NWSL starts off July with a round of games starting today. With some of the top players gone this month at their tournaments, who do we see take advantage and step up this month?
Oh, wow, NWSL often scoffs at international break, doesn't it? Apart from internationals, I suppose USWNT's players also aren't back to their teams yet after the Colombia matches? Or will they play today?
USWNT players are all in Monterrey, Mexico getting ready for the CONCACAF W Championship that starts in a few days. The Colombia matches were just the prep, and the team flew directly from the last Colombia game to Mexico.
Thanks: so basically it's actually the USWNT members who are missing from this round: I guess most of the internationals from other countries already came back instead. Or at least I've seen that Jun Endo and Hina Sugita from Japan were regular starters in yesterday's Angel City FC vs Portland Thorns.
Actually, the Thorns were missing their Canadians (Sinclair and Beckie), their Finn (Kuikka), and their Costa Rican (Rodriguez), who were not back yet from international duty. (Rodriguez and the Canadians, like the US players, will continue to be gone for CONCACAF World Cup qualifying.) And, Angel City was missing two players not yet back. Other teams likewise were missing non-US players, for example the Reign were missing their Canadians. You can use this link to see the NWSL player availability report, which gets updated sort of regularly. (This year, they have done a not very good job of keeping it up to date.)
At least two Mexicans will be missed from the rosters during the Concacaf qualifiers: Sanchez of Houston and Ordonez of OL. I'm anxious to see how the two of them play against the U.S. Especially Ordonez, who is 20 years old and a NWSL rookie. With her hair slicked-back in a bun she looks like a flamenco dancer or a bull fighter -- and she's 5 feet 11 inches tall. Great target for Sanchez's left footed-crosses if they're both on the field at the same time.