Tag: Jonatan Giráldez

New Spirit coach Giraldez to take full control in July

Interim coach Adrián González will lead the team in its next two matches, with a transition to conclude during a break in the schedule

Jonatan Giráldez has joined up with the Washington Spirit, but his debut as an NWSL head coach won’t come until well into July.

Interim head coach Adrián González, who has overseen 10 wins in 14 NWSL matches, will continue as the team’s manager of record in Saturday’s home clash against the North Carolina Courage, as well as for the team’s trip to face Bay FC on July 6.

“We want to do the transition as smooth as possible,” González told reporters during a Friday press conference. “We’ve been talking with players, with different departments of course, with [Spirit GM Mark Krikorian], with [owner Michele Kang].

“I’m gonna be on the bench tomorrow [versus North Carolina], against Bay FC, and after that, we have that CBA break and summer, so we thought that it was the best option to to make that transition.”

Giráldez, who arrived in the U.S. last week, is set to fully assume the head coach role in a NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup clash against Chivas, which is set for July 21 in Philadelphia.

Washington plans to use that 15-day gap between games, as mandated by the NWSL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement with the NWSL Players’ Association, as a sort of brief preseason to further its adaptation under Giráldez.

González said that Giráldez has been involved in training sessions and will play a part in matchday coaching, and emphasized the desire to keep the changes small and manageable for all parties.

“It’s been pretty smooth,” explained González. “We’ve been working to make that transition easy, and the team culture that we have right now, it’s unbelievable…we have the same intensity during the training sessions. We have the same routines, the trainings are similar. So, we are not changing a lot of things.”

The Spanish manager’s first league match in charge may be a massive one, though, with the Spirit resuming its NWSL campaign on August 25 with a home game against the league-leading Kansas City Current.

Spirit looking to minimize disruption

Speaking with Pro Soccer Wire on Friday, Krikorian explained that the decision has been in place for several weeks.

“All of us were involved: Jona, myself, a sports psychologist, Michele [Kang] was part of it,” explained Krikorian, who noted that Giráldez is involved with training sessions already and will “to a certain extent” be involved during these next two matches.

“We’ve taken a good look at all of the circumstances surrounding the transition with Jona arriving, and thought that probably the best approach for us to take is a slow integration…trying to create a situation that’s the least disruptive to the team,” said Krikorian.

In an interview with Pro Soccer Wire on Tuesday, Giráldez underlined the delicate balance of bringing a coach in midseason while a team is already thriving.

“It’s my responsibility to be smart, to decide what I should do in the next days [and] coming weeks,” said Giráldez. “I am [becoming] part [of the team] in the middle of the season. That is not an easy situation, and we have to make a small transition to keep helping the players, because they are the protagonists.”

Giráldez, whose hiring was confirmed all the way back in January, arrived with two staffers brought over from Barcelona. Fitness coach Andres González will join Vice President of Performance, Medical and Innovation Dawn Scott’s staff, while analyst Toni Gordo will bolster the Spirit’s analytics team.

Once the transition is complete, González will join Mike Bristol, Mami Yamaguchi, and Morinao Imaizumi as an assistant coach.

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Jonatan Giraldez interview: New Spirit coach opens up on unusual transition

In an interview with Pro Soccer Wire, the new Washington Spirit coach explained how he plans to keep a winning team on course

The Washington Spirit are one of the most unusual projects in NWSL history, and the next step took place Tuesday, when new head coach Jonatan Giráldez addressed media for the first time.

Giráldez spoke with Pro Soccer Wire during a whirlwind day of media and other obligations for the Spanish coach, and quickly alluded to how part of his job at the moment is to simply not disrupt a positive first half of the season.

“It’s my responsibility to be smart, to decide what I should do in the next days [and] coming weeks,” explained Giráldez, who added that his focus was entirely on his new squad. “I am [becoming] part [of the team] in the middle of the season. That is not an easy situation, and we have to make a small transition to keep helping the players, because they are the protagonists.”

The former Barcelona head coach, who exactly one month ago won a second straight UEFA Women’s Champions League, has arrived in D.C. in a curious moment.

Normally coaching changes come after on-field turmoil or with the team’s previous manager leaving for another opportunity. The Spirit instead announced Giráldez would become its head coach over six months ago, with Adrián Gonzalez operating as interim coach while the 32-year-old manager finished his contract with Barça.

In the meantime, both have thrived. As the spring concluded, Giráldez lifted the UWCL trophy for a second time in his career and then celebrated a third Liga F crown.

The Spirit, meanwhile, recovered from the unexpected disappointment of the 2023 season to become one of the NWSL’s best sides. Washington sits third in the standings, just one point behind the Kansas City Current and Orlando Pride.

Giráldez, in fact, arrived just in time to see his new club surpass its 2023 points total, as Washington’s 2-0 win over NJ/NY Gotham FC gave the club 31 points on the season (one more than last year’s total of 30).

While the mood within the Spirit camp is understandably high, Giráldez is cognizant of the fact that his arrival — no matter how much of a coup it is for the Spirit, and indeed for the NWSL as a league — could destabilize a team that has won 10 of 14 matches.

“When you’re winning, people are happy. That is normal,” said Giráldez, reflecting on his first impressions of the group after their win at Red Bull Arena. “The position in the table is good. We won against one of the best teams in the league, Gotham. And now, what they want is to take advantage about all these feelings to keep improving, to keep moving forward.”

González, who will remain on the Spirit’s staff as an assistant coach, was selected because he and Giráldez were familiar with each other, and had similar ideas in terms of style of play and ways to lead a team. However, the incoming manager recognized that he and his compatriot will impact the Spirit in different ways.

“I have a kind of leadership, for sure [González and I] are different,” admitted Giráldez. “We are not the same person. But in the end, for me it’s like, show as you are.

“Being smart on that and understanding that when we are speaking football, is much easier for me, because we are seeing the same thing, and then try to have a good connection with [the team].”

Coaching one team, particularly one with all the expectations placed on Barcelona, is enough of a challenge. The idea of trying to get up to speed on the Spirit on top of that is daunting, but Giráldez said he was able to be “100% focused on Barça” while still using some down time to keep up with developments in Washington.

“You have time to speak sometimes with the staff and Adri,” said Giráldez, before explaining that those conversations largely focused on club structure and culture.

“For me, the beginning was trying to connect all the players, work in the same direction and have a professional culture,” explained the Galicia native. “And then, try to connect as well all the staff members, understand which is the role of each one, know as best as possible all the persons who are working around the staff, to give them the opportunity to show their skills.

“If you are committed and everyone is working 100%, it’s much better for the players because they will be 100% ready for them. So on that side for me the beginning, it was like ‘Okay, we need to create this connection. Players and staff, be committed, training 100%.’ [I needed to] know exactly what they can do.”

Giráldez said that in terms of on-field matters, the discussions only focused on some general points, with González and assistants Mike Bristol, Mami Yamaguchi, and Morinao Imaizumi entrusted to take it from there.

Giráldez plans to ‘keep continuing with the dynamic’

Washington made the choice to let González remain interim head coach for Saturday’s win at Red Bull Arena, and in a separate interview with Pro Soccer Wire, Spirit general manager Mark Krikorian emphasized that the club is in a position to take its time and get the transition right.

“It’s not, ‘you guys figure it out,'” said Krikorian. “It’s more a matter of, how is it that we want to arrange this so that it can make sense?

“As we’re sitting here today [with our record] it’s far easier to have some flexibility in slow-playing this, and making sure that everything that we do makes sense. If you’re [struggling], there’s going to be a whole lot more urgency to make sure things change quickly.”

Krikorian also pointed out that no matter how good the Spirit have been after 14 rounds this season, “everyone knows nothing has been accomplished yet.”

Washington has considered the possibility that the arrival of a new leader, even one with Giráldez’s demonstrated success, can be destabilizing. However, from the club’s perspective, the fact that the process started with positive results has gifted all parties with room to proceed smoothly rather than moving in a hurry.

“[What’s] in the best interest of the team and the players is a slow step, rather than some major intrusion,” asserted Krikorian. “I think that certainly up to this point, I think the strategy we came up with has worked.”

With that in mind, the young manager emphasized patience, as much for himself as for everyone at the club.

“I don’t want to force any kind of situation, because they are performing well. And the only thing I want is [to] keep helping them,” explained Giráldez. “Keep continuing with the dynamic, not make big changes…the transition, for me it’s not [that it] has to be so fast. We have to take the rhythm, a good base to be part of.

“When you’re arriving away [from home] you don’t know the people. You need time. You have to be patient…you need your time, they need their time.”

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Aitana, Alexia both strike as Barcelona claims third Women’s Champions League crown

Barça is once again in a class of its own after seeing off Lyon’s challenge in the UWCL final

Barcelona made sure that the Jonatan Giráldez era will end in style.

Barça on Saturday won the UEFA Women’s Champions League for the third time, outlasting Lyon 2-0 before a crowd of 50,827, a record for a Women’s Champions League final.

Aitana Bonmatí and Alexia Putellas scored second-half goals for Barça, which defended its UWCL title. Along with this season’s league and cup double in Spain, the Catalan side has won three of the last four Champions Leagues, with the streak only interrupted by a shock loss to Lyon in the 2021-22 final.

Giráldez will leave Barcelona at the end of the Spanish season to take charge of the Washington Spirit, who made the impressive move of signing the Spanish coach away from what is considered the biggest club in women’s soccer. His final match in charge will be June 16’s Liga F clash with Valencia.

Thoughts about that were put to the side at San Mámes, where Barcelona was more often than not able to play Lyon on its own terms.

However, the French giants — featuring U.S. women’s national team star Lindsey Horan — held firm through the first half, raising memories of how things played out two years ago.

Additionally, Lyon had entered the match having won every single one of the past four meetings between these sides, even as Barcelona has otherwise seemed to take over as the club perceived to be the world’s best.

However, any Barça worries were settled by Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmatí, whose angled shot in the 63rd minute took a fortuitous deflection off of Damaris Egurrola to zip past goalkeeper Christiane Endler.

Lyon predictably responded by throwing the kitchen sink at Barcelona, including sending star striker Ada Hegerberg — a fitness doubt coming into the final — into the fray.

Barça had some narrow escapes, particularly on some deep crosses into heavy traffic that pushed Cata Coll to her limits.

A late equalizer felt like a possibility, but Barcelona had the perfect answer. Once again the attack came to the left of Endler’s goal, with Clàudia Pina cutting back from the endline to set Alexia Putellas up for a precise first-time shot.

The stoppage-time strike settled the match, setting off delirious celebrations for a heavily pro-Barça crowd.

“I’m really happy,” Giráldez told DAZN after the match. “One of the best days of my life, for sure. We did an amazing job… we suffered in the last minutes, but I’m very proud of [the team].”

Giráldez’s departure may well prove to be a major factor in European women’s soccer, but Barcelona will still carry on with an extremely formidable lineup. On Tuesday, the club announced that it had signed Alexia to a contract extension through 2026, settling rumors that one of the team’s biggest stars could possibly be on her way out this summer.

In other words, the star-studded squad figures to have a serious chance of making it three in a row at this time next year.

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