Article by André Carlisle and Annie Elliott

In a final warm-up before their return to the regular season, Washington Spirit played Arsenal Women’s Football Club last Sunday at Audi Field in Buzzard Point. The Spirit may have lost 2-1, but there were plenty of things to feel good about. Let’s take a look at some of the most exciting players of the match and how the team performed against their Women’s Super League opponents.

Leicy Santos is fun

Santos was handed a surprise start to introduce herself to Spirit fans at a packed Audi Field (15,062) and made a hell of a first impression. Deployed as the starting attacking midfielder on the day, Santos showed her cleverness and craft often. We were particularly impressed with the deftness and weight of her throughballs.

It was hard not to run through permutations of how it all might come together when the Spirit are at full strength. If you closed your eyes you could almost see Santos and Croix Bethune combining delicate passes to break through a press. Or Santos popping into space at the right moment to slip Ouleye Sarr or Trinity Rodman behind the defense. The potential connections once everyone’s on the same page are legitimately endless, and should be seriously fun.

Rose Kouassi gives fans even more to look forward to

The signing of Rosemunde Kouassi was one of the big surprises of the summer for Spirit fans, as was her start in this match. Though the Ivorian player has been training with Washington for a few weeks, head coach Jonatan Giráldez hadn’t given any impression that she was ready to take the pitch with her team. But man, was she ever ready.

Kouassi impressed from the start, showing a connection with teammate Ouleye Sarr that belied the short time she’s had to build chemistry. She dominated the right side of the pitch, and the few times she looked out of sync with her teammates, her speed and presence of mind meant she recovered quickly. After the match, both Aubrey Kingsbury and Paige Metayer talked about the difficulty of defending against Kouassi’s attacks in training and her skill at cutting without giving any indication of her plans.

As with Santos, Kouassi’s performance in this match should excite Spirit fans about the possible combinations to come. With a front three of Kouassi, Sarr, and Rodman, for example, this team will fly.

Ouleye Sarr at the tip of the spear

One thing the mid-season friendlies have shown is that Ouleye Sarr continues to be a focal point of the Spirit’s attack. Able to anticipate her teammates’ passes and quickly escape pressure, Sarr had many of the best chances against Arsenal and the majority of Washington’s shots on goal, although she only found the back of the net once.

Sarr’s goal spoke to both her persistence and connection with teammates. Receiving a pass from Kouassi, Sarr took a quick shot that was defended. Santos gave her another chance with the rebound, but it was also blocked and then cleared. Unfortunately for Arsenal, it was cleared to a wide-open Andi Sullivan.

“When I saw Andi with the ball, no pressure… I knew she was going to put the ball here,” Sarr said. With her back to goal and eye on the ball, she made a leaping header to even up the scoreline.

Or, as the Mystics’ star rookie, Aaliyah Edwards, summed it up:

Paige Metayer, fullback?

It’s been an interesting season for Paige Metayer, who started almost every game in 2023 in midfield but seemed to struggle to find her place under the new coaches this year. She’s acted as a substitute for Andi Sullivan or Hal Hershfelt a few times, but Sunday’s match may have shown a different path forward: fullback. Metayer played a full 90 minutes at both left and right back, switching sides when Gabby Carle moved to the forward line late in the match.

Metayer said she’s had conversations with coaching staff about being “adaptable and versatile,” and her skills did seem to translate well to the position. Both sticking to the wing and inverting, she found Sarr in advantageous scoring positions. And as a player already known for covering a lot of space, she did well defending and drawing fouls along her wing, though Arsenal’s first goal showed she and the rest of the team may need to continue to work on their defense in the box.

It brings me no joy to report that Arsenal’s Rosa Kafaji is legit

This is nothing against Kafaji herself, André wanted her in the NWSL, and in full transparency his English club is Chelsea. One of the last places he least wanted to see her is at Arsenal, and in her 45 minutes against the Spirit she showed why.

The Spirit’s pressing—particularly high pressing—was smothering Arsenal and preventing them from building up the way they wanted. Except when they were able to get the ball to Kafaji. Somehow she smoothly dribbled away from three players, and her turns and feints helped get her beyond the pressing line. In transition she was a menace as well, and assisted Alessia Russo’s second goal with a sweet throughball. The Swedish attacking midfielder isn’t quite a household name yet, but that will change soon. Much to our overwhelming chagrin.

Wait I thought the NWSL was supposed to be the long ball league?

Of course we kid, but only kinda. You don’t hire Jonatan Giráldez without anticipating a particular ball-dominant and expansive style of play. Therefore this matchup was a battle between teams who want to—with several caveats for specific gameplans, instructions and intricacies—play similar styles. While Arsenal started off imposing their gameplan, the Spirit settled and eventually overtook the game around the half hour mark.

After that, and for the rest of the first half, Arsenal were reduced to playing long balls over the top. With their accuracy and timing of runs, it wasn’t a bad idea, particularly given how hard Washington was working to break up play in the middle of the pitch. But it was sort of comical that a top European club known for intricate midfield play came to Washington, DC to face an NWSL team and ended up bypassing midfield through punts up the pitch in hopes of generating scoring opportunities at the other end. The times, they are a changing.

Image courtesy of the Washington Spirit