Cascadia Clash #1
Well, wasn’t that Portland Thorns versus Seattle Reign match fun to watch? It had a lot of great elements: a loud and boisterous crowd, good action with quality movement up and down the pitch from both sides, top-notch goalkeeping and a dramatic winner. While Seattle was good with ball movement for the majority of the match, this was easily its toughest match of the season, as Thorns striker Jessica McDonald peppered the Reign goal with shots. Portland exploited a few holes in the Seattle defense, including hitting well on the counterattack and I expect other teams to take a page out of Portland’s book in the weeks going forward. There was a noticeable lack of wide play for Seattle in this match as Nahomi Kawasumi is on national team duty with Japan and Megan Rapinoe isn’t quite fit yet. What did stand out was how Kim Little continues to make her presence known in this league by doing the little things really well and working well with the players around her.
Team Spain a.k.a Western New York Making an Impact
Adriana, Sonia and Vicky. Three great examples of the growth of the Spanish National Team and how they’ve made an immediate impact in Western New York this season. We already knew about Adriana Martín and her abilities and we caught a glimpse of Vicky Losada in the Flash’s early couple of matches, including her opening week effort against the Washington Spirit. But now throwing Sonia Bermúdez into the mix has (re)boosted the Western New York Flash’s profile to that of a serious contender in the early going. The trio of Spaniards all make great decisions with the ball, including drawing defenders to them and finding open teammates out wide, and are deadly from set pieces — we’ll see the Losada to Wambach combination a fair few times this season.
Chicago Getting Stronger… and Reloading?
The Chicago Red Stars found a way to get four points this week in two matches. While the goals might have not flown in (two goals in two matches), the defense was in lock-down mode and made it difficult for Sky Blue FC and the Houston Dash to create good chances this week. Granted, sometimes 1-nil results don’t get you too many style points, but Chicago will take the three points any day of the week. During the match against Houston, Red Stars owner Arnim Whisler said Chicago will be introducing six new players in the coming weeks. The club signed Australian international Emily Van Egmond and New Zealand international Abby Erceg already, and Christen Press will arrive after the UEFA Champions League final. Also on the goal-scoring front, Melissa Tancredi made her first appearance for the Red Stars in a 30-minute cameo late Sunday night. As for players five and six, one could only guess. Logic says that maybe Taryn Hemmings is nearing return and in a more far-fetched guess, maybe Shannon Boxx will make her long awaited return to the club, after appearing in just the opening match last season before injuries and maternity leave. That would leave Chicago at …. dare I say it …. full strength roster-wise, something the club has never had during its NWSL days.
A-Rod Scoring for Fun
Seriously, anything that strikes off of Amy Rodriguez’s feet finds the back of the net. Six goals in six games puts her at the top of the goal-scoring charts in the league and perhaps raises the question as to why, given her current form, she didn’t get time against Canada. We know the striker corps for the USWNT is deep and will get deeper when Alex Morgan returns to full fitness, but it would have been nice for Jill Ellis to give her some minutes in Winnipeg on Thursday night.
which by the way….
Fun Times in Canada
For a friendly, it wasn’t that bad. Both teams went at it and gave the match a real go. There weren’t a whole lot of tactics shown between the two sides, as expected, but there seemed to be a pretty good pace to the match. We learned that Canada’s Kadeisha Buchanan can hold her own against the best, as she played the destroyer center back role to perfect effect. It will be fun to watch the development of this young center back in the next 13 months or so as she could very well be lining up for Canada at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium in the opening match of the Women’s World Cup next summer.
On a final note, I’ve seen a lot of comments on various social media platforms in the past few weeks about the on-air broadcasts of NWSL games. While there have been some opinions posted about the quality of the streams, much criticism — much warranted — has been leveled toward the on-air talent (the play-by-play commentator and color commentator). Many of these comments, which have come from fans and players alike, aren’t the friendliest to read. As a broadcaster myself, I feel that sometimes people don’t give broadcasters enough credit for what they have to do during games to make the match sound up to par and easy to listen to for those who choose to watch. Getting ready for these matches takes hours of preparation, whether it’s familiarizing yourself with teams to understanding the tendencies of individual players. When commentating is done right, you don’t notice it but when it’s done poorly, it’s impossible to ignore.
What I am saying isn’t going to change people’s opinions, but I hope to show you some of the behind-the-scenes preparation that goes into play-by-play and color commentating in the upcoming weeks by speaking with some of the broadcasters who call the game.