This Week In Women's Soccer

the rest of the world should probably take some action. kicking the united states out of sporting competitions would be a simple, immediate gesture

2026 HINGES ON… Nothing. I mean the obvious thing to say here is "consistency" but when Gotham has won two championships in the last two years from the lowest seed in the playoffs, does consistency matter? This team has the talent and the coaching to win anything they get into. It's up to the rest of the league to make them not do that anymore.

working on my #NWSL preview and got to Gotham and like, why even bother?

Villalba kung fu kick against HULK (that Hulk, from Porto, Zenit and 2014 WC), what makes this kick awesome (?)

amazing!

CHECK OUT THE KUNG FU KICK AT 1:10

oh yes

Stream is up #woso

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g19...

Looks like Australia is Going For It Fully, at least in the lineup, so that might make my choice

?

I haven't decided which match I'm watching, tbh. which brand of morbid curiosity will win out?

Iran, who've had a, uh dramatic tournament, are still in decent shape if they manage to get the win, but the bigger the win the better. I'm not sure Iran can really stop a goal if it happens, but I'm not sure the Philippines can actually score.

In the other match, things are relatively simple: the winner has a good shot at getting into the knockouts, and from there the World Cup. The Philippines have looked dismal and negative all tournament, but their goal difference means a win should get them into the QFs without worry

you're not very good anymore Luke

...lose to China in the QFs, get stunned in the playoff by an organized Taiwan team, and get a bad draw in the intercontinental playoffs and miss the World Cup. That would take some bad luck, but why risk it? Come out and play hard, Australia!

...the thing is, the biggest prize available isn't necessarily the trophy, but World Cup qualification, which is automatic for quarterfinals winners, while others go into the playoffs. So, for example, the #matildas could finish second here.....

so what IS at stake? First place in the group for South Korea and Australia. But it's a bit dubious, winning the group means taking on favorites Japan in the semifinals. South Korea has the advantage on goal difference, so Australia MIGHT not come out with their best team at full force, but....

As I wrote about in this week's #woso newsletter, the drama of the group stage has been limited by saving the "big" matches for the end. Australia/South Korea have both already qualified, Iran/Philippines are both just chasing a third place slot

this-week-in-womens-soccer.ghost.io/this-week-in...

AFC Asian Cup Welcome to the official AFC Asian Cup YouTube Channel.

Preview of the Asian Cup matches tonight, starting in a couple hours (and on Youtube) www.youtube.com/AFCAsianCup

It's the finish of Group A with Australia/South Korea and Iran/Philippines kicking off simultaneously

this is with me limiting recs to three per league, btw, but I believe virtually every NWSL match fits my standard of "two high quality teams playing matches of consequence"

Next week is utterly ridiculous for #woso with full club football AND the meat of the Asian Cup, and the week after that, the Champions League is back

Norway doesn't seem to have a central defense, which seems like a problem

So it turns out our number one recommended match for the weekend WAS available on streaming! www.youtube.com/watch?v=V54d...

It also turns out it wasn't really worth recommending, good work Germany

this is a nuanced, sympathetic article that does not mention the words "bomb", "Trump", or "Ayatollah" once

I went on the record saying they may do in 2027 what Colombia did in 2023 so I'm right there with you

the Artur Elias era of Brazil is very fun to watch most of the time but very infuriating to play against

Mexico is wise to take Farmer off themselves there, I think

I've seen friendlier tbh

Going to the NWSL, particularly an expansion team, could see superstar Lindsey Heaps back. Or will definitely prove she's just increasingly washed. One of the two!

I genuinely think the Lyon move has been terrible for her due to lack of competition in 80% of matches. Like yeah she's a pretty good attacker out of midfield but Heaps needs to get fired up and go blood and thunder box to box like against Netherlands 2023

fellow sickos, let's go