After days of evaluation, the Washington Freedom announced Tuesday through a statement by President and General Manager Mark Washo that head coach Jim Gabarra will stay on for the remainder of the season.
Gabarra, in Somerset, New Jersey for tomorrow night's game against Sky Blue FC, took some time to talk about the recent developments and how he plans to approach the rest of the regular season as the Freedom eye the playoffs.
How long have you known about the decision to retain you as head coach?
"I think the final decision was made last night. Obviously it's been something that's ongoing for about a week now, but I had the final answer from Mark last night."
Steve Goff of the Washington Post reported that you had a presentation to the executives Monday. How was it?
"Well, part of the process was Mark wanted me to present to him a plan, moving forward, that would give us the best chance to win. That plan was worked on and I presented that to him yesterday afternoon and basically spent the better part of the week on it.
It was basically to assure him that I have the right ideas and I have the ability to guide the team to the rest of the season, and to where we need to be to get us into the playoffs."
What's your plan for the rest of the season?
"Just some adjustments in some of the things I do. And I wanted to bring in kind of a consultant, a different voice and perspective to both evaluate and offer a different sounding board for both players and for myself.
Emma Hayes was coming in on a trial basis irregardless of what happened with other situations, and that was something that was part of my plan. And as you go through these situations there has to be some changes, and I thought that would be a good change.
We made the moves to add another player in Anita Asante and I think that also helps anytime a new player, a new personality, comes into the team. It changes things up a bit to have another experienced person both for players to talk to but also to kind of help me out. It was something that was part of that plan."
I noticed in the game against Philadelphia Independence last week that you put some players back in their original positions. Was that part of your plan?
"Yeah, I mean, the best way to get out of the situation we were in was to win. And that was to put our best players out there. We looked back at the season and the times we were playing well and getting results. That coincided with that group of players and the system that we played when we were doing well. I think it was the best thing to do and will give us the best chance to get a win, which was really what we needed.
We needed to get a win, we needed to get some bounces, and we needed the team to provide the energy level and the intensity level that they showed against Philadelphia at home. It worked out and that's exactly what we needed.
But it's just a starting point, it's one game, and we've got to continue to find ways to play that way and I'm confident we can."
Having Emma Hayes in as a consultant to give an outside voice…
"Well initially it's just her overall evaluation of our players individually, and small groups, and collectively as a team. And, you know, even players and coaches, we get so caught up and micro-focused that it's hard to have a real fresh look at it.
She provides that fresh look and she and I will basically, over the next three days, just kind of consult and chat and talk about a number of things. You know, what makes us successful, how are we hard to beat, how are we easy to beat, if there are any subtle adjustments that can be made, and we'll talk that over.
Personnel-wise, since it is the last week of any possible trades, we'll discuss that over the next few days. This trip from [New Jersey] to California has always been me and (goalkeeper coach) Nicci Wright, for budget reasons. Emma won't travel with us there and Clyde [Watson] wasn't gonna travel with us either. She's got a couple of days just to check out some training sessions and watch a game and then we'll be in close contact and evaluate everything as we go forward.
And if it's a fit for her to stay on as a consultant, starting when we return home, then we'll move in that direction. Integrate her. Even though it's a tight timeline and a short time to move forward, we'll do what's best for the team."
Was the Chicago Red Stars' defensive record during her time as head coach part of the reason why you got her on board?
"I think it was an overall analysis and evaluation. I think, certainly, you look at our defending and it needs some work. And we have worked on it for the last couple of weeks, and we have made strides. It just seems like, in that five-game losing streak, it's just something different every game.
In Atlanta we gave up three breakaways or open chances and left our young goalkeeper to dry. We addressed the backline and I thought they did a much better job against Boston. They didn't get in behind us but we let ourselves down on set plays. We were really attacking the ball and didn't have the energy and intensity that was required, and that cost us that match.
This past game, we still made some mistakes. But, again, we got the bounces and Philly didn't punish us for the mistakes that we made or the couple of chances that they've created. We capitalized on our opportunities and we had the intensity level and the energy that really made the difference."
How confident are you that you will retain that level coming into tomorrow night's game?
"I think the team's in a very good place right now. We've come through a very difficult time individually and as a club. And what I saw today from the team there, it's, 'What do we have to do?'
And then my message to them is, 'What do we have to do moving forward, irregardless of what's happened in the past?' Win games. Get to where we all want to be which is winning games and getting in the playoffs and winning the championship.
I thought they had very good spirits today and I think this is certainly something very important to build on. I think they realize how good and how hard and intense the energy level that they can bring to a game.
We did have a rough schedule both being in a lot of road games and a lot of games in a row, but every team goes through that. We had three or four games there where if the results were different we'd be in a completely different place.
But, again, we can't look back. We just have to look at what we can do and we still have control over things here. We gotta take one game at a time and this is a big game with huge playoff implications."
About the Author:
Based in Washington, D.C., Kat is the Director of New Media for Connect World Football (CWF), a company dedicated to women's soccer players. She is also part of CWF's Our Game Magazine staff.Kat is Examiner.com's WPS Examiner and is a Bleacher Report beat writer of the Washington Freedom (primary) and Philadelphia Independence (secondary). She does written and video coverage for both media outlets
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