American Soccer Analysis

Savannah DeMelo's collapse on Lumen Field on Sunday quickly became the most important story in the NWSL. DeMelo was responsive and alert before she was stretchered off the field, and thankfully, the league tried to learn from their poor handling of the Savy King incident by suspending the match. The guys offer some quick thoughts on DeMelo as a player, and what has made her special throughout her...

Though all three are still firmly planted in the bottom half of the table, the fortunes of the Utah Royals, Chicago Stars, and Houston Dash have changed considerably over the past few weeks. They produced emphatic results over the weekend (including Chicago's best xG performance in three years), and the guys dig into what has changed for each club since the end of the international break. Can Hous...

A very intense Labor Day shaped up for the NWSL. After the guys whip around the league, they drill down into Angel City's first-ever results against Bay FC, a 2-1 victory at BMO Stadium. Then, they explore Alyssa Thompson's likely transfer to Chelsea. What do we know right now? How likely was it that Thompson wanted the move? What makes this a good deal for Angel City? And what could make this a d...

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The NWSL acted semi-normal this week, so we can concentrate on the actual soccer. The guys whip around the league and touch on the Morgan Gautrat loan to Newcastle before examining Racing Louisville's 1-0 squeaker against the San Diego Wave. What have these two teams already accomplished this year, and what more can we expect from them in the weeks to come? Everything's coming up roses for Jonas E...

RECORDED BEFORE THE ALYSSA NAEHER - LIZBETH OVALLE INSANITY For the second week in a row, we do not have a featured game of the week. That's because external forces have pushed the soccer out of the spotlight. Both Kansas City - Orlando and Gotham - Houston experienced triple-digit heat indexes at kickoff, and for the third straight weekend, the NWSL saw more than half its fixtures end in draws, a...

For the first time in over six years, we saw the second straight weekend where more than half the games ended in a draw. Oppressive heat? Weather delays? Who's to say. The guys whip around the league and tease out the storylines from all seven matches. Then, they get into Sean Nahas's firing from the North Carolina Courage. They lay out the entire timeline beat for beat, and see what conclusions,...

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The NWSL is back! And boy oh boy not much happened, until everything did. The guys dissect the blockbuster transfer of Ally Sentnor to the Kansas City Current (01:48) then whip around the rest of the league (26:41) before hitting their featured game of the week, the Washington Spirit's 2-1 victory over the Portland Thorns. (34:28) There's tactics, and then there's Trinity Rodman scoring in her fir...

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The USWNT tore off a couple friendlies over the weekend, hammering the Republic of Ireland 8-0 across matches in Commerce City and Cincinnati. There were few learnings to speak of, but that doesn't mean the guys don't try to dig a few out. Most importantly: will anyone become the new left back? Anyone???? Join our Patreon to get all our exclusive bonus content!  Art by Eli Elbogen Music by De...

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We've reached the halfway point of the 2025 NWSL regular season, and though we've been putting it off as long as possible, we have no choice but to discuss the Utah Royals. After a quick whiparound (2:19) and an analysis of the Seattle Reign's side of their 4-1 victory in Sandy (25:38), the guys get to the state of the Royals organization. How have they managed to be worse this season than during...

Another week, another slightly chaotic result. Bay FC lost 1-0 at home to the Orlando Pride, but not without producing some scintillating stuff in the game-state-driven closing stage of the match. Might Bay be turning the corner in spite of the result? Might Orlando be just fine despite some regression from last year? The guys puzzle it over (21:06). Then, they chat with new Angel City FC head coa...

NWSL clubs came out of the international break a little rickety, and with plenty of fire. The guys whip around the league to hit the officiating controversy with Gotham, puzzle over Alex Straus's first game with Angel City, and debate Louisville's future (1:51). Then, they peel back the layers of a grubby contest in San Diego between the Wave and the Seattle Reign. Has San Diego been getting lucky...

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The U.S. women's national team put two more friendlies in the books. What can a 7-0 aggregate scoreline against China and Jamaica really tell us about the side, two years out from the 2027 World Cup? Has Phallon Tullis-Joyce grabbed the starting keeper job? Did Kerry Abello prove herself enough to be called back in? Could Alyssa Thompson even be the better option than Mallory Swanson on the left w...

Six games, 27 goals: 4.5 goals per game this weekend marks the second-highest per-game goal total over a single NWSL matchweek in league history. It's been nearly four years since a matchweek saw no clean sheets recorded. It was goals galore!  The guys touch on Gotham's CONCACAF W Champions Cup victory in Mexico (00:43), then whip around the goalscoring bananza across five other NWSL matches...

The numbers? Still Sticky! But before they dive back in, Eric and Evan briefly discuss the latest USWNT Roster and one very notable omission (hint: it rhymes Shmorbin Shmalbert). Then, the guys are joined once more by Kim McCauley of the Guardian to finish their review of the data, check their sometimes questionable priors (Utah), and call out a few of their own goals (again, Utah). Teams featured...

The numbers are sticky (or, at least, stickier)! Finally, we have a clearer picture of which teams are contenders and which teams still have some (or a lot of) work to do. The guys are joined by Kim McCauley of the Guardian to sort through the data, check their priors, and call out a few of their own goals. Teams featured in Part I: Chicago Stars (2:03) Houston Dash (9:22) Portland Thorns (17:36)...

Believe it or not, the guys were already planning on featuring the Chicago Stars' 3-2 loss at home to the Washington Spirit as their game of the week, and then Lesley Ryder published her story on the state of the Stars . Much of what Stars GM Richard Feuz said that piece was embodied by Chicago, who put up their best attacking performance at home in nearly three years, but promise little for the f...

The top-4 only managed to grab a single combined point over the weekend. Does this mean last year's us-and-them table is a thing of the past? Maaaayyyyybe. The guys whip around the league to figure some of this out (2:56), and then close with the Portland Thorns' 1-0 win over the Orlando Pride at Providence Park (37:59). Barbra Banda was all alone, Coffey and Hina bossed proceedings, and Olivia Mo...

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All games from this weekend are our featured game, because too much insanity occurred for one match to pull focus. The guys go through all of it, from Orlando's epic comeback to North Carolina's at-the-death victory to a foul-choked draw between Portland and Louisville, not to mention Gotham's beatdown of Washington and Chicago's whimper of a performance against San Diego.  CHAPTERS 3:35 - Ho...

The whiparound, like the weekend's NWSL action, doesn't exactly quicken the guys' pulses on today's episode (00:41). But there are many important things to address with the Washington Spirit's 1-0 road win against the Orlando Pride, not least of which is the handling of Ashley Hatch's concussion (10:48). This week's featured game takes us down to Kentucky, where the Wave pasted Racing 4-1. But wha...