What have you heard about games coming up? On the Richie Burke show Tuesday, Burke said the Spirit were definitely planning on resuming training on August 17, per the league policy. He said they were trying to schedule home-and-home games with Sky Blue and also with NC Courage. He said the Courage were trying to put together a four team round robin at Wake Med Soccer Park, with games on a Sunday-Wednesday-Sunday kind of schedule. He said the Spirit were hoping to get in 8 games before the season end date in October (the 17th, I think).
Well, the Thorns have this week put me on the list to roll my season tickets over to next year and are giving me a little store credit, a mug, and some trinkets As an original member of the Thorns century link club. One would think that would have been the time to mention games this year. and our Governor is still banning sporting events with crowds through at least September and today announced Multnomah county (where Portland is) might go back to Phase 1. ( essential business only). I think no games. Maybe a closed door affair with The Reign, but they went to Utah on charter jet. I don’t see more of that.
9 teams, split up into three mini-tournaments/friendlies? Play each other 3 times for 6 more games throughout September? GROUP A: Portland, OL Reign, Utah GROUP B: Houston, Orlando, North Carolina GROUP C: SkyBlue, Washington, Chicago
Seems very unlikely based on what we've heard so far. I think it'll be exhibition friendlies and not necessarily in an organized "season" manner where every team gets the same number of matches/regional tournaments, but perhaps just based on which teams are able to get together. At this point, I would hope any matches would be without fans although I do think a couple of organizations might try to pull off a match or two with some fans in attendance. And because it fits in this thread, I'm going to go ahead and pull in my post from the News and Media thread:
Might be that POR+SEA are currently fairly isolated geographically from the rest of the league, so they might be calling it "done" while other teams are looking at friendlies with each other and such... At the very least, DC is within busing distance of NJ and NC, so that makes things easier for those particular situations. I kinda doubt any other friendlies are an option unless a team is willing to host other teams for an extended time (maybe like NC's mini-tournament).
The fact that NWSL players are busy finding another place to play outside USA seems to confirm the notion that there won't be any women's club soccer in the States for the reminder of 2020. Yuka Momiki signs for Linköpings FC in Sweden: Den japanska landslagsspelaren Yuka Momiki lånas in av @LinkopingsFC för resten av säsongen. Läs mer: https://t.co/f01KGkNFSd #OBOSDamallsvenskan pic.twitter.com/BTtNQtcrvz— OBOS Damallsvenskan (@_OBOSDamallsv) August 13, 2020
On a similar note: Nahomi Kawasumi is back to Japan to play in INAC Kobe Leonessa for the reminder of 2020 season (the translation from Japanese suggests that it's a loan): 🔴お知らせ🟡川澄奈穂美 選手期限付き移籍加入のお知らせこのたび、スカイ・ブルーFC(SKY BLUE FC＝アメリカNWSL)からMF #川澄奈穂美 選手が期限付き移籍加入することが決まりましたので、お知らせいたします。▼コメント・詳細情報▼https://t.co/di3NGF8xXu#INAC神戸 #INAC神戸レオネッサ pic.twitter.com/QK5VcUbrfP— INAC神戸レオネッサ公式 (@inac_kobe2001) August 15, 2020
NWSL plans for Sept-Oct appear to be coming together. Here's the latest proposal: Pod 1: Washington, Sky Blue, ChicagoPod 2: NC, Orlando, HoustonPod 3: Utah, Porland, OL Reign2-3 matchdays per market— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) August 16, 2020