An NWSL recap
Match day one of the NWSL is now in the books and I think it was a total success. Actually, don’t take my word for it:
Over 90 thousand fans were in attendance at games this weekend, and teams didn’t even have to sign European superstars past their primes to attract fans. I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am to see the amount of hype and excitement that fans brought to the stadiums this weekend. The atmosphere and sounds that echoed throughout the tv broadcasts were a thing to see/hear.
Well, that is when the microphones weren’t peaking like they were a high school quarterback. Really, the NWSL TV broadcasts went along pretty smoothly this weekend with exception of a small few hiccups. I must say, am I the only one that thinks that one J.P. Dellacamera broadcast was one too many?
It’s true, he’s a legend & a hall of famer, but when it’s time… it’s time.
I will note that I quite enjoyed the rest of the broadcasters. I think they were able to perfectly convey the levity and importance of what opening day is. It was quite nice, except I selfishly wanted one of the British broadcasters to have to say “bottle of water.”
Now I can’t divulge into everything that happened this week, but here are a few things. Alex Morgan is on pace to be nominated for another Ballon d’Or on 20 penalty goals again. NC Courage looked rather nice for a team in rebuild mode. Trinity Rodman is all the way back. Oh, and Vlatko is on his bullshit again. But more on that later.
So what did we see this weekend?
Lynn ‘the Terminator’ Williams
We start with maybe the most hyped game of the weekend IMO. We saw an amazing atmosphere, at Banc of California Stadium, that would make a meteorologist go crazy.
We saw the debut of Alyssa Thompson who quickly scored a fucking banger, and then probably thought about her math homework due the next day. Alyssa very quickly showed that she was worth all the hype, and then more. This has got to be a relief to the soccer operations team that has the Queen of Nabo breathing down their neck.
Maybe more importantly we were all introduced to T-800 Lynn Williams. A new and improved model of reinforced bad ass-ery. Nothing is stopping Lynn from doing what she was programmed to do, score goals.
Is Gotham actually going to be good!? 👀
Is Portland Still Good?
The answer to the question above, uh fucking duh. This game wasn’t even close. Somebody cue the “stop it they’re already dead” GIF.
Sophia Smith is on pace to lead the league in goals technically. Let’s be honest, she should have scored two more too. Are we going to see Smith win the league MVP back-to-back?
For Orlando, what is this team going to be this year? I get it, it certainly sucks to play the reigning champs on week one, but very clearly there was something very wrong. Please keep them in your prayers this season.
A Game of Shots, Shots, Shots, Shots, Shots, Shots, EVERYBODY! But No Goals
In possibly the most exciting 0-0 game you’ll see all year, the Dash and Racing Lou went shot for shot in a game that saw over 30 shots total. Unluckily for me, I bet Over 2.5 Goals so you can understand my disappointment when I see Katie Lund is still a brick wall in goal.
Look, I mentioned it before, in my team previews over on TikTok & YouTube @lunacysoccer, in 2022 Racing Lou would play games where they looked like the best team in the league and the worst team in the league in the same game. As was the case on Sunday. Racing Lou had its flashes of brilliance but also allowed Houston to batter Katie Lund like she was a dugout trash can.
That’s all I really wanted to talk about. See yah.