NWSL Challenge Cup 2022: How North Carolina Courage exploited Orlando Pride’s defensive errors to win – tactical analysis

Orlando Pride lost 2-4 when they hosted North Carolina Courage at the Exploria Stadium for the fifth fixture of NWSL Challenge Cup 2022’s Group A. Not only does the result poses a lot of question marks on Orlando Pride’s defensive performance but the fact that they conceded three goals in just eight minutes is worrying. Orlando Pride are actually at the bottom of Group A in terms of standings and they will have to fix a lot of things in their performances in order to be able to compete seriously during the NWSL season.

On the other side, North Carolina Courage seem to be on form from an attacking perspective as they have plenty of weapons to use and can diversify their attacking actions so often to create goalscoring chances and they succeeded in doing so against Orlando Pride. Nevertheless, they will have to work on conceding fewer goals by improving their defensive organisation to avoid being put in delicate situations despite being better from an attacking perspective. What is excellent for North Carolina Courage is that they didn’t lose any game during this NWSL Challenge Cup 2022 so far while they won three times and made two draws. This confirms that North Carolina Courage are in a good shape this season and that they have all that is needed to battle for the title.

In this tactical analysis article, we will focus on Orlando Pride’s recurrent defensive errors while considering what needs to be improved from an attacking perspective. The analysis will also tackle North Carolina Courage’s strengths and possible improvements.

Line-ups

Orlando Pride started the match with a 4-2-3-1 formation using ex-Arsenal and West Ham Anna Moorhouse as a goalkeeper, Celia Jiménez, Megan Oyster, Toni Pressley and Courtney Petersen in defence knowing that former Manchester United and Liverpool Amy Turner started as a sub later in the match, former Atletico Madrid’s Kylie Strom and Meggie Dougherty Howard as central midfielders, Darian Jenkins and Erika Tymrak on the wings while Mikayla Cluff played as an advanced playmaker behind the striker Leah Pruitt.

North Carolina Courage opted for the 4-4-2 formation with Katelyn Rowland as a goalkeeper, Merritt Mathias, Kaleigh Kurtz, Abby Erceg and Carson Pickett in defence, Meredith Speck and Denise OSullivan as central midfielders, Debinha and Kiara Pickett on both wings while both Taylor Smith and Jaelene Hinkle were the team’s two strikers.

Orlando Pride’s defensive issues

Orlando Pride started this match in the worst possible way by conceding three goals in just eight minutes, allowing their opponent to have a large advantage early in the game and be able to control everything without making an extra effort. This scenario affected Orlando Pride on a psychological level and made the mission easier for North Carolina Courage despite Orlando Pride’s attacking attempts and their two scored goals.

In fact, Orlando Pride conceded 19 shots in this match with 8 shots on target. And although they won 52,94% defensive duels and 60% in aerial duels, conceding a lot of space to North Carolina Courage prevented Orlando Pride from being solid at the back on most occasions.

Du