The 2022 NWSL Championship is today: notes from DC
This Saturday marks the culmination of perhaps the most successful year in NWSL history. But in between success, there's been difficulty. Report from DC on the Championship mood for Thorns & Current.
And so, after an incredible year, we’re just shy of a grand finale to what’s proving to be a rather pivotal year in women’s soccer. The 2022 NWSL Championship kicks off this very evening, 8 PM or just past it at Audi Field.
A quick look at 2022 in NWSL
Attendance records were set— and then re-set, and then re-set— across the regular season, and into the playoffs. Expansion clubs in SoCal met success by both footy and fandom. A historic CBA was finally signed -the first in league history- shifting power to the players, setting a multitude of minimum standards, and allowing for free agency. At the national team level, an equal pay settlement was made.
From the league to the national team level, much ado was made about passing generations, the growth of the game in Europe, and where the US team stands. (Including, admittedly, from me.) But a major theme this year in NWSL was the mark (and continued mark) of the new generation. Prolific young players became stars of the league- or continued to be stars of the league- and began to mount their names on the wall of the national team— Naomi Girma, Taylor Kornieck, Mal Pugh, Sam Coffey, Sophia Smith, to name just a few.
And, yes, the formal US Soccer investigation begun last year- delving into a mire of abuse in NWSL- was settled this month, as Sally Yates’ expansive report was formally released. The report reminded, rehashed- and in some cases, enlightened- players and the public as to the extent of managerial grotesquery, and the perfidious care that allowed it.
“The reckoning begins now”, as NWSL Chair Jessica Berman told media Friday afternoon at Audi Field.
The Championship is upon us, in the league “hardest to place second”
We’re less than 12 hours from the Championship, and rather than run through a prediction (if you’d like mine, here’s my preview of the match for The Guardian), I want to simply share the mood in capital city, USA.
This is the 10th season of NWSL, and while there remains a long way to go, excitement and execution of this event feels to have reached new height.
The two days preceding this moment were filled by media events, including press conferences with both teams, a presser with NWSL Chairman Jessica Berman, 15 minute open trainings, and a media day allowing for access to all players from both teams.
Making my way from player to player, I asked questions about the game, asked questions about their game, asked questions with certain themes attached.
Like, for example, what will history remember about this year in NWSL? What would you like history to remember about this year in NWSL? (The crowds! Not so much the report. Ok, fine, the report. But the overcoming it, and the solidarity of the players).
I also requested they describe in a word- or a few words, or at most a sentence- the secret sauce of what makes their team successful. Kansas City players told me ‘personality’. Portland Thorns players told me ‘perseverance’.
And so, personality will meet perseverance tonight, and we’ll see who wins.
Below, my humble attempt to transcribe for you the mood in the District, here on the cusp of the 2022 NWSL Championship, tracing words round patterns of response from the Kansas City Current and the Portland Thorns:
1. The players are leading the way
This was a phrase echoed across several topics- from the report, to coaching style, to the CBA, to barriers broken, to business booming- lending itself to the general ethos of these clubs and this league in this moment: the athletes are in charge now.
2. Leaving last year behind
… is a process. Both clubs are navigating it. Part of that leaving is the arriving… to this evening’s Championship, for one thing, and lifting the coveted trophy thereafter, as both clubs hope.
But what is it these clubs are discarding?
For Portland Thorns, last season was the year cascading revelations first were made, as The Athletic released a report of sexual misconduct, in part allowed under the watch of their club. The Yates report was launched by US Soccer in response.
Thorns players want to move on, want to focus on playing soccer, want to get back to ‘success’, instead of ‘controversy’. They’ll have the opportunity to do that tonight.
Kansas City Current, on the other hand, are at the tremendous tail-end of a Cinderella year. After placing dead last in the NWSL table last season- soundly missing the playoffs- they now find themselves in the final. Their arrival is proof of a few things, including the evident dividends of investment in the women’s game, which Current have done uniquely well the past 2 years.
The Current squad told me they want to leave that difficult inaugural season in the past. They’re playing to prove they’re not simply at the top, but staying here, too.
3. Joy
I wrote about joy (and juxtaposition) the week the Yates report came out, pressing send on this piece just before heading to Wembley for yet another sold out crowd as England hosted the US National Team.
Joy- the finding it, the living it, the playing it- remains the theme, not simply with the US National Team, but with the NWSL as well.
Crystal Dunn was among the USWNT stars discussing that theme in London- saying she’d encouraged her teammates to find it- and she seems to be carrying forward that duty in DC. Crystal Dunn, it must be said, is not simply the golazo-goal-scorer from last week’s semi-final, she’s also the joy infector.
I can’t really ever think of a time I haven’t encountered Crystal Dunn that she isn’t smiling or joking around, something she acknowledged in yesterday’s press conference, referring to herself as a class clown.
There’s certainly some nerves in DC ahead of the final- coming with the pressure and attention, the big stages not all of them have met before- but they’re focused on enjoying themselves. As Christine Sinclair put it, “at the end of the day, you play a game for a living. If you’re not having fun, what’s the point?”
4. Personality
Kansas City has it in spades, which is what they told me- and other media- when asked repeatedly about their incredible season. They like what they’re doing, and they like each other. It makes a difference and you can tell.
Coach of the year candidate Matt Potter described his team’s personality as having no fear, possessing “boundless energy”, enjoying what they do, and in a difficult year, “finding a way to be part of the shining light”.
Part of the team’s success and personality is a coaching style that allows them to have one. Potter provides options, framework, principles. But he repeatedly used the word “freedom” in how he wants his team to play. It’s a player-led environment, he says, these players have seen big stages before. He gives them ideas, but tells them to play with freedom, which shows up everywhere in the personality of the squad.
5. Perseverance
It’s not uncommon in the global game for national teams to pluck players and style from particular clubs, running side by side until club and country blur toward the synonymous. There’s plenty example of this happening: Barcelona, Bayern Munich… Portland Thorns?
I can’t help but feel that if there were a US club whose talent, success, narratives and difficulties mirrored the US Women’s National Team, it’s undoubtedly Portland Thorns, especially in this moment.
Like USWNT, Thorns are giants of the domestic scene. Their famous crowds, marquee talent, and litany of trophies mirror the storied success of the national team that many of them also play for. And like the national team, they’re in a fascinating moment, where the old guard stars are playing side by side with the most exciting young talent in the league.
Becky Sauerbrunn is calling the shots from one side of the pitch, Sophia Smith is sending in the goals from the other. Sam Coffey’s breakout year meets Crystal Dunn’s continued dominance in the middle. Sound familiar?
Tracking behind both Thorns and the US National Team, I can’t help but notice players using the same exact verbiage to describe their squad as well. “There’s a target on our back”, Sauerbrunn told me at Wembley, and Dunn told media as Audi Field. They were talking about different teams, but for both squads, it’s appropriate.
Narratives and narrative-reactions run similar in the media as well. A WSJ reporter asked Thorns midfielder Crystal Dunn a question about being on “the best club in the world”, which caused a British reporter sitting behind me to look around in obstinate shock. Best in the world? Says who? Are you (still) sure about that?
Again, could have been club or country there, and that moment would be plausible both times.
Thorns players told me the word to describe them is “perseverance”. Like USWNT, they’re familiar with the pressure. They welcome it, even. No energy is bad energy.
It doesn’t really matter if they’re not cheering for us, Dunn told me of both NWSL sellout crowds and playing at Wembley: I’m just glad that energy is there.
Thorns have been through a lot this year. And for such a storied club, it’s been awhile since they’ve lifted the trophy. Despite the odds, or Current’s momentum, my money is on them to persevere.
5. The hardest league in the world to place second
And speaking of sell out crowds, they’re part and parcel of success this NWSL season. Whether it’s routinely filling stadiums, sliding into primetime TV spots, increasing viewership on Paramount+ by 30% year on year, or increasing investment in the game, this season has proven a lot of things for NWSL, but perhaps most importantly, that investing in women’s soccer is good business.
A reporter asked Jessica Berman- as she delved into the aforementioned success- what makes this league more interesting than other sports, or other leagues, and what she would tell somebody who might be on the fence.
Berman responded by discussing the breadth and spread of talent, the parity of the NWSL system, and that you just never know what’s going to happen here.
Well, that’s certainly true.
Berman cited other leagues where spectators can predict who will be victorious and who will come out on top with astute precision, in ways near impossible in NWSL.
This NWSL thing is hard to predict. The gap between placing first and missing the playoffs can be a matter of a few small points. Truly, anything can happen here. As Berman cited, “this is the hardest league in the world to place second”.
The only thing left assured is that this match will be entertaining. You can read my preview of the affair here for The Guardian’s Moving the Goalposts Newsletter. I’ll have the match report this evening for The Guardian as well. If you’re in DC, there’s less than 1,000 tickets left on sale, and you should probably snag one. If not, you can watch on CBS or Paramount+ in the USA, and on Twitch everywhere else.
Happy viewing, wonderful people. Enjoy your weekends.
Great overview Megan. We've linked to your article in our newsletter below.
https://upper90.substack.com/p/world-cup-injury-report?sd=pf