The Washington Spirit are back and here’s what you missed on Glee…

After a break of what’s felt like 84 years (which in reality was 50 days), the Washington Spirit play NWSL regular season soccer games again. In fact, their first is a home game, so they’ll be right back at Audi Field again. That game will kickoff at noon, because it’s the first of a doubleheader. The second match is a preseason London derby in Washington, D.C., between Chelsea and Arsenal. It’s really cool that this is happening and this writer’s opinion is that you should plan to spend the majority of your day at Audi and thank me later.

Back to the NWSL regular season. There are only ten games left in the season, and whoever the top eight teams are after that will head into the playoffs to determine the 2024 NWSL Champion. Here’s the Spirit’s regular season schedule.

New Additions

It may have been a break from play but it was not a break for the Spirit’s front office. This summer they secured three deals for talented international players. French winger Rosemonde Kouassi, Colombian attacking midfielder/winger Leicy Santos, and England fullback/center back Esme Morgan all joined the Spirit. Santos and Kouassi have already made their debuts, as both were in the starting XI last weekend and the Spirit played Arsenal in a friendly match.

We’ll have to wait and see how and where these players settle into the team, but the friendly gave us some idea. With Croix Bethune still on break after winning a gold medal at the Olympics, Santos took the central attacking midfield spot. However, I see her as a perfect fit for the hybrid “left winger” role that has remained consistent between interim head coach Adrián González and freshly arrived permanent head coach Jonatan Giráldez (more on him later). They’ve both tried several players in that role—Ashley Hatch, Courtney Brown, Kate Wiesner, Paige Metayer—but the inverted nature of the role feels tailor made for Santos.

Rosemonde Kouassi might be slightly more difficult. She displayed intelligent runs, lots of defensive work, and outrageous speed in her debut. The Spirit may have brought her in thinking she’ll add to depth from the bench, but if she can consistently show what she showed against NWSL competition they may have given themselves a headache they won’t mind. Esme Morgan’s role is a bit more straightforward. She swapped between fullback and center back for Manchester City, but in an interview on the Hey Spirits podcast Morgan admitted that the coaching staff is viewing her as a center back first. Depth and improvement is needed in central defense, and signing Morgan represents the first real attempt at replacing Sam Staab.

What to Expect

This is the fun part. The Spirit started the season with an interim head coach but knowing who would take over soon. That person was former Barcelona head coach and two-time Champions League winner, Jonatan Giráldez. Well he’s here now.

While he officially took over before the break began, it’s a slower process to build foundations and tweak habits with limited training between games. The break served as a mini-preseason, which surely helped Giráldez make up for missed time. Also, three players who make up the spine of the team—Ouleye Sarr (ST), Andi Sullivan (DM), Tara McKeown (CB)—weren’t called up to national teams. Unlucky for them of course, especially Sullivan, who deserved her moment of retribution with the USWNT as well, but it was fortunate for Giráldez.

New players, a midseason mini-preseason, and a new head coach having time to helm trainings before the week-to-week grind of a regular season resumes means that we don’t know what the Spirit will look or play like during the first few games back. How well, or not well, Giráldez did in shaping the team into his ideal style of play is yet to be seen, but that is exciting. The Spirit were a lot of fun in the first part of the season, and could quite easily be a lot better. In fact, given the players they’ve added, it would be a letdown if they didn’t at least match their form prior to the break.

Trinity Rodman will need to be integrated back into the team after slowly after playing, approximately, a million minutes during the Olympics. But with Santos and Kouassi now, they can afford to make sure she gets the rest she needs. However, when she’s ready to go, I’ll be eager to see the spaces Giráldez can create for her, and how her success with the national team increased her ability, and confidence, in finishing chances.

The player whose development I’m most excited about under Giráldez’s coaching is Andi Sullivan. A fluid, strong and clever midfield with broad passing range is the secret sauce to Barcelona’s success. The pace of play in the NWSL doesn’t allow for center midfielders to make consistent runs into the box, but that suits Sullivan’s defensive prowess and deep-lying playmaking. At her best she’s more ‘match controller’ than ‘rangey destroyer’. Giráldez’s style, whatever it will be or become in the NWSL, will likely bring out the best in Sullivan by allowing her to play to her strengths.

Things to Watch

• Croix Bethune — Croix has been unreal this season, even to people who knew how unreal she was in college and were excited to see her at the pro level. The rookie is currently one assist shy of tying the single season assist record (10) held by Tobin Heath. Also, no NWSL player has ever had a 10 goal + 10 assist regular season. With ten games to go Bethune already has 5 goals and 9 assists in the bag.

• Esme Morgan — The Spirit made two harsh trades in order to acquire the rookie talents who have helped propel them this season. Team and fan favorites Ashley Sanchez (CAM) and Sam Staab (CB) were part of deals to acquire multiple draft picks. Croix Bethune has been Sanchez’s direct replacement, and has balled to an outrageous level. Staab, however, wasn’t directly replaced. As such the Spirit have been rolling with Ana Butel and Tara McKeown, a forward converted to center back. Butel has improved but McKeown has been the better of the two. Morgan getting integrated and up to speed quickly would be a tremendous boost.

• In the Title Race? — The Spirit are currently third on the table and play the #2 team to restart the season. If that game goes the Spirit’s way they’ll leapfrog into second, and be four behind league leaders Orlando Pride. The Spirit also have to play the Pride later in this final stretch (and KC again too). It’s probably a long shot, Orlando are legit and the most balanced team in the league. While it might be more important to focus on keeping Gotham behind them, they’re close enough to be considered a title contender.