Only one team has more than three games left to play, so how are the end-of-season honors shaping up? I know there was previous discussion about Rookie of the Year in another thread, and the Golden Boot seems locked up, but what of everything else? I hope that MVP doesn't default to the Golden Boot winner again (as much as I love Kerr) but honestly I don't really see anyone making a strong case for it. DofY and GotY are interesting... the top two defenses in the league are NC and UTA, so I would kinda expect DotY to go to someone from one of those two teams. Heck, Brunn might regain the award if UTA shuts out SEA this week! GotY is a bit more open IMO, since Bledsoe and Naeher should be in the discussion - and, honestly, maybe Campbell should be too, if only for all her PK saves (and the sheet number of games she's played).
I have some different ideas. Bledsoe was my first choice for first part of the season, but right now I think GotY award should go to Barnhart. DotY should be decided between Short and Hinkle, personally I think Hinkle was the most consistent. I would be very pleased with Staab getting the Rookie Award, but I think Balcer outplayed her in the latter part of the season so it should be hers. Kerr is an easy choice when it comes to MVP, but I would give it to Sam Mewis. Whenever I look at the instat top rated players she's out there.
Right now I'd vote for Sam Staab as a narrow choice over Bethany Balcer. Staab has played every minute in every game for Washington and its defense has been good this year. I might change my mind if Balcer scores another goal or two in the remaining games. Looking at the last Reign match, Balcer took an amazing 10 shots -- most of them the result of Rapinoe crosses. Surely, she'll hit the net again -- if she is in fact the deserving ROTY. Kerr is a near lock for MVP in my opinion. Second, but not far behind, is Nagasato. The two of them are like the Everly Brothers. Great harmony. One plus one in their case is more than two. Third, I might say Debinha of NC. She's played fewer minutes that Nagasato, but she's right up there statistically speaking and NC's most valuable player. Oops, except maybe for Hinkle. Logically, DOTY has to come from either Utah or NC. And that means Hinkle to me. I wouldn't complain, however, if Short won. She's probably better on defense -- but not as good on offense as Hinkle.
I don't think any USWNT player should be in consideration for awards. They just missed too much time for me to accept any of them getting an award except for a team's Golden Boot. I'm with @Smallchief on the Staab for ROTY train. That two month stretch of time when Balcer wasn't really producing for the Reign is a big fat strike against her, whereas Staab has been consistently good all season for the Spirit. No contest on GOTY- it has to go to Sheridan. Her InStat numbers are ridiculous- she's giving up 1 goal per game less than expected. Even though she did miss a handful of games while at the WC, it wasn't nearly as many as the US players did. I would like to see DOTY go to an OB for once- CB have won all 6 previous awards. And the two best defenders this year have been Short and Hinkle. I'd be fine with either one winning. I get the not wanting the Golden Boot winner to also be the MVP, but is there a more obvious choice than Kerr? It doesn't matter that she's likely to choke in the postseason again- the 3 games she missed made it very clear that she is by far the league's best player this year.
I guess we all forgot about that one award, huh? Vlatko for Coach of the Year. So mamy injuries, yet Reign are on the good path to the playoffs. How well he was able to adapt to some big absences like Fishlock or Rapinoe. There was also the goalkeeper situation. It wasn't always pretty and as of now it is still possible Reign don't make the final four, but I think either way he deserves this honor.
Agree. That's my argument for him becoming USWNT coach. He loses his best players, adapts to diversity, coaches to his player's strengths and still beats Harvey who has Press and A-Rod and Sauerbrunn.
Don't forget that Balcer had to learn a whole new position that she has never played in her life before, winger, and still leads her team in scoring. Balcer is too much of a feel good story not to be ROTY. I would like to see that as I like feel good stories.
If the Reign make the playoffs then Andonovski should be a 100% lock for coach of the year. I have never see a coach deal with the injuries and other absences (WWC) that he has had to deal with. And somehow the team is in a playoff spot. I could definitely get behind Hinkle for defender of the year. I think she has made a better case for September player of the month - she has been out there breaking ankles and abusing defenders without her historically persistent bad turnovers. But for either of those awards there's definitely a block of the press that is biased against her for non-soccer reasons. I don't know if she can overcome those self-inflicted limitations to earn enough votes. Even though she was gone to the WWC, I think Sam Kerr has clearly had the best season. What she's doing is ridiculous. There's no Crystal Dunn a la 2015 this time.
Being gone for the WC shouldn't be a mark against Kerr like it should for the US players, since she only missed 3 games. And given how inept Chicago looked offensively in those 3 games, that should only strengthen her case.
Well, I said Sam Staab should be the rookie of the year -- unless Bethany Balcer scores another goal or two. She's scored two -- in two important games. So, now the ROTY is Balcer. No doubt about it. Balcer should be called up to the National Team. Next camp. I wonder whether Staab is also a prospect, but I havent been able to judge her pace.
Balcer is one of the best stories coming out of this season. A try-out kid, who from my understanding tried out for the Red Stars as well (don't know what happened there). Made the Reign team and is having one heck of a year. I would love to see her called into the full National Team. Wouldn't that be something? ROTY Vlatko Andonovski - COTY This guy should be first choice for Coach of USWNT. Period.
As much as Balcer has done, I would vote for Staab because I like defenders. Balcer will win, but I just want to say I’ve got the backs’ backs.
I vote for Bev Yanez for MVP. Jeff K. In Equalizer points out that the Reign have pulled through will a well-put together blend of veterans and youngsters. Watch the recent Reign-Thorns game and see what Yanez has contributed all season. PS I posted this before I got to the next sentence in Jeff’s article, where he cites Yanez and Barnes.
Food for though, based on the Sept. monthly awards: --Kerr is now the only player this year to win PotM twice --Sept is the first month this year when neither Bledsoe nor Sheridan won the 'keeeper slot in the TotM --Short is now the first player in league history to be on the TotM six times in one year
I like the stat "Key Passes"' -- defined as a pass that sets up a shot whether that shot scores a goal or not. It's more expansive than "assists" which are counted only when a goal is scored. Key passes are, of course, influenced by the number of shots a team takes -- so a free shooting team like NC (375 shots this year) will have more key passes credited than, for example, Orlando (207 shots this year). Key passes are also influenced by the number of minutes a player is on the pitch. More minutes, more key passes. The Key passes stat recognizes players such as Klingenberg and Boquete who don't score many goals, but make a lot of good passes to shooters. So, here's my calculation of the top 20 and the number of key passes they made in 2019. (A few errors are possible in my calculations.) 1. Nagasato (Chi) . 55 2. L. Williams (NC) 48 3. Debinha (NC) 42 4. Klingenberg (Por) 39 5. Hinkle (NC) 37 6. Heath (Por) 35 6. Kerr (Chi) 35 6. Huerta (Hou) 35 9. Boquete (Ut) 33 10. Sinclair (Por) 31 11. Killion (NJ) 30 12. Press (Ut) 29 13. Nairn (Hou) 28 14. Mathias (Por) 27 14. K. Mewis (Hou) 27 14. Dunn (NC) 27 17. DiBernardo (Chi) 26 17. Marta (Orl) 26 19. Hill (Orl) 24 20. Daly (Hou) 22 20. Nielsen (Sea) 22 20. Stengel (Ut) 22
Of course it's a different kind of chart, but I guess it's not a coincidence that Nagasato tops both your rankings and the regular season's official NWSL assists' chart, where she finished at the top with 8. Her accuracy and vision are impressive, but so it is her chemistry with Sam Kerr: I can remember some renowned "golden duos" of FWs from the past in men's football, but I actually have a hard time naming such an iconic forward-line in women's football as Kerr-Nagasato in Chicago.
Well, there's the old Triple-Edged Sword from the early days of the USWNT, the Wambach-Morgan heyday seven or so years ago, and I'm sure of several more from the UEFA side of the pond. I mean, it's kinda hard to call Kerr-Nagasato "iconic" when CHI hasn't won any titles and neither of the two players have had a sniff at being named into the World XI any year so far... Are they ruthlessly effective & efficient? Absolutely. Iconic? Ehh...
For what it's worth, here is the NWSLPA Team of the Year: @NWSL_players present our inaugural Player of the Year awards. These awards are voted for by ONLY the players of the NWSL.Congratulations to our Team of the Year!#ProsKnow #ForThePlayersByThePlayers pic.twitter.com/MCpWqtWaYB— NWSLPA (@nwsl_players) October 18, 2019
Last four years: Four straight playoff appearances Three straight finals appearances with two championships Three straight regular season titles It's not all Paul Riley. If Sacramento joins, it'll be interesting to see who they lose.
Wow, no Nagasato? The leader of NWSL assists' chart? And almost all Courage: I can see they won their third shield and they dominated the league, but I guess not even WWC 2019 best eleven has as many USWNT champions as this team has North Carolina's ones!
Have they announced a timetable for when the award-winners are going to be announced? Is it all going to be the night before the final?
It used to be one award per day leading up to the final... But I'm guessing the lack of a comms person in the NWSL HQ is hampering things. IIRC, fan voting for the awards just closed yesterday or so, which means the awards could only be announced tomorrow at the earliest.
I can't believe that Nagasato is not on the best 11 selected by the Players Association. She's my choice as the runner-up to Kerr for the MVP. Hamilton had a break-out season, but still that 3rd forward should be Nagasato. Interesting that the players chose Hinkle for the team. How does that jibe with her being a pariah on the National Team?