The draft is done! There's still a ways to go before rosters are finalized and preseason, much less the Challenge Cup, begins, but there's still plenty of stuff to chew on before then... Sky Blue has picked up a veritable mountain of cash from the draft, and LaHue has said it's all going to roster building (including the small chunk already spent to bring Cudjoe back). Will it be enough to bring them into the playoffs? You can never count out Chicago and NC, but both teams have lost quite a few big names this year. Portland, Houston, and maybe even DC seem like safer bets for some of the six playoff spots this year. I'd bet on Portland for the Shield, but with all the changes this year, anything is possible. So who does make that sixth playoff spot (if POR/HOU/DC/NC/CHI are five of them)? I'm sure there will be a formal prediction thread later, but it's fun to speculate for now. I don't see much coming out of ORL or LOU, but between RGN, NJ, and KC all seem possible... Though we still don't even know where KC will be playing their home games yet. Here's hoping we get some NWSL-vs-NWSL preseason games scheduled before the CC starts up! And that we hear about the new details of the TV deal soon too!
I’m not sure portland is a lock for anything with the core of the team gone for long spells. Best hope is to stay i striking range until after the Olympics and the two week rest after.
Everyone says things like that... But the Thorns don't seem to care about international breaks; in fact, it's basically an inverse relationship with them. The most recent time it happened in 2019, the Thorns went 7W/4D/2L through JJA (1.92PPG) vs 4W/3D/4L otherwise (1.36PPG). Similar thing happened in 2015, when the Thorns had 1.27PPG without the USWNTers and 0.89PPG with them. True, the Thorns struggled during the 2016 Olympics.... but that's because they only played one single game during the Olympic window in August, which was a loss. Basically, since Portland has so many USWNTers and other NTers, what happens is that they basically get two separate "cores", with the presence of NTers across the league leveling out parity, letting Portland's non-NTer core thrive as almost a completely separate unit (i.e. so many pieces change that they simply have their own flow) while other teams have more trouble shifting just two or three important pieces in existing frameworks.
Haha your 2019 argument that other teams had more trouble integrating one or two players than the Thorns had with integrating two cores is belied by the statistics you just presented. for one thing, they didn’t come back as a core. Different players came back with differing amounts of rest and differing injury. That supposed World Cup core scored one goal in September and October.
I think you misinterpreted my "core" argument. Most teams have 1 core than includes their WNTers Portland, with so many, is forced to have two cores. Outside of big tournaments, the presence of the WNTers makes parity high. During the big tournament times, the other teams have their cores disrupted, while Portland wholesale shifts to their functional secondary core. (This last bit is the most important part of the argument - other teams are finding replacement players in existing systems, which is hard to train, while Portland just uses a replacement system, which is easier to train.) Yes, not all WNTers came back at the same time. However, that doesn't change the larger argument, plus it actually explains Portland's post-WWC struggles all the more. With so many WNTers and not all of them returning at the same time, Portland attempted straddling their two cores, a problem that other teams didn't have to nearly the same extent.
I mostly agree with STT. One other factor, however, that does not get enough credit, I think, is that when players come back from the World Cup -- and the Olympics -- they are physically and mentally exhausted. No matter how good they are, they are missing something.
One constant of the preseason is always wondering when the official schedule will drop. X-D I expect that a Challenge Cup schedule might drop soon, but it may take longer to get a full regular season schedule... As we know, many NWSL teams share stadiums with MLS teams, and MLS had a CBA renegotiation issue that only got resolved today.
According to Notre Dame website, the Red Stars will have a pre-season game @ Notre Dame on March 7, time TBA.
Racing is also playing some games against local or college teams. Maybe Portland can again play against U-23s.
In semi-related news: the MLS season start date has been pushed back about a week, so it will now start on April 17th. This means that, for the second year in a row, the NWSL Challenge Cup will be the return of DI pro soccer in the country! =edit= Actually, I'm going to copy the above message to a new thread, because while searching for other comments about preseason games, I came across even more info about the Challenge Cup itself...
According to the following EQZ article about KC, they're going to travel to Florida for training and play Orlando as one of their first preseason matches, assuming all protocols go through smoothly https://equalizersoccer.com/2021/02...ity-charting-new-course-on-and-off-the-field/
The Red Stars have been practicing but I have no clue as to what's going on. They always have a lot of players in preseason. I am waiting to hear more on this though: Have heard Chicago Red Stars are bringing on additional investors, including two names Chicagoans will be familiar with.— John D. Halloran (@JohnDHalloran) February 2, 2021
IDK if it means anything game-wise, but the Washington Spirit are also heading to Florida for a few weeks of preseason.
Even if it’s preseason good time to check out new players especially drafted players or undrafted players.
In what I think is the first official announcement of a preseason schedule, the Dash will play UT on the 28th, followed by two intra-squad scrimmages on March 16th and 27th. https://www.houstondynamofc.com/houstondash/post/2021/02/23/dash-announce-updated-preseason-schedule
As mentioned in a few other posts above, multiple NWSL teams will be in Florida soon, and the Pride just released a preseason schedule that includes both DC and KC: https://www.orlandocitysc.com/post/2021/02/26/orlando-pride-announces-2021-preseason-schedule All games will be closed-door, I assume as COVID precautions. Interesting to me to see the Pride playing FSU twice.
https://www.racingloufc.com/news_article/show/1148972 KIZER'S HAT TRICK LIFTS RACING OVER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE
With goals from nine different players, KC wasted no time getting down to business in its first preseason scrimmage!KC tallied 5⃣ goals in the first half and 9⃣ in the second for a dominating 14-0 victory against the Orlando FC Royals.📰 https://t.co/YjNgkEYEV8#WePlayForKC pic.twitter.com/E9Ur4RZXVx— KC Current (@thekccurrent) February 27, 2021 With goals from nine different players, KC wasted no time getting down to business in its first preseason scrimmage! KC tallied goals in the first half and in the second for a dominating 14-0 victory against the Orlando FC Royals.
Drubbing a pro-am team (especially one that was even lower-division within UWS last year) may not be much to talk about, but KC is currently 1-0 up over Orlando in their preseason match right now, with about 10min left to play. Goal from Okimoto. ORL is basically playing their entire first-string roster; KC did for the first half but not for the second (when the goal was scored) Today’s preseason Starting XI for #ORLvKC: Gunny Jónsdóttir Ali KriegerSydney LerouxMartaPhoebe McClernonJade MooreAlex MorganCourtney PetersenAli RileyMarisa ViggianoBrittany Wilson @orlandohealth | #VamosOrlando pic.twitter.com/CSwHSCfnp4— Orlando Pride (@ORLPride) March 3, 2021 (Kreiger out for 2nd half) First half Starting XI against the @ORLPride ⤵️BarnhartNolf, Corsie, Ball, BowenLaBonta, Scott, PickettJenkins, Rodriguez, Edmonds— KC Current (@thekccurrent) March 3, 2021 46’ | Second half lineup ⤵️Nelson Miramontez, Del Fava, Leach, JohnsonVincent, Okimoto, NickVasconcelos, Larroquette, Ratcliffe🔵 0:0 🟣#ORLKC | #WePlayForKC— KC Current (@thekccurrent) March 3, 2021
Well, ok, but according to what I read about their line-up in second half, it's not like their reserves were actually all "second string" players: Michelle Vasconcellos, for instance, have been brilliant in Chicago a pair seasons ago and Mariana Larroquette is one of the most solid Argentinian internationals, to the point that she recently scored an header from an "impossible" angle in the SheBelieves Cup. I mean: a good number of these KC second half players could quite comfortably be starters in a NWSL match (and some of them actually were).