Andonovski on What it Takes to Win in the Playoffs
Reign FC head coach Vlatko Andonovski knows what it takes to be successful in the NWSL playoffs. Andonovski’s teams have made the playoffs in five of his seven years in the league, including both years with Reign FC.
Now, as the club gears up for its NWSL semifinal match against the North Carolina Courage on Sunday, October 20, he thinks his squad has proven that it has what it takes to win.
“I’m very excited to go to the playoffs this year,” Andonovski said. “It feels like more than any other year, this feels a little bit different for some reason. It feels like we have accomplished a little bit more. We’ve done things a little bit better. The main reason is that we went through a lot of adversity and challenges. We had to overcome a lot of obstacles. It’s really nice.”
The prospect of win-or-go-home soccer looms. Andonovski says that the increased stakes alter how matches flow when the postseason arrives.
“It forces the teams to be a little more conservative,” Andonovski said. “One mistake can change the season for a club. It becomes a chess match more than anything else. It’s not a really open game, so to say. At the same time, there’s an excitement about trying to predict the next move from your opponent as you try to outsmart them in different areas and in different ways.”
Still, Andonovski’s team is rounding into form at the right time. The club lost just one of its six final matches. Despite injuries to key players and a host of other challenges, the club rallied back to keep itself in the playoff picture.
Andonovski believes he has a special group on his hands.
“It just feels special,” Andonovski said. “Everything that we’ve gone through, everything that made it harder, in the end made it that much more exciting. This group has been amazing. They’ve been tremendous in the way they’ve handled this adversity, handled these challenges. Every time a new challenge came, instead of crying about it or using it as an excuse, it was always looked at as a learning opportunity to try and get better. Looking back, if someone told me before the season about everything that we were going to go through and then tell me that we were going to be in the playoffs, I would probably have thought they were crazy. I’m just glad at how it’s worked out. It’s a wonderful feeling.”
The coach sees similarities between this side and the FC Kansas City squad he won back-to-back NWSL Championships with in 2014 and 2015. Chief among those similarities is the emphasis of the team, rather than the individual.
“One thing that is very similar is that there is an edge,” Andonovski said. “There’s a bite that the team has like that FC Kansas City team had. It wasn’t necessarily the best roster, in terms of individual players, but when you put all those players together, it made it a good team. That’s what Reign FC has now. When you put them together, it’s a good team and an exciting team.”
After a trying season, the chance for playoff glory represents the perfect way to cap off Reign FC’s resilient 2019.
“There is nothing more that I want to see than to win a championship for this team and these players,” Andonovski said. “It would be amazing. Bill and Teresa (Predmore) have dedicated their lives to this organization and this team. The fans have been so supportive in everything that we did, even when things were not going very well for us and we weren’t winning games, they never gave up on us. They were alongside us and helped us get out of tough times.”
Reign FC will face the North Carolina Courage in the NWSL semifinals on Sunday, October 20 at 10:30 a.m. The match will air on ESPN2 and fans over the age of 21 can join Reign FC’s official watch parties at Doyle’s Public House in Tacoma or the Atlantic Crossing in Seattle.