Bailey is just 23: I wonder if she could be interested in a career overseas or if she does prefer to remain in her own country for personal reasons. At her age, she could still be the typical diamond-in-the-rough kind of player who could get even better in the right environment (for instance an European league) and I guess there are mid-to-top-tier teams in Europe that could like the deal, since very good, potentially difference-making GKs remain quite a luxury in women's football.
IIRC she went on trial with a club outside of Panama (I want to say Colombia or Costa Rica, but it might've been Spain or France) after her breakout performance at the 2018 C'CAF championship, but it didn't stick.
Update: This info looks to be the most comprehensive I could find. She went to Paraguay for the 19/20 season, but that was bracketed on both sides by playing with Tauro in Panama, so it was either a very short loan or a failed transfer. She later spent part of the 21/22 season in Colombia, then spent the rest of that season and the full 22/23 season in Costa Rica (though not on one of the top teams there). The Paraguayan and Colombian stints were at top teams for their respective nations, and obv she's always been on the top club in Panama, but IDK exactly how much training and growth opportunity she's had over her career thus far.
Maybe she feels more comfortable transfering to South or Central American Hispanophone countries, but I doubt any league there can give her much more growing opportunities than her own country (of course Colombia should be anyway better than Panama, but that's not what I was thinking about when I mentioned experiencing a different level of football): North America or Europe would be the way to go for her, of course if offered something there, but, as I was saying above, as rough around the edges as she can be, a good GK is a good GK and not many clubs have a so reliable one to pass the chance of trying one of Bailey's current level.
I can't watch tonight but did get the alert that Gotham is up 1-0 at Fraziers within 15min And 2-0 with 20
5-0 by 50' and 6-0 by 60' Gotham have nearly 80% possession and lead 27(10)-0(0) in shots (on goal). Unless they take the foot off the pedal, this could set the tournament record for blowout. =Edit= Already 7-0 and still haven't gotten to 60' - Torres with a two-minute brace.
Well, the game went nearly half an hour with no further goals, so I thought things were done. Then Fraziers made two subs in the 80' and Lynn Williams went WILD. Three goals, an assist, and a forced own goal all in about ten minutes, in addition to a sixth goal not involving her. FT 13-0 Gotham with 42 shots, "just" 17 on goal Fraziers with 0 and 0
Well, considering they buried 13 of those 17 shots on goals, they had an excellent goals to shots on goal ratio. Or is it that the Jamaican team actually had a stunt in goal, so basically any framed shot was unsavable?
Looking at the tie-breakers #1 overall GD, if it ends up with 3 teams with 9 points San Diego will be likely to be the team eliminated. Right now 1. San Diego 9 pts +5 7-2 2. America 6 pts +10 3. Portland 6 pts +2 7-5 San Diego v America Whitecaps v Portland Basically a San Diego defeat by one goal coupled with a Portland win by two see San Diego go out.
It will definitely be easy for Portland to pass San Diego, but I think "just" making up three GD will make things a lot closer. If the scores are San Diego 2-3 America and Vancouver 0-2 Portland, (both quite reasonable given existing scorelines,) then both NWSL teams would be 9pts +4 9-5, and I think the H2H game would then put San Diego in and Portland out... I think. Granted, that's a very specific set of results, so the chances of them happening are slim. Part of me wants to say that it shouldn't be a worry anyway, since we "should" expect a San Diego win based on the fact that San Diego has been one goal better than Portland in all comparisons so far (3-2 H2H and +2 vs +1 GD over Santa Fe) - but at the same time, San Diego vs America is the *only* group stage rematch from the Summer Cup, and that match was one of the few times that LMXF beat NWSL in that tournament. San Diego is better now than then, and likely looking for revenge, but it'll be anyone's game.
these hilites are only for the brave of heart: Gotham FC wins at Frazsiers Whip, takes lead in Group A in W Champions Cup (concacaf.com)
Oh, my gosh. At some point in the 2nd Half they replaced their GK #1 with #30, but it looked like neither had grasped the concept of diving. I mean, I am aware that the Jamaican side is just semi-professional (as the comment-guy at the beginning of the video puts it), but it was like watching someone beating on a child.
I missed the first half tonight, but am tuning in at halftime now. It's 1-1! Chance at an upset brewing?
UANL definitely better through the second half, but Alajuelense still managed to get a few good looks in there, including a massive 1v1 in stoppage time. Score stays 3-1 though, Tigres are the first team through to the semis while Alajuelense is eliminated.
Both Tigres and Gotham are through. If theoretically Tigres beat Gotham away it will most likely be with 1 goal margin. In this case Monterrey should beat Alajuelense at home by 17 goals margin in order to advance on more goals scored. We all know this is not going to happen.
Theoretically, yes. Officially, Gotham aren't through yet. Possible, if unlikely, is still possible. Similar to how Vancouver are still alive.
So, a full run-down for where things stand right now: MD4 results VAN Whitecaps 0-2 SD Wave POR Thorns 2-1 Santa Fe FC Fraziers Whip 0-13 (!) NJ/NY Gotham FC UANL Tigres 3-1 Alajuelense Standings A UANL 9pts +12 (14-2) *Q NJY 7pts +17 (17-0) MTY 4pts +1 (5-4) ALAJ 3pts -1 (6-7) *E FRZS 0pts -29 (1-30) *E B SD 9pts +5 (7-2) AME 6pts +10 (13-3) POR 6pts +2 (7-5) VAN 3pts -8 (2-10) SFE 0pts -9 (2-11) *E A scenarios: NJY is in and MTY is out *unless* NJY loses to UANL *and* MTY beats ALAJ *and* those two results make up the GD difference of 16, i.e. 14 more than the minimum required by the results B scenarios: Going by team, starting with (s)imple scenarios, followed by (p)ossible and (c)omplicated scenarios... SD in in if they... (s) beat or draw AME to win the group outright (p) lose while POR does not win (p) lose by 1 and POR win by 1 (c) lose by 1/2 and POR win by 1/2 (i.e. even on GD) such that SD wins the goals scored (3rd) tiebreak or H2H (4th) tiebreak AME is in if they... (s) beat SD (and likely win the group outright on GD, but still possible to be 2nd) (p) draw while POR do not win (c) lose while POR also lose, then win the three-way tiebreak on 6pts (which is likely due to GD) POR is in if they... (s) beat VAN by at least 3 (p) get more points against VAN than AME get against SD (p) beat VAN while SD lose by at least 3 (c) win by 1/2 and SD lose by 1/2 (i.e. even on GD) such that POR wins the goals scored (3rd) tiebreak (c) lose by less than 5 (to stay ahead of VAN) while AME also lose by enough to make up the GD difference of 8 VAN is in if they... (c) beat POR by more than 5 while AME also lose by enough to make up the GD difference of 18 = = = = = The group stage concludes on MD5 with VAN-POR on 10/15, both NJY-UANL and SD-AME on 10/16, and MTY-ALAJ on 10/17
Updating these to MD4 now: USA v MEX : 1-1-0 (3-1, +2) - all matches @ USA USA v other : 5-0-0 (23-1, +22) - with one exception, all matches @ other MEX v other : 5-0-0 (27-2, +25) - with one exception, all matches @ MEX All of the v other matches are averaging +4/+5 GD, and look pretty even between USA and MEX, but both halves are skewed in different directions thanks to matches from this matchday. On once hand, UANL had MEX's worst result with 3-1 v ALAJ, (the rest averaging roughly +6 per match,) and in the other camp we have the absolute beatdown of NJY 13-0 FRZS (the rest averaging just +2/+3, and that's even with NJY 4-0 ALAJ included - in group B, they're averaging less than +2 per match, even with POR having a home match). In fact, that one beatdown out of sixteen total matches accounts for nearly a full quarter of the goals in the tournament so far (13/53 = 24.53%). Well more than half of the goals in the tournament have been scored against FRZS (30/53 = 56.6%) out of all ten teams.
As Orlando have clinched the 2024 NWSL Shield yesterday, I wanted to take a look at the qualifying status for next year's CWCC based on the this year's* access list: CAN: Vancouver Whitecaps Girls Elite repeated as 2024 Inter-Provincial League1 Champions* CRC: will be playoff between the Apertura 2024 Champions (Alajuelense) and the Clausura 2024 Champions (6wks to go before top4 playoffs) JAM: Frazsiers Whip also repeated as the 2023-24 Champions, as far as I can tell, but the only place I could see that was on their Instagram account - the league doesn't exist online, apparently MEX1: will be 2024 Apertura Liguilla Champions (4wks to go before top8 playoffs) MEX2: will be 2025 Clausura Liguilla Champions MEX3: will be best-Liguilla-runners-up PAN: will be* 2025 Apertura Champions SLV: will be playoff between the Apertura 2024 Champions (I assume in progress but can't find info) and the Clausura 2025 Champions USA1: will be the 2024 Playoffs Champion (every team except Houston is still in the running) USA2: Orlando Pride have won the 2024 NWSL Shield USA3: will be 2nd or 3rd-place team from the 2024 table (WAS, KC, or NJY) *first off, I hope the tournament expands. Every UNCAF nations should be represented, and I'd love to see a "defending champions" slot added too. That's five extra teams, making an easy four-groups-of-four first stage. (That said, I do kinda like the five-team groups... 15-team first stage, anyone?) Even if C'CAF sticks with the same access list, I would at least expect PAN's slot to be determined by a full year instead of just a half-season. Also, as mentioned in a previous post, I'm kinda hoping that CAN's new pro league will have a schedule such that the champion can be decided in early fall and go straight into that year's CWCC group stage. Considering we already have three teams "qualified", I hope C'CAF confirms what next year's tournament will look like ASAP. I'm not holding my breath, though - this is C'CAF dealing with WoSo, after all
Updating these to MD5 now: USA v MEX : 1-1-0 (3-1, +2) - all matches @ USA USA v other : 6-0-0 (29-1, +28) - with one exception, all matches @ other MEX v other : 5-0-0 (27-2, +25) - with one exception, all matches @ MEX It is very obvious that there are 2 tiers in women's club football in CONCACAF - USA & Mexico and everybody else. NWSL teams had this year the competetive advantage to play all their games against Mexican counterparts at home. Hopefully next year will will have justice and everybody will have the same schedule.
MD5 isn't over.... Unlikely if they stick with the current format. It's a small tournament so they're gonna maximize attendance, and the best way to do that is by having the marquee matches in the cities that will draw away fans, and you don't really get that anywhere in Concacaf except with Mexican fans in the US.
Already 1-1 in NJ, just 7 minutes in, BTW. Gotham already drew Monterrey. Gotham are currently not starting their WNTers, so they might be underestimating Tigres I'm currently watching on ESPN in Spanish since it doesn't seem to be active on my P+ Golazo at the moment...