Just last week so much noise about Staab and McKeown as CB's...both of who Soph had in her pocket, but especially McKeown. She was very much so McKe-owned by SS9.
McKeown has been brilliant all year, including against some reallly good players.....but Soph is a different beast altogether.
I listened to the Spirit podcast that Carlisle does this morning and they said the same thing- Debinha/Morgan/Williams etc are really, really good, MVP-caliber players, but they don't have that same top gear -- elite pace, power, and finishing -- that Smith does when she's on like she was Friday.
Worth adding McKeown is in process of becoming defensive back after starring as a super striker at USC, where she started four years and had a nearly perfect balance of 33 goals and 28 assists. And that's sharing the pitch with Hocking.
Kind of a crazy MarPar experience but I suppose she wasn't going to get much time starting with Rodman and Hatch on board, so we'll see how it goes.
Bet she wears longer cleats her next time at Providence.
Oh definitely- That’s why she’s been so impressive this year. Genius move by Parsons that confused a lot of people at the time and has certainly paid off- She’s locked down a number of excellent attackers 1v1. I was openly wondering who they’d play at CB when Sonnett was traded, and Parsons was like “watch this.”
But yeah...Going up against statement game Soph was very much a “welcome to the fire” moment for her.
She really has! Which makes it all the more satisfying that Soph made her (and Staab) look like rookies on defense lol. Parsons gambled and got it right....I think she'll be a good CB in the league.
You know, it's really strange that someone who donated $25K to Ron DeSantis in 2021(!) is heralded as the saviour of Women's soccer. I mean, I appreciate her investment, but I just don't quite trust that kind of money (or anyone who gives money to Ron DeSantis.)
I wonder if it's attempt to buy an audience, if not influence. Either Ron or somebody representing Ron has to reach out to his donors, and that can give Kang a chance to talk with him/talk sense into him. I don't think that's gonna work, but $25K means something different to me than it means to Kang too.
OTOH, as money starts flowing into the game there's a very good chance that it changes politically.
Also, there are progressive and regressive venture capitalists, but there are no non-capitalist venture capitalists.
Yeah she’s uber wealthy, and the uber wealthy are rarely good people. She can be one of the “good” ones in terms of woso investment and still be a soul sucking venture capitalist. All this really means is that she realized that there’s money to be made in women’s sports.
Would’ve hoped she wouldn’t be a DeSantis supporter, but not surprised.
BTW, Lance Armstrong -- the expert cheater and venture capital firm partner of prospective Thorns owner Mel Strong -- has waded in women's sports opinion-izing, including injecting himself (pun not entirely unintended) into the debate over whether transgender women should be allowed to compete in women’s sports.
Yes, Lance Armstrong wading into the trans fairness in sports discussion (especially given the specific *type* of cheating he did) is exactly what I needed this week.
I put the Courgettes #2 on my "Abuse of Power Rankings."
Most folks, including yours truly, picked the Courgettes (see what I did there?) to finish at or near the bottom of the table this year.
Instead, they're the hottest team in the league, having gone 5-1-2 since April 22 with a +10GD over that time. And they've played some legit competition in there too.
In regular season play, their best win is a home win over OL Reign. They have no other top half wins. This is a huge issue for me as they have dominated only against bottom half teams, but can't seem to pick up big wins over the top 6. NCC definitely a strong team and playoff contender.
See, I think you and I look at Power Rankings differently.
I view Power Rankings (1) fairly tongue in cheek in some ways and (2) according trends or major changes in results.
When the Thorns give us a howler, I'll drop them down a few, If they give us a couple of howlers in a month, I'll drop them to middle-of-the-pack even though I know they're better than that on paper and I don't expect them to stay there for the season. I moved them back to #1 after having them mid-table a few weeks ago.
When a team has been on a good run or a bad run, I'll move them up or down quite a bit based on that, even if I don't expect them to stay there.
I am under no delusion that KC, for example, are actually as dire as Chicago, but they've massively under-performed most of the season and so have deserved to be below Chicago until the No Stars's recent run of utter bed-crapping.
WBU? What's your philosophy of Power Rankings?
Remember: with Great Power Rankings Come Great Responsibility.
Yeah this is more how I view power rankings too- A “what have you done for me lately” with a sprinkle of past performance mixed in.
In other words, there's a difference between how I would rank how "good" the teams are overall and how they've played recently. The latter factors more into my power rankings.
For me, the rankings are all about "how do I FEEL about this team at the moment?". Which in turn is a combination, as you say, of recent form as well as season-long performance (or at the beginning of the season, expectation).
SD looks threatened with sophomore slump after that amazing season #1 run. I liken them to Spirit the year after their 'ship, except not yet as dire but stay tuned, they have shovels ready.
PTFC and NCC unquestionably in best form as the book closes on June. Reign perhaps regaining theirs.
I wonder if SD is slumping a bit because their World Cup players eased off ever so slightly to avoid injury. It didn't appear to happen here, but I can't help thinking that potential injuries must be in the minds of a lot of WC-bound players across the league. There's a lot of pride as well as a big payday for going to the WC, and it would really suck to miss out because of last-minute injury (looking at you, Ms. Sauerbrunn).
In the 4th minute, Menges cleared a ball from right in front of Hogan, who was ready to grab it. It looked like a case of bad keeper communication to me, with Hogan failing to yell "KEEP!" in time. Menges didn't know, and didn't have time to see, that there wasn't a Spirit attacker right on her back, and that close to goal she rightly wasn't taking any chances. Is that right? Did anyone hear anything on that play? It was in the south end.
I hope Menges didn't think so. That is, I hope she didn't mistrust her keeper so much that she would boot a ball out rather than let Hogan catch one she called for.
Goes back to the quote I posted in the other thread from FDChief’s recap on Riveting about the CBs potentially having some residual keeper mistrust from Bixby this year. More likely it was just a simple miscommunication, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the defenders want to avoid any potential keeper mistakes and take matters into their own hands.
I don't think Soccer Brain comes back super quickly after missing a competitive year. Not to say she's not a cerebral player, which Menges surely is, but the vision and reflexes have to all be firing in real time. Add a new keeper to the mix and I think there are some baked-in vulnerabilities.
One thing Vlatco said in his presser before the WC when asked about what made the young Alyssa Thompson such a valuable addition to the roster; he said she is unpredictable.
I hope Morgan Weaver makes it to the National team and she has definitely played well in the league four goals and three assists. She works hard on offense and defense; and she is fast; but there are probably not three players in the league faster than Thompson, if any; still Weaver is very fast. But is she unpredictable?
Are you able to provide any info on if they're "known names", or, if they're more unknowns? :)
Hopefully they get that across the line prior to our next home game (on Saturday!) since we have only 3 midfielders, who likely will have to go full 90's on Wednesday. Liv and Porter haven't been playing many minutes (if at all), so I can't imagine either are quite 90 mins fit.
Also also....Andressa Alvez just signed for Houston. Not sure what they're gonna do with all of those damn quality forwards, unless someone is planning on leaving...
To be fair, there are only nine players on the Finland squad at clubs outside Scandinavia and Kuikka is recognized by their federation as the best of the lot. The population of Finland is a little more than Phoenix, and it snows all the time there. It's amazing that they have ANY quality soccer players. The WWC may be permanently out of reach for them, having to qualify through UEFA.
Only Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland? What about that renowned football powerhouse, the Faroe Islands?! They've moved all the way up to #100 in the world!
(That's not bad, actually, when you consider that their population is less than Medford, Tigard, etc. Plus they outrank Indonesia, which has >5000 times the population.)
Yeah, even Portland woso media people lol. I've tried to clarify multiple times with Ryan Clarke because he kept posting things on twitter saying she was out also. At that point I was wondering if Finland had friendlies scheduled, but I don't think so....
Reyes is also a part of the Mexico Int'l team, but of course, Mexico (like Finland) is also not going.
They do (I think?) have friendlies on the 14th and 18th, but that conflicts with one CC game (SD on the 21st) at most. I suppose it's possible she could miss the game on the 9th, or at least be limited.
Beckie does a lot of commentary work...I wonder if she's doing any this world cup or if she'll be around th team more. Can't hurt to have both the Beckie(y)'s around the Thorns for their leadership during the WC period.
In-order:
T1: Portland, Seattle
T2: Washington, NCC
T3: SD, Gotham
T4: Louisville, ACFC, KC, Orlando
T5: Chicago
Bonus: Ommgg poor Tara :(
https://twitter.com/ThornsFC/status/1673787046668951552?s=20
Just last week so much noise about Staab and McKeown as CB's...both of who Soph had in her pocket, but especially McKeown. She was very much so McKe-owned by SS9.
McKeown has been brilliant all year, including against some reallly good players.....but Soph is a different beast altogether.
I listened to the Spirit podcast that Carlisle does this morning and they said the same thing- Debinha/Morgan/Williams etc are really, really good, MVP-caliber players, but they don't have that same top gear -- elite pace, power, and finishing -- that Smith does when she's on like she was Friday.
Worth adding McKeown is in process of becoming defensive back after starring as a super striker at USC, where she started four years and had a nearly perfect balance of 33 goals and 28 assists. And that's sharing the pitch with Hocking.
Kind of a crazy MarPar experience but I suppose she wasn't going to get much time starting with Rodman and Hatch on board, so we'll see how it goes.
Bet she wears longer cleats her next time at Providence.
Oh definitely- That’s why she’s been so impressive this year. Genius move by Parsons that confused a lot of people at the time and has certainly paid off- She’s locked down a number of excellent attackers 1v1. I was openly wondering who they’d play at CB when Sonnett was traded, and Parsons was like “watch this.”
But yeah...Going up against statement game Soph was very much a “welcome to the fire” moment for her.
She really has! Which makes it all the more satisfying that Soph made her (and Staab) look like rookies on defense lol. Parsons gambled and got it right....I think she'll be a good CB in the league.
Hopefully those ankles will heal up quickly!
Kang's Plan for World Domination:
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/37871183/michele-kang-interview-nwsl-lyon-ol-reign-future-plans
As ever, "Don't blame me. I voted for Kodos!"
You know, it's really strange that someone who donated $25K to Ron DeSantis in 2021(!) is heralded as the saviour of Women's soccer. I mean, I appreciate her investment, but I just don't quite trust that kind of money (or anyone who gives money to Ron DeSantis.)
I wonder if it's attempt to buy an audience, if not influence. Either Ron or somebody representing Ron has to reach out to his donors, and that can give Kang a chance to talk with him/talk sense into him. I don't think that's gonna work, but $25K means something different to me than it means to Kang too.
OTOH, as money starts flowing into the game there's a very good chance that it changes politically.
Also, there are progressive and regressive venture capitalists, but there are no non-capitalist venture capitalists.
Boy, is Meatball® going to be surprised to learn it really stands for National Woke Soccer League. And they have a team in HIS state!
Cage match vs. Marta. I'm in for a hundred.
Here I thought it stood for Nuthinbut Woke Sista Ladies
Or this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4XI_4IwZto
Yeah she’s uber wealthy, and the uber wealthy are rarely good people. She can be one of the “good” ones in terms of woso investment and still be a soul sucking venture capitalist. All this really means is that she realized that there’s money to be made in women’s sports.
Would’ve hoped she wouldn’t be a DeSantis supporter, but not surprised.
BTW, Lance Armstrong -- the expert cheater and venture capital firm partner of prospective Thorns owner Mel Strong -- has waded in women's sports opinion-izing, including injecting himself (pun not entirely unintended) into the debate over whether transgender women should be allowed to compete in women’s sports.
https://deadspin.com/notorious-cheater-lance-armstrong-has-some-thoughts-on-1850574831
Yes, Lance Armstrong wading into the trans fairness in sports discussion (especially given the specific *type* of cheating he did) is exactly what I needed this week.
Was there any doubt?
Narrator: there was never any doubt.
POTW Sophia Smith.
https://twitter.com/NWSL/status/1673810143950110722?cxt=HHwWhIC8uaXdyLouAAAA
I put the Courgettes #2 on my "Abuse of Power Rankings."
Most folks, including yours truly, picked the Courgettes (see what I did there?) to finish at or near the bottom of the table this year.
Instead, they're the hottest team in the league, having gone 5-1-2 since April 22 with a +10GD over that time. And they've played some legit competition in there too.
In regular season play, their best win is a home win over OL Reign. They have no other top half wins. This is a huge issue for me as they have dominated only against bottom half teams, but can't seem to pick up big wins over the top 6. NCC definitely a strong team and playoff contender.
See, I think you and I look at Power Rankings differently.
I view Power Rankings (1) fairly tongue in cheek in some ways and (2) according trends or major changes in results.
When the Thorns give us a howler, I'll drop them down a few, If they give us a couple of howlers in a month, I'll drop them to middle-of-the-pack even though I know they're better than that on paper and I don't expect them to stay there for the season. I moved them back to #1 after having them mid-table a few weeks ago.
When a team has been on a good run or a bad run, I'll move them up or down quite a bit based on that, even if I don't expect them to stay there.
I am under no delusion that KC, for example, are actually as dire as Chicago, but they've massively under-performed most of the season and so have deserved to be below Chicago until the No Stars's recent run of utter bed-crapping.
WBU? What's your philosophy of Power Rankings?
Remember: with Great Power Rankings Come Great Responsibility.
Yeah this is more how I view power rankings too- A “what have you done for me lately” with a sprinkle of past performance mixed in.
In other words, there's a difference between how I would rank how "good" the teams are overall and how they've played recently. The latter factors more into my power rankings.
For me, the rankings are all about "how do I FEEL about this team at the moment?". Which in turn is a combination, as you say, of recent form as well as season-long performance (or at the beginning of the season, expectation).
I will also say this for the Courgettes recent run of form....
Yes, it might not have been murderers' row, but it's a parity league and every team plays every team twice.
Over the past 8 matches (36% of the season), NC have gone 5-1-2 against 7 different teams (64% of the available opponents) with a +10 GD.
Thorns record against those same 7 teams? 6-1-2 with a +14 GD. Toss out the opener against Orlando, and it's 5-1-2 with a +10 GD.
Agree- They should def be ahead of SD at minimum.
SD looks threatened with sophomore slump after that amazing season #1 run. I liken them to Spirit the year after their 'ship, except not yet as dire but stay tuned, they have shovels ready.
PTFC and NCC unquestionably in best form as the book closes on June. Reign perhaps regaining theirs.
No WWC injuries, do you hear me soccer gods?!?
teams have figured out Stoney's bread and butter, basically.
Are you saying Stoney's bread has gone stale?
I wonder if SD is slumping a bit because their World Cup players eased off ever so slightly to avoid injury. It didn't appear to happen here, but I can't help thinking that potential injuries must be in the minds of a lot of WC-bound players across the league. There's a lot of pride as well as a big payday for going to the WC, and it would really suck to miss out because of last-minute injury (looking at you, Ms. Sauerbrunn).
IDK. They're underperforming, just based on the roster talent but maybe the opposition has unlocked the puzzle some, in year 2.
I see they collected Cheyenne Shorts, maybe we'll be seeing her on the field while her teammates are frolicking with kangaroos and such.
The way Stoney plays is high floor low ceiling. Very conservative without much room for expression. Think the exact inverse of the Thorns.
In the 4th minute, Menges cleared a ball from right in front of Hogan, who was ready to grab it. It looked like a case of bad keeper communication to me, with Hogan failing to yell "KEEP!" in time. Menges didn't know, and didn't have time to see, that there wasn't a Spirit attacker right on her back, and that close to goal she rightly wasn't taking any chances. Is that right? Did anyone hear anything on that play? It was in the south end.
Hard to tell after watching back. It's possible Hogan didn't shout for it, but just as possible Menges thought better safe than sorry.
I hope Menges didn't think so. That is, I hope she didn't mistrust her keeper so much that she would boot a ball out rather than let Hogan catch one she called for.
Goes back to the quote I posted in the other thread from FDChief’s recap on Riveting about the CBs potentially having some residual keeper mistrust from Bixby this year. More likely it was just a simple miscommunication, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the defenders want to avoid any potential keeper mistakes and take matters into their own hands.
I don't think Soccer Brain comes back super quickly after missing a competitive year. Not to say she's not a cerebral player, which Menges surely is, but the vision and reflexes have to all be firing in real time. Add a new keeper to the mix and I think there are some baked-in vulnerabilities.
One thing Vlatco said in his presser before the WC when asked about what made the young Alyssa Thompson such a valuable addition to the roster; he said she is unpredictable.
I hope Morgan Weaver makes it to the National team and she has definitely played well in the league four goals and three assists. She works hard on offense and defense; and she is fast; but there are probably not three players in the league faster than Thompson, if any; still Weaver is very fast. But is she unpredictable?
OLR and SD have announced NTRP's since yesterday, am I missing any other teams?
Thorns? Thorns? Bueller? Anyone?....
Updating because I've now seen Orlando and NC sign NTRP's. I've seen Phuoc mention on twitter that PTFC NTRP's are very close to being announced.
Almost done, Mike said it should be announced most likely in 3-5 days.
Are you able to provide any info on if they're "known names", or, if they're more unknowns? :)
Hopefully they get that across the line prior to our next home game (on Saturday!) since we have only 3 midfielders, who likely will have to go full 90's on Wednesday. Liv and Porter haven't been playing many minutes (if at all), so I can't imagine either are quite 90 mins fit.
Known Names v No Names. Step right up and place your bets!
I’d flip the Courage and the Ripple, but looks good otherwise.
I can't hear Ripple without thinking of SoCal's own Fred Sanford.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dTha7wTYxpg
https://youtu.be/ciR7Fq2tqJ0
https://sanfordandson.fandom.com/wiki/%22Ripple%22_wine
Speaking of Fred Sanford, Aunt Esther (González) is heading to the NWSL...
https://twitter.com/womenstransfer/status/1673742323996409856
Also also....Andressa Alvez just signed for Houston. Not sure what they're gonna do with all of those damn quality forwards, unless someone is planning on leaving...
Also read that Maintane Lopez is also headed here. Both rumored to Gotham, which, their HC is Spanish, so....
Guessing the first Dash question for any potential hire is, "So, is it hot where you live?"
Lol, has to. I'm surprised Daly stayed as long as she did honestly....esp after that one game where she just passed out on the field.
Okay, who is leaving for the WWC? Dunn, Smith, Sinc, Sugita, Rodriguez, Leon, Kuikka. Did I miss anyone? Beckie in spirit.
Kuikka isn't going anywhere! Finland didn't make the WC, unfortunately for Natu...
To be fair, there are only nine players on the Finland squad at clubs outside Scandinavia and Kuikka is recognized by their federation as the best of the lot. The population of Finland is a little more than Phoenix, and it snows all the time there. It's amazing that they have ANY quality soccer players. The WWC may be permanently out of reach for them, having to qualify through UEFA.
They should just bundle Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland as their answer to the UK and make a giant Nordic soccer juggernaut.
The Sverige Allen Wrenches would go their own, of course.
Only Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland? What about that renowned football powerhouse, the Faroe Islands?! They've moved all the way up to #100 in the world!
(That's not bad, actually, when you consider that their population is less than Medford, Tigard, etc. Plus they outrank Indonesia, which has >5000 times the population.)
Jeez. Shows you my WWC acumen. That is good...except that she has had kind of a rough year so far.
Not just you, tbf: I've seen/heard numerous in-the-know woso media members assume she's gone too.
Yeah, even Portland woso media people lol. I've tried to clarify multiple times with Ryan Clarke because he kept posting things on twitter saying she was out also. At that point I was wondering if Finland had friendlies scheduled, but I don't think so....
Reyes is also a part of the Mexico Int'l team, but of course, Mexico (like Finland) is also not going.
Hey, in my defense, I have the CC preview ready for tmrw and I listed each WWC participant :)
I promise I got it right!
Not you Phuoc! Lol. It was just Ryan, on multiple occasions! ::)
They do (I think?) have friendlies on the 14th and 18th, but that conflicts with one CC game (SD on the 21st) at most. I suppose it's possible she could miss the game on the 9th, or at least be limited.
Oh? That's interesting...last time I checked those scheduled games weren't there, but I do see them now!
You know, I realize I should have written, Becky and Beckie, in spirit.
Well, at least our super shaky backline is still in place. Hmm.
Beckie does a lot of commentary work...I wonder if she's doing any this world cup or if she'll be around th team more. Can't hurt to have both the Beckie(y)'s around the Thorns for their leadership during the WC period.
I just want Becky to coach the back line and get them straightened out!