Utah beat Crystal Palace 3-0: https://www.rsl.com/utahroyals/news...eak-with-3-0-friendly-win-over-crystal-palace
KC beat Atletico Madrid 1-0 to secure the first trophy in club history They previously beat Mamelodi Sundowns 3-0 in the semi-final
Uuuhhh seems like it was a good thing only the top six LMXF teams participated in the Summer Cup because LA just obliterated Juarez by 7-0
Yeah, just a friendly - the Summer Cup group stage ended a while ago, and LA already played their semifinal too.
Looks like an in-season friendly. Liga MX F is already on day 6 of the apertura, and Juarez just played a league match a couple days ago.
I mean, the entire Summer Cup was in-season for the six LMXF participants. But they also had full rosters while NWSL was OG-depleted
Gotham played without their 6 best players, and they played national team replacement players who had previously been waived and retired. Be real here. Gotham still outplayed them for stretches. Washington Spirit should have had 4 goals yesterday against Arsenal, despite playing without Kruger, Rodman, Bethune, and Hal Hershfeldt.
All true, but the WSL sides were also in preseason. The NWSL roster holes probably hurt more, but it wasn't super slanted to one side or the other. (And it does emphasize a bit of a lack of depth on the NWSL side - the Spirit, as you noted, really could have used the finishing experience of the first string attackers) Plus I didn't say WSL was *far* ahead - just ahead
You do not think that Gotham missing Williams, Dunn, Lavelle, Nighswonger, Davidson, and Sonnett would have changed the entire outcome of that game? Gotham still outshot Chelsea the first half despite the score being 3-1. Had Gotham not played their struggling back up keeper in the first half the score would have been different. Preseason is such a soft excuse. Chelsea was playing competitive games still in mid June.
The Chelsea team was also missing some of its starters, Chelsea played without Kerr, Ramirez, Fishel, Macario, Nusken, Orian Jean-Francois and this was their first week in training, with them the score would have perhaps been different, they could possibly have won by more? Not only that it was their first game under a completely new coach, despite your dismissal of pre-season (their last competitive game was 3 months ago!) its difficult to read anything in a 'friendly' result or to judge any team on pre-season games, pre-season friendlies are for experimentation. Pre-season is there precisely to get teams 'up to speed', its the same for men's teams.
I completely agree that you can’t read into friendlies when teams are playing mismatched lineups. My response was to an individual who declared the top of the WSL better than the NWSL based on these two games. Gotham was missing 7 starters (Berger only played 15 minutes at the end because it was her former club). Gothams losses were much more significant than Chelsea’s. I wonder if some of you watched these actual two friendlies, because if anything I left thinking that Chelsea and Arsenal got a reality check and humbled. These were both legit competitive games and Gotham played non-rostered invitees in this match.
Both teams in CHE-NJY were missing a similar amount of starters. I agree that NJY's misses hurt them more, but not because those were better than Chelsea's absentees - the top ends of both teams are similar. The issue is that NJY's remaining players weren't as good as Chelsea's remaining - and thus, overall, Chelsea is still the stronger team. (Similar to what I mentioned in my previous post, how the Spirit's second attacking line simply doesn't finish as well as the starters.) The results bear that out. Was it competitive? Absolutely. Was it a tougher match than Chelsea is used to? Of course. But that doesn't mean NJY was "actually" the better team? No, they weren't and aren't. Was Chelsea humbled? No. We can argue roster what-ifs to the end of the earth, but at the end of the day, the team is what they put on the field, and the only actual data that exists are the results themselves. And NWSL are, by my count, 1-1-4 against the top WSL teams, all of which on US soil (one 2016 friendly, three WICC matches, and the two friendlies this week). The top of WSL still has the edge over the top of NWSL. We can't say anything else until results prove otherwise. NWSL can easily handle non-top WSL teams, as evidenced by UTA beating Crystal Palace easily. But that's no surprise. It's well know that the American style of high-parity league design means that the worst of NWSL could fairly well hold their own in any other league. But the UEFA league model allows for the superclubs to exist, and they will always have an edge on the partiy-capped NWSL. That edge may not be big, but it exists, and soccer is a game of close margins.
I've watched the Chelsea game and they were the best team for most of the game (first 20 mins obviously and were in complete control the whole of the second half), your posts just smack of sour grapes! Fact is Chelsea won the game despite experimental line ups and playing for the first time since last season - and under a new coach to boot! Your 'what ifs' are just that 'what ifs' there is only one undeniable fact and that is the actual game (and result) itself. If my aunty's had b**** she'd be my uncle, that is more of a fact.
Your post smacks of bias. Since you are a Chelsea fan that makes sense. The first 6 minutes of the match Chelsea could not get out of their own defensive third. At halftime Gotham had outshot Chelsea. I did not check end of game stats. One of Chelsea's goals was a terrible unforced turnover by a Gotham defender in their own defensive third. And Gotham's back up GKer was poor. Fact is, Chelsea did not play an NWSL team with their actual roster. Nicole Baxter and Sabrina Flores even played in this match. They are not NWSL players. They started Mandy Freeman and the entire back four that started the game are not starters.
Couldn't get out their half?! They were THREE up in 20 minutes and the game was over! Lol they (unsurprisingly) lost a bit of momentum after the injury to Cuthbert but controlled the second half without breaking sweat (and with an experimental team!). Not only that let's remember that the team were playing for the first time in three months away from home! You lost and it could have been worse so 'man up' congratulate the better team on the day and move on!
San Diego with a fairly comfortable 2-0 win away to the UNCAF champions. Per Google, 14(6)-9(1) in shots (on goal) and 71%-29% possession.
They could not get out of their own defensive third the first six minutes of the game. Gotham had them pinned. Go back and watch the video. Our A team was sitting in the sky boxes admiring their gold medals, while your A team beat our B-C team. Your insecurities are showing. You come on here and make false comments about the game when it is on video for all to see. Go check the stats. Gotham outshot them 11 to 9 on the game. Had 4-2 corner advantage while Chelsea had a 51-49 possession advantage. The Gold medals were from the Olympics that England did not qualify for. Take a seat. You are playing bravado over a friendly that Gotham was signing players off the street to play. But go on and pump your chest while we admire our gold.
Lol, 'couldn't get out their half'?, 'outshot'? yet despite not getting out their half and despite not having any shots they somehow managed to be THREE up within the first 20 minutes!!! Your attempt to turn a 1-3 HOME defeat against a Chelsea experimental B team playing their FIRST match of the season for a completely new manager into some kind of 'moral' victory is in some ways admirable but also ultimately laughable! :-D As for the Olympics their not even a proper competition! Great Britain don't even enter a men's team!
I agree that Chelsea was the better team, but that starting lineup is anything but an B side You got 4-6 starting English NT’s, 2 starting Swede NT’s, and Culbert & Reiten, big names for their respective NT’s. Former Balon D’Or in Bronze/England NT’s most productive player In James/NT’s top GK in Hampton/NT’s/NT’s most capped CB in Bright/NT’s most promising future player in Beever-Jones, the Trinity Rodman of England!
Oh don't get me wrong they're all good players but they're not all first choice, and perhaps that's the point, no Chelsea ladies team is firing on all cylinders without Sam Kerr and Ramirez. At the end of the day we can all come out with suppositions, it's but's and maybe's but ultimately the best team on the day won the match, who knows what the result would have been if 100's of possible match circumstances were different.
You scored in the 7th and 15th minutes. The 7th minute was against the run of play. The 15th minute was an unforced error by the Gotham defender who passed it right to a wide open Chelsea player, who then scored in the massive gap. My point is proven by the game video. Go watch it. Chelsea did not play an experimental B line up. Even if they did, Gotham played players signed off the street. Playing in preseason means you are fresh, and have good energy. Playing for a new coach means you play extra hard to impress. Those are all Chelsea advantages. Gotham players wondering why they are out there playing a meaningless game mid season in the middle of a grind is hardly an advantage. The Olympics are clearly a proper competition. I don't care about men's Great Britain. They hardly define anything. Your women did not qualify. Why are you here boasting about a friendly? Seems insecure.