PBP: Week 15 P/I/P

90' 1-1 Erceg bumps Fishlock aloft, rotating her into a faceplant from jumping height. No call

 

So the Reign miss a chance to clinch a home playoff spot, (thank you CHI for slowing them down, even just a bit!!!), but WAS and CHI now can no longer pass them in the standings, leaving POR and KC as the only teams that can possibly win the Shield.

And, of course, NWSL will finally recognize that the Reign have clinched a playoff spot, even if we already determined that on Thursday.

 

Went back to the Press goal, and it was hard to understand how she was so wide open for that pass. I think that could of been Winters who should of back marked Press but still a bad turn over by Barnes. Well there may be hope for some teams when the play offs arrive. Seattle haven't looked as sharp as I would of thought they should be.

 

It seems strange to harp on a team that rarely gives up more than one goal. But the Reign need to find a way to keep a clean sheet when needed.

 

Should have had a 6 team play-off. The 1st and 2nd place teams get a bye in the first round. Also, the league would have been smart to have had the Championship game in Portland, even if Portland didn't make it in. As far as it being a home field advantage for Portland, I think it is a disadvantage. Other teams just get pumped up playing in front of such a large crowd.

 

I think they should have the championship in Portland every year. Simply put its the best football atmosphere for the NWSL and they should market it. Once teams figure out a way to bring a big investor in to help build some stadiums, things can change but right now I think Portland has to be the cornerstone of the league and the championship match should be hosted there every year.

 

....you guys are disgusting me right now.
Do you realize how much that would turn off fans from just about everywhere else in the country, where the support is actually needed?

 

Don't get disgusted so easily!

But, even as a Portlander, I agree it should not be in Portland as a pre-determined matter. It should be where the host team has earned it.

On the other hand, I think it's fair to say to other cities, "Come on, you need to do better and, in a good number of cases, a lot better."

 

I did not see the previous SB game (the first she played in ), but we were very impressed with Nadim this evening, exceeded my modest expectations for her. I asked a SB official how did the team got her, and the answer was they just email her asking for her interest in playing here (I don't know if he was serious).

 

That'd be ridiculous. Why not just let all teams in the playoffs at that point...

 

And the reason it took so long for SkyBlue to get a scorer was they emailed players in alphabetical order

 

They shouldnt have playoffs at all...just a winner for the season and a Coup de Gulati match at the end

 

Portland-Boston great match for tv...speed of play in the first half was amazing.

SkyBlue-Washington Great game for Nadeem & O'Hara. Washington totally different with Dunn and Matheson out there. Washington may look back on getting 1 point this week if they dont make it.

Seattle-Chicago Worried about Reign's inability to take a game by the throat. Once again moving Johnston into the midfield energized Chicago...take note Jill Ellis. Awful mistake by Barnes.

 

the size of the league is very small. The small amount of teams almost make the whole season like the playoffs. I think for the playoffs they do, it's only like semi final stage and one championship game right?

 

When the league expands to 12+ teams, then yes the playoffs should be 6 teams.

#1 and #2 teams (from the table, or the two division winners if there are two divisions) = Bye in first round.
#3 vs. #6 team in one wildcard playoff match
#4 vs. #5 team in the other wildcard playoff match

Winner of the #4 vs. #5 match plays the #1 team in the Semifinal.
Winner of the #3 vs. #6 match plays the #2 team in the Semifinal.

And so on.

 

Wrong. No team lower than #4 earned the right to play for the championship.

 

Ok since we are apparently misinterpreting the heck out of each other I'm going to not so gracefully bow out. I'm sure we will be picking this debate up again on the KC forum.

 

It was so great to see Press score last night!

 

It's very funny reading this the next day.

 

POTW? I realize it's probably going to go to one of the Thorns, but my pick is O'Hara. She was involved in every one of SkyBlue's goals yesterday, scoring 2 and assisting on the other 2.

 

With only the third hat/trick in NWSL history I'm pretty sure Sinclair will win it.

 

4th hat trick- Leroux, Reeves, and Lloyd each have one as well.

 

You do realize that 10 teams in MLS make the playoffs (which is about half of the entire teams).
I don't think 6 out of 12 in NWSL is unrealistic. In fact, it should be preferred, to correlate with the ratio in MLS.