This season is different. The Crimson Tide just wrapped up a two-conference-win away weekend, a first for Alabama under coach Todd Bramble.
Despite the wins, Bramble said he and his team want more. The Crimson Tide (7-3-1) will host No. 13 South Carolina and Mississippi this weekend at the Alabama Soccer Complex, hoping to keep their winning streak alive.
The last time Alabama met the Gamecocks, the Crimson Tide lost 2-1 in South Carolina. In fact, Alabama hasn’t won against South Carolina since 2008. Bramble said the Gamecocks are a well-rounded team that knows how to control the ball.
“I think what makes them difficult to play against is that they are extremely well-balanced,” Bramble said. “They’re very good on the ball, when they have it, whether that’s in possession or attacking near goal. When we have the ball, they’re really good defensively. They are hard to break down, they are organized, they’re physical. If we can do a good job of breaking them down, then you’re getting to a goalkeeper that’s really, really good. So you’ve got to be really good to beat their goalkeeper as well. I think they’ve got a lot going for them right now and they’re going to be a big challenge playing them Friday night.”
In recent weeks, Alabama’s defense has been a game changer. After the team lost to Florida two weeks ago, the players focused on tactical plays and set pieces in practice.
“We’ve got to generate more offense than we did this past weekend and we have to have longer periods of possession in the games,” Bramble said. “We defended really well in the run-of-play. We defended free kicks really well, which we needed to improve on from the Florida game. But I thought maybe with all the focus we put into those two areas, the offense suffered a little bit so now we need to keep that same mentality that we had defensively and just become a little bit sharper when we have the ball.”
Kickoff for South Carolina’s match is 7 p.m. Friday. Alabama will return Sunday to play Ole Miss at 1 p.m. Both matches are viewable on SECNetwork+.
