48' 0-1 Rapinoe left ck. Fishlock runs leftward from 6-left, LaBonta chases, Rapinoe taps a short ground pass to 3m box left. Fishlock backpasses to Rapinoe at 14m wide left, LaBonta chases. One-touch cross toward 6-top right, headed away by Corsie -- meanwhile, LaBonta marks Rapinoe, nobody has Fishlock. Oyster collects at 25m wide right, touches to 17m. Long and J.Taylor are tied up 2-v-2 at spot, Fishlock lurks unmarked at 11.1m 6-left. As Oyster crosses, Long has leaned her head past Corsie's right-arm wrap-around haul-back -- yet Fishlock is still behind Corsie's feet. Oyster's cross goes to 5m left post, Fishlock jump-twists and drills a header into 1/5 left back high. Pure power from @JessFishlock to drive the header home. @ReignFC are up on the road, 0–1.#UTAvSEA | #NWSLonLifetime pic.twitter.com/1aH6DdxUqN— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) August 11, 2018 Long('s head) was passively in an offside position, but only because Corsie was leaning her whole body away from goal to pull Long back The brilliance of that entire sequence is that Fishlock pulls LaBonta with her to the left, LaBonta chases the ball past own box top and stays up there -- and then Fishlock is alone in the box. Woops!
Call me biased because of the Duke ties, but Moros mocking Rapinoe's diving is the highlight of the season so far.
Wow, a whole 9 minutes of extra-time: I didn't watch the game, what had happened to justify it? Anyway, Seattle survive through it and I guess this win is very important to cement their play-off spot by cutting Utah away from contention...
93+4' (of +8') 0-1 Sauerbrunn serve from midfield box right to 23m center over Stengel not jumping. Oyster jumps and back-heads across, but directly to Press at box top mid-left. Press touches to 10m 7-left, slips as she plants, slices left foot shot wide left past side netting. Looking for a stoppage time equalizer, but Press sends this one wide.#UTAvSEA | #NWSLonLifetime pic.twitter.com/BVbiKaLxCD— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) August 11, 2018 FT 0-1. A gut punch for Utah, as they're still 1 point out of T-4th, with only 3 matches left. The T-4th teams, Portland and Chicago, both have 2 games in hand on them. Still, win out and come what may. Extra extra time for the added stoppages, due to the bad air.
[NJ-HOU] K.Johnson for Groom. Tonight's Starting XI presented by @HMHNewJersey. #NJvHOU pic.twitter.com/iMK8YiObmR— NJ/NY Gotham FC (@GothamFC) August 11, 2018 Hanson for Prince; 4-3-3 for 4-2-3-1. Tonight's starting XI: Campbell; Comeau, Brooks, Polkinghorne, Chapman; Motlhalo, Hanson, Huerta; Ohai ©, Latsko, Daly | #NJvHOU pic.twitter.com/IZj7hbUeds— Houston Dash (@HoustonDash) August 11, 2018 Sky Blue: Q nil / OUT Groom Houston: Q Keever Van Wyk / OUT Henninger K.Mewis Shim Simon
07' 0-1 Ohai faces off 1-v-1 on Gibbons at 40m wide left, outpaces her down left touch on a dump-and-outrun, bends past her to 4m box left. Daly starts out loping up centerline behind LB Frisbie, jogs with her to spot -- then peels off and front-cuts Skroski through 6m left post, and neither react in time. Ohai crosses to 5m 2-left, Daly slide-volleys a perfect riser past Sheridan's face, into center back high. Ohai ➡️ Daly ➡️ an early goal for the @HoustonDash!#NJvHOU | #NWSL pic.twitter.com/XhI2QcX1sf— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) August 11, 2018 28' 0-1 Comeau passes from circle top wide right down box right, Latsko runs on just behind Frisbie -- meanwhile, Daly has a 4m lead on Gibbons through arc top left, staying onside behind Skroski. Latsko catches up at 4m just inside box right, one-touch cross to 6-top left post. Daly jumps straight up and heads down to goalline 1/6 left, Sheridan dives back and scoops ball to a stop 0.95 diameters over goalline (or more), keeps it out. No goal given. Replay shows a clear gap between the ball and the back edge of the goalline, but we cannot tell whether the front-most point of the ball was still above some part of the goalline. (This pbp guy doesn't seem to understand the geometry of spheres; a gap by itself is not conclusive.) Rewinding in Jersey: here's a second look at Houston's chance.#NJvHOU | #NWSL pic.twitter.com/nq7wOtMjYp— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) August 11, 2018 36' 0-1 Sky Blue subs in (1 of 3) #13 Rebekah Stott for #31 Christina Gibbons. HT 0-1.
[ORL-POR] Morgan for Hill; Zadorsky for Nairn. The XI for tonight’s playoff push matchup. #ORLvPOR | #JoinThePride pic.twitter.com/SicpE32SS5— Orlando Pride (@ORLPride) August 11, 2018 Carpenter for Purce. Today's lineup at @ORLPride. 🌹💪 #BAONPDX #ORLvPOR pic.twitter.com/lpix76snTe— Portland Thorns FC (@ThornsFC) August 11, 2018 Orlando: Q none / OUT Leroux Portland: Q none / OUT Morris Reynolds
Combination of heat, altitude, and smoke from nearby wildfires caused the league to mandate two hydration breaks per half.
[ORL-POR] 17' 0-0 Kennedy muffs a backpass try, right into Raso's stride through box top left. Raso follows to 3m 8-left, shoots left instep behind Harris out at 3m 5-left, off left post, it bounces across to 6-top right and Orlando clears. Raso off the post!#ORLvPOR | #NWSL pic.twitter.com/ObBKIhwHXD— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) August 11, 2018 36' 0-0 Raso receives on the run at 27m right touch, dribbles to 13m wide right, chips a cross toward Heath down 6-left. Ball drifts, becomes a shross -- off crossbar 1/5 left, bounces out past Heath, she spins and heel-flicks at ball but can't control it, Orlando clears. First the post. This time the crossbar 👀#ORLvPOR | #NWSL pic.twitter.com/l9Qa2RXoT8— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) August 12, 2018
[NJ-HOU] 65' 1-1 Freeman outlets to Stott at circle back right touch. Dorsey lurks just past midfield right touch, LB Chapman is that high up to press close on her back. Stott passes outside-in to K.Johnson at circle top box right, LCB Polkinghorne steps up to her -- but K.Johnson rounds her, goes up mid-right, already in a race with Chapman trying to recover. Rodriguez sees this developing, runs inside-out to box top mid-right, Motlhalo follows but lets her go and turns to stop K.Johnson. Meanwhile, Tiernan leads Comeau through box top mid-left, Rodriguez lurks at box top mid-right, held onside by ... Comeau. Comeau points back at McCaskill driving up centerline, but Brooks already turned facing K.Johnson to her left, peeking at Rodriguez and stepping way up to bag her offside -- not knowing that Comeau is way behind everybody else. K.Johnson flicks right outstep down mid-right, Rodriguez leads Chapman to 4m, nobody has McCaskill wide-open up centerline -- she even stops on box top line, then resumes her trot to spot. Rodriguez backpass to 8m right post, McCaskill shoots one-touch right instep, Campbell topples centerward and kick-saves to 6-top 1/3 left. Tiernan is standing thereat, kicks it into 1/4 left back low past Campbell still down. Tiernan created that goal three ways: her hard run on the left bent Houston's back line, sprang both Rodriguez and McCaskill, and then she finished. Madison Tiernan cleans it up in the box, and @SkyBlueFC have evened it up at home!#NJvHOU | #NWSL pic.twitter.com/VKqllfdtpS— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) August 12, 2018
73' 1-1 Hanson feeds Daly at 15m mid-right, one-touch left instep cross hits R.Rodriguez's left ribs-and-bicep with arm away from body at 12m 6-right. Handball, pk. 73' 1-2 Daly pk, right foottop pull into back left high (Sheridan dove wrong) The Dash pick up a PK after a handball in the box, and Rachel Daly converts. Back up in NJ, 1–2.#NJvHOU | #NWSL pic.twitter.com/GHRbpstos2— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) August 12, 2018 Both teams have found some offense: NJ 13(6)-(10)20 HOU shots. 20 shots! FT 1-2.
[ORL-POR] 47' 0-1 Heath left ck, backpass to Klingenberg, one-touch tap back to Heath at 13m wide left. Heath crosses low to 5m left post, Crnogorčević dummies a sole-flick and either micro-deflects it, or misses completely, fooling everybody. Ball bounces across Harris frozen, to 0.5m 1/3 right. Horan lunges just past Kennedy on the outside, kicks ball into 1/3 left back high, then topples onto Kennedy's back as both sprawl into rear netting. .@ThornsFC strike first. Lindsey Horan with #⃣1⃣1⃣!#ORLvPOR | #NWSL pic.twitter.com/mST1s9qKc2— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) August 12, 2018 53' 0-2 Sinclair heads ball at circle top left, to Crnogorčević, one-touch header square right to Raso at 35m arc left. Pressley steps up, but Raso uses a step-and-left-knee sweep to round her. Kennedy is momentarily wrong-footed, loses the sprint-start duel vs. Raso through arc top to 16m center. Raso shoots right instep inside-out, past Harris's left hand, into back right low. After hitting woodwork a couple of times, Hayley Raso gets hers. @ThornsFC up 2!#ORLvPOR | #NWSL pic.twitter.com/DLfhRnIQxo— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) August 12, 2018 FT 0-2.
It seems she's taking a red eye to NJ as we speak. As it happened, while dining at the hotel bar a half an hour ago I happened to see none other than Ms. Heath herself strolling casually out of the lobby behind me, a rolling suitcase behind her. I managed to compliment her on her performance in tonight's game as she passed.
I had thought about the same while listening for him, but the way you express it is priceless and your posts are always great!
Well, great choice of an hotel apparently! For sure, way better than the one I had to settle with in Brittany for U-20 WWC: no risk of meeting any players there!
Could have been the highlights of the season, but they decided not to include this moment in actual highlights of the game! Can someone tell me at which minute happened, so I can find it in the full-match video?
I don't remember who was the guy who, about a month ago, had said that Houston and Portland were basically out of contention for play-offs, and I had answered that I could have agreed for Houston, but Portland looked like they were fully in the run for it. Well, I guess now they've clearly their hands on one of those slots, while Orlando is in a world of trouble.
It's near the end. The commentators apparently could hear Coach Harvey calling out, "Don't foul or she'll go down."
I also thought it was great. Why did Moros get a yellow card? Mocking the referee? Rapinoe has a sense of humor. She probably hid a smile at Moros' antics. .
A few random comments: Sky Blue has played well enough to have won two or three games. I thought Comeau had a strong game at right back. She's becoming a real asset for Houston. Huerta also looked better at the 10 position than I've seen her previously. Conventional wisdom is that she was traded to Houston so she could play right back, the position she is trying to win on the National Team. I think she was probably told that she wasn't going to be on the National Team so she happily accepted the job of attacking midfielder. Rachel Daly is a wonder. In my opinion, she's in the running for MVP -- and her chances would have been enhanced if that apparent goal she scored hadn't been disallowed. Orlando is in trouble. To make the playoffs they will probably have to win all three of their upcoming games and two of them are with NC and Chicago.
My first purpose for logging in this morning was to make that very same point! Kudos! I did a desktop measurement. On a hard surface, there could be about 6 cm "daylight" (2.4 inches) between the bottom of the ball and the back of the goal line, and the whole ball would still not be over the whole line. The number would be less on a "fuzzy" surface. OTOH, my guesstimate based on the replay was, that indeed, the whole ball was over the whole line. Daly should have the hat trick! P. S. @Gilmoy 's 0.95 diameters (=21 cm +/-) would be more than enough =>Goal!
Perhaps to avoid the need for mathematics, the rule could be changed to say that a grassy, visible gap between the goal line and the ball will be considered a goal.
Yay Math! Under previous laws, the ball had to travel its circumference at minumum on a free kick, before another player could touch it. I always thought the law should have been Diameter, because most people can easily envision diameter, but not circumference. Changes in the laws made my point moot, now all the ball needs to do is wiggle..........