Women's General Football Discussion

Yes, Emma Hayes to #USWNT.

With @David_Ornstein at @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/lTHzkOTCYB Emma Hayes to leave Chelsea at end of season; set to take USWNT job

— Meg Linehan (@itsmeglinehan) November 4, 2023

Seismic news here. Hayes is one of the best coaches in the women's game. Probably the one coach that could realistically bring the US forward after that disappointing WC.

Eugenie Le Sommer with some magic for Lyon.

NWSL Playoff semi-finals were great.

Gotham FC, led by USWNT legend Ali Krieger will meet OL Reign, also led by a USWNT Legend in Megan Rapinoe in the Championship game after beating Portland and San Diego respectively. This is the final game for both of their careers as both are retiring after this season. Really high stakes stuff and we're guaranteed a new champion that isn't Portland. Gonna have to go with Gotham on this one. They have more players that I like.

A banger from Katie Stengel (on loan from Liverpool) and a happy accidental worldie from Veronica Latsko were enough for both team to advance.

Wild game between England-Netherlands today for Olympic qualifying, which is brain-numbingly confusing. Basically, they had to win this one or they'd go out. Now their fate rests out of their hands of Scotland, who need to lose in order for Team GB to make it. Just crazy stuff.

So you're saying there's a chance...?

England pull off a miraculous three goal comeback to keep their hopes of qualifying for the 2024 Olympics alive. pic.twitter.com/0vL7J7LpP7

— Attacking Third (@AttackingThird) December 1, 2023

Italy took out newly minted World Champions Spain 3-2 as well. That's a huge upset. Spain hadn't lost a game since the group stage of the World Cup.

Italy stages an incredible second-half comeback to defeat World Champions Spain 3-2!#UWNL pic.twitter.com/0ei3MKfv5m

— ata football (@atafball) December 1, 2023

Good game between Arsenal and Chelsea today. Chelsea won 3-1, with Lauren James scoring a brace.

I personally don't think Jonas Eidevall is a good enough coach to do any better with Arsenal than he's currently doing. They need to upgrade their coach or they will never truly be in the title conversation with Chelsea and City.

Also, today is the opening day for the NWSL.

There's now 14 teams in the league:

Angel City (Representing LA)



San Diego Wave



Bay FC (Represents the Bay Area of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose)



Utah Royals



Seattle Reign



Portland Thorns



Houston Dash



Kansas City Current



Chicago Red Stars



Racing Louisville



Gotham FC (Represents New York City and New Jersey)



North Carolina Courage



Orlando Pride



Gotham are the defending champions, having won their first title after starting last season as the worst club in the league.

San Diego are the Supporters' Shield Winners, having amassed the most points from the regular season table. This is only their 3rd season as a club.

Bay FC and Utah are the 2 newest clubs.

Tonight's match is the UKG Challenge Cup which is essentially the NWSL's version of a European Supercup. The League champion plays the Supporters' Shield winner.

That match will feature Gotham vs San Diego, who are both loaded with lots of USWNT talent. Gotham has Crystal Dunn, Midge Purce, Lynn Williams, Emily Sonnett, Rose Lavelle, and Tierna Davidson. San Diego has Naomi Girma, Alex Morgan, Jaedyn Shaw and Abby Dahlkemper.

Game will be on Amazon Prime. Kick off is in about 15 minutes. Should be a good one.

So San Diego won this game 1-0 off this header from Alex Morgan:

In the 88th minute @alexmorgan13 DELIVERS and @sandiegowavefc leads!

Don't miss the finish >> @PrimeVideo pic.twitter.com/VJji3Yrjbg

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) March 16, 2024

Textbook header from Morgan, who can score those in her sleep. Great delivery from recent transfer Savannah McCaskill, who will probably be among Morgan's primary providers this season. Pretty poor marking from Gotham on that one.

Today, here's the lineup for Matchday 1:

Kansas City Current v Portland Thorns (ESPN+ and ABC here in the US) - Starting now

Racing Louisville v Orlando Pride (NWSL + App) - 4 PM ET

North Carolina Courage v Houston Dash (NWSL + App) - 7 PM ET

Utah Royals v Chicago Red Stars (ION via Tubi or Plex) - 7:30 PM ET

Results from Matchday 1:

Kansas City Current 5-4 Portland Thorns

Racing Louisville 2-2 Orlando Pride

North Carolina Courage 5-1 Houston Dash

Utah Royals 0-2 Chicago Red Stars

Seattle Reign 1-0 Washington Spirit

Angel City 0-1 Bay FC

Don't think the league could've asked for a better opening matchday. A great advert for the women's game and it showcased just why this league is the most competitive in the world.

Matchday 2:

Orlando Pride 1-1 Angel City

All I have to say on this one is leaving Marta, one of the GOATs, unmarked anywhere near the box is an absolute choice. Her goal was unsurprisingly stunning.

Utah Royals 2-1 North Carolina Courage

#1 College Draft Pick Ally Sentnor (from University of North Carolina ironically) lived up to her billing in this one. Scored a bonafide banger. NCC just didn't look at sharp, but Ashley Sanchez, their best creative player at the moment, getting a goal is pretty encouraging.

Chicago Red Stars 2-1 Seattle Reign

Chicago are my team in this league so seeing them win their 2nd game to start the season for the first time in their history has been a treat. And this is with their best player, Mal Swanson, yet to score a goal. I will say though that leaving Ji So-Yun, one of the most dangerous finishers from outside the box in the game, unmarked was a foregone conclusion to what happened next.

Washington Spirit 2-1 Bay FC

Exciting win for the Spirit and their rising rookie star Croix Bethune, who I think will get a USWNT call up at some point this year. That kid is a baller. Fellow rookie Hal Hershfelt hit a howitzer into the top left corner in this one too. As for Bay, Asisat Oshoala has been involved in both of their goals so far this season. Has proven to be as advertised: Very tough to keep up with.

Houston Dash vs. Racing Louisville FC 0-0]Houston Dash 0-0 Racing Louisville

The scoreline is misleading. This was a wild game that really should've seen Racing score at least 3 times, but were denied by USWNT's 3rd choice keeper and last year's Keeper of the Year Jane Campbell standing on her head. Racing's rookie forward Reilyn Turner is another one that I expect to get a NT call up at some point this year. She looks and plays like someone that's been doing this for 10 years.

San Diego Wave 1-2 Kansas City Current

Reigning Shield Winners and Challenge Cup holders San Diego came into their first regular season game confident, but were quickly put under foot by a KC side that is big, physical and play with lots of aggression. The forward duo of Brazil's Bia Zaneratto and Malawi striker Temwa Chawinga is terrifying and San Diego experienced that first hand.

Portland Thorns 0-1 Gotham FC

Portland are winless in their first 2 games for the first time in their history. They have been the juggernauts of this league for a very long time, but a new ownership change and roster changes have depleted them noticeably. Reigning champions Gotham were just as depleted, but really got the football god's favor by scoring almost immediately after being saved by VAR on what was arguably the best goal scored all weekend from Sophia Smith. This was balanced out by Gotham losing their star forward Midge Purce to what eventually was announced to be a torn ACL. She's out for the rest of this season and likely a large chunk of next season. Unfortunate as she's one of my favorite players in the league.

NWSL Matchday 3 Fixtures

Orlando Pride v Chicago Red Stars

San Diego Wave v Seattle Reign

Kansas City Current v Angel City

North Carolina Courage v Gotham FC

Portland Thorns v Racing Louisville

Bay FC v Houston Dash

Washington Spirit v Utah Royals

Women's Champions League Quarterfinal Recap:

First Leg

Brann 1-2 Barcelona

Caroline Graham Hansen did virtually whatever she wanted against Brann in this one. Scored and assisted with Salma Paraluello getting Barca's second.

Hacken 1-2 PSG

I really liked Hacken in this comp, but they changed up their tactics and PSG punished them for it.

Ajax 0-3 Chelsea

Ajax have arguably been the Cinderella side in this comp given this is their first season in the UWCL and managed survive their group, which included last season's Cinderella club, Roma. They were completely outclassed in this one though as Lauren James ran all over them. Was great to see Cat Macario get an assist here as well, continuing good form post-ACL injury.

Benfica 1-2 Lyon

Really brave performance from Benfica at home to such a juggernaut of a team in this comp. They matched Lyon step for step for the majority of the match, but just couldn't maintain that all the way to the end.

Second Leg

Barcelona 3-1 Brann (5-2 aggregate)

Not much to really say about this one other than Barca was Barca here. Aitana Bonmati was everywhere and her ghost runs caused all sorts of problems for Brann.

PSG 3-0 Hacken (5-1 aggregate)

Hacken stuck to their weird tactical shift and PSG again punished them for it. Tabitha Chawinga particularly stood out.

Chelsea 1-1 Ajax (4-1 aggregate)

Better performance from Ajax, but Chelsea also looked pretty flat too, which isn't surprising as they did the needed work in the fist leg.

Lyon 4-1 Benfica (6-2 Aggregate)

Lyon proved too much for Benfica at home in this one. The worst thing about this for Benfica is Lyon never got out of 2nd gear and still won comfortably. Was great to see Delphine Cascarino get a goal after a rough time with injuries.

Semi-Final Fixtures

Barcelona v Chelsea
Lyon v PSG

Probably the fixtures everyone thought we'd get though I would've preferred the French sides not be paired together on the same side of the table, which led to this match up. I have Lyon winning that one as PSG simply can't get over the hump at the latter end of the comp when facing truly elite opponents. And I say that despite the fact that they're my favorite of these 4 sides.

Barca are going to prove to be too much for Chelsea, again. All I'm hoping for out of this one is that Chelsea make them really work for it.

On National team side of things:

USA have dropped their squad for the 2024 She Believes Cup:

I believe.
You believe.
We believe.
SheBelieves!!!

Your 2024 SheBelieves Cup, presented by @Visa roster

— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) March 26, 2024

This is a really good squad. They're getting closer to what we need to see in Paris if they're to win gold though all 3 opponents (Japan, Canada, and Brazil) should prove stiff tests.

Positives: I'm really high on Lily Yohannes, who balled out for Ajax in the UWCL. She's probably going to end up being a generational talent for the midfield in much the same way Sophia Smith is becoming that for the forwards. Cat Macario and Mal Swanson's returns are timely as well. That whole forward line is fantastic.

Negatives: I'm not entirely sure why Eva Gaetino gets this call up when there are better defenders in NWSL who really deserve a look. Nothing against her as a player. She has looked good for PSG, but the level of competition in the NWSL is consistently higher, especially for defenders.

England have announced their squad for upcoming Euro 2025 qualifiers against Sweden and Ireland.

Here we go! 🤩

The #Lionesses selected for our upcoming #WEURO2025 qualifiers...

— Lionesses (@Lionesses) March 26, 2024

Great to see Khiara Keating of Man City get the call. She's been great for them this season. The return of Leah Williamson will be welcome at the back. I haven't been following her much, but interested to see Grace Clinton, if she gets time. She's being hailed at one of the next wunderkinds to watch. That forward line looks great as usual. Great to see Beth Mead back.

McLewis, how did you become so interested in women's football?

I've got nothing against women, I tried watching it but the downgrade in quality compared to men's football made it unwatchable for me.

Vibe wrote:McLewis, how did you become so interested in women's football?

I've got nothing against women, I tried watching it but the downgrade in quality compared to men's football made it unwatchable for me.

I took my daughter to a Chicago Red Stars game like 6 years ago and she absolutely loved it. Got autographs from the players, got to play on the pitch at half-time. All of that. That's what hooked me. Since then, I've started watching more and more of it.

I did used to notice the differences in quality, as you mentioned, but I also started actually talking with other fans and one of them asked me a real simple question: "Does it entertain you?". I answered that it did and they responded "That's all that matters then." I watch women's football for the same reason I watch college soccer or lower division football: To be entertained. I realized that I don't need the players to be the fastest, the strongest, the hardest shooters, the best tacklers, etc. in order to be entertained. Football is football.

Howitzer from Man City's Bunny Shaw against Liverpool:

BUNNEH SAID GOOD MORNING pic.twitter.com/3Em6u6FdjL

— Diaspora United Pod (@DiasporaUtdPod) March 30, 2024

This NWSL game between Kansas City and Angel City had absolutely everything.

KC went up 2-0 on ACFC, ACFC got a goal back to make it 2-1 and then scored again to make it 2-2. KC went up again to make it 3-2, ACFC tied it up again for 3-3, but VAR ruled their play offside. KC then went ahead and scored a 4th immediately after that. Game ends 4-2.

2nd game at KC's brand new stadium (built specifically for women's football) where a visiting keeper has had an absolute shocker. The place is becoming a cauldron.

Oh and the VAR screen? In a YETI cooler on the side lines. The ref opens the cooler lid and views the VAR screen, looking directly down.

VAR monitor inside a Yeti cooler on the sideline was NOT on my NWSL bingo list for this season, and I have few wild things there.
pic.twitter.com/i3lguoL2Rc

— SHE scores bangers (@SHEscoresbanger) March 30, 2024

Only in the NWSL.

Week 5 in the NWSL:

CLEAR YOUR CALENDARS

We’ve got ourselves a full weekend

Comment who you think will get on the scoresheet this week pic.twitter.com/xxwIZIUuiT

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) April 19, 2024

Orlando up 1-0 over San Diego. Have looked incisive with the passing, but San Diego are tough to score on more than once. They haven't tested Anna Morehouse much in Orlando's goal.

Leg 1 of the UWCL Semis kicks off real early tomorrow for those of us in the US:

Who will reach the #UWCLfinal in Bilbao?

Take on our #UWCLbracket game now! @euronics_UK || #UWCL

— UEFA Women’s Champions League (@UWCL) April 19, 2024

Barca-Chelsea kicks off at 7:30 AM ET
Lyon-PSG kicks off at 1 PM ET

DAZN will air both games for free on their UWCL Youtube channel.

UWCL Semis done:

RESULT

Barcelona turn it around in London to progress to another #UWCLfinal 🤩#UWCL || @FCBfemeni pic.twitter.com/vTgyF8Jw2a

— UEFA Women’s Champions League (@UWCL) April 27, 2024

RESULT

The eight-time champions are heading to Bilbao! #UWCL || @OLfeminin pic.twitter.com/hw0au0Gat3

— UEFA Women’s Champions League (@UWCL) April 28, 2024

Lyon-PSG was pretty straightforward. Chelsea-Barca got real spicy.

Chelsea beat Barca in the first leg and there were complaints from the Barca players about "dirty" tactics from Chelsea. In the 2nd leg, Barca got pretty much every call they wanted from the ref including a penalty and a red card that effectively sealed Chelsea's fate. The irony, to me at least, is that Barca were dominating even before these controversial ref decisions. They would've won this game handily either way as they were just too much for Chelsea in this one.

So now we get a repeat of the 2022 final. I'm rooting for Lyon solely because Barca fans, just as in the men's game, are pretty insufferable. No shade to the Barca players or coach, of course.

0-0 between Lyon and Barca in the Women's Champions League Final so far.

Barca probably should be ahead. Caroline Graham Hansen has looked excellent thus far. Lyon have the edge historically though. Have beaten Barca twice and haven't lost to them....yet.

A bit lucky but that was a nicely worked goal from Aitana

Damn what a finish from the goat Alexia Putellas

Barca looked utterly dominant in that 2nd. Lyon were made to chase the ball in a way they've never really had to before.

With both their coaches leaving, will be interesting to see if this was just a blip on Lyon's radar or if Barca are about to entering their own period of extended dominance.

Personally I don't think we'll ever see a streak like Lyon's again. The continent has caught up with them.

So with the European season officially over, these are the champions of the top leagues:

Women's Super League - Chelsea (5th consecutive title)
Frauen Bundesliga - Bayern (2nd consecutive title)
Liga F - Barca (5th consecutive title)
D1 Arkema - Lyon (17th consecutive title)
Serie A Femminile - Roma (2nd consecutive title)
Eredivisie Vrouwen - FC Twente
Campeonato Nacional Feminino - Benfica (4th consecutive title)

PSG has challenged them in more recent years, but just can't seem to keep it together in the business end of the season. Their record against Lyon is getting better slowly. There is also Paris FC, who have played the part of spoiler on occasion as well, beating both Lyon and PSG when in the mood. Their issue is mainly dropping points against the lesser sides. They also got raided by both clubs for their better players.

All that said, Lyon (both men and women) have a new owner in Michele Kang, who owns the Washington Spirit in NWSL and London City Lionesses in England. She's been a real mover and shaker behind the scenes at all 3 clubs. Washington went from playing on a really poor pitch in Virginia to now playing all of their home matches at Audi Field, sharing it with DC United of MLS. Kang also charters their flights as well, I believe. These are the things Lyon haven't been getting yet have still been dominant. I can't imagine how good they'll be now that they have an owner that actually cares about their quality of life both on and off the pitch.

Some coaching transfer updates:

- Emma Hayes has officially left Chelsea and is now coaching the USWNT.
- Chelsea have brought in Lyon coach Sonia Bompastor as their new coach.
- Lyon have hired former Juventus coach Joe Montemurro as their new coach.
- Barca coach Jonatan Giraldez has officially left and is now coaching the Washington Spirit in NWSL.
- Barca have named Pere Romeu as their new coach.

Player transfer updates:

- (Rumor) Chelsea look set to sign PSG winger Sandy Baltimore on a free.
- (Rumor) Lyon are ready to sign PSG forward Tabitha Chawinga.  
- Man City and England keeper Ellie Roebuck has moved to Barca on a free.
- Man City defender Esme Morgan has joined the Washington Spirit on a free.
- (Rumor) Aston Villa's Alisha Lehmann could join Juventus.
- With Vivianne Miedema gone, Arsenal have signed Barca forward Mariona Caldentey as her replacement.
- North Carolina Courage signed Australian internationals Cortnee Vine and Charlotte McLean from Sydney FC.

We're at the midway point for the NWSL so here are the standings thus far:



- The Orlando Pride and Kansas City Current are the only 2 teams left that are undefeated.
- Kansas City lead the league in goals scored with 37.
- Defending champions Gotham lead the league in fewest goals conceded with 11.

These are the top individual performers so far:

Golden Boot Leader: Barbra Banda (Orlando Pride) & Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns) with 10 goals each.
Assists Leader: Croix Bethune (Washington Spirit) with 9 assists.
Most Clean Sheets: Anna Moorhouse (Orlando Pride) and Jane Campbell (Houston Dash) with 6 clean sheets.

These are the current frontrunners, IMO, for the end of the season awards:
Champion: Orlando Pride
Supporters' Shield winner: Orlando Pride
Most Valuable Player: Barbra Banda, Sophia Smith, Temwa Chawinga (Kansas City Current)
Defensive Player of the Year: Kerry Abello (Orlando Pride), Taylor Flint (Racing Louisville), Naomi Girma (San Diego Wave)
Goalkeeper of the Year: Anna Moorehouse, Jane Campbell, Kailen Sheridan (San Diego Wave)
Rookie of the Year: Croix Bethune, Reilyn Turner (Racing Louisville), Hal Hershfelt (Washington Spirit)
Coach of the Year: Seb Hines (Orlando Pride)