Any thoughts on the virtually-invisible ending of the “Summer Cup” (KC 2-nil over a depleted Gotham in front of a handful of spectators in San Antonio (?!?))?
Sounds like the LMXF clubs felt pretty disrespected.
Is it worth trying again?
Purely personally I went to all the games here and came away thinking it was good for a laugh but no more.
If the objective is to get more minutes for bench players without burning out the starters, I can envision several possibilities:
1. Loan out bench players to USL clubs for 8-12 week stints. No extra games outside the regular season (except maybe the odd club friendlies).
2. Create a US Open Cup. NWSL B teams can play the Cup ties against lower division clubs. Perhaps the NSWL clubs would deploy regular starters as subs toward the end. The Cup should be regionalized and the non-NWSL side should host at least to the final 8. This cuts travel cost/fatigue for everyone and avoids stadium conflicts for NWSL.
3. Create a Champions League qualification tourney for the next tier of clubs in Mexico, USA, Canada that don't qualify under the current quotas. Winner, or both finalists, get a CL invite. Maybe let clubs opt out if the travel or congestion will be too much for them.
4. Expand the preseason, perhaps with league-sanctioned friendlies. Play half or more of these outside the home markets. Somewhat like MLB spring training.
5. Run the Summer Cup in a more equitable fashion, have its final a week after the semis, perhaps set a minutes limit for eligibility (any player with n+ minutes played in the prior 12 months cannot participate).
Personally, I like option 2. But I am just some schmo who's never organized anything bigger than a barbeque; there are probably lots of other ways this cat could be skinned.
Kassouf (IIRC) has a piece up at espn, but basically the LMX clubs felt they were forced to do more traveling and were in their Apertura playing league games while the NWSL clubs had the bulk of the cup period off. The group exit was largely blamed on that.
The travel was definitely harder on the LMX clubs, no question. I'm not sure if they went back-and-forth or if they stayed in the States for extended duration(s). But not being able to play ANY home games, except for one between Tigres and someone else (Rayadas?) at the very beginning of group play, is not fair to the LMX clubs.
Blaming the failure to advance on the travel is very dumb (though it's equally dumb that all the games were in the states), but everything else is a valid argument. It was, ultimately, a tournament designed to provide NWSL teams with games that didn't count in the league while the Olympians were gone, so I understand why the Mexican sides felt like guests instead of partners.
It was fitting that the final also came during an international break- I thought it was dumb that they were going to have all the games except the final be played without key players.
Might be killing two problems with one stone to dump the Summer Cup and re-work the Challenge Cup to be a home-and-away 2 game contest between the NWSL and LMX shield winner/champs. For the NWSL summer international breaks, the mini-tourneys with visiting European clubs were more fun to watch anyway.
Yeah she will be missed. What a career! I loved how she put the 2012 Olympics in perspective, they lost to the US, but they made all of Canada proud and I think more than a few Americans wanted them to win, at least here in Portland.
No Smith anywhere? Sure she missed a bunch of games, but she's still third on the scoring chart and third in assists too (and you have Bethune for ROTY even though she's missed even more games than Smith). She's very close to Rodman for me, though Rodman's a better defender so maybe that edges Smith out. But I'd certainly have Smith at least on the second XI, and Swanson would beat Stevens or Kundananji (who wasn't very good early on) there too.
Is Sams going to become Girma's centerback partner for the nats? She looked awfully good the other day. OTOH that was only against Iceland, whose attack was pretty feeble (though I'd take Jonsdottír in a heartbeat). Hopefully in a month we'll see how Sams does against England and the Netherlands.
Yeah, I actually didn't realize Soph had played 1500 minutes this season- Seems like so much less. I'd have no problem flipping her for Stevens or Kundananji on the 2nd XI- She definitely has the statistical argument even if most of her production came before the Olympics. Wouldn't argue about Swanson over Stevens either, but I wanted to reward Stevens for how crucial she's been for Gotham kinda out of nowhere.
And yes, on Sams. She's very, very good so long as she can avoid any more serious knee injuries.
Another argument for Smith besides her contributions to a goal 17 is the Thorns wins with her and without her.
And yes a big Yes on Bethune for ROTY. There are a lot worthy second place finishers but Sentnor and Hershfelt seemed to be the top. I hope Marie Müller gets on the best XI.
Any list that omits Girma entirely when she is a top 3 candidate for best-in-the-world can't be taken seriously. Proof these idiots don't watch this league or know anything about the players here....
"Along with other stars, you created the most famous women's club in the United States, the Angel City FC..." Holy shit, what.
I _kinda_ get the Spanish/Barca dominance, given that the award is about the recent(ish) past, not the present. But as with most "world" awards in this game, the B d'O reeks of Eurocentrism. A lot of that is inherited from BroSo, where there's more justification, at least at the club level (*laughs in CONMEBOL*), but only since WWC23 and the following year, where Spain was the second-best (heh heh...) team in the tournament and Barca were so good in UWCL, was Europe returning to the dominant position in WoSo, a spot they hadn't been in for a couple decades or more.
Spain is still super-strong, but their reign at the top is, imo, over. The US back on form at the Olympics and ManCity smashing Barca in the CL group stage are a couple examples. The latter, and City's form in general (winning big or gutting out all three points when they're not at their best), mean that if next year's rankings for players like Bunny Shaw, Yui Hasegawa (26th? FFS...), and Lauren Hemp bett4er be a LOT higher. Will that be the case? I have no great faith.
I also hold out at least SOME hope that Girma will get proper recognition eventually. With Rodri winning on the men's side, it shows that defensive players CAN win these things (obligatory nod to Eisbehr's win all those years ago)..
Also, in this particular case, the Ballon d'Or is *quite literally* a euro-centric award......as in it was created in France and is still voted on by mostly European journalists.
But as I've said elsewhere.....this year's shortlist is relatively not at all euro-centric (albeit probably because of the Olympic impact more than respect for other leagues) and outside of the Girma thing, I'm a little confused about why everyone's so mad. There are four NWSL players in the top 15 and five in the top 20. The only other non-Girma NWSL player that you can argue really deserves a spot is Chawinga, but she not only doesn't have an international record (through no fault of her own), but has only been playing in a real league for six months and this is a 12 month award. We can quibble about the order and how some of the WSL players could/should be higher, but I'm not going to be the one who argues about the Barca respect given how objectively awesome all six of them are and how much shit Barca won in 2023-24. Like, who besides Girma is being scammed here?
Lindsey Horan has said many times the best player she has ever played with is Wendy Renard and I can see that. Right now I think Girma is the best CB in the world. It makes me crazy that defenders get so little attention unless they are scorers (well Renard was a pretty reliable scorer too). I am glad to see Emma Hayes getting Naomi into the attack more, she has a complete package of skills.
On the topic of great players Horan has played with; one of my favorite moments at PP was when the Horan lead Thorns beat Lyon. In around the 80 minute of a 0 to 0 tie Horan passed to Westphal who looped a pass over Renard and Morgan Weaver exploded by her chested it down and from a nearly impossible angle near the end line slammed it past the goalie Endler and just pass the sliding attempt by Henry to keep it out of the goal. The crowd exploded. That was a great Lyon team. Marjeri was fantastic in the first half putting on dribbling clinic. But the Thorns won.
The ridiculous thing is that Tarciane is on this list, so it's not like they omitted them entirely. Girma is just world's better then Tarciane....whose individual errors often give up fouls/penalties or stupid goals for Houston. I feel like it's been 3 or 4 this season! I can't remember if she's done the same for Brazil (for whom this award is mostly given for), but she still doesn't make a top 25 at all, imo, even if she has been less error prone for Brazil.
She wouldn't be on this list if not for her performances for Brazil, but I'll push back a little on the criticisms of Tarciane's Houston play- I think she's been really, really good. Definitely makes the occasional dumb error that pops up on the highlight tapes--both because she's only 21 and because her team sucks ass -- but she's incredibly smooth on the ball and recovers faster than any non-Girma CB in the league. Still a little raw, but as someone who re-watched five Houston games this weekend (don't ask why), she really pops.
I'm not saying she's not a good player, but I don't think she's a top-25 in the world player. She's very young and def has the potential to be in that conversation maybe in the future, just not quite yet. I've seen some great games from her for Houston, but I also often see at least one really rough error from her each game. I generally watch most NWSL games in a season, so just my opinion based on that. For Brazil, I'm sure a better defense helps....I certainly haven't watched every Brazil game last year and don't remember their WC run very well. But the argument wasn't that she wasn't a good player, it was that she should be included in a list of top-25 in the world, and no def not...(esp silly when you neglect an actually worthy player who plays her position.)
I don't necessarily disagree with any of that, but also.....if you gave me the ability to pluck any non-Girma CB in the league for the Thorns, it would probably be her. When you combine the fact that she was one of the best players -- as a 21 year old CB no less-- on a Brazil team that made an Olympic final with the dearth of elite CBs around the world in general, I understand why she's there.....especially given the weight the voters give to international competition.
Her inclusion as an NWSL CB does make the Girma omission even more stark, however.
This award is a complete farce. Apparently the voters watch the UEFA women’s champions league and the Olympics and stop there. This year‘s list is actually an improvement over past years, but that bar is below ground.
Time for a USA group to create their own award with written standards. Maybe MVP of a league, and best defensive player of a league.
Yep, it happens every time. The world watches European soccer because (1) the best men's soccer is there, so people assume, consciously or unconsciously, that this is true of women's soccer too; (2) the worldwide soccer media ecosystem is well-developed for European teams and players, so they get most of the coverage; and I recently realized (3) time zones: NWSL games, and most USWNT games, are usually played in the middle of the night in Europe and Africa, so no one there can really watch them live.
And because the world watches European soccer and consumes media about European teams, players there are going to win these popularity contests much more easily than they will here or anywhere else. Amen to the suggestion that we create our own awards. Actually we used to have one - the ESPY Award for best NWSL player - but it seems to have been discontinued, presumably because no one paid it any attention.
Who --aside from Girma-- in the NWSL clearly deserves a spot on this list that isn't there? Are we arguing that Aitana Bonmati and Caroline Graham Hansen aren't deserving of being ranked ahead of the NWSLers?
I only watch highlights so maybe I'm missing something, but CGH has never looked like a top-3-in-the-world player. Sure she's good, very good, but not THAT good. Bonmatí yes.
As for NWSLers, Temwa Chawinga and Naomi Girma are the obvious absences. It's completely absurd that they're not even in the top 25. And that Barbra Banda is #12. Also you have things like Sam Kerr's ranking - she won the Golden Boot *in two leagues in the same year*, TWICE, and yet she didn't crack the top 3 on the shortlist until she went to Chelsea, when suddenly the judges were like, "Hey, she's really good!". Sam Mewis got ignored for years until she went to Man City, when she suddenly appeared on the shortlist.
US players in general get ignored unless we win a world championship. Like, last year there were ZERO players from the US in the top 20 (Sophia Smith was highest at #25 (!)), and this year there are FIVE of them, four in the top ten. Which am I supposed to believe: that all five suddenly became that much better players in the same year, or that the judges basically ignore the US and NWSL unless the USWNT wins a title and they're forced to pay attention?
In general I totally agree that the Balon d'Or lists are pretty bad and that the NWSL players tend to get ignored outside of when they have good international tournaments.....but my point is that they did *not* get ignored this season so the complaining about this particular list --again, aside from the Girma snub-- is a little odd. Not only are they ranked, but they're highly ranked. Chawinga should be on the list on talent alone, but this is an August-August award with a heavy international emphasis so it's perfectly understandable that she's not on here given she only has 6 months of league play.
Well good. Neither Smith nor Coffey played for the USWNT against Argentina. They were both suited up, though, which may mean they don't come home until tomorrow and don't get in a Thorns training before Friday's game.
No Alyssa Thompson either so she'll be equally fresh for ACFC.
Oh good. I'd heard she had said in the past she would try to respect club schedules, but I didn't know she had gotten specific about Friday's games. Good to hear it.
Gonna be a little contrarian here, but outside of the absolutely horrific Girma omission, it's a quite good list of finalists all things considered.....even if the NWSLers are only on there because of the Olympics. Keep in mind that the Balon d'Or typically puts weight international performance heavier than club performance which explains some of the weirder ones.
My biggest complaints:
- Girma, obviously, though there's only two other CBs on the list at all and they finished 22nd and 23rd.
- Horan finishing ahead of every American but Smith, but she's still been really good for Lyon so I kinda get it.
- I don't think GKs should be on the list unless they're dominant, so Naeher being a finalist, let alone finishing 17th, is ridiculous.
- Bunny Shaw and Mayra Ramirez should both be top 15.
- Lucy Bronze should be nowhere near the top 25. Not sure why Hegerberg is on that list either.
Bronze is on there because Brits somehow think she's one of the top players in the world. I see it in their press all the time, and people must be buying it. She was that years ago, but I haven't seen anything like it in any recent time.
I've never really bothered paying much attention to these sorts of "beauty contest" awards. The jury seems to be skewed towards UEFA and international exposure. But...good for Smith? I'll bet she'd happily trade her fourth place in this thing for a piece of NWSL championship cash her Thorns squad looks unlikely to share.
I found the compare-and-contrast re coverage between woso and women's cycling to be interesting, And Heath's keen observations on crossover with other sports made this more than a typical fluff piece, IMO.
(Sorry, Tobin-detractors... hopefully you can just ignore this post.)
I’m a big cycling fan, and I’d love to hear Heath on the subject but it’s paywalled.
FWIW I’d argue that the women’s side is getting more respect. There was an actual TdF Feminin this year after years of neglect (too short - 8 days opposed to 21 - but revived). The sport is like soccer; the men still get the press and the big $$. But it IS changing!
Even more off topic, but the final stage of the Tour de France Femmes on Alpe d'Huez this year was one of the craziest sporting events I've ever watched in my life. A lot of cool stuff happening in women's cycling.
Hmmm, just realized that Emma Hayes's Women's Johan Cruyff Trophy (the "coaching Ballon d'Or") was almost solely for her work at Chelsea. The time period considered for the trophy ended on July 31, so it included only group-stage games at the Olympics and not any knockout-round games. (The group stage included a 4-1 victory over Germany - impressive, but it's only one game.)
Hayes could well win it again next year, though by then the Olympic victory will be over a year old and recency bias will make it less impressive in voters' minds. Oh what am I saying - the women's Euros are next summer, and since the world watches European soccer and not North American soccer, some European coach will undoubtedly win. Hayes could win every USWNT game by 4 goals and it wouldn't matter.
Any thoughts on the virtually-invisible ending of the “Summer Cup” (KC 2-nil over a depleted Gotham in front of a handful of spectators in San Antonio (?!?))?
Sounds like the LMXF clubs felt pretty disrespected.
Is it worth trying again?
Purely personally I went to all the games here and came away thinking it was good for a laugh but no more.
Having no-count games in the middle of league play, risking injury and fatigue, is really stupid.
If the objective is to get more minutes for bench players without burning out the starters, I can envision several possibilities:
1. Loan out bench players to USL clubs for 8-12 week stints. No extra games outside the regular season (except maybe the odd club friendlies).
2. Create a US Open Cup. NWSL B teams can play the Cup ties against lower division clubs. Perhaps the NSWL clubs would deploy regular starters as subs toward the end. The Cup should be regionalized and the non-NWSL side should host at least to the final 8. This cuts travel cost/fatigue for everyone and avoids stadium conflicts for NWSL.
3. Create a Champions League qualification tourney for the next tier of clubs in Mexico, USA, Canada that don't qualify under the current quotas. Winner, or both finalists, get a CL invite. Maybe let clubs opt out if the travel or congestion will be too much for them.
4. Expand the preseason, perhaps with league-sanctioned friendlies. Play half or more of these outside the home markets. Somewhat like MLB spring training.
5. Run the Summer Cup in a more equitable fashion, have its final a week after the semis, perhaps set a minutes limit for eligibility (any player with n+ minutes played in the prior 12 months cannot participate).
Personally, I like option 2. But I am just some schmo who's never organized anything bigger than a barbeque; there are probably lots of other ways this cat could be skinned.
What was the gripe from LMX? They didn’t make the finals…
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/42045175/does-nwsl-x-liga-mx-femenil-summer-cup-future
Kassouf (IIRC) has a piece up at espn, but basically the LMX clubs felt they were forced to do more traveling and were in their Apertura playing league games while the NWSL clubs had the bulk of the cup period off. The group exit was largely blamed on that.
The travel was definitely harder on the LMX clubs, no question. I'm not sure if they went back-and-forth or if they stayed in the States for extended duration(s). But not being able to play ANY home games, except for one between Tigres and someone else (Rayadas?) at the very beginning of group play, is not fair to the LMX clubs.
According to Kassouf, the LMX teams had to go back for league games between the cup games.
Blaming the failure to advance on the travel is very dumb (though it's equally dumb that all the games were in the states), but everything else is a valid argument. It was, ultimately, a tournament designed to provide NWSL teams with games that didn't count in the league while the Olympians were gone, so I understand why the Mexican sides felt like guests instead of partners.
It was fitting that the final also came during an international break- I thought it was dumb that they were going to have all the games except the final be played without key players.
Might be killing two problems with one stone to dump the Summer Cup and re-work the Challenge Cup to be a home-and-away 2 game contest between the NWSL and LMX shield winner/champs. For the NWSL summer international breaks, the mini-tourneys with visiting European clubs were more fun to watch anyway.
Sinc's final presser....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCZ8d8A7fi0
Yeah she will be missed. What a career! I loved how she put the 2012 Olympics in perspective, they lost to the US, but they made all of Canada proud and I think more than a few Americans wanted them to win, at least here in Portland.
How to say goodbye to a legend?
Start with a 12-minute standing ovation.
End with a resounding home win.
Courtesy of ABell: Mark Parsons got on a plane yesterday…
Yeah prob coming here for Sinc's final game, if I were a bettin' gal.
Respect.
I'm at Midway and just watched a pack of Amish board a flight. Giddyup!
But they're headed to Pittsburgh
NWSL Award Ballot Time!
MVP: 1. Chawinga 2. Banda 3. Rodman
COTY: 1. Hines (big gap) 2. Nahas 3. Vlatko
ROTY: 1. Bethune 2. Sentnor 3. Hershfelt
DOTY: 1. Sams 2. Girma 3. R. Williams
GKOTY: 1. Haught 2. Berger 3. Campbell
Best XI (4-3-3): Haught, R. Williams, Sams, Girma, Müller, Hutton, Angelina, Debinha, Chawinga, Banda, Rodman
Second XI (4-3-3): Berger, Krueger, McKeown, Kurtz, Abello, Flint, O'Sullivan, A. Sanchez, Sarr, Stevens, Smith
No Smith anywhere? Sure she missed a bunch of games, but she's still third on the scoring chart and third in assists too (and you have Bethune for ROTY even though she's missed even more games than Smith). She's very close to Rodman for me, though Rodman's a better defender so maybe that edges Smith out. But I'd certainly have Smith at least on the second XI, and Swanson would beat Stevens or Kundananji (who wasn't very good early on) there too.
Is Sams going to become Girma's centerback partner for the nats? She looked awfully good the other day. OTOH that was only against Iceland, whose attack was pretty feeble (though I'd take Jonsdottír in a heartbeat). Hopefully in a month we'll see how Sams does against England and the Netherlands.
Yeah, I actually didn't realize Soph had played 1500 minutes this season- Seems like so much less. I'd have no problem flipping her for Stevens or Kundananji on the 2nd XI- She definitely has the statistical argument even if most of her production came before the Olympics. Wouldn't argue about Swanson over Stevens either, but I wanted to reward Stevens for how crucial she's been for Gotham kinda out of nowhere.
And yes, on Sams. She's very, very good so long as she can avoid any more serious knee injuries.
Another argument for Smith besides her contributions to a goal 17 is the Thorns wins with her and without her.
And yes a big Yes on Bethune for ROTY. There are a lot worthy second place finishers but Sentnor and Hershfelt seemed to be the top. I hope Marie Müller gets on the best XI.
Alright, y'all convinced me. Adios Kundananji!
Extending my congratulations to Soph, the best soccer player in the world who doesn't play for Barcelona.
Any list that omits Girma entirely when she is a top 3 candidate for best-in-the-world can't be taken seriously. Proof these idiots don't watch this league or know anything about the players here....
"Along with other stars, you created the most famous women's club in the United States, the Angel City FC..." Holy shit, what.
https://x.com/ballondor/status/1851009623878160677
I _kinda_ get the Spanish/Barca dominance, given that the award is about the recent(ish) past, not the present. But as with most "world" awards in this game, the B d'O reeks of Eurocentrism. A lot of that is inherited from BroSo, where there's more justification, at least at the club level (*laughs in CONMEBOL*), but only since WWC23 and the following year, where Spain was the second-best (heh heh...) team in the tournament and Barca were so good in UWCL, was Europe returning to the dominant position in WoSo, a spot they hadn't been in for a couple decades or more.
Spain is still super-strong, but their reign at the top is, imo, over. The US back on form at the Olympics and ManCity smashing Barca in the CL group stage are a couple examples. The latter, and City's form in general (winning big or gutting out all three points when they're not at their best), mean that if next year's rankings for players like Bunny Shaw, Yui Hasegawa (26th? FFS...), and Lauren Hemp bett4er be a LOT higher. Will that be the case? I have no great faith.
I also hold out at least SOME hope that Girma will get proper recognition eventually. With Rodri winning on the men's side, it shows that defensive players CAN win these things (obligatory nod to Eisbehr's win all those years ago)..
Also, in this particular case, the Ballon d'Or is *quite literally* a euro-centric award......as in it was created in France and is still voted on by mostly European journalists.
But as I've said elsewhere.....this year's shortlist is relatively not at all euro-centric (albeit probably because of the Olympic impact more than respect for other leagues) and outside of the Girma thing, I'm a little confused about why everyone's so mad. There are four NWSL players in the top 15 and five in the top 20. The only other non-Girma NWSL player that you can argue really deserves a spot is Chawinga, but she not only doesn't have an international record (through no fault of her own), but has only been playing in a real league for six months and this is a 12 month award. We can quibble about the order and how some of the WSL players could/should be higher, but I'm not going to be the one who argues about the Barca respect given how objectively awesome all six of them are and how much shit Barca won in 2023-24. Like, who besides Girma is being scammed here?
But the Ballon d'Or claims to cover the whole world. If they just restricted it to Europe it would be no problem.
Lindsey Horan has said many times the best player she has ever played with is Wendy Renard and I can see that. Right now I think Girma is the best CB in the world. It makes me crazy that defenders get so little attention unless they are scorers (well Renard was a pretty reliable scorer too). I am glad to see Emma Hayes getting Naomi into the attack more, she has a complete package of skills.
Given the long list of great players Lindsey has played with at PSG, Portland, Lyon, and the Nats, that's pretty high praise.
On the topic of great players Horan has played with; one of my favorite moments at PP was when the Horan lead Thorns beat Lyon. In around the 80 minute of a 0 to 0 tie Horan passed to Westphal who looped a pass over Renard and Morgan Weaver exploded by her chested it down and from a nearly impossible angle near the end line slammed it past the goalie Endler and just pass the sliding attempt by Henry to keep it out of the goal. The crowd exploded. That was a great Lyon team. Marjeri was fantastic in the first half putting on dribbling clinic. But the Thorns won.
The ridiculous thing is that Tarciane is on this list, so it's not like they omitted them entirely. Girma is just world's better then Tarciane....whose individual errors often give up fouls/penalties or stupid goals for Houston. I feel like it's been 3 or 4 this season! I can't remember if she's done the same for Brazil (for whom this award is mostly given for), but she still doesn't make a top 25 at all, imo, even if she has been less error prone for Brazil.
She wouldn't be on this list if not for her performances for Brazil, but I'll push back a little on the criticisms of Tarciane's Houston play- I think she's been really, really good. Definitely makes the occasional dumb error that pops up on the highlight tapes--both because she's only 21 and because her team sucks ass -- but she's incredibly smooth on the ball and recovers faster than any non-Girma CB in the league. Still a little raw, but as someone who re-watched five Houston games this weekend (don't ask why), she really pops.
I'm not saying she's not a good player, but I don't think she's a top-25 in the world player. She's very young and def has the potential to be in that conversation maybe in the future, just not quite yet. I've seen some great games from her for Houston, but I also often see at least one really rough error from her each game. I generally watch most NWSL games in a season, so just my opinion based on that. For Brazil, I'm sure a better defense helps....I certainly haven't watched every Brazil game last year and don't remember their WC run very well. But the argument wasn't that she wasn't a good player, it was that she should be included in a list of top-25 in the world, and no def not...(esp silly when you neglect an actually worthy player who plays her position.)
I don't necessarily disagree with any of that, but also.....if you gave me the ability to pluck any non-Girma CB in the league for the Thorns, it would probably be her. When you combine the fact that she was one of the best players -- as a 21 year old CB no less-- on a Brazil team that made an Olympic final with the dearth of elite CBs around the world in general, I understand why she's there.....especially given the weight the voters give to international competition.
Her inclusion as an NWSL CB does make the Girma omission even more stark, however.
Most valuable club in the world, by every metric except success
This award is a complete farce. Apparently the voters watch the UEFA women’s champions league and the Olympics and stop there. This year‘s list is actually an improvement over past years, but that bar is below ground.
Time for a USA group to create their own award with written standards. Maybe MVP of a league, and best defensive player of a league.
Naomi Girma should be top 3.
Yep, it happens every time. The world watches European soccer because (1) the best men's soccer is there, so people assume, consciously or unconsciously, that this is true of women's soccer too; (2) the worldwide soccer media ecosystem is well-developed for European teams and players, so they get most of the coverage; and I recently realized (3) time zones: NWSL games, and most USWNT games, are usually played in the middle of the night in Europe and Africa, so no one there can really watch them live.
And because the world watches European soccer and consumes media about European teams, players there are going to win these popularity contests much more easily than they will here or anywhere else. Amen to the suggestion that we create our own awards. Actually we used to have one - the ESPY Award for best NWSL player - but it seems to have been discontinued, presumably because no one paid it any attention.
Who --aside from Girma-- in the NWSL clearly deserves a spot on this list that isn't there? Are we arguing that Aitana Bonmati and Caroline Graham Hansen aren't deserving of being ranked ahead of the NWSLers?
I only watch highlights so maybe I'm missing something, but CGH has never looked like a top-3-in-the-world player. Sure she's good, very good, but not THAT good. Bonmatí yes.
As for NWSLers, Temwa Chawinga and Naomi Girma are the obvious absences. It's completely absurd that they're not even in the top 25. And that Barbra Banda is #12. Also you have things like Sam Kerr's ranking - she won the Golden Boot *in two leagues in the same year*, TWICE, and yet she didn't crack the top 3 on the shortlist until she went to Chelsea, when suddenly the judges were like, "Hey, she's really good!". Sam Mewis got ignored for years until she went to Man City, when she suddenly appeared on the shortlist.
US players in general get ignored unless we win a world championship. Like, last year there were ZERO players from the US in the top 20 (Sophia Smith was highest at #25 (!)), and this year there are FIVE of them, four in the top ten. Which am I supposed to believe: that all five suddenly became that much better players in the same year, or that the judges basically ignore the US and NWSL unless the USWNT wins a title and they're forced to pay attention?
Ohhh hard disagree on Graham Hansen. She's pretty much the best pure winger in world. This is the most insane fbref page I've ever seen: https://fbref.com/en/players/e891b7ae/Caroline-Graham-Hansen
In general I totally agree that the Balon d'Or lists are pretty bad and that the NWSL players tend to get ignored outside of when they have good international tournaments.....but my point is that they did *not* get ignored this season so the complaining about this particular list --again, aside from the Girma snub-- is a little odd. Not only are they ranked, but they're highly ranked. Chawinga should be on the list on talent alone, but this is an August-August award with a heavy international emphasis so it's perfectly understandable that she's not on here given she only has 6 months of league play.
Okay maybe I just haven't seen enough of CGH, and am watching her with a more critical eye because of all the hype.
I get it if most of what you've seen of her is for those underwhelming Norway teams lol
Girma was MVP of the Olympics, IMHO.
Well good. Neither Smith nor Coffey played for the USWNT against Argentina. They were both suited up, though, which may mean they don't come home until tomorrow and don't get in a Thorns training before Friday's game.
No Alyssa Thompson either so she'll be equally fresh for ACFC.
Hayes is smart and good at her job and said no players with games on Friday would play tonight.
Oh good. I'd heard she had said in the past she would try to respect club schedules, but I didn't know she had gotten specific about Friday's games. Good to hear it.
Girma making the snubbers look stupid.
Gonna be a little contrarian here, but outside of the absolutely horrific Girma omission, it's a quite good list of finalists all things considered.....even if the NWSLers are only on there because of the Olympics. Keep in mind that the Balon d'Or typically puts weight international performance heavier than club performance which explains some of the weirder ones.
My biggest complaints:
- Girma, obviously, though there's only two other CBs on the list at all and they finished 22nd and 23rd.
- Horan finishing ahead of every American but Smith, but she's still been really good for Lyon so I kinda get it.
- I don't think GKs should be on the list unless they're dominant, so Naeher being a finalist, let alone finishing 17th, is ridiculous.
- Bunny Shaw and Mayra Ramirez should both be top 15.
- Lucy Bronze should be nowhere near the top 25. Not sure why Hegerberg is on that list either.
Bronze is on there because Brits somehow think she's one of the top players in the world. I see it in their press all the time, and people must be buying it. She was that years ago, but I haven't seen anything like it in any recent time.
I've never really bothered paying much attention to these sorts of "beauty contest" awards. The jury seems to be skewed towards UEFA and international exposure. But...good for Smith? I'll bet she'd happily trade her fourth place in this thing for a piece of NWSL championship cash her Thorns squad looks unlikely to share.
The US is out of the U-17 Women's World Cup. North Korea beat us 1-0 and will play in the final. The other semifinal, Spain v England, is tomorrow.
It's Spain of course.
Just brutal for Utah:
"Utah Royals FC announce forward Cloé Lacasse has been placed on the SEI list and will miss a portion of the 2025 #NWSL season.
Lacasse ruptured her ACL and sprained her MCL and has undergone a successful surgery"
Crap, that's the full Magilla. Heartbroken for her.
Off Topic: For the few remaining Tobin fans in the building, this was a fun read. A mix of two things I really enjoy! : https://escapecollective.com/tobin-heath-x-cycling/
I found the compare-and-contrast re coverage between woso and women's cycling to be interesting, And Heath's keen observations on crossover with other sports made this more than a typical fluff piece, IMO.
(Sorry, Tobin-detractors... hopefully you can just ignore this post.)
Where are these Tobin-detractors you speak of? I'll beat them up!
I’m a big cycling fan, and I’d love to hear Heath on the subject but it’s paywalled.
FWIW I’d argue that the women’s side is getting more respect. There was an actual TdF Feminin this year after years of neglect (too short - 8 days opposed to 21 - but revived). The sport is like soccer; the men still get the press and the big $$. But it IS changing!
Even more off topic, but the final stage of the Tour de France Femmes on Alpe d'Huez this year was one of the craziest sporting events I've ever watched in my life. A lot of cool stuff happening in women's cycling.
Hmmm, just realized that Emma Hayes's Women's Johan Cruyff Trophy (the "coaching Ballon d'Or") was almost solely for her work at Chelsea. The time period considered for the trophy ended on July 31, so it included only group-stage games at the Olympics and not any knockout-round games. (The group stage included a 4-1 victory over Germany - impressive, but it's only one game.)
Hayes could well win it again next year, though by then the Olympic victory will be over a year old and recency bias will make it less impressive in voters' minds. Oh what am I saying - the women's Euros are next summer, and since the world watches European soccer and not North American soccer, some European coach will undoubtedly win. Hayes could win every USWNT game by 4 goals and it wouldn't matter.