After the Chicago Red Stars’ 1-0 loss against Angel City FC, Head Coach Chris Petrucelli met with members of the media.
On similarities between the July 30 San Diego match and the loss against Angel City (from Claire Watkins)
Chris Petrucelli: I thought in our first half, they gave us some problems on the flank a little bit, and once we adjusted to that I thought we were okay. I thought after they scored from the rest of the game there, we played pretty well. Too many, you know, a lot of passes that were missed and unforced errors and also, we got a ball into dangerous spaces, a little wide of the box but deep, and they could not connect playing into the box or even as we dribbled into the box and tried to play the next pass, we just couldn’t connect and so it led to a situation where we really didn’t have really many great chances.
On injured players and the impact on the team (from Claire Watkins)
Petrucelli: Yeah, I think that it’s all part of the game, I think we all understand that no one’s ever going to have their first 11 available, that’s just very rare when you go through a whole season and you don’t have players that are out. And obviously they’re different than Mal but we put eleven good players out on the field today, and the expectations are the same for them. You’re wearing a Red Stars jersey. It’s hard for sure, but I think it’s really important, as many times as you’ve heard me say it, to worry about the people you have and the people you don’t you can’t really be concerned about.
On improving team strategy going forward (from Claire Watkins)
Petrucelli: It’s just quality, Claire, it’s just we got it there. Bianca, Sarah, Rachel, Yuki, Gilli, we got the ball into the box but wide but we didn’t connect. The quality of the pass wasn’t great. And then when it was, the quality of the first touch just wasn’t great. And then if that worked, then the quality of the shot wasn’t great. It’s just quality. It’s a matter of we’re trying to clean those things up and we have some younger players that need a little more work.
On Mallory Pugh’s injury (from Claire Watkins)
Petrucelli: Yeah, we’re hoping she plays next weekend, she’s got some inflammation that we’re trying to get out. The long flight was a little bit of a factor in what we decided to do with her. And you know when you deal with Mal, US Soccer is involved and our doctors are involved and there’s a lot of things that go on. We’re hoping she’s back next week, she’s doing everything she can to be back next week.