The role that Christen Press plays with her team is quite similar to that of another captain (now capt. emeritus) of another Chicago sports team- Paul Konerko. When you’re both the skipper and the proverbial face of the franchise, it’s on you to always be conveying leadership.
You must assume the alpha role both on the field and during the press availabilities.
Konerko perfectly exemplified that during his days with the White Sox and Press is following suit with the Red Stars. Press has led the Red Stars to the top of the NWSL table, by both scoring goals and saying all the right things.
Like Konerko, you could say that she’s the “best” player on the team, depending on how you define “best” is. Both Press and Konerko did/do certain things that no one else on the team could/can do, while you still had a couple teammates who were/are probably better at what they do/did specifically.
Nevertheless, both excel/excelled in the team spokesperson and fan favorite roles, which might be the toughest assignments that any one individual can take on.
The Red Stars remain unbeaten since the NWSL season opener, and they are yet to lose at home this season. After a 1-1 draw with the Portland Thorns on Sunday, they now have 15 points, tied with the Western New York Flash for first place in the National Women’s Soccer League.
Portland is one point behind them at 14, while the Washington Spirit have a game in hand on all three clubs and could leapfrog the triad into the the table’s top slot with a win.
The Red Stars played quite possibly their worst half of soccer all season in the first 45+ minutes versus the Thorns, but were only down 1-0 at break.
They got it together after halftime, and found a way to acquire a goal and a result. Christen Press scored their only goal and a thing of beauty it was not. Her 61′ brace was just one of those opportunities were she made something of nothing. You could call the goal ugly, but the best way to describe it is kind of like when a basketball player banks in a three pointer off glass.
Who cares what it looks like, you’ll take it. “A half chance that Christen made a chance,” is how Red Stars Coach Rory Dames described the goal.
That’s the mark of a good forward, a great scorer, to create and convert scoring chances when they’re just not there.
“At the end of the day my job is to create goal scoring opportunities out of nothing,” said Press.
“If that’s playing combinations or setting people up, or that’s taking half chances, one way or another I’ve got to put the ball in the back of the net. I don’t feel like the ball bounces my way too many times, so when it bounces off the post and goes in, you take that with a big smile.”
Press scored her first United States Women’s National Team goal in her first international start at the 2015 World Cup versus Australia.
Press saw more playing time early in the tournament, during the period in which Alex Morgan was not quite healthy yet.
Head Coach Jill Ellis kind of misused Press during the tournament and her production thus declined.
Ellis should have played Press more as a forward last summer, but that should change at the Rio Olympics this summer. With Abby Wambach retired and Megan Rapinoe hurt, the USWNT are going to need new scoring options if they are to become the first team in history ever to win a women’s World Cup and an Olympics in back-to-back years.
For both club and country, Christen Press also excels in tackling the tough issues off the pitch. The USWNT’s equal pay lawsuit a against the USSF was dominating headlines during the NWSL preseason and early season, and really should read what she had to say about that case at Red Stars Media Day.
Leadership is something that’s extremely important in sports, but sometimes it’s a quality that goes overlooked because it can’t be quantified and objectively measured. It’s anything but a Boolean Value.
After a gritty game, but a decent salvage job in front of 3,131 fans this past weekend, Christen Press articulated the team’s moxie and resolve post game.
“Something that I’ve felt, for my whole tenure as a Red Star, it’s sort of when we chase after games when we’re down, we chase after points when we’re tied we got for the win,” she said.
“I think that’s kind of the heart of this team, we stole the momentum from the top team in the league and at the end of the day if someone was going to score in the last ten minutes it was going to be us and I just knew that so clearly.”
Chicago looks to make it eight unbeaten and remain first place with a win over visiting Boston Breakers on Saturday, June 18.
NWSL opponents will be focused on trying to “stop the Press” (excuse me for the ridiculously cheesy, and low-hanging-fruit pun) as she’s scored four goals this season, tops in the NWSL. What a campaign that would be, the Red Stars winning the regular season title, and Christen Press winning the scoring title.
Although the odds of accomplishing that will be quite long given her upcoming absence during the Olympic break.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication.
He also consistently appears on numerous talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram