ASN: Christen Press on Rio:

The 2015 World Cup was purported to be Christen Press’ popping out social gathering—however it did not play out that manner. Will the Chicago Crimson Stars striker develop into a family title in Rio? Do not wager in opposition to it.

BY

John D. Halloran

Posted
Could 18, 2016
1:00 PM

SHARE THIS STORY

WATCHING CHRISTEN PRESS play the primary few weeks of the 2016 NWSL season, it could be almost unimaginable to inform that she is coming off probably the most tough chapters of her profession. In spite of everything, solely 5 video games into the marketing campaign, Press is tied for the league lead in targets, has already gained the Aim of the Week award twice, and has taken on a brand new position this yr as captain of the Chicago Crimson Stars.

One yr in the past, Press regarded destined for worldwide greatness on the World Cup. She had develop into a near-automatic starter for america ladies’s nationwide crew—beginning 19 of the crew’s 24 video games main as much as the event—and often displayed a formidable array of technical abilities on a crew oft-criticized for an overreliance on pure athleticism.

Nevertheless, issues didn’t go as deliberate for Press in Canada. Within the spring the targets had largely dried up for her and the U.S. offense. Coping with a stagnating assault, head coach Jill Ellis struggled to seek out the proper mixture of gamers and infrequently compelled Press into a large midfield position. Carli Lloyd could not discover the aim. Alex Morgan, following a sequence of accidents, couldn’t discover her type. Abby Wambach, now 35 years outdated, didn’t look the identical.

On the World Cup, Press began the U.S.’ first two video games, however then missed out on the ultimate group stage match in opposition to Nigeria fully. She got here off the bench within the Spherical of 16 and the quarterfinals, then didn’t see the sphere in any respect within the semifinal in opposition to Germany, or because the crew gained the championship in opposition to Japan a number of days later. In a event that regarded primed for Press to develop into a global sensation, she completed with solely two begins in seven video games and scored just one aim.

Chatting with American Soccer Now, Press characterised that interval as “one of the most difficult experiences of my life.” And whereas she is happy with how she dealt with the scenario and helped her teammates push on to win the event, she confessed, “it was a surprise to see how much things changed during the course of the seven games.”

“A lot of players’ roles changed—mine probably the most drastically. In the end, you have to stand by your coach and your teammates and the changes that Jill made ended up with victory. It was very challenging, personally, to accept that and to not be defensive and not recoil, but to embrace whatever role I had and keep pushing myself and my teammates in training and be as supportive as I could.”

Regardless of the setback, Press—ever the optimist—has since used these occasions to vary her outlook on the sport.

“The [World Cup] experience has changed my role on the national team since then significantly, and I don’t think it’s a bad thing,” she admitted. “The expertise taught me that it doesn’t matter what occurs, how a lot I play, the place I play, I must convey my finest attributes to the sphere for no matter minutes I’ve. Main as much as the World Cup, I used to be making an attempt to be a participant I wasn’t and I used to be making an attempt to suit a task I didn’t really feel snug in after which it ended up being a little bit little bit of a fail.

“Now, whenever I’m playing, however many minutes, I have to be me, and being me is my best self and [knowing] it is good enough. If that means I’m not going to go to the Olympics as a starter, or if I am, it really doesn’t matter. My focus is about bringing that passion and fire that you have when you lose the expectation [of starting].”

Since Canada, it could powerful to argue along with her mentality. Press scored eight targets in six appearances in the course of the nationwide crew’s Victory Tour and already has 4 tallies for the Individuals in 2016. Of these 12 targets, many have been merely jaw-dropping, together with her strikes in opposition to Trinidad and Tobago, China, Costa Rica, and Colombia.

Returning to Chicago this spring for the NWSL season, Press’ outstanding type has continued, and he or she’s taken on some new roles as nicely.

In the course of the preseason, Crimson Stars’ head coach Rory Dames instructed Press she’d be captaining the aspect in 2016. Up to now this season, Press had stepped up in her new management position, accounting for 75% of the crew’s offense and serving to lead the crew to a 3-1-1 begin—ok for second place within the league standings.

Press has embraced her new place on the crew and feels she has one thing distinctive to supply her teammates.

“Even before the season, even before I knew I might have that responsibility, I definitely saw an opportunity here in Chicago to take on a bigger role than I have on the national team and have had on past club teams,” stated the California native.

“Our team is really young which makes me one of the oldest players—which is definitely different. Just having a little bit of international experience and a few years with the Red Stars, it gives me a great opportunity to lead this group and help some of the newer girls get acclimated to this environment—show [them] why I love the game, what it means to be a professional, and that fight and drive [needed] to chase after a championship.” 

Nevertheless, Press additionally defined that taking up as crew captain this yr has offered some new challenges.

“Playing center forward my whole life, it’s an isolated position where I intentionally stay away from the emotional ups and downs of the game the rest of the team might be feeling because my job is to have quality and efficiency regardless of whether the team is playing well, or we’re winning or losing. My whole career I’ve sort of removed myself from the group in order to produce my top quality and now, stepping into a leadership role, you have to be in touch with the pulse of the team,” the Stanford alumna noticed. “It’s my responsibility now to get the group on the same page.”

“I’ve spent my whole professional career trying to stay calm and not let my emotions get the best of me,” she later added. “There have been times this season, now that I have allowed myself to be more invested in the group and in the quality of the team and in the quality of the performance, that I’ve been over-the-top angry on the field. I don’t think that’s good for anyone. Right now, my biggest challenge is to remember to keep encouraging the group, to stay connected to the group, and not to let frustration have a negative impact on me as a leader and as a teammate.”

Press took over the Crimson Stars’ captain position from former membership and worldwide teammate, Lori Chalupny, who retired following the 2015 marketing campaign. And whereas Press absolutely conceded that her type of play, character, and management method are totally different from her former captain’s, she stated there may be one vital lesson she has taken from Chalupny.

“When our team was playing poorly, or things were getting chaotic—she wouldn’t need to say a word. She would always make a big play in that moment—she would take people on, she would tackle—and she could switch the vibe of the game with her play by intentionally stepping up in those moments.”

In 2016, that is one thing Press has finished repeatedly for Chicago, scoring two game-winning targets to date—each stunners.

One other new position that Dames has requested Press to tackle is a positional swap. Whereas Press is a pure ahead, she has spent a lot of 2016 taking part in as an attacking midfielder with the Crimson Stars, occupying the house beneath forwards Sofia Huerta and Jen Hoy.

It’s a change Press has welcomed, regardless of her inexperience as a midfielder, and one she thinks might help the Crimson Stars be more practical.

“I think it is a really good spot for me in this league and I’m just picking up some new nuances that can really make a big difference in my performance from the No. 10,” Press stated. “[Rory] wants me in the midfield to get more touches on the ball to make sure I’m more involved because in our preseason games when I was playing in the No. 9 role, I was a little bit out of the game.”

With the nationwide crew, Press has additionally usually performed within the midfield, however out extensive. Many followers have criticized Ellis for the transfer, however Press stated her positioning on the nationwide crew is normally finished out of circumstance and that when she is on the sphere, she’s not taking part in the position of a standard extensive midfielder.

“[Ellis] is trying to get certain people on the field. In order to do that, some people have to play out of position. Last year, playing as a wide mid on the national team was very different. Now when I play in a wide space on the national team, or in the No. 10 space with Chicago, the roles allow me to do what I’m best at—instead of trying to put a square into a circle. Maybe that’s just me getting comfortable with them, but I actually really enjoy both roles now,” stated Press.

“It’s an adjustment that if I’m the player on the field in the wide space, [the national team coaches] want me to get behind the line, they want me to make diagonal runs to get central in front of the goal because that’s where I play best,” she later added. “The role has been slightly adjusted for me so that I could have more success than last year.”

For the subsequent few months, Press will keep targeted on her work in Chicago. After qualifying for the playoffs for the primary time in crew historical past final season, the crew is seeking to take the subsequent step ahead. Then, if all goes to plan, Press will head off to Rio with the U.S. in August for the chance to characterize her nation—one thing she is trying ahead to after serving as an alternate in the course of the 2012 Olympic Video games.

“It could be an enormous honor,” Press said. “I at all times take into consideration what it’ll imply to my family and friends, who will both be there or be watching the Olympics. I discovered a lot in 2012. I feel my expertise as an alternate actually altered my profession path to the nationwide crew and to having success with the nationwide crew. 

“It offers me an enormous benefit seeing it [before] to have understood the way it works and now to have an opportunity to get on the sphere, and play, and be a part of such an incredible world occasion.

“I’m so excited and so motivated.”