This power ranking is not reactionary.
This power ranking takes outside factors like weather and injuries into account.
It has bias—yours when you read it and mine when I wrote it.
Enjoy it.
It will soon change.
Soccer is a beautiful game.
Eleven people suit up on either side of the ball with about half trying to get the ball into the net and another half trying to keep it out. There are heroes and villains that make themselves known over the course of a few minutes or a match or a career. There is glory and heartbreak that can happen with a single strike of the ball.
A well-played soccer match is like watching Michelangelo working on carving David out of stone as the minutes tick by. It’s masterful.
Sometimes the things that the women’s soccer media world is tasked to cover are not beautiful. That doesn’t mean it’s not worthwhile. It’s important to write about a club doing horrible things to their players. Breaking down top tier rosters and trying to figure out who stays and who goes when it comes to major events is the kind of analytic backbone that helps fans learn and grow. Serious pieces to help try and create flesh on a skeleton. But that doesn’t leave a lot of time to write about the joy or the mastery of skill or the fun of it all.
One of the issues for women’s soccer is that there just aren’t that many pieces written about it, aren’t that many media covering it, isn’t that much brain power thinking about it. Which means that oftentimes the people who would be writing pieces about that joy, that mastery, have to break news and write about the big tough problems. They can’t write about the fun stuff because those stories feel a little trivial when there are bigger fish to fry. Sometimes the fish don’t even have to be bigger. They just need some fish, any fish, to be there. Much of the media that is unpaid or under paid does the work that the major media would usually do.
There isn’t wall to wall coverage of the NWSL draft on par with the NFL or NBA draft, not even on par with the MLS draft. Games are not broken down on ESPN week in and week out. Scores aren’t even recapped on most daily sports shows. It’s the job of the small collection of media to handle the basic logistics of covering the league because no one else does it.
Think about how many pieces a typical person who covers the NWSL or USWNT puts out in a year. How much time do they have to devote to just simply covering the basics of the sport? After all, they know if they don’t do it, probably no one else will. So instead writing more fun or experimental or cerebral pieces, this is what they’re stuck with.
With that in mind, I want to give a shoutout to Stephanie Yang, who wrote a wrote a really nice piece, “NWSL teams as Avengers.” It was refreshing not because it was about the Avengers and sports, right before a huge Avengers movie comes out, and because it was just fun. Yang is one of the more prolific people when it comes to covering American women’s soccer. She writes plenty of the basic stuff that just has to get done. But she also writes things with humor, wit and story crafting, and those are the ones that really sing.
Another example: Andrew Sharp at The Maneland had a great piece called Twitter Reacts to NWSL’s Newest Style Icon Marc Skinner that went in to some of the great media content that Orlando Prde has been putting out about their new coach.
Even I’ve gotten in to the act writing a preview of the Utah Royal’s roster by turning them in to a Quidditch team and talking about each player when I wrote Utah Royals QC Roster is Magical for RSL Soapbox.
I really do believe one of the impediments to non-fans becoming casual fans and casual fans becoming devoted fans is that women’s soccer sometimes feels like homework. It isn’t always easy to just engage for the fun of it, when you have to work hard to find sources. If your local site covers the team at all, it’s probably mostly negative stuff, or serious stories. And where’s the fun in that?
It’s a common problem around women’s sports. With less coverage, every word matters more. Things need to be covered and we cover them well. But it also means we’re so worried about putting the shots on frame we’ve lost sight of the beauty of it all.
Men’s soccer, men’s sports, can be fun. They can just be sports and no one raises an eyebrow. Women’s sports are important and serious and necessary and groundbreaking. But they should be fun too.
The Game Changers is a weekly series looking at the three most important results of each week. Each section will look at one team and how its win, loss, or draw impacts the season.
Week Three in the NWSL saw the strongest teams begin to separate themselves from the rest of the pack. The North Carolina Courage earned another dominating win, and the Utah Royals earned another 1-0 victory to give them two wins in their first two matches. Meanwhile, Sky Blue came to life against Portland and Orlando suffered their third loss in four matches. Here is a full breakdown of the scores:
Orlando Pride vs. Utah Royals (0-1)
Chicago Red Stars vs. Reign FC (3-0)
Sky Blue FC vs. Portland Thorns (2-2)
Houston Dash vs. North Carolina Courage (1-4)
Chicago Red Stars dominate Reign FC
The Chicago Red Stars started the year with draws against the top-two teams from last season. They accomplished things few teams could last year: they scored four goals against the Portland Thorns and earned a point on the road in Cary, North Carolina. While these were good games for the Red Stars, it wasn’t clear if they could turn these games into long-term success.
Week Three might be too early to decide who is and is not a playoff contender. But this three goal victory against last year’s No. 3 team lifted the Chicago Red Stars into the top tier of the NWSL. Their attack benefited from poor defense by the Reign, but even so, they have scored eight goals in their first three matches. It’s not clear how much the World Cup will impact their squad, but they seem poised to take less of a hit than other top teams.
With this win, the Chicago Red Stars have grabbed our attention. We’ll see if they can keep themselves in that top tier.
Sky Blue Draws Against Portland
Sky Blue had two losses in their first two games and failed to score a goal in either match. Many people went into Sunday’s game assuming they would get blown out by the Portland Thorns, who were averaging three goals a game. Instead, Carli Lloyd opened up scoring in the sixth minute. Sky Blue had their first goal of the season and an early lead over the Portland Thorns.
In the end, Lloyd found the back of the net one more time before Emily Sonnett and Tobin Heath scored within two minutes of each other. Even though Sky Blue only managed a draw in this match, getting their first points of the season against one of the strongest teams in the league is meaningful to this Sky Blue side. We’ve been searching for signs of life in 2019 after Sky Blue had a disastrous 2018. While they’re still waiting for their first win, this game showed that Sky Blue can compete. And the gap between them and other clubs will get even tighter as other teams lose massive chunks of their roster to the World Cup.
Houston takes a tough loss to North Carolina
Houston was– and still is– a big question mark for the 2019 season. It felt like a good step forward when they didn’t lose to Reign FC, even though they gave up a late PK. They scored a late winner against Sky Blue, despite not having their best game. But their less-than-stellar performances caught up with them against North Carolina, who made them pay for their mistakes with four goals against them.
Houston is teetering between a playoff team and a middle-of-the-pack team. There is no shame in losing to North Carolina, but Houston was completely dominated for most of the second half. With a new head coach, they’re likely still finding their footing. This match has the opportunity to be a wake-up call for Houston, but it may also be a sign that they’re still short of that top-level.
You may not have noticed, because Sky Blue FC is in their unfortunately usual form, but Kailen Sheridan is playing incredibly well. The superhuman goalkeeper for Sky Blue did everything humanly possible last week against the Houston Dash to keep her team in the game, only to have her own defense produce the play that led to their second consecutive loss in 2019.
Sheridan, a Canadian international, joined Sky Blue in 2017 and has made 20-plus appearances in each season she has played. Despite the team not being incredibly competitive over that stretch, she has proven herself to be an asset and finally made her way into the international first team in 2018 following an injury to Erin McLeod.
For an example of the difficulty Sheridan faced this past weekend, the Dash had 19 total shots with 11 of them on goal. She parried all but one, which was a result of a defensive error in the final 10 minutes. Sheridan was able to stop the one-on-one attempt but her own defense deflected a Sofia Huerta shot into the net. Despite showing an ability to stop just about everything else before this, was unprepared to have to stop her own team’s chances as well.
The frustration showed on Sheridan’s face. Sky Blue has mustered little offensively and the team’s best player, Carli Lloyd, missed a penalty earlier in the game that would have at least seen Sky Blue share the points.
Sheridan has played too well to be left in obscurity like this. Continuing to play on a team that has been ravaged both on and off the field may hurt her future chances as a starting keeper for the Canadian National team.
For now she will need to continue as a force for futility and hope that Sky Blue match her intensity in the games to come to dig themselves out of a situation that started some time ago
Charles Olney (@olneyce): Welcome to our Backline for week 3 of the NWSL season. The US National Team players will be leaving the league now for a few months So before saying goodbye to them for awhile, let’s discuss whose stock has risen or fallen the most based on the first three weeks.
Given that the coach is Jill Ellis, the most likely answer is probably ‘these games literally didn’t matter’ but let’s assume that they are paying attention and do care.
RJ Allen (@TheSoccerCritic): I think Christen Press has been playing really solid in the two matches for Utah and in her time on the pitch I’ve been impressed by Casey Short too.
Those two really stand out to me right now.
Luis Hernandez (@radioactivclown): Jill Ellis treats NWSL as her own personal version of Whose Line Is It Anyways where the results don’t matter for her.
Charles Olney: I think we all assume that what happened in these few games will have little to no importance in who actually starts in June. But while Alex Morgan is the almost-guaranteed center forward, she’s probably had the worst start of any US striker.
Luis Hernandez: Can we just say that any USWNT player who wears purple at the club level is glad to be in red, white, and blue now?
Charles Olney: I think that’s fair, Luis.
RJ Allen: There are a few in red and blue that might be glad to hear out to the US camp too.
Charles Olney: Emily Sonnett has looked pretty shaky.
Luis Hernandez: Minor knock to Harris, Morgan is a pass first, shoot second striker, and well I don’t know what to say for Ali Krieger
Charles Olney: If we all agree that fullback and central midfield are two of the key possible locations where decisions were still getting made, I think I’d say Casey Short made a strong case for herself. And that Andi Sullivan and McCall Zerboni didn’t do anything to hurt her case, while Allie Long didn’t do anything to help.
Luis Hernandez: Accurate.
Charles Olney: Morgan Brian has played really well, in limited minutes. Given what was reported last month, I definitely don’t think that will matter. But if there’s a surprise later this week, that’s probably why.
Luis Hernandez: I would consider Jane Campbell based on her performance with PKs.
Allison Cary (@findingallison): I think all of the US keepers have looked a little shaky to start the NWSL season.
RJ Allen: I don’t think it matters how good or bad the backup goalkeepers are at PKs. They will not play.
RJ Allen: Ellis is never going to sub Naeher for PKs.
Luis Hernandez: Ellis isn’t going to make a late match sub with PKs looming?
RJ Allen: There is no chance of that.
Charles Olney: I would be shocked if she made that move. Doesn’t feel like an Ellis thing.
Allison Cary: Yeah, I agree.
Charles Olney: And it’s not like Campbell had demonstrated exceptional skills. These were mostly just terrible penalties. Still takes work to save them, but I’d hesitate to read anything predictive into it.
RJ Allen: In a fair world Barnhart goes as the third goalkeeper but that ship is so far out to sea you can’t see it anymore.
Charles Olney: I guess I’d also say that players like Heath and Dunn and Sauerbrunn continue to be very very good. There’s not really any room to raise their stock, but they’ve been excellent.
RJ Allen: Dunn is the hardest of those three. Because her role for the US and her role for North Carolina are so disconnected. Ellis just doesn’t want Dunn in the attack and that’s where she’s most useful.
Charles Olney: It’s bizarre that the best (or second-best, given Sam Kerr) attacking player in the league will be playing fullback, but…here we are.
Luis Hernandez: I wish Horan and Pinoe hadn’t miss so much league time.
RJ Allen: That seems to have been not totally in their control. Seems to be Ellis wanting them to once they had knocks.
Luis Hernandez: I get it. Protect them in bubble wrap but still. There’s something to be said about playing to stay in form.
Charles Olney: Sure, but it’s a month and a half before the tournament starts. Any form from April will be long gone by then either way.
RJ Allen: They are going into a camp that is 2 weeks longer than it should be. I doubt one game for club is going to change much.
Charles Olney: *Jinx
RJ Allen: I’ll buy you a Coke.
Charles Olney: Alright, turning the question around slightly. We’ve talked about the players who will be leaving. But what about the teams that will have to operate without them? Who is going to be hurt the most by the departure of the national teamers? Who will be helped the most, relatively?
Luis Hernandez: I think it helps Sky Blue and Houston.
Allison Cary: I think it hurts Chicago and Portland.
RJ Allen: Orlando, Chicago, Portland and North Carolina feel the most impacted based on the first few weeks when you take the National Teamers out.
Luis Hernandez: Hurts everyone else but the Courage keep winning
Charles Olney: Chicago seems like the biggest question mark. I actually think they may come out of this far stronger than you’d expect, simply because they have 3-4 bubble players, all of whom are likely to stay.
It’s certainly a question is whether they can restructure the attack to deal with the absence of Sam Kerr (that’s a big absence!), but with DiBernardo, Colaprico, Brian, Nagasato, Johnson, etc. they’ve got a lot of quality.
RJ Allen: Dames is a coach who can tinker pretty well. And shovel. He is a good with a shovel.
Charles Olney: I saw some speculation this weekend that the Reign might actually benefit from losing Taylor. I don’t subscribe to the point of view that Taylor is a liability, by any means, but it will at least force them to think about different ways to set up, which could be helpful.
RJ Allen: I’m worried about the Reign just in general.
Allison Cary: Whatever they’re doing now, it’s not working.
Luis Hernandez: Taylor right now is absolutely not a liability for the Reign. I know teams like Orlando focused on her.
Charles Olney: We haven’t mentioned Utah. Obviously, they’re going to take a hit to the backline, and will lose the only player who has created a goal for them so far. But otherwise, they may be alright?
Allison Cary: I think Utah will be okay.
RJ Allen: I think they end up staying in that 2 or 3 spot. I’ve been thinking a lot lately because of my work with RSL Soapbox and they have some good depth in places. Having Laddish back may be huge.
Charles Olney: I think the last two years took a tiny bit of the shine off the Laura Harvey hype train, but this year will be the real test. As you say, they’ve got a lot of good pieces, and I feel pretty good about her ability to get it all clicking.
RJ Allen: Not having Kim Little on your team makes your team not as good.
Luis Hernandez: I think the time without national team players is going to allow the Dash to climb into the playoff race.
RJ Allen: I do not know if I believe that. I would like to, but Canadians and Daly are a huge part of that team.
Charles Olney: Alright, that’s a nice way to transition into the discussion of this weekend’s games. Because I’m curious what people thought about the Houston-North Carolina match. To me, it was evidence that Clarkson might still have a ways to go before he quite settles in. But I could make an alternative case that he wanted to give his team a shot to really go for it, and they’ll build off the lessons they learned. Thoughts?
RJ Allen: Playing North Carolina is hard.
Charles Olney: It is indeed. And that’s potentially an argument for the second option. If you figure that you’re probably going to lose no matter what, why not give it a shot.
But I also think it’s basically suicidal to leave yourself that open to North Carolina and not to really adjust during the game, as things started to break down.
They had a really good start. But after the opening 15 or 20 minutes, that games was only going one way.
Allison Cary: I admittedly didn’t get to watch it, but based on that and how they looked in their win of Sky Blue, I think they’re on shaky ground.
Luis Hernandez: I get that for sure, but going forward Ohai and Huerta can be a real difference. Nairn is a bit inconsistent for me. Losing to the Courage. There’s no shame in that. (edited)
RJ Allen: The first month of the season is basically preseason in terms of the play. I do think Houston can do well but it’s a long road.
Charles Olney: It felt a lot like many of the other new coaches, who struggle to get just quite how intense the league can be. But Clarkson also has a lot more familiarity with the team, so might be able to get over that hump quicker than some others.
Luis Hernandez: He should be able to get Houston properly adjusted to bounce back against Orlando.
Charles Olney: I don’t have much else to add about North Carolina. They’re ridiculously good. Crystal Dunn has been even better than her high standards. The fullbacks are excellent. The forwards are excellent. Zerboni and Mewis are absurd together. The center backs have been a little shakier than usual, but it doesn’t really matter.
So, moving onto some of the more contentious games, what about Orlando-Utah?
Luis Hernandez: Here we go.
RJ Allen: Orlando is a bad soccer team. They are not a well constructed roster and it shows. I think Skinner has interesting thoughts but that doesn’t always win games.
Allison Cary: I was amazed at the lack of urgency to score. It felt like Ubogagu was the only one who cared, and then they pulled her.
Charles Olney: They were better in this game than against North Carolina. Maybe on par with how they played the Reign. Which is to say: they’re nowhere close to a Breakers 2016 or Sky Blue 2018 situation. But they’re also nowhere close to the late-2017 Orlando Pride, which people expect them to be.
RJ Allen: Barnhart has the fountain of youth in her basement.
Charles Olney: She’s been so great. It’s been a real joy to watch her.
Luis Hernandez: She should let Marta have a drink. Because I haven’t seen much from Marta so far this year.
RJ Allen: Marta looks like she is starting to move past her prime. It is a sad fact Father Time is undefeated.
Charles Olney: There have been flashes, but it’s clear she’s declined. Which makes me very sad. It had to happen eventually, but I would have liked another couple years.
Allison Cary: Yeah, she’s hardly done anything this season.
Charles Olney: She’s still only 33, so it’s actually a little surprising that there’s no more in the tank. That said, she’s played a LOT of minutes over the years. And age hits people differently.
RJ Allen: I am interested to see how Kopmeyer plays this year.
Charles Olney: Yeah, she got the chance a week early with that late Harris scratch, and made a mess of the Press goal. But I think she’ll settle in well and have a good year.
Allison Cary: I think she got better throughout that game.
Luis Hernandez: Agreed. She should have handled the goal better though.
Charles Olney: That goal combined a bit of pure technical magic, with Press bringing the ball down as perfectly as a human could do it, with a pretty weak shot that only went in because of some of the worst goalkeeping you’re likely to see.
Allison Cary: That pretty much sums it up.
Luis Hernandez: Kop said postgame that it took a deflection
RJ Allen: It’s going to be a shame when Press plays like 200 minutes in the World Cup.
Charles Olney: Any other thoughts on that game, or can we talk about the snowpocalypse in Chicago?
RJ Allen: Why is their snow in the last weekend in April?
Allison Cary: I don’t understand how people live in cold places.
Luis Hernandez: Did they have an orange ball?
Charles Olney: They did!
Luis Hernandez: I’m actually shocked
Charles Olney: I’m glad they called it. Seems like they probably could have made the decision earlier. But it’s better than some previous late decision-making, so I’ll take it. As for the game, we’ve all already expressed our worries about the Reign. Any specific thoughts on the game?
RJ Allen: The Reign need Pinoe back and they will not have her for months.
Charles Olney: I suppose I should tilt against the windmills for a moment and point out that Nagasato actually had a pretty poor game, by her standards. She scored a goal on an open net, and provided an assist to Casey Short who was (I’ve done the calculations) more open than any other soccer player has ever been in human history. But otherwise, she was pretty off for a lot of the game. So obviously she was voted player of the week.
RJ Allen: To be fair, and I’ll take the blame, she was my number one this week.
Luis Hernandez: I didn’t think she should have won it
RJ Allen: She is a very fun player to watch and some of that masks when she has a bad game. So blame me.
Charles Olney: I prefer to blame the entire world.
Allison Cary: It’s more fun.
Luis Hernandez: As much of a fair system as goal and save of the week
Charles Olney: I guess the one other thing I’ll add about the game is that I actually thought it was a lot closer than the final scoreline, and I’m less worried about the Reign than many folks. The Short goal was a disaster, but Vlatko will fix the defensive positioning. And they need to get more creativity. But they weren’t really that bad.
Luis Hernandez: I’m not sure coaching is going to be enough for the Reign.
Charles Olney: Alright, the last game of the weekend was the 2-2 draw between Sky Blue and Portland. Good result for New Jersey? Bad result for Portland?
RJ Allen: My official professional break down of this game: lol
Allison Cary: Good result for Sky Blue, IMO. It was an important sign of life.
Charles Olney: I tweeted this yesterday, but the main thing I want to say is that we (and I definitely mean ‘we’ because I’m a big offender here) spend too much time complaining about the annoying aspects of the Carli Lloyd experience, and not nearly enough time marveling at what she can do.
Luis Hernandez: I think RJ nailed it by saying Carli Lloyd FC.
RJ Allen: Carli Lloyd in a vacuum is an amazing thing to behold.
Charles Olney: As RJ said, Father Time is undefeated, but Carli sure seems like she’s going to fight him to the very death. And probably give him a swift kick in the junk on the way out the door.
RJ Allen: She has looking in to hiring a hit man.
Charles Olney: From the Portland perspective, should they be worried about the defense leaking so many goals? Or will it get sorted out once Menges comes back?
RJ Allen: I think Menges helps but Sonnett is likely gone.
Luis Hernandez: As for Portland, I think it could be a preview of what’s to come this summer.
RJ Allen: I think the first game they play in the NNT (non national teamers) era is going to be very important mentally.
Allison Cary: Yeah, it’s… not good.
Charles Olney: I’m not too worried for them. But I think they’d be much happier to be going into that NNT era with a couple more points in the bag.
RJ Allen: All in all I think they make the playoffs but they aren’t as strong as the last two years.
Allison Cary: Yeah, I’m not worried about them falling off a cliff or anything.
Luis Hernandez: When is the first home game for the Thorns?
RJ Allen: September. (I’m kidding)
Charles Olney: Okay, taking a step back from the analysis of the action, can we talk about the product a little bit? We’ve seen a bunch of the national team players drop Hulu sponsorship videos, and we’ve seen a whole host of ridiculous gifs released by US soccer. Meanwhile, North Carolina is putting together a Star Wars event (in which they portray themselves as the dark side?). Houston had some puppies on the pitch. They now sell beer at Reign games. Any thoughts about any of those things?
RJ Allen: Did y’all know Hulu has live games? And some players are very bad at making ads they themselves have to write? And Becky is (naturally) very good?
Allison Cary: Selling beer and adding puppies are always good developments.
Charles Olney: Controversial!
Allison Cary: I’m willing to die on this hill.
RJ Allen: North Carolina knows who they are by making themselves the dark side. #Underdogs
Allison Cary: “Yeah, lets do a Star Wars event, only lets be the fascists”
Charles Olney: Yeah, the Courage leaning into being the Empire is pretty on point. But I endorse it. Know yourself.
Allison Cary: The Spirit are doing a Star Wars night too, although what exactly that entails I’m not sure.
RJ Allen: The Spirit are Squibs.
RJ Allen: I know, I know mixing fandoms.
Luis Hernandez: I appreciate how well Orlando is embracing the new supporter group. Huge improvement over last year.
Charles Olney: For the most part, I’m not the audience for this kind of stuff. I don’t care about special theme nights (other than pride nights – more pride nights please!) or goofy announcements. But even grumpy old me can see how much fun some of these things are.
Charles Olney: One other final thought before we finish up: I just wanted to throw out there how much I enjoyed getting Jen Cooper, Poppy Miller, and Dan Lauletta on the broadcasts.
RJ Allen: Yes. It was nice to have some different voices this week. And stats. So many good stats.
I’m excited for the end of the week when we can finally have the USWNT roster and the endless speculation can be done.
Luis Hernandez: I’m glad for a Friday night match and only one Sunday match. Now we need a staggered start on Saturday to be perfect.
RJ Allen: Yeah the league has done a lot of starting games at the same time this year.
Luis Hernandez: And that’s just annoying
Allison Cary: Agreed.
Charles Olney: I know they have to worry mostly about what’s the best time for maximizing attendance and when they can use the stadium, and honestly that should be the priority. But I certainly appreciate when games are staggered.
RJ Allen: Also good work on the league and Chicago to get that game on air and not make it closed door.
Charles Olney: True. In previous years that has often not been the case.
Alright, that’s a wrap for this week. Thanks to everyone for joining us. Now go and enjoy all those preposterous USWNT gifs!
The Game Changers is a weekly series looking at the three most important results of each week. Each section will look at one team and how its win, loss, or draw impacts the season.
Week Two of the NWSL season has come and gone. The Utah Royals played their first match of 2019 in front of a crowd of 18,000 at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday night. The North Carolina Courage reminded everyone why they are the best in the league on Wednesday with a 5-0 win over the Orlando Pride. And the wildest match of the season so far unfolded in Chicago on Saturday, with a combined total of eight goals scored in 90 minutes. Here’s a breakdown of the week’s results:
North Carolina Courage vs. Orlando Pride (5-0)
Chicago Red Stars vs. Portland Thorns (4-4)
Sky Blue vs. Houston Dash (0-1)
Utah Royals vs. Washington Spirit (1-0)
Reign FC vs. Orlando Pride (1-1)
The Chicago Red Stars Raise the Bar In 4-4 Draw
It may have been fair to assume the match between the Portland Thorns and the Chicago Red Stars on Saturday afternoon would be fun. But no one could have predicted the madness that ensued at Chicago’s home opener. The game had everything except defense: a hat trick by Christine Sinclair, two penalty kicks, and Sam Kerr scoring on a crazy play.
This match feels significant for the Chicago Red Stars. The club seemed to be hovering around the No. 4 or No. 5 spot in everyone’s predictions, as though they will either just make the playoffs or just miss them. With this draw, Chicago showed that they can keep up with the top-level teams. They showed a new determination that might not have been there at this time last season. Chicago worked hard for that draw, and they earned it, courtesy of a 90th minute goal from Yuki Nagasato.
Chicago may only have two points right now, but they have a lot to be happy about. They faced the top two teams from last year in their first two games and managed to walk away with a solid result. With this draw, the Chicago Red Stars announced that they’re here to play: and they can hang with the best of them.
Sky Blue looks bad in 0-1 loss to Houston
Sky Blue had a chance to ease into the season, but already, things aren’t looking good. They lost their season opener 2-0 to the Washington Spirit and this week, dropped their home opener to the Houston Dash. Everything in this match seemed to go wrong for Sky Blue, including a missed penalty kick from Carli Lloyd and a last-minute goal from Sofia Huerta that ultimately lost them the match.
While Sky Blue created chances, they were few and far between. They’re still looking for their first goal of the season. Houston had the advantage in almost every stats category except for saves and clearances. The only real positive of the night was goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan, who kept the loss a modest 1-0 when the Dash could have easily scored three or four goals.
Sky Blue started the season off against two teams that were in the bottom half of the table last season. Next week, they’ll host the Portland Thorns, who scored four goals against Alyssa Naeher on Saturday and two more against Ashlyn Harris the week before. After that, they’ll travel to North Carolina to take on the Courage, who also have six goals in their first two games. What Sky Blue’s loss to Houston confirmed was that despite their offseason efforts, they’re still as bad as they were last year. It’s gonna be another long season in New Jersey.
Orlando Pride show signs of life in 1-1 draw against Reign FC
It wasn’t an easy start to the season for the Orlando Pride, and it wasn’t a good one either. After opening their season against the Portland Thorns last Sunday, they traveled to Cary, North Carolina for a midweek match against the Courage before continuing on to Tacoma for a weekend match. After the match against the Courage, things were starting to look bad. The Pride had conceded seven goals in their first two matches and scored none. There were excuses: the Pride were missing some of their starters against Portland, they were playing the top two teams in the league by 2018’s standards, etc. But the Pride looked lifeless in their first two match. It felt like they were standing on the edge of the cliff, looking down at the long season ahead of them.
But on Sunday, the Pride revived. They still didn’t look fantastic against Reign FC, but they looked better and managed to get their first points of the season out of that match. They took an early lead thanks to a bicycle kick from Alanna Kennedy, giving the Pride their first goal of the season in the 6th minute. It took Reign FC about 15 minutes to equalize, and from that point on, both teams searched for the game-winning goal with no success.
The Pride have a lot of problems on the pitch. They aren’t aggressive enough in the final third, their defense has been non-existent, and their midfield is all over the place. But on Sunday, they showed that they can get a result against a quality side. They might be long shots for the playoffs, but they haven’t quite jumped off the cliff yet.
Warning:
This power ranking is not reactionary.
This power ranking takes outside factors like weather and injuries into account.
It has bias—yours when you read it and mine when I wrote it.
Enjoy it.
It will soon change.
I want to talk about a small moment from one of this weekend’s NWSL games. It happened at 67:30 in the Chicago-Portland game, when Christine Sinclair sent a ball over the top for Portland. It bounced freely toward the Chicago box, while Chicago defender Casey Short tried to send it away. But she whiffed her attempted clearance, putting Portland’s Tobin Heath clear in on goal. The shot was saved, but it was a clear error by Short (who otherwise had an excellent game).
There were some mitigating factors. It was a windy day, which had been wreaking havoc with everyone’s timing all day. And it’s not the easiest thing in the world to time a kick on a ball that’s moving away from you, particularly when you know you have one of the world’s best players on your shoulder. Still, this was a mistake from Short, and potentially a very dangerous one.
But when the replay was shown a few seconds later, Lori Lindsey provided the following commentary: “A fantastic ball over the top. So difficult for Casey Short to clear. Can’t get a foot on it, and mistimes it.”
It was a nice ball. But it certainly wasn’t difficult for Short. Even with the mitigating factors, this was a fairly standard clearance, and one that Short would expect herself to execute every time. So why did Lindsey call it “so difficult”?
Now, I don’t want to harp too much on one quick comment made in the spur of the moment. And if this were an isolated case, I’d think nothing of it. But it’s not an isolated case. Listen to discussions of Sky Blue, which constantly discuss their terrible luck, but not their mismanagement and tactical naïveté. Or discussions of Orlando, which emphasize their great mentality and spirit, but casually omit the long periods when they seem unmotivated or uninterested. Or look to discussions of specific players, whose strengths are constantly emphasized but whose weaknesses are omitted. In short, watch any game, and the ratio of positive comments to negative comments will be astronomical. Failures are excused, while successes are hyped. And the result is a discussion that feels relentlessly, oppressively optimistic.
Now, in a young league, in a sport that doesn’t get mainstream coverage, which is still trying to build an audience, it’s certainly tempting to talk this way. Why discuss the negatives? Why not spin everything as positively as it can be spun? But it’s a mistake, for two big reasons.
First, it’s disrespectful to the players. These are professional athletes, of the highest quality. They demand extraordinary things of themselves. To wave away their mistakes, to minimize their flaws, is paternalistic. It suggests that they need boosters, rather than honest commentary. Obviously, that shouldn’t descend into cruelty or attacks. But it’s absolutely possible to provide generous commentary which is also fair and accurate. It does no one any favors to pretend they are flawless.
Second, it’s an evasion of responsibility to the viewers. People tune in expecting the commentators to provide analysis and context. If what they get instead is relentless boosterism, they will not be informed, nor will they gain any new understanding. The point of providing expert commentary is that it can add depth and nuance. That means being willing to accurately describe failures as well as successes.
I certainly don’t want conversations to be entirely negative. Part of what makes sports great is the way they allow us to tap into a sense of unbridled excitement and even a little unreasonable optimism. People enjoy that sense of hope and possibility that unfolds with each new game. We appreciate that, on any given day, the worst team might beat the best or an unheralded player might overcome a superstar.
If broadcasts and commentary want to hype up that potential, that’s all for the better. The NWSL is an exciting league where everything feels possible. Discussing it shouldn’t feel like a grim march of cataloguing errors, tallying up failures, and calculating probabilities. But if everything is positive all the time, there will be no sense of shade or proportion. And that ultimately will only dull the edge of the excitement. In order for the magic to feel truly exceptional, it needs to be balanced by the mundane.
So tell the full story. Don’t shy away from describing failure. Do provide context, but don’t make excuses. Respect the players enough to hold them up to the standards they set for themselves. Respect the audience enough to tell them the truth.
If fans of Sky Blue FC were hoping for a spark to distract from the off-season craziness they didn’t get it on Saturday when the team dropped two second half goals to the Washington Spirit in a 2-0 loss. The game was eerily similar to many of their 2019 games where the midfield was erratic and chances at goal were few.
Not too much blame can be put on head coach Denise Reddy. Her team had difficulty signing draft picks in the and the constant state of flux around the team may be making it impossible to stay focused on soccer. However, the tactics could have been altered against a Washington team that had their own problems in 2018. Instead it was much the same as Sky Blue suffered from mental lapses at key moments of the game.
“There are so many things that are different,” said Washington Spirit captain Andi Sullivan when describing the week one winners. “So many new faces, coaching staff is different, everything is different. So on the field, it feels like a totally different team and it’s a fresh start.”
That quote may sting both fans and players on Sky Blue who see many of the same issues from 2018. Washington made significant stride to avoid their horrid campaign, yet Sky Blue seems to be on the trajectory towards another disappointing run.
It is just week one. However it is difficult to separate the issues of last year from what plagued the team on the field against the Spirit on Saturday. In fact, it could be stated that Sky Blue has adopted many of DC’s issues quite literally. Three out of the five players brought in this off-season where from the Spirit last year.
Going into this week’s game against Houston, Sky Blue’s home opener, the search for progress will be paramount. A result of some kind would be optimal but a sense of growth and optimism is what is sorely needed.
Houston and the Reign met this weekend for an enthralling and exciting game, which saw a lot of fast-paced play, some impressive performances on both sides, and more than a few mistakes. For a game that was a joy to watch, the key moments unfortunately often had more to do with errors than with execution. The key drama came at the end, with a penalty earned, and saved, in literally the final minute of the game. But for this article, I want to focus less on the goals and controversies and more on how the teams set themselves up. In each case, there are fascinating lessons to learn about how these two strong teams will play in 2019.
Houston set up very similar to their approach from 2018, in a 4-3-3, with three central midfielders trying to occupy the middle, two wingers trying to cover some significant defensive responsibilities while also getting forward to spread the opposition’s defensive line, and with play often going through Rachel Daly at the tip of the spear.
However, as the first half began to unfold, there was also some crucial differences. First, Houston pressed more aggressively here than they ever had the previous year. For a Reign team hoping to settle into the game by building out slowly, it was a nightmare, with orange shirts constantly interfering and disrupting play.
Second, new additions Sophie Schmidt and Christine Nairn provided precisely the kind of bite and positional awareness that Houston was desperately missing in their previous campaign. Schmidt in particular shined in this game, constantly clogging up passing channels, stepping forward to disrupt play and intercept passes, and making measured forward runs when the situation called for it. Her performance was a perfect example of how installing a solid gyroscope in the holding role can stabilize the entire team’s structure. And while Nairn was slightly less involved, her presence was also crucial. She had a knack for always seeming to be in the right place, receiving short passes and immediately turning to push the ball forward into space.
The result was a Houston team that still played much the same as in previous years–a direct style, focused on quick attacking passes, trying to create space for the wingers to move at speed–but which also managed to control possession, ending up well ahead of the Reign in both passing attempts and completions. For a team that regularly looked helpless trying to keep the ball last year, this is a significant change.
In the first half, this combination was lethal and the Dash were rampant. They closed down the Reign possession high up the pitch, forcing awkward passes, and generally making it impossible for them to play. This is precisely what led to the opening goal. Though the proximate cause was Theresa Nielsen dilly-dallying in her own box and getting stripped of possession by Nichelle Prince, the setup was a high press that forced the ball back into that position in the first place.
However, things did not go quite as well in the second half, which is a good indication of the risks of this new, more aggressive Houston approach. Whereas last year, after the Dash took a lead, they could rely on dropping deep and setting a low block to frustrate the opposition, this team didn’t seem as willing to commit to defending deep. But they also couldn’t maintain the same levels of high pressure. As a result, the Reign found their way back into the game, finding more room to work with, and probing for gaps in between the Houston lines.
That provides a clear indication of where the Dash will need to focus their attention going forward. Watching them use the whole pitch this weekend was a great sign that they see themselves as capable of taking the game to the opposition. The big question is whether they will be able to successfully adapt their tactics from game to game as opponents and conditions change. New head coach James Clarkson certainly defined this as a project going forward, saying “we have to be able to adapt our tactics, our formation, and the way we play. We’ll look at each opponent separately and develop a game plan.”
For a Houston team that played much the same last year no matter who or when they played, that will be a real change.
For the Reign, this was very much a game of two halves. But even more than that, it was a game of two halves in the first half alone. They came out in a 4-2-3-1, with Allie Long and Morgan Andrews in the double pivot, and with Shea Groom as the number 10. This is a setup with a lot of potential. Long is an excellent player in that #6 role, especially when she is paired with another holding player, since it gives her license to step forward when useful. It also puts Groom into her best role, giving her the ability to move in between the lines and to move with the ball at her feet.
However, the Reign struggled mightily to get ahold of the game, and before they really had a chance to even show how this approach would work, Jasmyne Spencer had to come off for a knee injury, forcing a reallocation of players. Elise Kellond-Knight entered, taking one of the holding roles, while Long moved forward and Groom moved out right. Unfortunately for the Reign, none seemed all that comfortable for the rest of the first half. Long has obviously played the #10 role many times before, but she is not really a playmaker. Groom, similarly, has played on the right wing for most of her career, but was isolated for this period, struggling to put herself into positions to receive the ball. Kellond-Knight simply did not look up to the pace of the game. She did very little in possession, nor was she able to exert a calming influence in defense.
To the extent that they found success in the opening half, it came almost entirely from the work of Darian Jenkins and Celia Jiménez Delgado down the left flank. Every attempt to build through the middle faltered, as Andrews and Kellond-Knight were harried in possession.
The Reign also faced real difficulties in defense. This was mostly not down to tactics, but more a matter of execution. In particular, Theresa Nielsen in the right back position seemed well off the pace, and was repeatedly beat by Nichelle Prince, most notably for the goal. It didn’t help that she was given relatively little support from the right wingers–with Spencer doing almost no tracking back, through Groom did put in more of a defensive shift. The center backs were also exposed several times. Rachel Daly is a lot to handle, but they let her wriggle free more than they would have liked. And the situation wasn’t helped when the Reign were forced into a second injury substitution in the 40th minute, with Megan Oyster coming off.
However, after the halftime break, they came out looking far more settled, and were able to exert far more influence on the game. There were no major structural changes, but there was one interesting wrinkle that seemed to make a difference. While Groom continued to play on the right, she regularly pinched in, and also pressed forward. In the deeper role, she added an additional body to the central midfield, giving the Reign extra numbers and helping them stabilize there. In the more advanced positions, she almost functioned like a second striker, allowing them to operate as a sort of lopsided 4-4-2, with Groom back in that playmaking space that the initial setup was supposed to grant her.
With this change, the Reign found far more success with the ball, and were finally able to get Jodie Taylor regularly involved. It created a number of good chances, like this one here, which shows the potential of players who can move into these key central players with no clear markers to corral them. In those gaps, Groom began to play a more significant role, receiving the ball with space to dribble and playmake. And as Houston struggled to challenge her, it also created more room for Long to do what she does best: float away from her markers, receive the ball, and quickly push play forward. That potential is illustrated in this move:
Of course, there are also dangers to this approach. With Groom pinched in, the Reign often left huge exposed spaces on the right wing. To compensate, Long put in a good shift, often drifting wider to fill that space when needed, and Nielsen got more into the swing of the game. But the Reign were also lucky that Houston did little to capitalize on the opportunities.
Going forward, it will be interesting to see whether this was a mere one-off experiment, or whether the Reign decide to employ Groom in this sort of creative winger role more regularly. It’s certainly a role that the Reign have some familiarity with – as Megan Rapinoe has increasingly played in precisely this sort of creative winger role. At the moment, they seem to lack the personnel to make it truly effective. Having to use Long in the #10 left them with two holding players that looked overmatched for much of the game. But once Jess Fishlock returns, which would free Long to play her best position as a ball-controlling #6, this could be a potentially devastating setup.
With the World Cup coming, the Reign will be losing their key creative spark, Megan Rapinoe. This game went some way to demonstrating that they could well survive that absence. Groom on the right could play much the same creative role, and Jenkins showed clearly that she is more than capable of producing a dominant attacking performance as well. If Long – whose ability to dictate play and keep possession is absolutely critical – goes to France, that may be far more difficult to sustain. But if not, the Reign could be one of the few teams to survive those months relatively unscathed.
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