Tag: Sam Kerr

Ranking the top players of 2019

Posted on by Backline Soccer

Earlier this week I wrote a piece complaining about the end-of-year awards voting. In particular, I was frustrated to see Megan Rapinoe sweeping all the big awards, despite producing a fairly middling (by her own high standards) 2019. With Rich Laverty’s wonderful Top 100 project for The Offside Rule and The Guardian wrapping up today, we finally got a more informed take on the world’s top players from a broad set of voters who are far more engaged in the game.

And this time around, Rapinoe finished all the way down at…third.

Hmmm.

Well, in the interest of trying to be productive, rather than merely sitting on the sidelines criticizing everyone else, I decided to give it a go at producing my own list of the top 40 players. It was tough, and I don’t feel remotely satisfied with the final list. It’s extremely hard to judge players, especially when it’s so difficult to see league play across the world, when most international matches outside of the World Cup tend to rely on dodgy streams for distribution, and when statistical records are limited or nonexistent.

Given those constraints, there’s simply no way to prevent bias playing a big role. For strikers in the top leagues, we at least have pretty good information about goals and assists. But who is good at holding up the ball? Who contributes most to link-up play? Who makes excellent runs that expose defenses? Much harder to say. And for everyone else, there’s often literally almost nothing to go by. Who were the best center backs in the Frauen-Bundesliga this year? Having seen only a handful of games, I’m stupendously unqualified to make that assessment.

So it’s understandable why names often matter more in the voting than performance. People know names, but the performances are mostly hidden. I’m certainly not free from that kind of bias myself. But lists like these are still helpful because in encountering multiple different perspectives, we all come to a better understanding about those parts of the game that we’re less in tune with.

With all those caveats stipulated, here is my list of the best players of 2019:

  1. Sam Kerr (Australia – Chicago Red Stars)
  2. Vivianne Miedema (Netherlands – Arsenal)
  3. Amandine Henry (France – Lyon)
  4. Julie Ertz (US – Chicago Red Stars)
  5. Crystal Dunn (US – North Carolina Courage)
  6. Caroline Graham Hansen (Norway – Barcelona)
  7. Pernille Harder (Denmark – Wolfsburg)
  8. Ada Hegerberg (Norway – Lyon)
  9. Griedge Mbock Bathy (France – Lyon)
  10. Lucy Bronze (England – Lyon)
  11. Christen Press (US – Utah Royals)
  12. Ewa Pajor (Poland – Wolfsburg)
  13. Dzsenifer Maroszán (Germany – Lyon)
  14. Kosovare Asllani (Sweden – Linköpings/CD Tacón)
  15. Nikita Parris (England – Manchester City/Lyon)
  16. Sam Mewis (US – North Carolina Courage)
  17. Danielle Van de Donk (Netherlands – Arsenal)
  18. Becky Sauerbrunn (US – Utah Royals)
  19. Sara Däbritz (Germany – Bayern Munich/Paris Saint-Germain)
  20. Debinha (Brazil – North Carolina Courage)
  21. Abby Dahlkemper (US – North Carolina Courage)
  22. Nilla Fischer (Sweden – Linköpings)
  23. Kim Little (Scotland – Arsenal)
  24. Wendie Renard (France – Lyon)
  25. Christiane Endler (Chile – Paris Saint-Germain)
  26. Kadidiatou Diani (France – Paris Saint-Germain)
  27. Beth Mead (England – Arsenal)
  28. Eugenie Le Sommer (France – Lyon)
  29. Jenni Hermoso (Spain – Barcelona)
  30. Jill Scott (England – Manchester City)
  31. Casey Short (US – Chicago Red Stars)
  32. Marie-Antoinette Katoto (France – Paris Saint-Germain)
  33. Amel Majri (France – Lyon)
  34. Carli Lloyd (US – Sky Blue FC)
  35. Ellen White (England – Birmingham City/Manchester City)
  36. Lina Magull (Germany – Bayern Munich)
  37. Magdalena Eriksson (Sweden – Chelsea)
  38. Mapi León (Spain – Barcelona)
  39. Barbara Bonansea (Italy – Juventus)
  40. Kailen Sheridan (Canada – Sky Blue FC)

A few comments on some of these players. Starting at the top, it’s incredibly hard to pick a single player as ‘the best’ over the year. I can see a plausible case for everyone in the top 10. They’re all fantastic. In the end, it was Kerr for me, by a hair. Her performances in the NWSL were absurd, and by themselves would have earned her a prominent place at the top of this list. She was also virtually the only Australian to not completely fall apart. And she won the Golden Boot down in the W League. But boy is it hard to argue against Vivianne Miedema, who somehow just continues to get better.

Julie Ertz and Crystal Dunn, meanwhile, were easily the best American players in 2019. Ertz dominated the defensive lines, whether as a #6 or as a center back, and was probably the single most important player on the World Cup winning team, and came very close to being as important as Kerr for the Red Stars. I had Dunn in 4th place for the NWSL MVP for half a season’s worth of games. She was that good. Then consider that she was deputized as a fullback for the World Cup winners. And while I didn’t think she played especially well during the World Cup, she did enough. That kind of versatility is invaluable.

I have Press at #11, which might be too high. But I still don’t think people understand just how outrageous her performances have been this year, for both club and country. She was the difference between Utah being a playoff contender and an also-ran. And she recorded a ridiculous 12 assists for the US, finally truly owning the wing role that she had struggled with for so long.

Dzsenifer Maroszán is ‘only’ at 13 thanks to the injury that effectively killed her World Cup in the opening 20 minutes. I’m still incredibly angry about that game.

I’ve got a few forwards pretty high on the list based partially on their incredibly impressive statistics. From what I’ve actually seen with my eyes, I probably wouldn’t put Beth Mead quite this high. But there’s no denying her record. She’s an assist-machine. Nikita Parris also gets some extra credit for a dominant WSL season last year (in which she actually led Miedema in xG).

I used the last few slots to pick players that I personally really enjoy watching. The margins at this point are pretty thin, and I certainly don’t feel confident that they were strictly better than the 10-20 great players who fall just beyond that mark. But León is a fascinating player, who plays a huge role in setting the style for both club and country. Bonansea is a bit hard to judge, given the relative weakness of the Italian league, but her performances in the World Cup certainly suggest we should take her numbers there seriously. And Sheridan just completed an absolutely bonkers NWSL season. You could certainly make a case for Van Veenendaal, Naeher, Nayler, Bouhaddi, Lindahl, Alexander, etc. as the next-best keeper behind Endler. But for my money, it’s Sheridan. And it might not be long before she’s clearly the best.

The four players I was most frustrated at leaving off the list were Saki Kumagai, Sherida Spitse, Sara Gama, and Mana Iwabuchi. It’s quite possible that each of them belong much higher. But I just wasn’t able to see enough of them, so couldn’t be confident. I’m also pretty sure there are some Scandinavians who deserve to be a bit higher. But again, I just haven’t seen them enough to be sure.

Conclusion: ranking players is extremely hard, and I commend everyone who put serious thought and effort into it. There may be objectively correct answers, but I don’t know if any of us (apart from maybe Sophie) are capable of finding them. I’m quite confident that players like Rapinoe, Morgan, Lavelle, and Heath are getting massively overrated in most of these lists. They’re all great, certainly, but they didn’t produce enough in 2019 to deserve a spot. However, it’s quite likely that I’m just as guilty of overrating some players from other leagues based on reputation too. So it goes.

Ultimately, all we can ask is that people try, and hopefully we can continue to learn from each other in the process.

Route Two Soccer: My 2019 NWSL Awards Ballot

Posted on by Backline Soccer

It’s time for some end of the year votes. Here’s my take on who should win the big awards.

MVP

  1. Sam Kerr

  2. Casey Short

  3. Christen Press

  4. Crystal Dunn

  5. Andi Sullivan

I am a longtime advocate of the ‘goals are overrated’ thesis, and have often been frustrated that the MVP award is really just a proxy for the Golden Boot award. But I don’t see how you could reasonably argue for anyone other than Sam Kerr as the 2019 NWSL MVP. She’s playing on an absolutely ridiculous level, and there’s no one else in the world who can match it right now. She participated directly in 23 goals (18 goals + 5 assists). That’s more than two entire teams scored (Sky Blue finished with 20 goals and Houston with 21). And she left for a month to go to the World Cup!

The gap between #1 and #2 is large, but the others are fairly close. In second place I have Casey Short, who deserves a huge amount of credit for the Red Stars’ best season yet (more on her below). After that I’ve got Christen Press and Crystal Dunn, both of whom missed about half the season but were so otherworldly-good during their limited time that they sneak onto the list. Dunn is the piece that transforms North Carolina from a very good team into an unbeatable one, while Press is the difference between Utah as a struggling bottom-feeder and a playoff contender. In fifth place I have Andi Sullivan, who took a massive step forward after a disappointing first season. Of all the players left off the World Cup roster, she’s probably the most likely to muscle her way into the Olympic 18 for 2020.

 

Rookie of the Year

  1. Bethany Balcer

  2. Sam Staab

  3. Gabby Seiler

This is one of the deepest rookie classes we’ve seen in a long time. Just consider that players like Tierna Davidson and Jordan DiBiasi don’t even make the top three. 

You could make a strong case for Staab as the winner here. Defending is hard, especially when you cycle out your entire defensive line and swap in a bunch of first and second year players. And Staab stepped into the role seamlessly, helping Washington produce one of the league’s stingiest defenses. But ultimately I sided with Balcer, who not only poured in goals but who also proved critical to building play and to an aggressive defensive press. 

Still, as good as both Staab and Balcer were, they only top this list because of Seiler’s season-ending injury. It’s no coincidence that Portland stumbled badly once Seiler was unavailable. She was central to orchestrating their possession. There are few players in the world with her positional awareness and passing acumen. It’s a shame we didn’t get to see a full season from her.

Goalkeeper of the Year

  1. Kailen Sheridan

  2. Aubrey Bledsoe

  3. Casey Murphy

Plenty of strong competitors here, including a few that were very good in limited minutes after spending a bunch of time away for the World Cup. I have Sheridan above the crowd for her consistency and range of abilities. She’s excellent at stopping shots, good at collecting crosses and controlling her box, and reasonably good with her feet. She struggled a bit in 2018, and understandably so given the horror show of the defense in front of her. But with a stabilized unit this year, she played with confidence and calmness, and was a big part of the reason Sky Blue conceded 18 fewer goals this season than they did last year. In fact, if you go by the advanced stats, she’s responsible for the majority of that improvement.

Defender of the Year

  1. Casey Short

  2. Megan Oyster

  3. Jaelene Hinkle

We sometimes throw superlatives around a little too easily, but Casey Short had a genuinely unbelievable year. She was voted on the Team of the Month for every single month of the season, and deservedly so. She’s always been a great defender, but took it to another level this year. She can play on either side, giving her team the flexibility to shut down whichever wing might pose a greater threat on the day. Her footwork is rock solid, her positioning good. And she even contributes a decent amount going forward. Just the complete package.

Oyster has been a stealth candidate for one of the league’s best center backs for a few years now, and this year was no different. You could make a similar case for her partner Lou Barnes, but for my money Oyster is the more important player at this point, thanks to her range and her anticipation. 

The list is rounded out with Hinkle, who is not without controversy, and who is rarely talked about as one of the key figures on this absurdly dominant North Carolina team. But she is the best attacking fullback in the league by a long way, and contributes quite a bit defensively as well.  

Coach of the Year

  1. Vlatko Andonovski

  2. Paul Riley

  3. Rory Dames

The easiest vote on the ballot – even easier than picking Kerr. What Andonovski managed this year, taking an injury-ravaged Reign team to the playoffs, is arguably the greatest coaching accomplishment the league has yet seen. As with all of Vlatko’s teams, they were defensively solid, calm in possession, and consistently hard to break down. To play that way under the best of conditions is impressive; to manage it through unprecedented roster turnover is genuinely astonishing. 

We’ve grown used to the dominance of North Carolina but it’s still worth noting how Riley has been able to keep his team firing on all cylinders. It’s always hard to come back after a record-breaking season, and they could easily have fallen to pieces once they started to struggle a bit early in the season. But he kept them moving and once everyone returned from the World Cup, they sliced through the rest of the league like a hot knife through butter. 

Rounding out the list is Rory Dames, whose Red Stars just put together their most complete season yet. I’ve written a lot about Chicago in the past few years, wondering why this collection of exceptional players couldn’t ever quite play up to their abilities. In 2019, they did it. This is now the smoothest-passing and most aesthetically-pleasing team in the league to watch, and the results have followed as well.

Team of the Season

Christen Press – Sam Kerr – Carli Lloyd

Crystal Dunn – Andi Sullivan – Kristie Mewis

Jaelene Hinkle – Megan Oyster – Becky Sauerbrunn – Casey Short

Kailen Sheridan

Most of these should be obvious from the comments above. But it’s worth noting Kristie Mewis, who is playing some of the best soccer of her life, and Carli Lloyd who continutes to shut up all her critics (myself included). Becky Sauerbrunn isn’t really Becky Sauerbrunn anymore, but she’s still great, and still somehow consistently underrated.

Second XI

Yuki Nagasato – Lynn Williams – Kristen Hamilton

Debinha – Sarah Killion – Denise O’Sullivan

Meghan Klingenberg – Abby Erceg – Julie Ertz – Tori Huster

Aubrey Bledsoe

Lots of great players here, including several that I’ve called overrated in the past. But not even I can deny how critical both Debinha and O’Sullivan have been to sustaining the North Carolina machine. I would never have guessed that Tori Huster would be in my second XI as a right back of all things, but she made a strong transition into the job. 

The three toughest calls were leaving out Christine Sinclair, Gabby Seiler, and Morgan Brian, each of whom was exceptional in limited minutes. But spots are limited and ultimately I decided to err in favor of players like Killion, O’Sullivan, and Williams who contributed a lot more bulk. 

 

Route Two Soccer: Chicago’s Win Over Houston Bodes Well for Their End-of-Season Hopes

Posted on by Backline Soccer

It’s been a puzzling season for the Chicago Red Stars. They were supposed to dominate during the World Cup break, when they held onto most of their key players even as all the other top teams were decimated. But they struggled mightily during that period. Then they came out of the World Cup break on fire, reeling off five consecutive wins, only to turn around and lose back-to-back games to the two worst teams in the league.

Looking at the roster, they should easily make the playoffs. And yet here they are, right in the thick of a tough race over the final month.

It’s always hard to make predictions about this team, but on the evidence of this weekend’s performance against Houston, they might just have kicked things back into gear at the key time. It was an accomplished, comprehensive, and thoroughly dominant result, and a demonstration of just how good this Red Stars team has the potential to be.

As I flagged last week, Chicago has faced significant problems this year in the central defense, and that was addressed directly by coach Rory Dames’s lineup as the two best center backs on the roster were finally moved back into the central defense. Julie Ertz and Tierna Davidson bring a huge amount of value in their other roles, so it’s certainly not an easy choice to place them at center back. But for a team struggling to keep a tight ship, it made sense.

To some extent, the change was informed by the opponent. The Dash are one of the league’s weakest teams at building play through the middle, making it far easier for Chicago to get by without Ertz in the holding role to break up possession. Where they do pose a threat is in quick counters and out wide. Dames countered this by matching the ever-adaptable Casey Short up against Kealia Ohai, and by using the lightning-fast Sarah Gorden on the opposite flank. This arrangement shored up the middle by removing the shaky Katie Naughton, and strengthened the wide defense.

It also had an additional advantage: with Ertz and Davidson at center back, Chicago were ideally suited to pass through and around a scurrying Houston press. Few, if any, central defenders in the league are as comfortable on the ball as this pair. If the Dash are closing down Morgan Brian or Dani Colaprico coming for the ball, it was very easy for Davidson or Ertz to simply dribble forward to create new angles.

The only real danger here was overconfidence. At times, Chicago seemed to double down so much on beating the press that they played themselves into danger. But once they found their rhythm, it was extremely comfortable for the Red Stars to build from the back.

And this set the tone for the whole game. Chicago didn’t dominate possession, nor did they play a tiki-taka style. Instead, they held possession comfortably while drawing the Dash forward, and then pounced, moving the ball quickly into space. You can see it from the goals.

For the first, Morgan Brian received the ball around the halfway line, picked her head up and saw a clear, direct vertical line. One beautifully weighted pass, a single touch from Kerr, and Chicago scored. The whole move took 8 seconds.

For the second, Davidson intercepted a pass, found Nagasato in tons of space, who passed to Kerr, who dropped the ball back to DiBernardo. In those few seconds, Nagasato had raced forward and was now ready to receive another simple, lovely vertical pass from DiBernardo. She then slid the ball between two converging defenders to Kerr, who let it roll and then unleashed a shot. Five passes in about 12 seconds. 2-0.

For the third, Naeher gathered the ball, passed to Brian, who advanced it to Colaprico, who sent it back to Davidson, who found Short out wide. Short received the ball well behind the halfway line, had time to watch the forward runs, and launched a ball over the top. McCaskill ran it down, beating Amber Brooks who inexplicably let it roll, and shinned it past the keeper and into the net. Five passes in 15 seconds. 3-0.

This is what we’ve been expecting from Chicago for so long. They have the personnel to attack with lightning speed and precision. Not because their players are particularly pacey, but because of their collective ability to pick out passes, isolate defenders, and capitalize on space.

Obviously, it doesn’t hurt to have Sam Kerr leading the attack. We all know how good she is, and yet her conversion rates continue to astound.

But this is by no means a one-woman show. After a poor start to the season, Yuki Nagasato is back in good form. Dani Colaprico also seems to have righted the ship and found some of the precision that usually defines her game. But perhaps the most important cog in the machine is Morgan Brian. After several lost years between 2016 and 2018, it’s now been roughly a year that she’s been mostly fit and very good. But her performances over the past few weeks are another step above. She still might never get back to where she was at the end of 2015, but for the first time in a very long time, it feels like she’s back in the conversation for being one of the best midfielders in the league. Her calm possession and incredible field vision are critical to this style of play, and if she can keep it up, it could be the difference that finally earns Chicago that playoff victory they’ve been seeking for so long.

Nothing is set in stone. Chicago have looked great before, only to fall away just as they seemed to be poised to grab hold of the league. And while they could afford to live without Ertz against the relatively frail Houston midfield, they might not have that luxury against a team like Portland or North Carolina. And for all the great performances lately, they haven’t been getting the best from Vanessa DiBernardo, another key player who looks like she’s carrying some significant nagging injuries.

So everything could very well still fall apart. But if anyone can disrupt the duopoly at the top of the league, Chicago is probably your best bet. If they can continue to play like this, they can beat anyone.

Who is the best player in the world? Don’t ask FIFA.

Posted on by RJ Allen

FIFA announced the final three for Best Women’s Player of the year today, leaving many people scratching their heads in bewilderment. The shortlist: Ada Hegerberg, Dzsenifer Marozsan, and Marta. That’s certainly three of the best players in the world over the past few years. But the best over the last twelve months?

It’s worth noting here just how difficult this task is. Comparing players is always tough, and the difficulty is compounded by the sheer breadth of the competition here. Can anyone reasonably watch the top players in five or ten leagues, follow whatever international competitions might exist in a given year, and then confidently assess the relative quality of all the players? It’s a lot to ask.

Still, when faced with a potentially impossible task like this, there are two ways you can approach it. The first is to work with humility, trying your best to distill the key features and seriously consider everyone’s case. You might not succeed, but at least you’re making the effort. The second is simply default to the big names.

Unfortunately, the system established by FIFA is heavily tilted toward the second approach. The initial longlist of ten names didn’t include any glaring mistakes this time (unlike in some previous years), but the final three are tough to justify.

Marta has a credible argument as the greatest player of all time, and is still playing at a high level. But the period covered by this award (July to July) covers only a few months of top performances from her (the end of the 2017 NWSL season). She remains a great player, but hardly one of the top three in the world. Meanwhile, Marozsan and Hegerberg are undoubtedly among the finest players of this generation. And in a year without any major international tournaments, it’s understandable that the most successful club team (Olympique Lyonnais) would dominate the results. But were these two really the best Lyon players this year? I know plenty of people who follow the team closely that would point to Amandine Henry, for example.

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Still, the issue isn’t really that these three specifically were selected. They’re all still very good, and you could at least plausibly build an argument for them being among the finalists. The problem isn’t who was included, then, it’s who didn’t make the cut. Specifically: Sam Kerr and Pernille Harder.

This isn’t the first time for Kerr, who was many analysts pick for the best player last year, but received very little support in the vote. And if anything, her form has actually improved in this cycle. She was a force of nature to close out the 2017 NWSL campaign, form which has continued into 2018. Moreover, she’s dominated for Australia as they have cemented their position as one of the world’s best teams. Compare that to Hegerberg and Marozsan, who are key players on teams that have significantly underachieved over this period.

Meanwhile, Pernille Harder has cemented her place as one of the world’s top players. After an incandescent Euro 2017, she has continued at the top level for both club and country, something that was recently acknowledged as she won the UEFA Women’s Player of the Year award just a few days ago.

Now, these are different electorates, and people are of course permitted differences of opinion. But it is a little puzzling to see Harder take the first trophy, only to then fall behind several of those she had just surpassed when it came time for FIFA balloting.

FIFA does deserve credit for organizing a process that produced a viable longlist. But the way that list gets cut down to three names is clearly broken, at least if the objective is to determine who was in fact ‘the best.’ The problem is that this isn’t necessarily the objective, or at least not the only objective. The electorate for this stage, after all, is comprised of coaches and captains around the world, who receive the task as part of a broad-based effort to register everyone’s opinion, not because of any particular knowledge or expertise.

This is an issue even on the men’s side, where most countries have relatively stable infrastructures, and where the world’s best players are all instantly available to anyone with an internet connection. Even under those conditions, the awards tend to be handed out based more on name recognition than any fine-grained assessment of performance in the designated period. Messi and Ronaldo are great, of course, but the pair of them trading the title for a decade is at least somewhat dubious.

But on the women’s side, it’s far worse. Outside of the top twenty or thirty national teams in the world, the infrastructure is bare at best. The captains and coaches are rarely full-time professionals able to devote all their time to the game. So it’s more than understandable that they would look for easy heuristics to narrow the range of choices. That’s not a full excuse, since it would be hard to consult many sources and not realize that Kerr and Harder were widely regarded as the top candidates, but it’s worth noting.

But this is the problem with FIFA. As an organization, it pays lip service to the idea of equality—granting a vote to everyone—while doing very little to actually grow the game. If FIFA was genuinely committed to expanding access to women’s soccer around the globe, it would be a lot easier to swallow this voting system. But since they aren’t, it comes off as hollow. And every year, we get a new round of complaints about misinformed or uninterested voters.

I don’t see an obvious solution. Narrowing the voting pool might produce objectively better results, but can’t resolve the underlying issues. Would it be worth it to ensure that the top players get their just rewards? Maybe. But in the meantime, the best we can do is call it like we see it. And for me, Sam Kerr has been the best in the world for the better part of two years. That’s true regardless of whether the FIFA voters happen to agree.

It’s Time for Sky Blue to Start Making Concrete Promises

Posted on by RJ Allen

The last two offseasons have seen considerable movement among NWSL franchises, with Western New York relocating to North Carolina, FC Kansas City being replaced by the Utah Royals, and the Boston Breakers folding suddenly in early 2018.

All this movement has generated some persistent chatter about the status of other franchises, with Sky Blue FC being regularly mentioned as a spot of concern. Compared to many of the other NWSL teams, Sky Blue offers a far less impressive support infrastructure for its players and a less impressive gameday experience for its fans. With discussions swirling about raised standards, there have long been low-level conversations about whether (and how) they might work to raise their standards.

Things finally came to a head this weekend, however, with the the instigating event being a postgame interview with Sam Kerr. Asked about her feelings coming back to play her former club, Kerr provided a heartfelt and plaintive comment, as reported by Dan Lauletta:

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These are not new issues, but one of the world’s best players raising the topic—and doing so in this way, more in sadness than in anger—has turned on the spotlight. Additional fuel was then added to the fire when the Cloud 9 supporters group released their own statement building off Kerr’s comments:

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Neither Kerr’s comments, nor the statement from Cloud 9, name any specific goals. The list of potential improvements is long, however, and speaks to the continuing disparity between franchises in a league where the average player barely makes a minimum wage salary. In that context, additional support—housing, modern training and matchday facilities, job opportunities, transportation, etc.—make an enormous difference in quality of life. Compare the experience at Portland, Utah, or Chicago to those at Sky Blue, for example, and it’s not difficult to understand why Kerr wanted to leave.

Obviously, every team is different, and faces different conditions. Not every team can offer what Portland provides. But there absolutely must be minimal standards, and they need to be significantly higher than what is currently offered by some teams—with Sky Blue certainly being on the list.

What’s more, even if conditions differ, we shouldn’t drift into fatalism. Portland is able to offer so much more largely because they have committed to building an organization and infrastructure capable of doing so. They have built a fanbase capable of sustaining those operations, and have redoubled their investments to continue making improvements. This process isn’t easy, but we also shouldn’t accept the idea that Portland is simply an outlier. Every NWSL team should strive to treat their players like the professionals they are. And if they can’t, serious external pressure will be needed to enforce those standards.

The pressure generated by Kerr and Cloud 9 does seem to have lit a fire, with Sky Blue releasing a statement yesterday morning promising improvements.

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This is an important step, but it’s notable just how little actual substance there is to this statement. Kerr and Cloud 9 spoke vaguely, and for good reason, but the club itself needs to start getting specific.

Sky Blue says that they are committed to “doing better.” Unless that involves making concrete and specific promises, sooner rather than later, that commitment is going to ring hollow. If they are serious about being held accountable, that means setting benchmarks against which their actions can be measured.

Change doesn’t come easily, particularly when it comes to issues as grounded as stadium infrastructure, but without something more definite, it will be hard to take this statement as anything other than an attempt to escape from a PR disaster, rather than a genuine invitation to collaboration.

This is a club with a rich history. It’s been an integral part of women’s professional soccer in this country, and no one is hoping to see them disappear. But as league standards continue to improve, Sky Blue’s position in the league is growing more and more untenable. It’s time for them to professionalize and modernize. If the investments necessary to make that happen aren’t forthcoming, it will be time to start asking whether it might be time to explore relocation.

The players deserve better. So do the fans. For all their sake, it’s time for Sky Blue to show that they’re listening, and that they’re willing to do more than just keep scraping by.

The NWSL Podium: Top Performances in Week 10

Posted on by RJ Allen

The NWSL Podium: Top Performances is a weekly series that looks at the best attacking, defensive, and goalkeeping performances each week. 

We’re right around the midpoint of the NWSL season, and the table is starting to take shape. With the exception of the midweek battle between the North Carolina Courage and the Portland Thorns, Week 10 challenged each team to play without their U.S Women’s National Team members, who are currently in Salt Lake City preparing for a pair of friendlies against China. Despite losing six players to the national team camp, the North Carolina Courage narrowly maintained their unbeaten streak with a 1-1 draw against the Houston Dash on Sunday night. The Utah Royals found their first road win of the season against Sky Blue FC, who are still looking for their first win after nine games. The Chicago Red Stars also bounced back with a 2-0 win over the Washington Spirit in a match that was delayed over five hours due to weather. Overall, there were 12 goals scored across five matches in Week 10. Here is a full list of scores:

Portland Thorns vs. North Carolina Courage (1-4)

Sky Blue FC vs. Utah Royals (1-2)

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

Houston Dash vs. North Carolina Courage (1-1) 

Seattle Reign vs. Orlando Pride (0-0)

Top Three Goalkeepers

1. Haley Kopmeyer— Kopmeyer would probably be a starting goalkeeper on most rosters, but it’s difficult to break out of Ashlyn Harris’s shadow (just ask Aubrey Bledsoe). With Harris away on national team duty, Kopmeyer earned the start against the Seattle Reign, whom she played with before being traded to Orlando this past offseason. Kopmeyer took advantage of her opportunity. She faced 15 shots from the Reign and made five saves, including one in the 51st minute that earned her a nomination for NWSL Save of the Week. Naomi Kawasumi took a shot from distance and Kopmeyer jumped into the air, punching the ball over the net. Even without Megan Rapinoe, it isn’t easy to get a clean sheet against Seattle. But Kopmeyer managed to shutdown the likes of Jess Fishlock and Naomi Kawasumi, giving the Pride their fourth clean sheet this season, and helped her team earn a point on the road. 

2. Emily Boyd— Like Kopmeyer, Boyd also stands in the shadow of a national team goalkeeper. But with Alyssa Naeher away on national team duty, the rookie out of California earned her first NWSL start. The Washington Spirit were lacking two of their stars on offense– Mallory Pugh, who is out with a knee injury, and Francisca Ordega, who is representing Nigeria in a pair of World Cup Qualifiers against Gambia. But Boyd still faced eleven shots from the Spirit and made four saves. Her save in stoppage time earned her an NWSL Save of the Week nomination. The Spirit managed to slot a ball behind the defense, and it landed at the feet of Ashley Hatch. Boyd saw that her defenders couldn’t get there, and she came off her line, sliding to the ground and putting her body in front of the ball. She got hit in the face with Ashley Hatch’s foot, but still managed to jump back up, although the second effort from the Spirit went over the net. A clean sheet and three points on the road— not a bad way to make your NWSL debut. 

3. Lydia Williams— Williams, who has been alternating with Betos throughout the season, earned another clean sheet this week against the Orlando Pride. Like other teams, the Pride had a somewhat diminished offense, lacking the talents of Alex Morgan and Marta. But Chioma Ubogagu, Sydney Leroux, and others can be equally threatening. Williams faced 12 shots and made two saves on Sunday night. In the 74th minute, the Pride set up a shot from Emily Van Egmond. Williams managed to stick her foot out and make an instinctive kick save, knocking the ball to her left where it was eventually knocked out of play. The scoreless draw marked Williams’ third clean sheet of the year. 

Top Three Defenders

1. Amber Brooks— The North Carolina Courage may have been missing a few key attackers in their weekend match against the Houston Dash, but the Houston defense was still going up against Jessica McDonald and Lynn Williams. The Houston defense looked shaky early on in the game, but eventually they settled down, and Brooks played a critical role in the central defense to keep the Courage from setting up their shots. The Courage were only able to get eight shots in that match, including three shots on goal. Brooks made a couple of key blocks and dispossessions throughout the match, again preventing the Courage from developing a firm rhythm. With Brooks and Van Wyk in the central defense, and Allysha Chapman and Haley Hanson on the outside, the Houston defense is shaping up to be competitive with the best in the league. 

2. Katherine Reynolds— Reynolds is one of the best defenders in the NWSL. In Portland’s midweek match against the North Carolina Courage, Reynolds made her 100th career NWSL appearance. While the Thorns ultimately allowed four goals in, including a penalty given away by Reynolds in the 30th minute, Reynolds also had some shining moments. One of those moments came in the 50th minute, when Reynolds got in front of Lynn Williams to block her shot. But Reynolds best moment of the night came– surprisingly– on offense. A free kick was given to the Thorns in the 88th minute, just outside of the 18-yard box. Heath took the free kick and sent the ball towards the edge of the 18-yard box. With no other players there to grab it, Reynolds set up her shot and slotted it across the keeper to the back of the net. The goal is Reynolds first in her career. 

3. Jess Fishlock— Fishlock is not usually a name one expects to hear on defense. And while she had some spectacular moments on offense in this weekend’s match against the Orlando Pride, it was her save in the 50th minute that earned her a spot on the highlight reel. Leroux had the ball at the edge of the 18-yard box, and tried to send a cross into the middle. But Fishlock anticipated the play and jumped in front of the ball, sending it out of play. 

Top Three Attackers 

1. Lynn Williams— It’s been a slow start to the season for Lynn Williams. She’s started in nine of the Courage’s 12 matches, but prior to this week, she had scored only one goal. But in the midweek match against the Portland Thorns, Williams started to find her rhythm again, scoring her second and third goals of the season. She opened up the game in the 30th minute, when Debinha was taken down in the box by Katherine Reynolds and the Courage earned a penalty. Williams took that penalty, slotting the ball into the bottom corner. She found the back of the net again in the 62nd minute. A corner kick was sent into the box, and bounced off the heads of a couple of Courage players before Williams was able to get her left foot on it and send it into the back of the net. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to carry that momentum into the weekend against the Houston Dash. The Courage just couldn’t get going on offense, and Williams was substituted out in the 56th minute.

2. Yuki Nagasato— Nagasato is an unsung hero for the Chicago Red Stars, and she proved that again this week with a goal and an assist in the Red Stars 2-0 win over the Washington Spirit. The first goal was set up by Nagasato when the Red Stars earned a free kick in the center of the pitch, a few yards outside of the 18-yard box. Nagasato slotted it towards the bottom corner, forcing Kelsey Wys to make a diving save. While Wys was able to successfully block the shot, she couldn’t grab onto it nor could she jump up in time to stop Sam Kerr, who came in with the second effort and found the back of the net. Nagasato found a goal of her own in the 48th minute. She brought the ball down inside the 18-yard box, settling it and passing it off to Alyssa Mautz. Mautz then sent it right back to Nagasato, who found some space and sent the ball back into that bottom corner. This time, Wys wasn’t quick enough to stop it, and Chicago found themselves with a 2-0 lead. This was Nagasato’s first goal and second assist on the season. 

3. Sam Kerr— Kerr made her seventh start of the season on Saturday night, and did plenty to make her presence known. She scored the Red Stars first goal of the night in the 25th minute, after a terrific free kick by Nagasato bounced out of the hands of Kelsey Wys. Kerr was able to get to the ball before the Spirit defenders and kick it into the back of the night to give Chicago the lead. While Kerr would be limited to one goal that night, she had a couple of other fantastic chances. In the 20th minute, she took a shot from outside the 18-yard box that sailed just over the top of the net. And then in the 64th minute, Alyssa Mautz threaded a ball through the Spirit defense to Kerr, who couldn’t get a good angle and sent the ball just wide of the post. In those seven appearances, Kerr has scored five goals for the Chicago Red Stars, including three goals in her last two games. 

Route Two Soccer – What Went Wrong with Sky Blue?

Posted on by RJ Allen

[media-credit name=”Kelley Piper” align=”alignnone” width=”300″][/media-credit]

It’s been a strange season for Sky Blue FC. They got off to a strong start, and spent most of the first half looking like serious playoff challengers. That came as a surprise to those who had judged them too young, too inexperienced, and too raw to make a serious push this year. And some of us continued to hold to that position well into the season. In mid-June, for example, I wrote a buy/sell/hold column and recommending selling on Sky Blue.

Immediately after that column, Sam Kerr went full superhero and the team reeled off a run of very impressive results. And while there were still obvious flaws in the squad, it wasn’t hard to see them doing enough to compensate for those problems. There was even a clear analogue between the Sky Blue of 2017 and the Western New York Flash of 2016—who also looked to be a few pieces away from the full puzzle but were able to hang onto the 4th playoff spot anyways.

But starting in the middle of July, the wheels started to come off, and the team is now in full crisis mode, having conceded 14 goals in their past three games (by comparison, North Carolina have conceded 14 goals over the whole season). Now, with the news dropping on Wednesday afternoon that head coach Christy Holly is stepping down from the job, it might be a useful time to reflect on how things got so bad.

However, before we get into the thick of it, it’s worth noting that Sky Blue are not out of the playoff race. It’s possible that was part of the motivation for Holly to make this move right now. Whether the fault rested with him (arguable, but by no means obvious), sometimes a change at the top can be useful to reset the system. And as long as they have Kerr terrorizing opposing defenses, there’s a shot. So it will certainly be interesting to watch the end of the season. They’re unlikely to fix everything that’s ailing them, but even some modest improvements might be enough. There are three key areas of concern.

Goalkeeping: Sheridan has been great, but needs a break

Kailen Sheridan has put together an extremely impressive rookie campaign. Confident, athletic, and decisive – she was one of the best keepers in the league through most of the season. But things have taken a turn for the worse, starting with the epic 5-4 match against Seattle. Sheridan took a number of hits that game and collapsed on the field at the final whistle. And the injuries have only continued to pile up. While she hasn’t missed any minutes, her range of motion is clearly suffering, and she has looked far more tentative over the past few games.

The best long-term approach would be to sit the young keeper for a few weeks to let her build back to 100%. It’s understandable that both Sheridan and the team are resistant – and it’s certainly possible that even at 70% Sheridan is the best option. But it’s far from an ideal situation.

Defense: Age, inexperience, and injuries

The defensive line is clearly the heart of the problem, and it was clearly a foreseeable problem as well. Their first choice back five at the start of the season featured four players 22-or-under and one player over 40. But it was hard to anticipate things collapsing quite this completely.

Relatively early in the season, Kelley O’Hara was brought back into the backline, which did make a huge difference. So her recent absence to injury has been a big loss. Without her movement and attacking quality in that fluid right wingback/fullback hybrid role, they’ve been far easier to pin back and much less stable.

Meanwhile, the other veteran on the backline has held off the march of time far longer than anyone could ever have expected. But time eventually defeats us all. And sadly, 2017 seems to be the year that age finally began to catch up with Christie Pearce. She started the season strong, playing as well in the first few months as we’ve seen from her in a long time. But since then, things have started to slip. The pace is still good, but it’s not quite as explosive. Her tackling is less precise. And while you’d be hard pressed to find a player with higher soccer intelligence, Pearce has finally started to look like a player whose body no longer is able to do what her brain needs it to do.

The youth movement has also hit some speed bumps. Sky Blue were lauded for their excellent draft—particularly for getting the duo of Mandy Freeman and Kayla Mills—and early in the season there were some positive returns. Freeman missed six weeks with injury, and even when healthy has suffered from all the expected problems that come with youth. The talent is clearly there, and she will be a rock in their defense for a long time, but she has not been the reliable presence that they’ve needed. Mills has almost limitless potential, but so far has been unable to translate that talent into consistent match performances. They’ve gotten some solid performances from Erica Skroski, but even she has been less dependable than she was last year—perhaps due to constantly being slotted into new positions with new obligations as much as anything else.

It should come as no surprise that young players would stumble, or that they would fade as the season progressed. The professional game is tougher and longer than their other experiences. It would have been surprising if they hadn’t faded a bit. That’s simply one of the dangers of building on youth. And all things considered, blooding young players, and hoping that they might be able to get you through the season probably wasn’t a terrible gamble. If they manage it, you hit the peak of your success cycle earlier than expected. If not … well, this wasn’t supposed to be a playoff team anyways. But with more experience, they might be ready to truly compete by 2018.

And that’s still a possibility. But it’s hard to look at the past few weeks and see a team building toward the future. With makeshift defenders filling in and struggling mightily to cope with expectations, Sky Blue has looked much more like a team on a downward slope than the reverse.

20/20 is perfect, of course, but it’s hard to look at the team right now and not think that they missed a chance to pick up a veteran defender at some point who could help plug some of these gaps. As it is, they’ve got the group that they’ve got. And it’s an open question whether they’ll be able to sort things out enough to at least close down the spigot of goals.

Midfield: Not enough ball-winning, not enough creativity

Team defensive breakdowns are rarely just the fault of the defense. And that’s certainly the case with Sky Blue this year. While the midfield unit is reasonably solid on paper, at times they’ve looked to be a bit less than the sum of their parts.

Look at the roster and you’ll see creative players, players with pace, players who can dribble, players who can shoot. But they’ve had a very difficult time finding an appropriate balance. And a lot of that has to do with the pairing in the middle: Sarah Killion and Raquel Rodriguez. When they’re both clicking, that can be a very successful combination. They’re similar players—all-around talents who can do a defensive job, hold possession, and make attacking runs. But when things aren’t working, it can break down pretty badly. They both tend to play narrow, and neither has the sort of defensive solidity that you’d want from a lock-down holding midfielder. As a result, Sky Blue haven’t really been able to close down the opposition in the midfield with a good ball-winner, nor have they been able to consistently hold possession once they do get the ball.

Combine those two with a rotating cast of often-good-but-inconsistent players like Nikki Stanton, Daphne Corboz, Taylor Lytle, and Madison Tiernan and the result is precisely what you’d expect: a team that can beat anyone on their day but that struggles to maintain much coherence from week to week.

There is a lot of talent here, and during the first part of the season, the mixing-and-matching worked out well enough. But one of the major themes of the past month has been the consistent breakdown of the midfield. Players have rotated in and out and there hasn’t been much coherence in the process.  Despite the presence of some players with a lot of creative potential (Corboz in particular), they simply haven’t been able to build the structure necessary to let that creativity flourish.

Who is to blame? And where do they go from here?

Under conditions like these, you certainly want to put some of the blame on the coach—whose job it is to develop a system into which players can fit without needing to reinvent the wheel each game. And whose responsibility it was to build a roster that could last over the long haul.

But it’s also important to remember the baseline that this team was working from: “young, developing, probably not ready yet.” So it’s important not to overstate the problems here.

Sky Blue overachieved at the start of the season, and that may have created some rising expectations. But all things considered, they’re right about where they ‘should’ be at the moment. Considering the serious injuries they’ve sustained, I would still rate their performance over the whole season as a modest coaching success.

It’s possible that Holly felt like he had taken the team as far as they could go under him, and he wanted to give them a chance to make the final playoff push with someone else. Perhaps the recent problems generated tension that made his position unsustainable. Perhaps there are other reasons that have little or nothing to do with the performance on the pitch.

But whatever the motivations for the change this week, taking a broad perspective and thinking about his full tenure on the job, there is plenty for Holly to be proud of. Whether or not Sky Blue is able to arrest their decline and make the playoffs this year, they are on far more stable ground than they were when he took on the job.

Clash of Titans: The USWNT vs AusWNT

Posted on by RJ Allen

The #1-ranked United States Women’s National Team will open the Tournament of Nations against a familiar opponent, Australia (#7). They have a record of 25-0-2 against the Matildas and will be looking to stay undefeated. The match is set for July 27 at 7 pm on ESPN and will be played at CenturyLink Field in Seattle.

 

The Lineups

Head coach Jill Ellis will be experimenting as has become the status quo for the US team. Her call-ups feature plenty of veterans, with a few newer faces and a small sample of youth as well.

  • Goalkeepers: Alyssa Naeher, Jane Campbell, Abby Smith
  • Defenders: Becky Sauerbrunn, Ali Krieger, Kelley O’Hara, Julie Ertz, Abby Dahlkemper, Casey Short, Taylor Smith.
  • Midfielders: Carli Lloyd, Megan Rapinoe, Morgan Brian, Allie Long, Samantha Mewis, Margaret Purce.
  • Forwards: Alex Morgan, Crystal Dunn, Christen Press, Sydney Leroux, Mallory Pugh, Lindsey Horan, Lynn Williams.

Some notable players are currently unavailable due to injury, including Tobin Heath, Meghan Klingenberg, Rose Lavelle, Ashlyn Harris.

Australia is a dangerous team because they have two things that I love: youth and speed. It’s no secret they have always embraced their young talent Down Under and head coach Alan Stajic has continued to do just that. The Matilda’s ToN roster has an average age of 24, with two 17-year-olds (Ellie Carpenter and Princess Ibini) rounding out the bottom, while the oldest is Lisa De Vanna at 32.

  • Goalkeepers: Lydia Williams, Mackenzie Arnold.
  • Defenders: Clare Polkinghorne, Steph Catley, Laura Alleway, Alanna Kennedy, Caitlin Cooper, Ellie Carpenter, Gema Simon.
  • Midfielders: Katrina Gorry, Tameka Butt, Elise Kellond-Knight, Emily Van Egmond, Chloe Logarzo, Alex Chidiac.
  • Forwards: Sam Kerr, Lisa De Vanna, Hayley Raso, Emily Gielnik, Princess Ibini.

Notable players out due to injury; Kyah Simon, Michelle Heyman.

 

The History

The last time these two powerhouses met was back in 2015 at the opening match of Group D in the Women’s World Cup in Canada. Rapinoe led the Americans to a 3-1 win by scoring a brace while Press also contributed a goal in the second half. The United States would go on to win their third star while the Matildas reached the quarter-finals but would go no further thanks to eventual second-place Japan.

In 2016 the tables turned a bit for both countries in the Olympics. The Americans would crash out of the tournament in the quarterfinals (the earliest exit in history) while Australia took a devastating loss to Brazil (again on penalties) in the quarterfinals as well. Both teams had high expectations but were eliminated from the Games in stunning fashion. 2017–for both teams–has been a year of experimenting and figuring out how to prepare for the next major tournament as the cycle begins again, the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France.

 

The Match

The United States will want to put on a better performance than their last home tournament, the She Believes Cup back in March, where they took fourth behind France, Germany, and England. They made a better showing last month in their first overseas friendlies in years, when they managed 1-0 wins over Norway and Pia Sundhage’s Sweden last month. Australia surely feel the same need to prove something after they finished third in the Algarve Cup in March with a shocking loss to Denmark in penalties.

Players to watch for both U.S and Australia will be Megan Rapinoe and Sam Kerr. Rapinoe has been in remarkable form for her NWSL side Seattle Reign, scoring a league-leading 12 goals, including a hat-trick on July 22 in a thrilling 5-4 in over Sky Blue. Kerr has equally been impressive with Sky Blue, netting 11 goals so far this season. Rapinoe and Kerr will surely give the opposing defense some challenges if they can translate their NWSL club play onto the international stage at this tourney.

Celebrate Good Times

Posted on by RJ Allen

In the women’s game, when the ball hits the back of the net there are two typical celebrations. Either the player who just scored will run to the arms of her teammates that are on the field, or run to the arms of her teammates on the bench. Watching this, a spectator might assume that it’s because women see goals as team efforts, and want to celebrate them as such. However, if we look a little deeper, it’s not hard to see this as partially a product of the standards set for women in society. This is a world where women are often told that their successes are not as important or as great as that of men. And, as a corollary, that they shouldn’t celebrate with as much enthusiasm.

So, if the standard celebrations are pretty low energy, is that because women generally just celebrate differently? Or is it because they’ve been encouraged to keep it low? Every league has its rules on celebrating. The National Football League can fine players for celebrating in a different way than what they define as being a “nice celebration.” People will complain no matter what the circumstance is, however, some gender-norms are also played into the women’s league. 

Now, National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) fans are accustomed to watching great celebrations from players like Samantha Kerr or Megan Rapinoe.

Loud.  

           Crazy.

                        Exciting. 

And there have also been examples of great team celebrations, like the US Women’s National Team’s (USWNT) celebrations in the London 2012 Olympics. But these are generally the exceptions rather than the norm. So the question stands, why do we almost always see the same celebrations?

To understand the conversation surrounding goal celebrations, we need to take a look into the dynamics of women’s sports teams. Back in 2007 Hope Solo was banished from team USA after publicly calling her coach out. It’s not hard to see a double standard at work here. When a man calls a coach or teammate out it is often seen as a bold choice. Contentious and maybe even disruptive, but well within the bounds of normal behavior. However, when a woman does it, she is banished from the team and marked as too outspoken in the women’s soccer community.

It may well be that muted celebrations are a product of this climate. Don’t be aggressive, or loud. Don’t call too much attention to yourself. No one will complain about a group hug with your teammates or a pat on the back and a few high fives, so just stick with that. 

As noted above, there are some exceptions to this rule. Sam Kerr is famous for her backflips, and Megan Rapinoe is often seen dancing on the field after a goal and encouraging her teammates to join in on the fun. Even on the national team back in 2011 she picked a field mic up and sang, “Born in the USA!” after her goal against Colombia. And in the 2012 Olympics, the USWNT was famous for their team celebrations. They did the worm, a salute, and even somersaults. And other national teams have occasionally got in on the fun. But generally, this sort of thing remains uncommon.

And that’s unfortunate. Kerr’s backflips are instantly turned into GIFs that get shared all around women’s soccer blogs and Twitters. The women’s soccer community loves to see big, fun celebrations. We can all take the game seriously, while still remembering that it’s a game and it’s supposed to be fun. And there are plenty of girls out there watching, who might see these joyful goal celebrations and get excited to score themselves. 

6 Takeaways from NWSL: Week 12

Posted on by RJ Allen

Well, faithful followers, it has been quite the week in WoSo, hasn’t it? From the nail-biting 12-minute score-a-thon from Sam Kerr to Carli Lloyd’s “You think that’s a red card, I’ll show you a red card” last minute send-off on Saturday night, our heart rates are still not quite back to normal.

But, the excitement only fuels our fingers, folks! We’ve got six takeaways from this weekend to share with y’all.

The Legacy of Tony DiCicco – Luis Hernandez

As the Boston Breakers hosted the Chicago Red Stars, the club also paid homage to Tony DiCicco, the team’s former coach from 2009 to 2011 in Women’s Professional Soccer, the pro league prior to NWSL. The passing of DiCicco touched off a series of in memoriam moments in the women’s soccer community as many remembered how he led the 1999 Women’s National Team to victory in the World Cup. But Coach DiCicco’s impact to the sport and WoSo family was more than this achievement. Honoring him at the national and club levels not only honors his memory, but also introduces and educates new fans of women’s soccer.

The history of women’s soccer is rich and goes back a lot further than casual fans realize. As people retell the legacy of Tony Dicicco and are exposed to his impact at the club level, I hope it also fosters an appreciation for the role he played in the larger tradition in the sport as well. His life touched the lives of so many players, and they in turned touched and inspired so many of today’s players and fans.  His legacy will truly endure.

His legacy will truly endure.

 

Exciting Draws is More than Just Parity – Luis Hernandez

Three of the five matches this past weekend ended in a draw, but they were anything other than a dull watch. Starting last Friday, the Breakers, perhaps inspired by the previously mentioned DiCicco memorial, managed to hang on for dear life at home to preserve the nil-nil draw against Chicago with Sammy Jo Prudhomme starting in goal. The tension grew the whole match, as Matt Beard’s side fought off the Red Stars peppering the Boston defense with ten shots on goal. The Breakers defense bent at times, but it did not break, and it rode out the waves of Chicago attack. This was not a case of parity in the league, just the resilient effort of a team refusing to lose for one night.

Meanwhile, on Saturday the Orlando Pride and Washington Spirit drew 2-2 in another entertaining showdown. Both sides felt hard done by the referee, and even though that storyline risked overshadowing the final result, it seems like the points being shared by both sides was the right outcome. Watching Marta playing this season has been a joy and her impact–and leadership out of the other Orlando players–has taken the Pride to better results than last season. And it seems like the Spirit have rebounded from the negativity of the offseason, adding Mallory Pugh and bringing back Estefania Banini to the fold. Once Washington’s attack gels, the rest of the league may have to watch out. Plus, Pugh’s development is exactly the result U.S. Soccer hoped for when backing the league. Just throw each team’s record out the window, it’s going to be entertainment at its finest.

Finally, the week ended in a dramatic style with Houston versus Portland. Dramatic might actually be an understatement. Houston scored early as Janine Beckie, the Canadian International, finally got on the score sheet, the Thorns equalized with a skillful free kick from Lindsey Horan. Throw in the straight red card to Carli Lloyd and the post-game conflict between Allie Long and Meghan Klingenberg, and this match was definitely worth the price of admission. Watching both teams clawing for a result makes every match must watch television. These results are good for the league.

 

Red is the New Blues – Elizabeth Wawrzyniak

Halfway into the season, and FCKC leads the league in red cards. They’ve accumulated three of the seven reds shown by refs; no other team has received more than one. That’s three red cards in just twelve games.  Across their four preceding seasons, FCKC has only ever had two players ejected with a red: Lauren Sesselmann in 2013 for pulling Lisa De Vanna down by her jersey in the box, and Shea Groom in 2016 for picking up two yellows in a game against the Thorns.

So, why are they so red-heavy this season?

You can argue back and forth all you want about whether the cards were deserved or not, whether the refs are shit or not, but the fact is, KC has racked them up this year. Because they are frustrated. Because they are better than 8th place.

This was supposed to be a comeback season for the two-time league champions. Instead, they lost Amy Rodriguez in the opening match, they’ve struggled to win whether at home or away, and once again, playoff chances are seeming further and farther out of reach. The team’s frustration–and Groom’s in particular, after a season that’s kind of used her as a punching bag so far–is coming out in their play.

Sure, it’s not an excuse, but you can kind of understand it.

If they want to make a play for the post-season, though, it’ll have to be fast. Time is quickly running out. And, they’ll need to tighten up their play and keep their frustration a little better in check on the field.

Because let’s be honest, we all know that FCKC is better than 8th place. They have the talent, they have the experience. But what they might be lacking at the moment is the mentality.

They need to not let their circumstances get the better of them.

 

The Puzzling Portland Thorns – Elizabeth Wawrzyniak

You ever build a puzzle and you’ve got two pieces you are sure will fit together? Right color, right pattern, the shape of the tabs and the blanks look like they’ll join together just right … but when you put them together, there’s just something off? Like one of the lines doesn’t quite match, or the join isn’t snug or doesn’t actually fit.

Watching the Thorns this weekend, that’s all I could think about.

This puzzle doesn’t quite gel.

Sure, they’ve got all the pieces you’d think were necessary to be on the top of the standings–multiple world class international players, the height of professional soccer facilities for women in the US, a huge fan base both home and away. And yet right now, they’re sitting in fifth place. They won the Shield last year but lost to the 4th place team (who, true, did go on to win the final).

Honestly, what’s up with Portland?

It’s an example of having all the money to buy the best players, but not really understanding how a team works. How teamwork works. A team full of elites might look good on paper, but in practice, it rarely works out. Because for every Mal Pugh, you need a Tori Huster. For every Rose Lavelle, you need a Julie King.

What I mean is, you need balance. You need melody and you need harmony–flash and drive. And what we’ve been seeing from the Thorns this year suggests that they’re not harmonizing well, at all.

You don’t have to look any further than the game against Houston to see that this team?

It’s not a team right now.

Plenty of people have said that the injuries in the team’s deep bench are where the problem is, but look, I don’t know that if Tobin Heath comes onto the field next week they’re suddenly going to turn themselves around. I don’t know that she’s the steady and calm leader that somehow balances everything else out on the field and off.

All I know is that this?

https://twitter.com/jacobcristobal/status/883903486026366976

Is a big part of why they’re in 5th place right now.

Sam Kerr Proves Why She is the MVP – Jordan Small

Once again, Sam Kerr put on a show in New Jersey. In the final 12 minutes of the game, Kerr scored a hat trick to bring Sky Blue back from the brink of death to beat FCKC 3-2. Now Kerr did have some help along the way, but without her, this team would not be where they are today.

With her hat trick, Kerr took over the Golden Boot race and now leads the pack over Megan Rapinoe and Marta. In the early portion of this season, Kerr was not herself. After a trip back to Australia for an awards ceremony, Kerr came back with a vengeance. Without Kerr, the attack for Sky Blue would be hurting. Very few have the impact on their team that Sam Kerr has.

 

The Pugh-Banini-Ordega Trio is Just Getting Started – Jordan Small

This week against Orlando, Estefania Banini, Francisca Ordega, and Mallory Pugh all started together for the first time. They connected to score the first goal for Washington on a passing sequence that went from Banini to Ordega and then to Pugh for the score. The combination of speed, foot skills, and vision will be one to keep an eye on.

So much of what was missing early on in the season for Washington was that spark to take the pressure off of young Mallory Pugh. After getting a game and a half under their belts, the attack will continue to build and will put defenses across the league on notice. With a four-game road trip coming up, the Spirit will need a strong stretch from these three to pick up some points.