NWSL 2025 Regular Season Pre/In/Post Match Thread

Which, of course, means very little.

 

Are you saying that's pulp fiction?

 

Even VAR couldn;t help this game out from being an mess. Seemed like the ref made worse decisions after watching the VAR playback, lol

 

I died a little bit after watching the last Angel City match.

 

lot of AC fans frustrated that Press didn’t get any playing the time, but in this case the defense needs a little experience than the 18 year old Thompson & 20 year old King

Pretty soon AC be gettin the rather dullish Scandinavian coach named Straus. Maybe though he can teach them a thing or two about holding the ball up or switch the pace slower when they got the lead or at least not tank out like they just did.

He’ll probably being a few top notch. Euro defenders with him

 

https://wsoccerexpress.com/2025/05/...week-7-referee-assignments-not-yet-published/

NWSL: 2025 USA TV/Streaming Schedule — Week 7, Referee Assignments not yet published

Friday, May 2
Washington Spirit vs. Angel City FC

• Start Time: 8:00 PM EDT / 5:00 PM PDT
• TV: n/a
• Streaming: Prime Video
• Referee:
• VAR:

Houston Dash vs. Racing Louisville

• Start Time: 8:00 PM EDT / 5:00 PM PDT
• TV: n/a
• Streaming: NWSL+
• Referee:
• VAR:

Seattle Reign vs. Kansas City Current

• Start Time: 10:30 PM EDT / 7:30 PM PDT
• TV: n/a
• Streaming: NWSL+ / Golazo / Paramount+ / Prime Video
• Referee:
• VAR:

 

(so far) game of the year?

 

Chicago Red Stars fire coach Donaldson(due to last place I presume). Donaldson came with some creds, as he was able to take Jamaica into the 2023 playoff rounds with ties against Brazil & France in group play

 

There is a huge difference between coaching a national team and coaching a club team. One requires that you evaluate players and figure out how to position them on the field for maximum results and motivate them through just a few matches while the other requires teaching and team building and developing a strategy to maximize performance over many matches over a long period of time.
Some coaches do one well and not the other like Vlatko Andonovski who is a really good club coach but nearly ruined the USWNT with his attempt to play them like they were a club team when he had them for such short periods that they really had no chance to perform well. There are many others around the world that could do one but not the other.
There also are a few coaches that excel at both and those are like our current USWNT coach that exceled at Chelsea and also seems to be able to get play out of the USWNT that others have failed to get.
But i am not sure if Donaldson is really a bad club coach or if he just did not fit the Stars while he could motivate Jamaica to play near their peak.
I expect he will pop up again as most coaches seem to do when they get fired from a club.

 

Donaldson was a great youth soccer coach in the Denver area, so with that and his success with Jamaica, I'm not sure Chicago's poor performance is on him.

 

I was looking forward to watching Chicago v Washington today, but I heard Lianne Sanderson's voice and immediately switched to literally anything else.

 

I am watching KC vs BAY and bay's GK and Jordan Silkowitz should sue her defense for non-support. The last time I saw defense this bad was when the USWNT put about 10 in, I expected better from a defense this far into the season. If there ae worse defenses in the NWSL then they must be little more than walking, not running, zombies.
I find it very hard to like teams coached by Vlatko Andonovski as he singlehandedly nearly ruined the USWNT. But he has shown that club soccer is vastly different from national team soccer. He does have KC really well tuned and KC is absolutely dominate in this match. Of course the matador defense sort of played by BAY is making it very easy for KC's attack.
KC is up 3-0 and it ain't that close. I expect more of the same in the second half as BAY shows no sign of being able to play defense.

Edit to add: The so called commentators in this match are VERY VERY bad. They talk over the action and seem to be more interested in their own "accomplishments" no matter what is happening. Periods of over 10 minutes often pass without those idiots even mentioning what is happening on the field. It is like listening to two of "Alexi Lalas" with higher voices talking to each other. It is horrible. ESPN could do better with two committed U13 girls in the booth. The English accented one is particularly bad.

 

KC’s success more to do with the triple mercs(Chawinga Debhina Bia) than Vlatko’s coaching. To be fair though, one id the best virtuous of an coach is recruiting, so hats off that KC’s weee able to get Chawinga & Bia—Debhina was already there before Vlatko came, though why on earth did NC give her up so easily?
Vlatko problems at NT could have been internal politics as to attract more sponsors, USSF probably wanted big names like Morgan & Rapinoe on the squad even though they were way past their prime. In a way he was stuck between a fading Golden age players of yesterday & not just yet(in 2023) new emerging one.

 

Becky Sauerbrunn played for Vlatko both in the NWSL and on the USWNT. She spoke about this indirectly. Paraphrasing, she said that a club team coach has the players day after day, week after week, and has time to mold the players to the way the coach wants his team to play. She lsaid that the national team coach has far less time with the coach and is dealing with players who largely are already molded -- the coach must figure out how to put together the players to produce the best team and can't mold the players to how he wants them to play. Her point was that those are two very different things.

 

Could be but my point is that Vltako wouldn’t be on top of the league if he didn’t have the triple mercs. Last year he jetted early on to the top of the league as well. But fell to fourth by the season when he lost Bia to injury. If he lost Chawinga, he’ll be lucky to be at mid table.
Orlando was 7th place in 2023 & having an slow start in 2024, but shot to the top after gaining Banda
Missing or gaining one or two of your best players can make an big difference, regardless who’s cosching—-especially in an league that’s otherwise so balanced

 

I can tell how this forum has really died off in that there was no mention here about Savy King's medical emergency (cardiac event in which she received CPR and/or AED on the field). In any case, the NWSL has now said that the match should have been abandoned, and future matches with a similar situation (meaning life-saving measures to revive or stabilize a player) would not be continued:

The health and well-being of the entire NWSL community remains our top priority. pic.twitter.com/qSiAB6DwqQ

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) May 16, 2025

 

While I understand and even agree that a life threatening event is both serious and should be the main focus of actions at the time of the event. And I believe that the match should have been paused for longer than it was I do not believe it should be abandoned. I think a one day delay with a resumption the next day at the exact point where the incident happened. That is what has happened in the past when a player has had emergency treatment on the field like at the Euros (I think) a few years ago.
I know it is an inconvenience for the players and the clubs and the fans and the venue but it is, I think, the best solution that places the welfare of the player(s) involved first and foremost.
The continuation of the match could even be closed door later in the season but I think it should be continued, not abandoned.

Now on the incident itself: I saw the match and they way the player acted/reacted was concerning and I think the major life saving actions and personnel should have been on the field faster. But it looked, briefly, like the incident was not at all serious as the player when down and the ball was played in her direction and she managed to recover enough to make a pass to safety before she went down a second time.
When I saw it I thought she was struggling a bit before she went down and she looked a bit lost right before it also.

I do not believe automatically abandoning the match for a life threatening injury is the correct thing nor do I believe that rushing the player off the field and continuing the match is correct either. There must be some middle ground that provide for the player's safety first but also does not excessively impact the fans and other players.
I do not like what happened and I do not have a solution but the solution(s) offered are not particularly good either.
Maybe the solution is to abandon the match and have a full replay later. I just don't know what is best.

 

To clarify, the rule is not just about a serious injury. It's only about a medical emergency in a match where a player (or coach or referee) is administered life-saving measures. Basically, players shouldn't have to continue to play a match if they just watched their teammate (or opponent) receive CPR.

Previously the NWSL didn't have a clear policy on this, and it seems to have been unclear even who would make the decision about the match continuing or not; now there is a "bright-line" rule, and it is in line with similar rules in other leagues (this Athletic article lists similar medical events in other leagues, such as the NFL and Premier League, that caused the match to be abandoned.) If a match in which a player's life literally was at stake is never completed, it's not the worst thing; at the end of the day, it is just a game.

 

I understand and agree but i am always concerned when there are rules that impact health and live that are not well thought out or are absolute. To me, rather than making the rule absolute, they should make a rule that has the responsibility for decisions of this nature in one designated person on site. Said person should also have the responsibility for any decision involving the continuing or not continuing the match under any circumstances. This should NOT be anyone affiliated with the teams or the referees or directly controlled by the league. The referees are too cowardly and too indecisive (I know there are exceptions) and people affiliated with the league or he teams have too much vested interest.
I do not know where to find such a person but, maybe, the medical field is a place to look. I would avoid the legal profession totally.
I do not have the solution but making absolute rules is not a good way solve this kind of situation. But the NWSL seems to like absolute rules as that way nobody gets blamed and most of soccer is better at avoiding the blame any way they can. See the stupid delayed offside rule where play continues even after a clear offside. It was put in place to avoid mistakes but its net impact is to increase injury risk while actually adding nothing to the game.

I am 100% in favor of protecting the players, referees, staff and, to a lesser extent, the fans but the NWSL, FIFA and all soccer entities seem to use the phrase "to protect the players" to mean "put the blame anywhere but on us."
The rule saying the emergency life saving treatment should always result in abandonment is too absolute and needs to be revised to allow for some latitude.

But this rule is better than requiring the match to continue no matter what.
As with many changes that need to be made this is one where I do not have the solution but i know the new rule is a good deal less than optimum.

 

It is very disappointing to see Orlando vs KC, which is a battle for first place in the league, and the stands seem half empty. If a match at this level is not important enough to get the stands at least 90% full then there is something VERY wrong. The weather is a bit hot but it is Florida and the heat should not be a problem and it started at 8:00 PM and is on a Friday night and the stands are still half empty.
Something is VERY wrong with the marketing in Orlando. Or the Orlando fans are just clueless.
BTW" The match itself is pretty entertaining.

 

it’s way more than half empty lol, but at least the Tielman made it!

 

Yep. That is another celebration of American stupidity. Of course we have nothing on the Japanese in the stupidity department. See "The Squid Games"
The reason I said "half" was that, at the time, I had not seen any wide shots of the empty stands at the corners and on the same side as the camera. You are correct, it is way more than half empty.
This low attendance for a Friday evening match between the league leaders is a huge disservice to the players. I do not know who to blame. Is it Orlando for their lack of marketing. Or is it NWSL itself for a similar lack. Or is it KC for a lack of traveling fans? Or is it the city of Orlando and/or the whole state of Florida for somehow screwing things up.
No matter who is to blame it shows that the NWSL is not near the soccer power they think they are.
But, once again, the match is pretty well played and mostly fun to watch except for the foolish camera cuts to the crowd showing that there are a huge number of low IQs in attendance, or at least one wearing teal body paint. Ugly and stupid.

 

Stop pickin on The Tielman! He’s all about soccer culture—-something missing from the rest of the crowd. But otherwise successful franchises(with all sell out games) from top to bottom in a pro league seems to be the last frontier of women’s soccer to conquer (it’s pretty much the same everywhere else in the world)—-Barca got 90K to come to one of their matches , but it was only because they gave all season ticket holders of the men’s side, free passes to attend what’s now become the more successful women’s team


This particular game(KC vs OR) once again featuring what I feared most—-domination of the foreign mercs on both sides. But then, what do you expect when only two out of eleven starters from last year’s the US Olympic gold medalists are currently active in the NWSL

coaching was as usual most basic; Vlatko decided to park the bus, with just countering, knowing the speed of Chawinga would carry the day. Meantime the Pride coach orders his troops never ending cross kicks into the PK area in vain hopes that the KC defenders would just once flop clearances or his beloved Banda gets to the ball before they do. So in my book, I’ll give the CB named Staples pog.

listening that Marta now getting back on the Brazilian NT. Omg, please Marta, give your country an break

likewise Orlando’s mvp was their CB, Sams who got away without getting carded on several nasty little tackles that send KC’s triple foreign mercs hobbling off the field—-this isn’t the way woso should go, but why on earth did the ref kept allowing it?