The expansion team’s first season isn’t straightforward, but by most measures things weren’t looking good for Bay FC by mid-May. They were second-to-last in the NWSL after nine games and boasted the worst defensive record in the league after conceding 20 goals. They lost seven of their first nine games, including a miserable five-game losing streak.
But how much of a difference can come in just a few months?
Heading into Saturday’s final game of the regular season at the Houston Dash, Bay FC remains in control of its own destiny with two playoff spots secured. A win would set an NWSL record for wins by an expansion team at 11, but that’s not all. A win or tie would ensure they become only the second expansion team to reach the postseason since the 2022 San Diego Wave. .
“(If) you had told me after the first two months of the season that I had the opportunity to do something like that, I would have said, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s so much to do. But every player, staff, organization, fan, and Bay FC coach Albertin Montoya will be honored by CBS.” “They accepted it and now we’re on our way,” he told Sports. “We still have a long way to go, but like I said, we are all moving in the same direction now and we really believe in each other.”
growing pains
Expansion teams have had a difficult history in the NWSL, but Bay FC seemed intent on carving their own path in the evolving league. Unlike expansion teams of the past, Bay FC entered the NWSL amid a period of rapid growth spurred by a new ownership group that wasn’t afraid to stand out. This includes Bay FC’s majority shareholder and private equity firm Sixth Street Partners, who reportedly paid a league-record expansion fee of $53 million and splashed an equivalent amount on the playing squad.
They broke the world women’s football record when they signed Rachael Kundanji from Madrid CFF for a reported transfer fee of over $800,000, and added Asisat Oshoala and Deyna Castellanos to their roster after outstanding performances in Europe. It was a star-studded team hoping to score style points. Through nine games, Bay FC are in the top four in the league for touches and possession. They have also scored 13 goals in that period, good for 6th in the league, and have an expected goals ratio of 12.05, which ranks 8th. There was just one problem. As Montoya explained, they have been “bleeding goals,” giving up 20 goals in their opening nine games.
A sluggish start to the season has provided plenty of tactical food for thought, especially as powerful offenses have been undone by defensive errors. But there was a bigger problem. The team hasn’t clicked yet.
“It takes time to talk about time and maximize your potential every day, but you’re still trying to build those fundamental human relationships in the beginning, so it takes time,” said Matt Potter, technical director at Bay FC. “When you get 20-plus staff and 20-plus players together and put them in a room and say, ‘Let’s do it,’ the first thing you have to do is: Build simple human relationships, and get to know each other as people before you see their true talent. Learn how to deal with it.”
While Montoya was drawing on his experience building FC Gold Pride during its expansion period at the now-defunct WPS in 2009, there were some clear differences between Bay FC and the region’s last professional women’s soccer team.
“I joke with Pride, I think our entire staff was five years old, including the equipment managers, the medics, everything,” he said. “It was the same with the entire coaching staff. I mean, I was doing laundry with the equipment manager. It was strange, but with a team that had Marta, (Kristin) Sinclair and Shannon Boggs…. In this case, we now have 24 people on our staff who are doing their own laundry. “We’re all so talented and intelligent at what we do, and we have so many different opinions that it takes a little while to get on the same page.”
In his first professional coaching gig since leaving the Gold Pride in 2010, Montoya, who takes over as interim head coach of the Washington Spirit in 2022, had to make sure his players understood the unconventional approach he described.
He said, “I also focused more on offense in the beginning.” “No matter where I go in the country, almost every coach focuses on the defensive side of things. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, that’s the way they do it and I understand why, but I’ve always thought scoring goals is the hardest thing in football. I think it’s easier to give them a framework for how we’re going to attack, but let them be creative, build relationships on the field so they can be successful and then defend.”
That’s not the only difference Montoya sees in his coaching style.
“There’s a lot of emphasis on this structure and method. have What is playing and what all the players are. estimated “You can help them think and solve problems, and give them the tools to solve problems within the game,” he said of the general approach. … However, within all of these scenarios, no two scenarios are exactly the same. I always talk, take what they give me, and then figure out a solution as the game progresses. Because solutions can come in different forms.
“We are there to provide those answers, but can we conduct training sessions and provide tools? them You can identify the problem. I think that was difficult at first too. Because I thought, ‘I need to tell you exactly what to do,’ and I was just going to go. I thought, ‘Well, it’s soccer.’ It shouldn’t always be that way.”
Reset Daylight Savings Time
Bay’s 2-1 win over the Wave on May 18 snapped a five-game losing streak and they were ranked eighth when the regular season was suspended for the NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup in July. But consistency has remained elusive for the expansion side, with four wins and three losses in their last seven games, as has connectivity across the club.
“I admit that in the first four or five months, I didn’t communicate as well as I would have liked with our players and the team, and that was just for personal reasons,” Montoya admitted. “There’s no excuse, but it took me more time to do that and that’s made a big difference now. … Now I’m having individual meetings with a lot of players seven days a week and there’s a lot of things I didn’t get to do. At the beginning of the season, it’s definitely a priority. “We have to decide on the rankings.”
But the Summer Cup provided a reset button for Montoya in more ways than one.
“We didn’t feel pressured to win or lose and had more freedom to implement certain things we really wanted to do,” he said. “They just agreed and it’s starting to feel like it is now,” he said of Bay’s 2-1 win over Mexico on Aug. 2. The Club America match was their only win in the group stage. .
Bay suffered a setback in a 2–1 defeat at the Utah Royals on 23 August, but regained his confidence in a friendly against Barcelona four days later and scored in a 3–1 win at the Portland Thorns on 30 August. Turning point.
“We played with freedom.” He spoke about the Barcelona game in which Barcelona led 2-1 at halftime but lost 5-2. “I said, ‘Hey, we’re not going to be afraid of anyone. This is what we’re going to do. You just have to accept it,’ and they did, and you should have seen the buzz after the game.” Because the second half was a little different, but in the first half they felt it and we took it to Portland and again played away in Portland, one of the best franchises in the NWSL. Portland was a very difficult place. They were imbued with confidence and energy. “We made a game plan, got results, and since then, we’ve seen everyone put that game plan into practice and buy into it.”
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tactical change
Bay remained in 8th place after the friendly against Barcelona, losing only 3 times in 8 games. They have only lost to top four teams in the NWSL. They have separated themselves from the rest of the team this year, giving up nine goals in eight games, most of them in a 5-1 loss at NJ/NY. Gotham FC on October 5th. Other than that, they have not given up more than one goal per game during that period, and are tied for sixth in scoring (13 points) since August 30th.
Montoya was able to deliver on his promise from the start of the season to help solve their defensive woes, but Bay Area native and Women’s World Cup winner Abby Dahlkemper slotted right in at center back.
“(Barcelona friendly) was my first match against Abby Dahlkemper and she brought calmness and experience,” Montoya said. “It helped that I coached her. My wife and I coached her since she was 11, so we had a rapport and we started playing well as a team and we bought into (the plan) and brought in a player with her experience. “I think the first half against Barcelona was really great.”
Bay also adjusted his approach to possessions as the regular season continued. A team that was once ranked in the top four in the NWSL for touches and possessions is now in the bottom four in both statistics, a result that has come after the switch. The only thing that is not heavily favored is scoring goals, which confirms Montoya’s belief that it is the most difficult task. They ranked sixth in the league in expected goals with 13.14, but underperformed on that total with just eight goals in eight games, but their varied defensive approach allowed them to survive that problem.
“Against (North) Carolina (Courage), we wanted to limit their runs through the middle, so we packed the middle and made it difficult for them to be successful at what they do well,” Monotia said. “Against Kansas City (now), they are denying the service to (Temwa) Chawinga. I think we held her to one of the lowest xGs (0.12) all season. … You play that defensively. But still, the hardest thing is now that we’re making and we’re finishing the next piece that’s expected to come out in the playoffs or next season, so we’re spending time on relationships and thinking about how to make a move. What space is created is about recognizing space, occupying space, and exposing the team’s weaknesses with what they offer.”
Montoya’s Bay team did it faster than the Gold Pride did at WPS more than a decade ago, and he admits it took until the second season for things to finally head in the right direction. Porter said the club had embraced an approach of “taking some of the hurt that was obviously inflicted by early decisions”, which would allow the group to bounce back from a poor start and potentially compete in the post-season.
“Albertin talks a lot about controlling the space and dictating what happens. So if you look at the evolution of the group, I think we can see if we think about the three brackets: mentality, value on the ball, spatial control and direction . Our ability to do all three has increased and what has this enabled us to do,” said the technical director. “We’ve grown to be able to compete in every environment we’re in. We’ve grown to be able to contribute to every game and result we’ve been in. You know we’re on the right side or the wrong side in close games, but that’s what it is. That’s the beauty of this league.”
