PBP: NWSL Championship

Congratulations to NC Courage. They won the shield, they won the International Champions Cup and won the NWSL Championship.

I would say NC Courage is the best women's team in the world in 2018.

 

Very astute about the NC defense. Notwithstanding the 3 NC goals, their defense was what won the game. It was truly outstanding, simply giving the Thorns no good opportunities.

 

The first 10 minutes of the second half was the difference for me. The Thorns were putting the Courage under huge pressure and probably should have scored. And had Portland pulled one back in that time period, it''s likely that they may have gotten a second before the end of regulation and sent this game to extra time. Credit to the NC backline for standing tall and not letting anything past. And once Jess scored the third goal, it was pretty much over.

 

so was the McDonald t-shirt in support of Hinkle?

 

Are you saying that she was unaware of what the T-shirt said when she put it on before the game? That seems unlikely to me.

 

There are two ways to design a good defense based on the kind of keeper you have. Of course there are variations but there are still basically only two.
1 - Set it up where as little as possible gets through to the keeper.
2 - Set it up where the keeper always has a clear line of sight to the ball. This produces predictable shots but is also most likely to allow goals if the 1v1 defense breaks down and if the midfielders (and sometimes forwards) do not track secondary or tertiary runners into the box.

Clearly #1 is the lowest risk on initial shot but it also limits quick counter attacks in mass. That is only two or three players will be free for the first wave of a counter. This requires that the release forwards be good at holding the ball when needed and that they can play intricate complex combinations.

#2 is better for getting into the counter but it requires that the keeper be exceptional at both making saves and distribution and that the defenders are VERY good getting to the second ball and that they never leave players open close to the goal and that they never let a player break through on the dribble or by a simple combination play.

Is seems pretty clear that NC was playing a variation of #1 and that Portland was playing a variation of #2. This match highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of both systems.

Every goal was the direct result of the system in #2 breaking down. where the defense failed to get to second balls or the left players open at or near the 6 or both.

Franch cannot be faulted at all on any goal and she pretty much personifies the kind of keeper needed to work number 2. The system of #2 also is the best system for teams that like to out score the other team in moderately high scoring games.

NC played #1 pretty much perfectly and in this game the three forwards played as good as any forward grouping I have seen in a VERY long time and in this case their keeper excelled, mostly, at distribution.

I always preferred to have my teams play #2 as much as possible but I was always blessed with a great keeper (often two or twice three) for the age group involved.

There are a lot of reasons to play either system BUT if you decide and train for #2 then the defense cannot make many mistakes as each mistake exposes the goal and if that is compounded by a second or third mistake as it was in today's match then goals, as we saw today, will.happen.

If a team playing #2 does not consistently counter well and makes poor distribution decisions and their mids do not pretty much control the midfield then they will have to play much too much defense as also happened today.

The winning of the second ball in the midfield for either system is also an imperative. NC won that battle as well.

Finally it is much harder on the body to play system #2 as the defenders have to cover more ground and they cannot always know there is help close by.

 

Well, you see, she's personally sponsored by this small new apparel manufacturer that was started by a Spanish guy named Jesus Paid, and the company's advertising slogan is "It All" (like their take on "Furt"). You can wear your own custom apparel pregame and stuff, but not on the pitch once the game starts. But see, JP apparel is so comfortable that she forgot she had it on before putting on her jersey and then when she went for the Brandi Chastain celebration... But the good news is, it was great promotion for the company! I'm sure they'll sponsor her again next year.

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To be serious though, I think the T-Shirt was directed at the Thorns franchise because of how she felt she was treated: https://www.oregonlive.com/portland-thorns/2015/05/jessica_mcdonald_set_to_make_h.html (though I'm sure the booing of Hinkle was a bit of motivation as well)

 

I hope you're kidding that you're being serious, because otherwise that is really dumb. The Thorns head coach, during the time referred to in the article to which you provided the link, was Paul Riley. Whatever complaint she had back then about the way she was treated was about the way he treated her. She's apparently long gotten over it.

She was very popular among Thorns fans, who felt about the same way she did both during the 2014 season and when she got traded.

 

Thank you very much for that link: I wasn't aware of that stuff.

On the other hand, I wonder how can it be so difficult for some to detect sarcasm in posts...

 

Does anyone know anything more about Franch's injury? Since she remained anyway on the pitch in 2nd half (and even made one of her incredible saves with the tip of her hand), I don't think it had to be very serious, and after all the season has just ended and she wasn't even callen in NT for the qualifiers, but I do wonder anyway.

 

It could be that your claim is quite accurate in this moment, but I's say that it would need something more that an invitational 4-teams tournament like International Champions' Cup to decide "the best women's team in the world".

Ok, one of the invitees was OL, that's the main other team that was obviously to be considered in that conversation, but it was just pre-season for them (on the other hand, I admit Courage was partially depleted because of NT duties). I don't want to play down Courage's win in that tournament, but it's obvious that women's football, right now, would really need something more than that to actually decide which team is "the best in the world" in a particular season.

I'll give you another example: OL won Mobcast Cup in Japan in 2012 in a final vs INAC Kobe Leonessa. At the time that tournament was labeled "International Women's Club Championship" and OL claimed they were thus "World Champions". Ok, at the time NWSL didn't even exist, thus no North American team could have been invited, but anyway I am not sure if that tournament could be really considered a "World Championship".

 

I hope you're kidding, because if you think that decision came from Riley that is really dumb. I find it hard to believe that a coach who was able to lead the Courage to back to back NWSL Shields (plus win 2 playoff finals) was so inept he couldn't even distinguish the most in form striker while coaching the Thorns. After his stint in Portland, lots of people said he had lost his touch. But from his success since, it seems pretty clear to me he was hampered by the Thorns administration.

Hence why I said "Thorns franchise," not "Thorns fans."

 

By the way, I read that McDonald was named MVP of the game (that I had predicted in the predictions' thread ).

Here's a recent article about her. Since I don't regularly follow USWNT, I do wonder: why such a player didn't ever really break through at NT level? Honest question: since I followed USWNT only tangentially in the last years, I actually don't know the answer and I would gladly be explained.

 

My point was, I think the supposedly serious opinion you expressed, that Jess did the shirt thing as something aimed at the Portland franchise because of what happened in 2014 and 2015, is dumb. It still seems dumb. If anything, I'd say it was aimed at the boo birds -- who also were dumb.

 

Congrats to @BlueCrimson and @CoachJon!!! You have an amazingly good team to support. Furthermore, you were both almost as good as your team's performance this year when it comes to predicting scores.
I've been a fan of O'Sullivan and McDonald since their Dash days so I'm especially happy for those two.

 

My opinion is that North Carolina is practically impossible to beat -- unless the Soccer Gods throw some serious bad luck their way. I would love to see them play OL when both teams are at full-strength.

They are big, fast, and tireless. In other words their formula for victory is physical. They have three near-six footers: McDonald, Mewis, and Erceg. Williams has some size and looks like she could run a marathon at sprint speed. McDonald wouldn't be far behind. Mewis is no slow-poke when she gets a window of space, and Hinkle on the wing is sneaky-fast, running so smoothly she looks like she's just loafing along.

Dunn is Ms. clean-up wherever she may be playing and a speed threat too -- and Debinha is as talented a ball handler as anyone in the league. O'Sullivan isn't bad at that either -- and is really fun to watch. I couldn't believe it when Houston benched her and then traded her.

As a result when a NC player shoots a cross or a pass into the box, there always seems to be someone there to collect it and take a shot. Most likely there will be two or three NCers in the box.

During the regular season NC took 372 shots with 176 on goal. Chicago was second in shots with 267 and Seattle was second in SOG with 125.

 

She has always supported Hinkle.

I believe if the LGBT community can openly support their cause, people of faith should be able to openly show support for their beliefs. I support both.

 

As an avid and engaged supporter of the Red Stars and thus NWSL, I congratulate BlueCrimson and CoachJohn on their team winning the Championship.

Some day I hope that is me celebrating the Championship of my team.

 

I support Rapinoe's kneeling and Hinkle's expression of her views.

I'm a lot more concerned about the tendency of human beings to march in lockstep than I am about somebody expressing an unpopular opinion.

 

I think by default, the NC Courage should be awarded to host the championship game in 2019.

 

don't know if the Courage would have the depth to win a 6 game World Cup, but in a one game friendly, I think they would beat any team in the world including the USWNT(as long as Ellis don't steal Riley's players), since the chemistry is all ready so indebted(instant chemistry ain't one of Ellis strong points, lol)

the FWD position along with the depth is the strong suit of American soccer(it ain't Ellis's genius as a coach lol). We probably got 10 of the top 20 strikers in the world, but you just can't put all 10 fwds on the same team.

ironically. , #2 Germany in my book has the top 4 AM's in the world/yet you can't play all 4 AM's(or at that spot) in there at the same time & none look good when switched to another position

 

she wasn't named to the wnt wcq roster, but she was called in to camp to practice with the team. that suggests to me that she is in line to be on the expanded wc roster if they make it. so I'm hoping that whatever the injury is, it doesn't keep her out of camp.