Yup, which makes it sting all the more - on top of AU losing to CU last week too. For a team that had managed 15pts in 8 matches at the time of my previous post, two losses in a row to weaker teams has been a massive late-season collapse.
No finals for Adelaide. They could have still had a chance if they had held on for a draw, but NOOOOOOOOO. They had to give up a stoppage-time winner to Newcastle. Brisbane has locked up a finals spot. With Canberra, Newcastle, and Adelaide all officially eliminated, that leaves 3 spots for 4 teams. There's going to be a very good team capable of winning it all left out no matter what. Hopefully that team is City.
Just one loss through their first eight games, and then three in a row so close to the end of the season... They choked hard. Poor Adelaide, that's gotta be so crushing. =-( Also: screw Brisbane. And City, but they aren't culpable yet.
Victory are back in the finals after 3 years out. Perth and Sydney both have a foot in the door, but haven't clinched yet. Perth is in better position, but if City scores a big win and they have a big loss, the Glory would be out. City need to beat Sydney by at least 5 goals. Even a 4 goal win would not be enough, as Sydney would own the total goals scored tiebreaker.
Guess I'll be never understand fully Australia's way of thinking---- almost now the entire NT coaching staff been either fired or quit over some report that didn't blame anyone directly over misgivings with just 4 months to the WC, while looking like it's strongest side ever assembled. Yet Lisa Devanna is allowed to keep on playing for Sydney after she very hurtfully insulted her own team mate with body shaming(one of the main,reasons why Staj got fired even though he's not the one that's new accused of doing it) Yet FC Sydney remains the most interesting team in the league as to reveleance to what an NT would look like playing as a pro club done it does contain several Matildas A listers ad well as 4 Americans that would make a good 'B' side
It's not the first time I hear this story, but I forgot what exactly happened and how it impacted (if it actually did) the decisions taken about National Team.
Turns out that the make-up match between Canberra and the Victory, which turned out as a listless 0-0 game, was entirely unnecessary: Melbourne were already 3pts clear of Brisbane and Canberra were 4pts behind the Jets. Part of Melbourne's lead was due to Adelaide finally ceasing their last-season slide and eking out a 1-0 Victory over the Roar. If they had managed just two points in that three-game slide, they'd be in their first playoff series ever... (One point *could* have done it, but they'd have needed other GD results to swing their way too.) If the regular season is anything to go by, we'll see a Victory-SFC Grand Final: even though the Roar have just 1pt over 3rd-5th place, they've lost to SFC by scores of 5-1 and 3-1 this season. It'd be fun to finally see a revival of Big Blue in the W-League playoffs - it hasn't happened since the 2014 semis! Also: NO CITY!
I'm still laughing at City missing out on GD. I was a bit worried when Perth went down to the Victory so early that they might completely collapse and let City back in, but fortunately the Glory got their ducks in order and didn't let that happen. Next season I'd like to see City build their roster on more than just Matildas and internationals. Maybe leave room for some younger players to get significant minutes and actually develop. Be like a certain other team in light blue that shall remain nameless.
Perth & Sydney will play in the championshjp they beat the #1 & #2 seeded teams. Perth got a hatrick out of Kerr, but went to o.t.. both loosers suffered red cards late in the game. On paper, Sydney really should be the favorites, they got 7 Matildas & 4 with USWNT experience. But rumours had it that Devanna been a bit in disarray. She wasn't eve ,rostered for this last game(though it could of been an injury)
Sad and surprising that we won't get a Big Blue Grand Final... I'm definitely taken aback to see the Victory capitulate to Perth. But I guess Kerr and the rest of the Red Stars contingent with her are bound and determined to finally get a championship. X-D I think this view is still pretty skewed... Or at least not showing the whole picture. It's ignoring the fact that a good number of the players you mention have fewer than 10 caps and/or haven't been called up in a long time, plus the fact that the NT experience you're citing is heavily skewed forward. It's very easy to argue that the Roar and both Melbourne sides had better NT (Aus and international) representation, even on paper (and Perth is essentially Red Stars Down Under).
Sad, but thanks to Ellis, none of the 4 American Perth players have been capped. Other than Kerr, there's really no other big name Aussie players on the Glory(though maybe some of them might of gotten NT play) . Sydney: 3 out of the 4 Americans have been capped, only Bledsoe hasn't but she's got a pretty good rep in the NWSL With domestics; guess I'm partial, but I think Kennedy the best CB in the world. Logarzo quietly got to be a starter on the NT. Both Foord & Devanna been named Asian player of the year. Both Ibini & Harrison been previously named top young player in Australia
I just got around to watching the semi-finals. One expects great things from Kerr -- and we got them -- but another player who impressed me mightily was Rachel Hill. She and Kerr were making 60 yard runs in the 122nd minute. Fitness? In the immortal words of Sarah Palin, "You betcha." Hill looks to me like she ought to get a look by the U.S. national team after the World Cup. Rapinoe at left forward is aging. Or aged. Hill also played right forward during the game -- and Tobin Heath is not getting any younger. There's a spot there on the NT for a youngster. In the w-league final, Sofia Huerta at right back for Sydney is going to have a handful with Hill at left forward for Perth. We'll get a good picture of whether or not Huerta has a future as a defender. I also liked the way Colaprico is running Sydney FC from the midfield. She's a tough cookie. I don't foresee her playing much on the US national team because we've already got at least 4 excellent midfielders: Mewis, Horan, Lavelle, Ertz. But.....
I just watched the game, my impressions; Aussies do play more direct than we do(though we're the ones that always get knocked by those Euro technocrats). But then just like the Euros, they do love playing their teens in pros instead of high school/college. Except for Kerr, Perth's offense dominated by the 3 blonds; Hill, Mautz & Stanton. At both 29, the two latter probably will never get a shot on USWNT(or at least if Ellis is still around), but at 23, Hill still got a chance(though only 7 starts for last season's Pride). Remember though the W-League is a couple of shades below the NWSL(their short pre & season don't help). As for Aussies, this game confirms cept for Kerr, they don't go deep enough(being the most multi sport nation in the world sort of hurts recruiting more soccer players), but at least they do got the #1 player in the world; and that is obviously Kerr!
You just need one metric to know: the number of transitions per game, then you will know which League is more direct.
Does anybody know where you can watch the w-league final? I've watched the highlights and looked at the stats. Thus, these comments are based on the stats. (and my compliments to the Aussie league for the complete stats it puts out.) From looking at the average position map, Rachel Hill played primarily in the center of the field. This despite the outstanding performance she had in the semi-final dashing up and down the left flank. I was looking forward to seeing a good match on the flanks between Hill on offense and Huerta on defense. But it didn't happen. (Great goal by Huerta, by the way) Thus, Huerta at right back spent most of the game in the Perth half of the pitch and wasn't required to do much defending against Perth's best. Instead, Perth concentrated on attacking up the opposite side of the field. Alyssa Mautz at right midfielder led Perth in touches. I like Mautz, she's good, but I don't think she's as good as Rachel Hill. Why did Perth choose to go up her (right) side of the field and the center, instead of the left where Hill in the semi-final had proven she was so effective? Colaprico committed the foul in the box that gave Kerr a penalty kick. Colaprico was outstanding in the semi-final -- but she could have been carded a couple of times for hard fouls in that match. If I were evaluating Colaprico for the US National Team, I might wonder if she's too prone to foul.
Guess it hadn't been exactly mentioned but Sydney beat Perth for the championship, 4-2. The way more disciplined Americans proved to be the dominating force as they scored 4 the 6 goals. For an outsider , it's hard to understand Aussie soccer, it just seems way to relaxed, and yet when they finally make an eternal investigation, it leads to the dismissal of Staj as the most importune time. Go figure!
Do you know any website or forum where we can find Women football players who would be interested to play in NPL? I'm looking for visa players from Asia, UK, US..., to play in NPL Qld (Brisbane area).