A Pride That Tom Built (Tom Sermanni)

Chris Brookes interviews Tom Sermanni, the Glasgow-born former Australia and USA head coach now over two years into his tenure at NWSL side Orlando Pride, who came third in 2017 having doubled both goals and points from their inaugural campaign. Sermanni describes a philosophy of setting up to win rather than not to lose, and of staying intermingled with the community and fanbase. On managing world-class names including Alex Morgan, Ashlyn Harris, Marta, Ali Krieger and Sydney Leroux, he warns coaches against assuming experienced players need no coaching, though with Marta he mostly gets her playing how she wants and coaching those around her. He credits communications manager Jackie Maynard for his Twitter presence, rates the Matildas as more than dark horses for 2019, and recalls playing Caitlin Foord at 16 against Marta.