NWSL Match Day Twelve Observations
NWSL Match Week 12 Observations
Houston Dash-San Diego Wave
The Dash always look slow. My theory is that since the Dash practice in extreme heat, they train to play at three-quarters speed. But maybe the Dash is a zombie team. The team lacks heart. Their homework this week should be to watch "Damn Yankees".
This game followed the pattern of the Dash game against Angel City earlier in the year. Are slow starts a tactic? The Dash know that teams will wear down in the heat and by conserving energy early, the Dash will be the stronger team in the end. It might work if the other teams don't score early.
In the Angel City game, Lianne Sanderson commented on how Houston was not putting pressure on the ball and Angel City had two goals in thirty minutes. This game had the same pattern. The Wave advanced the ball at will. The Dash stood around lifeless. The Wave scored their first two goals in thirty-six minutes. In the second half, Ryan and Oliveri showed visible frustration. Oliveri scores a banger from outside the box giving the Dash hope. Yasmin Ryan displays her individual brilliance to score another goal. Neither goal was from team play so I expect Houston to stay near the bottom of the standings the rest of the season. From Match Day 4 to Match Day 12, nothing has changed.
The Wave continue to play their version of the beautiful game. It is fair to question their depth. If the Wave lose Sanchez in the transfer window, they will need a replacement. Perhaps swap Sanchez for Ovalle? Getting Ovalle limits the minutes of Ascanio and Barcenas who need to play to get better. Are Ascanio and Barcenas advanced enough to assist in winning a title this year?
Utah Royals-Gotham FC
I only saw parts of this game. Utah really needs to find a quality backup for Tejada at the six. When Tejada was playing in the back early in the season, Utah scored minimal goals. With Tejada suspended for a red card, the Royals did not score. Last season, Utah started to gel when Riehl came back and Tejada was moved to the six. Riehl made an appearance last night so that is a small ray of hope for the Royals. What makes Tejada effective is that she moves the ball with alacrity. The ball rarely stays on her feet long. Tejada has the knack to find the next progressive pass.
Gotham FC always looks like one of the best teams when Esther scores. Who are the secondary and tertiary goal scorers? The roster is full of candidates including. Lavelle, Geyse, Portillo, Purse, and Stevens.
Match week 13 gives us Gotham FC versus Bay FC, two teams even on points. The red card suspensions of Carter and Howell weakens the Gotham FC defense. Without the red card suspensions, Gotham FC is my favorite. The suspensions tip the scale to Bay FC. Just when it is expected Gotham FC will string together a few wins, the team shoots itself in the foot.
Bay FC-Orlando Pride
Boy, what a sloppy game.
Orlando shows its quality by winning another game where it did not play well offensively. Defensively, this team is the best in the NWSL. The back three are like the Grateful Dead on its best nights playing with synchronicity, each member anticipating each other's moves. Emily Sams is a superstar who showed her quality against Kundananji. Why doesn't she get more play with USWNT? My guess is that she plays the right like Girma and is very uncomfortable on the left as she showed in the China game. As uncomfortable as McKeown looks on the left, she still might be better than Sams. Hayes values that flexibility.
Orlando's goal came as a result of a momentary lapse of concentration by Bay FC combined with a moment of brilliance by Barbara Banda. At this point in the season, Orlando does not have enough offense to beat either KC Current or Washington Spirit. They played the Spirit twice in 2025 with only a Raefelle goal to show for it.
Montoya went back to starting Kiki Pickett at the six after getting a result in three straight games starting Pickett on the bench. Pickett gave the ball away too often which severely slowed the Bay attack. I love Pickett's story, the dedication and the hard work, but she still is the stopgap and not the answer at the six. The team looked more threatening when Pickett left the pitch but then again Bay was scrambling for a goal.
Kundananji was very inefficient as a shotmaker in this game. Is she the NBA equivalent to a scorer not a shooter?
Maybe Oshoala needs to dye her hair blue like she did in Barcelona? She played well against Portland last week but has been uninspiring in most of the other games I've watched. I wanted to abandon her last year when she turned it around and scored four goals and added an assist in the last eight games. So she is inconsistent. She has a wide variance in performance. You never know what you might get with Oshoala.
Chicago Stars-Seattle Reign
Kathrin Hendrich is a solid pick up for the Chicago Stars. She was a mainstay in the backline for the German National team from 2022 through 2024. In 2025, she is still being called up to the German squad but is being used in a reserve role with one appearance.
In my mind's eye, Hendrich is vulnerable to speed and transitional play which are trademarks of the NWSL. In the 2023 World Cup send off game against Zambia, Hendrich had her share of problems against Banda and Kundananji which illustrates my point.
0:10 Banda uses her speed to get around Hendrich.
1:05 Hendrich tackles Banda.
1:40 Banda goal with Hendrich defending.
2:10 Chilufya assisted Kundananji with Hendrich defending.
4:10 Banda scoring with Hendrich defiending.
The Zambians outrun many a defender in NWSL, but Hendrich gets caught upfield in the Bundesliga.
This game was an example of how superior depth wins games. Seattle's bench outplayed Chicago's bench in the second half. Substitute Gee took control of the midfield, twisting through defenders like a whirling dervish. The contrast between the late substitutes for both teams was striking. For Seattle, Mercado looked dangerous, speedy, and capable of scoring. For Chicago, Ally Cook did not look like a difference maker.
All the goals in this game came as a result of individual play rather than team play. In the NWSL, to win, the teams need elite international players. Ludmila, Lynn Williams and Jordyn Bugg all qualify.
KC Current-Racing Louisville
How does KC Current stay so dynamic missing four elite players like Labonta, Cook, Prince and Debinha? Just a great team that I want to see play the Barcelona's, Lyonnes', Chelsea's and Arsenal's of this world.
One thing about the KC Current is that it does not rely on its youth like so many other teams. Alex Pfeiffer is injured. Claire Hutton, a preternatural talent, is young but already on the USWNT senior team. Mary Long and Katie Scott play for U17's but are rarely seen on the pitch for the Current. Then the next youngest are Cooper and Wheeler who are third year professionals with Cooper having won the Hermann Trophy as best collegiate player as a sophomore.
KC Current and Orlando Pride are the two oldest teams based on average age in the league. But don't think that average age is a sole determinant of success because the next three oldest teams are Houston, Chicago and Gotham, only one of which is above the playoff line.
Racing Louisville is in a tough patch playing four consecutive games against the KC Current and the Orlando Pride. Even if Racing loses the next three games, Racing achieved enough results in the first half of the season to remain in contention for a playoff spot.
Sears was a disappointment. Is it in her personality to be a megastar? Especially in the NWSL where so many goals are achieved through transition and individual brilliance. .
Angel City-North Carolina Courage
Neither Sanchez nor Shaw started this game which is one way to solve the Sanchez-Shaw dilemma. The dilemma is that Shaw and Sanchez do not appear to be complementary players. Each one takes something from the other's game. Adding to the dilemma is that Manaka also plays the same position. Earlier in the season, Manaka was playing the nine but she is not really a target in the box. Vine has started at the nine the last two games and is, after a long wait, showing the NWSL why she was the "it' girl of the Australian women's league. With Shinomi, the Courage have built incredible depth at the striking midfielder position and changed to a system where two striking midfielders are on the field all the time. Now, how do the Courage develop these four players to be interchangeable? Competition in practice should sharpen any dull knives but does competition breed chemistry? Manaka and Shinomi have the advantage of playing many years together on Japan's outstanding youth teams whereas Sanchez and Shaw lack chemistry altogether. Harder than it sounds but perhaps Sanchez and Shaw need to forget expectations for a while and refind the joy of playing football. Maybe that is the message of the benching. Shaw and Sanchez are no longer the stars on the Courage. The Courage don't need them to win but if they can just go out play then the contribution will be welcome.
Angel City FC is beginning to go through an experimental stage. Straus needs to find out what are the capabilities of the players he has and what players will complement his corps of U23's in the future.Thus Straus started Hammond in this game and Dufour has started the first two games in place of the injured Emslie. Sam Laity built a team identity around speed but it was fragile, shattered by Savvy King's medical leave. Meghan Reid just doesn't fit that profile.
Maura Sheridan and Jordan Angeli reminded me of Angel City's poor roster construction. As Sarah Gorden lay on the field getting treatment for a potential hamstring injury, the two announcers tried to ascertain who Gorden's replacement might be. Neither one could come up with a clear solution. Gorden continued to play but looked at three-quarters speed the rest of the game.
The incident reminded me of that week in January when Madison Curry signed with Seattle Reign and Angel City re-signed Sydney Leroux to a three-year deal. It struck me as being backwards. Sign the 35-years old striker if the team is near the top of the league and has a shot at the shield or championship. If not, make every effort to sign the versatile Curry. Curry is a glue player who would have helped greatly through Angel City's injury problems. Hindsight is 20-20 but the results of this year have validated the initial reaction. Shannon Box yesterday called Madison Curry Seattle's best player twelve matches into the season. Leroux has not played a minute with lower leg issues. Furthermore Riley Tiernan has emerged to be a top five goal scorer in the NWSLand when Leroux comes back the minutes will be limited.
Sheridan and Angeli went on to discuss the Tyler Lussi trade. Lussi is a solid journeyman player in her prime playing years who can play multiple roles. Angeli could not remember that Angel City received Merritt Mathias back in the trade. Mathias was 32-years old and a solid ten-year veteran when acquired. Yet it turned out the Mathias only played 360 minutes in her two years at Angel City. The Leroux and Mathias debacles are cautionary tales for the "Age is only a number" crowd.
Are there players available to shore up Angel City's backline in the transfer window? The two big name European free transfers are Laia Aleixandri and Ingrid Engen. Aleixandri was signed by Barcelona to replace Engen. Engen is rumored to be headed to London City. Michelle Kang is winning the transfer market this summer. I looked up two young players that I have been impressed with in the age group World Cups. Buurman from the Netherlands is locked by Chelsea for the next three years. Buurman is the probable replacement for Bright to join Girma on Chelsea's back line. It will be formidable. USWNT fans will remember Buurman from the Netherland's game in October where she scored on a header but also had an own goal. Silvia Lloris is under contract to Atletico Madrid. Does Angel City have the transfer funds to bring her on board? Is Lloris even interested? She was the captain and best player in her age group on the Spanish World Cup teams. While looking up LLoris and Burman another 21-years old player popped up on FBREF - Nahia Aparicio who plays for Real Sociedad. I watch many of the Barcelona and Real Madrid games so I have probably seen her play. However, if I did, she did not make a huge impression. The scouting report compares her to names like Bjorn, McNabb and Dahlkemper. So the conclusion is that if Angel City finds someone, she will be outside of the coverage universe that I follow. There is still hope. Both Bay and the KC Current solved their backline problems last year in the summer transfer window
Portland Thorns-Washington Spirit
Sam Coffey should receive player of the week for her performance against the Spirit. The Spirit have a more than decent midfield but Coffey wrecked their entire cohesiveness. Hoffman Sports reported that last weekend's victory over the Courage took a physical toll on the Spirit. Coupled with the cross country travel, this game might just have been a bridge too far for the Spirit.
Jess Fleming played her best game in awhile. Fleming assisted on both goals with the first assist being a nutmeg.
I underrate the Portland Thorns. After today's win, Portland is nearing the category of a lock to make the playoffs. If Caiya Hanks is out for a while, it will slow Portland's attack. In a league where a fair amount of goals arise out of transition and individual brilliance, Caiya Hanks is one of those players that can deliver. I see her as a like for like with Alyssa Thompson.
Caiya Hanks Scoring Against the Dash
Sources
All statistics come from FBREF.