Category: NWSL

Christen Press and Rose Lavelle Pull Up a Barstool and That’s Not Great

Posted on by Backline Soccer

Women’s soccer is funny sometimes. There are funny things that happen in and around women’s soccer (or women’s sport in general) that are odd when you compare them to men’s sports.

Women are often scrutinized for the things they chose to do on a level that is comical at best and deeply unfair at worst. Megan Rapinoe swears and we must think of the children, but if LeBron James then he’s just being passionate. Alex Morgan sips tea after scoring it is arrogant, but look at any NFL game and you will see nut grabbing and planned celebrations nearly every touchdown or sack. 

Things like Rapinoe and Morgan celebrating publicly and proudly are harmless. Even if we must think of the children, and we so often are told we must in women’s sports, at the end of the day these players have no more a duty to think of the children as Charles Barkley did in 1993. If little Timmy or Susie hears Rapinoe drop an F-Bomb or see’s Morgan sipping some tea, they will be fine. I promise you a life of crime does not lay ahead for anyone seeing what Rapinoe and Morgan have done.

It is a problem though when a women’s soccer player does a gross thing. Because we’re so often called on to defend the silly or the meaningless or to think of the children when they do step over the line we don’t always want to point out the gross thing they have done.  The same people who would, rightly, defend Morgan’s celebration or Rapinoe swearing may not know how to react. The problem is in the case of the gross things, they shouldn’t defend the players even if it feels like the Rapinoe and the Morgan thing all over again. 

And that brings us to Christen Press and Rose Lavelle.

Christen Press promoted Barstools brand during the parade in New York City during her Instagram takeover just days after they won it all sends people to the Barstool social media. People who had either never heard of the company or who wouldn’t have followed them before did. It grew their brand.

Rose Lavelle went on their Pardon My Take podcast to “talk about the World Cup, how soccer works, Cincinnati and scoring mad goals” according to Barstool. People who were searching for Lavelle or the USWNT or anything to do with the World Cup may have found and tuned in. They may go back for more episodes. 

The debate about the differences in impact of taking over an Instagram for an hour and being on an episode of a podcast is not one I am interested in having. If you want to say taking over an Instagram is worse, sure, go for it. If you want to say being on a podcast and interacting directly with people who work for the site is worse, fine by me. In the end both are bad. Because Barstool Sports is terrible. And don’t take my word for how bad Barstool Sports is, check out Stop Enabling Barstool’s Shit and Inside Barstool Sports’ Culture of Online Hate: ‘They Treat Sexual Harassment and Cyberbullying as a Game’ if you want a taste of why they are terrible. 

We put more pressure on the USWNT to get things right more than most other female athletes and most female athletes have pressure on them to get things right more than most male athletes. We expect more from them in terms of being role models and giving the perfect quote, the perfect sound bite, the perfect performance in their public lives. It’s not fair to them. It is 100% not fair at all.But they also shouldn’t get passes when they do gross stuff because some men do it too. 

Press and Lavelle working with Barstool Sports is very bad, horrible, no good. There is no way to spin it in a way that it becomes somehow neutral, let alone positive. I want to be clear that we don’t fully know if it was Christen Press or her team or Rose Lavelle or hers that reached out to Barstool or if Barstool reached out to them. USWNT Press Officer On Christen Press’s Barstool Sports Partnership: “Something Seems Amiss!” shows how unclear it all is. But at the end of the day even if the players knew nothing about the site they were connection themselves with, their names are now linked when someone Googles their name. At the end of the day, team or player, the player’s name is the one that is out there.

Women and women of color have a lot of pressure put on them that isn’t fair. But I do not think it is unreasonable to expect them to not work with and promote sites that actively harm and harass others while wrapping what they do is a goof and just for fun. I get the urge from their fans to defend them the way they often have to defend female athletes just being themselves. But working with companies that don’t gleefully harass women isn’t unfair pressure, it is basic respect. 

I’m disappointed in Press and Lavelle as someone who supports the USWNT and who believes in the calls for equal pay and equality the team has been pushing for years at this point. I don’t expect everyone on the team to be Rapinoe or Ali Krieger when it comes to politics but I do expect more than endorsement of sites like Barstool Sports. 

I really do hope they figure out what they did sucks, honestly tell us they are sorry and they do things that suck less in the future. 

Carli Lloyd Unsure of Future

Posted on by Backline Soccer

Amidst the celebration of yet another World Cup victory, US Women’s National team star Carli Lloyd may have given some insight into a potential retirement. She still feels like she is at the top of her game, but sounded displeased by the view of her as being more of a substitute. 

“It’s been a really tough couple of years,” said Lloyd. “It’s not based on my ability and for whatever reasons, coaches made the decision. I tried to put up a good case (to play).”

Lloyd did play a role in the 2019 World Cup victory but it was as a super-substitute off the bench. In all, the former FIFA Women’s Player of the Year only started in one game, a group stage meeting against Chile. She scored twice in that game but was unable to crack the starting line-up for the remainder of the tournament.

Overall, the Women’s National team was stacked with talent unlike ever before. Lloyd’s contributions are certainly not undervalued, but head coach Jill Ellis may not see her as a long term part of the team and played her in that way over the course of this tournament.

Lloyd turns 37 next week but hasn’t shown a significant dip in production. Her efforts with Sky Blue can be attributed to the team’s on and off-field issues but she has produced on the international stage. She has scored three goals despite not being a starter thus far in 2019 and does have hopes of playing in the Olympics next year.

 “I’m going to go home, I’m going to kind of let the emotions die down a little bit, speak to my husband and we’ll go from there.”

While her future may be in doubt, she did express her happiness about the team’s performance in France. She has been a part of two World Cup teams and been a major face for women’s soccer.

“The goal was winning,” said Lloyd. “I’m really proud of this team and proud to be on this roster of 23 players to win another World Cup.”

The Game Changers: Week 12

Posted on by Backline Soccer

The Game Changers is a weekly series looking at the most important results each week. Each section will look at one team and how its win, loss, or draw impacts the season.

Before the U.S. Women’s National Team won their fourth World Cup title on Sunday morning, there was NWSL action on Friday and Saturday nights. As players continue to return from their World Cup teams, the Starting XI’s across the league were beginning to look a little more familiar. And this week’s action was full of goals. Marta scored two goals for the Orlando Pride in their 4-3 victory over the Washington Spirit. Sky Blue managed to find two goals, earning a surprising 2-1 victory over the Chicago Red Stars. But it was Kristen Hamilton who took the prize this week with four goals in North Carolina’s 5-2 win over the Houston Dash. Here is a complete list of results for this week:

North Carolina Courage vs. Houston Dash (5-2)

Portland Thorns vs. Reign FC (0-1)

Chicago Red Stars vs. Sky Blue (1-2)

Orlando Pride vs. Washington Spirit (4-3)

North Carolina Courage look dominant again.

The North Carolina Courage are still missing many of their World Cup stars, including Sam Mewis, Abby Dahlkemper, and Jess McDonald. But that didn’t stop them from putting back five goals on Friday night against the Houston Dash. Without a doubt, Hamilton dominated the night. She scored her first goal in the 5th minute, then tacked on another one in the 18th. Kristie Mewis cut the home team’s lead with a goal of her own in the 24th minutes, but Lynn Willliams came back less than ten minutes later with another goal for North Carolina. Kyah Simon knocked one more back for the Houston Dash in the 43rd minute, so the two team’s went to the half with a scoreline of 3-2. But if the Dash thought Simon’s goal was the beginning of their comeback, they were mistaken. Hamilton scored two more goals in the second half in one of the most impressive individual performances of the season. North Carolina won 5-2. 

The Courage were starting to look a little more vulnerable in May and June, with a couple of draws and even some losses. But in this match they returned to their dominating form for their second win in five matches. Is this the Courage returning to the form we expect from them or just an excellent performance from an individual player? We’ll have to wait and see.

Sky Blue beat the Chicago Red Stars 

Sky Blue earned their first win of the season on Saturday, defeating the Chicago Red Stars 2-1. While the Red Stars created more chances and had more possession, Sky Blue was able to better capitalize on their chances. Raquel Rodriguez scored first for Sky Blue in the 23rd minute, and tacked another goal on in the 81st minute from Jennifer Hoy. Goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan, back from her World Cup stint with Canada, made seven saves for Sky Blue, only allowing one late goal from Danielle Colaprico. Sky Blue earned the victory.

Former head coach Denise Reddy was not the only problem at Sky Blue. But the fact that the players won their first game without her doesn’t quite seem like a coincidence either. Sky Blue has a talented roster that should be performing better than they are. Will the on-the-field problems finally change with Reddy out?

Orlando Pride win in high-scoring match

The Orlando Pride also earned a win in their Saturday match; their second win of the season and their first at home. The goals started early, with Bayley Feist giving the Washington Spirit a 1-0 lead in the 7th minute. The Orlando Pride haven’t had much of a comeback mentality this season, but they equalized in the 21st minute with a goal from Chioma Ubogagu. Just five minutes later, Rachel Hill got her first goal of the season and the Pride were up 2-1. But less than four minutes after that, Chenya Matthews scored for the Spirit and the two teams went to the half with an even 2-2 scoreline. 

Marta clearly wasn’t happy with that, and for the first time this season, we saw the Brazilian attacker step up when her team needed her. Marta scored her first goal in the 48th minute, putting the Pride up 3-2. Then she added on another one in the 78th minute. The Spirit were able to score a stoppage time goal, but it wasn’t enough, and the Pride won. 

Ironically, Marc Skinner wasn’t on the field for this game. Instead, he watched the game from a suite at the stadium and relayed feedback to them at the half. What does it mean when the Pride’s highest scoring win of the season was also played without their head coach? And will the team get better when Alex Morgan, Ali Krieger, and Ashlyn Harris return to the squad? Lots of questions still surround the Pride, but a four-goal game and a win is at least a sign of life.  

The World Cup is Over. Come Watch the NWSL!

Posted on by Backline Soccer

The World Cup is a wonderful event. Once every four years, the whole world collectively watches the best players in the world compete. We watch their triumphs and their failures. And we share it with millions of others all watching together. There is nothing that can replicate that kind of communal experience.

But there’s actually something even better out there: club soccer.

It hasn’t always been true. For most of the history of women’s soccer, ‘clubs’ barely existed at all. They were amateur organizations at best, literally nonexistent at worst. That all changed in the United States in the early 2000s with the arrival of the Women’s United Soccer Association. For three shining years, the biggest stars in the world all played in America. But then the league folded. Things started up again in 2007 with Women’s Professional Soccer. Which also lasted for three years before folding.

So expectations were suitably low when the National Women’s Soccer League started up in 2013. But it has now outlasted the other two leagues combined, and is going strong.

The World Cup comes every four years, but the NWSL is here every week, and the quality is every bit as high as what you’ve been watching at the World Cup. It features all the very best American players, along with many other top players from across the world. Its teams draw big numbers—with Portland the shining jewel bringing in over 16,000 fans per game. The league just signed a sponsorship deal with Budweiser, and reportedly has more deals coming. That influx of cash will help them stabilize and develop. They also just signed a TV deal with ESPN, which will make the league more accessible to casual fans. And those fans will be primed to go, thanks to all the excitement over the World Cup.

And they’re going to get a great show. In terms of talent on the pitch, this is maybe the best league in the world. But for too long, these world class players have been surrounded by a league run on a shoestring budget—under-capitalized, under-marketed, under-supported. But that’s ready to change and you can be a part of it.

Here are five reasons why you should be pumped to watch the NWSL.

The players are world class

Every single player competing for the US in the World Cup plays in the NWSL. If you’ve been enjoying Megan Rapinoe, Rose Lavelle, and Tobin Heath…they all play every week. Not to mention some incredible players who have barely seen minutes, like Jess McDonald, Mallory Pugh, and Morgan Brian.

But this is a truly international league. The NWSL also features Sam Kerr, maybe the best player in the world. And Marta, maybe the best player of all time. Christine Sinclair, who is also in that conversation for GOAT. Debinha, the rising star for Brazil. Abby Erceg from New Zealand. Caitlin Foord, Steph Catley, and Ellie Carpenter from Australia. Yuki Nagasato from Japan. Rachel Daly and Jodie Taylor from England. Raquel Rodríguez from Costa Rica. And these are only a few of the names.

From top to bottom, this is the deepest, highest-quality league in the world. Turn on any random game, and you’re likely to see a genuine superstar, and plenty more players close to that level.

The talent pool is deep

Skim off all fifty-odd players that went to the World Cup, and you’ve still got an incredibly deep pool of talent. That’s a feature of a US developmental structure that generates tens of thousands of high-level players per year, hundreds of whom reach the end of their college careers with the plausible talent to play professionally. It produces a league full of players who have contributed years of high-level performances completely outside of the national team.

If you like Rose Lavelle, you’ll also love Vanessa DiBernardo, who plays for Chicago. Been enjoying Alex Morgan? Check out Lynn Williams on North Carolina. Or Kristen Hamilton, who just scored four goals last night. Or you might just remember Amy Rodriguez, who has been banging them in for Utah. Love Julie Ertz? Take a look at McCall Zerboni. Big fan of Sam Mewis? Andi Sullivan is right there with her. There’s Midge Purce, who’s been on a scoring tear. And Simone Charley who had to fight like mad to make it onto the field, and then delivered the goods when she got there. Like defenders? Take a look at Megan Oyster for Seattle or Amber Brooks for Houston.

Every one of these players has her own story, each of which is worth digging into. Think about how fun it has been to learn the backstories of the US national team players. Then multiply that by ten. 

The league is balanced

In many leagues around the world, the talent is highly concentrated, leaving just a couple teams at the top competing with one another and running roughshod over everyone else. The NWSL isn’t like that. There certainly are better and worse teams—but just look at the table right now. Five teams are within four points at the top, with two more in touching distance.

And it’s not only about the teams at the top. Just last night, the two bottom teams in the league—Orlando Pride and Sky Blue FC—each managed wins over teams far above them in the table.

That’s the way this league goes. Every single game is a battle. There are no pushovers, no easy points. It’s part of why so many prominent international players choose to come here—because they know they’ll be tested in a way that just doesn’t exist anywhere else. 

From a fan’s perspective, it’s also great. It means every game is tense. There might be a favorite and an underdog, but until the game is actually played you can never know if it will hold to form. It’s thrilling stuff, which is setting up to be one for the ages.

The fans are the best

There is something joyful and communal about following this league, even more than following international soccer–where allegiances always carry that weird tinge of nationalism. In the NWSL, there are obviously still fans of given teams, and certainly rivalries–as you would hope for in any good league. But there is a sense of togetherness as well. People are all rooting for each other, because we all know how fragile these things can be.

It can sometimes be daunting to jump into a new hobby or interest. Where do you begin? How do you get up to speed? Will the people who have already been there a long time be welcoming?

The NWSL community does a whole lot to ease those worries. Show up to a game, reach out on twitter, and you’ll get dozens, hundreds of folks who will be thrilled to welcome you in. Who will be happy to share inside jokes and explain references. Who will love nothing more than to share the history of their team, talk about favorite players, or anything else you’d care to discuss.

The NWSL is diverse, in all the best ways

The sports landscape is not especially welcoming to those who fall outside the traditional trope of the sports fan. It can feel alienating for those who aren’t in love with white, hetero, masculine tropes that dominate the sporting world.

The NWSL is a good home for anyone who feels that way. Which certainly doesn’t mean that it’s not a sports league. Despite the best efforts of many involved in marketing the league, this is not simply a home for young girls and their parents. It’s still a fun and raucous place. It’s just that the fun comes from a much wider range of sources.

Look at the crowd at an NWSL game and you’ll see queer people, trans people, men, women, children, people of all colors. And you’ll see supporters groups that work very hard to blend all these elements together to produce an inclusive, exciting environment which is genuinely fun for everyone.

There are very few places like this in our culture. Far too many of our social spaces are controlled by those who are loaded up with cultural advantage. Even if they try to be open and inclusive, the whole structure is still defined by white, male, cishet standards. But come to an NWSL game and you’ll experience what it’s like when those standards aren’t just taken for granted. It’s wonderful.

If you’ve been enjoying the authenticity of players like Megan Rapinoe, who express themselves in thoughtful and considered ways about complicated and important subjects, it’s worth seriously thinking about what kinds of structures make it possible for that sort of engagement. To think about what a difference it makes when many prominent players are queer. When many members of the media are people of color, women, gay, trans, etc. When many of the fans are as well. It all creates a support structure in which people can think about new ways to perform, discuss, and appreciate sports.

The culture of the NWSL–along with leagues like the WNBA and NWHL–is bringing something new and important to the sports landscape of this country. It’s a place where competition doesn’t have to mean abuse. Where tension and passion can flourish without having to be accompanied by exclusion. Where compassion adds to the thrill of victory and tempers the pain of loss.

How to watch

If you live anywhere near one of the markets, go and see a match live. Soccer is so much better in person. But if you’re not near a stadium, the league just announced a TV deal with ESPN, which will air 14 matches on ESPNEWS and ESPN2 over the rest of the season. If you don’t have those in your cable package, you might be able to get them through a streaming service like Sling or YoutubeTV, or you can simply pay for the ESPN+ service.

With matches on TV, you can also stop by your favorite local watering hole and ask them to put the game on. There’s no better way to find other fans and make new friends.

If none of those sound appealing, every other game streams for free at Yahoo Sports or on the Yahoo Sports App. If you live outside the US (or know how to convince your computer that you’re outside the US) you can also stream the games directly from nwslsoccer.com.

The national team players are expected to take a week or two after the conclusion of the World Cup to rejoin their teams. So if you’re excited for their return, you can target the games at the end of July. But every team in the league has plenty of exciting players, even without their US national teamers, so don’t worry too much about it. 

Reign FC and the North Carolina Courage – 1st and 2nd in the league at the moment – meet on Saturday, July 14. It’s going to be a great game, and you should check it out.

Royals Lose: Tactics Are Pointless if You Don’t Execute

Posted on by Backline Soccer

Utah Royals head coach Laura Harvey held nothing back when talking about her team’s 2-0 home loss to Reign FC on Friday. The frustrating performance drops the team into fourth place, allowing the Reign to leap over them in the standings.

“We weren’t good enough from minute one to minute 90,” said Harvey after the game. “We were slow, lethargic and we didn’t have any spark. 

“Tactics are pointless if you don’t execute, and we didn’t even come close to executing.”

Reign FC seemed to have the game well in hand early in the game when they were freely taking shots at the Royals net. Passes out of the back from the Royals seemed lazy and the Seattle players leaped into action on nearly every turnover.

The first goal game in the 30th minute when Jessica Fishlock and Bethany Balcer put on a passing display that lead to a chance. Fishlock was the last one with the ball, shooting past Royals keeper Nicole Barnhart. Fishlock continued to torment the defense later in the half, dribbling through the defense and finding a wide open Ifeoma Onumonu for an easy double.

Royals did little to fight back with Reign FC nearly making it a three goal lead several times in the second half.

“I think, ultimately, we weren’t good enough,” said Royals midfielder Mandy Laddish. “We didn’t fight hard enough, we were spread out, we weren’t connecting passes at all. 

“Sometimes you come out and you just are flat, and I think that’s something that we addressed at halftime, and unfortunately I don’t think we fixed it as well as we’d like.”

The loss is the Royals’ third of the season. Next they will travel to New Jersey to face a winless Sky Blue FC team. It could be the opportunity Harvey and the team need to get back on track heading into the remainder of the campaign.

Sky Blue Fire Head Coach Denise Reddy

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The season only gets darker for Sky Blue FC as they have announced on Twitter the firing of head coach Denise Reddy. The team will begin an external search for a replacement.

Reddy joined Sky Blue in 2017 and has been at the helm for two of the worst professional seasons in recent American soccer history. Last year Sky Blue grabbed just one win, coming on the last day of the season, and finished with a record of 1-17-6. This year they have started equally bad with no wins through the first nine games.

All of this has happened despite bringing in US Women’s National team legend Carli Lloyd. While her contributions have certainly diminished when compared to her earlier work, she was meant to be a mentor to younger players such as Julie James and Raquel Rodriguez. Instead frustration has boiled over with ownership and off-the-field issues such as poor training conditions taking over most of the discussion.

Reddy herself had quite a resume before joining the team. She coached in the W-League with Jersey Sky Blue and the Chicago Red Stars before jumping to Europe with Vittsjo GIK and Linkopings FC in Sweden. She returned to the newer NWSL in 2016 as an assistant coach with the Washington Spirit and then as the head coach with Sky Blue in 2017. 

What may have appeared to be a chance to get in on the ground floor with a young team quickly turned sour with little hope of getting better. Reddy coached through the diminishing fan base, awful press and lack of resources. In the end, the results weren’t just bad but some of the worst possible. Now she steps aside with little news on who will be the replacement.

Interest in the job is more than likely at an all-time low. The team will more than likely look within the league for an option but there is a possibility that more news is imminent that could involve far more than just changes to the coaching staff.

Sky Blue Continues Journey to Invisibility with Bumbling Loss to Orlando

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It hasn’t been easy for Sky Blue FC and it got that much harder after a 2-1, self-inflicted, loss to Orlando City on Saturday. A handball and own-goal are how the Pride scored their goals, leaving the New Jersey crew to wonder if luck is also against them in yet another disastrous season.

“I’m going to give a lot of credit to Sky Blue,” said Orlando head coach Marc Skinner after the game. “I knew they were going to be dangerous, that’s why we paid them respect and sat deeper and didn’t let them have the spaces because I think they’re pretty good.”

Sky Blue wasn’t lifeless in this game. Jen Hoy had the game’s first opportunity in the ninth minute but Orlando goalkeeper Haley Kopmeyer was more than up to the task. Later on in the game, when trailing, lazy defense opened up an opportunity for Hoy to feed Raquel Rodriguez at the top of the box. The shot was saved by Hopmeyer who all but kept Sky Blue from their first win of the season.

Both of Orlando’s goals came from defensive mistakes. The first in the 32nd minute when Elizabeth Eddy threw her body in front of a shot which deflected and hit her arm. The referee made the call, awarded a penalty kick and was converted by Chioma Ubogagu. The second came late in the contest when a cross from Marisa Viggano deflected off of Gina Lewandowski for an own-goal.

Orlando escaped New Brunswick with their first win of the season and leave Sky Blue in a darker place with no answers to their dismal play. Next is a trip to Chicago on July 6th where Sky Blue will play a Red Stars team that has their sights set on leaping into playoff contention.