Sx games coming up: 4 Sat, 1 Sun, and 1 Mon. WAS, HOU, GOT, and KC all did not play on Wednesday and all have home games this weekend. Times ET; P+ is Paramount+, as usual. Sat 6/3 8:00 POR at SEA - CBSSN (This is a Timbers-Sounders double header) 8:00 LOU at WAS - P+ 8:30 ORL at HOU - P+ 8:30 NC at KC - P+ Sun 6/4 5:30 SD at GOT - P+ Mon 6/5 10:00 CHI at AC - P+ KC needs a coaching upgrade. If I was GM, I would by now have found out who Caroline Sjöblom's coaching mentor was and have flown them in for a troubleshooting and systems improvement consultation. I predict draws for POR-SEA and ORL-HOU, and wins for WAS, NC, GOT, and AC.
Just a note, NC and ORL did not play on Wed either! (They're away this week, so if that's what you were emphasizing, ignore me ) I know you already picked NC to win their game, but IDK if the rest plays into your HOU-ORL prediction or not.
Gotham FC vs San Diego Wave match on June 4 will now kick off at 6pm ET on @CBSSportsNet.Live streaming available internationally on https://t.co/IhXlfucDPO.— NJ/NY Gotham FC (@GothamFC) May 31, 2023
Historic day for Gotham FC. LFG! #YERRRR pic.twitter.com/qXQhS19F9r— NJ/NY Gotham FC (@GothamFC) June 4, 2023
One game tonight, 3 Saturday, and 2 Sunday. Times are ET and P+ is Paramount+ as usual. Fri 6/9 8:00 SD at LOU - P+ Sat 6/10 7:00 AC at WAS - P+ 8:00 NC at CHI - P+ 10:00 KC at SEA - P+ Sun 6/11 7:00 GOT at HOU - P+ 7:00 POR at ORL - CBSSN Its five hours before kickoff and no availability report for SD at LOU; What is a predictor to do? Not that it would help me because I was 0 from 6 last weekend and I am 20 from 60 for the season, which is pretty bad. More predictions later.
The availability report was posted yesterday on Twitter #LOUvSD #NWSL Availability Report#RacingLou OUT: Jordyn Bloomer (D45 – back), Elli Pikkujämsä (suspension), Jess McDonald (ML), Nadia Nadim (SEI – knee)#VamosWaveOUT: Abby Dahlkemper (SEI), Emily van Egmond (back), Rachel Hill (lower leg)QUESTIONABLE: Kelsey Turnbow (back)— Taylor Vincent (@tayvincent6) June 9, 2023
Air Quality. Wednesday was the worst air quality by far that I have experienced in the 14 years living at this address in western New York. For Louisville today, the Air Quality Index is 91, which falls into the "Moderate" Category: Air quality is considered acceptable. However, there may be a risk for some people, particularly those who are unusually sensitive to air pollution. From this web site: https://airqualitymap.louisvilleky.gov/station/21-111-0080 which has data for a weather station just southeast of downtown Louisville, here are the maximum PM10 values for this past week, which can be used as an indicator of the overall air quality trend. The weather stations only provide raw data, not the AQI, which is determined by a number of different parameters. Particles are defined by their diameter for air quality regulatory purposes. Those with a diameter of 10 microns or less (PM10) are inhalable into the lungs and can induce adverse health effects. PM10 is measured in micrograms per cubic meter - that is the mass of this size particle in a cubic meter of air.The readings are taken every hour, and the values in the table are the maximum hourly values I could find for each day. DayDateMax PM10 Sat6/339 Sun6/475 Mon6/540 Tue6/684 Wed6/768 Thu6/859 Fri 4 p.m.6/952 So the air quaility has been improving since Tuesday. The "current" PM10 of 52 contributes to an AQI of 91, which is at the upper end of moderate.
SD at LOU was a truly awful soccer game. LOU’s lack of basic passing skills and team play was particularly annoying. They played with all the sophistication of an average high school team.
https://www.google.com/search?q=nws...8#sie=m;/g/11ts9nf5d2;2;/m/0p3p_6z;ms;fp;1;;; stats suggest otherwise. Can you elaborate as I did not watch the game.
I see that the passing stats are deceiving. The predominant attacking method was dribble until you get stopped and then desparately find an outlet. It was alway dribble first then look for a pass. The only purposefully creative sequence from LOU was in the approximately 85th minute just outside the box in front of the goal. Throughout the game, there was no sense that the LOU players actually knew where their teammates would be or trusted them at all to make a proper run into space. On Pickett's side, in the first half LOU kept trying to jam the game down that lane into space SD just was not giving them. I honestly cannot believe LOU completed 88% of its passes. If the observers say they did, then a lot of them were very ineffective pases.
I sort of agree and sort of disagree with CoachJon. Louisville did a lot of trying to build from the back, so there were a ton of completed passes in their defensive third of the field, which I think is why they had more of the possession and the high completed pass rate. On the other hand, when they managed to get the ball up the field, there was a lot of one on one play, way too much, even when there were decent pass options. I was surprised by that and was thinking that some of the attacking players in positions to receive passes likely were pretty pissed off -- unless they had been given the game plan of trying to go one on one in the attacking third. Overall, neither team put up much of an attacking threat, although Shaw was a handful for the Louisvile defenders. For her age, she is pretty sophisticated with a good set of tools -- she can shoot, carry the ball, and pass well. I have not yet seen how she handles moving the ball among teammates in tight spaces, but if she is not adept at that yet it certainly looks like it will come. Being a Thorns fan, my real interest was in the outcome of the game. From that perspective, it was pretty entertaining watching to see if Louisville could hold the game to a tie or even sneak a win.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_...-team-tactical-style-explainer-100-words-less Some interesting analysis here.
thanks for sharing this, while it’s trying to show diversity in the NWSL’s styles & tactics, I still got to question why the league hires so many English coaches instead of American or other foreign ones? Maybe the English have their own unique style, but it’s not like they’ve been world beaters; obviously we’ve had an dominance them until just recently on the woso side, but we’ve also outplayed them the last two times at the men’s World Cup(2010-2022), though both ended up in an tie. I would say the weakest part of woso is the inability of the backline to boot out the ball to safety or upfront like men can do, that’s why am high press tend to be do effective in the women’s game. Right now/most modern day. I would say the ‘winger’ has become the most important position on woso, whereas an decade(s) ago it might of been the striker or attacking mid
hnngh... As of posting, the teams I'm cheering for are down a combined 1-4. I am not enjoying the Challenge Cup this year.
Yes, watching what for most teams is a chance to get bench players some field time is a challenge (though, to me, interesting). Maybe that is the reason for the Cup name.
Freya Coombe fired this season wasn't on my bingo card but I'm not terribly surprised. Makes the trip down to San Diego certainly interesting for Saturday.
Six games this weekend; 6 teams played Wednesday. Of the teams that did not play, only SD has a home game All times ET and Paramount+ is P+ and * is team that did not play Wednesday. Sat 6/17 4:00 AC* at SD* - CBS; interim coach Becki Tweed at the AC helm. Best coach in NWSL at the SD helm. 7:00 ORL* at NC - P+; two upswinging teams and a nice handful of Brazilians. 8:30 SEA* at HOU - P+; HOU is inconsistent and often bad - why can't Laity find a spot for Ebony Salmon? Sun 6/18 4:00 GOT* at LOU - CBS; GOT trying to find consistent excellence. LOU has heart, a pretty good 6, & Savannah DeMelo. 6:00 POR* at CHI - P+; CHI is on its way to one of the most disappointing seasons ever: SkyBlue 2018, BOS 2016 and WAS 2013 7:00 WAS at KC - P+; KC needs to shorten the injury list and WAS needs to play up to its potetntial. I have to believe that the world cup is becoming an influence, rather than just a distraction for players. I am going with wins for SD, SEA, POR, and WAS. Draws for ORL-NC and GOT-LOU. - even though I should pick ORL- they always play NC tough in NC.
ESPY Nominations for Soccer Aitana Bonmatí Concata, Spain/Barcelona women Erling Haaland, Norway/Man City Lionel Messi, Argentina/PSG Sophia Smith, USWNT/Portland (NWSL) ESPN has a separate category for WNBA, but combines Soccer, UFC, Golf maybe a few others. Things like this make me feel that we have a long way to go, and thats not even talking about the list itself.
Six games this weekend. Players all know they are going to the world cup or not going. Disappointments will continue, but agitation about the unknown is gone. I imagine there will be some playing decisions that will be not-to-get-hurt. Times ET; P+ is Paramount+. Fri 6/23 10:30 WAS at POR – P+ Sat 6/24 7:00 KC at ORL – P+ 7:00 LOU at NC – P+ 10:00 SEA at SD – P+ Sun 6/25 5:30 CHI at GOT – P+ 8:00 HOU at AC – P+ I am going with all home teams to win: POR, ORL, NC, SD, GOT and a HOU-AC draw.
Why don’t fans go to NC Courage games? The team is winning and playing good looking soccer. Is it player turnover or residual anti-Paul Riley and anti- Jaelene Daniels sentiment? Or is simply a case of the market being too small?
Often wondered that. The area is saturated with women's soccer. They get the ACC tournament every year, Final Four. People have limited bandwidth I guess. In That area, I'm guessing most support the USWNT>UNC>Another College>NC Courage. In that order. I thought NCC were trying to use that by trading for Fox and Pinto and adding players with recent ACC name recognition Berkley, Boade,Wingate, Hopkins but so far not evidence of that.
Also worth pointing out that just 2wks ago, NC was a bubble team. They lost to KC of all teams earlier this month, and drew at home to LA not long before. That in mind, it's hugely impressive that they've suddenly risen to 2nd overall - but they've only just recently started having a winning streak. Home fans might not be thinking of the team as a "winning" team just yet.
That, however, in itself is not good. Fan loyalty is important, not just fair weather fan loyalty. I wonder if the population base is big enough, as everything else has seemed to be in place. Some of you in the NC area, can you give us some insight?