MD 3 tomorrow and Thursday! games A - Fraziers Whip v UANL Tigres - 9/18 8pm EDT B - San Diego Wave vs Portland Thorns - 9/18 10pm EDT A - NJ/NY Gotham FC vs CF Moneterrey - 9/19 7pm EDT B - Club America vs Santa Fe - 9/19 9pm EDT byes A - Alajuelense B - Vancouver Whitecaps Girls Elite Fraziers Whip and Santa Fe are both facing elimination this week and need wins to stay alive. (I'm still shocked Vancouver beat Santa Fe.)
Missed the first half of both games. Turned on the second of each to see one team score, then the other team score twice soon after. Interesting night for sure.
Handball PK on Brunn (second PK of the half) gives Sanchez the first hat trick in the history of the competition, and SD now leads after being down 0-2 at the hour mark. It certainly looked like a handball but I can totally understand Brunn's argument that she was mid-balance-check and her arm wasn't even that far out... But it was clearly out when the ball hit her arm, and there wasn't much you argue against with how quickly she recoiled her arm and swung it around her back
Gotham dominated the first half tonight but had nothing to show for it, which made for a very nervy, fairly even second half. Nothing ultimately happened, though, seeing out the first draw of the tournament. If Gotham lose again UANL on the final day, second place could come down to GD.
After three matchdays, we have: USA v MEX : 1-1-0 (3-1, +2) USA v other : 2-0-0 (6-0, +6) MEX v other : 4-0-0 (24-1, +23)
What are the exact results of the matches you mentioned here (from the posts above I can only say that Gotham-Monterrey ended in a draw):
Liga MX Feminil topping both group at the moment. Some interesting data to compare the Leagues' strength.
MD4 begins tonight! games B - Vancouver Whitecaps Girls Elite vs San Diego Wave - 10/1 8:30pm EDT B - Portland Thorns vs Santa Fe - 10/1 10:30pm EDT A - Fraziers Whip vs NJ/NY Gotham FC - 10/2 8pm EDT A - UANL Tigres vs Alajuelense - 10/3 9pm EDT byes A - CF Moneterrey B - Club America Three USA v other matches and one MEX v other as two of the three MEX clubs have byes. Scenarios: UANL can secure advancement with a win over Alajuelense, officially, but based on GD they realistically only need a draw Alajuelense needs at least a draw to remain in contention Gotham cannot determine anything with any result Portland cannot determine anything with any result Vancouver cannot determine anything with any result, officially, but based on GD they realistically need at least a draw against San Diego to remain in contention San Diego can secure advancement with a win, officially, but based on GD they realistically only need a draw
Interesting qualifier to these data that I just noticed: All USA v MEX matches take/took place @ USA All USA v other matches take/took place @ other All MEX v other matches take/took place @ MEX If you assume USA and MEX are roughly equal strengths (significantly above the others) and then factor in Home Field Advantage, that probably explains a lot of the disparate numbers here.
Massive oversight: this week's Portland vs Santa Fe match and MD3's Fraziers vs UANL matches buck the trend mentioned. I assume this is a function of how their respective groups have an extra team from their home league.
I've missed the first half of VAN-SD and it seems like the Wave are doing everything but score... 15(5)-0(0) in shots(on goal), nearly 75% possession, 6 corners, and four offsides. Meanwhile Vancouver leads 4-0 in fouls.
Portland scores in the 10th minute of their game on a PK, and San Diego *finally* break the deadlock in the tenth minute of their game. Santa Fe has registered a shot against Portland already, while Vancouver remains shotless Quite a healthy crowd in Vancouver, I will say; I'm a bit surprised Dangerous, DANGEROUS backpass for San Diego, panic 1v1 from the GK giving Vancouver their first corner and first shot of the match
It's gonna be wild seeing the xG from the San Diego match... They did add a second a whole ago, but they also just had four shots in a single sub-10s sequence that had two saves, a post, and a deflection so SD didn't get a goal from any chance there
Portland finally gets their second... And almost gives one up a moment later. Still 2-0 though. And I'm still stunned how Vancouver beat Santa Fe
Portland give Santa Fe a gift. 2-1 Weaver and Sinclair entered a while ago and almost combined for a goal not once but twice. It's wild to get players like that off the bench but Portland has yet to really capitalize
FT in Portland. The last day of group B will be incredibly interesting. It's entirely possible (if unlikely) to have three teams tied for second on 6pts, while also possible (and more likely) to have three teams tied for first on 9pts.
Portland Thorns 2 - 1 Santa Fe Vancouver Whitecaps 0 - 2 San Diego Judging by @SiberianThunderT posts and the above highlights, both Vancouver and Santa Fe were quite lucky that their matches did not end in hockey scores. Good performance by Yenith Bailey in goal for Santa Fe.
Bailey is one of those amazing players from a country that never gets much attention, a raw talent that never really got the support she needed to grow into a world-class player that she probably could be. Vancouver definitely had luck on their side; Santa Fe had Bailey.
I would say that it wasn't bad for a D3 club. With the new NSL launching next year as our D1, the cup winner is expected to represent Canada as of 2026 in the competition
I'm somewhat expecting that the Canadian team won't have to go through the preliminary round next year with two wins under their belt (unless the competition expands or the format changes, which honestly both should happen, this year feels like just a test run) so if that's the case, I'm curious if the NSL season will be done in time for the 2025 champion to go straight to the 2025-26 CWCC group phase.