While it took less than 90 minutes for midfielder Leicy Santos to settle into the Washington Spirit team over the summer, scoring a goal and recording an assist in her debut back in August, there’s one thing that has taken some time to get used to.
The coffee.
While she missed three matches in October because of a thigh injury, Santos proved to be a game-changer in the NWSL playoffs quarterfinal against Bay FC after coming on after half-time. Her presence in the box forced Caprice Dydasco to nod Trinity Rodman’s cross into her own net in extra time to send the Spirit through.
Still, teammates like midfielder Andi Sullivan can’t help but laugh when they bring up the coffee at the Spirit’s training center. Santos has firm standards, developed in her homeland of Colombia.
“It hasn’t gone very well for me,” Santos said, breaking into the first of many smiles during an interview with The Athletic given, via a translator, before the playoffs. The good news is she has a supply at home… and has finally found a local coffee spot in D.C. she likes.
“I walked into this place and two girls that were working there were looking at me,” Santos recreates the look, one that suggests instant recognition but with a hint of doubt, “and then I noticed that one of them said something to the other.”
She had been spotted, and the baristas gave her a coffee on the house.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise; there have been Colombia flags at every Washington Spirit game since her arrival from Atletico Madrid, and with strong performances from players like Santos and fellow Colombian Linda Caicedo, along with strong international showings in recent tournaments, including the quarterfinal finish at last year’s World Cup, Las Cafeteras (the Coffee Makers) are on the rise.
Santos should expect to get recognized more in her Spirit colors, too. Thanks to further investment from owner Michele Kang — one of the reasons Santos joined the Spirit in the first place — she was on signs across the city promoting games, especially ones targeting both the sizeable Colombian American population — the D.C. metro area’s is the ninth-biggest in the country — and Spanish speakers.
For Santos, seeing those flags and feeling the support is emotional.
“It’s feeling like I’m supported, like the people who identify with me, with my process, have my back,” she said. “It gives me joy because I’m in a country away from home. I’m in a country that doesn’t speak my language, so it’s like feeling that you’re close to home.”
And her teammates have noticed the change since her arrival, in the best way.
“I get teary-eyed thinking about it,” Sullivan said. “It has been so incredible at Audi Field. And then, we were warming up in LA (before the Angel City game in September) and there were fans screaming her name in the stadium before everyone was there. How freaking cool is that? It’s just been so fun.”
The news of Santos’ move to the Spirit broke in March and was official by early April.
For most casual followers of women’s soccer, it’s her goal against England in that World Cup quarterfinal defeat that sticks out, but the Spirit pursued Santos for far more than just one moment on the international stage.
Adding Santos was one piece of a bigger puzzle for the Spirit. The largest piece of which was the hiring of former FC Barcelona Femeni head coach Jonatan Giráldez, and the fact he was able to directly tell Santos his vision for the team — and the role he wanted her to play.
“I had a lot of excitement about coming here, about learning how everything was, how the team would receive me,” Santos said. “Obviously, I had high expectations about what I could do here. A part of me was calm, knowing that Jona would be here because I know how he wants to play. I know his game philosophy, and that, for my football and my style of play, is really good. From the first moment that I spoke with him, I understood what my role was on the team.”
For Giráldez, the knowledge went both ways. Now they’re both in D.C., with the regular season behind them, he believes Santos is already showing her potential, though he also thinks it is still just the beginning of what she can offer the team. “It’s not easy when you are changing your country, your team, your language. But when you are speaking about football, that is universal,” Giráldez said.
Good players can adapt to new teams, and Santos is no exception. “She understands exactly what we want, what I want in possession. She knows me, because I was competing against her in my past, and she was analyzing everything about her game to have a better adaptation, especially in the first few weeks here in Washington,” Giráldez said.
Spirit general manager Mark Krikorian said bringing in an international player like Santos meant bringing in another player who could be trusted in the big moments. “Oftentimes with those (experienced) players, they are more able and willing to adjust and adapt to these new circumstances,” Krikorian said. “I think she’s done so perfectly. Am I surprised? No, I’m not. Was I hopeful it would go this way? I was.”
Adaptation isn’t just the story of the 2024 NWSL season for Santos — it’s for the entire team. Though the Spirit announced him in January, Giráldez didn’t actually take over as head coach until the Olympic break, as he had a season to finish in Europe. In the interim, now-assistant Adrián González led the team with regular calls to Giráldez in Spain. Sullivan said the players focused on the “now” this year, rather than what might be coming down the line, whether that was Santos’ arrival, Giráldez or some other change.
“I think we’re all used to the fact that it could all change all the time, whether we know it or not,” Sullivan said. “We’ve had — especially players here — changes sprung on us that you have to deal with in the moment.”
The players saw Santos’ signing as a symbol of further ambition from the club.
“Even in her first meeting, she had a very warm, but cool personality. She spoke English to us in that first meeting and just said that she could understand English if we speak it really slowly,” Sullivan said. “We know how uncomfortable it is to speak up in front of a group, especially a group you don’t know, and then do it in another language.”
It was a moment of vulnerability, but also a signal that Santos was ready, willing to do her best, and excited to be there.
“From that moment, people found her very approachable,” Sullivan continued. That ease carried over to the field from the first training session.
“She’s so easy to combine with because she’s looking to combine, but also because she has so many individual tools to do that,” Sullivan said “Within your first few passes with her, you feel a connection. The fact that she’s been able to do that, in the midfield and across the whole team, just speaks to her personality and ability.”
Santos’ first match against Kansas City Current showed exactly what she could offer the Spirit, beyond the goal and the assist. She controlled the midfield, escaped pressure, got touches on the ball in important places, connected and created.
“When you are training and she’s playing the small spaces, you can see what she can do, because she’s very technical. And then when you are playing in open spaces, big spaces, she’s capable of doing that analysis, and then she’s getting into the box very easily,” Giráldez said. “She’s scoring goals. This is not a typical player who only likes to make passes. She likes to arrive at the finishing zone. That’s very important as a No 10.”
The head coach emphasized that this is the first year of her three guaranteed with the Spirit and there is still much more that Santos can achieve, particularly when it comes to her voice as a leader. “I know she’s not speaking the same language as the other players, but she’s making a big effort,” he said. “Because when you have a good player in terms of the technical and tactical (ability), (she) understands the game and the game plan.”
As for Santos?
“My mentality is always to look for the (championship) title,” she said. “It makes no difference where I’m at. And I see that here there is a lot of talent and a lot of tools to be able to do that.”
She’s potentially a week away from that title, as the Spirit hosts defending champion Gotham FC in the semifinals on Saturday, with the winners to face the Current or Orlando Pride to decide the 2024 NWSL champions.
(Top photo: Brad Smith / Getty Images; Design: Kelsea Petersen)
