Quarterfinal round begins Friday! All times US East (we are now on standard time). FRI 8 Nov 20:00 Orlando hosts Chicago (Prime) SAT 9 Nov 12:00 Kansas City hosts North Carolina (CBS/P+) SUN 10 Nov 12:30 Washington hosts Bay FC (ABC) 15:00 Gotham hosts Portland (ABC) *Lousville had an extra home game due to unsuitable field conditions in San Diego.
Wasn't able to watch tonight bc I don't have Prime (fcuk Amazon) but looks like it's a doozy... Second half is just starting and it was already 3-0 after the first - in ORL's favor, as expected. Don't look at the shot/SoG stats, it's brutal. Seems like ORL's two-game hiccup a few weeks ago was just that, a hiccup. They're unbeaten at home this year even with those two away losses, so gonna be tough seeing anyone else lift the trophy in KC unless maybe it's KC as an unofficial home game.
Orlando vs Chicago was a mismatch, but entertaining. Orlando had Banda's speed and a rejuvenated Marta (age 38) and Chicago seemed slow -- but the Red Stars held their heads high and kept on trying. I am puzzled why the Orlando coach kept Banda and Marta in the match so long after Orlando got a 4-0 lead in minute 60. Why not take the superstars out and let them rest -- and avoid the possibilities of injury? To their credit, however, Banda and Marta were still playing as hard in minute 80 as they had in minute 1.
Tough end to the season for Chicago - they faced teams 2-4 in the final three regular season games then came to face team #1 in the quarterfinals with absolutely no momentum at all.
Chawinga is just ridiculous. KC with 3 shots and a post in about 30 seconds and Chawinga puts it away for a 1-0 lead in the 8th minute. If KC keeps this up they're going to have to expand that stadium a bit.
KC Current / NC Courage turned out to be a very good game. North Carolina made a game of it despite a rough first 10-15 minutes and going down a goal. According to one journalist, Theo Lloyd-Hughes, the xG wound up only 1.57 to 1.36 in KC's favor (on 14 shots vs 12!) FT KC Current 1-0 NC Courage statsCurrent--CourageShots: 14-12onT: 5-4xG: 1.57-1.36poss: 35-65fouls: 6-8Losing always stings, but North Carolina can be happy with that performance and coming back from a wobbly opening and applying pressure. #NWSL— Theo Lloyd-Hughes (@theolloydhughes) November 9, 2024 VLATKO deserves credit, I guess, for not trying to cram as many fancy-schmancy dribblers in the starting lineup as he could (and has for several games late in season), playing Debinha in the front (and dropping N'chelle Prince to the bench) instead of messing with the midfield, where he played the solid three of LaBonta, Hutton, DiBernardo. It made a big difference in the game Of course the single (by far) biggest difference in the game is Temwa Chawinga. There are two teams, each with one player who is simply faster, quicker, stronger than everyone else — and show it even on the defensive end late in each half — and it's only by a small miracle that they're going to be paired against each other in the semi-finals instead of the finals where one of them would be guaranteed of winning the championship. And one of those players, Orlando's Barbra Banda, failed a gender-eligibility test and was barred from playing in a continental tournament a couple years ago. It shouldn't take away from the fact that there are other very good players on their teams and the NWSL is a wonderfully competitive league, but we have to start talking about maintaining fairness in the sport rather than sweeping it under the rug.
If you think it's been "swept under the rug", you are wrong Simple facts are she is a women (and always has been) who happens to have naturally higher testosterone. Natural. Woman. The only reason she "failed" WAFCON's gender eligibility test is they have stricter limits on testosterone level, natural or otherwise, than FIFA's policy or NWSL's policy does. Regardless on where you stand on the issue of trans women in women's sports, if someone is naturally predisposed to excelling at sports, that should be celebrated, not penalized. That's what we do with cis men who are abnormally built for their sports (e.g. Michael Phelps in the pool) so that's what we should do for women too.
Halftime in DC now, 0-0 so far and I'm not quite sure what to make of what I've been seeing so far. Stats are fairly even. Lots of fouls, though the ref is also calling some soft or questionable stuff too.
Ten minutes left in regulation and it's still 0-0. Spirit generally having more of the play but it's not an onslaught by any means; it feels like a match between equals for the most part. ....and as I type that, Bay scores. :-/
DC hasn't felt like their typical attacking selves today and it's biting them right now. Edit: Welp, I timed that one perfectly. 1-1
Still holds, IMO, even as it ends 1-1 at 90+9'. Spirit have woken up a bit and they've been taking shots throughout stoppage time, but the finishing has been quite wanting
Rodman gets a chance to make it three, trips, then takes it to the corner the next chance she gets F/ET, WAS 2-1 BAY
looks like everybody’s fall n asleep but Tierna did score 1-0 67th minute & now finally Thorns defense opening up