And I will remind you, it is only the end of May. Great job NWSL schedulers. Let's see how this Lifetime window turns out for everyone in the dog days of summer.
Seattle was smarter about it. Their players kept going over to the side and kept downing water and applied ice cold towels. Houston went for the intimation strategy, and it backfired on them.
I'm sorry. But @lifetimetv & @NWSL A PLAYER JUST PASSED OUT - GET IT TOGETHER - We cannot play in that heat. Use your heads please. #NotSafe— Jessica Fishlock MBE (@JessFishlock) May 27, 2017
It is ridiculous to play in the afternoon in Houston. Houston is outrageously hot. 95 degrees average in July and high humidity. NC and KC are bad enough as places to play on summer afternoons. Houston is intolerable.
[KC-WAS] 59' 2-1 Newfield collects inside-out at 25m box left, curls centerward, slips a through-ball to Ratcliffe down mid-left to 4m, cross blocked over by Church (or Zadorsky). 60' 3-1 KC left ck, to 9m right post. Sauerbrunn gets a running start, jumps alone past LB Kleiner caught flat-footed and ball-watching, nods a perfect header back across mouth over all, into back left 1/2 high. 67' 3-1 Pugh dribbles amidst traffic from circle top to arc top left, taps square right to Stengel, KC swarm her and poke ball off her foot. They can't even catch up to Pugh to do that sooner ...
69' 3-1 Sauerbrunn fk just past midfield wide right, to arc top left, drops to Leroux facing away. Low one-touch flip volley over her head bounces at spot, Newfield charges in as Labbé comes out. Newfield heel-pokes at ball and misses, follow-through grazes/rakes Labbé's plant (right) leg. Both go down, ball bounces to 7m right, Groom runs around and finishes -- no goal, foul on Newfield. Labbé stays down in serious pain. 71' 3-1 Trainer performs stability test on Labbé's right leg. Water gets squirted, then the chilly spray creates a mist. (That's what Houston needs: chilly spray stations, you run into them and yank the cables and they dump a gallon of chilled gas over you) 72' 3-1 2nd yellow card on #88 Alexa Newfield, she is ejected. 73' 3-1 Labbé limps around, but decides to resume.
83' 3-2 Ordega dribbles at box top left, backpass to Solaun at 22m mid-left. Solaun touches forward into open space, fires an innocuous shot to spot -- Averbuch is handcuffed facing own left flag, kicks it to clear but instead deflects it perfectly behind Barnhart already diving to right post. OG-etiquette: I guess that's scored as a goal because Solaun's original shot was on-frame (toward right post low), and so the deflection didn't turn a non-goal into a goal.
[KC-WAS] FT 3-2. Wow, Leroux Dwyer tosses your paltry objections aside. [POR-BOS] 01' 1-0 Nadim left ck, to 6-top right, Henry heads down into the goalline scrum, off Julie King's back, bounces up into back left high. 05' 2-0 R.White tries a pass through center circle, Henry collects it just behind midfield and counters up centerline on a 4-v-5 or so -- to 22m arc left, shoots left foot low across mouth -- under Smith's dive, just inside right post low. Well, at least it's in the shade
Boston is a Rachel Corboz, Ramona Bachmann, and one more good defender away from being a championship contender. What will their off-season be like? They traded away the #11 pick in this past draft to Chicago for a 2018 2nd round pick and an international slot. They should have a strong draft opportunity, and international options. They need to look for the next Emily Menges type in the draft (in the 2nd round). And they need to go all in for Corboz in the first round.
Well, they manufactured very little offense tonight, and just how many Mengeses do you think there are in the ...especially in the second round?
My complaint of the day is about own goals. There were two last night: One, from a Rapinoe shot and one from a Horan (or Henry it isn't clear) header. I don't think either of those should be called own goals. Rapinoe's shot was on goal and deflected slightly by the defender; Horan's header took place in a scrum and again looked to be headed for goal when its path was slightly altered by a defender. (although I couldn't see that any defender touched it.) . I think an own goal should be called only when the defender significantly alters the course of a ball that otherwise wouldn't be on target to go into the goal. But -- on the positive side, -- we didn't have any of those wretched penalty kicks for incidental handballs and minor fouls. Often, PKs are too much punishment for too little crime -- and have an influence on the outcome of games far in excess of what they should. The games last night were good -- even the Houston/Seattle game.played in heat which can only be described as risky for the health of the players.
What was never mentioned as well is that it has been a really cool spring in Houston. At normal practice times, it has frequently been 50s and 60s. Yesterday was the first real summer like conditions we've had all year, so even the Dash weren't prepared for it or accustomed to it.
I guess in both cases the course of the ball was significantly altered (ask the GKs). I am not even sure Rapinoe's one was a shot: could have been as much likely a cross for Kawasumi, who was free in the box.
Randy Waldrum has not done a great job managing the Dash. But I don't think you can pin the loss yesterday on him. It is not his fault Beckie missed at least 3 clear opportunities. It is not his fault Andressinha's audacious flick somehow spun away and hit the post. He can't help that Rapinoe benefitted from a fortuitous deflection. The Dash played pretty well yesterday. The bounces didn't go their way. Good to hear Daly is recovering. With her fiery, committed style of play, it doesn't surprise me she was the one to suffer first from heat exhaustion. She never holds back. I hope her incident is the proof NWSL needs to adjust the summer calendar as needed to avoid harm to the players.
Putting Rocarro in CB while you have better option can certainly be pinned on the coach. You can not keep making excuses about player not making shots or hitting the posts. The Dash has not been unlucky for 4 years.
Well, Menges was a 3rd round pick in 2014. We've seen other good defenders who weren't first round picks.
The heat problem isn't new. Jimmy Conrad collapsed at Giants Stadium in August, 2003. http://www.bigapplesoccer.com/teams/nycfc2.php?article_id=41938
I finally watched the second half of NC-CHI. In both halves, it seemed to me that Chicago played like Chicago plays and NC played like NC plays. For me, on balance, the even score for the first half reflected the overall play on the field. DiBernardo's touch to Colaprico on the CHI goal was awesome. I blame D'Angelo for the CHI goal in the 54th minute. She made a poor play on the corner kick itself, making a weak punch on the ball. She totally misplayed the lobbed high fly ball from Press which came down at the top of the 6 yard box. that ball took so long to come down that there is no way D'Angelo should not have grabbed it before it got to Mautz. I like Sabs, but I am becoming more and more disappointed in her play. Absent that goal, the game would have been a draw, which I think would have been a good reflection of the overall play. Was Scott Vallow actually sent off? For what? It did not show up in the game box score.