2019 chicago red stars

Sam Kerr is the best, IMO. She plays in the most competitive league in the world - in fact, if she played in a league in Europe, she might score 30 goals a season at least. I hope we do not find out, however! I like Megan and she was a big part of the WWC win but is not the best player in the world. Ada is great but wonder how she would do in the NWSL (I would like to find out). Popularity contest awards are just that. They do not prove who the best player(s) is.

 

Including NWSL performances, it's Kerr over everybody by a long shot. But UEFA/CAF/AFC voters don't slavishly watch NWSL.

Weighting WWC performance, Rapinoe did more on a bigger stage. For many voters, that's probably all they saw.

I'd vote for Kerr, too, but we're biased because we see her every week.

~~~~

More deeply: Why is Kerr so good vs. NWSL defenses who know her, but not as explosive for Australia? I think it's the other 21 players around her, and (fewer) hours.

1. Kerr preys on high lines. NWSL teams doggedly play high lines, even when they know that Kerr beats high lines. So she gets her track-start back-cut runs a dozen times a match, and few defenses are perfect all game. (Some are, and then Kerr doesn't score.) Int'l teams simply don't play those high lines, and there's no room to run. So those opportunities never even appear in int'l play. Daly has the same problem, only worse: Houston sees high lines, England doesn't.

2. Chicago drill the pass-early-enough, esp. Nagasato. Kerr may have only a 2m strip of grass in which she's still onside, and the pass must come in that tiny window, and be accurate enough to intersect. Over a year, Chicago invests more hours on this one pattern than Australia does. In fact, I bet Chicago spends more hours on this than Australia are together, total. So of course they're better at it.

World voters snubbed Kerr for the FIFPro World 11, too, so at least they have a consistent pecking order in mind. They chose Morgan and Marta over Kerr, Miedema, and all other contenders. So the first step is to impress voters enough to get into the World 11.

 

I agree the players around her on AusWNT aren't as good - or at least have fewer hours together - but I think she's still pretty explosive for them too. She's consistently scored 8+ goals per year with the AusWNT, which is pretty damn good, all things considered. A bunch of international strikers would kill for that rate and consistency.

 

IMO, money talks and money is always the biggest indicator.

Would a team in Europe offer Megan Rapinoe a $1million contract? I doubt it.
Would a team in Europe offer Sam Kerr a $1 million contract? Absolutely!

 

Six CRS players made it! Let's hope the momentum is not slowed with their time off and carries thru the playoffs!

 

If Rapinoe were 26 years old, as Kerr is, and as good as she has been the last couple of years, she would get a million dollar contract.

 

Wow, I don't know what to say! After 12 years as a Season Ticket Holder, I finally get to see my beloved Red Stars in the Final. After the final whistle I couldn't contain myself. I was high-fiving and hugging everyone I could find around me who felt as I did. I first went to Arnim, who sits a couple seats above me and gave him a big hug and congratulated and thanked his wife.
What and atmosphere at Seat Geak stadium yesterday!

Am I going to North Carolina next weekend? Hell yea I am!

 

What's cool this morning is that the local media in Chicago is finally giving the Red Stars some coverage. One TV station even mentioned that Chicago has at least one Championship team and then showed clips of yesterday's game with Kerr scoring her goal (this was right after showing the miserable Bears loss).

 

This article explains it clearly:

https://www.hottimeinoldtown.com/20...orns-0-nwsl-2019-playoff-semifinal-game-recap

 

Rewatching the game on NWSL page.

A different perspective from my seat in Section 128.

 

Great article:

https://victorypress.org/2019/10/23/chicago-red-stars-the-last-five-minutes/

 

I am new to nwsl and followimg the red stars. But man that sucked. I am in for the long haul. But content is hard to find

 

I had a feeling that NC was probably going to win this game but not how they won it.

Losing Arin Wright and Tierna Davidson was the difference. Wright gave the Red Stars much flexibility and T was the reason for five straight wins. If Davidson was in the middle it would not have been 4-0.

 

http://chicagoredstars.com/contractupdates-2019/

I don't know if this coincides with:

http://www.nwslsoccer.com/news/article/nwsl-announces-new-2020-compensation-guidelines

 

I am bummed Kerr is leaving

 

Welcome to NWSL