NWSL 2025

Batman Likes The Sox

Not postscient
Gold Supporter
SoSH Member
Dec 28, 2003
2,700
Madison, CT
Keeping up the meager tradition of NWSL threads (although perhaps it will pick up when BOS Nation or whoever shows up) with one for 2025 now that a lot of signings and trades are happening.

Mostly from a Gotham FC perspective here, this has been a rough few months. From losing to the Spirit in the semis in heartbreaking fashion (and with, I still believe, the only legit chance to beat Orlando in the final — I’m generally not impressed with Washington’s 2024 style of play — and a well deserved congrats to the GOAT Marta), we’ve seen some devastating losses in the offseason already.

Gotham will not be the same without Lynn, Delanie, and Yaz, although I think the last two will be the biggest losses. I guess a team breakup was inevitable but the departure of rising younger players makes me think there may be more going on with the team (bad locker room vibes? dislike for coaching? mismanagement of the club?) and this is not the end of it. Rough couple weeks.

The returns have had only one bright spot so far with Jaelin Howell on the way. I think she still has a great chance to show her promise that she had upon entering the league.

The Shupansky signing (alas too late for a Sky Blue tie-in) is a fun post-draft moment and I know very little about Nyamekye but am intrigued with the international move. And thank god we extended Mandy.

But damn, Delanie and Yaz really hurt.
 

RG33

Certain Class of Poster
SoSH Member
Nov 28, 2005
7,767
CA
Love this!

We are going on year 2 of being season ticket holders of Angel City FC. My youngest daughter (12) has basically turned into the 12-year-old version of me being an insatiable baseball fan — but with the NWSL. She knows all of the players on every team, knows where they went to college, knows who played on what National Team, watches road games on Prime, and watches non-Angel City games. It has been a lot of fun and we are excited about year 2.

Angel City struggled last year with a very young team, and a very injured team. We lost Madison Curry and our Goalie Didi Haracic, but extended Sydney Leroux, signed Julie DuFour from Paris FC, have a rising Alyssa Thompson, and will get Jun Endo back from her season-long injury. Our defense feels a bit light — with Ali Riley as the elder statesmen and Sarah Gorden as the cagey veteran, but we should be a fun team to watch.
 

pedro1918

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 5, 2004
5,350
Map Ref. 41°N 93°W
Mostly from a Gotham FC perspective here, this has been a rough few months. From losing to the Spirit in the semis in heartbreaking fashion (and with, I still believe, the only legit chance to beat Orlando in the final — I’m generally not impressed with Washington’s 2024 style of play — and a well deserved congrats to the GOAT Marta), we’ve seen some devastating losses in the offseason already.
First, your username definitely checks out with your post. Nice. I have wondered if Gotham puts the Bat(girl) signal in the sky over the stadium on game days.

As a Spirit STH who was in attendance, I look at the Spirit’s victory over Gotham as exhilarating. My opinion of Gotham’s style of play in that game was “Hack Trinity. And then hack her again.” But to be fair, that is the style many teams played against Washington in 2024. I’d love to know what you find so unimpressive about the team that finished in second and advanced to the final where they outplayed the favorite but came up just short.

And yes, the Spirit completely outplayed Orlando in the final. More shots on target, more attempts, more possession, more passes, more corners. They lost due to an uncalled foul (a two handed shove to the face to gain possession) on the play that led to the goal and the goal itself was an error by Kingsbury. Give me Sullivan and Bethune in that game and the result probably would have been different.

Looking forward to 2025.
 

Batman Likes The Sox

Not postscient
Gold Supporter
SoSH Member
Dec 28, 2003
2,700
Madison, CT
Ha - this I feel will be a light-spirited (get it?) rivalry between us, but as someone who at this point pretty much only watches soccer and basketball, watching (some) Spirit games this year they felt like watching the Celtics a few years ago -- constant complaining to the refs even though in my view, even when they weren't playing the Bats, they were the ones committing the majority of foul-worthy plays on the field.

I come late in life to soccer enjoyment so my tastes are admittedly unrefined but I'm bored when teams are very physical and rely on a player or two to dominate on the offensive end. I prefer a more dynamic attack from all positions, with players from the defense on up contributing.

(Also Casey Krueger, to me, is the epitome of the complain but foul approach I described above yet I will completely be a fraud to this opinion and root for her on USWNT, to be fair.)

Those are my unfair and biased opinions on the matter. They are also completely correct as a Gotham STH.

ALL that said, when I was on a trip to DC last year I walked by Audi and am looking forward to getting down there someday with the family eventually to see a game!
 

InstaFace

The Ultimate One
SoSH Member
Sep 27, 2016
24,683
Pittsburgh, PA
Love this!

We are going on year 2 of being season ticket holders of Angel City FC. My youngest daughter (12) has basically turned into the 12-year-old version of me being an insatiable baseball fan — but with the NWSL. She knows all of the players on every team, knows where they went to college, knows who played on what National Team, watches road games on Prime, and watches non-Angel City games. It has been a lot of fun and we are excited about year 2.

Angel City struggled last year with a very young team, and a very injured team. We lost Madison Curry and our Goalie Didi Haracic, but extended Sydney Leroux, signed Julie DuFour from Paris FC, have a rising Alyssa Thompson, and will get Jun Endo back from her season-long injury. Our defense feels a bit light — with Ali Riley as the elder statesmen and Sarah Gorden as the cagey veteran, but we should be a fun team to watch.
I don't get the personnel strategy with Angel City. They are the most financially successful women's sports team in the world, they have more money than god. Why aren't they spending to the salary cap, and doing transfers up to the net transfer spend cap (which was I think only $500k last year, but still)? They should be the Lakers of women's soccer, with every star willing to take a slight discount to go there and get their brand built by the marketing engine they've created. They should have the best coach in the world, because they can pay Emma Hayes-level money if they wanted to. The squad should be flying private to away games, and instagramming the hell out of it. Anything to give them the slightest edge that only costs money, they should be doing - and they just seem like they're not.
 

Batman Likes The Sox

Not postscient
Gold Supporter
SoSH Member
Dec 28, 2003
2,700
Madison, CT
Agreed about ACFC. Very strange approach. Maybe they’re gearing up for something. Also Sydney is one of my favorite non-Gotham players in the NWSL, have always enjoyed her unpredictable style on the attack.

One of my kids happened to be repping gear when we were in LA last year and wandering Venice. He took offense to this house’s flag:

93805
 

67YAZ

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 1, 2000
9,892
Denver is getting a new team with an ownership group primed to pay $105m+ for it. That’s double what Bos Nation paid last year.

And hopefully we can leave the name Bos Nation behind 2024.

But we are moving to the Stars FC era in Chicago. Ugh. Unnecessary.

The (Red) Stars have been pretty quiet so far. They resigned Naeher - probably not great marginal value, but a leader & stalwart.

They also brought over Maitane Lopez from Gotham, which is a useful signing, but doesn’t fix the basic issue of putting the entire attack on Mal’s back. This has been a problem since Kerr’s time with the club - have one superstar attacker backed by a best-in-league defense. And it’s an increasingly frustrating strategy as the league has begun importing more and more great attacking talent from around the world.

Mal needs a running partner for this squad to break through. Go and find her.
 
Last edited:

InstaFace

The Ultimate One
SoSH Member
Sep 27, 2016
24,683
Pittsburgh, PA
They are Boston Unity for the ownership group name, they should just keep it at that.
I did a whole rant on our WoSo podcast about this, but it's SUCH a missed opportunity. You can change a club's colors, its logo, its full brand identity later on if you want to, but you can't just go and change a club's name without a really really good, "Redskins" / "Indians"-level reason to do so. So getting this right, rather than "maybe I'll grow to like it someday", is kinda important, because whatever they pick will probably outlast their tenure as owners. And there's such huge low-hanging fruit for a sports team from Boston. Boston Coven was the best suggestion I've heard but like, even Boston Teabaggers would've been better than whatever-it-was they're trying to do.

They did back down from it a bit, so I suspect they'll change the name well before a ball is kicked in anger. And this time, maybe they'll up the budget to the branding agency, because last time's approach of "give somebody's cousin a case of Sam Adams and see what they come up with" clearly wasn't getting it done. $50M league expansion fee, $5,000 brand-identity project invoice. Christ.
 

Batman Likes The Sox

Not postscient
Gold Supporter
SoSH Member
Dec 28, 2003
2,700
Madison, CT
BOS Nation makes a good move and hires Steph Yang, a great WOSO reporter (formerly) for The Athletic, as their Senior Communications Director. Steph promptly does not use "BOS Nation" in her BSKY message about this nor anywhere in her note on the website bosnation.com. Glad they really are moving on from a terrible name.

https://bosnation.com/blogs/edits/steph-yang-why-i-joined-the-club
 

pedro1918

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 5, 2004
5,350
Map Ref. 41°N 93°W
Some 2025 dates released:

March 7: Challenge Cup, Spirit @ Orlando
March 14: Opening Weekend
November 1: Regular season ends
November 22: NWSL Championship Game
 

67YAZ

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 1, 2000
9,892
Lyon tabled a $1m bid for Girma. It would be a woman’s record if accepted.
 

InstaFace

The Ultimate One
SoSH Member
Sep 27, 2016
24,683
Pittsburgh, PA
Lyon tabled a $1m bid for Girma. It would be a woman’s record if accepted.
...And SD Wave would be fools to take it. Girma is from California and is (imo) pretty clearly the best in the world at her position, arguably one of the best women's players in the world at any position. She's the reason free agents would believe the Wave's GM Camille Ashton when she says they want to compete for a title. She probably trails only Alex Morgan in jerseys sold.

The Levine-Leichtman family just bought the Wave for $113M. Getting $1M for their best player is pocket change to them. $1M can't be spent to replace Girma, or anything even close to Girma, because such players are simply not available - and may not even exist. $1M or even $2M for that matter is just a signaling mechanism from Lyon as to what they think of Girma, it's not really a business term of significance to one of the highest-revenue women's teams in the world. And furthermore, Wave just had Morgan retire and Jaedyn Shaw ask to be traded (and get her wish), amid lawsuits and other rumblings about an abusive locker-room culture. The foundations are shaking over there, the last thing they need is another pillar of the club getting pulled away too.

Unless Girma really asks out, and wants to go to a league that's among the least competitive pro leagues in the world, playing 4 league matches a year that are actual challenges (PSG* & Paris FC) and otherwise only really having to get up for the UWCL knockout matches, I don't think Wave should do anything other than politely indicate she's not for sale. And then turn around and offer Girma that they'll rip up her current deal and offer a blank check. "look, we'll spend to the salary cap. You're worth whatever portion of that you want to claim for yourself. Tell us your number and it's yours. Just bear in mind that whatever's left is what we have available to build a contender around you." Girma could be the best-paid player in the whole world (Bonmati, EUR 850k I think?) at only 25% of the $3.3M salary cap this year. They have her under contract for 2025 and 2026 at ludicrously low dollars. But if they want to really build around her, they should rip that up early and come to terms on a deal for 2026-2029 that reflect her importance to fielding a contender.

Anyway, I think luckily, stuff I've heard suggests that Girma is happy there and doesn't want to go anywhere else. That can change in a hurry when people dangle huge amounts of money at you, of course, but the Wave have the resources to inoculate themselves from that if they want to.


* you know who could really use a centerback? Paris Saint-Germain.
 

67YAZ

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 1, 2000
9,892
Just read that story. Incredible! Plus she comes with Hayes recommendation, which should carry a little weight at Chelsea.

credit to Boehly for continuing to invest in the women’s side. The squad lost a starting CB, Buchanan, and decided to set a world record to bring in the best one out there.

Your point bears about SD, @InstaFace. The Wave have lost their 3 best & most important players in quick succession. If I had just dropped $110m on the club, I’d be freaking out. They need a comprehensive rebuilding plan to get pointed in the right direction.
 

InstaFace

The Ultimate One
SoSH Member
Sep 27, 2016
24,683
Pittsburgh, PA
Yes, credit to Boehly. But regarding the Wave I think there's no way these deals happened (Shaw and now Girma) without new ownership signing off on them. So the real question is, why was Girma asking out, why did she go from "reportedly very content at San Diego" to "get me out of here", even after the change of ownership, team president, and coach? Where is the talent going to come from, how could they rebuild it after two young WNT-grade stars hit the eject button? They still have Maria Sanchez, acquired for a song from Houston last year, but who has disappointed relative to her performances there (and we still don't quite know why she, too, asked for a trade from Houston 3 months after signing the then-biggest deal in NWSL history). She'll need to return to top form for them to realistically dream of a playoff spot, and they'll need more reinforcing - and it's getting late in the free agency season, some teams are already in preseason camp.
 

Jimy Hendrix

Member
SoSH Member
Jun 15, 2002
6,281
All their superstars bailing out after the year that club has had publicity wise makes me think it must be a very unfun place to show up to work
 

67YAZ

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 1, 2000
9,892
Kerolin to Man City after her contract with NC ran down. Sounds like Kerolin wanted a new challenge, fair enough.

That’s a tough loss for the Courage, but they have to be planning to make up for Kerolin’s contributions by having Shaw & Sanchez work off a new 9, surge up and cut in on goal from both sides. It’s not a bad plan.
 

Jeff Van GULLY

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 13, 2005
4,143
As a San Diego Wave fan, this news is about as disastrous as it seems...for all the reasons mentioned above. Just brutal business in a year (Jaedyn Shaw gone, Dahlkemper too) when the new MLS team starts as well and will share a stadium.

The Wave are a mess roster-wise, have massive holes in midfield in a league where you need good midfielders. Looks like it's going to be 1-2 years and hope for the continued improvement of their younger players (including 17-yo Melanie Barceras) before they can contend again.