The Red Stars travel to Portland to take on the Thorns this Saturday. Both teams will be without their US and Canadian players as the US faces Canada the next day in Toronto. So, no Sinclair, no Morgan for Portland as well as, no Erin Mcleod, no Moscato, no Quon for Chicago. However, since the last time these two teams faced each other in Chicago, the Red Stars have added German Internationals Sonya Fuss and Inka Grings. These should be immediate improvements to both defensive and offense lines. Red Stars have also added last year's WPSL goalkeeper Jamie Forbes as backup to Erin Mcleod's backup Taylor Vancil who had a very good game last week against WNY Flash. It will be interesting to see how the addition of the German's will affect team play.
Portland's going to be missing Buehler and LeBlanc as well. As much as most of us bag on Buehler's play internationally, she's been a huge contributor to Portland's defense, and LeBlanc had one of her best games against Seattle. Chicago is coming off a terrific effort against WNY, they just got 2 players with tons of experience, and they're facing a Portland team that is missing its 4 biggest contributors. All signs seem to be pointing to a Chicago win. The one factor in Portland's favor is it's a home game.
Portland will be the one hurt more with the quality and importance of players they will be missing. This may be Chicago's biggets chance to get a point or 3. There is the home crowd to think about. And there is that question. How well will the crowd be for that game with all the Nats stars gone? Will they get over 10,000 for this game?
I think they'll hit the 10k mark, but it may not be much more than that. I'm hoping that attendance isn't hurt by the lack of the NT players, because I want good turnouts for every game no matter who is playing.
ceezmad, I think that will be the line-up as well. One thing I was thinking, I know at the beginning of the season it looked like the Red Stars had a wealth of midfielders, but I wonder if the Red Stars should have made an effort to sign home-girl Jen Buzckowski if they could forsee all these injuries?
I don't know, how many of you guys have seen the half-time of the Portland vs Seattle video. They have Amy Lepielbet as guest at half time. I also saw her at the Seattle vs. Sky Blue game the weekend before in Seattle. So she's hanging out in Seattle instead of recovering in Chicago.
Is Fuss a centerback or a fullback? I was under the impression that she would be a fullback. She isn't very tall.
And just in case there was any doubt that the two Germans would not play tomorrow, here is an excerpt from the Red Stars game preview:
Well, I plan on going to the game tomorrow. Even though this is an away game for Chicago and they are playing at Portland, this may be a good chance to get a win. Sky Blue did.
if anyone has link to the game that is not youtube that would be appreciated.looks like its blocked in germany.
Is it still blocked? I don't live in Germany, but I just logged in to Germany (through VPN), and it's working now.
I went to the game yesterday and was very please with the Red Stars. IMO, they started a little shaky and Portland had majority of posession early in the game. We have a Central Defender in Fuss, folks! She took charge of that defense immediately with confidence, directing traffic, talking and positioning her defenders the whole game. She was calm under pressure without panic. Awesome! Although she didn't score, Grings was very effective and she was also talking to her midfielders and yelling at Ella Masar for not being in position recieve a one touch pass. That's waht I want to see. leadership. This is what the Red Stars needed, leadership and confidence. And the Germans, IMO in typical German style confidently brought both. Give Rory Dames and the coaching staff credit for coming up with a good game plan and putting the right players in the right positions. Once Boxx and Osborne get healed, this is going to be very good team folks!
I've seen LePeilbet twice in Seattle in the last couple weeks at Reign games. I talked to her on one occasion. She won't be ready till next year.
Deserved win. I suspected that veteran leadership would be the minimum the Red Stars would get out of the German duo. Particularly Grings is known for bossing around "her minions". Kinda dissapointed she didn`t convert her 1 on 1 opportunity. Was great to watch Lori and her incredible workrate once more.
I appreciate the leadership the two German players showed yesterday. However, that leadership should be in a positive way. These girls are professionals and most are veterans including US, Mexican and Canadian National Team players, they will not put up with being anyone's "minions". If leadership is not positive it can easily turn ugly. In the women's game, particularly here in the US "chemistry" is very important.
I think the comment regarding minions was more tongue in cheek. Of course chemistry is important, it always is in sport, but Grings is a no nonsense type. She will not sugarcoat things and that is good. The younger players will benefit a lot from her and Fuss.
Did you actually get a message that the content is not available in your region (because it's not supposed to have any region blocking), or were you just unable to find it? As I couldn't find it on the NWSL YouTube site, but was able to get to the live stream from a link from an NWSL News article.
it said stream not available. maybe it is my connection, but it shouldnt be the case, as i dont have such a problem with other streams. i have found another way to watch the stream, if its because of geoblocking