You’re right that the CM with high soccer IQ isn’t Horan or Lavelle (Brian isn’t healthy consistently enough to be in this conversation imo). It’s Mewis. Mewis can make great passes going forward, has the height to be a target for headers in the box, and has a bombing shot from distance. She doesn’t go in for rash…

Remember the “Allie Long as the QB of the backline” experiment in Rio? Your nightmare scenario reminded me of that.

This is a good post.

I don’t think so? And she plays better on the left than the right (which is why she should be on the roster). She had a great game against the Thorns last week.

Short should’ve been included over Brian.

I think it’s a crap shoot between Long and Brian, but Long is somewhat healthier. I think Short should’ve made it over Long because that backline is scaryyyyy. Especially with Ellis saying O’Hara is only 15 minutes fit. We’re gonna see 4 centerbacks on the backline again. Every team will study the tape against…

Davidson was as good as a lock as any. She’s effectively the backup LB for Dunn and for awhile was the starting CB next to Sauerbrunn over Dahlkemper.

Will Deadspin cover the USWNT? They dropped their World Cup roster yesterday. Plenty of controversy over the last three in (Brian, Long, and Krieger). If the men qualified for their World Cup, you would definitely cover who was on their roster.

I wonder how much of that is up to the front office not really caring to market the women’s team. Orlando can put butts in the seats for their mediocre MLS team, but their NWSL has middling support. Compared to Portland, which actually gives a shit about their MLS and NWSL teams and puts out one of the best fanbases…

He has two mixed doubles grand slam titles from like 1998 when he partnered with a young Venus Williams who hadn’t won any slams yet. Those are still the only mixed doubles slam titles Venus has.

It’s a shame DS doesn’t give a shit about the NWSL because Billy could’ve written about this bicycle kick from Sunday night’s Reign vs. Pride match.

I can see why the infusion of money China offers is tempting to women’s sports, but ehhhhhh that’s just kinda ridiculous.

When you got it, you got it.

Soccer star, Nike’s $1 million Aussie, and gay dreamboat Sam Kerr commented, too.

Yeah, but how smooth was his swing?

😂

My favorite bit of soccer news this week:

I’m actually not too surprised that this lawsuit came out before the WWC—they did that in 2015, too—but more amused that it came out around other big announcements like the allocation list and their PA reps.

I wonder how long they’ve been working on getting the timing right on this considering the USWNTPA just released who their player reps are and the USWNT just released who their “allocated” players are (players whose NWSL teams don’t pay their salaries—they are paid through USSF).

I rather enjoyed Huerter while he was a Terp so I'm sure I'll see this story in UMD sports media, too.