NWSL flavor of the week 2025

I do. I'd like the league to provide a career path for as many domestic players as possible. The domestic league should provide paths for domestic players. It's silly for domestic players to be aced out of a job by mediocre imported players. And, again, you never know who's going to bloom when given a chance.

What's your point.

It's my impression that players that have left, haven't left for more money. By and large they are leaving for the "European experience." Lynn Biyendolo was on her podcast the other day talking about departures from NWSL, and she didn't mention "more money."

ooh, you got me. I only counted starters, and I mis-counted at that. If the Spirit is only playing 5 US-eligibles, I'm losing interest in them, too.

And, I don't care about the San Diego fans. I am just speaking for me. I'm not interested in a league/team with well under 1/2 the players on the field being domestic. I'll watch Euro teams with multiple US-eligibles.

 

I've said what I have to say on the topic. No need to repeat myself. Except ... gotta address this thing about Emma coming in and saying "we need to broaden the pool!" This was no genius strategic insight, though people act like it was.

Emma came in roughly at the same time as the new CBA. The new CBA was a sea change in the structure of the WNT player pool. The old contract created guaranteed spots for a narrow segment of the player pool. The pool was selected on a yearly basis, contracts awarded, and that was it. On Sam Mewis' podcast, HAO said that the manager was only allowed to call in 26 different players in a given contract year. The CBA was structured to create continuity, so that a soccer career was viable for 26 players. That's it. It wasn't structured to find the best players* and certainly not to foster competition for spots. *Indeed, it stifled competition for spots.

Under the new CBA the manager can call in whomever she wants. Of course Emma is going to wildly expand the pool. It has been artificially extremely constricted. Her coming in and say "I looked around, and the player pool was so narrow, I wanted to expand that" without mentioning that no prior manager had an opportunity to expand it is disingenuous.

 

Kayla Fisher makes sofascore Totw. I've said before, she's a damn good player. I just hope she can keep her head together.

Speaking of the red mist, to me, Hal Herschfeldt is close to warranting looks. She covers massive amounts of ground, defends it well and is a deft passer. I wouldn't call her up until she does 2 things: 1) stops being a yellow card machine; 2) stops skyying shots when she is undefended. Late arriving mf's at the top of the box have to be able to keep that shot down. Imo, for players that consistently sky it, that it is less damaging to their reputation to sky it than have the keeper save it. They don't really want that shot. Hal's got to get over that. She's got to want to score there. Other than those 2 things, she looks like a damn good CM.

Sears - she got an assist! I'd said that with all the opportunities she gets down the wing, I wouldn't call her in until she got an assist. She got one!

------------------------------------------Fischer
--x---------------------------------------x---------------------------Sears
--------------Moultrie--------------------------Jacobs
Izzy-----------------Berkeley----------Ball--------------------x
---------------------------------Dickey

US-eligible NWSL stat leaders
Goals:
10 - Sears (2nd yr)
8 - Tiernan (R),
6 - Alyssa, Adames (2nd yr, 19 y.o.), Hatch, Moultrie, Hatch, Cooper (2nd year)
5 - Hocking, Turner (2nd year),
4 - , Ascanio (17, 2nd yr), Tordin (R), LaBonta, Moultrie, Shaw, Ryan, Rodman, Flint, Dahlien (R), Shaw (20)

Assists
League leader 5
5 - Schupansky (R), Rodriquez, Mace, Gisele (2nd yr)
4 - Staab, Schlegel, Malanson, Coffey,
3 Kennedy Fuller (2nd yr), Gareis, G. Thompson, Coffey, Cooper, Malonson, Conti, Graham (rookie), Demelo, Peterson, Dahlien

Goal contributions:
11 Sears
9 Tiernan, Cooper
8 Alyssa,
7 Moultrie, Dahlien (R)
6 Turner, Hocking, Schupansky, Conti, Fuller, Graham, Staab, Ryan, Rodman, Fisher, Rodriguez, Giselle, Schlegel, Coffey, McCutcheon
5 Ascanio, Staab, Dahlien, Demelo, Flint, Patterson, Rose, Mace, Malonson

And, finally, # of US-eligible starters in their most recent match for KC, who ran away with the shield: 10. All of their field players.

 

And, I'm saying that prior to her arrival, this part "bringing in and trying to develop non-senior team players" was not possible, because of the CBA.

And this part "trying to have a staff that looks after the players all the way down so that if/when they are ready for the senior team, they can slot in" would have been pointless for any prior manager, because they only got (according to HAO) 26 call ups to use in a contract year. There was no sense in bringing in anyone to test them out, because there were no spots to play with. Prior managers didn't have the luxury of bringing in players before they were ready, so spending a lot of time monitoring players well before they were ready would have been a waste of resources.

Thank goodness that all changed with this CBA

 

Didn't see the match. I'll look at highlites tomorrow. But, I think she's pretty much cooked for the rest of the season. The team as a whole is not scoring, not creating much, and from what I can see, they've changed up the line-up. To me, they should have stuck with Big Sam instead of bringing in Strauss. Look at Fuller. She has a solid 6 goal contributions for the season, but almost nothing in the last 2 months. Other things could be contributing to Tiernan's production having fallen off a cliff. Could be she hit the rookie wall. Could be "second time through the line up" syndrome, there's tape on her now. If that's the case, she'll need to expand the variety in her game. I think she'll have a break out season next season. Really, this season should be considered a breakout season. She's second among US-eligibles in goals and goal contributions. But no one rates her at all. I was listening to the Boot on the Ground podcast and they were wondering who Emma would fill in for Biyendolo as a 9. The were baffled. Then, in order to close the topic, Tara said "Fishel?" I mean Fishel????? over Tiernan? You know that people basically think you suck if they are positing someone with (I'm not going to look it up) with basically no goals, no assists, no playing time, over you.

People will start to understand next season. And, if she plays like I think she can, and she's valued as poorly as she currently is, some European team will snap her up.

Peace

 

US-eligibles from the Sofascore TotW

-----------------------------------x
----x---------------------------Fuller------------------------Rodman
-------------Jackson-----------------Lobanta
---x-----------------x--------------------Shores-----------Milliet
------------------------------Naeher

Noce to see that Fuller showed out, the week that I posited that maybe she was burned out. Rodman continues to scorch. Jackson is a 3rd year pro at the age of 19, Fuller is a second year pro at the age of 18.

US-eligibles in Sofascore PoY rankings.
2. Flint
4. Bloomer
5. Thompson
6. Cooper
8. Moultrie
9. Howell
14. Lavell
15. Rodman
16. Coffey
18 Demelo
19. Rodriguez


Moultrie and Howell have climbed the ladder rapidly lately. In August, Moultrie ahd Howell were 14 and 16, respectively. Especially Howell. Lavell and Rodman, too. Izzy looking like she's a pencilled in starter on the NT. And, at this moment, I wouldn't mind seeing Howell called in over hutton.

 

US-eligible NWSL stat leaders
Goals:
10 - Sears (2nd yr)
8 - Tiernan (R),
6 - Alyssa, Adames (2nd yr, 19 y.o.), Hatch, Moultrie, Hatch, Cooper (2nd year)
5 - Hocking, Turner (2nd year),
4 - , Ascanio (17, 2nd yr), Tordin (R), LaBonta, Shaw, Ryan, Rodman, Flint, Dahlien (R), Shaw (20), Huff, Fuller (2nd yr)

Assists
League leader 6
6 - Rodriguez
5 - Schupansky (R), Mace, Gisele (2nd yr)
4 - Staab, Schlegel, Malanson, Coffey,
3 Kennedy Fuller (2nd yr), Gareis, G. Thompson, Coffey, Cooper, Malonson, Conti, Graham (rookie), Demelo, Peterson, Dahlien

Goal contributions:
11 Sears
9 Tiernan, Cooper
8 Alyssa,
7 Moultrie, Dahlien (R), Rodriguez, Fuller
6 Turner, Hocking, Schupansky, Conti, Fuller, Graham, Staab, Ryan, Rodman, Fisher, Giselle, Schlegel, Coffey, McCutcheon
5 Ascanio, Staab, Dahlien, Demelo, Flint, Patterson, Rose, Mace, Malonson

 

Good question. I'm don't get to watch Portland enough lately to conjecture. Much earlier in the season I said that it looked like she was playing a lot of good balls that were just barely not coming off, and conjectured that it was a familiarity thing - that the players were getting to know each other. However, that has continued. Maybe there's been flux in Portland's front 4-6, so that's still the case? To clarify, what I was seeing was that the passes weren't getting there, not that the players were whiffing on shots. Maybe defenses were/are playing her to pass, not to shoot - and that's why she's started getting goals? Hard to say.