After kicking off the 2019 USL Championship season in winning fashion in Alabama, Steel FC begin their home campaign in Chester Saturday as North Carolina FC come to town.
Normally the head coach of a team who earned a hard fought
three points away from home to begin the year would seem full of confidence.
However, Steel FC Head Coach Brendan Burke understands the unique challenges
his team faces each week with an ever-changing roster and dynamic USL Championship
opponents.
“It’s kind of back to the drawing board,” said Burke
Thursday. “You get to enjoy it for a day or so and then back to the drawing
board. Then try to prepare for a North Carolina team that showed great
commitment on the defensive side of the ball last week and a real cutting edge
when they got out in transition.”
North Carolina FC will roll into town riding a high wave of
momentum after they defeated the defending champions Louisville City FC 4-1 last
weekend. In fact, North Carolina should’ve escaped with a clean sheet but a
stoppage time goal in the 90+ minute sabotaged a stellar defensive effort. For
North Carolina, that defensive energy and cohesion created effective offense. Their
tactical plan is precise and their players remain committed on both sides of
the ball.
Much of that cohesion is due to the emergence of Head Coach Dave
Sarachan as the new skipper for North Carolina. Sarachan, of course, formally
coached the US Men’s National Team most recently before accepting the USL Championship
coaching job.
“You can see the energy level in the group and how committed
they are defending. I’d say that’s number one,” said Burke when asked of Sarachan’s
early impacts on North Carolina FC. “There’s a good tempo on the ball. I think
he’s just added a real element of excitement to that club. He’s one of the best
coaches in the country, no one would question that.”
North Carolina netted four goals with four different goal
scorers, which highlights the dynamic attacking options they possess. Perhaps
more surprisingly though, was their defense – almost blanking Lousiville. Yet,
Steel FC players have been instructed to remain compact and to rely on
communication between teammates to take control of the match Saturday.
“We jus have to keep firing, keep going,” said young Steel
FC defender Ben Ofeumu. “We just have to keep pushing, get one and stay
tight in the back and hopefully not let up one again.”
Two early second half goals propelled Steel FC to victory
over Birmingham last weekend. Goals from Union reserve forward Kacper Przybylko
and rookie Zach Zandi just 15 minutes apart sealed the road victory. The
offensive chances will need to be there Saturday in order to gain an upper hand
on a dangerous North Carolina team.
However, Burke and his club will focus mainly on their
defensive tactics ahead of their home opener.
“What North Carolina did so well against Louisville was stay
compact and get all their bodies behind the ball. One, we have to make them run
effectively and not be back to front so quickly,” said Burke. “When we are back
to front, we need to commit numbers to the areas where we anticipate playing in
to when we’re a little more direct and really making sure we win those little
individual battles or numbers-battles from a positional standpoint.”
Union Academy graduate and creative midfielder Issa Rayyan
shared similar thoughts.
“We’re going to find out what their strongest attack is,
stay compact and communicate,” when asked how he and his teammates will prep
for North Carolina. “We’re just going to do everything we can to know a lot
about North Carolina. Just go in there, get a game plan and do everything we
can to stick to the plan and hopefully we get the result.”
https://twitter.com/BSteelFC/status/1105530732968067072
One thing is for certain, Steel FC players seem to all be on
the same page when it comes to playing successful soccer. They all seem to
understand the extreme importance of communication while relying on teammates
to remain compact positionally. There will be no room for mistakes Saturday as
they try to impress their home fans in a brand new home venue, Talen Energy
Stadium.
“With our new system we have lots of speed up top, just putting it to the flanks and our midfielders come to support them,” said Rayyan. “We’re going to try to utilize that and our speed up top and hopefully we get some goals.”
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