When the U.S. women’s national team lost back-to-back matches against England (2-1) and Spain (2-0) in October, there was discussion about whether it was time to panic. The 2023 FIFA World Cup was only nine months away, and the amount of time the team had left to prepare was dwindling.

But with another camp and exhibition series in 2022 to smooth out the wrinkles, there was the option to ignore the warning signs. If the USWNT struggled against Germany, the No. 3-ranked team in the world, then the alarm bells might be warranted.

In the first of a two-game friendly series that will close out their 2022 campaign on Thursday, the U.S. faced Germany and lost 2-1.

Panic mode: activated.

The USWNT hasn’t lost three straight matches since 1993. The World Cup is now just eight months away.

“I was not happy with the result,” head coach Vlatko Andonovski said afterward. “Anytime you don’t win a game, you can’t be happy no matter what happens.”

There’s no doubt the U.S. players have the talent required to excel in the tournament. But the team’s chemistry, tactics and finishing have lacked against the top European teams this fall. Recent results have shown that the rest of the world is catching up to the USWNT, who has won four World Cups and four Olympic gold medals. Meanwhile, the U.S. appears stagnant.

Andonovski has been loyal to a 4-3-3 system that doesn’t adapt when the game situation calls for it. At times, it seems the U.S. could benefit from some variation of a 4-4-2, giving the midfielders more support. On top of that, Andonovski’s preferred starting lineup has remained almost the same since the Concacaf W Championship, even when players are clearly showing fatigue and others are ready to step up.

Against Germany, starting wingers Sophia Smith and Mallory Pugh created a number of scoring changes but struggled to execute the final passes and shots. Even though veteran Megan Rapinoe subbed into the attack in the second half and combined with fellow veteran Alex Morgan to score the USWNT’s lone goal, Andonovski remains set on his young starting forward line.

“I don’t want to say I’m concerned, because I’m not,” Andonovski said. “In fact, the front line consists of the three best goal scorers that are eligible to play for this country … from the NWSL. They proved they can score goals in different ways, and sometimes it just happens. I’m not concerned, but I for sure want them to score more goals.”

The U.S. defense also appeared disorganized and mismatched against Germany’s skilled forwards, lacking the intensity and communication to withstand consistent counterattacks.

The coach has repeatedly told the media that when veterans return from injury and maternity leave — notably Julie Ertz, Casey Krueger, Tierna Davidson and Catarina Macario — the USWNT’s issues on the field will mend organically. Andonovski said before Macario’s ACL injury that the team’s strategies were built around her at the center forward position. The six position also is still played in the style of Ertz, a ball-winning defensive midfielder, even though Andi Sullivan has been the primary starter there for the last year and her strengths lie in distribution.

For the team’s next camp in January, multiple veterans, including Davidson and Krueger, are expected to return. At this point, even if a bounce-back win against Germany on Sunday assuages the most urgent concerns, the USWNT is counting on its reinforcements.

Jessa Braun is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports covering the NWSL and USWNT. Follow her on Twitter @jessabraun.

The U.S. women’s national team wraps up its 2022 campaign with a two-game friendly series against Germany on Thursday and Sunday. The games conclude a year in which head coach Vlatko Andonovski evaluated the USWNT’s deep pool of talent, new and old, as the team prepares for the 2023 FIFA World Cup.

Throughout the process, young, rising stars have been given opportunities, and many veterans who were pushed aside for a few months eventually earned second chances. With a team as competitive as the USWNT, anything can happen. On Wednesday, Andonovski named four players, all currently in November camp, who have impressed him more than he thought they would this year.

Sophia Smith

The first player to come to mind for Andonovski was Sophia Smith, who had a breakout year with the national team. She was called up to the senior team for the first time five years ago at the age of 16 but did not become a regular part of the roster until this year. After being left off the Olympic squad last summer, the 22-year-old has gone on to score 12 goals for the USWNT in 2022 and 15 for the Portland Thorns in the NWSL to finish second in the Golden Boot race. Helping the Thorns win the NWSL championship, she was named both league MVP and Finals MVP.

Playing at center forward with the Thorns, Smith has transitioned seamlessly into a winger role for the national team. Andonovski knew earlier this year that Smith would become a staple, and she has started every game she’s appeared in, further earning her coach’s trust.

Mallory Pugh

Smith’s fellow winger, Mallory Pugh, had what Andonovski calls “a tremendous comeback on the national team.” A year and a half ago, Pugh didn’t make the USWNT’s Tokyo Olympic roster. As a regular member of the national team heading into the Games, Pugh had to grapple with the disappointment. And after a year of finding joy in the game again, she’s proved herself as a starting winger for the national team, scoring six goals and contributing a team-high seven assists.

Alex Morgan

USWNT veteran Alex Morgan fell off Andonovski’s radar for half a year and was not called into the team until late June of 2022 after an impressive first two months with San Diego Wave FC in the NWSL. The forward scored 16 goals in 19 games with the Wave this season, winning the Golden Boot and helping the club become the first to make the playoffs in its inaugural year.

In her two USWNT call-ups this year, Morgan has scored four goals. After scoring the game-winning goal to secure the Concacaf W Championship for the U.S. in July, she was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament.

“I have to give a lot of credit to Alex, who did not accept the fact of not being on the national team,” Andonovski said. “She proved to everyone that she’s still a world-class player.”

Naomi Girma

Naomi Girma, in her first year out of Stanford, has been remarkably consistent in her distribution and tackles along the USWNT’s backline. Earlier this fall, Andonovski said fellow center back Alana Cook had the edge due to experience, but since then Girma has earned more playing time and built her case for World Cup roster inclusion. One of her most impressive performances came in a start against England, the 2022 Euro Cup champions, at Wembley Stadium in October.

In the NWSL, the 2022 No. 1 pick became the first player in league history to win two individual awards in the same season, earning Rookie of the Year and Defender of the Year.

“There’s a reason she’s starting on our team, and that’s because she is growing into a great player,” Andonovski said.

Jessa Braun is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports covering the NWSL and USWNT. Follow her on Twitter @jessabraun.

The FIFA top-ranked U.S. women’s national team lost two games for the first time this year, against No. 4 England and No. 6 Spain in October. On Thursday and Sunday, they’re in for an even bigger test when they face No. 3 Germany in Florida and New Jersey.

The games will be the USWNT’s first two meetings with the 2022 Euro Cup finalists since the 2018 SheBelieves Cup, when the U.S. defeated Germany 1-0 in the tournament opener.

The U.S. has undergone significant change since then, rotating in many new players while awaiting the returns of others from injury. Facing arguably their toughest competition of 2022 in friendlies against England and Spain in October, the USWNT was exposed in multiple areas on the field while dealing with heavy emotions off of it. They played the games days after U.S. Soccer released the findings of the Sally Yates report on coaching abuse in the NWSL, leaving the players in a tough balancing act.

With the World Cup just over eight months away, the squad is about to enter crunch time. Here is what head coach Vlatko Andonovski is looking for in the matches against Germany.

Closing opponents down

The USWNT’s lack of aggressiveness on defense was an ongoing issue in the October matches, eventually leading to a goal conceded when the U.S. was caught flat-footed during a Spain corner kick. Both on set pieces and in open-field play, the team was slow to organize its defensive structure and have somebody ready to step up and challenge when an opponent had the ball. As a unit, the U.S. needs to show far more urgency when shifting or closing down Germany’s attackers.

Taking advantage of possession

In October, the USWNT registered their worst possession numbers of the year — 31 percent against England and 48 against Spain. While dominating possession isn’t at the top of the Americans’ priority list at the moment, they do want to make sure they’re taking full advantage of their offensive opportunities to create scoring chances and combination plays without turning the ball over. Germany, and their strong midfield play, will give the U.S. another big challenge.

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(Brad Smith/ISI Photos/Getty Images)

Consistency in the midfield

Though dominant throughout the year, the starting midfield trio of Rose Lavelle, Lindsey Horan and Andi Sullivan were unable to control the middle third against England and Spain. They left too much space for their opponents to create dangerous attacking build-ups, raising questions about the 4-3-3 formation and whether it should be adjusted to include more support in the midfield.

After the USWNT won the Concacaf W Championship in July, the plan was to give Lavelle, Horan and Sullivan more playing time with certain players they have chemistry with. In Europe, where the U.S. was dealing with injured or absent players and those on minutes restrictions, Andonovski felt it was difficult for the midfield to establish a flow. Now that a handful of those players are back and playing against Germany (Emily Fox, Sofia Huerta, Kelley O’Hara, Mallory Pugh and Alex Morgan), this week will be the true test for the midfield.

Precision

Sometimes improvement is as simple as fine-tuning the details. This was the first thing that came to Andonovki’s mind when asked what the team could do better since the England and Spain games. After getting 20 percent of their shots on goal in those matches, the U.S. is aiming to be more precise with their shots and final passes in front of goal against Germany.

“We were able to combine and do well up to the final third, and then when we had to get the final test,” Andonovski said. “Whether it was a final test for a shot or final test for an assist, that was the area that we have to be better at.”

Jessa Braun is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports covering the NWSL and USWNT. Follow her on Twitter @jessabraun.

The U.S. women’s national team released its roster for two November friendlies against Germany on Monday. While the 24-player squad is similar to the group that’s taken the field for the U.S. in the past year, head coach Vlatko Andonovski said this week that the roster could look different in three to five months.

As the team prepares for the 2023 FIFA World Cup, Andonovski has been calling in players who have little to no experience on the national team. A handful of veterans from the USWNT’s 2019 World Cup and 2021 Olympic squads are injured, creating opportunities for Andonovski to evaluate other talent. Many of those new players have taken full advantage of the year to prove they belong.

With all the changes, though, have come challenges with establishing chemistry on the field. In their last two friendlies against No. 4 England and No. 6 Spain, the young USWNT struggled on both ends of the pitch, raising questions about Andonovski’s tactics as the team dropped back-to-back games for the first time since 2017.

“We have to work and we have to get better, but there are some things that may change just by changing the personnel,” he said.

As veterans begin to trickle back in over the next few months, and new players continue to prove they belong, Andonovski will have some tough decisions to make. If the 2023 Women’s World Cup follows the same 26-player format as the 2022 Men’s World Cup, an increase from the usual 23-player roster size, some choices won’t be as hard.

Here are the toughest decisions Andonovski will have to make at every position in three to five months, as veterans begin to work their way back into the mix.

Defensive midfield

Julie Ertz, Andi Sullivan, Sam Coffey, Jaelin Howell

The USWNT’s starting six, Julie Ertz, hasn’t been on a U.S. roster since the Tokyo Olympics after recovering from injury and then going on maternity leave. With the two-time U.S. Soccer Player of the Year giving no public indication of her timeline for a return, there’s been speculation about whether she’ll come back at all. On Monday, Andonovski said he’s been in touch with her “this whole time.”

“We want to give Julie time to get back slowly,” he said. “This is not something that we will even discuss. This is time for Julie to enjoy the time as a family. When the time comes, if she’s prepared and she’s anywhere near her best, I know this team will welcome her back.”

In the meantime, Andi Sullivan has been serving as the USWNT’s primary holding midfielder. NWSL rookies Sam Coffey and Jaelin Howell both deserve looks but will have a tough time making the cut against two established veterans.

It would be wise of Andonovski to keep both Ertz and Sullivan. For the Tokyo Olympics and the Concacaf World Cup Qualifying tournament this past summer, he brought only one of the two and paid the price when injuries set in and there was no six to relieve them.

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Julie Ertz hasn't played for the USWNT since the Tokyo Olympics. (Atsushi Tomura/Getty Images)

Midfield

Lindsey Horan, Rose Lavelle, Kristie Mewis, Ashley Sanchez, Sam Mewis, Taylor Kornieck, Savannah DeMelo

A roster of 23 players would likely have six midfielders, including one or two who can play the holding position. Lindsey Horan and Rose Lavelle have been the go-to starters in front of Sullivan this year, and Ashley Sanchez has been given a few starts after getting consistent call-ups since last November.

It wouldn’t be a bad idea for Crystal Dunn, usually a fullback for the national team, to be added to the USWNT’s midfield player pool. One of the most versatile players in the program’s history, Dunn scored the winning goal for the Thorns from the attacking midfield after subbing into the NWSL semifinal game and creating numerous chances throughout the second half.

There hasn’t been much information on Sam Mewis’ injury and recovery timeline, but it’s safe to assume that the 2020 U.S. Soccer Player of the Year will be invited into camp when she’s ready.

Center back

Tierna Davidson, Abby Dahlkemper, Becky Sauerbrunn, Naomi Girma, Alana Cook

Center backs are going to be among the hardest decisions for Andonovski in the coming months. With the coach usually bringing three to each camp, Becky Sauerbrunn, Naomi Girma and Alana Cook have been the call-ups this year while Tierna Davidson and Abby Dahlkemper recover from season-ending injuries.

Davidson, who tore her ACL in the spring, is the closest to returning among the injured veterans. She is expected to be back to full training in mid-November and available for selection for games against New Zealand in January. Andonovski said that she has “the ability to be started on this team.”

Abby Dahlkemper’s latest back injury requires surgery, Andonovski confirmed this week. Once that’s complete, the team will have a better idea of her timeline for a return.

Sauerbrunn has been with the USWNT all year as one of their most valuable leaders. Possibly due to Sauerbrunn’s playing time restrictions, Girma and Cook have received just as much time on the pitch. Andonovski said earlier this fall that Cook had the slight edge over Girma in making the World Cup roster due to experience. Following that comment, Girma made a stronger case for herself against England and Spain during the October window. The San Diego Wave defender then was named NWSL Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, becoming the first player to win two individual awards in the same year.

Fullback

Casey Krueger, Crystal Dunn, Emily Sonnett, Kelley O’Hara, Emily Fox, Sofia Huerta, Carson Pickett, Hailie Mace

There are a lot of decisions to be made at outside back, where it’s likely that four to five players will be chosen. 

On the November roster are Sofia Huerta, Crystal Dunn, Emily Fox and Hailie Mace. Emily Sonnett and Kelley O’Hara are recovering from injuries, and Casey Krueger has been on maternity leave all year. 

Krueger did train with her NWSL club, the Chicago Red Stars, before they were eliminated from the playoffs in October. She hasn’t yet returned to the national team, but Andonovski said he’s “looking forward to seeing her in camp,” so she will likely be back with the USWNT in January. 

Andonovski said this week that Dunn, O’Hara, Huerta and Fox are all potential starters. It wouldn’t be surprising if that group plus Krueger are the top five on his list right now. 

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Emily Sonnett, Kelley O'Hara and Abby Dahlkemper have all been absent from the team due to injuries. (Brad Smith/ISI Photos/Getty Images)

Center forward

Alex Morgan, Catarina Macario, Ashley Hatch

Once Catarina Macario is back on the field in February after recovering from ACL surgery, she will “very likely bump into one of the starting positions if she’s anywhere near her best,” Andonovski said this week. She left the USWNT as a nine, solidifying her case for the position with convincing performances and goals scored, but she has also played in the midfield.

In Macario’s absence, Alex Morgan has consistently started at the nine while leading the NWSL with 15 goals to win the 2022 Golden Boot. Last year’s Golden Boot winner Ashley Hatch, has impressed off the bench, scoring a number of quick goals to boost the USWNT’s momentum.

Macario and Morgan appear to be locks, and it’s possible that Andonovski keeps all three if he names seven forwards to the roster.

Outside forward

Sophia Smith, Mallory Pugh, Megan Rapinoe, Lynn Williams, Christen Press, Tobin Heath, Midge Purce, Trinity Rodman, Alyssa Thompson

The USWNT’s attack has undergone the most change in the past year, as Andonovski has rotated in some new players for evaluation.

Earlier this year, the coach said a player would have to really impress him for Sophia Smith and Mallory Pugh to be removed from their starting positions. He also seems set on having Megan Rapinoe available off the bench, saying that her experience is valuable in mentoring young players like Smith and Pugh.

The final one or two forward spots, meanwhile, are up for grabs. Trinity Rodman has had strong performances off the bench, scoring two goals in nine appearances in the past year. Lynn Williams was also a consistent call-up until suffering a season-ending leg injury in March. Andonovski said in June that he wasn’t planning on calling in Christen Press, even before her ACL tear, but on Monday he included her in his list of absent players.

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Catarina Macario, Sophia Smith and Mallory Pugh were Andonovki (Brad Smith/ISI Photos/Getty Images)

Goalkeeper

Casey Murphy, Alyssa Naeher, Aubrey Kingsbury, AD Franch, Phallon Tullis-Joyce

The talent in the U.S. goalkeeper pool is bottomless. Casey Murphy, Aubrey Kingsbury and Alyssa Naeher have split time between the posts for the USWNT this year. AD Franch was called into the November squad after a stellar NWSL season, joining Murphy and Naeher.

“Very happy for her,” Andonovski said of Franch. “Obviously being in Kansas. City, I had a chance to watch her a little more often live and especially the second part of the season. It was almost like it was her role to carry Kansas City in in tough times. … It was consistent throughout the season, so it was not hard for us after everything, for this camp to decide to call her back in.

“I think this is another opportunity for me to say that yes, the form in the league matters. And if you’re doing well on a consistent basis, you will be called back regardless of what your status was in the past.”

In the case of a 26-player World Cup roster, Andonovski would have the opportunity to name all four of Naeher, Murphy, Franch and Kingsbury to the squad. In terms of NWSL form, Andonovski also indicated earlier in the fall that he has his eye on OL Reign’s Phallon Tullis-Joyce and Racing Louisville’s Katie Lund.

Jessa Braun is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports covering the NWSL and USWNT. Follow her on Twitter @jessabraun.

Portland Thorns head coach Rhian Wilkinson might have been known by her team this year as the coach that holds the most meetings, but it paid off. Finishing second in the regular season standings, Wilkinson and the Thorns tallied the most goals in the NWSL with 49, ranked first in clean sheets and had the most shots on target per match as they played their way to the NWSL Championship.

The former Portland player, inexplicably to her players, was never nominated for Coach of the Year, but on Saturday, she ended the season with the biggest statement yet. The Thorns claimed their third NWSL title with a 2-0 shutout of the Kansas City Current, and now own the most championships in NWSL history.

Wilkinson achieved all of this in her first season coaching in the NWSL, and as the club was being investigated for its handling of sexual misconduct allegations against former head coach Paul Riley.

“I think it’s bulls–t that she wasn’t up for Coach of the Year,” Thorns forward and 2022 NWSL MVP Sophia Smith said after the final. “To come into a team like this, a club with this reputation, is hard in itself. To come in with all of this happening, all these distractions going on…”

“I keep calling her Coach of the Year,” added goalkeeper Bella Bixby. “I think she’s our Coach of the Year. I think she definitely should have been nominated. I think it’s easy to overlook because historically, this is a successful club. So it’s like, ‘Oh, she inherited a successful team,’ but it’s not easy to come in. … She’s a big part of why we’re here and lifting a trophy.”

Implementing a 4-3-3 formation on Sunday, Wilkinson has never been one to stick to one system. She rotated players through the starting lineup and tried at least three or four different formations throughout the season. That flexibility, Bixby says, has allowed the Thorns to play more freely.

Wilkinson’s intention since taking the job was not to change too much of what former head coach Mark Parsons had built over the past six seasons, but to add her own twist, which included playing the ball out wide more often.

By the time the championship came around, Portland knew how to spread teams apart and how to play in any shape. There was nothing new they had to do to prepare. They just went out and played.

And they dominated.

Sometimes the pressure can be overwhelming in big games like Saturday’s, but Smith, who scored the winning goal four minutes in, genuinely had fun.

“To come in with this team and to implement her style but also take on what we had already built with this club is a really hard thing to do, and I don’t think people give her enough credit for that,” Smith said.

Wilkinson says it helps that her players have been open to trying new things all year.

“I’ve made a lot of mistakes, and I continue to. And I hope I don’t hide from them,” she said on Friday. “I think it’s a real testament to this group that they’ve allowed me to come in, and they were extremely successful last year and had a fantastic coach. They’ve allowed me to come in and try things … They could so easily have just turned on me after one mistake and then that would have been it, but instead they gave me great feedback, which I welcome.

“As long as it’s done professionally and with courtesy, I think it has to be a conversation. They’ve been brilliant all season, and I’m really proud of that.”

Part of the journey has been navigating professional relationships with her best friends and former Canada teammates, Thorns general manager Karina LeBlanc and captain Christine Sinclair. Wilkinson kept Sinclair out of the starting lineup for Portland’s semifinal against the San Diego Wave, making it Sinclair’s first playoff game since the league’s inception in 2013 that she wasn’t part of the starting XI.

“We’ve definitely set our boundaries that we are a player and coach, and for right now, that’s it,” Sinclair told Just Women’s Sports earlier this month. “I mean, that sounds so mean, but right now it’s, ‘How can we help the Thorns win and succeed?’”

And that’s just what they did. After the game, Sinclair and her teammates took their shiny new trophy to their champagne-ready locker room, where Bixby cued up the DMX, and the celebrations could be heard loud and clear from where Wilkinson spoke to the media in the press conference room next door.

When Wilkinson was asked to sum up her thoughts into one word following the win, she said “proud.”

“Proud of this group of women who’ve had a year — we’ll just leave it at that — and the way they showed up today,” she said. “I just thought they were fantastic, and I’m a very proud coach today.”

And now, after all she and the Thorns had accomplished this year, there was only one thing she had left to do.

“I want to go to sleep,” she said.

Jessa Braun is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports covering the NWSL and USWNT. Follow her on Twitter @jessabraun.

The 2022 NWSL Championship is here.

The Portland Thorns and Kansas City Current kick off at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday at Audi Field in Washington, D.C. For the first time in league history, the game will be broadcast at primetime on a nationally televised network, CBS, for American viewers. International fans can watch on Twitch.

Here is everything you need to know heading into the final:

No. 2 Portland Thorns FC (10-3-9)

Playoff history

  • Portland is the first team in league history to qualify for four championship games.
  • The team advanced to this year’s final after beating the San Diego Wave 2-1 in Sunday’s semifinal.
  • The Thorns are undefeated in championship games on the road (2013 and 2017).

Regular season

  • For the fifth time in six years, the Thorns finished the regular season as a top-two team in the NWSL.
  • They lead the league in goals with 49, 15 ahead of the next-closest playoff team (San Diego with 34).
  • They went on an 11-game undefeated streak from May 28 to Aug. 10.

No. 5 Kansas City Current (10-6-6)

Playoff history

  • The Current won back-to-back championships as FC Kansas City in 2014 and 2015, before relocating to Utah.
  • They advanced to this year’s final after defeating 2022 NWSL Shield winners OL Reign 2-0 in their first semifinal as the Current franchise.
  • Both of Kansas City’s winning goals in the 2022 playoffs were debut NWSL goals for the players (excluding the Challenge Cup), Kate Del Fava and rookie Alex Loera.

Regular season

  • The Current have the most rookies in the league with over 500 minutes played, all four combining for a total of 3,759 minutes.
  • Kansas City is undefeated in games in which midfielder Lo’eau Labonta has scored.
  • After finishing at the bottom of the table last year and losing four of their first five games this season, Kansas City went on a 13-game unbeaten streak from May 30 to Sept. 11.

Head-to-head matchup

The Thorns and Current are finishing their season the way they started it — against each other. In their first match on April 30, Portland won in a 3-0 shutout. When they met again in September, the sides drew 1-1, despite Thorns having even more possession (58 percent) and shots (29) than they did in the first matchup (55 percent, 19 shots).

No matter who wins on Saturday, the victorious team will hold the record for the most NWSL titles in league history with three (if Kansas City’s two titles as FC Kansas City count toward the overall tally). This is Kansas City’s second year as the Current, but their players’ rights transferred from the first Kansas City franchise to Utah in 2017, and then back to Kansas City in 2020.

The Current’s path to victory will likely have to go through Portland’s deep bench. If the Current have a hard time against the Thorns’ possession-dominating starting lineup, that’s not even the worst of it, with world-class stars Christine Sinclair and Crystal Dunn waiting in the wings.

The Thorns can’t afford to get comfortable. The Current will be looking for any opportunity to turn the tide in their favor, with Elyse Bennett, Kristen Hamilton, Cece Kizer and Lo’eau Labonta creating dangerous chances on the attack. Kansas City leads the league in penalties awarded, which shouldn’t go unnoticed considering a penalty kick in the fourth minute of their quarterfinal game contributed to a 2-1 win over the Houston Dash.

Players to watch

Sophia Smith, Portland

The 2022 NWSL MVP is the most dangerous player to defend on the Thorns. With the ability to dribble through multiple opponents on her own, Smith finished the regular season with 14 goals, just one fewer than Golden Boot winner Alex Morgan.

Crystal Dunn, Portland

After giving birth to her son five months ago, Dunn subbed into the midfield in the 62nd minute of Sunday’s semifinal and dominated the attacking third. After contributing to multiple scoring chances, Dunn volleyed home the game-winning goal in stoppage time.

AD Franch, Kansas City

The goalkeeper was the hero of the match for Kansas City in Sunday’s semifinal. Making several acrobatic saves to preserve the shutout, she’s now tied for the most shutouts in playoff history and holds the record for the most saves in the playoffs with 11.

Kristen Hamilton, Kansas City

With a goal on Sunday to solidify the Current’s 2-0 win over OL Reign, the forward increased her scoring tally to seven goals, the most on the team in regulation. She’s also contributed two assists and 19 key passes this season.

Prediction

Kansas City over Portland, 2-1. The Current make a comeback in the second half.

Jessa Braun is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports covering the NWSL and USWNT. Follow her on Twitter @jessabraun.

Canadian women’s national team captain Christine Sinclair has always been private about her personal life. But now, after two decades in professional soccer and the all-time record for international goals, she’s ready to tell her story.

Sinclair’s memoir, “Playing the Long Game: A Memoir,” comes out Nov. 1, a mere three days after she plays in her fourth NWSL championship game with the Portland Thorns. The captain was a part of the Thorns when they won their first championship in 2013, the year the NWSL began, and on Saturday they’ll look to claim their third title against the Kansas City Current in Washington, D.C.

In her book, co-authored with Stephen Brunt, Sinclair discusses everything from growing up in Burnaby, B.C, to winning national championships at the University of Portland, to making Portland her permanent home with the Thorns. Through it all, she’s lost loved ones, helped Canada win its first Olympic gold medal in 2021 and pushed for equal pay between the men’s and women’s teams.

Just Women’s Sports sat down with Sinclair, 39, recently to discuss the writing process, reliving memories from her career and creating a better future for women’s soccer players.

First, I have to ask, based on a revelation in your book: What was your favorite part of ballet class in college?

[Laughs] When it was over. I mean, easy credits … I needed an easy credit. It was like, “Ballet? OK.” A bunch of us took it and, like, oh my God.

Was there a specific moment or conversation that sparked the idea that now was the time to write and release a book?

It wasn’t a specific moment. Obviously it was after Tokyo, and opportunities are being thrown your way and it seemed like the right time. Our national team had never been at such a high, and it was people within Canada paying attention to the sport. It was just time to change the script. And young kids can now idolize women. I grew up idolizing male players and male figures, and what better time to change that? So, let’s do a book.

How long have you known that writing a memoir was something you wanted to do?

It’s actually been quite a while where, not that I wanted to do it necessarily, but whether it’s teammates or just people that I’d meet at [university] told me to write a book. I mean, obviously I’ve had a journey. I’ve had a career that has been pretty cool. So with help, it made sense.

As a naturally private person, how did you adjust to the writing process?

There are definitely certain things where, going into it with Stephen Brunt, I was like, these are off limits, these are no go’s. But yeah, it was just weird. For me, talking about soccer is easy. People who have followed my career know that we won gold, and know that this happened and this. It’s the little behind-the-scenes things that people don’t know of, which was cool. But for me, writing parts and putting parts about my family out there is … showing some vulnerability with that is the most difficult part for me, especially my parents and things like that. So that’s the part where you feel a little like, “Uhhh,” but that being said, I’m proud that it’s out there.

“Playing the Long Game” is dedicated to your biggest inspiration — your mother. How has she inspired and impacted you?

Obviously her living with MS for as long as she did, and being a kid, seeing one of your parents go through that and the struggles and seeing physically everything be taken away from her — the way she handled it inspired me and taught me a whole lot of perspective in life. And those days that I thought were so bad, in the grand scheme of things, are not bad at all. A lot of hard work and a lot of perspective and how to face things with a smile on your face, and trying to make the best out of situations that sometimes are very hard.

Many of your coaches had a big impact on you as well, especially former Canada women’s coach John Herdman. What did you learn from him?

He joked that he wants his players, when he’s done coaching them, to have a PhD in soccer. In terms of soccer knowledge and understanding the game, I’ve never had a better coach. I see the game and play the game differently because of him. But as a person, he is able to get the most out of every single individual on the team and that’s not necessarily on the soccer field. He prides himself on the individuals and the people that you are and you become. He’s just a good guy. I mean, he spoke at my dad’s service and he’s one of the few guys in my life where I count on him for anything. Very rarely do you get that in a coach. I’m so thankful that I had him as a coach and now as a friend, and seeing him take on the world with the men’s team, I’m his biggest fan.

As a captain, your lead-by-example style is just a part of who you are, but who has influenced your leadership along the way?

John definitely was the one that kind of challenged me the most in terms of, “OK, yes, you lead by example. Yes, you tend to do the right things day in and day out.” But he knows how to get you out of your comfort zone and try new things. He was the one that helped me find the power of my voice and when to speak up. And then having teammates like Diana Matheson and now bosses Rhian and Karina, they’re more upfront and honest and to-the-point type leaders, and they’ve definitely helped me find that within myself.

Thorns coach Rhian Wilkinson and GM Karina LeBlanc are two of your closest friends. How do you balance friendship and professional relationships with them in Portland?

It’s been a challenge at times, just because we are such good friends — best friends. Especially with Rhian and I, the coach-player dynamic, we’ve definitely set our boundaries that we are a player and coach and for right now, that’s it. I mean, that sounds so mean, but right now it’s, how can we help the Thorns win and succeed? With Karina, I don’t see her as much day to day, but it’s been cool to see her family and her little kid, Paris, down here. I know Rhian and Karina both played here for a year, but it’s cool to be on this journey with them and other staff members and slowly making this a little Team Canada down here. I’m proud of that. I like to think we’re good people and we’re building something special.

While writing this book, was there a moment or chapter that you had fun reliving, having not thought about it too much beforehand?

It’s not specific moments. I think of the 2015 World Cup, the 2011 World Cup, and in a way, leaving those tournaments, they left such a negative taste in my mouth because we weren’t as successful as we would have hoped. But then, years later reflecting back on it, there’s some great memories from those tournaments that, in the moment, you don’t think about because it’s wins or losses and that’s all that seems to matter. But looking back, there are moments that brought the team together. Without those two experiences, I don’t think we would have had the success we’ve had recently. It just brought the team closer and made friendships stronger.

Knowing how much Canadians love to beat the Americans, were you any more determined to break the international goal-scoring record knowing Abby Wambach (184 goals) held the title at the time?

So, as I was chasing Mia [Hamm] down and Abby down, it wasn’t so much that they were American. It was just as it got closer, it’s like you want it, and the pressure and stress that came with that. But now that it’s been taken care of, I’m more proud to see a Canadian at the top of the list and not an American flag. It wasn’t the driving force behind what I wanted to do, but now that it’s done, it’s pretty cool to see Canada on top.

You joke about Even Pellerud, a Norwegian, becoming more Canadian during his time coaching Canada from 1998-2008. It got me wondering, in your case, do you feel you’ve taken on any American tendencies while living and playing in the States for so long?

I mean, I don’t think so. But then I go home to Canada and my family makes fun of some of the things I say, and they’re like, “Oh, you sound American.” But that’s also why I like Portland so much. To me, it just reminds me of Vancouver. It has that vibe. It’s not like I’m living in Texas. So, I think I’ve stayed close to Canada.

Hypothetical question: If the NWSL were to expand to Vancouver, would you prefer to stay in Portland or move to Vancouver, which is closer to your hometown?

I’d stay in Portland. It was brought to me a couple years ago when the Whitecaps were dabbling in the potential of joining the NWSL. They were like, “Part of it would mean you would have to come back,” and I was like, “The Thorns are my club now.” Yeah, I couldn’t. I couldn’t leave. I’m not saying that, when I’m done playing, I wouldn’t venture up North to help out there, but in terms of playing, I’m pretty set here.

You mention in the book that you didn’t feel a lot of pressure on the field while growing up. Do you think you would have felt more pressure if you had been more aware of the opportunities that were at stake?

Maybe. I think of the younger kids now, that they’re just faced with different decisions than I was faced with. Do you go to college? Do you go straight to pro? Do you want to play in the U.S., or do you want to go overseas? They have different options and different pressures than I had when I was growing up. There was one path, pretty much.

But I think for me, what helped were my parents and my family. They never let it become bigger than what it was. They never let me live and die by how a soccer game went. I think they saw that I love the sport and they wanted it to be fun for me as much as they could. They allowed me to just grow up in that kind of world. There was no pressure. There was no stress. It was, for my brother and me, just doing what we loved. They didn’t put excess expectations on us or me, like, “Well, you know, there are college scouts at this game.” There was none of that. It was just, “Go do what you do because you love it. And whatever happens, happens.”

There’s still a lot of work that needs to be done to grow soccer in Canada. Obviously, there are calls for a domestic league, but what about the sport at the grassroots level needs to be improved?

I don’t know a lot about the inner-workings of youth soccer within Canada, besides my nieces’ experiences. I sense that there just needs to be more direction. More as John used to put it: We want players to succeed by design, not by chance. I thought that was actually very truthful and fitting for the way soccer is in Canada, where players are successful by chance, not necessarily by the inner-workings of clubs and the development of players. I don’t necessarily know how to fix that, but that’s just my observation. And it’s like, how many players have we lost along the way that have just fallen through the cracks?

Obviously, I see what’s happening here in the U.S., with the ECNL leagues and the regional leagues. They have such a foundation, and it’s designed for success and designed for growth. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in Canada and been with youth soccer in Canada, but that does seem to be lacking.

How do you feel the national team’s past battles have impacted the current fight for gender equality, and what do you want the future to look like for Canadian women’s soccer players?

There’s been a battle — I say battle, it’s not really a battle — with the Canadian Soccer Association. It’s been a constant struggle. Unfortunately, with the way FIFA operates, you need your men’s team to be successful to help fund your programming in terms of bonuses for qualifying for the World Cup. So, it’s just been a struggle to get from Canada Soccer what we as successful women’s players think we deserve.

However, now that our men’s team has qualified for the World Cup and Canada Soccer has come out publicly and said that our next CBA will be equal pay, it’s definitely a giant step in the right direction. We’re actually negotiating that right now. And I assume it’ll be done before the men’s World Cup starts. So yeah, I wish this was something that was in place 15, 20 years ago. But the veterans on the national team said that one of our goals is to leave the program in a better place. Hopefully this is one fight that our young players on the national team won’t have to have again, and that once there’s equal pay and equal compensation structures in place, there’s no going back from that. When it does get signed, that’ll be one of the things that a bunch of us are most proud of, and that future generations won’t have to have the same battles and struggles that we had.

Jessa Braun is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports covering the NWSL and USWNT. Follow her on Twitter @jessabraun.

Ashlyn Harris won’t lie: It’s been a tough year.

Before the 2022 NWSL season began, she and her family moved from the familiar confines of Florida to the fast-paced lifestyle of New York City. After growing up in Florida and playing for the Orlando Pride since 2016, Harris was traded to NJ/NY Gotham FC in December alongside wife and teammate Ali Krieger. All of a sudden, they needed to find a new school for daughter Sloane (some of the schools had two-year waiting lists) and hire new nannies. Their lives got even busier in August with the adoption of their second child, Ocean.

Meanwhile, in life outside their home, emotions were running high as multiple parties conducted investigations into abuse, harassment and discrimination in the NWSL. On Oct. 1, U.S. Soccer released the Sally Yates report, which revealed new details of “systemic” sexual and emotional abuse by former NWSL coaches and attempts by club and league officials to cover it up. The NWSL and NWSLPA are expected to release their own joint investigation by the end of the year.

“I just feel like it’s been a really, really tough NWSL year for a lot of people with all of the stuff going on,” Harris recently told Just Women’s Sports. “I’m happy that we now can move forward. I’m happy that we’re building a culture where safety is the priority of the players, and I feel like a lot of players in the NSWL are just tired. So I’m happy to start anew and start a new culture moving forward where the players’ health and safety come first.

“Soccer is just the game we play. I just want to make sure that everyone’s safe and mentally OK.”

On top of all of those moving parts, Gotham FC finished dead-last in the 2022 NWSL standings with four wins, 17 losses and one draw despite making numerous high-profile additions in the offseason. Harris and Krieger have since demanded change from the franchise, knowing there’s vast potential with the new ownership group, including sports celebrities Eli Manning, Sue Bird and Kevin Durant.

“It’s definitely been tough because I love winning,” Harris said of the season. “I love competing, but also I understand that there can only be one winner. That’s why I love this sport. That’s why it’s so challenging at the highest level.

“The air is very thin at the top, and I think that’s what drives me every day to continue doing what I do and continue being the best at my craft and dedicating time and energy and effort into being the best player and person I can possibly be every day.”

Harris has never been one to let material success define her. In her home office, there aren’t medals or award plaques, or any trace of the two decades that the two-time World Cup champion has played at various levels of the U.S. women’s national team.

“That stuff collects dust,” the goalkeeper said.

Being a soccer star is only a small part of Harris’ identity. She hopes her legacy will be about much more than success on the field.

“I want people to know me, like genuinely know me, feel me, see me,” Harris said. “That I, in some small way, have changed their life on a personal level. I’ve impacted them. That when I am no longer here, people know me for the way I made them feel.”

She has 36 years of experience in life and soccer that she’s ready to share with others.

To Harris, there’s no better way to achieve that than to become a mentor to young athletes. This month, Harris launched a partnership with Versus, a sports edtech platform that trains kids on the physical and mental skills needed to succeed in sports and life. Originally offering courses in baseball and softball, Versus added a soccer vertical that Harris joined alongside Krieger and USWNT teammate Kelley O’Hara.

Known for her candidness, Harris is giving aspiring athletes the chance to get to know her and ask her personal questions about how she’s handled adversity, such as in the past year. She hopes to provide them with the tools to understand themselves off the field in a way that will help them overcome their own challenges.

One of Harris’ key points in her mentorship is the power of what happens when no one is watching. Those decisions, she says, are what separate the good from the great because, while everyone at the top is technically gifted, their mindsets aren’t always the same.

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(Photo courtesy of Versus)

The toughest challenges Harris has faced are injuries. Over the course of her soccer career, she’s torn her ACL and lateral meniscus, and in September she underwent knee surgery as Gotham stumbled to last place in the standings. Recovery periods, she says, are when she makes the tough, off-field choices that shape her the most.

“It’s a really, really tough mental place to be in because you have to get fit again. You have to get played in again. You don’t just hop back in where you left off … you can’t slip or someone else will take your job,” she said. “When you get to those points in your career, where you’re at a crossroads, like, ‘Man, can I even do this? Am I going to be able to come back from this?’ That’s when you build character and that’s when you learn the most about yourself, is when you’re in the trenches.”

Harris commits to the same decision every time: She never quits.

“I think a lot of people throw the towel in when it gets too hard and I just don’t have that in me. I just have never quit at anything in my life,” she said. “Ask my wife. We compete like crazy. It’s hilarious in our household, but that’s the way we tick. That’s the difference between people who are good and people who are excellent.”

Harris spent hours filming episodes for the Versus soccer launch, which give users the ability to ask questions and receive responses through conversational video A.I. technology. She doesn’t want to “snow plow” or move obstacles for the athletes she’s mentoring, but she hopes to give them the tools to do it on their own.

“Life is tough. It’s hard, and I don’t like to sugarcoat that for people,” she said.

“I just try to continue every day to improve and be the best version of myself. I can only control my mental, physical, emotional state.”

Through the trials of the past year, Harris is finally starting to see the life that she imagined for herself and her family in New York coming together.

“It’s definitely been really great,” she said of the city. “I love the diversity. I love the culture. I love the acceptance. I love feeling safe in New York. It seems like overall, being a biracial, queer family, it’s an easier landing for us.”

Jessa Braun is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports covering the NWSL and USWNT. Follow her on Twitter @jessabraun.

Crystal Dunn gave birth to her son 156 days ago. Portland head coach Rhian Wilkinson has food in her fridge older than that.

And yet, there Dunn was in front of 22,035 fans at Providence Park on Sunday evening, scoring the winning goal to send the Portland Thorns through to Saturday’s NWSL championship game with a 2-1 win over the San Diego Wave. Portland will play the Kansas City Current for the trophy on Saturday, Oct. 29 in Washington, D.C.

Dunn’s goal wasn’t the result of just any shot. It was a volleyed bullet into the top left corner, sealing the comeback she’s made to professional soccer in the last five months.

“What Crystal Dunn did, it is incredible what she did,” Wilkinson said of Dunn’s journey.

The 2021 Concacaf Player of the Year, who played her first NWSL game back at the beginning of September, just three months and 20 days after giving birth to Marcel Soubrier, was never pressured by her club to return to the field. She also wasn’t gifted minutes when she was ready to play. The goal to be on the pitch by the fall was her own, and the minutes she’s played in the five games since then, she’s earned in training.

To fight for minutes on one of the winningest teams in the NWSL is not easy for any player. That never slowed the World Cup champion, who, even before becoming a mother, was on the field passing balls until she was nine months pregnant.

Dunn subbed into Sunday’s match at the attacking midfield position in the 62nd minute, taking off Rocky Rodriguez, who had evened the scoreline 1-1 in the first half with a top-shelf screamer of her own. Registering 30 touches and completing 83 percent of her passes, Dunn was joined on the field by subs Christine Sinclair and Janine Beckie. They outworked a tired San Diego backline, creating endless scoring opportunities as the second half wore on.

And in the third minute of stoppage time, on just her second shot of the game, Dunn finally broke the tie.

“They won the game for us,” Wilkinson said of the three subs. “The players that start, there’s ego attached to that, but they’re not the ones who finish the game. The players that come on win us the game, and that’s something that I keep trying to highlight because it’s outside people who put a lot of emphasis on who starts. It’s actually the players on the field at the end of the game that have the biggest impact, and we saw that today.”

Dunn’s contributions came at the right time, not just in this game or any game, but in her leadership off the field, where she’s had a noticeable effect on the team in the second half of the season.

While Dunn was on maternity leave, veteran players Sinclair, Becky Sauerbrunn and Meghan Klingenberg led the Thorns to the No. 2 seed in the NWSL playoffs. But to Wilkinson, it’s clear the team has missed Dunn’s flair.

“She should be the poster woman for everything,” the coach said. “The way she leads, the energy she brings to training, how she connects the team.”

“I’m not in [the locker room], so I don’t know what she does,” Wilkinson later added. “But I do see how everyone respects her and comes to talk to her. I see how she talks to people or notices when people don’t look like they’re enjoying something. She’s very active in that.”

When Dunn isn’t socializing or checking in on teammates, she is naturally introverted and quiet. She prefers to do her own thing, but not until everyone else feels taken care of.

“That is the epitome of a leader,” said Wilkinson. “She knows what’s needed, and she gives it as much as she can.

“I can only speak for myself. She lifts my spirits. I think she’s great. And it seems we have a good team. They like each other. What a great thing to have a team that likes each other. They want to spend time together and they like when she’s there.”

Outside of the Thorns’ locker room, soccer fans everywhere saw that for themselves on Sunday.

“Oh my god, that was just an explosion of emotions for the whole stadium, the whole city,” Rodriguez said after the game. “And the fact that it was Crystal, I mean, we got on the field, she came and celebrated with the whole team. Everybody came together. So it was really emotional and just the perfect way to end.”

Jessa Braun is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports covering the NWSL and USWNT. Follow her on Twitter @jessabraun.

One goal.

That was the difference that made Alex Morgan the talk of the NWSL over Sophia Smith at the end of the 2022 regular season. Smith finished with 14 goals for the Portland Thorns, while the San Diego Wave’s Morgan won the Golden Boot with 15. Smith and Morgan were each nominated for this year’s NWSL MVP award, along with Mallory Pugh (Chicago Red Stars), Debinha (North Carolina Courage) and Naomi Girma (San Diego Wave).

In a pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday’s semifinal between Smith and Morgan’s teams, Thorns head coach Rhian Wilkinson said Smith has not gotten enough praise for her production this season.

“I mean, Alex Morgan is an incredible, incredible athlete, and has won the Golden Boot,” she said. “Sophia has taken up so much bandwidth from opposition backlines that it has allowed our team to have a scoring profile that has broken records this season. And it’s not by chance. Her movement — they probably have training sessions that opposition have to do to just get all over her. It takes three people to stop Soph.”

This year, Smith set a new single-season scoring record for Portland with 14 goals, passing Lindsey Horan’s 13. Smith’s count includes four braces, tying her with Naho Kawasumi and Sam Kerr for the most braces in an NWSL season.

Smith’s ability to draw in opposing backlines with her speed and scoring touch opens up space for other Thorns attackers, such as Morgan Weaver and Hina Sugita, and that’s shown up on the scoresheet. Sugita enters the playoffs with five goals and four assists, while Weaver has seven goals and three assists.

Smith, Sugita and Weaver are three of five players to record at least three assists for the Thorns this season, along with Yazmeen Ryan and Olivia Moultrie.

With Smith playing 1,452 minutes across 18 games this year, Portland scored a total of 49 goals, the third-most in a single season in league history.

“I don’t think people recognize that off-the-ball work that [Smith’s] doing, the assists she’s creating,” said Wilkinson. “I recognize I’m biased, but when you say MVP, that is what sets her apart.

“Definitely a Golden Boot would have been amazing for her. But if you look at how many players have had really prolific goal-scoring seasons, and why that is, it’s because of the spaces she’s created. I think that hasn’t been spoken about enough, what she’s doing off the ball in the spaces she’s creating for her teammates.”

The Thorns and Wave kick off at 5 p.m. ET on Sunday at Providence Park in Portland, Ore. (CBS Sports, Twitch). The winner advances to the championship game on Oct. 29 and will play either No. 1 OL Reign or No. 5 Kansas City Current, who go head-to-head in Sunday’s other semifinal at 7:30 p.m. ET in Seattle (CBSSN, Twitch).

Jessa Braun is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports covering the NWSL and USWNT. Follow her on Twitter @jessabraun.