Pre-Match Press Conference (at ACFC) • Saturday, August 26, 2023
OL Reign Pre-Match Press Conference • Saturday, August 26, 2023
Head Coach Laura Harvey and Defender Alana Cook
Head Coach Laura Harvey
On the player availability:
“Everybody is available. It is the first time this season that I can say we have everybody fit and available.”
On if she has seen anything different from Angel City FC interim head coach Becki Tweed:
“I think they’ve got a little bit more bite about them. I think they are solid. I don’t know if it’s a massive difference from before, but yeah, I think they’re obviously on a good run as well, which can give everybody confidence. So, we know it’s going to be a difficult game.”
On how the team will stay in a good position for the playoffs:
“Well, the harsh reality is in the league – we’re not in a great momentum shift. Our results as of late in the league haven’t been great so we’ve got to turn that tide quickly to keep the position we’re in and try and make it better. Now that we’ve got everybody back together, I think we have to try and find out who we truly are. I think we’ve done a lot of mixing and matching throughout the year in different positions and it’s now trying to get as close as we can to putting out what we feel is our strongest team to start and end games while still keeping everybody in it. It’s going to be a challenge because I think that the league’s tough, six games to go. I think every game is going to be really important. So, no bigger game than tomorrow.”
On how the vibes have been for the team this past week after the loss to the Kansas City Current:
“We talk a lot about tactical strategy and game-planning and being prepared and we did a lot of the things really well in that game that we wanted to do, but we conceded off something that we pride ourself on, which is defending throw-ins and I think it’s the little bits of detail that are going to be the difference, probably, between now and the end of the season, when it really matters. So, whether it be getting points, whether it be, hopefully down the road, a playoff game – whatever it might look like – you’ve got to do the details right and I think the girls worked really hard last week to try and get that result and to come away with no points off the goal that we conceded was disappointing. So, I think that’s sort of been the tone of what we’ve spoken about. Obviously, trying to embrace everybody coming back from the World Cup as well. So yeah, I think it’s about now just going out there and putting a performance together tomorrow that can be good enough to win a game because that’s what is most important now is getting points.”
On her approach to the eight World Cup players as they return to the team:
“I think it’s a fine balance. I think for (midfielder Angelina) Ang and the Canadians [forward Jordyn Huitema and midfielder Quinn], the way that the timing worked for them, it actually meant that we had a little bit of time off too, so when they came back, I think they had enough time to sort of debrief it themselves. I think with the U.S. players [defender Alana Cook, defender Sofia Huerta, midfielder Rose Lavelle, forward Megan Rapinoe and defender Emily Sonnett], we actually had a couple of training sessions when the main group was still recovering from the Kansas game. On the travel day and stuff like that, we actually did a [training] session with the five U.S. players. So, it gave them a chance to sort of get that out of their system before we were all back together again at the start of last week, in preparation for this game. So, I think for all of them, it’s all different individually on where they’re at, but I think the shift in mentality sort of started probably once we got the balls rolling at the beginning of training this week – putting that sort of behind them for now and refocusing on what’s important in this moment, which is trying to put a performance together for them individually and as a collective team in preparation for tomorrow’s game.”
On what the team is focused on and how they’ll create opportunities to score:
“I think just remembering what our identity is on how we could create opportunities and getting the right people in the right places to be able to do that. I think that’s going to be vital for us. I think what we believe with our roster is that we have a ton of depth. So, who can do it at certain moments at certain times against certain opponents and the fact that we have everybody to pick from now just means that we have some tough decisions to make on who’s the right choice at that right time in the right moment. I think that trying to work on those finer details has been a big part of what we’ve been preparing for this week.”
Defender Alana Cook
On how she’s doing and how her experience was during the World Cup:
“Just excited to get back into it with the team. Obviously, we were watching from afar and it’s hard to watch your team play and not feel really a part of it, so I think all of us are just really excited to be back in the environment, back with our teammates. I think from the World Cup, it obviously wasn’t the result any of us wanted, but I think with that, there’s so much to learn from. The goal was never just to be at the World Cup, it was obviously to win it all and we didn’t get there, but I think it just lays the groundwork for a lot of hard work, a lot of learning, a lot of growth for all of us moving forward.”
On how she felt about her playing time during the World Cup:
“I think making a roster, playing time, anything like that, it’s always out of our hands. I think going into the tournament, once you make the roster, the focus goes to the team. So, I think from that standpoint, my focus was always going to be, do whatever role I was given and do it to the best of my abilities and do that in hopes of pushing the team to be as good as it can be and to push myself and everyone else to be as good as they could be. So, from that standpoint, would everyone love to be the starter or play a lot of minutes? Of course. It’s not going to work out that way for everyone. So, for me, it was maybe a different role than I’m used to, but I think there was so much growth and so much learning to do from that and like I said, every day was about doing that role to best that I could. That was the conversation I had with the coaches was, here’s your role and my questions were, great, how do I do it to make the team better? So, that’s kind of how that went.”
On if there is anything that feels different since returning to the team:
“I think it was kind of similar to last year when we were coming back in from the Concacaf qualifying. This team’s awesome. I think everyone did as much as they could to make sure that we were welcomed back in with open arms and integrated back in really quickly. Anything that they had worked on when were away, they made sure to get us on the same page and get us on board with. So, definitely no struggle coming back into the environment. I think, like I said, we’re all just really excited to be back here and kind of be back with our home base, be back with our home group.”
On what makes Angel City FC a challenging opponent:
“I think it’s always a battle whenever we play them, so I don’t expect tomorrow to be any different. Obviously, they’ve had some shake ups in terms of coaching change. I think sometimes that kind of reorganizes a team, it can bring a team together. So, they just look like they’re playing really good soccer right now. They have figured some things out, maybe restructured a little bit in terms of their tactics and their formation. So, I think tomorrow is going to be an exciting game, no different than the past ones.”
On if the players look forward to playing the same opponent multiple times:
“I wouldn’t say we look forward to playing teams over and over and over and over again. I think it just is the structure of the Challenge Cup and the league and kind of the regional brackets. I think we went through a stretch early in the season where it felt like we were playing Angel City every other week and that got a little bit old, but I think it’s been nice to have a little bit of time between games and matchups against them. So yeah, I think we’re just excited to play them again and kind of put a new stamp on the West Coast rivalry we have.”
Download here: Pre-Match Press Conference (at ACFC) • Saturday, August 26, 2023