Without the dangerous Pugh on the pitch means a difficult match for CRS gets even more difficult. I suppose a CRS win is not impossible though.
Good going, Red Stars. Your defense was really good. Sometimes the game was not pretty, but you executed really well, got two pretty good goals, and kept the Thorns off balance. Good luck in Louisville.
Disappointed Thorns lost but at least there will be a new champion being crown in the last few years when it was always Thorns and NCC/WNY.
What a game! To be honest, I never thought the Red Stars would pull out a win in Portland yesterday. When I read that Mal Pugh was out for the game I was prepared to watch the game and call it a season. My goodness!
It looks like Mallory Pugh is a go for the #NWSL Championship.Pugh has cleared the league's COVID-19 protocols and is training with the Chicago Red Stars.📸: @LewisNC pic.twitter.com/WHlZPi8Gfd— The Equalizer (@EqualizerSoccer) November 19, 2021
Oh well. I'm still proud of this team for making it to the Championship with all the injuries. They tried their best. At the end as the announcers said, Red Stars just ran out of players.
A truly sad and disappointing end to 2021 season . However, I am still so proud of this team. They made the final. They went most of the season without Naeher and Ertz. No Watt in the final ; lost DiBernardo and Pugh for large part of the final game and still managed to score and almost scored at the end again in OT. Gritty team. Congratulations to the Spirit! Will be interesting to see how the expansion frenzy impacts CRS and all teams for that matter. I am definitely renewing my season tickets!
Molly Hensley-Clancy @mollyhc 1h NWSL players went to US Soccer with multiple complaints about emotional abuse by Red Stars coach Rory Dames "I was made to feel by U.S. Soccer that I was in the wrong, there was nothing to report, and that this was acceptable," said Christen Press. https://washingtonpost.com/sports/2...ed-stars-resigns/?itid=ap_mollyhensley-clancy
Years ago, the ex-player Cat Whitehill said of the archetype bully-coach, Dan Borislow, that "There are so few superstars that the majority of players can be easily intimidated." True then. True now. One of the superstars, in this case Christen Press, has to speak up and even then it takes time to get attention. As the old saying goes, "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Sports coaches have something approaching absolute power. As long as they are winning. The powerful players have to defend their less-powerful teammates. Good for Press.
so why would CRS give up Ertz & Gordon? Though she’s got the name recognition. Ertz I can understand since she pulled that miraculously-recovered-for-the-Olympics shit, but giving up NWSL first team all star as one of the yesterday’s CB’s around is really stupid
I see it differently. First, CRS made the championship game this season WITHOUT Ertz. I really like Ertz and will miss her as a fan. Losing Gorden is a tough one to take - so is so talented and fast as #@$%. These trades are defensive in nature to get expansion protection. Most of the CRS trades, it is said, are player preferences, too. I will indeed miss Johnson and Doniak, too! I am happy that (knock on wood, 2022 season is a long way off) we have Krueger, Naeher, Davidson, Wright, Colaprico, DiBernardo, Gautrat, Watt and Pugh as part of our team going forward (again, knock on wood ) Oops! Forgot to mention Rachel Hill staying - such a valuable player for CRS!
I think many fans who were at all the games this year, had a feeling Ertz had played her last game in a Red Stars uniform. Why? We don't know, but we had a feeling. I understand other players wanting to go back home and Red Stars and other NWSL clubs have usually accommodated that. As for Sarah Gorden, that is a surprise. I don't think it had anything to do with the Red Stars, but she is a model, a TV/radio sports commentator, and other cool things she does on the side. Maybe LA would be a better fit for her as to what she wants to do further on in life after soccer? That's my thinking. My surprise and dismay is Kelsey Turnbow. I was looking forward to seeing her in a Red Stars uniform. Disappointed. On the surface it seems that the CRS got little out of the trades. Maybe? But, they did get to keep majority of their team intact including Pugh, Naeher, Krueger, Davidson, Gatraut, and so on.. Ertz is the only allocated player leaving, and we think she would have left anyway.
a few points of interests I’ve just read recently; apparently Watt suffered an ACL in that semi final playoff game, so that will keep her out till aprox July(so why CRS gave up Johnson?) according to an Equalizer report this week; Angel City doesn’t expect Julie Ertz is NOT to play for them in 2022. The reasons are a bit murky; from not being fit to still being injured(but didn’t age make that ‘miraculous recovery’ for the Olympics?) to the main excuse; she’s yet to sign with Angel City(so is she contemplating returning to CRS?) Nakasato said her partner living in Chicago as to why she wanted to return. CRS gave up an third round draft choice & an international slot for getting her back. I would of thought loosing out on the international slot wasn’t a big deal since we’ve seen like what seemed like the entire Australian & Canadian contingent have ditched the NWSL for what seemed like greener pastures of England & Europe. But now after the ground breaking deal brokered by the NWSL & players union, makes by far the most attractive league in world to play in, lol! So Nakasato who only managed 2 goals/2 assists last year for Louisville, might not be the same Nakasato(now 35 years old) that led the league in assists in 2019 any further thoughts or inside’s on what might be happening in the future?
The way the Ertz news was so murky makes me wonder if she is pregnant. That would fit with why Angel City does not expect her this season. And, it is a window that allows her back in time for the World Cup.
While greener pastures in England and Europe may have been a part of it, am I recalling correctly that the Australian league changed its season so that it matched better with England and Europe -- i.e., did not overlap -- and no longer matched well with the NWSL? I think this is likewise why almost no US players now are going to Australia for their season.
Don’t think the Aussie league changed as their currently IN season. What might be the reason why our better players aren’t playing there anymore is that; the NWSL started it’s pre season training earlier the pay’s gotten better in the NWSL so hence didn’t have to supplement somewhere else the Aussie league gotten a lot more weaker as nearly all their NT’s play now in Europe. They’ also might of expanded to make their own league a lot longer than previous years