Utah playing with more energy in possession and getting more time in the final third. You can tell they want this win (and I personally would love to see them finally get that win in front of their home crowd).
Utah and Portland end 1-1. Ugh, another draw. Should we tell the players that just because the NWSL is known for its parity, the majority of games do not have to end in a tie?
Two weeks, eight games... six draws. And the only games that weren't draws were HOU losses. I much prefer parity by trading results in a home-and-away series instead of drawing both.
At that pace, they will easily set a new league record for ties in one season. Will it have an impact on attendance? Will a two or three team expansion help to open it up some for next season?
Oh, come on, please!!! If we miss both Rapinoe and Fishlock for the next games, we're done!!! I hope her injury is not serious. At least, Kawasumi and Ustugi were back, so our midfield is not empty, but these injures can sting a lot!
Well, with both Rodriguez and Heath back to scoring after long injuries, I'd say this game, despite ending in a draw, was quite epic!
Yeah the draws are worrisome. Hopefully with all the international players back we will start to see the true nature of teams and the good teams will rise to the occasion.
I don't know that it will make a difference in terms of draws. The robot predicted 2 of the 3 draws, and the robot takes into account the last 98 NWSL games' results (excluding any of Boston's games). So it is taking into account about the last 2/3 of the 2017 season, when the international players mostly were available. Over those 98 games, however, only 19% have been ties, so I guess yesterday was a little unusual, maybe due to the pairings.
I think the excess of draws are due to two factors: 1) contraction of teams from 10 to 9, with yet another college draw, means rosters are all-around deeper than before. 2) It's early still; offenses are still gelling, and finishing has been quite poor. Most games will be competitive, meaning defenses and offenses tend to cancel each other out. Presumed expansion next season will help. Offensive cohesion is tougher then defense, so as the season goes on hopefully offense catches up with defense, and we see more scoring.
To be fully honest, I don't think a large number of draws is really a "problem"... You can still have an amazing on-field product that's great to watch, whatever the results happen to be. It also makes any wins all the more exciting and valuable... It does make watching the table somewhat dull, but there's more to a league than just the table. That said, I think my tolerance for draws is maybe 50% of games. 75% is a bit much, especially when not all the draws are good games.
I know CHI and NC have one more game than the rest of the teams. NC has 5 wins and no other team has 4 or even 3. I fear the parity is going to lead to teams deciding to play for a point as games wind down rather than a win. If NC had only three wins and POR or CHI had 5, Riley would push even harder for goals - and wins, rather than playing for a point. I think in this regard he is different from the other coaches.
Goalkeeping is often a weakness in women's soccer. But this weekend we saw some fantastic saves. Pick of the bunch was from Aubrey Bledsoe, where she reached behind her body at full stretch to claw the ball out on the goal line. If I was WNT coach, I would call in Betos and Bledsoe to next camp. Both are playing better than Campbell and probably Naeher also. Harris is doing pretty well for Orlando.
It's a shame that Franch tore her meniscus just when USWNT keepers were having so questionable performances and could have had their positions in danger. Although in fact I seem to remember at least one very good save from Campbell this week. About Betos, at this rate one starts wondering if Lydia Williams will really get her starting spot back, now that Asian Cup is finished.
Franch is only out 1 month, so this injury shouldn't ruin her chances. Campbell is capable of great saves, no doubt. She is an athletic shot stopper. But her decision-making and positioning are suspect (remember her standing inside the goal vs. Mexico...seriously, what was that?). Not writing her off altogether, as she is only 23 and these subtler skills improve with age.
Surprised this moment didn't get any discussion here: 990614749321842688 is not a valid tweet id It resulted in no card during the match, but the play is now being reviewed by the disciplinary committee.
Wow, impressive. Who's the player who was manhandled this way? Jodie Taylor? And at which minute did it happen? I'd like to rewatch the whole action in the full video of the game.
Yes, Taylor. The thing is the Go90 stream never showed the play although the Go90 highlights now have it, so it was while the stream was focused on a replay or something else. I'm not sure if it'll be on the full video or not. It was posted on social media, and best guesses of when it happened are in the second half (based on direction of play) and perhaps before Orlando's goal. It seems the Seattle players were not calling for a foul, and perhaps the referee (who's offscreen here) somehow missed it. Still a arm/hand to the neck and what appears to be a throw to the ground deserve a card in my book.
Yes, it could have been somehow a "soft" throw, with no malicious intent and when the action had been already stopped (maybe for off-side, that's why I wanted to see the full video of it), but anyway the gesture alone shouldn't be allowed and would probably deserve a card.
Just watched the second half of the stream, and the only place you see it is in the highlights at the very end as the stream is ending. Its the same clip as above. After watching the stream, my best guess as to when it happened is when Fishlock is taken off the field and the camera stays on the sideline for a bit while play resumes. But there were a couple of other replays in the stream when it could have happened. From the Equalizer about the play: "Through a source The Equalizer has learned that the center referee saw the incident but swallowed his whistle because Harris was not able to get out of the path of a charging Taylor. The available video does not show the lead up to the collision making it difficult to judge positioning and intent." It would be really helpful to see the lead-in to this play, but I can't find it. While I understand not being able to avoid a collision, hands to neck or face are generally a no-go and something that should be carded. I also see Harris jumping a bit after the ball is away (to avoid the collision? or to get more force?), and I see some "follow-through" after the clothesline. While its tough to tell everything like positioning from the clip, it looks bad.
Quite agree with all above. It could be a case uf "unavoidable collision", but it is hard to say from the only footage we have. Also, it could have had no real malicious intent, but I agree that arm to neck shouldn't happen in any form. Nor throwing on the ground (that, despite being probably partly caused by Taylor's speed, looked at least half-intentional. Doing that seems quite absurd from a professional GK, thus my theory that the game had to have already been stopped by then).
No suspension for Harris (who might be out injured anyway), and DisCo is not prone to giving any explanation with their decisions. I'm guessing though that they had more footage to go on.