Tactics Talk with Emily Sams
The Orlando Pride and USA defender has grown into one of the top centre-backs in the NWSL. She talks Orlando's rise, working with Emma Hayes, tackling NWSL strikers and going from front to back...
Orlando Pride’s Emily Sams is fast becoming one of the best centre-backs in the NWSL. The 25-year-old is currently part of a Pride team sitting pretty at the top of the league and remarkably are still yet to lose a single game in 2024.
Their defensive record has also been incredible, conceding just 13 goals through their 22 games to date, with Sams missing barely a minute bar one game due to flu and has formed a key part of Seb Hines’ team which looks almost certain for a first NWSL Shield and a shot at the Championship after missing out on the play-offs on goal difference last year.
Having just come back from Paris after being named as an alternate for the USA squad which won gold at the 2024 Olympics, Sams is yet to make her official national team debut, but between her form in Florida and rise to the USA squad, she is becoming one of the most talked about defenders in the league, and is the latest to chat all things football in Tactics Talk…
Tactics Talk is a regular feature unique to WFC, exploring a topic not often spoken about enough in the women’s game, through the voices of the players and coaches themselves.
Check out more in-depth unique stories in WFC’s Premium section, available for just £45 for 12 months, paid in one go, or a £6 a month rolling subscription.
All subscriptions come with a 7-day free trial to allow you to explore our full archive.
Plus, guarantee you everything that is to come over the next 12 months!
Or check out previous Tactics Talk features…
“Our backline has moved around quite a lot with Kylie [Strom] coming in,” says Sams. “We’ve all moved around a bit, so trying to get that cohesion…I try to take some responsibility a little bit, try to just make sure we’re all on the same page whatever position we’re in, that cohesion is crucial.
“With the defending piece and our good form, we obviously have a lot of really good players. We have Marta and Barbra [Banda] up top, they have their responsibility and we keep it out of the net. We have 12 shutouts now I think, five in a row, and we take a lot of pride in that. My main focus and responsibility is definitely to shut down the likes of [Temwa] Chawinga from the recent game against Kansas [City Current] and [Mal] Swanson from the game before.
“I like those challenges and accept those challenges. With the back three, I’ve played as a central centre-back or outside centre-back, but I’ll take on whatever role I have and whatever game it is.”
The challenge of facing so many different styles of forward player in the league is something we’ll come into, but given the changing nature of Pride’s defence, with the experienced Rafaelle missing a chunk of the season, it begs the question of how different it is playing in a back three and a back four, and also how critical it is forging almost telepathic relationships with her fellow defenders.
“I don’t think it changes too much,” she says, of a back three vs back four. “On the defensive side we’ve come back to the back four, which is pretty normal. I think we have threat up top with Barbra and a lot of link-up players both left and right, so we’re not limited to one way of playing.
“Barbra has the most goals, but I think as a team we create in a lot of different ways and I think that’s made us more difficult to play against. It doesn’t matter who is around me, we stick to our principles and that’s been working out really well.”
Relevant Read…
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Women's Football Chronicles to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.