NWSL Week 2 Power Rankings
The Portland Thorns and San Diego Wave continue to be the class of the NWSL. Who went up in the power rankings after week 2 of NWSL games?
NWSL Power Rankings: Week 2
Portland Thorns - Four goals in two consecutive games to start the season and they have a +7 goal differential. Crystal Dunn has looked absolutely elite in midfield. Sophia Smith is on pace to win every award imaginable this season.
San Diego Wave - Three goals in two straight games. Jaedyn Shaw and Alex Morgan have been unstoppable, combining for five goals. Can this team score as much without a penalty kick every game?
OL Reign - Very unlucky not to have two wins to start their season. However, they dominated Gotham FC and found ways to score. If Jordyn Huitema can start finding the back of the net, this team is even scarier.
Washington Spirit (+1) - 4 points from two games is not bad, but they blew a 2-0 lead on the road in Louisville. Their frontline looks better than ever, but their backline needs more reinforcements.
Houston Dash (+2) - María Sánchez, Diana Ordóñez, and Ebony Salmon are elite as a frontline. This team is going to score lots of goals, but there are still questions at center back and midfield.
Kansas City Current (-2) - Congrats on the new attendance record. This team is still extremely shorthanded. Debinha returning is a good first step. However, can they find ways to get results until they get healthier? The international break comes at a perfect time for them.
Racing Louisville (+1) - This team has picked up two consecutive results. Abby Erceg is playing as good as any center back right now. She scored her first goal to start the comeback last weekend. Ary Borges scored a brilliant goal to get them level. They are so close — can they start racking up wins?
NJ/NY Gotham FC (-3) - On paper, this team looks stacked and should be dominating their opposition. But head coach Juan Carlos Amorós has not figured out how to use everyone properly. The loss at home to OL Reign needs to be a wake up call — they were outplayed in every aspect of the game.
Angel City FC - They got a much needed and fortunate win over Orlando Pride via Katie Johnson with a header at the end of stoppage time. She has been playing some of the best soccer of her career and now has a game-winning goal. Their midfield is going to make or break their season. That group was outplayed by Orlando. They need to get Ertz to Angel City ASAP!
One huge positive is it seems Head Coach Freya Coombe is building this attack around Alyssa Thompson. Is it time for them to go to Thompson for PKs?
Chicago Red Stars - This team has an elite backline, but they have questions everywhere else. Can Mallory Swanson and Yuki Nagasato carry the load every single game?
North Carolina Courage - A team in a rebuild that has looked good against solid opposition. They don’t have enough right now to compete or contend.
Orlando Pride - So much young talent and had a ton of chances to win at home against ACFC.
*Key: Teams with (+ or -) moved up or down from last week’s rankings
(Reposted because I accidentally posted in the wrong place)
A question about using substack: Is there a way to highlight new comments, ones that I haven't seen yet? New top-level comments will show up at the beginning (or end, depending on how they're sorted) so they're not a problem, but new replies to other people's comments will show up elsewhere and be hard to find without reading through every previous, existing comment. Reading through them all is fine for, say, 10 comments, but not for 100.
Today in International Friendlies...
Australia knocked off England 2-0, with goals from Kerr and Grant. The Lionesses outshot the Matildas 14-5 but came up empty.
France are leading Canada 2-1 late. Huitema scored.
Brazil defeated Germany 1-2. NWSL newcomer Ary Borges scored.
Sweden and Norway drew 3-3.