loss on the defensive side will be massive. The team will now be heavily reliant on converted centerback Tara McKeown and Annaïg Butel to cover that position. There really aren’t many other natural centerbacks, either. It is without a doubt the thinnest position right now for the team. It is possible one of the many draft picks could slot in or Paige Metayer who should some great defensive skills in 2023. Short of that one injury to either Butel or McKeown could send the team scrambling.
Then there is the other major departure. Ashley Sanchez was also dealt on draft day to North Carolina for the #5 pick and 250k in allocation money. It was massively surprising move for the team that seemed to have on paper an incredible attacking trio between Sanchez, Rodman, and Hatch. While Sanchez certainly had a down year by her standards last year, her dribbling ability certainly brought a different pace to the game. Her ability to turn nothing in to something made her one of my favorite players to watch. Her goal against the Reign in 2021 was something special to witness during that magical playoff run. Who steps in her place? Well, draft pick Croix Bethune looks like a good bet. This sizzle reel from her time at University of Georgia really shows off her incredible dribbling and finishing ability. Many scouts have highlighted her as a potential Sanchez replacement. Obviously there is a massive question about her health. Part of the reason she wasn’t the first pick, was because she has suffered two ACL tears in her college year. Michelle Kang better hope her massive investment in training staff will pay off in a healthy season for Bethune.
While this is certainly a pretty serious turnover for the roster, there is still plenty of old guard talent around. Ashley Hatch is still here long term after signing a new contract. Trinity Rodman will be here fresh off her CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup victory. Long time holding midfielder Andi Sullivan will also still be here along with Aubrey Kingsbury in goal. There is still plenty of core talent to help carry the team through the 2024 season. Undoubtably more will be on the way, and with the league increasing the number of international roster slots from 5 to 7, the Spirit have plenty of space to grab international talent to build a more complete roster. This team could look a bit incomplete to start the year, and it will probably be the strangest in recent memory with the coach transition. There is a lot that has to go right, and the team could end up looking foolish for the two major trades at the draft. Developing some form of consistency will be key, and maybe seeing out the rough patches to build a better team for future years.
Predictions
Here we go, prediction time. We’ve got some thoughts from your favorite Podcast show runners
Ted
MVP: Trinity Rodman
Golden Boot: Ashley Hatch
Assist Leader: Croix Bethune
Defensive Player of the Year: Paige Metayer
Position in the League: 6th
Wild Prediction:Croix Bethune wins Rookie of the Year, and leagues the league in successful dribbles and shot creating actions.
Jon
MVP: Ashley Hatch
Golden Boot: Ashley Hatch
Assist Leader: Krueger
Defensive Player of the Year: Tara Mckeown
Position in the East: 5th
Wild Prediction: The Spirit sign 2 huge names from Barcelona in the summer and eliminate Gotham in the first round