Yeah, we haven't been great about creating weekly discussion threads recently... Well, here's a three-week thread for all gameday discussion of the five playoff matches this year. It's a bit early to start the thread, but with two of five games having their hosts already secured, we can start talking ticket sales and what else not! Specifically, I just saw this: 📈 The climb continues! 📈Lock in your @NWSL Championship tickets to help us make Nov. 20 a special day ➡️ https://t.co/C1XUulOFnS pic.twitter.com/HmaBdXC5x6— Racing Louisville FC (@RacingLouFC) October 22, 2021 IIRC that's a shade under 50% capacity, which IMO is rather impressive for it being a month out and a guarantee no-show from the host team itself.
Alright, so the playoff field and schedule are now set! Gotham visit Chicago this Sunday at 3pm, with the winner then traveling to Portland next Sunday at 5:30pm In the other half of the bracket, NC visit Washington this Sunday at 5:30pm, with the winner heading up to the Seattle area next Sunday at 3pm Three of those four games are on CBS SN, with just the NC/DC game on P+. The final is on CBS proper Going just by past H2H records, you'd expect Gotham and Washington to win the QF matches, then Portland and Washington (even with the forfeit included in the H2H) to make the final, with Portland finally completing the domestic treble. I've mentioned it before, but the punishments handed to DC last month for COVID violations were incredibly meaningful - if they got at least 4pts from the two matches they forfeited, that would put them at least 43pts while taking at least 2pts each from POR and RGN's total, giving Washington the Shield instead. They're also the hottest team coming into the playoffs, only dropping 2pts from their last six games, and are undefeated in their last nine non-forfeit games, going back to the first week of August. I remember saying at the beginning of the year that I didn't expect DC to win the Shield because they were too young to be consistent enough, but would still be a very dangerous playoff team. Fair to say I underestimated how consistent DC would be! Had it not been for management, they could very easily be talking about a double right now, instead of POR talking about a treble.
Something I have wondered about is whether Washington -- apart from having to forfeit the two games -- benefited in their final games from being well rested.
Maybe? It's an interesting thought... though the two forfeits were during a one-game-per-week section of the schedule and immediately followed by an international breaks, so DC went a full month without playing. If anything I think they would have been rusty returning to play. I also think "well-rested" only helps for a week or two at best, and wouldn't explain all of their run through the end of the season.
Could be at a time they fired their previous coach and morale has gone up. Or the team is in tune with each other.
CBS SN is the most frustrating channel ever for us cable cutters. It’s only available on certain cable/tv streaming companies and they want to broadcast the entire playoff series on there. Why not CBS or paramount plus? Or here’s a better idea, why can’t CBS SN be bundled with Paramount Plus subscribers? I’d gladly pay an extra 5 bucks not 75 dollars for one sports channel and a bunch of useless cable channels I won’t ever use.
Well, my first guess about the referees for the playoffs was wrong. There's 5 post-season matches and four FIFA-credentialed women; I thought we'd see them in all 5 matches, or at least 4 of them (so one referee doesn't officiate the same team twice). But instead it's one guy today, Kevin Broadley, for the Chicago/NY-NJ-Gotham match. And a non-FIFA woman, Natalie Simon, for Washington/ NC Courage.
CBS/Paramount didn't think ahead, that's why. This is the company with the most successful drama on cable TV in over a decade (Yellowstone) and the past seasons stream exclusively on Peacock instead of Paramount+ because they didn't plan for doing their own full-fledged streaming service. My guess is that their current deals with some of the sports leagues they have deals with won't allow for the stuff on CBSSN to be streamed as part of Paramount+.
Sadly I was unable to watch either game yesterday, but with two 1-0 scorelines, one in extra time, seems like both were tight affairs. Definitely glad to see the Spirit prevail over the Courage. Not sure who I wanted to win the other, as both CHI-POR and NJY-POR would be interesting storylines for different reasons. Either way, I hope both DC and CHI make it to the final now - but since the semifinals did in fact end up as 1-4 and 2-3, that would mean two upsets when we haven't even had one yet!
Feel like OL Reign could take it all the way as long as they are consistent in playing the way they are.
Lynn Family Stadium's capacity is 11,700, expandable to 15,304. I can't believe how cheap seats are. I guess they thought they would have trouble selling them.
Current ticket sales are now up to 6500, up 2000 from three weeks ago: 📈 This event keeps growing! 📈Get @NWSL Championship tickets: https://t.co/C1XUulOFnS pic.twitter.com/fhvixWz1ap— Racing Louisville FC (@RacingLouFC) November 12, 2021
Jonathan Tannenwald @thegoalkeeper 10h NWSL says Mallory Pugh is out of Portland-Chicago playoff game because she is in the league's COVID-19 protocol.
I'm just leaving my watch party with my rec club right now - that's why I've been silent thus far. X-D That Sanchez goal was an absolute beauty
So it's a Washington vs Chicago final in Louisville - hopefully there's a good bump in tickets tomorrow, since both of those are fairly easy trips! Also, this final means a new champion for the first time since 2018 (or 2016 if you count WNY+NC as one continuous through)
Wow, just wow! Red Stars vs Washington. The beloved Laura Harvey loses, again. Rory Dames who has played all year without Julie Ertz and much of the year withthout Alyssa Naeher and today without Pugh and most of the game without Watt does it again, but yet gets no love in the Coach of the Year voting. I don't get it!??
Just on the comparison in your post: Harvey 2021: 7W/2D/1L = 2.3PPG Dames 2021: 11W/7D/10L = 1.4PPG To be fair, I've seen several people on social media saying "the idea that Dames is a bad coach should be thoroughly quashed after these two playoff games" based on how well he managed them, so he's getting due notice. But the season overall was middling, and with multiple other teams making the playoffs without strong NT representation (e.g. WAS and NJY in addition to CHI) the personnel issues don't stand out as much. There also might be some first impression bias, because: Parsons: wins Challenge Cup, smacks CHI 5-0 week 1 Harvey: beats NJY & POR in first two games Parkinson: smacks NC at home, soon after repeating it in NC Dames: 2pts in Challenge Cup, loses 0-5 to POR week 1