Takeaways from a historic week of NWSL soccer.

The Kansas City Current have been dominant this season, holding a 12-point lead over second place and a 22-point lead over the final playoff spot with seven matches remaining. If results hold, this would be the largest margin of victory in the Shield race since 2018 when the Courage finished 15 points ahead of the Thorns, and a larger difference than the next five seasons combined.

Following up on Orlando’s NWSL double will be the toughest task, but the odds are as good as they’ve ever been.

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Unlike last season, where the Pride were the best among a group of clubs firing on all cylinders heading into the playoffs, the Current are the only club without a critical flaw in their lineup. Defensively, offensively, this has been Vlatko Andonovski’s greatest work, and one of the league’s most complete lineups, with Andonovski having the luxury of game-breaking depth options.

Even through the most recent test of their CB depth, the Current haven’t missed a beat. While they lead the league in goals scored, their expected goals tally trails behind the Portland Thorns. Even if the scoring were to ever regress to average (it won’t, thanks to Temwa Chawinga), they have been even more impressive as a defensive group, allowing just 12.5 expected goals against. The belief in Kansas City’s inevitability isn’t housed in the dynamic attack; instead, it’s their comfort level in 1-0 matches this season that forecasts well into the postseason.

Laurel Ivory and Lorena have combined for five straight clean sheets, as the Current have won by a combined 6-0, a stretch that includes Louisville, Portland, and Orlando.

Racing Louisville, the best of the rest?

Bev Yanez has a belief in her Racing Louisville squad, doubling down after another signature win last week over San Diego.

Emma Sears’s strike in the 60th minute was the key moment of the match, and it’s a result on the road against the third-placed Wave that should signify a group on the rise. The goal comes after a patient Louisville build ends with Hanna Lundqvist winning the ball against rookie FB Ella Hase.

Hase didn’t give up on the play, though, winning the ball with a picture-perfect tackle and continuing her run towards the touchline. The broken play led to Emma Sears finding space on the weak side, settling the ball off her chest with a quick slice into the back of the net.

On paper, Louisville should not have won this match. San Diego was wasteful, but a crucial takeaway in the attacking third created a dangerous chance that otherwise would’ve fizzled out into a scoreless draw.

Yanez finally has the goalkeeping that her squad needed last season in their playoff race. Jordyn Bloomer is currently tied for fourth among NWSL goalkeepers in post-shot expected goals saves per 90 minutes – saving 1.51 xGoT in San Diego.

“The grit, the resilience that the group showed today, and the belief that I continue to speak about was all present in today's match,” Yanez told reporters afterwards. “We defended the box really well. That big save [Bloomer] has for us in that first half just continues to build confidence throughout the group. We discussed our press at halftime, made a slight adjustment. The players executed fantastically out on the field.”

Louisville has leveled up; they are finding contributions from a tight group of young players, but it’s hard to graduate them into the next tier of contenders until they can produce more consistently in the attack. After a stretch of four straight matches against the top four, Louisville must show that the squad can produce a similar performance against the 11th-place Houston Dash.

It’s an opportunity.

Sophia Huerta's NWSL assist record.

The Reign have slumped following their 4-2 loss to Portland that highlighted the NWSL’s inaugural Rivalry Week. Back-to-back draws against Chicago and Houston, respectively, have left the Reign with serious work to do if they are to win a home playoff match.

Still, the Reign found a way to grab a result in Houston after falling behind early in the second half, and it was historic.

Sophia Huerta is now the all-time leader in regular-season assists after a decade as one of the league’s most dynamic defenders. Huerta’s 32nd assist fit the moment; the Dash left her on the ball with far too much space and time, and she quickly found Jordyn Huitema’s curving run.

“I’d be happy if Lynn [Biyendolo] and I could go back and forth with that assist record,” Huerta said after passing Jessica McDonald’s tally. “That would make me happier because that just means that we’re both providing for our forwards to score.”

Seattle faces the Wave this weekend, reliving their last win over a playoff club this season. It would be a good time to get back on track against a struggling San Diego side.

Bay FC makes NWSL History.

It’s no surprise that the Spirit were able to travel to Bay and pick up all three points; they’re just a better team right now in every way. However, it was Bay FC that won the day, setting a new NWSL record of 40,091 at Oracle Park in San Francisco.

The outing was an unequivocal success for Bay FC, and shows how successful they will be when they find a permanent stadium location – assuming that is the next goal after opening their Treasure Island training facility in 2027.

Hopefully, a reminder of what this club can be with proper care.

Alyssa Thompson and Chelsea speculation.

In today’s lesson, we’ll discuss how not to completely crash out over a… let’s say ambitious… transfer rumor a week before the transfer deadline.

The Guardian’s Tom Garry reported Thursday that Chelsea had reached out to Angel City about potential interest in 20-year-old budding superstar Alyssa Thompson. Predictably, the response was just what Chelsea wanted: speculation around why Thompson would want to leave and how ACFC has to let her leave for Europe if she wants to leave.

The discourse is tiring.

As the WSL grows and more European clubs take the women’s game seriously, they will come for the NWSL’s stars. Fortunately, that road goes both ways.

There was a similar panic after Naomi Girma left for Chelsea for a then World Record fee, but San Diego – tarnished reputation and all – were able to turn Girma’s, and Shaw’s, transfer fee into Kanza Dali and Delphine Cascarino, two elite players in global football.

These moves are going to happen.

All of that being said, Angel City would be deeply unserious for considering this unless the fee is astronomical. Thompson is already a star, is improving nearly every match, and is crucial to the club’s hopes of a 2025 playoff appearance. The optics of selling a player like Thompson now, in the heat of a playoff chase, with less than a week to replace Thompson… it just doesn’t make sense.

Maybe this initial reach out leads to a sale over the winter, but for now, that context is important to understanding these rumors.

Thompson is ninth in the league in expected goals and assists, fourth in progressive carries, and seventh in assisted goals (the pass before an assist).

The NWSL internally altered the league’s heat advisory protocol without informing the PA.

The fallout from August 16th’s delayed KC Current vs Orlando Pride match continues. This week, it was discovered that the NWSL internally altered the league’s heat advisory protocol in 2023 without informing the PA, its clubs, or its publicly available information of the change.

Originally, as currently detailed in the CBA, the protocol required WBGT readings every 30 minutes following the original reading before kickoff. The new clause also replaces crucial language, putting the decision to start play on the fourth official, replacing, “in conjunction with the home club’s Team Physician with feedback from visiting team medical personnel, operations, officials and both technical staffs, to make the ultimate decision if and when play is allowed to resume.” with a simplified, “The Fourth Official will take the second WBGT reading immediately after the conclusion of pre-match warmups. The same procedures above should be followed.”

This change appears to fall under the powers granted to Commissioner Jessica Berman under Article 6 of the CBA, which allows the league the unilateral ability to:

“NWSL further has and maintains exclusive right to take any action it deems appropriate in the management of its business, at any time, including, but not limited to the exclusive right to determine when, where, how, and under what circumstances it wishes to operate, suspend, discontinue, sell, locate, or move and determine the matter and the rules by which the Teams and the Players shall play soccer.”

So, Berman appears to have had the ability to make these changes without going back to the NWSLPA and negotiating an update within the CBA. However, NWSLPA Executive Director Meghann Burke told The Guardian that they were never approached about the removal of certain language within the clause.

None of this helps Bermann’s public perception, of course. Much like the league’s argument that they aren’t responsible for the well-being of club staff, a legal argument is not always a moral argument.

Berman explicitly showed that the league is fine with sacrificing medical staff expertise and player safety if it means they can squeeze a primetime performance out of their players.

The clubs deserve better, the fans deserve better, and the players deserve so much better.

Alright, enjoy a great weekend of soccer.

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