Amy Rodriguez is a member of many teams: the United States Women’s National Team, FC Kansas City of the National Women’s Soccer League, and theoretically, Bill Simmons’ “Reggie Cleveland All-Stars.” Rodriguez is FCKC’s leader in assists, goals and shots. She is the focal point of their offense.
Today, she dominated the first of the two NWSL semifinal matches, scoring two goals in the first 25 minutes, as visiting KC routed Chicago 3-0. The Red Stars surrendered three goals in a 13 minute span that essentially rendered the remaining 65+ minutes irrelevant.
One of Rodriguez’s scoring strikes defined the term “soft goal,” as Red Stars goalkeeper Michele Dalton made an inexplicable mistake. Watch the video here, courtesy of Fox Soccer, this is as bad a decision/play as you’ll see a NWSL goalkeeper make this season.
Erika Tymrak had the other goal as the reigning NWSL champs built an insurmountable lead midway through the first half.
In the second half, Rodriguez just missed a chance at a hat trick. She subbed off in the 88′ as KC advanced to the NWSL final. They await the winner of Seattle vs Washington; which kicks off at 8:30 tonight on Fox Sports 1. Rodriguez and company, seeded third, came to Chicago and dominated the #2 seed Red Stars in front of a very small and late arriving crowd. Official attendance was not announced at all during the game, but it was estimated to be about 400-600 at kickoff.
It didn’t grow to much more than 1,000-1,500 as the day progressed.
An hour after the game concluded, an official attendance figure was still unavailable. The extremely poor attendance is rather unfortunate for the Red Stars. The club averaged 4,210 fans per game during the regular season, and sold out their 4,410 seat home venue in the two games that followed the World Cup.
The Red Stars got a favor from mother nature as the weather was absolutely perfect. However, they also had to compete directly with the Chicago Bears home opener; against the rival Green Bay Packers no less.
“We didn’t get dealt the best hand on that,” NWSL Commissioner Jeff Plush said when responding to a group of reporters at halftime.
Red Stars goalkeeper Michele Dalton had a very bad first half, making a very questionable decision on Rodriguez’s first goal. Dalton gave the ball away to USWNT star Lauren Holiday, and from there it was an easy pass and conversion for Rodriguez.
Amy Rodriguez saw her first significant action for the full National Team in 2008 after playing in youth World Cups in 2004 and 2006. She had a substantial and important role in this past summer’s World Cup, but she wasn’t one of the more promoted players on the USWNT. Look for that to change in the Olympics next summer and the next World Cup in 2019. As one of the fastest players on the national team, the Red Stars tried to game plan against her speed, but it didn’t work out that way.
“We came in focused and with one goal, and I think we put ’em away early and that put ’em on their heels,” said Amy Rodriguez after the game.
2011 was A-Rod’s first Women’s World Cup at the senior level, and she started the first five matches of the tournament. Expect her to continue to grow into a role as one of the faces of the NWSL, and to have an increased presence within the USWNT.
“A-Rod, she’s just a world class player, she knows where the goal is,” said Red Stars and USWNT Defender Julie Johnston after the game.
“She has one of the best turns ever, and when she turns she can get her shot off really really quick.”
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is part of the FOX Sports Engage Network. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. He also appears regularly on numerous talk radio stations all across the country. Catch him Tuesdays on KOZN 1620 the Zone.
Follow him on Twitter and Instagram