Brandi Chastain’s freewheeling approach to the game has paid great dividends on the left flank, but a move to the middle of the back line has forced her to alter her philosophy.
POSITIONS ON THE SOCCER FIELD, Brandi Chastain has said more than once, are nothing more than ”where you start when the whistle blows,” a philosophy she has embodied as one of the world’s finest attacking wing-backs – emphasis on attack– the past half-dozen years.
Her freewheeling approach to the game has well served the U.S. women’s national team since the Atlanta Olympics, but that attitude won’t work for her any longer. In a career packed with challenges, Chastain has faced few as daunting as the latest.
April Heinrichs’ vision for the U.S. women, as she prepares the squad for next year’s fourth Women’s World Cup, has meant a move from the left flank to central defense. That has forced Chastain to make enormous adjustments in how she sees, and plays, the game.
”This is new for me,” she says. ”It’s a position of restraint, and that’s not been in my vocabulary, especially where soccer is concerned.”
No, it hasn’t. Chastain, 34, was a forward while growing up in San Jose, at the University of California and Santa Clara University, and in her first 17 games with the U.S. women. After her international career stumbled soon after the 1991 Women’s World Cup triumph, a change in roles – from the front line to left back – paved her return to the national team following the ’95 WWC. She has been pivotal in American success since.
Heinrichs, presiding over a long transitional period expected to last through the 2004 Olympics, has tinkered repeatedly with the U.S. system while broadening her talent pool. Carla Overbeck’s international retirement following the Sydney Olympics two years ago left a leadership void on the back line, and Danielle Slaton’s emergence as arguably the world’s best attacking left back gave the U.S. coach the ability – and impetus – to reposition the versatile Chastain in the middle.
”I started to realize,” Heinrichs says, ”the next step for the team evolutionally is to be more composed, sophisticated and technical at the back. Why, at the end of the day, we made the change with Brandi in ’96 was to bring a more sophisticated, more technical wing-back to our team.
”Now, with Brandi in a central position, she can be a leader for us as well. … I think it’s going to help our team and help Brandi be a personality for us. I think putting more leadership on Brandi’s shoulders is a good thing, that she’ll thrive on that.”
Improving technical play is crucial for the U.S. women to succeed next year in China, where the host nation, expected South American qualifier Brazil and the European powers will field teams long on technical prowess and tactical sophistication. Chastain’s pairing with Joy Fawcett in the middle enables the Americans to stay ahead of the curve.
Adjusting to the switch is an ongoing effort for Chastain, who will bulk up on experience at the 2002 CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup. The eight-nation tournament, contested in Southern California, Seattle and British Columbia Oct. 27-Nov. 9, will determine the region’s qualifiers for the 2003 WWC.
”It’s a mental preparation,” Chastain says when asked about her learning curve. ”Instead of allowing myself to think about attacking situations, I have to reprogram myself to think about defending and organizing the players in front of me. … It’s more of a challenge in a leadership way. Joy and I are making decisions on the flow of the game, whether to speed up or slow down, those type things. It’s more about reprogramming your mental instincts instead of allowing your physical instincts to take over.”
Nobody doubts that Chastain will flourish. She’s a student of the game, a self-professed ”soccer junkie” whose life has revolved around the sport since her childhood. She’s prospered in every position she’s played, and she’s played nearly every position.
San Jose CyberRays coach Ian Sawyers employed Chastain as a forward, attacking midfielder, wing-midfielder, right back and left back during the 2002 WUSA campaign, and she was exceptional despite being slowed for half the season with a nagging hamstring injury.
Each of those positions emphasized Chastain’s attacking abilities. The primary question Heinrichs had was whether Chastain would continue to relish playing the game once her wings had been clipped.
”I don’t think anyone thought [the switch] would be easy for Brandi, or that she would adapt quickly,” Heinrichs says. ”At outside back, she had a green light. Center back is the polar opposite of that. … The biggest concern I’ve had is will Brandi still enjoy the game as a center back. She has so much passion for the game having the ball at her feet. I think she’s finding she can enjoy the game, that it’s a lot more fun than not being on the field.”
Chastain comes equipped with unparalleled communication skills – on and off the field. She’s expert at reading the game, and her ability to provide information to teammates is greatly enhanced in central defense.
Fawcett, a consummate defender, isn’t as vocal as Chastain but reads the game every bit as well. Chastain, Heinrichs says, operates as a ”bullhorn” for Fawcett, who ”makes great decisions but often doesn’t tell players what they should be doing, too.”
”The thing I like about her being in the middle of the field,” says U.S. captain Julie Foudy, a central midfielder, ”is that with Carla [Overbeck] playing the role before, I had a constant voice behind me. When Brandi’s on the inside, it’s easier for me to hear her. [When she’s outside] it gets lost a bit in the noise. [Chastain and Fawcett] are a good pair directing, talking. There’s a lot of communication going on, and I can hear more. So for selfish reasons, I like her on the inside.”
Heinrichs made the move over the summer, starting Chastain in the middle for a pair of matches with Norway, again in September against Scotland, and then in the U.S. Women’s Cup clashes with Russia, Australia and Italy. Her progress pleases Heinrichs.
”She’s been outstanding,” the coach says. ”She’s been caught going forward only once – in the [closed-door] scrimmage game against Norway. My biggest concern was not can she play center back – I knew she could. It was whether she’d embrace it, demonstrate patience, embrace the learning curve required when you change. Clearly, she has.”
Chastain, too, had her concerns.
”I’ve thought about this a lot,” she says. ”When it was proposed to me, I was a little hesitant. I said to April straightaway, ‘This will be difficult for me. It’s very difficult for me to restrain myself.’ I said that not because I didn’t want to play there. There are so many wonderful things about the game [as an attacker], as midfielders and forwards get to experience, even outside backs. But center backs – it’s not in their portfolio of things they get to do.
”We had conversations straight away, and April said, ‘I know, but I feel this is a place you can really help our team.’ I took that as a high level of trust. … She has some belief in me. And here’s another chance to develop a side of my skills I haven’t had to tap into. I enjoy it in a different way than I enjoy other things on the field, but I enjoy it nonetheless.”
by Soccer America Senior Editor Scott French