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Route Two Soccer: Replacement Level in the NWSL – Part 2

Posted on by RJ Allen

Last week I discussed the theory of replacement level valuation, and described some general ideas about how it can be usefully employed to think about the NWSL. This week, I want to dig into things a bit more, with four observations about player value in the league, informed by the idea of replacement level.

1. Setting replacement level in a precarious league

Replacement level is not static. If overall talent levels improve, so should the replacement level. And in a league like the NWSL, with a precarious employment structure, the movement is probably more significant than in other more settled systems.

While early retirements are growing less common, it remains true that plenty of good players leave the game for reasons that have little to do with their abilities on the pitch. Christina Gibbons’ recent retirement is a good example. She wasn’t forced out by lack of quality; she left because the hassles of trying to maintain a professional career for little money and no amenities seem to have overwhelmed the desire to play.

A league which can’t necessarily compete with economic opportunities in the private sector will naturally suffer more turnover and loss of talent than one where players make hundreds of thousands as a baseline. That in turn means that marginal player availability is often determined more by the willingness to accept a lack of compensation than by a strict accounting of ability. As a result, simply showing up and turning in 90 minutes is generally worth more in the NWSL than it would be in a league with fairer compensation.

However, as time goes on and standards improve, more players are willing to stick it out. This means that replacement level is going up over time. A player who was modestly above replacement level in 2014 might not be any longer, simply because the overall tide is rising.

2. Measuring modest contributions

The concept of replacement level is a useful device to square some circles within discussions about NWSL talent. Too often, conversations exist in a framework where a player is either excellent or useless, without any clear sense of the space in between. But in fact, the league is full of players who are contributing modest value, without necessarily rising to the level of average.

In a league with nine teams, there are probably only about 50 players who could reasonably be described as average or better. But 188 players received minutes last year. How do we account for the players in the middle of the pack? Here I’m thinking of players like Adriana Leon, Joanna Lohman, Christen Westphal, Amy Rodriguez, Rebecca Quinn, Thembi Kgatlana, Brooke Elby, etc.

With any players, it’s obviously important to look at context. What did their team ask of them, how well did they fulfill their role, what alternatives were there? What sort of potential do they have? Obviously, Andi Sullivan is a different sort of player from Brooke Elby, and it wouldn’t be helpful to pretend their total contributions could be measured by one universal metric. At the same time, if you want to tell the story of the season, it’s useful to have some form of cross-contextual comparison.

So with players like this, one useful perspective might be to emphasize that they logged important minutes, and provided meaningful value, to the extent that they performed above the replacement level, while also recognizing that their contributions were probably below the average production levels in the role. This can then be supplemented with more specific evaluations.

For example, while Elby and Sullivan both contributed some value, Elby was only expected to be a role player. She was selected 23rdd in the Breakers dispersal draft—almost literally the definition of a replacement player. That she contributed real positive value helped her teams enormously. Sullivan, meanwhile, was the top pick in the draft, and Washington was counting on her to step into the pro game immediately. While she wasn’t hopeless (she did contribute real value), merely being above replacement level was extremely damaging for the Spirit who needed more.

Sullivan clearly has the higher ceiling, and likely will have many strong seasons to come. But in 2018, her performance hurt Washington a lot because they were counting on more.

3. Replacement level variations across roles (the problem of too many good forwards)

Another important feature of an analysis informed by replacement level: emphasis on the distribution of talent across roles. Specifically, the imbalance between attacking and defensive talent. Because the reality is that the overwhelming percentage of top-quality players in the league fill attacking roles. This is partly a feature of the game itself—where individual brilliance matters more in the attack, while team structure matters more in the defense—but it’s also a consequence of the developmental structure in the US system. With college still the dominant training system, players are free to continue as forwards long past when they might have been forced to switch in a world where the pipeline narrowed earlier.

Whatever the cause, it’s clear that the league is stacked with attacking talent. Unfortunately for the players below the top tier, this significantly reduces their value, because replacement level is fluid and depends on the actual distribution of talent.

For a given team, their 4th or 5thh choice striker is probably going to be close to replacement level. She is the player who can perform satisfactorily and do a job, but is well outside the top talents in the league. But look at even a team as hapless as Sky Blue and realize that they have Naho Kawasumi, Carli Lloyd, Savannah McCaskill, and Imani Dorsey. Not to mention Jen Hoy. And McKenzie Meehan. And Paige Monaghan and Kyra Carusa coming in.

These are all very good players. But when you do the same exercise across the league, you realize that every team is objectively stacked in their attack. Unfortunately, though, ‘stacked’ is ultimately a relative term. The problem for Sky Blue isn’t a lack of excellent players in the attack; the problem is that teams like North Carolina and Chicago are even more absurdly blessed.

But this means that there are dozens of genuinely great attacking players who not only can’t get a regular starting job, they’re not even particularly close to one.

Adriana Leon is particularly apposite example here. When the Boston Breakers folded, she entered the dispersal draft and fell to the 18thh pick. That felt low to many people, who pointed out her six goals for Boston in 2016. When she found no playing time in New Jersey and was eventually traded to Seattle for a 4th round pick, there was more outcry. A seasoned striker, a Canadian international no less, had to be worth more than a low draft pick.

But thinking about it in terms of replacement level can help clarify things a bit. Because the reality is: six goals in a season notwithstanding, Leon simply doesn’t have that impressive a record over her career. In 83 NWSL games, she notched 10 goals. That’s not nothing, but given the same opportunity to occupy a roster space, many other players might have found the net far more often, or contributed in other ways. Ultimately, strikers just aren’t scarce in the NWSL, while opportunities at striker very much are.

None of which is to suggest that Leon isn’t a good player. She certainly is. It’s just that she’s not clearly comparatively better than the many other good players who can fill the same role. Probably every team in the league would be happy to have her, but none of them would be willing to give up much (or any) value to do so. That’s because they’re not assessing her talent on an absolute scale; they’re looking at it comparatively.

Compare this to defense, and things look very different. Here, the replacement level is much higher as teams struggle to fill out their roster with players who can plausibly handle the job.

This is a big part of the reason why teams consistently try to shift attacking players back into more defensive roles. They’re trying to take advantage of their overabundance in one area to bolster themselves in another space. And it’s why positional flexibility is very helpful for marginal players. The ability to step into multiple roles increases their potential value over replacement.

4.Replacement level in a World Cup year

As we know, the World Cup takes place this summer. And just like in 2015, the NWSL will continue amidst the tournament, despite the removal of three dozen or so of its best players for a substantial chunk of the season. What’s more, the removal of talent is by no means balanced. Teams like North Carolina and Portland will lose most of their starting XIs, while Sky Blue, Washington, and Houston will be significantly less ravaged (as always, the wonderful NWSL roster sheets maintained by Jen Cooper are crucial here). To some extent this will have a balancing effect on the league, pushing everyone toward the middle.

But it also depends on how well teams manage their replacement markets. Team depth is always important, but especially in a season like this, when it will be significantly more tested. And it’s a reminder that ‘replacement level’ as an abstract concept is never quite the same as the actual replacement level for a specific team. Those that play the game well will assemble supporting casts that are better equipped to step into the breach. It’s a reason to pay special attention to the preseason this year, because that’s the time when the league’s replacement talent (recent college graduates, trialists, part-timers, etc.) have the chance to make their case.

Route Two Soccer: Replacement Level in the NWSL – Part 1

Posted on by RJ Allen

Sports analytics has evolved by leaps and bounds over the past three decades. Arguably the single most important concept undergirding that explosion has been the idea of ‘replacement level.’ Indeed, replacement level is so significant that it has gained usage outside of the sports world in a variety of business and economic contexts.

What is replacement level?

Put simply, replacement level defines the level of performance that is readily and freely available. In the baseball world, where it first gained widespread usage, replacement level is roughly the quality you would expect if you promoted a career minor leaguer to fill a roster spot.

Importantly, replacement level doesn’t mean zero value. A team full of replacement level players would still pick up the occasional point here and there; these players are still very good, just not quite good enough to make a normal roster. What’s more, performance is always within a range. A replacement level player won’t turn in exactly-replacement level performances every game. They’ll sometimes play well, and sometimes play dreadfully, but over time the median result will center on replacement.

To get a rough estimate of what a team full of replacement level players would look like, the 2016 Boston Breakers and 2018 Sky Blue FC seem to fit the bill. Now, both of those teams had players that are clearly better than replacement level. But they also likely had some below that level. And they also both performed toward the bottom of their potential.

Why replacement level is important

Replacement level is critical for understanding team building and player value. While it is not the only way to assess a player, it is probably the single most important way of characterizing their utility to a team. This is because it exists in a goldilocks position between two extremes: measuring the positive function of simply showing up, without overvaluing mediocre performance.

On the one side, it is preferable to a pure counting-stat approach, which merely adds up a player’s positive contributions. It is of course true that a player who scores three goals in a season has added value over what would have happened if no one had filled that position. But that’s not how it works. A player who scores three goals from several dozen excellent chances that were created by her teammates is actually hurting the team by squandering the chances that someone else might have converted. This is a critical opportunity cost of occupying a valuable active roster spot—the value lost because the spot couldn’t be occupied by someone else. Replacement level attempts to quantify that lost value by identifying what could reasonably be expected from freely-available talent.

This concept of ‘freely-available’ talent also shows why replacement value is superior to a second intuitive model: value above average. It’s admittedly tempting to measure players against average. A player who is below average is a drag on their team in some sense. In order to win more than you lose, you need your players to be above average.

The problem is that, by definition, not everyone can be above average. In fact, roughly half the players will be worse than average. So if one of your regulars is injured or suspended, it is very unlikely that you will be able to replace them with another above-average player. Far more likely, your replacement will be, well, replacement level. Which demonstrates that the ‘merely average’ player is actually providing significant value. Simply by showing up and performing at a sustainable level, they are helping their team.

Limitations of replacement level analysis

Having laid out the general theory of replacement level, it’s worth taking a moment to acknowledge three big caveats, and provide some explanation for why the concept is still worth using.

First, replacement level is an abstraction. In the real world, it depends on context. In particular, if your team has several excellent left backs, the actual ‘replacement level’ is much higher than it would be for a team with no cover. Nevertheless, in terms of league-wide player assessment, the abstraction is helpful for characterizing the value that a given player can contribute. Each individual team will want to make its own assessments of positional scarcity, but for comparing players across teams, replacement level is consistent.

Second, soccer is a dynamic game, and player performances can’t be easily disentangled. To start with an obvious example: Alex Morgan is one of the world’s best strikers, but if you don’t provide her any service, she isn’t going to contribute much value. That’s not her fault, and it would be strange to decide that Morgan was not a valuable player simply because the team around her was bad. And more broadly, there’s the reality that some players will play well in certain systems but flail in others. Some players will excel if given a limited responsibility, but fall apart if they’re asked to do more. A dedicated defensive player might be quite valuable in a team set up to play with a true #6, but terrible on a team that needs creativity from every midfielder. A good striker might be hopeless if forced to play as a fullback. Or vice versa.

None of that is a reason to disregard the concept, but it is a reason to be careful about drawing assessments too broadly. Value over replacement is best set up as a framework for assessing what actually did happen, but it won’t necessarily provide much perspective on what would have happened if things had been set up differently.

Third, soccer simply isn’t as amenable to analytic assessment as many other popular sports. The state of soccer analytics is miles ahead of where it was a few decades ago, but even at the top levels of the men’s game, where data is much more plentiful and quite a bit of money is being spent, things are still far hazier than in sports like baseball or basketball.

Those complexities mean that it will never be straightforward to assign a single value to a given player, and any assessment along those lines should be taken with a huge grain of salt. Nevertheless, as a matter of theory-crafting, the concept is still useful, and it’s worth taking seriously as a framework for considering player performance.

Having laid out the framework, I’ll post the second part of this piece next week, which will discuss how replacement-level can help organize our thoughts on the league.

Slack Chat: The Off Season Drums On

Posted on by RJ Allen

Charles Olney (@olneyce): Welcome to our Backline Soccer slack chat for Valentine’s Day week. We’re going to cover the US National Team, some NWSL news, and a bit of global soccer as well.

To kick things off, we just got the USWNT roster for the SheBelieves Cup. Anyone have thoughts? Mostly as expected or were you at all surprised?

Allison Cary (@findingallison): Glad to see Zerboni in the mix. Otherwise, I’m not really surprised.

RJ Allen (@TheSoccerCritic): I do not hate the defenders. They are all, you know, defenders.

Charles Olney: Well, except Crystal Dunn. But it’s a good point.

RJ Allen: Dunn is as much of a defender in an Ellis system as anything else.

Charles Olney: The big potential piece of ‘news’ is the absence of Morgan Brian (probably competing with Zerboni and Colaprico and maybe Sullivan for the final midfield spot).

RJ Allen: No, I don’t think Ellis is really in the mood for much shaking the tree right now. I think she likes who she likes. I know she is a big favorite of yours Charles but I am ok with her not taking with who we have.

Allison Cary: Yeah, I don’t feel like Brian is critical. I’d rather see Zerboni get time.

Charles Olney: I actually still think Brian still might be the most likely to go to France, and that this is more about giving the others a chance to prove themselves. But I very much agree that it’s a close thing, and I wouldn’t be torn up about one of the others getting the call.

You’d have to be a pretty cruel person to be angry about Colaprico or Zerboni getting a World Cup roster spot.

Allison Cary: Very true.

RJ Allen: We haven’t seen Ellis do that a lot though, have we? She isn’t one to normally not roster a player unless they are hurt or she wants to semi move on from them.

Anthony J Merced: She’s a straight shooter.

Charles Olney: Given Brian’s nagging injury issues, I could definitely see it as a ‘take it easy and we’ll see what else we’ve got’ choice. It would be odd to give her the start against France (while giving Colaprico no minutes in either game in January) and then completely remove her from the depth chart.

But y’all are right that Ellis doesn’t normally hide much in her roster choices. What you see is mostly what you’re going to get.

Luis Hernandez: (@radioactivclown): Plus once players fall from grace, it’s a quick drop.

Allison Cary: Agreed.

Luis Hernandez: I’m surprised that Morgan Brian isn’t going to go to France. I do think that decision has merit. She hasn’t been world class for a while.

Anthony J Merced: Not sure what happened with Brian in France but that 5 month stay didn’t produce all that much.

Charles Olney: I would actually posit that Brian was quite good toward the end of the season for Chicago. Not quite back to where she was in early 2016, but it’s the best I’ve seen from her in a while. So I’m not quite ready to set her aside completely.

Luis Hernandez: Also surprised by Casey Short but I guess Jill needed to put down someone else to play LB

RJ Allen: Short is a solid player. She might not be incredible but I think having her be so stable is a huge plus for her right now.

Anthony J Merced: But does she really have enough time to prove anything?

RJ Allen: When most of the other options have petered out? Yes. Who else are you going to take? Fox? Heurta?

Charles Olney: They’ve still got four months and a half dozen games before the tournament. I think that’s a decent amount of time to continue making assessments.

Luis Hernandez: I’m thinking for players like Short and Brian that Jill will look at club form to throw them a life line.

Charles Olney: Alright, so setting aside the marginal personnel issues, do people have predictions for how things will go at SheBelieves? Do you expect to see the US play better than their European tune ups last month? Does it matter if they don’t?

Luis Hernandez: For the rest, I don’t think club form will weigh as much

Allison Cary: I don’t think it matters that much if they don’t, but I’m inclined to think they will.

RJ Allen: I think the US will win all three. Maybe England gets a draw but I’m not sure of their form lately.

Anthony J Merced: Definitely expect them to play better. Aside from the Philly game they’ll be in better weather as well.

Luis Hernandez: I feel like England will give the US the most trouble.

Allison Cary: I agree. England is dangerous.

Anthony J Merced: English women’s team is a lot like the men’s team. There is talent to get excited about but for some reason they always seem to under perform in big games.

Luis Hernandez: England needs to stop scoring on themselves.

Charles Olney: I’ve been trying to watch more of the WSL now that I’m in a more convenient time zone, and I have to say: England has a lot more depth in their talent pool than they once did. I still don’t think they’re quite at the US level, but they’ve got a really solid group.

Luis Hernandez: I also think there are some injury questions with England.

RJ Allen: I don’t think England/France/Australia fears the US anymore in a way they had before. And that shows more and more as they play.

Allison Cary: I think England has a lot of talent but they have so many off the field problems they need to make sure they don’t isolate people.

Anthony J Merced: The US game is vulnerable due to bad leadership over the last four years. I think other teams know that and have taken the chance to get themselves together.

Charles Olney: I’ll also throw out there that, for all that we collectively sneered a bit at the Neville appointment, I think he’s done a pretty good job. Given the significant tactical inflexibility of the US, that could be an issue.

RJ Allen: I still disagree with his hiring on principal. But yes, he has done well.

Allison Cary: I’m with RJ on that.

Charles Olney: Yeah, co-sign.

Luis Hernandez: We’ve been talking a lot about England. Does this mean we are dismissing any chance Japan or Brazil have in SheBelieves?

Charles Olney: Yes.

Allison Cary: Yeah.

RJ Allen: Yes. Brazil and Japan have smallest chance of wins except against each other.

Charles Olney: Japan and Brazil are good enough to have a fighting chance, but I would be very surprised if they get more than a point from anyone but each other.

Luis Hernandez: I will admit that I wish I was better with knowing Japan.

RJ Allen: I think the International word of soccer is more stratified than 4 years ago. There is less division in tiers but more between them than before.

Luis Hernandez: As to Brazil, this seems like a turning point as I think the team will start to look away from Marta once this cycle is complete

Anthony J Merced: Dangerous on set-pieces is the best way to describe them.

Charles Olney: Let’s turn to the club side. RJ and I just recorded a 123rd Minute episode where we talked about the Sky Blue news, but do y’all have any thoughts on their announcement about improvements?

Anthony J Merced: This screams of politics and I can’t stand it. Murphy puts his wife there for a PR plug when in fact he should give up the team entirely.

Luis Hernandez: I wish there were more specifics. This wasn’t exactly what I was looking for or expected.

Charles Olney: My feeling: better than nothing, still too vague, way too late. They could have released this six months ago, and should be much further along in terms of concrete promises.

Allison Cary: It’s better than nothing but that’s about it.

Anthony J Merced: It’s too far along for something like this now.

Luis Hernandez: I agree with you guys. “Better than nothing” seems like the apt phrase.

Kat Farris (@farrisphotos): Can he though? I thought I read Murphy put his “piece” of Sky Blue in a blind trust when he became governor. Doesn’t that mean he has to stay hands off?

RJ Allen: He broke that when he called a player directly.

Kat Farris: But yes, that memo is all politics

Luis Hernandez: Could have used the memo to announce a change in the front office. Just saying.

Anthony J Merced: I can tell you from the Red Bull side that no one has reached out to them about use of their training facility. So it’s ridiculous that they aren’t exploring every option to make the improvements even temporarily.

Luis Hernandez: That would get the fan base hyped.

Kat Farris: 40% staff increase. 40% of what? If they were as bare bones as SM suggests 40% could be quite minimal

Luis Hernandez: And it could also be free labor and interns

Charles Olney: That is my concern. For another team, I might be willing to trust a vague promise. With Sky Blue, I want to put on my lawyer hat and scrutinize every possible loophole.

Anthony J Merced: The apathy from the fanbase outside of Sky Blue is also alarming. There has been coverage from major publications but it seems like people were more interested in the Crew SC moving to Austin than this issue.

RJ Allen: That is a good point.

Luis Hernandez: I also think that people expect the league to keep letting Sky Blue slide along. Since that’s what it seems has been happening

Kat Farris: And moving their admin offices closer to player housing screamed red flags to. It gave me flashbacks of overbearing nuns

Luis Hernandez: It may be that nobody in the Sky Blue organization is willing to think outside the box for solutions. Like the Reign moving to Tacoma.

Anthony J Merced: It’s one of the most frustrating situations I’ve ever seen in sports.

Charles Olney: Onto happier topics: we’ve had a bit of player movement news around the league, though not a huge amount. Do you have any teams that you think look particularly improved, or particularly in trouble at this point in the offseason?

RJ Allen: North Carolina is gonna run the table again.

Allison Cary: Yep.

Charles Olney: Even with all the players they’ll be losing for the World Cup? I’m not saying I disagree, but that’s a lot of players!

Kat Farris: Other than hiring a coach (finally), has Orlando even made any roster moves?

Luis Hernandez: I hate that Orlando seems like they are always close to last in making team announcements

Anthony J Merced: Orlando will prove to be the Dallas Cowboys of NWSL. Lots of hype but little results. lol

RJ Allen: That might be the best Orlando comparison I’ve heard Anthony.

Allison Cary: Sadly, I agree.

Charles Olney: Is 2019 the year that Chicago finally wins a playoff game?

RJ Allen: If Sam Kerr stays “4 goals in a match because I’m Sam Kerr that’s why” Sam Kerr, yes. (edited)

Luis Hernandez: Cart before the horse, the Red Stars need to make the playoffs. Other teams were close to getting in last year.

Anthony J Merced: I don’t think Chicago is going to make the playoffs. I think Utah will be up there.

Charles Olney: My #hottake is that the four teams that made the playoffs last year are overwhelming favorites to do so again this year.

Allison Cary: I agree with Charles.

Luis Hernandez: Utah and Houston have a chance to make playoffs

Allison Cary: I think Utah more than anyone has a chance to break into the top four.

RJ Allen: I would love Houston to grow, but I don’t see it realistically.

Charles Olney: In a season when so many players will miss half the year, there’s certainly more volatility. And Houston might be the best-placed to take advantage of that–since they’ll probably lose many fewer key players. But I still can’t see it.

Luis Hernandez: It’s too easy to think the same four make it back. The team rosters aren’t complete.

Anthony J Merced: I say NC, Seattle, Portland Utah in the playoffs.

Kat Farris: Orlando will make good showings in games where their national players are absent, and if Skinner can tame their egos when they are in town the team has a shot at that 4th place berth

Luis Hernandez: Kat’s take is hotter Charles.

Charles Olney: Alright, let’s talk a bit about international leagues. Anyone have thoughts on Australia? England? France? The Champions League?

RJ Allen: Sam Kerr is magic.

Charles Olney: I will admit that I have watched a grand total of one half of the W-League this year, so I can’t really comment there. But for those who have seen more, is there anyone who has really impressed? I mean, apart from Kerr, of course.

Kat Farris: And it’s a good thing Aussie has KerrBoom cuz their coaching ditch is a mind F

RJ Allen: I really think the FFA needs to do a better job at making their case of why they needed to change things. To me, the FFA’s vagueness screams of politics. It’s like Sky Blue, but bigger.

Charles Olney: Anyone have a prediction for Sydney v. Perth in the final?

Anthony J Merced: I think Perth steals it.

RJ Allen: Perth 3-1.

Luis Hernandez: I’m going to say Sydney just to take the other side of things.

Charles Olney: Like I said, I’ve been watching a bit of the FAWSL in England, and it’s great. They have a fantastic title race between Arsenal and Man City, who are both fascinating teams to watch. It makes me long for a global Champions League, where we could actually watch truly different styles of play clash against each other.

Luis Hernandez: Chelsea faded a bit recently. I’m glad Birmingham City was able to hold in the standing after the manager change

Charles Olney: Any Champions League predictions?

Luis Hernandez: Wolfsburg will beat Lyon at home.

Charles Olney: Bold. I caught Lyon-PSG this weekend. And even without them playing especially well on the day, it’s just ridiculous how good Lyon is. But Wolfsburg might give them a real game at least.

Alright, with that we’ll wrap up the chat this week. Thanks everyone, and see y’all soon!

What should be Marc Skinner’s Top Priority For the Orlando Pride?

Posted on by RJ Allen

Teams entering the 2019 National Women’s Soccer League season, which coincides with a World Cup year, would be challenged with the loss of federated players preparing for the global tournament in France. Compounded to some of the teams woes is the appointment of a new coach, or like the Orlando Pride no coach officially named until after the draft. Barring any trades, Coach Marc Skinner will need to find players to fill the now twenty-two roster spots, and additionally the four supplemental players will also be important due to the potential of missing ten starters this summer.

Coach Skinner explained his thoughts on the World Cup absences impact to his roster in his initial statements by saying, “But what we need to do is look at what we have, who we’ll have to use during the World Cup, and then we as a coaching staff will work everyday to make those players better. So while our players are out representing in the World Cup, we’ll make sure those holding the fort will be doing their best, keeping us competitive and winning games.”


Head Coach Marc Skinner at Orlando City Stadium – Courtesy Orlando Pride

Impacting the Pride significantly will be the national team players who may end up missing more time than just the World Cup however since the U.S. women’s national team, along with Brazil and England, will be participating in a series of matches in preparation. While the Aussies will be participating in their own set of friendlies at that time. Most national team players have extensive commitments away from their club team leading into France.

In his brief time with the team so far, Coach Skinner has already made his started to make his mark on the roster for the Pride with his selections of Erin Greening and Marisa Viggiano in the 2019 NWSL college draft; additionally,the team announced waiving Brazilian defender Poliana after she expressed her desire to return to her homeland and play there.  Not claiming a preferred formation, Skinner will have a few potential formations to tinker with, based on the remaining non-federated players on the Pride roster there currently won’t be enough players to field a starting XI.

It’s not a matter of if Orlando adds more players to the roster, but when those players will be announced. Until then instead of speculating on where specific players will be on the pitch during the World Cup absences, Coach Skinner will need to address the main hurdle which plagued Orlando last year: who in the remaining group of the roster will step up and score goals for the team. The focus will partly turn to both Danica Evans and Rachel Hill. However, if Chioma Ubogagu doesn’t make the roster for England, the Pride could maintain three forward on the attack in a potential 4-3-3. Both Ubogagu and Hill have spent the offseason in the W-League and could find themselves in form from the beginning of the NWSL season barring injuries.

Hill scored five goals while on loan for Perth, and Ubogagu found the back of the net twice. Having Sam Kerr on her team, Rachel was more successful as a distributor providing six assists as well. Chi scored her goals in her role as a poacher putting the ball passed the goalkeeper on second chance opportunities. From the group, Evans is the more pure striker of the group, but hasn’t been able to generate much momentum since her rookie season. Coach Skinner will need to find a way to give Danica an avenue to contribute more. It has yet to be seen if she can handle that role.

The possibility of Ubogagu making the World Cup roster for England is not unlikely, and if Orlando deployed a two striker front line could play into Hill’s playmaking ability for Evans to get herself on the scoresheet during the season. Scoring threats may have to come from the midfield, and the Pride may utilize a variation of a 4-4-2. Also in the W-League, Christine Nairn playing for the Melbourne Victory and contributed four goals to the team’s tally. Orlando managed 30 goals in 2018, which was a significant drop from the league leading 45 goals in 2017. Sydney Leroux was the team’s golden boot with six goals in 2018 while Marta led the team in 2017 with 13 goals.

The new gaffer for the Pride should also be mindful of the 2016 season when Orlando deployed a single striker formation. Back then the team struggled to provide service to Alex Morgan, and she would have to deal with defenders double teaming her without any other consistent scoring options. The Pride managed a meager 20 goals the team’s inaugural season. Kristen Edmonds had a breakout year and led the team with six goals.

Many questions are still needing to be addressed by the first year skipper. However, finding more goal scoring needs to be Skinner’s first priority, as in the brief existence of the team has shown the basic principle that goals cure most issues. If Orlando wants to return to the playoffs in 2019, the Pride will need to have multiple goals scorers where the player who leads the team generate more than six goals and get near double digit production.

Route Two Soccer: Projecting the NWSL Season

Posted on by RJ Allen

Projecting performance is difficult, even for highly qualified people. For those of us who don’t have decades of experience under our belts, it’s even harder. To clarify that point, I want to talk today about a simple but powerful idea which has helped guide conversations in baseball, and then apply it to a soccer context.

The idea is this: what if you designed a projection system so simple that a monkey could use it? At the time when this was first discussed, Friends was still on the air, so the guy who came up with it called his system a ‘Marcel Projection.’

The way it works is: you take the last three years of performance. Combine them together, but weight the most recent year most heavily, the middle year less heavily, and the most distant year the least. Then divide by your denominator, and that’s your projection. Depending on what you’re projecting, you might want to add some small other tweaks to normalize the data, but that’s really just about all there is to it.

The system is designed to project individual player performance, which is relatively easy to do in baseball (which is filled with quantifiable statistics). But for soccer purposes, where such stats are less available (and less relevant) I want to pull the camera out wider to look at an even more basic unit: the team.

To that end, here’s a Marcel projection for the 2019 NWSL standings:

TeamPointsGoalsGAGD
North Carolina Courage48452124
Portland Thorns43382315
Chicago Red Stars3733276
Seattle Reign3633267
Orlando Pride313333-1
Utah Royals312325-2
Houston Dash273037-7
Washington Spirit212336-13
Sky Blue212946-17

Producing this projection took about three minutes of work. I entered the results from 2016-2018* into an Excel sheet, weighted the seasons by a 5/4/3 ratio, and then generated a result.**

My ‘projection’ knows almost nothing about these teams. It doesn’t know who the coach is, which players had breakout seasons, what trades were made, who is coming back from injury. It doesn’t know style of play. It doesn’t know that it’s a World Cup year. All it knows is the bare results from the last three years.

And yet, I would wager that this projection ends up being pretty close to accurate. In fact, it will probably beat the projections from a lot of very intelligent people, who know far more about all those issues I just listed.

That’s because human beings are absolutely full of unquestioned biases, of all sorts. We overrate some players, while underrating others. We overstate the importance of some events while failing to properly include others. And there is the classic problem of punditry: it’s fun to predict change and boring to predict continuation of the status quo.

Now, I certainly don’t mean to suggest that there is no value in expert analysis. I only want to lay a marker for how to judge assessments. Because in the current women’s soccer ecosystem, there’s almost no accountability. Pundits are free to make predictions, but not only is there no one checking back to see what they got right and wrong, there isn’t even a structure for measuring success.

So things like a simple Marcel system are useful, if only because they generate baselines against which people can measure themselves. It may not be exciting to predict that everything will more-or-less remain the same. But it does have the virtue of generally being true. And that’s something that everyone involved in this business can use a reminder of now and again.

I’ll put together my own real projection once the season gets closer. When I do so, I’ll certainly think about all the little details of player movement and development. I’ll look at the schedule. I’ll consider how teams will deal with losing their national team talent for the World Cup. And I’ll try my level-best to produce something that is accurate.

But, to be honest, there’s every chance that the dumb Marcel from this column will end up being more accurate than my clever prediction to come.

* For the purposes of this exercise, I’m treating Western New York/North Carolina and FCKC/Utah as continuous teams, despite the name and venue changes.

** Eagle-eyed readers will notice that the goals, goals allowed, and goal difference don’t quite add up. That’s partly due to rounding errors (e.g. Orlando are actually projected to score 32.5 goals and concede 33.25, which is a GD of -1, even though both are listed as 33), but is mostly because the data includes two seasons of the Boston Breakers, who conceded rather a lot of goals. If you want, you could control for that and subtract one goal per every 24 that a team is expected to score.

Backline Chat: Welcome to a World Cup Year

Posted on by RJ Allen

Charles Olney (@olneyce): Hello, and welcome to our first Slack Chat of 2019. I hope everyone had a good new year, and is excited for a big year. To kick things off, I thought we should start with some fun stuff before turning to some of the more depressing elements in recent news. So…it’s a World Cup year! What is everyone most excited for in 2019?

RJ Allen (@TheSoccerCritic): I really am looking forward to watching the first time teams in the World Cup.

Allison Cary (@findingallison): I’m excited to see Scotland and I’m excited to see if France can keep playing quality football.

RJ Allen: Kim Little on the world’s stage? Yes, please.

Allison Cary: My sister is going to school in Scotland so it’s particularly exciting for this to be going on while she’s there.We’re hoping to catch a game in France.

Charles Olney: My honest answer is simply that I’m excited for the incredible opportunity to be in Europe this summer, which means I’ll be able to see a bunch of the World Cup in person. And I’m obviously excited for the chance to see the US make a deep run. But in terms of storylines, I think there’s just so much potential. Could France finally win a title? Could England or Australia take that next step? Could some of these new rising powers like Spain and Italy make the leap into the inner circle? Can some of the new teams put their mark on the tournament.

RJ Allen: I have a lot of questions about the World Cup but you’re right, there are some really amazing storylines.

Allison Cary: So much potential.

Charles Olney: I’d love to see the US win, but I have to admit that a new winner would probably make for a more interesting tournament.

RJ Allen: US, Norway, Germany, and Japan are the only winners. It would be nice to see another name added to the list.

Allison Cary: If France wins, per a previous slackchat, I’m obligated to move to France. I’m not opposed to that lol.

Luis Hernandez (@radioactivclown): I’m looking forward to the matches and if New Zealand can get out of the group. Plus how the NWSL will handle absences.

Charles Olney: If it were to be a first-time winner, who do people think is most likely? France is probably the obvious pick, especially given their recent victory over the US, but are people still high on some of the other big teams?

RJ Allen: I would have guessed Australia two weeks ago.

Allison Cary: I would say Australia but I’m not sure with the latest coaching drama.

RJ Allen: Now? I don’t know. France or maybe England? I’d love to see Canada get one for Sinc.

Allison Cary: England maybe? I’m not sure if they’re ready to go all the way.

RJ Allen: I really would like a team other than the US to win. I think it’s better for soccer world wide if other teams can take down the US now and again.

Allison Cary: I agree with RJ.

Charles Olney: I was looking over the betting odds this morning, and put up a tweet. I have to say that the odds look a little off to me, but I’m curious if others think so.

RJ Allen: I do not think these betting books know Germany’s state of affairs right now.

Charles Olney: I still think the German team has a lot of potential, but yeah, I certainly don’t think recent evidence suggests they belong in a tier with the US and France.

Allison Cary: Yeah, I’m also not that confident in Japan.

RJ Allen: This is, to me at least, proof that while betting markets are not great now, they might drive some change. The house wants to keep their money. So they are going to need some better stats and better people predicting these things. They might drive that area.

Charles Olney: I think it’s interesting that Spain is right up there. I really enjoyed watching them against the US this week, but I felt like they were still a little under the radar. I wonder whether some of that is people transposing their judgments about the quality of the men’s team.

RJ Allen: Brazil being so high might be the same thing.

Allison Cary: Yeah, I think Spain could make a decent run, but I don’t see them going all the way. They looked better than expected against the US, but not quite there yet.

RJ Allen: Can we all agree if North Carolina was in the World Cup (at full roster) they would be on the top 5 in the list?

Charles Olney: Definitely. I was actually thinking about them and Lyon and how they’d fare if they attended the World Cup. And I think it’s a good sign for the game in general that we’re getting close to the point where the very highest level of soccer is at the club level rather than the international level. We’re not quite there yet, but the tipping point might be coming soon.

Charles Olney: Okay, so turning the attention toward the US in particular, I’m curious if anyone has any broader thoughts about the recent friendlies. Anything to worry about there, or just a normal way to kick off the year?

Luis Hernandez: No worries for the first two matches after months being off for me.

RJ Allen: I think a lot of the worry about the games are going to end up not being founded. They have been off for a few months, it’s their pre season, a lot of players aren’t playing or have been hurt. If they look like this in May I will worry. But right now, no.

Allison Cary: I’m not worried about the U.S. Maybe it’s just me, but I learned more about the U.S. opponents in these two friendlies than I did the U.S.

Luis Hernandez: I enjoyed how Spain moved the ball. Didn’t know they were skilled to do that for their team.

RJ Allen: I agree with Allison. I think we learned a lot about France.

RJ Allen: We had no real answer for Henry. And while Horan should be able to match her, this game she very much did not.

Charles Olney: One impression I got from talking with the French players and coaches at that game: it mattered to them. A lot. They really wanted to lay down a marker, and it showed in the performance. That’s a great sign for a team that’s often struggled a bit to handle the pressure. I think they’re ready this time.

RJ Allen: That to me is a big deal. France doesn’t seem to really fear the US, at least in that match.

Allison Cary: Yeah, which caught my eye. France seemed really ready to prove that they belonged in that top tier.

Charles Olney: The US may still end up beating them in the quarterfinals, and we may end up talking about yet another France team that underperformed. But right now, I feel as confident about France as I ever have.

Allison Cary: They weren’t intimidated. They played their game. If they do that in June… they’re dangerous.

RJ Allen: Also, can we talk about the packaging of the games themselves for a moment? They were not really featured games. They weren’t cash cows. They were in Europe. The game against Spain was in the middle of a day. That feels big for the US in general.

Charles Olney: Yeah, that’s a great point. The US has often treated friendlies more as opportunities to make money than anything else. And they arguably still have a few of those coming up later in the spring. But on the whole, this seems like a team that’s keeping their eyes on the prize. And that’s a good thing.

Charles Olney: So, that’s a lot of positives. But I do want to focus our attention on two other stories that have been dominating the news lately, which are less encouraging. One is the confusing and troubling story surrounding the coaching change at Australia. The other is the persistent moving disaster that is Sky Blue FC. Let’s start local and discuss the unfortunate team in New Jersey.

RJ, you had some reporting that just came out about events there. And we’ve had a couple other stories recently about the continuing problems. At this point I almost don’t know where to start.

RJ Allen: So I have had a lot of conversations in the last few months with people that are no longer with Sky Blue. About a week about I spoke to someone still much more connected.

As I think you and I have spoken about on the 123rd Minute, Reddy had largely escaped conversation. And this person made it clear that is a mistake.

Charles Olney: I almost feel like we spent so much time in 2018 talking about the problems at the management level that we all really wanted to construct a narrative where the coach and the players were innocent victims just trying to survive in a cruel world. But your reporting makes it seem like Reddy maybe should have come in for a lot more criticism at the time. It was certainly strange to see a team that honestly had a lot of talented players do SO wretchedly bad week in and week out. And it was peculiar how the coach never really seemed to come in for the kind of criticism we’d expect.

RJ Allen: The information I have really does paint a picture of someone who sucked in as much power as they were able, due in large part of the issues in management, and had a hard time using that for the benefit of the players.

Charles Olney: It does strike me as a situation where it would be incredibly hard to succeed. So it’s possible that in more favorable conditions, Reddy might have sailed along just fine. So I certainly hope that none of this ends up taking away attention from the major problems at the top. But it’s definitely important to look at all parts of the picture.

On that note, as we are talking here it’s been two weeks since the draft. There, Tony Novo promised significant news on progress would come ‘within 30 days.’ Is anyone holding out hope that we’ll actually see something meaningful there?

Allison Cary: Nope.

Charles Olney: And if not, do we think Sky Blue is going to actually make it to the end of the season with enough players to fill a starting XI every game?

RJ Allen: No.

Allison Cary: No.

RJ Allen: They might have enough players because as we all know people dream of playing pro. There are enough ex NCAA players in New Jersey to fill in an XI. Look at Sky Blue’s roster in the past. They have always counted on local players. More than most.

Charles Olney: I do still hold out a little bit of hope that the remaining players manage to band together and fight this out, like you’d see in a classic sports movie where the underdogs find a way to show everyone their spirit. And there IS still a decent amount of talent theoretically on that roster. But as each week goes on, I find it harder and harder to be positive.

RJ Allen: My question is though, what does that buy? If they win games, what does that buy other than some cover to keep the team going? It might make the players a bit happier but all it does it prolong the fate that is written on the walls.

Allison Cary: Yeah, perpetuating a bad system isn’t necessarily good. Unfortunately, Sky Blue struggling along could do more harm than good.

RJ Allen: And I admit I am a bit pessimistic about all of this. But still.

Charles Olney: At this point, I think the best case scenario is a modestly positive year, which will allow everyone to feel good about moving on during the next offseason when they’re pushed out of the league…or when someone who will make real changes comes in to buy them out. But I agree: doing just well enough to survive without making any real changes might be even worse than ‘raze the ground and then salt the earth after.’

Charles Olney: Alright, so another troubling story: Alen Stajcic, the coach of Australia, was let go under the cloud of a recent report describing ‘toxic’ conditions on the team. It’s a very strange story with quite a lot of it hidden from view. I’m curious if anyone has any clear thoughts about what it all means.

RJ Allen: I think the federation has handled this horribly. Even if he was released with 100% cause, the federation makes it look like a hit job in a way that makes them look worse.

Charles Olney: Can’t argue with that. It does seem like, based on the information they seem to have, firing him was the right call. But the manner in which it’s been done has been very rough.

Allison Cary: Yeah, I don’t feel like I have enough of the story to make a clear judgment. But it’s been weird.

Charles Olney: Which doesn’t really do any favors to anyone.

RJ Allen: Players seem caught off guard too. Which is never a great look.

Allison Cary: Yeah, their statements haven’t been a position reflection on the federation.

Charles Olney: Which makes me wonder about those players who contributed statements about the toxic environment. Are they just hanging back in silence, feeling like they were hung out to dry by this process? Are they feeling pressure to say positive things now, because that same toxic environment is lingering, as many of the players who liked Stajcic have said positive things?

It would be particularly cruel to make it even harder for players to be honest and clear about how they’ve been treated because the Federation doesn’t want to air their own dirty laundry.

RJ Allen: Without the details of what a “toxic environment” is, I’m not sure what to think. Does it mean not welcoming newer players or players without the pro polish to them? Does it mean abuse? Without details it’s left up to us to put name to it. Which is never good.

Allison Cary: Yeah, especially considering the England scandal is still fresh in a lot of people’s minds, it’s not hard to assume the worst.

Charles Olney: There have been some more details in some of the media reports that have come out after. Things like abusive comments, body shaming, harassment that’s unrelated to on-field performance. All of which does sound like a really negative culture. But none of those are official statements, so we still have to wonder. And yes, I totally agree with Allison that the context of the Mark Sampson affair absolutely can’t be forgotten.

RJ Allen: Seeing more senior players supporting Stajcic just makes it more difficult for everyone. Having Kerr and LDV and so on look like they are blind sided is going to make a lot of the fans question this all. Plus an assistant quit in protest.

Charles Olney: Alright, I think we’ll probably have more to say on this subject as we potentially get more information. But for now, why don’t we turn back to some more positives, and discuss the NWSL. We have the draft, and some trades to mull over. And I’m curious what y’all think about where teams stand going into 2019. Who has made progress? Anyone who looks like a good bet to break into the top 4? Anyone who made the playoffs last year that you think is in danger of dropping out?

Bearing in mind that this will be a strange year, where many of the top teams will be losing huge portions of their roster for half of the season or more. Is there anyone that will be relatively unharmed by the World Cup that looks poised to take advantage of that opportunity?

RJ Allen: North Carolina is going to win the league by > 9 points. NTers or no. That team will win on the underdog story all their “best” players are gone.

Allison Cary: Yeah, I agree.

RJ Allen: I think Chicago has a really good shot this year. Seattle with Groom will be fun too. And now that we’re in this part of the season I can’t wait for the Laura Harvey mega trade.

Allison Cary: Yeah, I like Utah.

Charles Olney: That’s definitely the thing that’s most been missing this offseason.

Allison Cary: Definitely.

Charles Olney: I’m personally very torn on Houston. I think there’s a decent chance that they suffer a bit of regression to the mean this year, dropping down a bit simply because they probably overperformed their talent a bit last year. On the other hand, they’ll have a roster that’s comparatively less hit by the World Cup. And maybe they actually take a step forward. If so, they could actually even sneak into a playoff spot. I’d certainly love to see a new team make the playoffs – whether Houston or Utah. It’s always good for a new set of fans to have a playoff team to support.

RJ Allen: If Daly is there all year, and I don’t think she will be, and Mewis the Elder is back, they have a really good shot.

Charles Olney: Anyone have any thoughts about Washington? Their new coach seems to think very highly of himself. Anyone believe that he’ll be able to back it up?

Allison Cary: Not really. I just haven’t seen anything promising.

RJ Allen: I think that he is going to have some :fire: quotes from post games.

Charles Olney: I’d like to believe they have a plan. But…it’s a little hard to see how it’s supposed to work. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for them, I guess.

Alright, any final thoughts on the world of women’s soccer before we wrap up for the day? Any other stories that have piqued your interest?

RJ Allen: I am so glad we got to see soccer from the US. I missed it.

Allison Cary: The Afghan women’s national team story has gone a little quiet. It’s hard not to feel pessimistic there, but I think it’s important to just mention it.

RJ Allen: I agree.

Charles Olney: Absolutely. There’s just so much depressing news out there. It can feel overwhelming trying to keep up with it all.

Allison Cary: Absolutely.

Charles Olney: That’s kind of a grim note to finish on, but I think that’s alright. There’s plenty to be excited about too, of course, but it’s important to always remember how much work there still is to do.

Alright, thanks everyone for participating, and thanks to the folks out there for reading. We’ve got a big year coming up and are excited to get to share it with you.

Under the Radar: Reddy for Change

Posted on by RJ Allen

In the last six months there has been a lot written about Sky Blue FC. About the lack of proper facilities. About the mass of players wanting trades. About the foibles of ownership and the front office.

Though there is one person who has been largely left off the hook in all of this. A person who, by some accounts, may be as responsible as anyone for the downfall of the team.

Head coach Denise Reddy.

Over the last few months I have spoken with a number of sources connected to Sky Blue, most of whom requested to remain anonymous, for fear of retaliation. That includes several previous members of the Sky Blue’s staff as well as one person still with direct knowledge of the team. Each provided an independent account of how things reached their current state, and each identified Reddy as a significant source of concern.

That may be surprising to some. After all, for the past year, so much of the focus has been trained on the team’s general manager, Tony Novo, as well as the owners Phil Murphy and Steven Temares. Given the obvious issues at the higher levels of management, we’ve grown accustomed to buck-passing and a general lack of leadership. So much so that Reddy has seemingly been protected by the idea that all the dysfunction is coming from the higher levels.

But, I have been told by someone with direct knowledge, this is mistaken. The main reason Sam Kerr and other players are no longer with Sky Blue FC isn’t the lack of showers or other necessary upgrades to the facilities. It’s because of Denise Reddy.

Speaking directly of Kerr it was made clear that “she didn’t want to come back because of Denise [Reddy].”

And it’s not just Sam Kerr. If that was the only problem, maybe Reddy could still have build around other players. But I was told directly that Kelley O’Hara, Nikki Stanton, Leah Galton, Janine Beckie, Shea Groom, Katie Johnson, Amanda Frisbie, Christina Gibbons, Daphne and Rachel Corboz all refused to suit up while Reddy was the coach. And that doesn’t even cover the mass exit of the coaching staff over the last year due to Reddy helming the ship.

Everyone I spoke to to said that issues with Reddy created a difficult environment on top of the problems with the off-field work environment. Common issues were a “hard time communicating” with the head coach and how her style “made it very difficult for players to understand what their role was on the team and to understand if she took them out of the game, why.”

In nearly any other professional sport, a head coach amassing a record of 1 win, 17 losses and 6 draws over a 24 game season would be a virtual guaranteed sacking. Yet there have been hardly any calls for a new head coach in New Jersey. No introspection about game plan, tactics, or style, presumably because everyone’s eyes are constantly being draw away from the the mess on the field to the off-field garbage dump.

And maybe that’s where our attention should be trained. But there are enough problems here to pass the blame pretty widely around.

Going into the 2019 season, the team will likely be without both of their first round draft picks in Haley Mace and Julia Ashley. They will still be playing at Rutgers with the same missing accommodations that have been so relentlessly detailed. Their own supporter’s group is actively working on Twitter challenge the club to turn things around.

At what point does this all become performance art instead of a soccer team? At what point do the owners take responsibility, make the changes that are necessary by firing Novo and Reddy and replacing them with staff that will be able to do more within the confines of the club’s limited resources? And if they can’t do it, at what point do they acknowledge that this is a lost cause? At what point do even more players decide it’s simply not worth it?

I don’t have the answer but I hope they do figure it out before 2020 comes. If they can’t, they may end up in the trash bin of former NWSL teams.

At the time of this posting Sky Blue FC has not returned our request for comment.

France Beats USA: What Does This Mean For France?

Posted on by RJ Allen

On Saturday, the United States traveled to Le Havre, France to face the host nation of the 2019 Women’s World Cup in a friendly. The U.S. went through 2018 without losing a single match, but they started the new year with a 3-1 defeat against France.

Many have looked at this game from the American perspective. But what does this victory mean for the French national team?

France has been one of the top ranked teams in the world for a long time, but they have failed to win a major tournament. They are considered strong contenders for the 2019 World Cup title, due to their skill level and the added bonus of being a host nation. But the same was true for their last three major tournaments, and each time they fell out in the quarterfinals. That’s a trend they’ll be hoping to break this year.

The French started Saturday’s game with a goal in the ninth minute scored by Kadidiatou Diani. They were able to stop the U.S. from controlling the game and executing their preferred style of play. But Christen Press got some chances for the United States, and France’s lead felt shaky until the 56th minute. It started with a beautiful pass from Marion Torrent that cut through the U.S. defense. Diani got on the other end of the ball and took a shot from a difficult angle that went over Alyssa Naeher and into the net. When Marie Katoto bagged another goal for France in the 78th minute, the French knew they were starting their year off with a win.

There were many positives for the French to take away from this match. First, they scored three goals on fourteen total shots. Finishing has always been an issue for the French national team, but Diani and Katoto stepped up to make sure France did enough to get the win. Additionally, the crowd in Le Havre was sold out and definitely favored the French side. It was a positive glimpse of what to expect this summer.

Before the game, team captain Amandine Henry spoke with the media. “We know that we can play the big teams,” she said. “We know that we have to be mentally ready, and we are. We also know that we have to play from the first to the 90th minute. We are definitely more mature now.”

My own biggest takeaway from the match is the Henry is right. Whether its the finishing, the dominance, or the boost from the home crowd, France proved on Saturday that they are amongst the best in the world. They can face the big teams and no one should count them out.

In the World Cup host nation, they are hoping that their win over the United States is just the start to a legendary 2019 campaign.

Embarrassment Continues: Sky Blue Look for Unpaid Assistant Coach

Posted on by RJ Allen

If not providing adequate facilities wasn’t enough, if not paying players a proper wage wasn’t enough, if the lack of interest from current players wasn’t enough then Sky Blue FC have gone the extra mile to embarrass their organization by putting up an advertisement for an unpaid assistant coaching position.

Sky Blue FC is a New Jersey based soccer team that plays in the National Women’s Soccer League, operated by the US Soccer Federation. Despite the reveal of poor conditions for players on the field and in the checkbook, the league has done little to address ownership woes or demand changes be addressed by a given deadline. This has allowed the team to provide vague answers and now push their pettiness to from player neglect onto the coaching staff.

The position in question is listed as an Assistant Coach with the first team. Responsibilities include assisting the head coach with planning and implementing of training sessions, gameday planning and organizing and editing game footage.

All of this would be done without payment or benefits, severely limiting the candidates for the position. To make matters worse, the job goes on to describe the team as one with ambition.

“Sky Blue FC is seeking an ambitious and professional Volunteer Assistant Coach to join the team for the 2019 Season. The Volunteer Assistant Coach will assist the Head Coach in all aspects associated with operation of an NWSL team.”

Sky Blue has seen themselves fall from grace faster than any team in recent memory. Without the league stepping in to address the issues or the federation imposing punitive measures to the ownership group, they are being allowed to continue their negligence for another season.