SoccerWise - NWSL to Columbus, Calendar Change on Hold, Midweek Recap & Power Rankings

Episode Date: April 30, 2026

David and Jordan are back as they discuss the NWSL’s newest expansion team, Columbus, and the league’s decision to keep the calendar as is for now. Then they recap a slate of midweek games, including a top-of-the-table clash between Portland and San Diego, and look ahead to some of the most interesting matches this weekend before rounding things out with their Power Rankings.4:45 - Columbus officially joins the NWSL ranks12:00 - NWSL calendar change on hold17:20 - Top of the Table Clash - Portland against San Diego24:12 - Gotham makes it back-to-back wins, Boston is still a work in progress27:55 - Washington is starting to click32:25 - Friday Night Lights - Houston vs. Seattle 35:30 - Weekend Watches - 2024 Champ Rematch, Expansion Derby, NorCal vs. SoCal 40:45 - Power Rankings

Welcome back to Soccer Wise, everyone. What a week. A little bit delayed on the NWSL recording because we had little week games, baby. Jordan has been in the air flying around calling games for five straight days. It will continue along for three more. Didn't have you with us last week because you were doing big time stuff in New York. So I just feel like I haven't seen you. I know. It's weird. But the fun thing is we will get to see each other IRL tonight. Hang in, baby. Yeah. This is going to be exciting. We are the guest celebrities at the Baller League.

So between Jay Balvin, Ronaldino, and Truski, they figured Jordan and David should be in the building to really sell the product. You think they're going to have some kind of something set up for us to do some cool content with them? Because they're like, whoa, these people are here. We got to do something fun. Yeah, my understanding was I thought Jay Balvin's video team. team that he brought was going to moonlight covering us because he asked them to. Right.

Yep. That's what my people had told me. Coming through all of our people, it's a little bit difficult. But we're going to go see our own, Susanna Fuller, Ann Duda, Chris Whittingham, who's been on this show as well, I believe, broadcasts the stuff. So we're going to go hang out in Florida because you are doing the full-time thing this week, covering a million games. So you had games last weekend.

you've got Orlando coming up this weekend. You're going to be in the building, which I'm very excited for. I had it actually, without talking to you, I had it down as our game to watch on Saturday because Orlando versus Washington. That's a tasty one. Obviously, rematch of the championship two years ago. And then you'll be back in the studio on Sunday for more games because four games on Sunday, which what I love is all different time windows.

So from 1 p.m. on, yeah, it's a great day. Is it 1-357? There may have been an 830 in there, so I'm not. Yeah, okay. But, like, they are all spread out so they're not on top. Because last night, I'm not going to lie, was tough. Yeah. It's tough when the games are on top of each other.

And so I'm watching one game and then I'm like, oh, whoa, the other game's two zero. I know. It is one, three, five, seven. So just, like, post up on your couch. Get some food delivered. Just make it a day. Make it a day. A great day.

Headlined, I think, by the. first ever expansion. You called the first Utah Bay game. I remember that game specifically. How a lot of juice. And now Boston versus Denver. You've got a lot of ties on expansion, by the way. You know what?

I only charge a small fee for cities who want an expansion fee. Because it seems like everywhere I've been or everywhere I've gone has got an expansion fee. Bay, then Boston, then Denver, now Columbus. So I think it might be the opposite. I'm open for negotiations. I think the ownership committee that looks at expansion is saying, I think one of the questions must be on the questionnaire is what's your connection to Jordan Angeley? Yeah.

That is how you prove your bona fides. Right. Yeah. And it gets a little hairy like when people are just, you know, trying to pay for my love. Yeah. Or claim you. Yeah. But you know what?

I'm willing to, you know, just take a small fee for whoever's next. Hollywood, Florida is going to be the next one applying for a team because of the amount of time. Technically, she's a resident because of the amount of time she spent inside the county borders. True, true. But, yeah, the cats out of the bag on that one, that Columbus is going to be the next team coming into NWSL, alongside Atlanta, of course. So we got that announcement. Schedule change will not be happening anytime soon. So we're going to talk about that.

We'll hit these midweek games. We'll get you a weekend preview. and then every week we are doing NWSL power rankings that we continue to update. So if you're listening on Sirius Radio, welcome. Thank you for being here. A little bit of a different time this week on Thursday instead of Wednesday. Normally we record on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and come out Wednesday night. But because of the midweeks, we shifted a little bit this week.

We will still have your MLS and U.S. Open Cup and CCL coverage, USM&T with Matt Doyle. That one will be coming out on Friday night on Sirius Radio. of course, as a podcast. If you just search soccer wise, anywhere you get your pods. Well, let's dig into the big news. Let's start with Columbus. So you've experienced Denver now in person. You lived in Columbus for, what, three, four years covering Columbus crew,

including watching Lower.com Stadium Open, which will obviously be a huge part of everything going forward with the team coming in. What was your reaction? Sort of what's been your thought process since it got announced? Well, I had some inklings that things were going to go to Columbus, because I have connections there. And so I had been chatting with some people about what made Denver a successful did. And especially on the point of how do you engage the community properly.

And so I was talking to some people in Columbus that I had worked with previously about some of the things that we did and connecting them with some people in Denver. Because, and once it got to that stage and they were asking about those things, having worked for the crew, I knew that the ability for them to, fund a team to get an expansion team was there. Like they were, they have the means with the families that are involved to be able to pay the expansion fees. So I knew if they're already digging into what it's going to look like from a fan perspective,

that there was a high chance that they were going to be the next expansion team. And it was just to actually see the announcement happen. And some of the announcement videos to see my friend Molly and Dante Washington, their kids in the announcement video, people that have been a part of this club for a long time just made me really happy for this community. Because when I was there, I actually talked to a couple of people that were very interested and had conversations with Bez about, hey, we should bring an expansion team in. And at that point, Goss, it was $2 million to get an expansion team.

And so I would imagine kicking themselves a little bit that they did. didn't bite at that opportunity back in the day when that got brought up. But it, this community loves soccer. They love football. They have supported the crew through the ups and the downs and saving them. And I am really pleased that this is going to be the next expansion, uh, city, because it is a great place to live. I loved living there. Uh, such a cute little quaint community. It's a, It's a bigger city, but it doesn't feel huge. There's so many positives about hits. And so I'm just, I'm just pumped.

And hopefully I can make it to first game in Columbus because I have to. I feel like I'm, even though I'm not a part of it, it just feel like I am a little bit of a part of it. And I mean, you know it so well. You said it. It is a great soccer town. It is, you know, for me from afar, going to that. that first USA game at Old Crew Stadium was like a right of passage. And I just couldn't believe that there was a market in the U.S.

that cared about soccer like that. Like I just couldn't imagine it living in New York and Boston at the time, which obviously is great sacrifice, but it's not centralized like it is in Columbus. You go to Columbus and there are newspapers in the diner that are covering the crew and the U.S. national team. And like that just doesn't happen other places. And obviously the Save the Crew was, you know, traumatic in many ways, but also inspiring in many ways.

And unfortunately, now we're replaying it with the Vancouver White Cabs. And then you've experienced lower dot-cop field of like you walk there. Like you're in downtown, you pop into a restaurant or a bar, you walk to the stadium. There's like an elevated train track you walk under. Or you can bike through a park and over a river to get there. Like there's so many parts of it that are really fun that for NWA fans who maybe don't watch MLS or haven't experienced it that like to travel for games or watch games from afar. Like it is going to be a premier thing to bring into the league.

And the fans are going to love it because like you said, there's so much pride. Ohio State has a great history already with soccer. I mean, the state of Ohio has great players that have come out of it across the board. So it just feels like a perfect no-brainer to bring into the league with a lot of infrastructure that already exists. I mean, they own two stadiums. Like Old Grove Stadium still stands. We have markets that can't build one.

Yeah. The nice thing about the old crew stadium, too, is they dome it. And so they have the ability to train there, despite any of the weather in the winter, which I think is a real positive for, for this new Columbus team. And then lower.com is, is this a lower? No, now it's. No, it's Scott's Scrowfield. Yeah.

Yeah, something like that. If they don't sponsor us, we don't have to get it right. I got to get updated on what the. feel this called now, but it is, to call a game there was really special. I can only imagine what it feels like to play a game there. And I believe that the atmosphere within that stadium is just going to be one of the best in NWSL, because it translates really well. The sound stays in. It's a beautiful stadium. And then to have a two-year runway to build the facilities for a women's team is really nice, a nice cushion to get what they need to get when it comes to their training facility over by

the old Cruz Stadium to just add on another piece for the women's team. It's, I'm just so proud. I'm so happy. It's going to be really fun to have them a part of the league. Well, nice to add them into the region as well, giving a little robbery for Louisville, for Chicago, and then I think it seems like the league will continue to expand. Obviously, Jessica Berman sort of took off any specific restrictions of like, here are. timelines when they have to be in when they have to start. You mentioned the $2 million, so that went up to $53 million, which went up to 102, which went up to 153. And now 205, yes, which a piece came out actually saying that if it had been below 200, Atlanta would

have gotten $15 million back because their 165 was contingent on the next one being above 200. And what a coincidence. It was just above. 205 just toss an extra 5 million in and i think Atlanta they did a press conference last week where they said the colors and the the crest and the name have been decided so they'll be coming out soon um i think there's a lot of excitement it's not just going to be like black and red like the falcons and Atlanta united I think there's going to be some unique pieces to it specifically for the team which i think will be really cool and again I think one of the great concepts for these two markets is like you're not in some markets in the U.S., let's be real, you're teaching soccer.

Like you're teaching people to be soccer fans and then you're teaching them to be fans of your team and NWSL. You don't have to teach soccer in Atlanta and Columbus. They are already fully committed. It's just bringing this new team and putting together a winning team that people can engage with. I think we're seeing it in Denver like you talked about. Like if you just bring a team that's fun to watch and cares about the community, then the

community is going to care about them back the other way. Good news maybe, I think. I know we talked about it a bit on this show. I did a little bit of a monologue. Brianna talked about it on the kickback committee. But when those teams come into the leak, they'll be playing a schedule that starts end of February, early March, and runs through November as we've gotten used to because NWS has announced that the schedule won't shift at least until after 2030. So putting off the potential shift, there is a lot of reporting around why there is not specifics.

it would be towards the end of the current CBA that that shift would occur so you'd assume it's part of the next CBA negotiations and conversations. It would also be lining up against a World Cup that could be hosted here, which would also give you maybe a potential shift point to do a sprint season before and then restart as a August through May season coming out of it. Either way, it didn't seem like a great idea. It felt a little rushed. and now it seems like the league is stepping off it and moving off. So we had Jeff Kusuf on last week, which was awesome. Just fun to have him on, even though 50% of what we talked about is now potentially irrelevant, but probably something we're going to continue talking about going forward.

I would imagine, especially from what we've seen with these most recent CBAs, where they negotiated before it was even expired. And so even though this says, you know, it's not going to happen until 2030, we don't know that because they've been really proactive in the way that they've negotiated. negotiated CBAs and that could be something that does get integrated a little bit sooner than that. But there's there's pros and cons to it. And I do think that the cons in the climate that we live in with the number of teams in cold weather areas, it just would have made it really difficult because you'd have to, I can think

off the top of my head in five or maybe even six different climates where you'd have to have an indoor facility to be able to train day in and day out. And that infrastructure, the amount of money that you'd be putting into that infrastructure is substantial. So I think it's the right decision for right now. Is it the forever right decision? I don't know. Yeah. I'm not quite sure. And I think that that's why it is a good decision not to make any big moves until it's fully considered and you kind of put a little bit more long-term thought into it. So I don't know with it. Yeah, and the hope would be with the news coming out here and the conversation starting that it's now five years of conversation. And I know some people would say, oh, well, we've talked about this before.

We've thought about it. But it didn't feel like all the parties that would need to be spoken with had like full big-time convos. And that includes local governments. That includes facilities. that includes ownership groups. That includes future ownership groups. Like there are two teams now coming in that maybe would feel differently about where the, you know, when the season would be played,

where it would be played. So I think having all of those parties at the table is key. And I also think if there is going to be a jump in the popularity of the sport, like what I talked about last week was anybody else should be a leader. And so shifting schedule

because it fits with the European windows, I don't think makes sense. It makes sense if it's the best thing for NWSL in terms of scheduling and facilities and all of that. And that's a fine answer to give. It didn't feel like they had enough work done to be able to state that that was the clear reason. Two other things that I think about, one is in a lot of these places that NWSL teams play currently, I know it's changing as new teams come in. They're second, maybe even third tenant. I think that you become higher up on the totem pole because of the way MLS is switching season.

So in Seattle, you might be second now instead of third because there's concerts in the summer or whatever it may be. So that's a real big benefit from that. And also I think one of the biggest reasons that NWSL has grown over the last couple of years, Goss, is because we've had a substantial TV deal where we have windows that are primetime windows in TV in the summertime. because really you're in the summer you're just competing with baseball and wmba yep those are the big sports that are happening at the same time whereas if you're if you're more fall winter you've got all the big sports that you're competing against on the men's side and it just makes the market more difficult like you're probably playing more off off time games to try to get on national TV yeah you're

not playing 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday games and getting on CBS the way it is. And the only way this league grows is if we continue to get eyeballs on us in prime time spots. That's going to be massive. So that makes sense to me too, especially right now with how much the league is growing. Totally. And then the other side to me, the strength is the game day experience, which is better in the summer than it is in the winter in many of these markets. So on both sides, it feels like the fan experience has improved and that's without Brianna talked very well on the committee about for the players safety

health, cold weather, all this type of stuff, the potential to have to play on more turf like all the types of things that are affected by it as well. Okay, we talked a little bit about the news. Let's talk about the games. Midweek, we had four games all on top of each other, some big results. I think let's start with the biggest one, which was the top of the table clash. Portland hosting the San Diego Wave, Portland with a

two zero win. Mueller, a crazy goal early in the game. Just one of those where you're like, yeah, that could work as she hits it, but just no one does. Hits it first time on her right foot as the ball's coming over to her and it looked like in a way to cross with the left foot, curls it to the far post, gives Portland the one zero lead early on. And then San Diego knocked on the door, as you'd expect. They created chances. They created a lot of half chances. Portland made a couple mistakes under pressure playing out of the back that probably they don't make against most teams, but San Diego's pressure is so high and Lou Jemila is so good at leading it from the front. I thought Porchio was really effective coming off the bench in this one and being sort of that third finisher coming on to the back post when Dugina creates. But not enough to break through.

This is a special Portland team, I think, as well. and then they've got two special players. Because you look at the second goal, Jesse Fleming, who's having an incredible year, reads the play, steps, wins it, wins it in a moment that's unexpected, so there's no rest defense. It falls to, arguably,

most dangerous player on the planet, who's back now with her second straight goal. Sophia Wilson turns, and she strikes early. And like this is the things where Sophia Wilson can hit the ball at pace in moments that other players, players cannot and it catches a goalkeeper off a little bit and now you're up to zero and that's a safe

lead to be able to protect. So it wasn't gorgeous from Portland, but it was impressive. Even in the Sophia Wilson goal, Olivia Maltrey is right there and she drags herself slightly wide from Wilson and that is difficult as a defender because the defender actually can't step to Wilson to get the pressure on her that she needs to because she has to be mindful. If she passes it to Moultry, I have to close that angle, too. So it is that quick transition moment is vital that they have two of the best players on the field so close together. And they're able to create space for one another. And Wilson finds the back of the net.

It's just amazing to me, Goss, two months ago, a little over two months ago, we're thinking, what the heck is going on in people like? I picked them in last place. Yeah. And now they have just been one of the most consistent teams. And they have more depth than we thought they would. Getting Mueller back is great. They have depth in the centerback position,

and they can look different in different games depending on. If they want to play Jaden Perry with her left foot, they have three center forwards who are playing across the front line and finding themselves working off of each other really well and filling space if one checks in, the other fills the space really well. And you don't often see that with three really traditional nines playing across the front line. So it's been a revelation to watch them find their footing in this in 2026 and kind of pick up where they left off and add a couple more like they've clicked it up a couple more

notches, which is incredible. And they, you know, this game, so I think San Diego finished like on 1.2 XG and Portland finished on zero point two. And it's just a game they probably don't win last year because they don't, because they don't, they literally don't have Mueller and Wilson on the field. Right. And so it's, they are cohesive. There's a ton of belief.

They've, they've inspired their young players to sort of elevate their game because they believe they have a spot and they belong on the field. And then you get this quality that you just you can't always find. And I'm not saying San Diego doesn't have it. I'm not saying some other teams in the league don't, but this is the part where they win this game that they probably wouldn't have gotten that result last year. And it just makes everyone feel a little better. And the game gets easier and there's more confidence going into the next game. And rather than last year where it's like, Tordon and Turner come off the field and they're like, ah, we underperformed. And like, you start to feel pressure going into the next game.

It's just that outlet or that safety valve that is just the pure quality of some of these more experienced players to add into this. But the big one being Wilson, Emma Hayes was in the building to watch this one, doing a little babysitting with Gigi in the booth as well. So a good one for Sov to step up in and show, as she did, I think, in the international camp that she is getting back to her best form, goals in back-to-back games. But I think the big question coming out of this is are these two best teams? And we'll do our power rankings coming up. But let's start at the top. They are one and two right now. Not everyone has played the same amount of games.

Do you feel comfortable in saying Portland and San Diego are in a class of their own? I think Washington's proving that they're right up there. Gotham as well, now that they're scoring goals, they over the weekend look like, okay, we know that we have the best players in the, some of the best players in the league, we're going to play like it. Like Gotham played that way over the weekend. So I would say from those four, they are starting to separate themselves. I stick with what I said the other week about San Diego.

They can be the best team in this league. I think they need to upgrade their goalkeeper position. Yeah. The other one is Kat Mikario, because in watching Portio be successful in this game, like I said, sort of crashing off that right wing, it stood out to me how good Lujmila would be in that spot. Yeah. And so if you pushed her out wide and you had Kat Makario up top, obviously one,

Kat Makaro is a special player and he's a difference maker. I think it also slides Lujmila into her best spot. She can become a second forward. She can sort of find space because a lot of people won't track her the way she runs and she is a true finisher. And I think they're still waiting on that. And I think that's going to be one of those where they can contend, at the top, they can get a home playoff game. I don't think you can win a shield missing a

player like that for a long stretch of the season. And I think timeline, right? We haven't heard any timeline really on when she'll be available. Right. So I think the World Cup break helps because you've got this huge gap that will happen where if she's not fully fit and ready to go before, like you have this huge, what, three, four week break for her to then come back and be ready. But I think that's going to decide a lot of it. You mentioned Gotham. Six goals in two games. So I guess things are okay. Seems like it. It seems like they have gotten their groove back. And over the weekend, it felt like they were just super dominant. This game, they did enough to get themselves ahead. And then, not that they coasted, but like when you're up two to nothing

and within 10 minutes, you feel pretty good about your ability to close a game out. Yeah, and it's individual quality, Jaden Shaw special, S there special, and then they've got some depth. Dudley scores the first goal, takes it really well. And we talked about her a lot in the offseason because I thought she would be effective coming in and maybe the goals haven't come as fast. But like, she legitimately has earned time amongst some of the best players in the world. And Juan Carlos Amros already trusts her.

And it allows you to push Mitch Purse back a little bit deeper in the field, but it also sort of gives you another option to move Esther around. So this team is dangerous. I'm wrong. It's five goals in two games, not six. Oh, yeah. I thought it was five, and I just rolled with it. I appreciate that.

That's a good teammate. Yeah. If you want to be a good teammate, you could come play with me on the Boston Legacy because they are struggling a little bit. They were up to zero at halftime at home against North Carolina. Courage looking for the first win in the club's history. They end up tying two-two in the end of this one.

So the goals are nice. That's fun. The results, not so much. And it continues to be a bit of a struggle for this Boston team. They really didn't have control. Even with the two-goal lead, they just never were able to, they're not able to control games in any way. That's the biggest thing that I've noticed about this group,

is it never feels like, if you look at some other teams in NWSL, there are times where it doesn't look like the game like is, like they're stretching and reaching for the game, that everything is kind of, even if they don't have the ball. They're in a good spot. They're not rushing. There is a sense of control in the way that they play. When I watch Boston, it feels like everything is stressful.

Really? When they're on the ball, it's like, I'm stressing to get this pass off. And then I'm reaching to get this next pass off. It always feels like the game is a little bit ahead of them, and they're not quite there in the proper timing. So it's a good, concise way to say it. Goss is, yeah, it doesn't feel like they're in control of what, going on and how the game is being played. I think a lot of the ass to do with what Patau is asking

of them. It's a super aggressive style of play. Only three in the back, four in the midfield. Looks like a diamond. Sometimes the outside players need to get wide and help out in that, but also they ask a lot of their six to run around and defend and then there's gaps in the middle. I think it's just, it's not that the ideas behind what she's asking are wrong. I don't know if they are capable of executing that at this moment in time. Like the game feels like it needs to be simplified for Boston, get some confidence, then start to layer in some of these extra things that you want them to do.

And that's the part that I think is tough, which is there is a way you can dominate a game, which has caused chaos, where, like, you thrive in the chaos and the other team's uncomfortable. They don't seem comfortable in the chaos. So it feels like they open up the game. They want to press everywhere. They want to up the tempo,

but they're not the ones who look bad. better at it. And so it seems to hurt them over and over again. And you see the second goal in this one, like, just how unclear it is of like spacing and where the rest of the game is. But I think that's players just like being uncomfortable and not being fully like attuned to what's happening next and where their teammates are. So a big game coming up this weekend. We'll talk about that in a moment. But let's talk about the game you were on. Trinity Rodman's first goal of the season. One zero went at home. Second goal of the season. First goal was this week. I know. I keep mixing this weekend. to midweek and having it all in my head.

Me too, believe me. So second goal of the season, second straight game. Washington, the one zero win at home against Louisville. Should have been two zero. I put it out on blue sky, the end-to-end play that ended on the Rodman chance, which she takes first time. You're never going to kill her for doing that, but didn't need to. But overall, what have you seen from Washington this week where they've sort of moved back

up the table? two different styles i would say in the game over the weekend they were dominant with the ball possessing controlling the way the game was played and i think their defense was on display but not as much as it was on display against louisville they they understood the task at hand they were grittier than louisville they won first and second balls how herch felt was everywhere tackling and setting the tone. And then Washington did a really good job of using Louisville's press against them, right?

If you're going to come up and press us really high on the field, well, we're going to use that to play straight through the lines. And that quick direct buildup to the goal was one of the best I think you'll see all year. So on the Hal Herschfeld side, I don't know if you saw the quote post game

of her being like, she got called for a penalty kick. Honestly, I tackle in the box. And then she said, everyone came up to her and they were like, girl, you got them all. You're good. And like, then VR went and looked at it and it got called off. And there was some serious passion. Like, Hal Hurst felt like pumping up the crowd.

And she screamed something and we got it on camera. Oh, yeah? Yeah, she was pumping up the crowd. And I just go back to even the win against Bay and the first three games of the season and the game at Louisville. It just, it felt kind of flat. And so I think just seeing how engaged they are and seeing how in tune they were in those buildouts and dealing with pressure and players coming off the bench making a difference as well. It just feels like I don't know, but something happened preseason. And we have talked about the amount of international players they have that were away and all this stuff.

And it feels like now they've clicked into the team we've seen for the last two years. Feels like a couple of things to me. One, I feel like they've really understood more with the way that they're asking their front three to play, especially Rodman on the left, is how integral Cantore can be in creating for everybody else. She's not a 10, but she is a 10. Like, she's a playmaker, I would say. And then two is the ability for Lacey Santos to shoulder some of the goal scoring weight. And so she is as the Truton in this system, likes to shift to the left and be in that pocket on the left-hand side. But her commitment to getting into the box is, yes, they've gotten goals from it.

But even it's dragging teams back sometimes to open up that passing lane. And then Washington is just sometimes it takes a little bit of time when you're asking for those little tweaks and those little details to be different than what they were before. And it does feel like they have figured out, like, that second seam is what they can be effective in or the combination plays when Cantori wants to go and help create and connect and when she wants to stretch. It takes a while for the understandings of those nuances to happen. But the variety of goals they've scored in the last couple of weeks has showed you, I think, help them regain their confidence in how dynamic they can be. any line on the field. And the number nine creativity stuff, I think Ashley Hatch did a lot of that.

I think Ulei Sarr did a lot of that. And I think it was one of those things that, especially with Corey Bethune gone, is going to be necessary. And as you said, Kentori's very good at it. And it was just a matter of, I think, figuring out, okay,

the responsibility for you doesn't lie on always being the highest player and always being the one crashing the box first or balls over the top. And now that they found that comfort space, you see that, Rose Kwasi, and Trini Rodman and Lacey Santos are three of the best goal scores in the league. So it's been a really good run for them.

And their plastic coyote that they have adopted. Yeah, Jose seems to be his luck continues on this one. All right, that's all for us on midweek. Let's talk about the weekend, though, because all these teams are back in action immediately. And there's a lot of big games. So one game on Friday night, Houston hosting Seattle 8 p.m. Eastern time. neither of them played midweek. Good news from the Seattle camp on Jess Fishlock,

who announced her retirement immediately went down with an injury and looked like it might be for the full season, which kind of put up in the air what her retirement sort of sendoff would be like for an NWSL legend, club legend, soccer legend. And Laura Harvey has said, at least, it's not as bad as initially feared. It looked like it might be for the year. We don't believe that anymore.

So we don't have specifics on it, but we are hopeful to see Jess Fishlock back on the field, and obviously we know how effective she still is for this team and how big she is as a player. On the Houston side of things, also a little bit of news, as they've signed Amina Eckich, former racing Louisville player. If you remember her name, four goals across almost 45 appearances,

and then went and played in Australia as one of the best players, and then in the USL Super League, most recently with Lexington. It feels like, kind of in the vein of what Houston has done, giving sort of young attacking players, opportunities where maybe other teams haven't. And we've seen it work out from the players coming straight out of college so far. Van Zanton, of course, Faso, All these players. And so it just feels like another in the line for Houston that seems to have hit this DNA

that could be really, really successful for them. Because they play with, when you look across their roster, it's a 4-4-2, but they invert their winger. So it's really like four forwards that they're trying to play with who have a lot of pace in our good and tight spaces. And Echich is one of those players. She proved it in NWSL when she was here. And it seems has taken some steps in order to improve herself

to get back into this league. So I think it's a good depth piece for Fabrice Gautra. This is going to be an interesting match because when you look at the midfield of Seattle, even without fish lock, It's really, it's been over the past year, a little over a year about Sam Meza and how she manages the space centrally. It's going to be a challenge for her and mentee next to her, whoever plays next to her is how they deal with those, the passing lanes into the forwards and denying those, but also the inverted wingers. I think that's going to be a key area of this game where I'm going to be looking to is how Meza works.

Because if you can beat, if you can win that ball and beat those, that line quickly, There should be space against Houston, especially how aggressive they are in trying to get the regains and the repress. And Seattle has shown that they can be really good in transition this year. Yeah. So that is the only Friday game. So light Friday night. And then we go into Saturday. And of course, you're going to watch at 4 p.m. Eastern time, Jordan Angelo, on the call in the stadium for Orlando against Washington, rematch of the championship two years ago.

and two teams that have already had success early on this season, as we talked about, Washington's run of form. This is the big test now. Like you go on the road to a team that is defensively sound. Can you continue this, I think, is the big question. Also, Orlando, no midweek game. Washington, a midweek game. It's a quick, really quick turnaround for Washington because it's already Thursday.

They play in 48 hours from now. So I think for them, I'm curious as to if they, one, how they set up, if there are rotations, but how aggressive are they? Or do they, do they without, you know, they still have Marta and Banda, but without Ovae as another creator for Orlando in attack, do they sit back a little bit? Is it starting to mid block? Do they not give up any space in behind to resist transition moments and keep the game more compact? act if I'm Washington, that's probably something I would be thinking of. I think this is going to be tactically a really interesting match because of the difference of schedules and Orlando having a full week of rest to prep for it.

It is going to be a fun one. I think it's one that's sort of going to set the tone for how we consider these teams towards the top of the league because they are both championship contenders for sure and they both believe that. and I think externally everyone does as well. To finish up the weekend, we have a loaded Sunday, as we said, four games, one, three, five, and seven. We love an odd number, I guess, in the NWSL world.

There are some big games in there. I think one of the biggest one is this expansion, Darby, Boston against Denver, as we talked about, Boston still trying to find themselves. Denver, they did not play midweek, and they come off one of the weirdest games I've seen. Boston went up to zero in the first half, tied two two midweek. Denver said, hold my beer. They went up to zero and lost three two at home on the weekend. So I think Jordan, two teams showing for sure how hard it is to put together a culture and, you know, the level of like trust and experience that you need to go through the ups and downs of a season on the fly for the first time.

and I think they're both sort of struggling with those ups and downs of what it's like. And just how much focus and attention to detail it takes to win a 90-minute football match and NWSL, because you would say both these teams felt the exact same thing over the last couple of days, right? Being up, not being able to hold it in the second half, how do you complete the game? How do you, if you're veterans in this, on those teams who have played in this league before, how do you manage some of the, I think, for Denver, the rookies, for Boston, all the new players that they have that never played in this league before. It should be an interesting game because Denver has shown, minus that game where they just gave

up three goals, that they've been really difficult to break down. And Boston has been willing in moments to throw a lot of numbers forward. It'll, those transition, I mean, transition moments in NWCL are huge, but it does feel like this game is, it might highlight those. moments, especially for Denver going forward in transition moments. Yeah. It will be interesting. You go on the road for Denver. So the expectation I think is you're a little bit against the ball, but also we talked about the gaps that are there on this Boston team. You also didn't play midweek. So like how much can you use it? And then how much do you expose

yourself? And I think there's sort of that balance that they need to find, which Every team, I would say a lot of these teams, we're talking about like, okay, what's your core identity that follows you from week to week? And I think it's a question for Gotham. Like, I think that's one of the issues is I think Gotham sort of plays two and the way their opponents play too often. And so they don't have this like, you know what you're going to get every week and it allows you to ride the ups and downs to a shield. So that's a team that just won a championship, has won two of the last three and like has so much experience. So for Denver and Boston, it's more understandable. But trying to find that, I think, and this is one of those test games, especially for Denver against a team that's struggling.

Of like, can you sort of set the tone even though you're on the road, even though you have to travel the distance and all of that. So a big game for those two teams should be a fun one to watch on the end of the weekend. And then I had San Diego Bay in there as well. The California matchup, San Diego, obviously coming off this loss. So they're going to look to bounce back. And a bait team that has struggled. But this is sort of an opportunity to put a flash across the league and say, like, no, we're actually, like, we are competitive. We do believe in ourselves.

And I think getting a win against San Diego would be a big way to show that. Yeah, absolutely. That would take us into our power rankings, which we can close out with because we're talking about where all these teams stand and what we're doing. So we haven't done this in a while because we had an international break into the weekend. and then we wanted to wait for the midweek games. So the last time we did this was on April 7th. Our teams, I'll give you the top five in order. We're San Diego, Orlando, Angel City, Houston, and Portland.

So we could start up there and start to move down. Is it safe to put Portland in first? I think so. Okay. Yeah. Is Washington second? Yes. Okay.

I think Washington, then San Diego. Okay. And one of the tough things is we don't have equal games played for everyone. So that makes this a little bit harder. So now the question becomes, so we had Orlando and Angel City in two and three. How far do they drop based off the results we've seen? I would say Orlando. I keep them in that order, Orlando Angel City, but just what would that be third and fourth?

It would be four and five. Yeah. And we feel good about still having them over Gotham for now. Maybe Gotham in front of Angel City. Okay. What do you think? I think Gotham is out of them right now based off this run. And Angel City has worried me in performances that I didn't expect from them.

I just, it doesn't feel as energetic. Like the last game just felt different. And so that's two games back to back. that starts to worry me a little bit. Right. Where it felt like with Angel City, the reason I had pushed them so high so fast was like style and performance.

And so if the style starts to go away, it worries me a little bit more. That takes us to seventh place. So based off last time we had Portland, or we had Seattle in sixth, Casey in seventh, but in the standings, Utah is fifth. Do we have Utah up there?

I feel like Houston or Utah will be the next two teams. for me. Okay. So for me, I'm going to put Houston because it feels more repeatable with Utah. Great. Fantastic run. Love it. Win over Seattle on the road, great. Win against Chicago, win against Boston does not feel as dominating for this Utah team. So that's what sort of has me putting them behind Houston, but that's fine. Then for the next ones, we'd sort of be in the Seattle, North Carolina, Denver, KC territory? I, from those, I would go, I personally would go, Seattle and North Carolina to me feel like the same,

but I probably would go North Carolina, Seattle. Okay. You're, what do you think, Seattle, North Carolina? No, I like the way you did it. Yeah. North Carolina has, they might end up being the most maddening team this season. overall, but again, it feels the buy-in with Macklin feels strong. I mean, to come out to zero down midweek and to come back to two, like for the negative

side, the positive I think is really strong. Ashley Sanchez scoring goals feels repeatable. Macy Bell is like an eraser. There was a couple moments where it's like, oh, Boston's going to hit on in transition, like Choware is going to have chances. And Macy Bell just cleans stuff up by herself. It's like to come in a tumbo back there. Exactly.

And Ryan Williams, I think, playing to her strength. So I like this North Carolina group, Seattle as well with the fish lock injury. She is sort of their like, okay, late in games when we don't have a breakthrough, like she sort of creates moments that are special and that no longer exists. So I think that's a big loss. So that would take us down to 11th now. I think I would go Denver, Kansas City. Okay.

Yeah. I feel fine with that. We did not talk a lot about Kansas City. because they didn't play midweek. I am sure we will talk a whole lot about them coming up next week. They play North Carolina. So that'll be a nice little test in the middle of this. So now we have left, I believe, Bay, Chicago, Louisville, and Boston.

What did you think of Louisville this week? I thought it felt like two different teams. Over the weekend, they felt really, they felt like they had that extra bite. They were at home. They didn't rotate. Midweek, they rotated. and you could tell that there's just not as much cohesion with the unlike a Washington team when they rotate it feels like there's this a seamlessness to it it didn't feel as seamless so what'd you say Louisville

Bay Boston and Chicago so I would say Boston's last they haven't won so that feels like a safe one still I would probably put Chicago next so for me My thing is, I think with Aaron Wright back, Louisville is going to start to find their feet again. I think playing Taylor Flint at centerback was a mess for this team in so many ways. And even just seeing her hit the long switches out of midfield in like different game states in that Washington game, even though maybe the finishers weren't on the end of it because Louisville lacks depth. So starting from a point of being behind because you don't have your set. center back there, it just feels like such a big loss for them and that spine is sort of like

irreplaceable for them. So I have confidence that Louisville is going to jump up, but they don't totally have the results to follow with it. So I would probably put them ahead of Bay, but Bay have won two of their last three. So San Diego for Bay, Gotham for Louisville this weekend. So we've got to pick one. Okay, let's just say, let's just go Louisville than Bay or Bay than Louisville. I talked to myself into it. We're going to Louisville, then bay, and everyone can be mad at me, and I will accept it. Yeah, I will accept all pain and angst coming from that. I am excited to be back next week.

Note, not for us, but there is one midweek game next week. So Utah plays Houston on Wednesday night, two of the teams that have played some less games, so we'll get everyone sort of evened up on games and points, and should be a fun one in midweek. So we'll be back next week early. we will be talking about all the weekend games, talking about all the big storylines, as we always do. You can listen to Jordan on like 15 different networks

over the course of the weekend in all her games. And thank you to all of you for listening and following along here at Soccerwise. To everyone listening on Sirius Radio, we love having you here. Go search Soccer Wise on social media, anywhere you get your podcast, so you can follow along with everything we do.

And to everyone listen to the pod, as usual, we appreciate you, and we'll talk to you again very, very soon.