The Most Interesting Teams in the NWSL Challenge Cup So Far
/Words by Lydia Vandenbergh and Arielle Dror, video by Carlon Carpenter
The preliminary rounds of the Challenge Cup are wrapped up. The seeds are set.
While the first few games saw teams experiment with styles of play and roster rotation (at least for some teams), teams now have to put the pieces together as the knockout rounds begin. We looked at the performances of a couple teams to see where they’re succeeding, and more importantly, what they need to improve upon to be successful in their knockout matches. Here's a look at four of the teams we found most interesting thus far.
Washington Spirit
Going into the Challenge Cup, expectations for the young squad were very high. And largely, they’ve met those in the first four games. The Spirit looked particularly dynamic offensively in their first game, thanks in part to human cheat code Rose Lavelle, who is seeing more NWSL action than she has in recent years.
Since then, the team has had varying degrees of success in their subsequent games. The Spirit has bursts of being very, very good alongside periods of difficulty. In particular, the Spirit struggled for long stretches of the games where they were unable to solve pressure in their defensive half. This was particularly evident in their match against North Carolina. In the game, the Spirit was never able to find a solution to the high press that the Courage is known for, and the average passing position for nearly every player was behind midfield. These issues persisted into the beginning of their next game against Portland, where they once again spent a vast majority of the first half pinned into their defensive half, unable to consistently string together more than a couple passes before losing possession. The Spirit’s inability to consistently get past pressure is evident: only 17.8% of their passes are in their final third, the lowest of all teams. If the team can figure this out, they’ll be able to better execute their possession-based style of play that they became known for last season.
The Spirit’s inability to play their possession-heavy game is evident. The team has yet to meet their desired benchmark of 600 passes per game with 60% possession. In fact, the team was out-possessed in all except for their last group-stage game. In that same game, they also scored their lone goal off a build-up of eighteen passes, the highest so far in the tournament.
While the Spirit has been playing well and has results to show for it, they haven’t necessarily been playing the way they want. The Spirit now also has to contend with injuries to midfielders Lavelle, Andi Sullivan, and Jordan DiBiasi. Sullivan will miss the remainder of the season with a torn meniscus, and her presence will be especially missed. The magnitude of the injuries to DiBiasi and Lavelle are unknown and it’s unclear how active they’ll be in the knockout rounds. But if the Spirit can get them back and the team builds upon their last two very good performances, they’ll probably leave Utah very happy.
Chicago Red Stars
The Chicago Red Stars currently sit in 6th place after four matches and utilized a unique game plan for group play. They divided their team into two equal groups of 14 players and trained and prepared each group separately. And that is what we saw in the first two matches; two completely different teams. Chicago’s first game against an energetic Washington Spirit side got the better of the Red Stars and won the game 2-1. The second match versus Portland was a 0-0 tie. The third match, against North Carolina Courage saw a mixture of players from both groups. The Red Stars were able to keep the reigning champs off the scoreboard for most of the match and should have come away with a tie. However, with less than 10 minutes to play the Courage snuck one in off a set piece, and won 1-0.
The Red Stars have the third lowest shot conversion rate, 9.1% and have taken the second fewest shots, with 28. Of those 28, only eight have been on target. They have scored only two goals so far, and really look to be lacking chemistry in the attack. After losing prolific goal scorer Sam Kerr, everyone has wondered who would fill those shoes and we still don't have an answer. Kaelia (Ohai) Watt seems to be dangerous at times, but watching the Red Stars try to counter quickly and play direct doesn't bode well for them. Their long passing percentage is 38.2%, 6th overall. That may have worked for Kerr, who had pace and skill to burn multiple defenders, but now the Red Stars need to possess higher up the pitch with the likes of Morgan Gautrat (Brian) and Danny Colaprico, who are capable of doing so. Yuki Nagasto has found herself dropping deep into the midfield, creating almost a diamond with the other midfielders. In those moments, space Nagasto left is open and it would be beneficial for a deeper midfield to take that space to threaten the back line. This type of player could be Savannah McCaskill. McCaskill can score goals and finally has the fitness to cover more ground. She did well coming off the bench in the third match and this could be a good role for her.
How can you not talk about Julie Ertz when you talk about the Chicago Red Stars? Ertz, who is so consistently solid, played centerback in the last matches of the preliminary round. She was phenomenal inside the box, leading a backline that has previously been a brick wall. She’s willing to lay out her body and fight for every ball. Ertz also has played a role in driving the ball upfield and taking shots herself, or creating chances for her teammates. Her performance are well captured by ASA’s Goals Added (g+) metric, where she currently ranks in third best in the Challenge Cup with 0.60 g+. The Red Stars looked better defensively with her in the back, but lost her aerial presence in the midfield. It’s the right move, but the Red Stars now need to focus on creating goal scoring opportunities with more numbers in the attack.
Portland Thorns
Similar to Chicago, the Portland we’ve seen thus far in the Challenge Cup is not necessarily what we predicted. After the third round of preliminary matches, the team sits with 3 points in 8th place due to a loss to North Carolina and draws with Chicago, Washington, and OL Reign. At the end of last season, the Thorns scored one goal in their last six games.
Still, there is reason for optimism. While they have only scored two goals, only North Carolina has created more chances. Portland has consistently been active in their final third, with the highest number of passes in that area amongst all teams (571 passes, 72 more than the next highest of Chicago). Portland’s two goals compared to their 4.78 xG suggest that they’ve likely been a bit unlucky. Individually, players have worked hard to create chances. Although Lindsey Horan and Morgan Weaver have created the most chances per game, they aren’t shouldering the responsibility entirely. Christine Sinclair, who some might say has seemed quiet in the past few games, has created opportunities and taken shots of her own.
Defensively, with Becky Sauerbrunn out injured, the Thorns have had to adjust their lineup and have looked okay after a disappointing first game. Where they are most vulnerable is defending balls in the air inside the box after some questionable marking. The Thorns have yet to produce a multi-goal game in Utah and are still learning to play to one another’s strengths on the pitch. Between the countless number of chances created and a relatively strong defensive presence, the Thorns have what it takes to be a good team. Right now, they’re just missing the last piece: finishing their shots. Each game has been an improvement for them, and their match against Washington was certainly a game to build upon. Portland is finding their stride and could be a very dangerous team come the knockout round. But right now, that doesn’t seem like it will be the case. They’ll be playing the Courage again in the knockout rounds, which will be a test of whether they can pull everything together and be satisfied with their Challenge Cup performance.
| Shots | xG | Goals | xG_shot | G-xG | Conversion (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 32 | 3.12 | 5 | 0.10 | 1.88 | 15.63 | |
| 58 | 6.1 | 7 | 0.11 | 0.9 | 12.07 | |
| 29 | 2.03 | 2 | 0.07 | -0.03 | 6.9 | |
| 48 | 4.39 | 4 | 0.09 | -0.39 | 8.33 | |
| 42 | 4.4 | 4 | 0.10 | -0.4 | 9.52 | |
| 28 | 2.84 | 2 | 0.10 | -0.84 | 7.14 | |
| 51 | 4.78 | 2 | 0.09 | -2.78 | 3.92 | |
| 45 | 4.18 | 1 | 0.09 | -3.18 | 2.22 |
Houston Dash
First of all, apologies are in order. In our season preview, we wrote that the Dash were probably going to be pretty bad (in our defense, so did most people). We’re sorry. Coach James Clarkson said that the team had read everyone’s predictions of their performance and were eager to prove everyone wrong. In any case, the Dash had a lot to be proud of in their first two games, tying Utah and decisively beating OL Reign before losing their next two matches to Sky Blue and and Washington Spirit. In the moments that the Dash looked their best offensively, they used a high press to win the ball close to the eighteen yard box or force teams to play a backwards pass. This system worked well for them in their first two games, but was far less effective in the second two matches, where the team failed to score. Still, the Dash leave the preliminary rounds five goals off of a 3.12 xG, vastly outperforming any other team in terms of difference between the two, which suggests a regression to the mean may be in order.
While the team is among the highest scorers in the preliminary rounds, they’ve also managed to allow in the most of any team, six goals. Of note, several of these goals came from sloppy decision-making from goalkeeper Jane Campbell. It’s maybe not fair to blame Houston’s lack of competitiveness on tired legs, but there’s something to say for the fact that the squad did not rotate many of their key players, including attackers Shea Groom, Kristie Mewis, and Rachel Daly and centerback Katie Naughton. Houston has also had the least rest of all the teams going into the final preliminary match (three days as opposed to the Spirit’s six), and that especially impacted a team whose strategy relies heavily on taking the field with high energy. During a press conference after their last match, Clarkson noted that the team was fatigued and in need of a break, and that certainly looked the case from afar, too. Maybe what this team needs most isn’t technical adjustments: it’s simply the time to decompress and reset.
The Dash will take on the Utah Royals in the quarterfinals. When they played each other in their opening matches, the game ended in a very entertaining 3-3 draw. With a well-rested Dash side, hopefully we’ll be able to say the same again.
If there’s one thing that this Challenge Cup has shown us so far, is that parity is the name of the game in the NWSL (sans the Courage). Half of the teams are tied on points at the end of the preliminary matches and every team except for one enter the knockout rounds with at least one win, so the results of each matchup are really nothing more than an educated guess. But the Challenge Cup has also shown that while it’s really great to have the NWSL back on the field, it’s not without difficulty. Coach James Clarkson is not the only person in The Bubble to talk about the difficulty of living in such an environment while also navigating the issues going on outside. It was clear when during the fourth set of games that players are tired--not just physically, but also mentally--and desperately need some time to rest. Hopefully, the break between before the knockout stages will be sufficient.
Nevertheless, The quarterfinals of the Challenge Cup are set to begin on Friday and it’s going to be exciting, with two rematches from the preliminary rounds and two new matchups. For some of these teams, they’ll be experiencing knockout play for the first time and we’re looking forward to seeing which teams rise to the challenge.