No real surprises in the Chicago/Portland game. Kerr and Nagasato....I have been very impressed this season with Gorden -- who has blossomed. That Seattle goal looked me like a advert for fresh legs. Ubogagu comes in, skips past Erceg who is tired and makes a goal. And then Hamilton for NC, a sub with fresh legs, causes a goal. Despite the score, GK Murphy should get a tryout with the national team. It was funny watching her standing side by side with Crystal Dunn. Dunn comes up to about her chest. Ultimately, in my opinion, NC speed and conditioning won the game. NC an incredible 34 shots, 14 on goal.
It was about 10 minutes from the end, but I wouldn't worry about it. Nagasato is not a thug. That just was a reference to earlier statements that the Thorns are thugs -- the fact that they were fouled this year about 30% more than they gave fouls and their opponents received twice as many yellow cards being swept aside by saying that they're so thuggish they made their opponents do it. In fact, Nagasato was great in today's game.
I look at Yuki’s twitter from time to time and with her personality and playing skill, she’s become one of my very favorite players.
Portland picked an inopportune moment to allow their six-year-long unbeaten streak against Chicago to lapse . To me they looked like a team that was just collectively out of ideas; simply waiting for good football to happen in spite of sloppy passes/shots and poor decisions because they had skilled footballers, rather than working cohesively to construct and execute plays with ingenuity. Ironically I recall making a similar critique about Chicago in previous semifinals ("Okay, our plan is: Press is [in] our offense, and she does magic."). But in a larger sense, I suppose a team that, in its final six matches [including this one] manages only one win and gets outscored 10-1 has no business being in the championship. Today saw a team with zero momentum encounter a team with a lot of momentum, and I don't believe for a second that the former team's disadvantage there was completely incidental to their defeat. Although I would have preferred it not be at the expense of my favorite club, I'm happy for the Red Stars for finally breaking through the semifinal wall. All credit to their worthy squad for a hard-fought victory. And belated congratulations on the incredible regular season finish that secured them home-field advantage, which appeared to be a powerful asset to both teams today. I hope Chicago is up to the challenge of defeating the Empire in the Lion's Den a week from today. Not a good day to be an NWSL fan in the Pacific Northwest. Portland to Seattle:
What a great atmosphere at the CRS game today! Great crowd. Great weather! I saw quite a few Portland fans too. The crowd went wild several times but especially the final five minutes of the game! It was electrifying CRS punched the Portland monkey off their back, finally! An early 1-0 victory is torturous to endure especially when CRS is winning and playing Portland and trying to make their first final! I am so proud of my team! I think the NWSL website said 9000+ on hand and I believe it.
Those don't usually get published until several days after any given broadcast. But I'm definitely interested too.
I didn't get to watch either match today, but I did see the MLS playoff Toronto 5-1 (et) DC last night, and it sounds like that means I basically saw the first semifinal today already. X-D
I guess I am not the only one who wants to see her back in Nadeshiko Japan NT at next year's Olympic Games.
We will never, in a million years, be as cool as Yuki Nagasato. pic.twitter.com/26ZJMKwLxp— Chicago Red Stars (@chicagoredstars) October 8, 2019
Given the crappy weather, I'm actually surprised at how many people showed up in Cary. Hopefully next weekend will be better.