NWSL vs the World (International games catch-all)

Orlando's A. Kerr scores on the other side of halftime to being the game equal

 

Pride-Rayadas going to a shootout after a 2-2 draw; Monterey would be eliminated if Orlando prevails in pks

Current up 3-0 over Pachuca at halftime

 

No goals in the second half for KCvPAC, while Pride prevail in PKs. Pachuca and Monterrey both eliminated.

Utah up over Portland in the first 5min! That inside-backheel almost looked like an accident X'-D

 

UTA now up 2-0 over POR with a fantastic strike from Ally Sentnor

BTW: with the points maximum in group E being 7pts, that means that 8 or 9pts guarantees you a semifinal spot. Teams who can still do that and thus fully control their own destiny: (A)SEA/POR** (B)LA (C)KC/UANL (D)WAS/NJY

 

I didn't watch SEA-TIJ since I was focused on NJY-WAS, but from the stats it seems like Tijuana has a counter-attacking specialist in Solorzano, who got a hat trick and earned 3 of Tijuana's 4 SoGs while Seattle otherwise absolutely dominated in possession, shots, SoG, and other stats.

I did turn on HOU-TIG early enough to see the Dash go up 1-0 in the second minute =-)

With SEA's loss, the winner of group A will have at most 6pts. Therefore, 7pts or more guarantees a semifinal spot. The teams that now control their own destiny: (B)LA (C)KC/UANL**/HOU** (D)NJY (E)LOU/NC

 

HOU-UANL was fairly even on balance, but UANL definitely controlled most of the first half, and the 2-1 score probably should've been reversed with some questionable offside decisions on both sides of the field. Still, another win for NWSL.

Updated look inter-league:
MD1 - NWSL 4-0-0 (12-3, +9) LMXF
MD2 - NWSL 2-1-3 (9-9, =0) LMXF
Total - NWSL 6-1-3 (21-12, +9) LMXF

 

Group-win scenarios for the Mexican teams:
(A) TIJ realistically need to win with the other game going to PKs - they have the worst GD in the group, so a tie on 6pts likely doesn't go their way unless they can absolutely blow out UTA, and a draw (even winning on PKs) dooms them
(B) AME need to win with SD winning the other game and have GD work out in their favor - a win by 2 would likely do just fine unless SD blow out LA
(C) TIG need to beat KC by at least 2 (tall order) and hope HOU doesn't blow out PAC (already eliminated)
(D) GUA need to beat NJY and hope WAS gets a worse result than they do
(E) MTY already eliminated

Here's the funny thing: even though most groups can be easily won by an American team with 7 or more points, with the maximum by any of the Mexican teams being 6pts, it's still mathematically possible that all group winners except E can be Mexican *and* the group E winner to only have 5pts, so an all-Mexican semifinal is still possible.

 

Circling back here just to report... 0-9 vs SoCal, 1-6 vs Tigres u19, 0-7 vs Thorns Academy.

They went 0-3 back in The Soccer Tournament as well, but it was a much more respectable -4 GD instead of the whopping -21 now against all these amateurs/youth.

 

NC easily handles Monterrey 3-0. 40min until Utah-Tijuana kicks off.

 

Tuned in late, TIJ already up 1-0 at the 10' mark.

 

Stentnor to Monaghan to even the score

Followed almost immediately by Utah's GK whiffing a kick and almost letting Tijuana take the lead again - but it shoots over the top

 

So it's the 40th minute now, and of the 30 I've watched, it's been almost entirely in Tijuana's half. Utah has 10 corner kicks so far. And no surprise - Tijuana's early goal was from Solorzano.

=edit=
And there you go, Utah scores a second - Betfort shooting through traffic from moderate distance

 

Sentnor with a bullet to make it 3-1 and Tijuana's keeper is *pissed* at her defense.

Portland is also up 1-0 at halftime over Seattle, putting Portland on top of the group, but Utah only needs one more goal to come even on GD and win on H2H

 

Second half had been largely the same as the first, though Tijuana had burned through most of their subs while Utah had only used one.

BYU product Mozingo adds a fourth to make this Utah's highest-scoring game all year and in control of group A.

 

Utah giving opportunities away worryingly frequently through these last 5min

And we get 5min of stoppage time added

 

Mozingo adds a second of her own at 90+5' to bring the score up to 5-1 and seal the group for Utah

Even with a win, Tijuana ends up with a -8 GD through their three group stage matches... Ouch

Even though NC has a point on Utah, NC has not clinched a semifinal spot because they can still be caught in their own group by Louisville, so we still don't know any semifinal participants

 

As much as I want to enjoy Houston-Pachuca, I feel like KC-UANL is going to be the better game... Shame they're playing at the same time.

Looks like ORL-LOU started late or otherwise got delaying since they're only about half an hour in (and still scoreless, which is good for NC)

 

KC, HOU, and ORL are all up 1-0 right now. Can't speak to the other matches, but KC-UANL is a good match with KC looking like they haven't needed to enter high gear yet.

=edit=
And fairly quickly, KC is up by 2 now. Again, it's not an obviously uneven match, but KC is still making it look easy, probably not gonna be a good night for Tigres...

 

Bad night for LMXF as Pachuca and Tigres are outscored 1-6 in total. KC easily wins group C on a full 9pts, while over in group B LA ends up with 8pts after winning a PKSO against SD.

It makes tonight's BayFC-America a pointless match, but Gotham-Guadalajara will determine not only the group D winner but whether they or Utah take the last semifinal spot.

Running down the possibilities for group winner:
-Gotham win the group with a win or a draw (regardless of PKSO outcome)
-Guadalajara win the group with a win

Running down the possibilities for last semifinal spot:
-Gotham advance with a win in regulation or in PKSO
-Utah advance with Guadalajara win in PKSO or a low-scoring win in regulation
-Guadalajara advance with a blowout win (by 6+, or by 5 with Gotham also scoring a few)