News & Media II: Articles, photos, videos, etc.

The cause of Grant Wahl's death has been determined after an autopsy was performed in New York City: aortic aneurysm. In the words of his wife, Dr. Gounder, "The chest pressure he experienced shortly before his death may have represented the initial symptoms. No amount of CPR or shocks would have saved him. His death was unrelated to COVID. His death was unrelated to vaccination status. There was nothing nefarious about his death."

 

Sadly, this kind of death is incredibly difficult to prevent: the father of one of my best friends died because of the sudden rupture of an aortic aneurysm when he literally was in the waiting room of the emergency, where he had gone because of an unusual chest pain he was feeling; he basically was at the emergency already, and they couldn't do anything to save him anyway!

 

Nominees for US Soccer Player of the Year are up (and there is a fan vote component): https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2022/12/nominees-set-for-2022-us-soccer-player-of-the-year-awards

For Female Player of the Year, the nominees are Lindsey Horan, Rose Lavelle, Alex Morgan, Mallory Pugh, and Sophia Smith. For Female Young Player of the Year, the nominees are Onyeka Gamero, Riley Jackson, Olivia Moultrie, Jaedyn Shaw, and Alyssa Thompson.

 

just out is what's been called the most comprehensive list of top woso players; the Guardian Top 100. The US doesn't fare the best with just the 3rd highest amount listed

Germany(14 players) England 13, USA 11, Spain 10, France 10. What's most disappointing for me is Macario's #16 ranking(felt she should of gone much higher)
The 100 best female footballers in the world 2022 | Soccer | The Guardian

 

This year's list definitely seems more lacking than previous lists... I think the rising popularity of the WSL is skewing the picks toward WSL clubs. No Lyon in the top 10 and no US or NWSL in the top 15 is a bit suspicious to me. To be fair, the USWNT underperformed a bit this year, but the distribution within the list seems off, especially as NWSL had its best year yet.

 

Caitlin Foord at #61 is telling. There is no way she is remotely close to that position.

 

That list is a joke.

 

it’s definitely based on England/Germany Euro title . The home winning side(England) getting an extravagant 7 of the top 30 players. But then usually 2nd most important event on this or Ballon D’Or; Lyon decisively beat Barca in the Champions League finals (yet so many of Barca’s players rated higher than Lyon’s).
Differ a bit, WSL keeps on raiding the NWSL for its best; Kerr, Heath, Daly, Debinha & now their aiming their sights on Smith

 

As usual it's a ridiculous list. The FIFA rated top team in the world, the U.S., doesn't have a player in the top 15? How can that be?

If I accepted the wisdom of the list-makers, my conclusion would be that the U.S. is the top team (or one of the top teams) in the world without any outstanding players which speaks to our superior organization, unity, coaching, and strength of spirit. The corollary of that would be that the Germans and British are underperformers who don't utilize their outstanding players well.

Either this list is askew -- or FIFA's rankings of the top teams in the world is askew. Or both, which is the most likely.

 

Where is it reported that Debinha signed with the WSL? Heath is hardly an NWSL best. She is always injured. No one is clamoring to sign her in the NWSL either. They did not raid the NWSL for Daly. Daly lost her father and wanted to be closer to her family. She made that personal choice after spending most of her career in the NWSL. Kerr has talked about a possible return to the NWSL. Smith has signed a three year contract extension in 2022 with the Thorns, so I think that is a pipe dream for the WSL for the forseable future.

Let's take the biased hat off.

 

it’s not based on FIFA rankings but whoever were the top players of 2022. While England went unbeaten for the year, cultivating with winning the prestigious Euro title, plus an friendly vs the #1 ranked team in the world, the US had an dismal 2-3-1 record against European teams—-it’s 3-4-1 if you go back to the Olympics(which had most of our 2019 World Cup roster in it)

as is; Americans on this list don’t come off as not too shabby; 6 made to the top 36(so that’s near the top third/more than any other cept England)

there’s a chance that 2023 will be different; the US has a rather easy path through to the WC semis(if everything goes accordingly)

there’s even way more comprehensive list of players that moved over; the WSL has now more than an fair share of top Canadian, Australian, Swedes, Norwegians, Dutch, Irish & other UK players in their league. It seemed like the entire Australian NT moved over from the NWSL.

a few other notes; in their one meet up this year; WSL champs Chelsea beat the Thorns 1-0 even the though they were in preseason & played it in Portland

outside his regulars, Vlatko don’t seem to want to use his newer NWSL players with Howell, Demallo, Mace getting little to no playing time, capped instead high schooler Alysha Thompson, so the low exposure of NWSL really showing up on this list of 30 + judges(which included Vlatko himself)

 

Hotjam you sure are hocking that Guardian list - on multiple threads - that everyone is mocking, eh?

The Aussies were not getting much playing time in the NWSL that is why most of them moved. It is a World Cup year and they need to play. Don't let facts get in your way.

The NWSL has guidelines on how many international slots they have. The WSL is more flexible with quantity of internationals.

Your 'list' of players form the NWSL moving to WSL is far from the best!

Here is your statement: "WSL keeps on raiding the NWSL for its best". You backed that up with Kerr, the always injured Heath, very personal reasons Daly, no announced signing Debinha & new contract with the Thorns Smith.

Rather than acknowlege your false statements you just sent a bunch more hyperbole.

Chelsea beat the Thorns 1-0, while Thorns did not start their best 11. In fact, their best player (Smith) only played limited minutes in the second half. The announcers said repeatedly that the Thorns lineup was an indication that they were playing for the league, not the international cup. Again, don't let facts get in the way of your extreme bias.

 

My recollection is that the Aussies moving to European teams, at least in a lot of cases, did not have to do with playing time. When all the Aussies (I am thinking of Kerr, Raso, Carpenter, Catley in particular) were playing in the NWSL, the A League schedule did not overlap but did overlap with the Euro schedules. The A League then changed its scheduling and created an overlap with the NWSL but not with the Euros. So the NWSL no longer was a good match for the Aussies. As I recall, Kerr left the NWSL before this happened, but Raso, Carpenter, and Catley left after.

While the NWSL salary cap no doubt played a part in the migration, it was pretty clear that the A League schedule change was going to force a change by the players.

Regarding Sophia Smith, if she wants to spend some time in Europe once we are past the 2023 World Cup, I would not be surprised if the Thorns work out a deal to let her do it. That is what they did with Horan, releasing her to go to Olympique Lyonnaise for a set period, but tacking on additional time at the end of her Thorns contract once her OL set period is over, in exchange for the release. Over the long term, that kind of deal is in the Thorns interest as it keeps their players happy and allows the players to gain additional experience in a different environment to bring back to the Thorns after their foreign stint is over.

 

https://www.allforxi.com/2020/8/20/21321224/exploring-australian-exodus-from-nwsl-matildas-europe

One of the commonly held beliefs is that the NWSL is the best league in the world. I’m not about to start a war by saying it is or isn’t – such discussions tend to get bogged down in people trying to factualise subjectivity – but it is, undeniably a strong league. NWSL, unlike many around the world, is more balanced and, as the Challenge Cup is proving, no one team is lagging behind their counterparts.

It’s no secret that Norwegian Toppserien (where Teagan Micah, Clare Polkinghorne, Karly Roestbakken and Katrina Gorry currently are) isn’t the strongest league in Europe, or even the strongest in Scandinavia. Similarly, Kyah Simon and Amy Harrison aren’t going to have a comparable experience at PSV Eindhoven as they did when they were in the NWSL.

 

Australians currently in the NWSL

Alex Chidiac - Racing Louisville

Emily van Egmond - San Diego Wave

Chloe Lagarzo - KC Current from WSL

Chelsie Dawber - Chicago Red Stars

Australian history in the NWSL

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_foreign_NWSL_players#Australia

Very few left for WSL when they were starters in the NWSL. And at least two of those left when the NWSL season was cancelled due to the Pandemic. One left after a knee injury seemingly pushed her out of a starting spot.

 

Sam Kerr left almost certainly for financial reasons. Ellie Carpenter left the Thorns for OL, certainly not due to the pandemic. She was a Thorns starter. Hayley Raso left the Thorns, not due to the pandemic. She was not always a starter but got plenty of minutes and was an important player for the Thorns. According to Steph Catley, she left the Reign to gain experience in another league.

 

Kerr left for money, no question because the allocation money was not in place when she was in the NWSL.

Catley announced her departure in May 2020, after the April 1st announcement that the pandemic delayed NWSL preseason (and all other US soccer leagues announced they were shutting down in March). She had also missed part of the 2019 season with a knee injury.

Ellie Carpenter was transferred from Thorns to Lyon - while the NWSL was shut down due to Covid - in June 2020.

Raso with the Thorns: After suffering a partial tear to her lateral collateral ligament during the 2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup, she missed the first 11 games of the 2018 NWSL season. She made her season debut on 16 June and went on to play in 12 games, scoring 2 goals. She also had a back injury that season. On 25 August 2018 Raso while playing for Portland, Raso fractured 3 vertebrae in her back due to an on field collision. The injury, caused by a knee to the back, left Raso unsure if she would walk again. After extensive rehabilitation, Raso returned 6 months after the injury at the 2019 Cup of Nations where she scored in her return match against New Zealand. She went to Everton in January 2020 after her contract was up.

 

ytrs, I am curious, do you know for a fact that Carpenter left for OL because of Covid or are you just supposing that. The reason I ask is that the NWSL 2020 season began play, after a delay, at the end of June 2020. The Thorns trade of Ellie to OL was in June, she signed her contract with them in July, and she did not play in a game for them until August. I always understood, though I do not know for a fact, that she had reasons not having anything to do with Covid for wanting to go to OL, most likely money although there are other possibilities. Interestingly, the terms of the Thorns and OL trade deal were not announced, altnough I assume the Thorns got something from OL for releasing Ellie to them.

 

No, I do not know for a fact. But, I am demonstrating with the timeline that Covid was in play at that time. Like most of us, we evalauated our circumstances during that time. Maybe she would have left anyway. But the timing is curious because the NWSL season would have been going strong at that time had Covid not hit. So would she have really left in June if she was in the middle of the NWSL season? I don't know.

 

Anybody going to “mock” this list if it goes against their own taste. Since you offered no feedback on the Vlatko/NT perspective or that the list supposed to be balanced between club & country performance, taking it your upset that somehow the NWSL got shafted?
But take a closer look, it’s the super rich clubs of Europe that are responsible; take away Chelsea & Arsenal and the 13 NWSL listed is way more than the rest of the WSL. Take away Wolfsburg, the NWSL has way more than the rest of Bundesliga. The same can be said with Lyon & Barca with their respective leagues.
Personally don’t care for the super clubs—they face almost no competition within their own leagues as they’re made more for competing the prestigious Champions League. But they got two huge advantages over the NWSL;
1) they pay way, way, way better than the NWSL—-thus players like Macario & Horan prefer over there

2) top elite players get to choose what club & city to play at rather than drafted or traded to NOT necessarily club/places they want to move to

 

[QUOTE="hotjam2, post: 41083199, member: 217309"
Americans on this list don’t come off as not too shabby; 6 made to the top 36(so that’s near the top third/more than any other cept England)

[/QUOTE]

To look at the list in a different way, 4 of the top 15 players listed are English and none are Americans. Americans are relegated to the lower numbers on the list. The Guardian list is Anglo and Eurocentric.

One can only draw tentative conclusions about the quality of NWSL teams vs elite European teams, but NWSL teams have done well competing against Europe's best in the WICC tournament. NC beat Lyon in 2018, and Portland beat Lyon in 2021. In the case of North Carolina's victory over Lyon, NC wasn't even playing its best players..

The best any British team has done in the WICC is third place.

It's interesting, by the way, that the European leagues are capitalistic in socialistic-leaning Europe and the American teams are socialistic in capitalistic-leaning America.

 

I did not know I was writing a report. I did not find your USWNT / Vlatko part pertinent. He is trying to force/gel a midfield that hasn't been clicking. Alyssa Thompson is a legit player and they have tactical reasons for bringing her in. The defense has so many injuries that will shake out the lineup this spring.

Horan is at Lyon because her long-term boyfriend is working in Paris. She is on loan from the Thorns. Do your research before you throw out false statements. Macario was always going oversees after college. Please tell me how much these players make and how much the top NWSL players make? Facts please. Your hyperbole is refuted over and over. This is another one. You have no idea which league pays more. NWSL can pay over and above the salary cap.

This article from May 2022, refutes your salary claims:

https://the18.com/en/soccer-news/nwsl-salaries-2022-how-much-womens-soccer-players-make

 

fine if you want to believe that the NWSL pays better, but at the end of the day, the Guardian list(fronted by over 30 expert judges) is legit, double confirmed by an American publication(ESPN W) that the 18 best players in the world are at the super rich Euro clubs(Chelsea, Arsenal, Barca, Lyon PSG)
ESPN FC Women's Rank: The 50 best footballers in the world today
as well as FIFA's 20 player short list(only two NWSL players, Morgan & Rodman)
Ballon d'Or Femenin 2022: Shortlist revealed for best women's footballer in world | FourFourTwo

 

It is not what I believe. It is what evidence is out there. You keep throwing out statements that are not supported by any evidence, and often contradicted. How about you stick to facts?

LOL keep trying. Your European bias is showing. Both threads you put his article on have called out its deficiencies. Experts? There is no scientific way to name these. There is always going to be bias. Let's just call it what it is.... an opinion piece.

 

Sophia Smith named US Soccer Female Player of the Year:

.@sophsssmith had herself a YEAR!

‣ #USWNT leading scorer ⚽️
‣ @NWSL MVP ☝️
‣ @NWSL Championship Game MVP 🏆
‣ @BioSteelSports Female Player of the Year 🇺🇸

— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) January 6, 2023

And Jaedyn Shaw named Young Female Player of the Year:

Passing of the torch 🏆@USWNT Defender Naomi Girma surprises @sandiegowavefc teammate Jaedyn Shaw with the annoucement of winning the 2022 Young Female Player of the Year! Congrats Jaedyn! 🎉 pic.twitter.com/68vSxX4HHk

— U.S. Soccer YNT (@USYNT) January 6, 2023