The North Carolina Courage clarified in a statement Friday night why they fired former head coach Sean Nahas, citing “confounding performance issues, culture issues, and a perceived lack of fit that created an environment that club leadership felt was untenable to the point that change was necessary at the head coaching position.”
A club spokesperson issued the statement following the Courage’s 2-1 loss to the Houston Dash in Texas on Friday night, two days after Nahas’ termination. It also came a day after the club held a brief press conference in which it offered little detail for the firing beyond mentioning a “multitude of factors.”
Nathan Thackeray was named interim head coach and led the team on Friday. Despite scoring first, the Courage, currently ninth in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) with a record of 5-4-6 (W-D-L), conceded a stoppage-time goal to the 12th-place Dash.
Speaking after the match, Thackeray, previously an assistant coach, said that despite recent turmoil, “the team’s been great emotionally.” He added that players had “a good conversation with management on Thursday. We then chatted when we got into Houston last night and discussed a couple of things more, and then told them that, right, everything from Friday onwards is full focus on our ability to get better, perform well and get results.”
Thackeray and Nahas, who was named permanent head coach of the Courage in December 2021, share a long professional history.
“I’ve worked with Sean for a long, long time, both with our youth club in North Carolina, with the North Carolina FC, and then obviously in the pro team since we’ve moved into Raleigh in 2017,” Thackeray said Friday. “I’m disappointed for him, obviously. It’s tough for me to take, and I don’t want to ever see anyone suffer, but unfortunately, professional sports can have a brutal side to it as well.”
Courage captain Denise O’Sullivan described a different atmosphere among the players in the days following the firing.
“It’s been an emotional week, definitely a tough week for the team,” said the 31-year-old Ireland national team midfielder. “Wednesday, we all got phone calls, and that’s how we found out.”
“It was a shock for me,” she added.
O’Sullivan explained that while “there was obviously different reactions” to the news, she “personally had a really good relationship with Sean,” having known him for seven years. “He made me captain of the club, and I appreciate that, and I do want to thank Sean for everything.”
But she maintained her belief in the Courage’s ability to punch their ticket to the postseason even as the timeline for Nahas’ permanent replacement remains unclear.
“It’s been a roller coaster of a week, but we have to move on now as a group, and we have to look towards the game next week, and we got to continue to stick by each other and help each other through it,” O’Sullivan said. “I fully believe we’re still a playoff team.”
Thackeray and O’Sullivan were asked about the kinds of changes the Courage will need to make to ensure that. Both pointed to the necessity of capitalizing on chances created in the final attacking third as a critical missing piece to the possession-oriented team. Against the Dash, the Courage had four shots on target out of 13 total, resulting from 431 passes for 57% possession of the game.
“We’re still lacking quality in the final third,” Thackeray said, “wasteful in moments where we win the ball back, and then turn it over or we get into good positions, and the final pass is not good enough, or the final run’s not good enough, or we’re slightly offside. Those are things that we need to continue to work on and, and really, really apply into the training weeks.”
O’Sullivan believed the team started the game brightly, evidenced by their going up a goal in the 32nd minute after Courage and USWNT forward Jaedyn Shaw drew a foul on the line of the penalty area that a VAR check later confirmed was a penalty; 19-year-old Riley Jackson converted it.
“It was very positive, and I think last 15 minutes of the half we let slip, we lost control of the game a bit,” O’Sullivan said. “Our lines became a bit too big and second half, again, I think we dominated.” She stressed that she didn’t think conceding late in the game “had anything to do with what happened.”
The Courage’s next test will be a home match against the sixth-place Portland Thorns on Saturday, Aug. 16.
(Photo: Rebekah Wynkoop / SPP / Sipa USA / AP Images)
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