Anyway, Talking about Weekly Awards, I hope Stephanie Labbé will get once again "Save of the Week". Can't actually be overall "Player of the Week" as in first match-day, but as long as we're talking GKs she's really outstanding. I don't follow Canadian NT too much, but I hope there is no discussion about her being the starting first choice in her own National Team.
There will eventually be when Erin McLeod is fully back from her ACL. Just played her first full team club game in over a year for Rosengard today. Honestly, Canada may he one of the deepest for quality keepers at the moment.
Right now, it would seem criminal to do without Labbé. If Labbé remains in this state of form, the burden of showing that she can be back at a better level of performance than her will be all on McLeod's shoulders, IMO, as good as she can have been in the past for Canada. By the why, can you remind me about respective ages of these two GKs? Anyway, you're right about Canadian depth at this position. Karina Leblanc retired, by now, didn't she?
LeBlanc is retired and 37. McLeod is 34 and Labbé is 30, so not a huge difference in age for keepers.
Clive got you on Leblanc, McLeod and Labbe. And then you have up and comers D'Angelo turning 24 this week and Sheridan is 21. D'Angelo has been pretty good for WNY/NC and likely is their future #1 after 2019/2020. Sheridan was good at Clemsen and outside of a very unfortunate touch against Germany in her 2nd cap, should have a good future with the NT. But hey, starting your 21 yr old 3/4 string keeper to get experience against #1 in the world.... Crazy!
Add in D'Angelo (almost 24) and Sheridan (21) to the mix. McLeod has been top level for 10+ years but is getting older and with ACL recoveries you never know. Labbé used to struggle with decision-making (i.e. when to come off the line for crosses) but is getting better at this. Good at covering the goal mouth despite not being the tallest. Her foot skills are great. D'Angelo is athletic and also good with her feet. Questionable decision-making. Sheridan is clearly inexperienced, great upside but is sketchy with her feet (see recent Germany friendly and some errant clearances in club play). To me, Labbé and D'Angelo are locks for Canada next cycle. The 3rd keeper is a question of whether Herdman goes with experience (McLeod) or youth (Sheridan).
Sorry. McLeod was never world class. Popular, sure. Some really good games, yeah. But neither McLeod (nor LeBlanc) were ever elite.
Just noticed both games today start at the same time... even though they are in different timezones and neither game is on Lifetime.
How many players did the Spirit lose from last season? From what I can tell it was Krieger, Banini, Dunn and Narin. Is that it?
Did they bring KC's potato camera from last season to Boston for this game? The quality seems worse than the last few games in Boston (which still had the terrible pitch glare).
1.) Carolina (12 points) 2.) Portland (7 points) 3.) Boston (6 points) 4.) Chicago (6 points) 5.) Houston (6 points) 6.) Seattle (5 points) 7.) FCKC (4 points) 8.) Sky Blue (4 points) 9.) Washington (4 points) 10.) Orlando (2 points) Every team in NWSL has gotten a result (win or draw) in at least 2 of their 4 matches. No team has more than 2 losses in their 4 games. Only 3 points (just 3 points, one victory) separates the #2 and #9 teams in the league. Carolina is on their way toward winning the table. Orlando needs to pick up some wins.
Someone who either doesn't do his own research, or is being let down by whoever does. He repeatedly remarked on the game being Witteman's first start of the season after a couple substitute appearances. (EDIT: It's not her first start of the season - putting this in for clarity) There were at least a couple other utterances that were factually incorrect.