A Quick Overview of the Women’s World Cup Groups

Posted on June 3, 2019 by RJ Allen

The Women’s World Cup is just a few days away. To help you prepare I’ve put together a quick guide to the six different groups.

Just one note before we get started. When identifying players to watch, I did look to provide an NWSL spin if possible. And some teams, oh my was it hard to pick just one.

Let’s get going, shall we?

Group A

Teams:
        France
    Nigeria
        Norway
        South Korea

The Favorite: France. They’ve been consistently ranked top 3 in the world and the event is happening in their country.

The Underdog: Nigeria has featured in every Women’s World Cup there has been. While they may not beat France they still likely get out and could play spoiler down the road.

Players to watch:
      Amandine Henry – France
Francisca Ordega – Nigeria
      Emilie Haavi – Norway
        Lim Seon-joo – South Korea

Key match of the Group: France vs Nigeria on June 17.

Group B

Teams:
      China PR
      Germany
      South Africa
      Spain

The Favorite: The two-time Women’s World Cup winning Germany have to be the favorites. They’ve got a solid team, as they always do, heading into the 2019 event.

The Underdog: Spain may have a much better chance of winning a few games than people give them credit for. They could find a groove and do themselves proud.

Players to watch:
      Wang Shuang – China PR
      Dzsenifer Marozsán – Germany
      Linda Motlhalo – South Africa
      Alexia Putellas – Spain

Key match of the Group: Germany vs Spain on June 12.

Group C

Teams:
      Australia
      Brazil
      Italy
      Jamaica

The Favorite: If Australia doesn’t win this group it will be shocking.

The Underdog: Jamaica has one of the best stories of in the whole tournament, and the potential to back it up with some good results. Good things might be in their future.

Players to watch:
      Sam Kerr – Australia
      Marta – Brazil
      Sara Gama – Italy
      Khadija “Bunny” Shaw – Jamaica

Key match of the Group: Brazil vs Jamaica on June 9. If Jamaica can get one or three points here, it will be huge.

Group D

Teams:
      Argentina
      England
      Japan
      Scotland

The Favorite: Some might say England and some might say Japan. I am going with England.

The Underdog: Scotland is at their first Women’s World Cup, but they’ve got plenty of World Cup level talent on their roster. It’s a tough group, but they have a good chance of getting out.

Players to watch:
      Estefanía Banini – Argentina
      Lucy Bronze – England
      Rumi Utsugi – Japan
      Kim Little – Scotland

Key match of the Group: England vs Scotland on June 9. Can Scotland get a point or three and turn the group on its head?

Group E

Teams:
      Cameroon
      Canada
      Netherlands
      New Zealand

The Favorite: This is Canada’s group to lose.

The Underdog: The Netherlands aren’t a total underdog, but they don’t have the sort of historical success as Canada.

Players to watch:
      Estelle Johnson – Cameroon
      Christine Sinclair – Canada
      Lieke Martens – Netherlands
      Ali Riley – New Zealand

Key match of the Group: The Canada vs Netherlands match on June 20 decides who takes the group.

Group F

Teams:
      Chile
      Sweden
      Thailand
      United States

The Favorite: If the United States doesn’t win this group it will be one of the biggest shocks in the opening rounds.

The Underdog: Sweden did beat the United States in the 2016 Olympics though.

Players to watch:
      Christiane Endler – Chile
      Hedvig Lindahl – Sweden
      Duangnapa Sritala – Thailand
      Julie Ertz – United States

Key match of the Group: The United States is going to have a pretty easy opening two matches. But the Sweden match could be a defining moment.

A Beginners Guide to the Women’s World Cup

Posted on June 3, 2019 by RJ Allen

The World Cup is the biggest event in global soccer, and it brings in a lot of fans who don’t necessarily spend a lot of time or energy thinking about the game in between the big events. But it can sometimes feel a little overwhelming trying to catch up on months or years of information that have passed by since the last time you checked in.

If you fall into that category, this is the guide for you. It will give you a quick rundown on the tournament, and provide a few helpful tidbits to let you join in on the conversation.

Where is it happening?

The tournament is in France this year, with games spread across eight venues. The opening match will kick off in Paris, which will also host several more group stage games and a couple knockout matches. Other cities like Nice, Reims, Valenciennes, and Le Havre will host matches in the group stages and first two knockout rounds. At that point, all eyes will turn to Lyon, which will host the semifinal and finals in the last week of the tournament.

Because the tournament is in France, the games will mostly take place in the late morning and early afternoon for most US viewers–which is a pretty good time to watch soccer!

How can I watch it?

Soccer is more fun in big groups, so find your favorite local watering hole and ask them to put it on. If that fails, you can also watch at home, with every game being broadcast on Fox, FS1, or FS2, and will also be available in Spanish on Telemundo and Universo. And on the principle that soccer is more fun in groups, if there’s no local establishment you’d like to visit, you could always put together a watch party at home.

For those cord-cutters out there, everything is also available through streaming services like fuboTV.

Who are the favorites to win the tournament?

The United States are defending champions, and have a strong chance to win again this time. There’s been some turnover since 2015, but most of the core of the old team is still around, supplemented with some important new contributors. This squad is deep and very strong.
Co-favorites are France. It would be a first-time title for the team, almost exactly two decades after their male counterparts accomplished the same thing on home soil in 1998. This French team is as good as they’ve ever had.
Germany are two-time winners (2003 and 2007), and the defending Olympic champions. They haven’t had a great last couple years, but things seem to be falling into line at the right time. They will be strong contenders.
Australia are the newest of new kids on the block. They have a core of young players who have grown together over the past decade, and with Sam Kerr, they’ve got arguably the best player in the world leading their line.
Honorable mentions: England continue to develop and could pose a real threat. The Netherlands are the defending European champions and have an impressive attacking array. This is likely Christine Sinclair’s final World Cup, and Canada will do everything they can to boost her to the final. And it’s never wise to count Japan out, even if they don’t look as strong these days.

Some key storylines to follow

Broken record. Christine Sinclair has scored 181 goals in her illustrious career, leaving her just three behind Abby Wambach’s record of 184. It would be a fitting capstone on the career of an all-time great to break the record in her final World Cup.
A deadly quarterfinal. If the United States and France both win their groups, they will be on a collision course for a quarterfinal showdown between the two tournament favorites. It would take place on June 28 in Paris, in front of 50,000 fans.
The Sam Kerr wrecking tour. There are several players with a case for being the best in the world right now, but in my opinion Sam Kerr is the first among equals. She’s led both the NWSL (United States) and W-League (Australia) in scoring in both of the past two seasons. If her form continues, this could be a performance for the ages.

Five group stage games that are worth watching

If you can only catch a few games, here are some that will be most likely to give you some serious bang for your buck:

France vs. South Korea. June 7. The opening match of the tournament, held at the Parc des Princes in Paris. The atmosphere should be raucous, as Les Bleus look to start things off with a bang.
England vs. Scotland. June 9. The oldest rivalry in soccer gets another new chapter in the book. England will be the favorites, but don’t sleep on this Scotland team. You’ll want to pay particular attention to Kim Little—one of the world’s best players finally given a chance to shine on the biggest stage with her country.
Germany vs. Spain. June 12. Germany are one of the best teams in the world, and Spain are a rising power. Whoever wins this group will gain a relatively easy slot in the elimination bracket. Whoever finishes second will probably have to play the United States.
Netherlands vs. Canada. June 20. Two excellent teams that will likely be playing to see who gets to top the group. Canada are a defensive stalwart, while the Dutch have one of the most exciting attacks in world soccer. Which will come out on top?
Sweden vs. United States. June 20. Two classic rivals facing off in the final slot of the group stages. They’ll not only be fighting to top the group, but there will also be an element of revenge, after Sweden bounced the US out of the Olympics in 2016.

Who should I support?

Support whoever you like, and don’t mind anyone who says otherwise! There are exciting stories with every single team in the tournament, and plenty to root for in every case. But if you still aren’t sure, here’s a short guide to provide some assistance:

If your favorite teams are the New York Yankees, Golden State Warriors, New England Patriots, and Real Madrid, then you should support the United States.
If you want to jump on a bandwagon, you should support Australia.
If you want to jump on a slightly hipper bandwagon, you should support Spain.
If you’re so hip that you only want to support a team if everyone else is jumping off the bandwagon, you should support Brazil.
If you want to support a team making their first appearance in the tournament (and you should!), you should support one of Chile, Jamaica, Scotland, or South Africa. My personal tip is Jamaica, but they’re all great.
If you want to see your team play beautiful soccer, you should support Japan.
If you want to support an African team with a chance to make a deep run, you should support Nigeria.
If you want to boisterously sing a great national anthem after a victory, you should support France.

But, again, there aren’t any wrong answers here. All the teams are well-deserving of some love.

Who should I follow to stay up to date?

I will be covering the tournament from France, and you’re certainly welcome to follow along with me at @olneyce. But assuming you want a wider range, there are some excellent lists of recommended follows provided by our friends Jacob Cristobal, Sophie Lawson, RJ Allen, and Kim McCauley.

I’m enjoying the World Cup so much, and I’m sad it will be over soon

You’re in luck! Almost everyone participating in the World Cup also plays in their domestic leagues. If you want to see more Sam Kerr, Crystal Dunn, and Christine Sinclair, you can tune into the National Women’s Soccer League – with games going on right through the World Cup and continuing on immediately after. And many other leagues around the world will start back up at the end of summer. There’s a world of great women’s soccer out there, just waiting for your attention!

Hot or Not: NWSL Power Rankings Week 8

Posted on June 3, 2019 by RJ Allen

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.

We Need to Talk About Richie Burke

Posted on June 2, 2019 by RJ Allen

We need to talk about Richie Burke.

The Washington Spirit, a team that finished with just 11 points in all of 2018, are sitting at the top of the NWSL standings right now with 16 points.

You’d expect that accomplishment to send a wave of praise toward coach Richie Burke and the Washington players, but what we’ve actually seen is more of a ripple.

This winter, the parent of a former youth player at FC Virginia alleged that Burke had used abusive and homophobic language when he was coaching there. Stephanie Yang wrote about the allegations for Black and Red United back in February.

It’s hard enough to get any accountability when it comes to actual crimes, with even sexual or physical violence sometimes treated like an inconvenience more than anything else. When it comes to something as “harmless” as using abusive and homophobic language people are often willing to treat it as nothing more than a coach being a hard ass.

But the allegations are actually quite simple. A man in a position of power over young men used abusive and homophobic language as a way to degrade and humiliate them. This display of anger and aggression should be as unacceptable as a coach putting their hands on a player. The coach in question should not pass go and should not get put in charge of professional level players after the allegations are swept back under the rug.

The most striking part of this isn’t that someone in a position of power is alleged to have used abusive and homophobic language. The most striking part is the reaction to those allegations. Since the story came out, the NWSL and the Washington Spirit have done, well, nothing.

There has been no publicly announced formal investigation that would allow the league and the team look at what was alleged to have happened. There been no comments from Burke about soul-searching, not even a mealy-mouthed apology about ‘misunderstandings,’ no commitment to work on developing a better understanding of the issue. Nor do any of these parties seem all that concerned with severity of the allegations.

No, there is just this comment given to John D. Halloran after Washington played Chicago.

Last night I asked Washington Spirit head coach Richie Burke if he had yet to address accusations from some of his former youth players that he had used homophobic slurs. pic.twitter.com/jpbu0GcAwX
— John D. Halloran (@JohnDHalloran) May 27, 2019

And while we have heard nothing from the team or the league about the allegations, we do hear about Burke in the commentary on NWSL games, where fans and media are subjected to endless positive discussion. No context, no effort to even mention the allegation, just sugary sweet positivity that claws at the back of your throat.

Fans deserve better than this. They deserve consistent, committed announcers who understand the league, the storylines and the on and off the field happenings, and who aren’t afraid to discuss the good and the bad. Something more measured instead of that cloying sweet positivity could keep casual viewers in the loop, and lend some support to those who have serious concerns about these allegations.

On one hand, what Burke is accused to doing is deeply disturbing. But on the other hand . . . you know what? Sometimes there isn’t an other hand.

Richie Burke has apparently made the Washington Spirit play better soccer. But that doesn’t mean anything where it comes to the issue of abuse.

The NWSL and Washington have gotten this all wrong. They should have taken serious action months ago, done their due diligence, and seriously looked into these issues. If Burke is innocent, there should have been a real effort to figure it out. And if he isn’t innocent, there should be repercussions. A fine and suspension would not be out of line. Maybe more. It doesn’t matter that it was a former job. Sam Johnson had to sit out a game for the Utah Royals because of an Australia W-League red card. Why shouldn’t Burke be held to at least that standard?

The NWSL and Washington want to sweep this under the rug. But it’s not going to go away, and someone has to address the Burke issue. The media isn’t going to stop asking about him, and Washington doesn’t look like they are going to be out of the headlines anytime soon.

The 123rd Minute: The World Cup Preview – Final Stage of Her Pokemon

Posted on June 1, 2019 by RJ Allen

RJ and Charles talk about the Women’s World Cup, Tobin Heath as a Pokemon and a left back and who might win it all in France.

Quick Kicks: Kick a Player Why Don’t Ya?

Posted on June 1, 2019 by RJ Allen

RJ and Luis talk all about shin kicks, who had the better USWNT goal and being Bad as a Mother.

The Game Changers: Week Seven

Posted on May 30, 2019 by RJ Allen

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

We are nearly two months into the 2019 NWSL season, and things are not taking shape the way many of us expected them to. With six or seven games come and gone for each team, it is the Utah Royals who sit in the No. 1 spot in the standings, tied with the No. 2 Washington Spirit in points but leading on goal differential. The North Carolina Courage, who were unstoppable in 2018, have dropped to the No. 7 spot with just nine points in seven matches. It’s still early enough in the season that most teams are within five points of each other, with only Sky Blue and the Orlando Pride falling far behind the rest of the pack, but the standings are eye-catching for sure. Here is a full breakdown of this week’s results:

Sky Blue vs. Portland Thorns (0-1)

Utah Royals vs. Orlando Pride (2-0)

Chicago Red Stars vs. Washington Spirit (0-2)

Reign FC vs. North Carolina Courage (2-1)

The Washington Spirit earn another win against a difficult opponent

The Washington Spirit have had a surprisingly strong start to the 2019 campaign. Under new head coach Richie Burke, the Spirit are 4-1-1. They added on another 2-0 win this weekend over the Chicago Red Stars, who had won their last two matches going into this game. Despite being on the road and not having goal-scorer Cheyna Matthews, who joined the Jamaica national team ahead of their first World Cup appearance, the Spirit still managed to knock two back and earn three points.

The first goal, admittedly, was a scramble at the goal line that ended up counting as a Yuki Nagasato own goal. In the 63rd minute, Ashley Hatch took advantage of a favorable deflection to find the back of the net again for the Spirit, giving them the 2-0 lead. Of course, the Spirit’s defense– led by goalkeeper Aubrey Bledsoe– put on a stellar performance, facing 20 shots and requiring seven saves. Still, Washington’s offense did their part to earn the points and the Spirit are cruising along in a close second place. Can they keep this momentum going?

Reign FC earn their second straight victory.

Two weeks ago, Reign FC hadn’t earned their first win of 2019 and were struggling with just three points in four games. But in the last two weeks, they’ve earned back-to-back wins and breathed some life into their struggling squad. This week, they were able to hand the North Carolina Courage their second defeat of the season. We’ll focus on the Courage’s perspective in a moment, but for now, let’s keep our eyes on Reign FC.

Jess Fishlock returned to the lineup for Reign FC this week, inevitably having a massive impact after she missed the beginning of the season on loan to Olympique Lyon. She had four shots in the game and played a full 90 minutes. But the goals went to Bethany Balcer, who opened up scoring with a powerful header in the first fifteen minutes, and Shea Groom, who capitalized on a mistake from Katelyn Rowland towards the end of the match and solidified the win for the Reign. After a slow start to the season, we might be starting to see Reign FC in the form they’re hoping for.

North Carolina Courage drop more points.

Perhaps we are all too adjusted to seeing North Carolina dominated painlessly, but there recent string of results is starting to become concerning. After earning their first loss since 2018 two weeks ago against the Chicago Red Stars, the Courage earned another loss on the road this weekend. They have now earned just two points in their last four matches, and sit in the No. 7 spot in the table.

Surely, losing their national team players is having an impact on this team. But that might not be the only force at work here. The team still had Abby Erceg, who scored the lone goal for the Courage, but were unable to buckle down on the defensive end. Rowland made a careless mistake that may have cost her team points, and Lynn Williams has had even more trouble finishing than usual. Is it time to be worried about this North Carolina team? I think they’re still one of the top teams in the league. But a month ago, I would have said they were untouchable. The inevitable shift seems like it may have begun.

Route Two Soccer: Fishlock Returns and Immediately Makes the Difference

Posted on May 30, 2019 by RJ Allen

For most teams, the World Cup means losing your key players. And Reign FC are no exception. They’ll spend the next month or two missing the likes of Megan Rapinoe, Jodie Taylor, and Allie Long. But they’re also the rare team for whom this month means getting a key player back. With the end of the European club soccer calendar, Jess Fishlock’s loan period to Olympique Lyonnais has concluded, and she’s now back home in the pacific northwest.

Given the travel, and the potential lingering effects of her work to help Lyon take home a fourth consecutive Champions League title, there was some speculation about whether she would even play this weekend. And according to head coach Vlatko Andonovski, even after they knew she would start there were serious plans to limit her minutes. But as the saying goes: the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry when dragons get involved.

Because Fishlock just made too big a difference, and the Reign desperately needed her out there to see the game out. Her effect could be felt at three different levels, all of which are important in their own way.

The first is the simplest: her technical ability is top-notch, and helped solidify a Reign midfield that has looked shockingly weak for much of the season. Fishlock wasn’t even especially sharp by her lofty standards, but all the key features were there: her coolness in possession, her incisive passing, and her ability to generate space to receive the ball and relieve teammates under pressure. Having a dynamo in the midfield will go a long way to get the ship back on track.

Fishlock’s second contribution was tactical. Here, things were a tad surprising, with Andonovski choosing to bring her in as a #10 at the tip of the central midfield triangle, rather than in a more holding role. At times, she was really playing as more of a second striker than anything else.

The more obvious move might have been to leave Fishlock in a box-to-box role, leaving Bev Yanez at the top of the midfield. Yanez has always been more of a striker-turned-midfielder than anything else. But as Andonovski noted after the game, she’s also a sponge for training, and has made big strides in her tactical awareness. She also, for whatever reason, has struggled to impose herself on games in the forward attacking role this season. But freed from some of those responsibilities, she had her best game of 2019, while Fishlock ran the show in front of her.

We’ve grown used to fantastical things from Fishlock, but it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on just how difficult it is to slide so easily into what is effectively a brand new attacking unit. Before Monday’s game, she had played zero total minutes with the entire front three. And that front three was also all playing together for the first time. With the departure of Jodie Taylor, Bethany Balcer slotted into the central position, allowing Darian Jenkins and Shea Groom to fan out on either side. There is boatloads of talent in that trio, but no one would have been surprised if it hadn’t quite gelled. But from the first minute, the Reign looked deadly, and Fishlock played a major role in binding all the pieces together. You could see her directing runs, and could hear her calling out directions—every bit the player-manager that we saw from her a couple winters ago in Australia.

This was critically important in the first half, when the Reign took the game directly to North Carolina, turning the tables a bit on last year’s champions by pressing hard and fast to disrupt play. It worked wonderfully, and a huge part of that is due to Fishlock’s directions. All too often, pressing in the NWSL is really more a matter of ball-chasing. But the Reign put on a clinic, with waves of pressure challenging the ball-carrier and closing down all her passing options. That’s obviously something that happens at the team level, but Fishlock was a critical piece of making it work.

Her third contribution to the team was psychological. It’s no surprise that a Vlatko Andonovski team played with confidence, but there’s still something impressive about taking on a team as good as North Carolina (even in their weakened form) and not backing down an inch. That’s what the Reign did in the first half, and it sure can’t have hurt to have a player like Fishlock to keep everyone on the same page. Then, during those critical twenty minutes in the middle of the second half—when NC often tear apart the opposition—the Reign bent but never broke. They even managed to produce the occasional chance of their own, with Groom pouncing on a defensive mistake to put her team up 2-0. While things did get a little nervy in the final minutes, the Reign held on to see out a much-needed win.

This wasn’t Fishlock’s best game, or really anywhere close. She understandably looked tired, and occasionally struggled with her touch. She missed a couple chances to split the defense. She was dispossessed more than you’d expect. But even accounting for all that, it was a critical intervention, and a demonstration of just how badly the Reign have missed her.

There were many interesting stories from this game—the debut of Casey Murphy in goal, the growing excitement surrounding Bethany Balcer, Shea Groom breaking her goal-scoring drought, a revitalized performance from Bev Yanez, rock-solid defending from Megan Oyster, and on and on. But intermixed with each of those stories is the return of Fishlock. A great player who makes everyone else around her play great. For the Reign and for neutrals, it’s great to have her back. For fans of other teams, not so much.

Will Tobin Heath Really Play Outside Back In France?

Posted on May 29, 2019 by RJ Allen

Will Jill Ellis play Tobin Heath as an outside back in France?

For a while on Sunday afternoon, as the USWNT took on Mexico, that’s exactly where she was. Though it was more standing there than playing there. And as I watched, the thought rolled through my mind: is this really going to happen?

This isn’t the only question around this team. With the US on their way to France, there still are plenty of lingering issues. Part of that is because the team hasn’t played a truly competitive match since March. So we’ve seen plenty of games, but none that really told us key things. So we’re still left wondering who will be on the pitch, who won’t, and what that means for the fate of the team.

And thinking about Heath as a potential fullback gets me thinking more broadly about the dichotomy between true depth and the illusion of depth.

If you want to see true depth, look to the midfield. Sam Mewis, Morgan Brian, Julie Ertz, Lindsey Horan, Rose Lavelle and Allie Long provide as deep a pool in the middle of the park as a coach could want. While Horan is the presumed starter, Mewis is a unique talent that is able to step in and work with just about any pairing Ellis might ask of her. Ertz can play just about anywhere with expert skill. And seeing Lavelle in person with the ball is a sight to behold. The way she reads the game and manages to get defenders befuddled as she moves forward on the pitch is a thing of beauty.

Sure there are questions on if Brian is healthy enough or if Allie Long will be able to use her particular skill set at an effective level for the national team. But most of the questions around the midfield are due to an overabundance of talent.

Contrast this with the outside back position. You have Kelley O’Hara and Crystal Dunn as the starters. But in the post game mixed zone Dunn called herself an “attacking minded player” nearly a dozen times while answering questions from the assembled media. She’s willing to do the job, but is hardly a true defender. So if you start with Dunn, and want to make a change (reasonable on a day when it was so hot you could fry an egg on the pavement outside Red Bull Arena), it makes a certain kind of sense to swap in Tobin Heath. But the logic here is an extremely twisted kind.

I didn’t know in the year 2019 I needed to say this, but Tobin Heath is not an outside back. And watching her in person only confirmed that. In the first half she was comfortable and energetic. All that faded once she was moved to the left back spot. She didn’t look like she was particularly interested in defending–taking any chance to go forward–but those movements were aimless and uncomfortable. And why wouldn’t they be? Ellis suggested in her post game remarks that the difference between left back and left forward in this rotation wasn’t all that great. But there’s actually a big difference. You can’t just swap players interchangeably and expect it to work. The responsibilities are different, the angles are different, the way you get involved in play is different.

So why did Ellis try it? Does it maybe tell us just how little she actually wants to rely on Ali Krieger – who made the roster but still faces real worries about how she’ll perform if called upon? Or is it just some practice for a desperation move in a game where they’ve used all their subs? It’s hard to say.

Ultimately, only time will tell if this effort to force wingers in as outside backs will burn the Americans. If they win the 2019 Women’s World Cup it may be just a forgotten bit of commentary in 20 years.