Yeah, game wasn’t bad, dominated by both teams what seems to be the current trend; high presses designed to force errors on opposing defenses & mids, and then the quick transition to take advantage of the turnovers. Since CRS looked exhausted after while, you got to think the Dash had their players better planned & conditioned for their press. Like you, I don’t watch that much broso, but seemed like that’s what was happening at the men’s 2018 WC, as the previous famed styles like Spain’s tiki taca & Jorgie’s total futebol concept were disasters/or gave way to the forced errors/then quick counters concept
Getting more fans and viewers is not going to be fixed by changing the rules of competition or not following FIFA laws. Not following them would make the NWSL look less than professional, and would be a way for potential male fans to dismiss the league as well (i.e. "these women can't even compete under the normal rules"). The problem is not that woso in the US, generally speaking, isn't exciting enough, or skilled enough, or whatever. (There were a couple snoozers in this tournament, but they also were the equivalent of preseason games.) It's more a question of marketing than the rules of competition.
Here are the 2020 draftees who played the most in the challenge cup. 1. Weaver (Por) -- 424 minutes (No. 2 draftee) 2. Sanchez (Was) -- 357 (No. 4) 3. Merrick (NC) -- 315 (No. 28! Impressive.) 4. Del Fava (UT) -- 297 (No. 12) 5. Jacobs (Was) -- 148 (No. 13) 6. Viens (SB) -- 137 (No. 5) 7. Morse (Chi) -- 101 (No. 19) 8. Bingham (Chi) -- 91 (No. 15) 9. Stevens (Chi) -- 90 (No. 24) 10. King (UT) -- 88 (No. 8)
this group doesn't inspire much confidence in the USWNT's future; Weaver couldn't really take the place of the missing Tobin Heath. Sanchez is entertaining with her fancy dribbling but coming down the left side, always seems to cut to the right, take an aimless 'cracker' of a shot, that usually wither bounces off a defender or goes way wide. now look in compariosn with the German sensation 18 year old named Klara Buhl, who scors the game winner vs England at Wembley last November; she cuts to the left, confusing the experienced ENG captain, Steph Houghton & the GK, with a perfectly aimed shot Klara Bühl - Der 2:1-Siegtreffer der DFB-Frauen gegen England - YouTube thankly the rookies are just from one class(2020) & at least our u20 suqad looked really good this time/or at least at Concacaf(this would be a smattering of sophs, freshman's & high schoolers) btw.........what ever happened to Taylor Kornieck of Colorado U(class of 2020) she's a mid that stands over 6ft/dominated play last season vs defending champs, Florida St
Let's not forget that the player who's very likely the most promising one of the bunch (and 1st pick of her class), Sofia Smith, is out injured: I've seen her play when I was in France for U-20 WWC 2018 and I am persuaded she's just a different class from most of her peers.
Let us not forget that on the play that put favorite Courage out of the tournament, Weaver beat Merrick and scored.
I thought there was a "the NWSL and racism" thread around here, but maybe I'm thinking of something in the USWNT forum or something... Hence just dropping it here in General News for now. Anyway, Real Salt Lake and Utah Royals owner Del Loy Hansen opened his mouth earlier this week with disdain for the RSL players deciding to strike a game in respect to all the shit going down in Kenosha, WI, saying he felt personally offended by the players, like they stabbed him in the back, and that he was questioning his commitment to running RSL because of it. That's bad enough, but in opening his mouth, it sounds like past/current players/staff notified the league of apparent past racist behavoir by the owner, which caused MLS and subsequently NWSL to open an investigation into DLH. https://www.rsl.com/post/2020/08/28/utah-soccer-statement https://equalizersoccer.com/2020/08...-dell-loy-hansen-after-allegations-of-racism/ Will be, uh, interesting to see how this all plays out. On a related note, there was an article in AllForXI the other days about how NWSL has fallen behind other leagues in supporting racial equality issues. This new development will be a big test of Baird & the league. https://www.allforxi.com/2020/8/27/21403983/nwsl-lags-far-behind-wnba-social-justice-efforts https://www.allforxi.com/2020/8/27/...n-racist-statements-must-leave-ownership-nwsl
Dell Loy Hansen is stepping away from day to day duties for a while "During the pendency of these investigations, and until further notice, Mr. Hansen will be taking a leave of absence from all RSL, URFC, and Monarchs operations. The existing Soccer Executive Group at Utah Soccer will assume all management of the organization." #mls— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) August 29, 2020
In my earlier comments in the other thread, I was more willing to give Hansen the benefit of the doubt for his comments on the podcast...heat of the moment and all that. But, I just read the Athletic article about Hansen's history, and if the investigation substantiates any of it, then I firmly hope that Hansen is out for good (while also hoping for another group to be ready to come in and buy the team). Good riddance. For those who don't have access to the Athletic, first, you should subscribe. But, to give the highlights of the article (or lowlights, I guess), he allegedly has used the n-word in front of other front office staff, has talked about lynching a black player, once asked a Black agent (while speaking English) "Is that how you speak African?", among other racist comments.
Hansen is starting the process of selling: Update on Dell Loy Hansen's involvement with @UtahRoyalsFC: pic.twitter.com/gF9TDEvmjO— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) August 30, 2020 I should also mention that I first saw this tweet with a response from JJ Watt saying he was interested.
Reports from EQZ and ESPN on the intent to sell: https://equalizersoccer.com/2020/08...ell-utah-royals-real-salt-lake-real-monarchs/ https://www.espn.com/soccer/real-sa...-loy-hansen-to-sell-real-salt-lakeutah-royals Per the ESPN article, both the owners of the Utah Jazz (NBA team) and the group headed by Jozy Altidore are in the mix for purchasing Utah Soccer Holdings.
When are they going to announce a schedule for this Fall Series? The supposed start of it is only six days away.
When they officially announced it on August 25, they said the schedule would be announced "in the next week." So, I'm expecting it to drop tomorrow, or possibly Tuesday. And there is an unofficial schedule out there (possibly waiting on venue confirmation or something to be official?): here's the unofficial @NWSL schedule grid for fall series. Ignore the mid-week matches; those aren't happening. Awaiting formal announcement. pic.twitter.com/K1DKdJW9uh— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) August 28, 2020 EDIT: X-posting unofficial schedule to Fall series thread.
More allegations on the employee culture in Utah, and while it's honestly surprising at this point, it's certainly not good either: https://www.rslsoapbox.com/2020/8/3...xic-sexist-discriminatory-employee-interviews
I am full of rage. I don't normally wish bad to anyone, but people like this Carroll guy would deserve the harshest retribution.
While we're on the RSL Soapbox, here are two more of their articles that are probably worth reading: https://www.rslsoapbox.com/2020/8/31/21408534/who-are-rsls-potential-suitors https://www.rslsoapbox.com/2020/8/3...may-be-sold-in-rsl-ownership-change-explained
And now Carroll is taking leave, too: Andy Carroll is taking a leave of absence as chief business officer of Utah Soccer (RSL, Royals, Monarchs) following this story from RSL Soapbox:https://t.co/jFKHeTRmP5Utah Soccer's statement: pic.twitter.com/P23jAIFGAF— Jeff Kassouf (@JeffKassouf) September 1, 2020 Hopefully it becomes permanent.
Speaking of teams being sold... It sounds like the Dynamo are on the verge or being sold and rebranded, as reported by the Athletic sometime yesterday. I haven't seen any chatter as to what this might mean for the Dash yet. I don't have an Athletic subscription, but for anyone who does, there might be more info in the article itself: https://theathletic.com/2055205/2020/09/09/ Honestly, the Dynamo's branding has nothing to do with their poor presence in Houston. The team used to have great attendance, five years in a row above 19k, but it's dwindled in recent years as management has become complacent and/or apathetic. Obviously the Dash have seen similar attendance issues. Brener leaving seems like a good idea in that sense but I would think keeping the branding would be more likely to get fans back than starting from scratch.
You probably haven't seen any chatter because in the article the only direct comment on the Dash is that it is unclear if and/or how the Dash would be involved in a sale.
Random but fun: NWSL is getting official trading cards! https://www.nwslsoccer.com/news/art...nounce-partnership-with-parkside-collectibles https://www.parksidecards.com/
I'm sad it's a Challenge Cup set and not a 2020 set for purely selfish reasons - namely, if as the name would indicate I won't get any royalties as I am not one of the two league/ISI photographers at the Challenge Cup (and most/all of the photos will be officially license through the league's agency). But hopefully it's a good sign for 2021. I better be on my "A" game tomorrow!
Significant enough news to X-post from the pbp thread: At the beginning of the Portland-Utah game, it was announced that Amy LePeilbet has been named Utah's interim head coach after Harrington and his assistant coach were placed on an administrative leave of absence. No news yet on why.