(Photo Credit: Michael Thomas Shroyer-USA TODAY Sports)
There will be a first-time National Women’s Soccer League winner this weekend when OL Reign meet Gotham FC in the Championship. The Reign will be hoping, finally, to win the championship game, after three Shield victories without further success. Gotham, on the other hand, is aiming to go from ‘worst to first’, a turnaround the Kansas City Current came so close to achieving last year.
Here, we will dig into the decisive tactical moves from the two teams’ regular-season meetings, and offer ideas as to what the Championship game could look like.
Reign build-up befuddles Gotham in Game 1
The first match-up took place on April 1 at Red Bull Arena, with the Reign winning 2-0. During this game, we saw a recurrence of a theme that began in 2022, as Laura Harvey’s side built possession from a three-back.
Left fullback Lauren Barnes tucked in alongside Sam Hiatt and Alana Cook. One of the two holding midfielders, Olivia van der Jagt, regularly drifted out to the left…
