After a thrilling playoff match last week, the result is poor finalists, NWSL will win the championship on Saturday between Washington Spirit and Chicago Red Stars, and it will end the toughest season in the youth league’s existence.
Over a month ago, National Women’s Soccer League underwent a so-called computation in which the tournament simply stopped. The backlash and emotional trauma has passed abuse from the coach – and system bugs that allowed that behavior to go unchecked – led players to cancel a weekend of gameplay. But in the end, football has to go on – to get the NWSL back on track, the games have to go on.
After a season in which the NWSL earned too little attention for its epic on-field production and more attention to issues that supporters have long tried to put aside in defense of the league. , Saturday’s championship is an opportunity to remind everyone why the NWSL is worth saving. through facing its problems and fixing them.
Consider the season-long story of the Spirit. Off the field, the club at the highest levels is a dysfunctional mess. Coach Richie Burke is accused of making abusive and racist comments towards players and when club owner Steve Baldwin received word that journalists were reviewing it, he claimed Burke had health problems and gave him an office job instead of firing him, which This has spurred NWSL stepped in and banned him.
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Meanwhile, an ugly power struggle took place between Baldwin, the majority owner, and Y. Michele Kang, a minority owner. The players who participated in the exam, ask Baldwin to sell the team to Kang, which has not yet yielded the desired results. Elsewhere, amid a breach of COVID-19 protocol, so many players in Washington tested positive – a handful of them were reported unvaccinated – that the club forced to drop a pair of games.
That’s certainly not how one would map out a championship season, but the Spirit players persevered thanks to their flair and desire on the pitch. Look no further than breakthrough (and NWSL rookie of the year winner) Trinity Rodman, who made good on his pre-season promise made a name for herself by adding more creativity to her game.
Ashley Hatch, a player was sitting on USWNTPeripheral for years, has enjoyed her breakout season, winning this year’s Golden Boot with 10 goals in 20 starts. Another player on the USWNT mix, Andi Sullivan, has reached a new level this year, as well as goalkeeper Aubrey Bledsoe. Up and down the formation, the Spirit players stepped up and made strides despite the chaos going on around them.
As Rodman said after the regular season: “Football is our outlet for everything. We are motivated more than anything. We want to win badly.”
In contrast, the Red Stars endured their own struggles to reach the finals, but of a more expected kind. For example, they face a heavyweight opponent, Portland Thorns, in the semifinals in Portland, and they had to do it without the quarterback Julie Ertz (injured), goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher (injured), forward Mallory Pugh (COVID-19) and while losing forward Kealia Watt before the half hour mark. However, they were the better team of the day.
This season, Morgan Gautrat (nee Brian) has rediscovered the form that landed her in the USWNT’s World Cup-winning squad years ago, and center back Sarah Gordon performed at the best of the XI, playing every minute this season and strengthening the Red Stars’ defence.
In theory, the Red Stars look to have the upper hand in this final matchup. Of the three meetings this year, the Red Stars have won two, the other a draw. The closest was in August, a 3-1 win for the Red Stars. But the Red Stars’ lingering question marks around Pugh and Watt, plus Spirit’s recent form, have created an unpredictable showdown. While the NWSL screenwriters could have opted for a different ending, there’s no obvious favorite here, which makes it all the more compelling.
Indeed, on-field production has never been an issue for NWSL, and this Saturday’s NWSL Championship has the potential to be a top-notch football performance – early start time though. The players in the league are some of the best in the world, and their ability to perform at the highest level despite poor circumstances is nothing short of impressive.
It begs the question: if the player can spend a lot of time and energy trying to solve problems in the field and still works fine, how much better would NWSL be if it cleaned up all its messes? It’s perhaps no coincidence that since Burke was ousted from Spirit, the team hasn’t lost a game (that aside) and they’ve played the best football of the year.
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Julie Foudy reacts to Lisa Baird’s resignation as NWSL commissioner following the latest allegations of abuse in the league.
Meanwhile, in Portland, the epicenter of the Paul Riley challenge, the players have struggled since revealing that Owner Merritt Paulson and general manager Gavin Wilkinson defended Riley’s career and chose to quietly handle the accusations against him. They drew 1-1-4 and fell in the semi-finals, a far cry from the 10-match unbeaten streak they enjoyed mid-season on their way to winning the NWSL Shield.
Indeed, through no fault of the players, there is reason to doubt the NWSL’s self-proclaimed status as the best women’s soccer league in the world. For example, the best league won’t let a trainer accused of predatory behavior still work. What’s even more encouraging is that Thorns – considered by many to be the NWSL’s top club – is at the center of the controversy.
The best tournament will not wait a few years before hiring a commissioner, Lisa Baird, only to see that commissioner resign in disgrace after a year and a half because she ignores player’s request to re-investigate Riley’s behavior. And the best league won’t schedule a championship match at 9 a.m. PT just to move it to a new location, on relatively short notice, after players complain. (Though the Louisville time slot, noon ET, remains.)
But that’s the story of the NWSL this season.
However, even if the league has resolved all its problems – a long and arduous process that will last well beyond the 2021 season – it needs star players and competitive games if it is to be considered. important as a leader for the “best league” once again. Thankfully for the NWSL, that’s exactly where the focus of Saturday’s NWSL Championship will be: on the players, who are always the best thing about the NWSL.
