After some tinkering in the early weeks, Seattle Reign FC appears to have found a formation and tactics that work, as they once again used a 4-3-3 attack / 4-4-2 defense hybrid against the Orlando Pride on Sunday evening. This week they had the added challenge of defending five-time FIFA player of the year Marta, who brings speed, finesse and unpredictability to the Pride attack. To compensate for this, the Reign kept Nahomi Kawasumi back a lot to support Rebekah Stott on defense, which caused the attack to be somewhat lopsided.
It worked well enough for Seattle through the first 40 minutes, but after the Reign goal, the Pride pushed forward more aggressively and overwhelmed the Reign through the next half-hour of play.