This week, we focus on the news from the NWSL—some of which has an international perspective. We first review the 2021 Challenge Cup which just wrapped up last week, including the thoughts from Washington Spirit head coach Richie Burke on the ideal timing for future editions.
We discuss the fact that fifteen-year-old Olivia Moultrie is challenging in court the NWSL's rule that a player must be 18 to sign on professional forms. San Diego looks to become the 12th league franchise for the 2022 season, replacing Sacramento.
We also talk with two new members of the NWSL family: Russia and Washington Capitals ice hockey star Alex Ovechkin, who has joined the ownership group of the Washington Spirit, and Portuguese international forward Jessica Silva, who is moving from Olympique Lyon in France to play for Kansas City NWSL.
NWSL 2021 Challenge Cup Review for the Second Edition
The 2021 NWSL Challenge Cup ran from April 9 through May 2, with the Championship Final held on May 8. The first edition of the Challenge Cup was a huge success in the summer of 2020, which was held in a bubble in Salt Lake City, as the NWSL was the first sports league to restart after all sports in America were shut down in March of 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. Houston Dash won the first championship after not making the playoffs in their previous six league seasons. This year, each of the ten teams played four games divided into two 5 team regional groups, playing two games at home and two away. The division winners faced off in the Challenge Cup Championship which was nationally televised in the U.S. on the CBS network. Unlike last year when eight of the then nine franchises were slated to make the knockout stage—Orlando Pride had a COVID situation so had to drop out just before the start of play—in part due to the certainty of how many games league teams would be able to play in 2020, this year just the group winners advanced directly to the Championship Game
Highlights from the 2021 Challenge Cup group games included eventual champions Portland Thorns starting off with three straight wins in the West Division and finishing undefeated after a 1-1 tie in their last group game on May 2 in Houston in front of 3,162 fans. The Thorns topped the West with 10 points. Houston Dash was also undefeated but had only one win against Portland's three and finished with 6 points, one point behind second place OL Reign who finished on seven points with two wins, one tie and one loss. Chicago Red Stars (2 points) and Kansas City NWSL (1 point) finished fourth and fifth respectively, the latter settling into the Kansas/Missouri region after their offseason move from Salt Lake City. In Kansas City's last game of the Challenge Cup on May 3, they lost 2-1 to the Reign, but Mallory Weber—recently returned from helping Adelaide United to a record season in Australia's Westfield W-League—scored the opening goal in the eighth minute. Welsh international veteran Jess Fishlock scored from the penalty spot in the 34th minute to tie up the match and then two-time Women's World Cup Finals player for Spain Celia Jimenez (84th minute)—who has also played for Rosengard in Sweden and Perth Glory in Australia—scored OL Reign's winner six minutes from full-time.
In the East, with an exciting run to the Championship game, the NJ/NY Gotham FC (formerly Sky Blue FC of New Jersey) sent notice that they are a serious title contender as they led the division after 4 group games with 8 points and an undefeated record. Midge Williams-Purce is becoming a bonafide star in the league with two goals and is being talked about as a possible Olympic Finals squad member this summer. Second place North Carolina Courage (7 points) led all teams in goals with nine, with Brazilian international Debinha leading the Challenge Cup tournament with 3 goals, along with two from U.S. international Kristen Hamilton and Jess McDonald. Debinha was named as the Tournament's Most Valuable Player presented by Secret Deodorant. The Courage lost out on the top spot with their only defeat a 4-3 barn burner to Gotham FC in Montclair, New Jersey on April 20, with Purse scoring twice, U.S. 301 international cap winner Carli Lloyd added one tally and the game-winner came from Canadian international Evelyne Viens in second half-injury time, offsetting a brace from Debinha and one from McDonald for the Courage.
For the other three Eastern Division sides, five points in four games was an encouraging start for Orlando Pride, who finished in third, particularly as they missed the 2020 Challenge Cup because of a COVID breakout and is still trying to recover from a disastrous 2019 season, when they won the Wooden Spoon for last place with 4 wins and 16 points in 24 matches. The Washington Spirit finished fourth on 4 points while Racing Louisville finished last in the division (2 points) from two ties. All three teams need more goalscoring, with only 3 tallies in four games for Orlando and D.C. and four for Louisville. CeCe Kizer, who played collegiately at the University of Mississippi and played five games with Kolbotn of Norway last season after starting her career with the Houston Dash, was quite impactful with two goals for the Kentucky-based expansion franchise. Racing were a hit off the field with 5,300 at their first game (a 2-2 tie with Orlando Pride) on April 10 and then 3,742 to see their exciting 3-2 loss to North Carolina on April 26), which are strong figures during a COVID-limited capacity restriction period. Some teams could not host fans at all, including the Washington Spirit, which played their two matches at MLS Stadium Audi Field. The Spirit was another positive story with 18-year-old rookie Tiffany Rodman (the daughter of former NBA star Dennis Rodman) scoring once and second year Spirit player and U.S. youth international Ashley Sanchez scoring a 93rd minute winner in a 1-0 home victory over Racing Louisville on April 15.
Some league followers saw the 2021 Challenge Cup as a glorified preseason tournament. Washington Spirit head coach Richie Burke told this reporter on May 14 that, "This preseason was 13 weeks and the longest preseason period in the history of the world." The rhythm of playing games, recovering, getting prepared and playing games was disrupted. Burke further explained, "But now it's just training, training, training….Then you had four uber-competitive games….I love the Cup competition; I just think it was badly misplaced as a preseason tournament because, for professional coaches, trying to get your players ready, you don't want every match an uber-competitive match….I'm onboard with maintaining the Cup competition to run parallel with our league competition [like] everywhere else in the world." For teams struggling in the league season, the Cup competition gives these teams a chance for a title. Burke concluded, "Separating the two was not my favorite choice. I don't think it was of many of the [NWSL] coaches as well. Preseason is to prep for the season. The Cup is something that players really should aspire to play in and win because it gives a little glory to the club and you put a trophy in the cabinet. The league was trying to promote our league but I think there are better ways to do that than have the Challenge Cup in preseason." The 2020 season was so turbulent in terms of all sports league's schedules in the States and the fact that each NWSL franchise played between 4 and 11 games all season made the Challenge Cup important. With the COVID situation still uncertain as the New Year started, the Challenge Cup was placed ahead of the regular season—which should be fully run this year. The teams still had about the same amount of time for preseason training and had some exhibition matches against college sides and a few against fellow NWSL teams, but there was definitely some experimentation with rosters ahead of the 24 game regular season, starting the week after the Challenge Cup Championship match (see below). I think the fact that the Challenge Cup is really the first true professional women's soccer cup competition in the U.S.—none of the previous two leagues had a league-wide cup competition—it deserves an annual spot on the schedule, but more integrated into the regular season schedule, as Burke suggests. We have already seen a few changes in team composition ahead of the 2021 NWSL regular season start, with the most newsworthy being OL Reign signing the international duo of midfielder Dzsenifer Marozsan (Germany) and goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi (France) from parent club Olympique Lyon in France, (see: The Week in Women's Football: Lyon fall to PSG; New team in Baton Rouge; Sky Blue FC name change; - Tribal Football) and OL Reign shipping American international and 2019 WWC winner Allie Long to Gotham FC late in the Challenge Cup calendar. Below we also discuss Portuguese international Jessica Silva's move from Olympique Lyon in France to Kansas City NWSL.
2021 Challenge Cup Final Standings
East Division
# | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | D | Pts | |
1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 8 | ||
2 | N.C. Courage | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 8 | +1 | 7 | |
3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | +0 | 5 | ||
4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 4 | ||
5 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | -2 | 2 |
West Division
# | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | D | Pts | |
1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | +4 | 10 | ||
2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 7 | ||
3 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 6 | ||
4 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 2 | ||
5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 8 | -4 | 1 |
In the Championship match on May 8 in Portland between the Thorns and Gotham FC, the hosts won 5-4 on penalty kicks when first year player Morgan Weaver scored in the seventh round, after Japanese international Naho Kawasumi had her attempt saved by Thorns veteran goalkeeper Adrianna Franch, who was deemed the Most Valuable Player in the Championship game. The Thorns led early through Canadian international Christine Sinclair, who stripped American international Carli Lloyd of the ball deep in Gotham's half of the field and then powered a shot past Gotham FC's DiDi Harasic (born in Sarajevo but who came to the U.S. when she was two and was raised in America but has played internationally for Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2018) in goal as Sinclair steamed uninhibited towards the goal. With her goal against Gotham FC, Sinclair now has 60 goals across all competitions in NWSL play, which is the most among active players in the league. Sinclair has tallied 49 regular-season goals, three in the playoffs, two goals in Challenge Cup action and six goals in the 2020 NWSL Fall series. Australian international Sam Kerr, now with the 2020-21 Super League Champions Chelsea, has 78 all-time goals in 124 games in the regular season and playoffs to lead the NWSL. N.C. Courage forward Lynn Williams is one goal behind Sinclair with 59 tallies all-time.
Lloyd made amends for her error on the hour mark with a powerful header past Thorns U.S. international keeper Franch to deadlock the game 1-1. The Thorns led in possession and shots and their speedy forward Simone Charley (who was an all-American track star in the triple jump at Vanderbilt University's Commodores and played in the W-League at Canberra United in 2019/20) narrowly missed on her four shots as did budding U.S. international star Sophia Smith (5 shots) and Lindsey Horan, who led the team with 12 total shots (3 on goal). The teams were near even on corners (12 for Portland to 9 for Gotham FC) but the New York City area side trailed in shots (26 vs. 8) and shots on goals (7 vs. 1).
Both teams had lost in the 2020 Challenge Cup semifinal round but for NJ/NY Gotham FC, making the Final and losing narrowly on penalties was a statement-maker that the club is far different from the Sky Blue FC franchise that players refused to play for only a few years ago because pay was so low, player amenities off the field were byzantine and Rutgers Field in Piscataway was not anywhere near a professional facility. With their games set to be played in the Red Bull Arena in Harrison, just outside New York City, they have the opportunity to become a signature franchise for the league in the largest media market in the U.S.
The Thorns added their Challenge Cup win to their NWSL league title wins in 2013 and 2017 and the NWSL Shield as regular-season champions in 2016.
The Championship buzz was distracted a bit in the lead up to the match by the State of Oregon's COVID protocol restrictions. Oregon has seen a sharp rise in cases in recent weeks. The Thorns, who average around 20,000 fans per game in normal times, had two Challenge Cup games at home that were capped at 15% capacity (about 4,000 fans). The week of the game, Governor Kate Brown raised the threat level in 15 counties to extreme risk—including Portland's Multnomah County—which would limit the game to 100 people (the same as for any outdoor settings). NWSL Commissioner Lisa Baird requested an exemption for the game and though initially denied, the threat level was lowered just prior to the game and about 4,000 fans attended. The same applied to the always popular MLSPortland Timbers against Seattle Sounders match the next day. Part of the consternation about the 100 capacity limit was that, just across the border in Washington State, 25% of capacity was allowed at outdoor venues, though Vancouver, Washington does not have a stadium to fit the large interest in the Oregon soccer teams.
Other NWSL News
In other NWSL news, we have the somewhat odd occurrence taking place of 15-year-old Olivia Moultrie's father suing the NWSL to allow her to sign a professional contract in the league and overturn the minimum age rule—which is currently 18. Moultrie is currently a professional and can't play college soccer because, as a 13-year-old, she signed a six-figure endorsement contract with Nike and has hired the esteemed Wasserman Media Group as her agent of record. She also moved to Portland in 2019 to train in the Thorns' Academy. (She originally accepted a college scholarship to the University of North Carolina Tarheels as an 11-year-old.) So Moultrie is essentially suing the league while she plays at the youth level for one of their teams. This also brings the two-year-old NWSLPA (Player's Association) into the picture; as the certified union for players' in the league, their current Collective Bargaining Agreement has the 18-year-old rule restriction in place. Also in the U.S., there are restrictions on the number of hours and when work must end for workers under the age of 16. Moultrie is a highly touted youth player and it will be interesting to see if she is not successful in her court case—for which one legal analyst thinks that the league has a solid case in their defense—she goes to play overseas. I suspect that she may find some difficulty in finding a league and team that would be willing to develop her without the prospect of a lucrative transfer deal—something which is still quite rare in the women's game.
NWSL Expands to San Diego
The NWSL will have a second new franchise joining the league in 2022 when San Diego accompanies Angel City F.C. (Los Angeles) as the first California franchises in league history, taking the league to a record 12 franchises. San Diego replaces Sacramento, which was originally set to come into the league last season but COVID hitting along with ownership issues left owner Ron Burkel turning to San Diego. The team will play at Torero Stadium at the University of San Diego. The second division USL San Diego Loyal—coached and co-founded by former U.S. men's national team star Landon Donovan—plays there and the stadium has hosted a number of women's soccer games over the years, including the Women's College Cup, U.S. national team games and the San Diego Spirit of the WUSA. It seats 6,000 and expectations are that they will eventually have a soccer-specific stadium, likely in conjunction with the Loyal or an MLS expansion bid effort. Former U.S. women's national team head coach Jill Ellis is expected to be the team operations director—a role that she was reportedly going to have in Sacramento for both the women's team and the MLS franchise, which has also gone off the rails due to these ownership issues and its entry into the top men's league in the U.S. is on hold.
Russia and Washington Capitals ice hockey star Alex Ovechkin and his wife join the ownership group for the Washington Spirit
Washington Capitals ice hockey star and Stanley Cup winner Alex Ovechkin, along with his wife Nastya, were introduced as part of a new group of investors in the Washington Spirit. Spirit Managing Partner Steven Baldwin—whose daughter Carlyn was a U.S. U.S. U-20 and U-23 international and has played in Portugal with Sporting Clube since 2017-18 after finishing college at the University of Tennessee—joins 11 other business and community leaders in investing in the team. In a conference call with the media, Ovechkin explained that his mother Tatyana Ovechkin was an Olympic Basketball player—winning a Gold Medal twice—for Russia and works currently with women's professional basketball; Russia is a popular country for WNBA players to go to for the off-season. His father Mikhail played professional soccer. He explained about his role bringing the Spirit into wider landscape of women's sports. "I have been involved in women's sports since I was a little kid…. It's not something new for me. I have been around women's athletes all the time. When I hear from my guys that I have an opportunity to be an investor I said, "Yeah, why not?'…I hope to help the community grow….I love soccer. I think's it's a pretty cool thing."
Ovechkin is in his 16th season in the National Hockey League and currently ranks sixth in NHL history with 730 career goals—two goals shy of passing Marcel Dionne for fifth all-time. Ovechkin is the only player in NHL history to lead the League in scoring and win the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy (for the league's leading goal scorer) eight times—no other player in NHL history has received the trophy more than twice.
The Ovechkins join previously announced investors which include former U.S. Presidents' children Chelsea Clinton and Jenna Bush Hager, along with former U.S. women's national team goalkeeper Briana Scurry and Olympic Games American gymnast Dominique Dawes.
This reporter asked Baldwin and Ovechkin about the Spirit's brand building globally, which included a trip to Qatar last December, which we reported on (see: The Week in Women's Football: Interview with Ukraine star Kozlova; Damallsvenskan shock; Spirit visit Qatar - Tribal Football). We wanted to know how Alex's involvement could help in building relationships with clubs in his home country and the Russian league in general for mutual development and even exchange of players. Russia's women's national football team was the only Eastern and Central European national that qualified for the 2022 Women's EURO in England. Particularly with the Russian league, which has been long running and though small in number (10 teams in the top tier), they attract players from around the world and even coaches as Polish-American head coach Shek Borkowski directed Perm in the Russian league about 10 years ago before taking charge of Haiti's and then Puerto Rico's national team. Borkowski's assistant at Perm was Kaloyan Petkov, who has been the long-time coach at BIIK-Kazygurt; Petkov recently was appointed as women's head coach of Kazakhstan for the second time. Baldwin said that the team's trip to Qatar this past winter came about because of contacts with the embassy in D.C. and they hope to continue to leverage that approach, "We look to take advantage of what D.C. has to offer for our players and our community and part of that is building relationships with embassies. Our trip last December to Qatar was based on our relationship that we developed with that embassy. Subsequently with Kumi and Saori [Kumi Yokoyama and Saori Takarada—current Spirit imports] we have done work with the Japanese embassy this year. What I particularly love about sports is the ability to bring people together. We are open to having interactions with all embassies including the Russian embassy and seeing where we might find common interests and advancing sports and doing good things for women and doing good things for kids. That's really what we are about so we are open to it." Alex Ovechkin added, "I agree 100%."
Portuguese International moves from Olympique Lyon in France to join Kansas City NWSL
Kansas City NWSL signed Portuguese international forward Jessica Silva to a two year on May 10, 2021. Silva spent the last two seasons with Olympic Lyon but was injured much of the time so she only tallied 18 minutes for OL, but scored her team's final goal against Stade de Reims in the French Division 1 Féminine in January of 2020. She has played for Portugal since 2011 and also with their U-19 team. She has 64 full national team appearances and played against Russia in the recent 2022 Women's EURO play-in, which saw Portugal fall just short of a second consecutive EURO Final berth, losing 1-0 in aggregate over the two legs. Silva won a title with Linkopings FC in Sweden, as well as spending time with Portugal's Clube de Albergaria and Spanish Premier Division's Levante Unión Deportiva. In two seasons with Levante from 2017-2019, Silva made 41 appearances with six goals. She should join Kansas City in late May or early June. On a conference call, this reporter asked Silva after her thought process in coming to the States versus joining a team in Europe. She said, "We are talking about one of the biggest leagues and any player would like to try this league. Some years before, I always thought I might have the opportunity to play in the U.S….I thought this is the time and it arrived and I am really happy to come to this league. It is an achievement for me because I always dreamed about it and thought of it; for me it is really good and we are talking about one of the best leagues and most competitive leagues in the world."
Jessica Silva (in red) for Portugal is defended by U.S. national team defender Becky Sauerbrunn. Credit: Brad Smith/ISI Photos
When discussing her national team career after just missing out on a spot at the Women's EURO Finals and looking ahead to UEFA Qualifying for the 2023 Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, she said, "For us it was hard because we were close and didn't expect to not be in the EUROS. Our thoughts are on the next World Cup and we will do everything to be there and we have a good team, great players; we already showed we can face any team. We have to keep on working, keep on fighting and if we can do our job correctly we will be in the World Cup….We really want to be there. Coming to the U.S. league will be really good for my development and physical process because I will play against a majority of players who normally play in World Cups and it helps a lot."
Silva's signing is a big plus for the NWSL and helps stem a recent tide of internationals across the past few seasons to Europe (Australian Sam Kerr to Chelsea among the most prominent) and sends a message that the NWSL is still arguably the most competitive league top-to-bottom of the league, a trait that domestic and international players love. It will be interesting to see Jessica Silva combines with Kansas City's American international forward Amy Rodriguez to boost the club's scoring rate during the 2021 regular season.
Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham on the global game of women's football. Get yours copy today.
Follow Tim on Twitter: @TimGrainey