OL Reign had arguably the best-equipped squad during the 2021 NWSL season, with their use of sister club Lyon Féminin’s resources helping them to seal a place in the play-off semi-finals. However, whilst Germany midfielder Dzsenifer Marozsán and France duo Sarah Bouhaddi and Eugénie Le Sommer all made a big impact in Seattle, there were plenty of others already at the club who were just as instrumental. One of those was Sofia Huerta, who plays as either a winger or a right-back, and her six assists saw her top that particular chart as well as help the Reign to end the regular season as the league’s highest goalscorers.
This tactical analysis will look at Huerta’s game in more detail, focusing on why she was so important for OL last season. The scout report will analyse her movement around the final third and how her link-up play helped to break down opposing defences, whilst also picking out some of the problems OL faced when she was in a defensive role.
Movement in attack
Being an attack-minded player, Sofia Huerta constantly looks to get forward during games, and this was something that we noticed on many occasions last season. Two of her key qualities are good anticipation and awareness of her surroundings; these ensured that she always got into positions where she could help her team.
In this case, it is former Manchester City Women midfielder Rose Lavelle who has possession and is looking to move the ball upfield. This is in line with OL Reign’s preferred style of play, as they don’t tend to dribble the ball upfield where possible due to the risk of their opponents closing them down and winning it back. Instead, they play quick passes and keep the ball moving, which lessens the opportunities that the opposing team have to zero in on individual players.
Huerta’s overlapping run is exactly what Lavelle needs here, as she allows the midfielder to pass forward and maintain OL’s momentum. If Huerta hadn’t got forward here, Lavelle would have likely been forced to pass backwards, given the number of Washington Spirit players around her, and this would have enabled Washington to get numbers back and block off any available spaces. The Spirit were one of the better defensive sides in the NWSL last season, and attackers only tended to break them down if they kept pushing forwards and never allowed them to become organised at the back; Huerta’s run here has ensured that this can’t happen.
Huerta’s attacking runs also provide her teammates with vital support in the final third, which is especially important when facing opponents who have a narrow setup. Here, Portland Thorns are attempting to limit the options that Lavelle has, but Huerta has seen the space that has been left open on the near side of their goal area, making a run into the box and subsequently receiving the pass in that area from Lavelle. At this point, she becomes a major threat to Portland because the ball was previously in front of them, meaning that they had a clear view of OL’s attack and could adjust their shape accordingly — Huerta is now alongside the defenders and has a good view of the open space left exposed by their high backline.
Therefore, again, Huerta has given them a problem that would not have come about without her attacking run, once again demonstrating how her spatial awareness and movement are key to the success of OL’s attacking play. It is also worth pointing out that Lavelle didn’t need to look before passing to Huerta, as she instinctively knew that her teammate would be there. This highlights how every OL player knows their role and where they can help each other out, with this teamwork highlighting another reason why they were so productive in the final third last season.
Huerta doesn’t just stay near the wings though and has been known to cut inside if there is an opportunity to do so. In this case, she has run inside the Portland defence and caught them out, getting into a position from where she can shoot at goal herself rather than set up a teammate.
It became evident during the last campaign that scoring is not her strength, with only one goal to her name throughout 2021, whilst just 33.3% of her shots were on target. While one explanation for this could be that she tended to play in the backline, meaning that her job wasn’t to get into the opposing goal area, there is definitely room for her to increase her individual productivity in front of goal if she is given a more advanced role by head coach Laura Harvey, formerly of Arsenal Women.
Link-up play
As Sofia Huerta is better suited to wing play, she tends to control the wide channels well, which subsequently allows the wide forward on that side of the pitch to stay further infield. This gives OL Reign more numbers when on the offensive, as well as increasing the width of their attack. The benefit of having two players close to each other in the wide channels is that there are plenty of opportunities for them to link up, and this is something that we have seen Huerta be particularly strong at.
We have already looked at Huerta’s overlapping runs and how they maintain OL’s attacking momentum, but they also enable the forwards to stay higher upfield as there is no need for them to drop back and offer themselves as passing options. This is because Huerta becomes the link player between them, meaning that all the forwards have to concentrate on is creating problems for the opposition. Washington’s defensive tactics revolve around getting out to players and ending threats early. So, by pushing the forward line as high up the pitch as possible, OL were looking to prevent the eventual 2021 NWSL champions from playing to their strengths.
Turning our attention specifically to Huerta, she is the most dangerous player in this situation because she can feed the ball into the forwards at the right time, making it difficult for the defenders to predict when and where it will go. Crossing into the box is also an option here, and one that Huerta took plenty of times last season; her accuracy of just 39.3% is arguably a misleading value, as it could likely be attributed to the range of angles and distances that she was crossing from and not a lack of composure in the final third.
It is worth remembering that without Huerta here, OL would have either played a longer aerial pass and risked giving the ball away or passed backwards and lost their momentum. This, again, shows why her ability to provide an extra option and link up different areas of the team was key in helping the Reign to be such a potent attacking side.
When spaces are not as easily accessible, OL’s link-up play in attacking areas helped to break down opposing defences and set up goalscoring opportunities. In this example, Portland have three defenders closing Huerta down, making it difficult for her to move the ball into the box. However, because Dzsenifer Marozsán is also in that area, she gives Huerta a way of playing around this press. The pass into the Germany international takes the defenders’ focus away from Huerta for just long enough to allow her to run behind them, where she has the necessary space and time to set up a shot on goal.
On this occasion, the chance is not converted, but it still asked questions of the Portland players and showed that Huerta is a dangerous player even when it appears that there is nowhere for her to go. It is worth noting that she only won 49.1% of her offensive duels last season, so linking up with teammates in situations like this was definitely where she was stronger.
We have already mentioned that Huerta can cut inside the pitch and provide an extra option when needed, and this also led to clever link-up play which helped to create chances. Here, she has possession in the middle of the pitch and is looking for a teammate in space who can keep the move alive. OL have been helped here by Racing Louisville’s defensive shape, which is much like Portland’s earlier on — they have drifted over to one side of the box and left space open on the other side for Marozsán and Wales star Jess Fishlock to invade. With these two players able to receive the ball, Huerta can make the pass that keeps the momentum on OL’s side, much like in the previous section.
The key here is Huerta’s spatial awareness and passing accuracy, which stood at an impressive 79.3% last season. Having both of these qualities means that she can act as a playmaker for her team, locating and exposing undefended areas of the pitch, and it is clear that the freedom she had last season to work with teammates in different situations was a key factor in the Reign’s ability to create and score goals.
Defensive issues
Whilst we have so far focused on Sofia Huerta’s strengths in attacking situations, the fact that she often features at right-back means that we need to analyse her defensive play too. However, this is where she and OL Reign have encountered a few problems. The bottom line is that Huerta is not their strongest defender, and OL’s opponents also realised this as the season progressed.
Before getting into the negatives, we will first point out that Huerta is defensively solid when on the front foot. This comes from her attacking instinct, with her desire to have the ball meaning that she makes runs towards opponents and looks to end threats as early as possible.
This example illustrates this point, with Lindsey Horan, who has recently joined Lyon on an 18-month loan, receiving the ball from the middle of the field, but being closed down quickly by Huerta. The OL player can see both the ball and Horan, allowing her to time her run and not give Horan any time to get the better of her. The fact that she won 68.1% of her defensive duels last season shows how this was something she excelled at, and opponents knew that they had to play the ball quickly whenever she was between them and the goal.
However, the downside of her coming out to close balls down is that she tends to run a long way out of position and doesn’t have the necessary support from her teammates. They stay further inside the pitch and focus on not allowing space to open up centrally, leading to a large gap being created between them that opponents can and did exploit time and time again.
Often, their opponents’ tactics focused on using numerical overloads to isolate Huerta and take her out of the game, just as Houston Dash have done here, and the result is that Kristie Mewis has a clear route into the space behind and time to put the ball into the box at her own pace. This is the danger that OL faced last season because of their lack of communication at times and it is one explanation for their inconsistent run of results towards the end of the regular campaign.
The numerical overloads also meant that there were times when Huerta became caught in two minds, unsure of whether to close down the opponent in possession or to drop back and stop the run in behind, and this image indicates the problem that this also created for OL. Here, Orlando Pride are looking to find a way around OL’s defence, but Huerta is bailed out by former PSG Féminine defender Alana Cook, who comes across to win the ball and end the danger.
It is clear that there is work to be done if Laura Harvey opts to keep Huerta in this role during 2022, as they need to find a way of preventing teams from using Huerta’s enthusiasm against them — it will be interesting to see how this develops as the season goes on.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this analysis has looked at the role played by Sofia Huerta in OL Reign’s attacking and defensive tactics, showing why she was arguably OL’s unsung hero last season. When getting forwards, she gave her team an extra layer in the final third, allowing them to create plenty of chances and score the most goals in the league. We expect her to make just as many runs into dangerous areas in 2022.
However, defensively, we have identified some areas in which she can improve, with OL needing her to be harder to beat when on the back foot. It will be interesting to see whether she is relieved of this role at all, with OL potentially introducing a more organised approach at the back. Given what we have seen in this scout report, this change may suit Huerta’s abilities because it would enable her to focus purely on making precise passes and clever movements in the final third. Additionally, it could help OL to top the NWSL table after the regular season, having been edged out by Portland in 2021.
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