The Reign had their chances but failed to bury them. Credit to KC -- they played well and deserved the win. Overall an entertaining match for the neutral observer (if agonizing for Reign supporters).
Ahh, this loss still hurts a bit but what can you do. Hopefully plunging into the off season will cure it and not dwelling on what could have been
On the positive side Wales and Scotland are unlikely to qualify for the World Cup so while others are missing their nationals for part of next season Reign are likely to have Jess and Kim all season.
I wouldn't count Scotland out by any means. Even if they miss direct qualification, they've still got a good shot at winning the qualification playoffs.
Funnily enough, I agree with both comments --- the odds are against Scotland qualifying, but I wouldn't count them out by any means. Scotland is 3pts behind Sweden in their group --- each have two games left to play, and in the final game they face each other (Sweden will have the home advantage). Certainly Sweden is in the stronger position (including on goal difference), and you have to fancy their chances -- they are experienced winners -- but if Scotland blow out the Faroe Islands by a large margin in their next game (they beat them 7-2 last time they met) and subsequently manage to upset Sweden at home, then the cat would really be amongst the pigeons. Sweden have to face Bosnia in their next game, who are not great but can be tricky. It will be an exciting final match in Göteborg on the 17th -- I think I will make the trip up to watch it, although I fully expect Sweden to win. At this stage, that is their best chance of qualification, imo. If it goes to the playoffs for the final spot, Scotland, although a strong team, will have to beat two other relatively strong teams in succession to grab the final spot (Finland, Italy, Holland, Denmark..?). Do-able, yes, but highly uncertain.
I kinda do and don't want Scotland to qualify.I'd be please for Kim if they do and it'll be great to see her at World Cup but it would be great to have Kim play 20 Reign games next season.
Thanks for the link. I re-watched the game. KC is a deserving champion but Seattle played extremely well. They can be proud of the game they played and were a little unfortunate to get that one break they needed. (One possible break that no one else has mentioned - the shove in the back on Nogueira in the box at about 87:35 (1:32:50 of the video) which could/should be a PK. It would've been very hard for Domka to see it however)
Still bummed about the loss but this team sure did give us some fantastic moments e.g. the 5-0 beat down of Portland, the roller coaster of a semi-final, Kim Little vs Houston Dash, Kim Little vs Washington Spirit, Kim Little vs...well the league basically Hopefully we can retain most if not all the players and go for that championship again next year
Perhaps old news but I saw an article in Equalizer Soccer which says that Kim Little is planning on returning to Seattle next year.
Not really because all that means is she will miss 1-2 weeks in probably Germany or France. Given how long the seasons are for both those leagues, missing the first couple of weeks is not really an issue. So I won't read too much into that comment.
I really enjoyed following the Reign, and the league this year. Things are really progressing overall, I remember really being frustrated a couple of years ago trying to stream Flash games and find swag to buy. The whole pro experience is so much more accessible than it was, but still has a way to go. Learned a lot from all posters here. Thanks Blaze for keeping things real and having a great perspective on the game. What a great year. Congrats FCKC. Go Reign!
Kim Little can still make it instead. Scotland lost to Sweden, as expected, but they could be the best of the bunch in the play-off for the last available European berth. Not sure if Italy could beat them.
Ukraine are okay, they qualified for EURO 2009 but not 2013, and also had won their qualifying group for WWC11, only losing to Norway and Italy in the playoffs then. So they're fairly good, but not A or B tier. Wales by comparison is Fishlock+10.
Any speculative moves to fill the losses of Goebel, and Kawasumi? Any update on Frisbie? Will Moscato be back (healthy? Will Canada call her up?). Thoughts on moving Leroux to the center fwd spot, and coaching up her hold up game?