Tag: nwsl

women's soccer

Is Rapinoe’s protest effective?

Posted on by Beau Dure

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the Twitter debate over my Guardian piece on the Washington Spirit derailing Megan Rapinoe’s protest last night. Granted, in nearly 30 years of journalism, I’ve resigned myself to a low bar. If I don’t have a high school cross-country coach running into the newsroom to yell at me about something I didn’t even touch or a gaggle of Alex Morgan fans threatening to kill me “twice” or buy my book to slap me with it, it’s a good day.

Low bar notwithstanding, I think people have raised some good questions. I’ve seen some tangential debate on why we play the national anthem before domestic sports events in the first place.

As one Guardian commenter put it: “They don’t do that in Europe or in most other countries around the world. Only when there’s an international game are the country’s national anthems played. In fact at some football clubs like Dortmund, Liverpool and Celtic, they have their own “national anthems” i.e. You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

I read — and now I forget where, perhaps a message board somewhere — an interesting take pointing out that Rapinoe’s decision to kneel for the anthem, like Colin Kaepernick’s decision not to stand, isn’t starting a conversation about race relations. It’s starting a conversation about Megan Rapinoe and Colin Kaepernick. (To add to that point: I don’t even remember why NBA player Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf declined a traditional observance of the anthem. I just remember that he did, and it was controversial.)

When I mentioned that on Twitter, I got a couple of good responses that boiled down to “Whose fault is that?” The media’s? The athlete’s?

Good question.

When Rapinoe first took a knee for the anthem, I was optimistic that the conversation would go beyond Colin Kaepernick — who, frankly, might not be the best person to lead the discussion. The one-time QB sensation has lost his starting job in San Francisco and may come across as bitter for reasons that have nothing to do with the nation’s problems with race. “OK, now someone else is doing it,” I figured. “Now it’s not just about Kaepernick.”

Last night, things changed. And if you hang out in my circles on Twitter, it’s pretty unanimous that the Spirit blew it. If you chat with people I know on Facebook or BigSoccer, including people whose politics would never be described as “conservative,” it’s a different story.

screenshot-2016-09-08-at-7-53-52-pm

No, I don’t agree with that, as my Guardian piece should make clear. But within the echo chamber of women’s soccer fans on Twitter, I’m still going against the groupthink because I think Rapinoe undermined her own protest by calling Spirit owner Bill Lynch “homophobic.”

I also said it made little sense to use that term on someone who willingly bought a women’s soccer team and made a special effort to bring in players who were “out” well before Rapinoe was. Some people have challenged me on that point, saying the Spirit have been the only club not to go along with other NWSL teams on hosting LGBTQ Pride events or cheering decisions in favor of gay marriage.

One person decided to lighten the mood on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/RealMeMP/status/773852222438379520

But seriously, such litmus tests can be tricky. When the first Gulf War broke out in 1991, basketball teams raced to put American flags on their jerseys. Some refused to wear them because they opposed the war, and they were ostracized. Some opposed the war but wore the flag anyway. And veterans’ opinions were not as one-sided as one might think: Princeton coach and Korean War veteran Pete Carril was outspoken in defense of players who were not wearing the Stars and Stripes. (I can’t find any record of it, but I recall one of the last college teams to give in to the pressure to wear the flags was Duke, coached by West Point alum Mike Krzyzewski.)

Still, for sake of argument, let’s say Lynch isn’t as progressive on gay rights as the WoSo community would like. If I were the Spirit’s PR consultant, I’d be yelling at Lynch every day to follow the crowd on such things.

But is “homophobia” something Rapinoe should bring up?

Upon watching the video (see below), I found a subtle distinction. Rapinoe didn’t bring it up. It was brought up by Think Progress reporter Lindsay Gibbs, who asked about it (around the 11:15 mark).

So if you’d prefer to blame the media for sidetracking the discussion, fine. Blame Gibbs if you like (though it was certainly not her intent, and she couldn’t have foreseen Rapinoe’s blunt answer) for raising a question that wound up overshadowing the rest of the conversation as surely as the Spirit’s ham-fisted decision to reschedule the anthem overshadowed everything else last night. (Not that ESPN would’ve led SportsCenter with Crystal Dunn’s goal under any circumstances, but still …)

Not that Rapinoe had to take the bait. And she didn’t have to say she thinks Bill Lynch is homophobic in such direct terms.

The follow-up question tried to steer things back to race relations. And Rapinoe gamely tries to expound on it. But within a few seconds, she’s talking about being a woman and fighting for equal pay.

Rapinoe readily concedes that she doesn’t have all the answers. That is, as a lot of philosophers have said, the sign of a wise person. And I have to stress here that we’re looking at all of this — Lynch’s decision, Gibbs’ question, Rapinoe’s answer — with the benefit of hindsight. (I wasn’t even there. I had to coach a youth soccer team. Practice was canceled for the same reason the Spirit-Reign game was delayed, but by the time we cleared the field, it was too late to make the epic weeknight drive to the Plex.)

But we have to use this hindsight to ask whether Rapinoe’s protest is effective. As it stands now, it’s not. We’re not talking about race relations. We’re talking about Rapinoe, Lynch, homophobia accusations, overshadowing the Spirit’s big win (which wasn’t THAT big — they were likely to clinch a home playoff berth in the next week or so anyway), etc.

That’s absolutely not entirely Rapinoe’s fault. Nor is it entirely Lynch’s fault.

I wouldn’t even say it’s entirely the media’s fault. The point I tried to raise in the Twitter conversation that prompted this post is that it’s human nature to focus on what’s most controversial. I’ve been tweeting today about the Paralympics. I debuted a new feature finding interesting live sports around the Web. I retweeted the Landon Donovan news.

But guess what people want to talk about.

Like Rapinoe, I don’t have all the answers. I don’t know the next step. Should the entire WNT take a knee during the national anthem of their upcoming friendly? (My gut says that would backfire horribly on the grounds that when Rapinoe kneels as a member of the Reign, she’s making a point internally, but if she does so while wearing the U.S. uniform, she’s showing up her countrymates in front of others. As they said in Animal House, only WE can do that to our pledges.)

Should Rapinoe try harder to steer the conversation to race relations? Should the Reign, who have issued sharp, professional statements in support of Rapinoe without flinging mud at anyone else, establish a partnership with a group working to end racism?

So far, Rapinoe’s actions aren’t working. But that’s no reason to give up.

 

 

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women's soccer

Quick Spirit-Sky Blue thoughts

Posted on by Beau Dure

I went to the SoccerPlex today with one question: “Is Sky Blue for real?”

I left with many more questions:

  1. Why did the two Sky Blue players whose combined age is 74 cover more ground than the rest of the team? Yes, we know running is Christie Rampone’s thing, but Tasha Kai was left isolated and trying to press the entire Spirit team for much of the game. After an hour, she started coming over the sideline for water. She may have drawn a foul by simply falling down out of exhaustion. She said, in good humor after the game, that she simply ran until the tank was empty. Good for her, and she did have Sky Blue’s lone goal and another 1-2 good chances, but does this team really have no one else who can help with the pressure, especially against a Spirit defense that was unusually prone to coughing up the ball today?
  2. If Sky Blue had trouble possessing the ball and getting Raquel Rodriguez involved against a team missing five players on international duty, what happens when all the big guns come back from their teams? Sky Blue gets Kelley O’Hara and Sam Kerr, but in their last five games (my goodness, this season has gone quickly), they’ll be facing Chicago (Press, Johnston, Naeher), Kansas City (Sauerbrunn, O’Reilly — who’s going to Brazil as an alternate, Scott, Bowen), Orlando twice (most of the defense) and Portland (everyone).
  3. Would this game have been less choppy if it had been played at 9:30 last night instead of 11 a.m. this morning?

Rampone said this was the first time in her pro career she has played a game in the morning. I asked about the Olympics, which can impose some strange start times, but apparently not there, either. But she and coach Christy Holly weren’t using the early wake-up call or the soupy weather as an excuse. Both teams had to deal with it, and that might explain why neither team looked particularly sharp.

Spirit coach Jim Gabarra said the first half might have been the best half they’ve played all year. Offensively, at times, sure. Estefania Banini looked dangerous every time she touched the ball, and the passing combination that led to the first goal was pretty. And we might remember this as a breakout game for Caprice Dydasco, who was the sturdiest Spirit defender and also contributed offensively.

I didn’t have a good view of the second goal, so I wasn’t sure if Cheyna Williams had a terrific first touch on the ball or a lucky deflection. Honestly, neither was she. She said it all happened in a blur. But the shot was a nice, composed finish.

But to me, the Spirit seemed more error-prone than usual. Perhaps it was the heat, perhaps it was the occasional forearm shiver from the imposing Sky Blue players, perhaps it was the strange timing of the game.

In any case, the Spirit hit the Olympic break in great shape. Gabarra pointed out that the team went 4-1 in July without Dunn, D-Math, Krieger, Labbe and Zadorsky.

In fact, the last time those five players were available, the Spirit lost 2-1 at home to Sky Blue. If you know the quality of those players and watched today’s game without them, you’d wonder how in the world that was possible.

Funny old game. See you in September.

 

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women's soccer, work portfolio

Women’s soccer writing: 2004-2015

Posted on by Beau Dure

Selected women’s soccer pieces, including coverage of the Women’s World Cup (2011) and the demise of WPS:

Women’s World Cup 2011 (espnW/ESPN)

WPS dissolution/magicJack suit (ESPN/espnW)

Game stories and news 

Features and columns

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soccer

Crowdsourcing: Former and future NWSL players

Posted on by Beau Dure

This spreadsheet started as an attempt to figure out where top NWSL prospects were playing this season. It morphed into a sprawling effort to account for every player who might be in the NWSL (at least via U.S. colleges) or has been in the NWSL.

Easier said than done. I’ve combed through rosters at the NWSL, WPSL and UWS sites, along with data from Soccerway and Jen Cooper’s NWSL almanac. Prospect ratings are from Chris Henderson’s comprehensive work at All White Kit.

Here’s what I have so far, in PDFs:

Former NWSL 2016

WoSo prospects 2016

I’ve excluded players who have definitely retired. In some cases, that notion is a little slippery. After all, the Cal Storm roster still lists Brandi Chastain and Aly Wagner.

Any additional info is appreciated. Will update.

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soccer

NWSL Draft: The spectacle and the reality

Posted on by Beau Dure

The first NWSL Draft was held in a private room in the Indianapolis Convention Center, with U.S. Soccer staff ferrying info to a neighboring room where a handful of reporters had gathered.

The next two NWSL Drafts had many more people, all crammed into a small couple of rooms in Philadelphia.

This year, it looks like this:

IMG_1558

Which is great. It’ll be a terrific experience for fans. Reporters won’t be dizzy from claustrophobia and heat exhaustion by the third round.

But like the MLS Draft, held yesterday in the same room, there’s a bit of cold water to splash on the proceedings: A lot of these players simply aren’t ready.

I’m not bringing that up to spoil anyone’s big day. A bunch of people with sublime talent and awe-inspiring work ethics are going to get great opportunities today. I’m bringing it up because, in the spirit of the other NSCAA sessions I’m attending, I’m looking at the overall structure of the sport.

If you haven’t listened to the most recent Keeper Notes podcast, race over to your podcasting engine of choice and do so now. Jen Cooper chats with Hal Kaiser and Jen Gordon to go over each team’s needs and the prospects who can fill them.

But it’s clear from the conversation that few teams will walk away from this draft with their immediate needs filled. Kaiser names only three players who stand out — sure-fire No. 1 pick Emily Sonnett (D, Virginia), NCAA Tournament force Raquel Rodriguez (M, Penn State) and Cari Roccaro (D, Notre Dame). And now Roccaro is hurt.

You can say it’s a thin draft class. But in terms of immediate impact, they’ve all been thin classes.

So it’s little wonder that two of the most successful coaches in the NWSL, Seattle’s Laura Harvey and Portland/Washington’s Mark Parsons, haven’t been building through the draft. They realize this is a league that’s quite cruel to 22-year-olds. (And notice that a lot of NWSL teams have now hired coaches from England and Scotland!)

Parsons saw the problem first hand when he took over a young Washington Spirit team. They had young attacking talent to spare — Tiffany McCarty and Caroline Miller had outstanding college resumes, and Stephanie Ochs and Colleen Williams joined McCarty on the U.S. Under-23 team before debuting with the Spirit. Each player had plenty of upside — the book is still open for McCarty and Ochs, long-term. Miller and Williams unfortunately had catastrophic injuries.

But a team simply can’t rely on inexperienced players to do more than fill a hole here and there. Some of the exceptional rookies of the past — Crystal Dunn, Morgan Brian — already had national team experience. Sonnett and Rodriguez bring that experience this time around, and they should be ready to play from Day 1 in the NWSL. North Carolina’s Katie Bowen, who has played for New Zealand, also might be ready to step in right away.

So this year, the priority for NWSL teams beyond the top few picks is to look for players they can bring along over the next couple of years.

The next priority is to step up the development curve so more players are ready.

Parsons was candid late in that first season with the Spirit, lamenting the fundamentals that some of his younger players hadn’t learned. The compressed college season hurts players. Coaches, especially on the men’s side, are pushing for a year-round NCAA schedule so they can play more games with more rest, not relying on waves of substitutions to get exhausted players off the field.

Another factor: Summer play has withered. The decline and demise of the W-League hurts. WPSL play is spotty — some teams can play a quality game, some can’t. The new United Women’s Soccer is trying to fill the void.

Cracking an NWSL lineup as a rookie will never be easy — nor should it be. It’s a credit to the league that the rosters are so strong, filled with experienced players.

But as the league expands (we hope) down the road, development is an issue that needs to be addressed. So when the players drafted today are experienced and ready to lead their teams, they’ll have better and better players coming in to join them.

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soccer

Ali Krieger and the case of the missing midfielder

Posted on by Beau Dure

Ali Krieger won’t be with the Washington Spirit for the NWSL semifinal at Seattle. Does it matter?

Her absence, to attend her father’s wedding, is certainly a surprise. Her father, Ken, is a Virginia Youth Soccer Hall of Famer and the type of person you’d think would cut off his arm to be at an important soccer game. And he’s lucky that the D.C. United Academy team he coaches has the week off.

Women’s soccer fans love a good debate. Sometimes. Other times, they’re furious that anyone would even dare to question the noble intent of their favorite players. Or any players. So we can imagine the screaming in the wake of this news. The rough consensus on my Twitter timeline: “Leave Krieger alone! Blame the NWSL for not scheduling things farther in advance!” (I’m not sure what to make of the latter point — if they set the date a year ago, not realizing the NWSL would run into September, then it makes sense. But if they were scheduling it — or hadn’t even made a lot of nonrefundable deposits — over the winter, you’d think they might have figured a playoff game was a possibility.)

The rough consensus at The Equalizer is a little harsher.

(I have to give credit here to Jeff Kassouf for this marvelous and completely apt turn of phrase: “The deja vu seemed so ludicrous that Dure asked Parsons if he was joking.”)

So that’s the off-field debate. What about on the field? Perhaps this is an even more controversial point, which may explain why I’m phrasing it with so many qualifiers that a good editor would lop out of the story: The Spirit might not really miss Ali Krieger this weekend.

Make no mistake — you can’t talk about the best right backs in the world without talking about Krieger. She might be No. 1. She didn’t make FIFA’s Who-Voted-On-This-Stuff Team from the World Cup, but neither did Becky Sauerbrunn, which should be enough to send all of those voters to a therapist or an optometrist. Krieger was surely squeezed out because voters didn’t feel comfortable naming all four defenders from one team, no matter how well deserved. So forget the voting and look at the results — Krieger got into the attack on occasion (more effectively when Jill Ellis suddenly ditched the “whack it to Wambach” tactics), and every player on that line had to be in world-class form to stifle Germany as effectively as they did.

But Krieger hasn’t been playing right back for the Spirit. She has been playing defensive midfielder. And she might not be the best defensive midfielder on her own team.

It’s not quite the typical 4-5-1 or 4-1-2-3 or whatever you call it on Mark Parsons’ team. He has Crystal Dunn, Francisca Ordega and Diana Matheson at forward and on the wings, somewhat interchangeably. The three midfielders behind them also have overlapping roles.

Krieger has been in that mix. And though the view from the pressbox doesn’t always tell you everything, she hasn’t seemed as comfortable going forward as Christine “I WILL SHOOT FROM 30 YARDS AND TERRIFY THE KEEPER” Nairn or whichever midfielder Parsons selects from Joanna Lohman and Angela Salem.

Parsons has patiently told the assembled Washington-area media that Krieger has contributed in ways we really haven’t noticed — specifically, marking another player out of the game. Maybe Carli Lloyd. Maybe Kim Little. (Repetition alert: This point was also in my SoccerWire preview, which was obviously written before the Krieger news broke in the conference call. That’ll teach me to wait until the conference call.)

She’s not even playing a traditional No. 6. It’s as if Parsons is channeling Jim Valvano and turned Krieger into the “one” in a box-and-one.

That’s an important role, of course. But can the Spirit get some of that defensive tenacity, maybe by committee?

We the media botched the conference call yesterday in one important sense — we forgot to inquire into the health and form of one Tori Huster. The versatile player was a cornerstone in whatever the Spirit did right in its first two seasons. But she hasn’t been at full health or full form this year, perhaps feeling the effects of spending her offseasons playing in Australia or just dealing with nagging injuries here and there.

Maybe Parsons, who joked that he wished I hadn’t asked the “surprise news” question and forced him (not really) to reveal the Krieger news, is holding Huster in reserve and is sitting somewhere with a relieved smile that none of us thought to ask?

Or maybe Huster isn’t ready to go, and he’ll just put Lohman and Salem on the field together. Less surprising, but possibly effective as well.

If you’ve watched Krieger off the ball at Spirit games recently, you’ve noticed that she often seems a little less than fully engaged. WoSo fans might debate whether that’s a lack of motivation or just a sign that she’s worn down from the World Cup summer. That only matters if you’re dead set on putting Krieger on trial, and really, what’s the point of that?

The only practical concern here is that Krieger’s absence shouldn’t be a crushing blow for the Spirit. They have other defensive midfielders, maybe not as capable at 1v1 defense as Krieger but perhaps more comfortable giving some depth to the Spirit attack. They have other leaders — the quiet but inspirational Diana Matheson, the much louder and also inspirational Ashlyn Harris.

And if Seattle mastermind Laura Harvey thought she had the Spirit figured out last week, now she has to wonder what her good friend has in store now.

Said it last week — I’d pay to watch Harvey and Parsons play chess. This semifinal ought to be interesting.

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soccer

National Weird Soccer League: The Spirit-Reign regular season finale/Part 1

Posted on by Beau Dure

I would probably pay good money to watch Laura Harvey and Mark Parsons play chess.

It’s not just that they are, as their fellow Englishpeople would say, bloody brilliant. It’s the fact that entertaining eccentricities and stunning plays just seem to follow them around.

Consider tonight’s game, where the turning point apparently came during the pregame introductions, when the Spirit’s PA announcer gave Hope Solo’s number the wrong number: No. 2 rather than No. 1. A quick correction, drawing a thumbs-up and a smile from Solo, apparently didn’t appease fiery Reign player Jess Fishlock.

“I think it got chippy because — I have so much respect for Washington Spirit as an organization, and I have so much respect for Ashlyn, but what they did at the beginning of the game to disrespect Hope Solo, a goalkeeper that’s won the Golden Glove in the World Cup, is actually a little bit disgusting. So that’s why we had a bit of a chip on our shoulder, because we protect our teammates, and it’s just unnecessary to do that.”

Wait a minute — what? Was it something the Spirit Squadron said? Was it the incident late in the game in which Solo was banged up in a multiplayer collision, though it didn’t seem upon live viewing that any one person was to blame. (The ref had a different opinion, but based on the absurd calls and non-calls throughout the game, I refuse to take that opinion seriously. Some serious conversations need to take place between the NWSL and PRO. This is ridiculous. Are we going to wait until a game gets totally out of control and a national team player breaks a leg?)

No.

“They announced Hope Solo as No. 2, and I think that’s a little bit disgusting.”

A couple of us who have been to a lot of Spirit games were compelled to tell her it absolutely could not have been intentional. That’s not the first idiosyncrasy we’ve heard over the PA at a Spirit game.

Here’s the deal: The announcer writes a few numerical cues on the margin of the paper to get the order correct. The captain is the first person announced — so, No. 1. Goalkeeper is second, No. 2. Easy to transpose the two columns — the order in which players are announced, and the jersey number.

And that’s easier to believe than “Hmmm, maybe I can make a subtle jab suggesting Solo should be Ashlyn Harris’ backup on the national team. I’ll say she’s No. 2.”

The other curious thing about it, as Spirit broadcast commentator Danielle Malagari points out:

But as puzzling as Fishlock’s comments were, Harvey pointed to some weird, wild stuff on the Reign’s trip to the nation’s … distant suburb of the capital.

“If you’d looked at our Washington trip, you would’ve thought everything went against us. We couldn’t train yesterday because of lightning, we had wake-up calls at 8 a.m. from the hotel … I joke with Mark, I know that’s not him. But maybe the announcer thing is the icing on the cake.”

If you really want to draw out the conspiracy theory, you’d note that all of the league’s hotel information was recently posted by a reporter … in Portland! Seattle’s big rival!

But who would call and leave a prank wake-up call for 8 a.m.? Is that considered early by some people? I have kids and dogs. By 8 a.m., I’m sometimes considering a nap.

Harvey, though, clearly wasn’t taking such talk seriously. The game, on the other hand, was something she took quite seriously despite having nothing at stake, while the Spirit needed a win to have a chance to host a playoff game.

“I actually spoke to Mark in the week. We speak daily. And we joke around. But I said to him I’m going to come and try to win the game in the sense that I think that’s the right thing to do. I could’ve come here and not played Hope, not played Pinoe (who was subbed out early in the second half, perhaps as much because her tackles seemed hell-bent on getting a nice suspension for the playoffs as any need to rest), not played Jess and not played Kim. The reality is people have paid good money to watch a good game. I’m sure they want to see the Spirit again at home (in the playoffs), but it wouldn’t have been right or fair on my team or the league if I hadn’t have come to win.”

And early on, Harvey’s game plan worked beautifully. Defenders were in place to stop the Crystal Dunn counterattacking menace. The Reign swung the ball around, playing a semi-direct style to put attackers in against Spirit defenders, who struggled to contain them. They were running the Reign attack toward defenders other than Megan Oyster, whom Laura Harvey touted for league Rookie of the Year honors.

Fishlock thought the tired Reign players didn’t execute quite as well as fatigue set in. And the Spirit indeed had some good moments late in the first half and early in the second.

Every other aspect of the game seems debatable. Parsons and Diana Matheson were pretty positive when talking about the Spirit’s performance. Ashlyn Harris was not. Parsons is still bullish on playing Ali Krieger in midfield, saying she contained Kim Little. I still don’t think Krieger looks comfortable there, and I know others agree. (That said — Little didn’t have quite as much impact on the game today as she has in the past.)

A few stray notes:

Predmore vs. the fourth official and others: Reign owner Bill Predmore was behind the Seattle bench tonight. Some Spirit staffers objected. The fourth official had a prolonged conversation with him right around the time the Reign scored their second goal.

I don’t know NWSL protocol for that situation. I just hope the Spirit volunteer got her phone back.

Seen in the stands: Former Philadelphia Independence owner David Halstead.

Plex problems: We’re now keeping our food out of the pressbox because food might attract critters who might chew through the cables that keep the Spirit’s fine broadcast connected to YouTube. That speaks volumes about the state of the Soccerplex right now.

It’s a beautiful field. It’s a beautiful venue. It’s fun to have fans so close to the action. The air always feels fresh.

But the facilities are in dire need of upgrades.

Also, new this season, traffic! I left the parking lot at 9:45 p.m., about 45 minutes after the game ended. Took me 15 minutes to get out of the Plex.

Behind me — the Reign’s bus.

Yeah, their strange trip continues.

See you again in eight days — this time in Seattle, this time with a trip to the final at stake.

 

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soccer

Numbers on NWSL TV invisibility don’t add up

Posted on by Beau Dure

Fox made a big splash this year with the Bundesliga, easily one of the four best leagues in the world and one that holds a certain charm for U.S. fans, especially us old folks who remember Soccer Made In Germany.

The early ratings are in, and they’re not good. The only games drawing more than 50,000 viewers were broadcast on two channels in two languages, and you have to add them together to break 50K.

The NWSL, with far less fanfare and far fewer resources sunk into production, did better than that when it debuted in 2013.

So would someone care to explain to me why the NWSL doesn’t deserve a better TV deal? At least as good as whatever Fox is paying for the men’s Bundesliga?

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