This week, we talk to Armenian international defender Sydney Vermillion, who grew up in California and is still a standard-setter in defense for the two-time UWS Champions Santa Clarita Blue Heat. We also review a new book by Abdullah Abdullah entitled Chelsea FC Women: Europe's Next Powerhouse.
Sydney Vermillion, a native Californian with the UWS's Santa Clarita Blue Heat, talked exclusively to TribalFootball.com about her experiences with the Armenian women's national team and her thoughts on Americans playing club ball in Europe
TribalFootball.com caught up recently with current Armenian international defender Sydney Vermillion, who plays her club ball with two-time UWS Champions Santa Clarita Blue Heat (title winners in 2016 and 2021 and who finished runner-up in 2017). The Blue Heat has been a UWS powerhouse since it moved from the USL W-League after it folded in 2015, and had had notable internationals on their roster such as Venezuelan international forward Deyna Castellanos [who moved from Atletico Madrid in Spain to join Chelsea of the WSL for the 2022-23 season], Finnish international midfielder Natalia Kuikka [now with the Portland Thorns], U.S. international forward Ashley Sanchez [Washington Spirit] and former Canadian international defender Lauren Sesselmann [who played at Purdue, with FC Indiana, in the WPS and NWSL and is still a starting defender along Vermillion in the Blue Heat back line].
Sydney Vermillion (34) attended Cal State Northridge, where she was Rookie of the Year in her freshman year, and by her senior year held the school record for most appearances. After graduating in 2010, she went abroad to play with Switzerland's FC Neunkirch. She then tried out for two teams in Spain about a decade ago but "the finances weren't right" so she returned to America and played for the Portland Thorns' reserves. Since 2021, she has been playing for Armenia's Women's National Team. Along with playing for the Santa Clarita Blue Heat, she is currently a staff coach for the California Athletic Soccer Club in the Crescenta Valley district of Southern California
Armenian national team defender Sydney Vermillion (in foreground--#13) in action in Santa Clarita Blue Heat's 4-2 win over FC Arizona in Mesa, Arizona on June 18, 2022. Photo courtesy Arianna Grainey Photography.
She explained that playing with a women's national team that is just developing is challenging [Armenia is currently ranked 51st out of 52 countries in UEFA, ahead of only Andorra (who are 173rd overall out of 181 nations ranked) and 137th overall of 181 nations in the latest FIFA rankings of women's national teams as of June 17, 2022], "With Armenia, it is a little bit difficult as we don't have a lot of support from the federation. We are trying to get proper care, athletic training, facilities and even stadium-wise—we have been pushed out of the [national stadium in Yerevan] and have to drive an hour to play because we lose so much—it is frustrating. When we go overseas, if it isn't a big country like France, Sweden, the countries seem to struggle to support women's soccer and give them what they really need, like coaching, facilities, practice places and normal necessities for these teams." She emphasizes that she is not talking about equalized financial compensation with the men but, "Just the same equipment, such as stem machines and ice baths, or the normal necessities for the women's team." She further emphasized that she and her teammates are, "Trying to make things better for the younger generation. We are doing it for the future generation, for the U-17's and U-19's so they get more than we do."
Armenian national team defender Sydney Vermillion (on left--#13) guards against FC Arizona in Santa Clarita Blue Heat's 4-2 win in Mesa, Arizona on June 18, 2022. Photo courtesy Arianna Grainey Photography.
Vermillion cites a recent Armenian Federation event that unfortunately snubbed the women's team players, "They had a 30-year anniversary for the Armenian national [men's] team but not one female national team player was invited to the dinner or to watch the game. We would have loved to be part of that moment."
A few other Armenia national team players besides Vermillion have a long commute for national team matches, including midfielder Nancy Avesyan (32), who also played at Cal State Northridge and has played club ball in the Los Angeles area which has a large Armenia diaspora. Midfielder Ani Sarkisian (27) played collegiately at Florida State University and the University of Michigan and spent time with the U.S.'s U-23 national team. Defender Claudia Cholakian (25) comes from Australia and played in the A-League in 2020-21 for the Sydney FC league runner-up side and last season with Sydney Olympic in the New South Wales state league NPLW.
Midfielder Kristine Aleksanyan (33) is one of the most high-profile internationals for Armenia and won four league titles in Russia with Perm, Rossiyanka and Ryazan, and then won the last Ukrainian League title [2020-21] with Zhytlobud-1.
Armenia currently sits sixth in Group F in the UEFA 2023 Women's World Cup qualifying, with all six teams completing eight matches. Norway leads the group with 22 points, while Belgium is on 19 points. The group winner will advance directly to Australia/New Zealand 2023 with the second-place team likely to qualify automatically, with the international play-in as a backup. Poland has 14 points, Albania has 10 points and Kosovo has 4 points (we featured both Albania and Kosovo last year, see: The Week in Women's Football: World Cup qualifiers; Ireland stun Matildas; USWNT obliterate Paraguay - Tribal Football and The Week in Women's Football: Kristina Maksuti interview; Paul Riley fired; Indoor Pro Soccer; - Tribal Football). Armenia is pointless and has not scored a goal while allowing 62. Armenia has two last group games to play: on August 31 away to Kosovo and at home on September 5 against Belgium. The Armenian Football Federation should step up their support and move the latter game to the national stadium in Yerevan and promote the game with Belgium, which has a young and talented squad led by Tessa Wullaert (ex-Manchester City and Wolfsburg, who moved to Anderlecht at home two seasons ago and will play for Fortuna Sittard in the Netherlands this season and is her country's all-time leading international scorer with 65 goals; she also leads all UEFA qualification scoring with 15 goals during this WWC qualifying cycle) and Tine De Caigney (tied for sixth on the UEFA list on 10 goals this team and who scored 5 goals in 21 games last season for Germany's Hoffenheim).
Vermillion also said that she is working on developing a documentary on Armenia's National Team to try to drive, "more support on women's side." This is a fantastic avenue to expand the awareness and understanding of the women's game and the challenges that players face abroad. Guyana's women's national team had a Netflix project in the works during CONCACAF WWC Qualifying but lost some steam when they didn't qualify for the CONCACAF Finals Tournament. A friend in Europe has tried to market a documentary on players from Africa who have been successful in European leagues ahead of the 2019 Women's World Cup but funding and sponsorship efforts lagged behind. I think, with the growth of women's soccer visibility—particularly in Los Angeles with Angel City FC's tremendous launch—these efforts will be more viable now.
Even though she has been domestic-based for some years, Sydney Vermillion is a big proponent of players moving abroad to play club ball, "As one of the oldest players on the team, I encourage younger players to play overseas in that [football] culture, like Sweden, Spain, Switzerland. We have such great competition in the U.S. [that] there are a lot of great players that don't get opportunities here but could go play overseas and they should! Finding reliable and trustworthy contacts is the hardest things. We [women players] have to quit everything [jobs, teams, housing, etc.] over here for a promise that we will play over there and sometimes it is difficult to take the leap without knowing if there will be a contract, housing and financing. That's how it goes for us women sometimes." There are some unscrupulous agents in America that charge players a fee to just go for a tryout to get looked at, instead of taking a fee only for a signed contract. This writer has tried to interview one U.S.-based agent on multiple occasions who has been alleged to participate in this practice, but he would only answer a pre-submitted list with his lawyer's input—I passed on his kind offer. This has also been done by scouts for the Mexican national youth teams for their American diaspora to try out and then they hear nothing afterwards, though the checks are always cashed.
Sydney Vermillion has shown that an international career can even start later in one's playing career, and she and other diaspora are helping to build the future of women's football in Armenia.
Review of the new book: Chelsea FC Women: Europe's Next Powerhouse by Abdullah Abdullah; Pitch Publishing (Brighton) 2022. 256 Pages, Softcover.
Abdullah Abdullah, who writes for Football BloodyHell (footballbh.net) and Total Football Analysis Magazine (totalfootballanalysis.com) has a new book on the women's game that was published recently by Pitch Publishing entitled Chelsea FC Women: Europe's Next Powerhouse. Last year he published Olympique Lyonnais Feminine: Queens of Europe in 2021, which examines and dissects the tactical concepts of the long-time European Champions League powerhouse.
In the foreword of the book on Chelsea, The Guardian's Suzanne Wrack points out quite clearly what the book is not, "[This book] caves open a new corner of publishing on women's football; the small number of books devoted to the game have primarily been history books or biographies. Very few offer the reader an insight into the actual football itself and the nuances of the action on the pitch in the way this volume does. It will in turn go on to enrich the knowledge of fans, journalists, broadcasters, historians and coaches of a key team at a key moment in time. More critically, it broadens the space women's football occupies" (Page 11).
The book requires some coaching and tactical background and interest but the reader will come away with a much deeper understanding of a top team's tactics, in this case Chelsea Women of the English WSL. Having written a book on the history of the global women's game a decade ago [Beyond Bend It Like Beckham], I feel that this new book shows that there is a need for thoughtful insight on game strategy in the women's game, and Chelsea and coach Emma Hayes is a great place to start. I have known coach Hayes since before she was hired as Chicago Red Stars head coach for their inaugural season in 2009 and she is stellar in her preparation and thinking as well as in player acquisition decisions. You see glimpses of that in the book but primarily you acquire a very good understanding of the purpose of the various positions on the field and how her players can adapt to opponents and game situations. It really is like spending extensive time behind the scenes and participating in team coaching briefings, which is rare, even for the media. The reader is provided with brief details on the Chelsea players but the book is not focused so much on their background and history but how they fit into a system and approach that has evolved, and with which Chelsea now is talked about regularly as a top 4-5 challenges for the WCL—the Holy Grail for Hayes and the club is to win the UEFA Women's Champions League and become the second ever winners from England since Arsenal won back in 2006-07.
Abdullah talks about Hayes' exceptional coaching due to her, "meticulous detail from tactical nuances to player habits" in preparing for games (Page 23). This book shows the team's tactics via extensive statistics, including progressive passes given or received over 90 minutes, shot creating actions, interceptions, defensive duels, clearances, with over 80 charts—including player movement heatmaps and positional depictions of players.
On Danish international forward Pernille Harder, Abdullah wrote, "Having reached the final of the UEFA Women's Champions League in consecutive seasons while being at the heart of two teams [2019-20 Wolfsburg in Germany and 2020-21 Chelsea] is no mean feat, but there is a case to be made that Harder's role could be tweaked to release more of her attacking potential. She may not be the central figurehead anymore but she still plays a big hand in their [Chelsea's] attacking patterns and movement. You could argue whether Harder was even needed at Chelsea. But it's a testament to the club for attracting the biggest talent to ply their trade in England and be part of a world-class squad. Whatever the critics and fans may say, Harder is a world-class player who has continued to show her class and elegance even in an unorthodox and foreign role" (Pages 115-116). Harder was moved from Germany to England in September 2020 for a women's record transfer fee of US$355,000.
In Chapter 13, Defensive Setup, Pressing and the Role of the Full-Backs, Abdullah writes, "This chapter will dial in on the intricacies and tactical detail of Chelsea's defensive setup, system and pressing, while also depicting the role of the full-backs….What's important is also understanding the potential gaps and issues that cropped up during the latter stages of the UEFA Women's Champions League [losing the final of the 2020-21 season to Barcelona 4-0 in Gothenburg in front of an empty stadium because of COVID], and why the unravelling against Barcelona is a cause for concern going into the 2021-22 season. Due to the nature of games they play in the WSL, Chelsea can get away with a lot without really being tested. Unless they're playing the likes of Manchester City, Arsenal or Everton, they will rarely be troubled—as seen by their solitary loss to Brighton & Hove Albion last season. Chelsea, as we know, are a very possession-dominant side who don't give the ball away too much. Most teams will sit back and use a low-block system, which means that any time the opposition have a chance to attack, there are far too few players who can apply pressure in the right areas" (Pages 170-171).
The author makes an interesting point later in the book in Chapter 15 on Norwegian international [with over 150 caps] Maren Mjelde, "The full-back position has changed in the modern game and there is a real sense that the quality of attacking players is higher than defensive ones in the women's game. However, that gap is slowly closing with the tactical and coaching improvements that have taken place in recent years. Lucy Bronze [English international who is leaving Manchester City for Barcelona this summer], Hanna Glas [Sweden and Bayern Munich], Katie McCabe [Republic of Ireland and Arsenal] and Ashley Lawrence [Canada and Paris St. Germain] have all displayed high levels of creativity, defensive awareness and tactical acumen. Even the younger generation of Maya Le Tissier [English youth international and Brighton & Hove Albion], Esme Morgan [English youth international and Manchester City], and Jorja Fox [English U-17 and U-19 international who is contracted to Chelsea but played for Charlton on loan last season] have started to play at a very high level at such a young age" (Pages 204-205).
Abdullah continues this analysis, focusing on the importance of UEFA's WCL to continue the growth of the European club game, particularly since many countries have one or two clubs that dominate their domestic championships, "Complex tactical plans in women's football have come to the fore in recent times. Managers such as Lluis Cortes [the head coach of WCL winners Barcelona Femeni in 2021-22 against Chelsea, who became Ukraine's national team coach in November of 2021], Emma Hayes, Olivier Echouafni [ex-France WNT and PSG manager], Jonas Eidevall [Sweden native who became the coach of Arsenal Women in 2021-22 after time at Rosengard at home] and Jens Scheuer [Bayern Munich Women, who was let go by the club in May of 2022] have all created in-depth schemes to outwit the opposition, which makes for an entertaining watch for fans. Last season's UEFA Women's Champions League was a showcase of these teams coming up against each other and exposing flaws that many wouldn't have been able to see in their domestic competitions. The European competition is the only place to test their abilities and truly find out who is the best" (Page 210). Clearly Abdullah thinks that the UEFA WCL is still the key competition in Europe, as he states that Chelsea largely cruises through most of their domestic league games, similar to the top two or three clubs in Spain, France and Germany. A Women's Champions League spot is a key recruiting carrot for international talent that is used by virtually all the clubs participating every year, regardless of their country.
Towards the end of the book, the author makes a case for Chelsea to move to a more defensive three back system, [primarily a 3-4-2-1 alignment], with the addition of a true defensive midfielder, either utilizing a player from the bench or a new acquisition, "Chelsea were second-best to a rampant Barcelona side but that is no knock on the Blues given their extraordinary performances throughout a season that still ended with them as WSL champions for a second time running [a title which they won again in 2021-22 for a three-peat]. We've read about their impressive performances but also highlighted the problems. Hayes has devised a truly nuanced and thorough plan with technical complexities, but a few tweaks can truly change this team. She can be considered one of the best tacticians in women's football today. Any side chasing a European conquest will need to be a chameleon and adapt to their surroundings when the need arises. Any championship squad will need to show tactical flexibility and trying something uncommon might be key to their quest towards European domination" (Pages 210-212).
"Now assuming Chelsea continue to use a combination of their 4-4-2, 4-4-2 diamond and 4-2-3-1 with a similar squad without adding in the required personnel, then I believe they will encounter similar issues to the ones we've already explained. The squad is undeniably excellent, littered with world-class players, but I think Chelsea's insistence to almost shoehorn the rest of the players into a team will be detrimental to the team's balance in the long and short term…. I want to propose a tactical solution and building a starting 11 that suits the current squad [utilizing three in the back in a 3-4-3, 3-4-2-1 or 3-5-2 setup" (Page 212).
Abdullah continues his insightful analysis and focuses on Chelsea's defensive play and particularly his thoughts that the team needs to add a true holding defensive midfielder, "Chelsea have several options to create a well-rounded defensive line-up, and given that the qualities of their players lie on the ball rather than off of it, they would be better off in adopting a quicker, possession-based build-out pattern to create a quick transition from back to front. The pace of the front three is devastating as it is [typically utilizing a front three of Sam Kerr, Pernille Harder and Fran Kirby], but this can become much smoother if the back three can get the ball out quicker" (Pages 219-220).
He also feels that Chelsea will bring in some new players [which they are doing at the end of the 2021-22 season, as they fell in the 16-team group stage of the Women's Champions League, missing out on a quarterfinal berth on goal difference to Juventus of Italy in Group A and behind first place Wolfsburg of Germany], "We know that Chelsea's intense training regimen means fringe players are close to match-fit, but throwing them into a game state is a whole different matter. Hayes will be better off using her entire squad to maximise their value, ensure their best players are at peak physical fitness, and feel the pressure of competition" (Page 231-232).
Chelsea FC Women: Europe's Next Powerhouse is a book more to be studied than a light beach read but is still well worth the reader's time and—along with his previous book on Olympique Lyon—we expect Abdullah Abdullah to look at other top women's sides in future books, which will be a plus for women's football literature.
Note: In the weeks to come, we will cover recent player movement around the world as we typically do, focusing on Europe, with Chelsea having some interesting departures and major signings for 2022-23.
Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham on the global game of women's football. Get yours copy today.
Follow Tim on Twitter: @TimGrainey
