Arena Women's Football/Soccer - Official Discussion

ACFC released the names of their backers - um, holy crap. Joining Natalie Portman are:

Mia Hamm, Abby Wambach, Julie Foudy, Lauren Holiday, Serena Williams, Eva Longoria, Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Garner, Alexis Ohanian, Billie Jean King, Cobi Jones, Lindsay Vonn, PK Subban, Candace Parker, and James Corden. Some others I've never heard of, but I'm sure are wonderful.

Unreal to have that kind of power behind an NWSL club. League is about to skyrocket, I think.

 

netherlands:



first time we've seen the dutch since the world cup final. should be a really good one - lynn williams with a huge opportunity to flex the class she shows in nwsl on a much larger stage.

morgan available from the bench. she has one or two appearances for spurs thusfar, so could potentially be a late sub.

 

i hate to see SLC losing their team. as weird (and occasionally awful) as the state of utah itself is, royals had a loyal fanbase.

with o'hara being dealt yesterday, most of their core is gone. KC is a great soccer town, hopefully are patient with a rebuilding team for a year or two.

 

ugh. nwsl named her to the best xi for 2019, as well, and she barely played outside of the world cup.

nothing but respect for megan and what she's done for the game - give her every career accomplishment trophy you can think of - but there are lot of lesser known, more deserving players would gain a lot from this sort of recognition.

 

spurs has announced that alex morgan's loan will end on january 1st, and she'll return to the united states (presumably to prepare for an upcoming nwsl season).

my guess is that press/heath/lavelle/mewis stay on for the remainder of the campaign with united and city. spurs is having a very poor season, with no real shot at the wsl title - not much upside for morgan to stay in london, especially with a newborn.

 

her second move in two years, wow. youre right, though - lots of talent there. if she links up well with ohai and rachel hill, red stars will be right back near the top of the league.

 

portland's signed crystal dunn away from NC, and extended horan. dahlkemper will be leaving NC for manchester city on a 2-year deal.

courage offloading their big contracts, must have been hit especially hard by the pandemic.

 

incredibly bold move in the draft tonight by kansas city. gave sky blue 175K(!) in allocation money to move into the first round and take kiki pickett, two-time national champion at stanford - she'll be a great replacement for kelley o'hara (potentially on both kc and the uswnt some day), but is playing her spring season at stanford. may not see much of her this year, and of course there's always the risk of injury.

louisville is drafting well, taking players who will contribute immediately and have credibility from top college programs. spirit selected dennis rodman's daughter, trinity, #2 overall - has starred for the u-20s, but goes pro having not played a minute for washington state.

 

i had no idea kristie was older than sam. i hope she gets some more opportunities after this. great game tonight, indeed.

 

Didn't get a chance to watch last night - read that Lloyd started, which I found weird. Hopefully can catch a rerun over the weekend, next game is Sunday afternoon. Weird to not have England in the tournament this year, first time in its history iirc. Understandable, of course.

 

the intyheels special today. goal for press, goal for rapinoe, and a win. as dominant as ive seen this team since pre-covid, when cp was in her top form.

argentina hanging with canada, bit unexpected.

 

chelsea women are through to the last four in the champions league. fran kirby and sam kerr are as dangerous a pairing up front as any in the world.

 

second nwsl challenge cup begins on friday - last year's tournament was played in a bubble at the royals' old stadium, this year will be full travel to home/away sites of all ten teams. regular season starts right after that.

most of the games will be streamed on paramount+, but cbsn will run the tournament opener and a few key matchups, and cbs will televise the final.

lots of the top uswnt and international talent are still playing in europe and will not feature in 2021, and there's a fifa window that overlaps the first few weeks, but if their teams can make it deep into the tournament, chance that alex morgan and some others can play in the knockout stages.

 

sky blue has rebranded, immediately, to (ny/nj) gotham fc



slick logo. they're loaded with young talent - if the funding and mls partnership works out, they'll soon be contenders every year. carli lloyd transitioning from player to manager would be the last piece of the puzzle, i think.