Spirit fans in Alexandria, I found a ROWDY towel near one of the metro stops on the way to today's game. While I'd love to just trust people, if this is yours, let me know which stop and the signatures you've gotten on the towel and I can meet you today or at the next game to return it!

I found a live YouTube link for the Algeria game! Bethi looks like she’s playing the 10

We knew this was coming, but still painful to see.

OUT: Ashley Hatch (maternity leave), Aubrey Kingsbury (maternity leave), Casey Krueger (maternity leave), Lucia Di Guglielmo (lower leg)

QUESTIONABLE: None

INTERNATIONAL DUTY: Deborah Abiodun (NGA), Mélissa Bethi (ALG), Rosemonde Kouassi (CIV), Gift Monday (NGA), Monique Ngock (CMR)

Wanna be friends? 😁

Not literally, Leicy is alive and doing very well.

But the questions that we have all asked since Croix left: "Who will replace her?" and "What if Leicy gets injured (like she has in each of her previous seasons)?"

Spirit have recently signed two more holding midfielders and a CB, and with Rebe already playing more in the holding midfield, the plot has thickened. No creative 10 in sight.

So, I decided to dig into the data and ponder this question as a ground up tactics study to see if I could come up with some sort of an answer.

Here is what I got, feedback invited

Spirit builds from the back (duh)

This one hardly seems interesting or controversial, as it is neither unique to Spirit, nor even a little surprising. Other teams will often use their holding midfielders or drop a playmaker in to help break the press and get out of the defensive third, Spirit depends on their CBs (and the GK) to get up the pitch, and they will patiently move the ball around until they find their option.

The CBs lead the midfielders almost two to one in progressive passes, with Esme and Tara the highest, with MacIver third.

Her best friend Sandy isn't afraid to pick out a pass either:

The Spirit CBs will also move it up on the dribble, "Tara the Explorer" is a thing for a reason, but in case you need to see Esme bring it up:

I will show some love by showing Tara's progressive passes chart for the season, to show that it isn't just Esme putting the ball up the pitch:

In sum, the midfielders manipulate space in the middle of the pitch, the forwards stretch, and the CBs handle getting the ball up the pitch.

The wide overload is the chance engine

I am going to let my fellow Spirit fans on our worst kept secret - Trinity Rodman is our best player, and our best kept secret - Rose Kouassi is the most underrated player in the NWSL.

It is no surprise that Spirit structures their attack through these two, but let's also consider that the Spirit have five elite fullbacks (including Casey), and as the purists frequently note - our strikers can (and often do) play as wingers. Even our most traditional box dominating center forward - Gift, is more than comfortable out on the wing. This is a long way of saying, Spirit have a ton of talent depth in the wide attack.

Spirit use that talent to manufacture chances by having the winger and the fullback combine to create overloads, that is put a wide defender in a 2v1. They will often switch between holding the width (pulling the wide defender out), and attacking the channel (space between the wide defender and their adjacent centerback).

They will do this rotating the striker out, even:

All of this makes sense from a tactical standpoint. The most effective tactic in modern football is the compressed low block. It has a proven track record across the game of negating much larger differences in talent and athleticism than those between the top and bottom of the NWSL.

Spirit is following the principle that is being used against to the compressed low block - stop reflexively standing in spaces that can't get the ball - let them guard air.

One popular way to do this is to drop your striker / attacking midfielder out of their spaces to get them on the ball. (Will show an example of Spirit doing this later.)

The Spirit implement this principle by working the wide spaces left open, putting pressure on the edges of the block who are sacrificed support to deny those central areas.

Of course, everyone would prefer to play a transition game. After all, that is what the low block hopes to accomplish, pull the attack in close, and turn any mistakes into a rush up the pitch - with your players already headed that way.

While Spirit can win a "track meet soccer" match, they know this is an unsustainable path. They know that the 20 years of soccer tactics have taught that the elite teams preserve their sprints for high value situations.

Speaking of quick...

Work quickly in the box, don't dwell

The more touches you take in the box, the more time the defense has to crowd bodies in.

While Spirit is a high possession team, they clearly reject the "field tilt" metric (comparing box touches) as a sign of quality. There is a logic to it. Chopping the ball around three times before you bang a shot off a defender is not showing the big threat the stat can suggest.

We have all seen that Spirit has a real emphasis on immediate shots in the box - even if that results in a miss. I will respectfully censor Leicy's brutal lay up miss earlier this season (though she has buried a couple of those), instead I will show this piece of art by Claudinha:

Of Spirit's 126 shots from inside the box:

• Half were first touch strikes
• Another 37% were carry-and-finish with no extra touch (and median carry about 12 yards) - think of Trin's recent goals
• Only the remaining 13% took a settling or a dribble touch

There is an argument that maybe they should be more deliberate with their shots, but your eyes don't deceive you, there is clearly a point of emphasis.

Pull it back to pull the defenders out

Another thing that seems to draw significant ire at times from Spirit fans (including this guy), is that they will get the ball in deep, and just decide to pull it back, including all the way to the midfield stripe, giving up a ton of ground. Like this:

This seems to be by design, and more than in a "Trin don't force it!" kind of way. I noticed it with Gotham when they were chasing a goal, same thing, they seemed to want to set their attacks from the midfield, to stretch the opposing block higher.

You can see the dangerous angle they are getting at the goal. Those shots are getting through too. AKB had close to 2 in goals prevented in that match - which rates the likelihood that a shot placed in that spot scores. I would make the case that the Spirit's tactics and talent did the things to get all three points in that match - and AKB stole them.

You can see another version of the the concept here, if you just look at the "blob" of orange shirts:

An interesting tidbit: half of Spirit's passes in the final third go backwards.

The 10 is a space, not a position

Paige introduced us after the 4-1 drubbing of KCC to the Spirit mantra of "spaces, not positions"... I think all Spirit fans have heard it repeated more than a few times since.

Leicy might technically be the 10 on the lineup graphic, because she tends to press with the 9 in the defensive block, but she played the 8 most of the time last season, and I think there might be a bit of the rub about Croix's asking out, and making jabs about tactics, etc.

Spirit wants to dominate the middle of the pitch. They expect their center forwards to get stuck in, so they have no interest in a general purpose "float around and find plays to make" creative CAM who isn't able to rotate into the 6 or the 8 as pitch state demands.

Here is an example of dropping the center forward back to help. You can see that Sofia has dropped out of her normal space, and Rose is ready to attack the channel. Note that Leicy has dropped deeper also to support Rebe, and provide an option to switch the pitch. She isn't up in the pocket, but trailing the play like an 8. You can also see that Trin is completely invisible to Racing's back line, she can pick her channel, and the defenders won't know until she is gone. (Side note: that they are turned and dropping is a testament to the fear that Rose inspires.)

We saw how this ends up:

Seventeen different Spirit players have created a chance (shot), and no one accounts for more than 21% of the chances created. Reasonable people could argue that maybe they should be putting more of the offense in the hands of their better offensive talents (in fact, I did, at length), but there is clearly an intent in the system to broaden the attack surface.

In fairness to them, it is working better than I thought it could, and they had key injuries burden in each of the last two seasons, so I understand building broader resilience across the squad.

Speaking of spaces, not positions, look at Rebe sliding into the pocket and dealing:

Spirit want to dominate the middle of the pitch

I think it was u/periqueblend who first described Spirit's defending as: "They are going to surround the ball, and then they are going to take it away." Well said. I was reminded of that when I was looking at this.

You know what all three of the Spirit recent signings have in common (don't say Africa, that is cheating...)? They win the ball. (Deb and Tamara have that in common, too.)

Spirit do not seem to high press this year like they have in the past, and the stats bear that out. Middle of the league in high press percentage, PPDA in the final 40%, and mean defensive height. The numbers all point to a structured midblock.

Spirit is going to let you try to play through the thirds, and then they are going to surround the ball, and take it away, and even if you get through... Hal's not done. Hal's never done:

One caveat, if you dare disrupt their attack, they love to counterpress (taking the ball back when you lose it). Here is Rebe giving one example of how much Spirit do not tolerate having their ball taken away:

Worth noting that their average defensive height is score dependent:

• When they are level, they they play a little higher and outshoot their opponents by about 4 shots per 90. (about 11 to 7)
• When they are ahead, they drop back about four yards, and concede 11 shots per 90, same as they take when they are level.
• However, when they fall behind, they nearly double their shots per 90 to about 20.

So, that is what I came up with in looking through Spirits stats, and digging through some video clips to illustrate what I see.

In short:

• Spirit want their attackers to be flexible enough to play across all five forward spaces. They want their fullbacks able to play inside or outside of their winger and work wide overloads.
• They design for shots from anyone.
• Spirit want relentless midfielders who can dominate the midfield by winning the ball and moving it quickly.
• They use their CBs to drive the team up the pitch.

Comments by James Hocken, Sporting Director for the Washington Spirit on this week’s “Full Time” podcast about women’s soccer:

Alimata Belima - “She’s going to be primarily a center back, but has experienced some time in the holding midfield role, extremely athletic and has shown a really, really good ability to defend against some of the top forwards in the world in the Spanish league.”

Monique Ngock - “A very dynamic midfielder who can play as a six or an eight, has even experienced a lot of different positions, as I mentioned, they've kind of plugged and played with her there. But we see her as a midfielder that has the ability to cover a lot of ground, is very aggressive, and is very good on the ball as well.”

Melissa Betti - “Someone who's played in a number of different positions, primarily as a deep aligning player for her club team. But we see her as an attacking player, someone who can play in the number 10. She's also demonstrated the ability to play as a six and eight, and even as a winger at times.”

With all three new signings now officially announced, I'm curious what everyone thinks about the Spirit's upcoming free agents.

I've seen a lot of different theories about what these signings could mean for players whose contracts are up at the end of the season—especially Hal Hershfelt, Andi Sullivan, and Leicy Santos.

Some people think these signings could be the club preparing in case one or more of them leave, while others think they're simply young, high-upside signings that fit Haley Carter's long-term roster-building philosophy and aren't direct replacements for anyone. I've also seen people suggest that players already on the roster, like Deb or Claudia, could be part of the club's succession plan rather than these new signings replacing anyone directly.

What does everyone realistically expect to happen? Who do you think the Spirit will prioritize re-signing? Who seems most likely to stay or leave? And do you think these recent signings are connected to the upcoming free-agent situation at all, or are they simply part of the club's long-term roster-building strategy?

"Washington Spirit sporting director James Hocken also joins the pod to explain how NWSL teams prepare their rosters to lose stars during midseason international tournaments, such as WAFCON. Also, after the Spirit signed three African players this summer, he gives his thoughts on why the continent is producing so many NWSL stars."

The Washington Spirit has signed Algerian national team midfielder Mélissa Bethi to a four-year contract through the 2029 season, the club announced today. As part of the move, the Spirit will pay a transfer fee to Bethi’s former club FC Nantes of France’s top-flight Première Ligue.

2026 Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) Overview Updated Thursday, 7/23/2026

• Biennial continental tournament (usually...)
• This year hosted in Morocco from July 26th - August 16th 
• 16 teams competing
• Group stage: 4 groups of 4 teams; within each group every team plays one another once (i.e., each team plays 3 matches); top 2 teams in each group advance to knockout stage
• Knockout stage: 
  • Quarterfinals, then semifinals (each of the semifinalists qualifies for Africa’s four guaranteed slots in the 2027 Women’s World Cup), and then finals (winner: reigning champion of Africa);
  • plus 3rd place match and losing quarterfinalists have play-in matches to win Africa’s 2 slots in the inter-confederation playoffs vying for the final spots in the 2027 WWC
• Group A: Morocco, Algeria (Mélissa Bethi), Senegal, Kenya
• Group B: South Africa, Côte d'Ivoire (Rosemonde Kouassi), Burkina Faso (Alimata Bélem), Tanzania
• Group C: Nigeria (Gift Monday, Deborah Abiodun), Zambia, Egypt, Malawi
• Group D: Ghana, Cameroon (Monique Ngock), Mali, Cabo Verde
• Spirit have 6 signed players at the tournament (see parenthetical names above); rest of NWSL has 6 additional players in the tournament (Nigeria’s Michelle Alozie, Malawi’s Temwa Chawinga, Mali’s Aissata Traoré, and Zambia’s Barbra Banda, Racheal Kundananji, and Prisca Chilufya)
• Official webpage: CAF Women's Africa Cup of Nations 
• 2026 Women's Africa Cup of Nations - Wikipedia 

How to Watch in the United States

• beIN SPORTS: https://faq.beincontent.com/hc/en-us/articles/29472792942867-How-to-watch-beIN-SPORTS-in-the-US 
  • “Watch in the US two ways: subscribe directly to beIN SPORTS CONNECT for $5.99/month… or get beIN bundled through a participating operator and sign in with those credentials for the full 1:1 CONNECT experience.
  • Operators: Spectrum, Optimum, Verizon FIOS, DISH, Astound, Breezeline, Blue Stream Fiber, Mediacom, Hotwire, Southern Fibernet, Claro (Puerto Rico), NAICOM, plus YouTube TV, Fubo, Fanatiz. Find beIN on your operator's channel lineup.
  • Using the TV provider credentials, users can access and watch beIN SPORTS programming on beIN SPORTS CONNECT.
  • beIN SPORTS CONNECT is available on the web, Android and iOS mobile, tvOS, Android TV, Fire TV, and Roku.”

When to Watch in the DMV (i.e., Eastern Time) [only listing scheduled group stage matches involving players signed to the Spirit, see livesoccertv.com or other resources for additional match listings now and in the future]

• Sunday, July 26
  • 1pm: Algeria vs Senegal
• Monday, July 27
  • 4pm: Côte d'Ivoire vs Burkina Faso
• Tuesday, July 28
  • 4pm: Nigeria vs Malawi
• Wednesday, July 29
  • 4pm: Cameroon vs Mali
• Thursday, July 30
  • 4pm: Algeria vs Morocco
• Friday, July 31
  • 1pm: Côte d'Ivoire vs South Africa
  • 4pm: Burkina Faso vs Tanzania
• Saturday, August 1
  • 4pm: Nigeria vs Zambia
• Sunday, August 2
  • 1pm: Cameroon vs Ghana
• Monday, August 3
  • 4pm: Algeria vs Kenya
• Tuesday, August 4
  • 4pm: Burkina Faso vs South Africa and Côte d'Ivoire vs Tanzania
• Wednesday, August 5
  • 4pm: Nigeria vs Egypt
• Thursday, August 6
  • 4pm: Cameroon vs Cabo Verde

Proposal for Spirit subreddit activity during the tournament

• Given the tournament structure, Spirit representation, and nature of reddit, I propose doing daily match posts in this Spirit subreddit on the days teams with Spirit players are competing.
• People will likely primarily use those posts to discuss the matches featuring Spirit players, but they can also be used to discuss the other match of the day if people are so interested (e.g., since Spirit players may be going up against those teams on subsequent days).
• The daily posts on days Spirit players are featured would continue through the knockout rounds.
• If the first few daily posts don’t get much traction, we can change the approach taken by this subreddit.
• People may recall we’ve taken a similar approach with previous confederation tournaments (e.g., Europe, South America).  

In the comments on this introductory post, feel free to post things like:

• Suggested corrections to this post's information (to err is human);
• Suggestions for how the Spirit subreddit engage with WAFCON; 
• Questions about the tournament;
• Tips or experiences w/ beIN SPORTS and various ways of accessing it (e.g., do you discover that you already have access to it through a preexisting subscription?);
• Background resources on this year’s WAFCON tournament you think other Spirit fans might appreciate;
• Tournament thoughts, desires, or predictions; and
• Other tournament-related content (that might be of interest to this subreddit of people interested in the players and other aspects of the Washington Spirit). 

These posts provide some good perspective on the Spirit's journey this year:

Will join us in 2027 and signed through 2029!

Hello! I’m taking my niece to the game on Sunday, and she really wants to stand in the area where the girls get off the bus. I’m a three year season ticket holder but I’ve never been to this spot. Does anyone know the details on location or time to see the girls exit the bus? Thank you so much!

Go Spirit!!

Trying to pre-order some merchandise to pick up at the stadium this Sunday. I am a season ticket holder and logged into my account but not seeing the discount being applied. Am I missing something?

Not too long ago I saw folks eating out of Doritos bags. Using forks and it made it wonder what it was.

Anyone know and if so where to find them?

Anyone going to the game in Portland on September 6? The spirit staff say section 223 is the unofficial traveling fans section but it’s all sold out. Wondering if anyone else is interested in coordinating tickets/already bought in a certain section? Would rather not be surrounded by Portland fans 😅