RD Welch
LightNews LightNews
banner
rd1899.bsky.social
RD Welch
@rd1899.bsky.social
100 followers 240 following 58 posts
women's soccer (mostly NWSL, USWNT), plus odds and ends
(he/him) #TeamPizzelles

woso blog: @wsoccerexpress.bsky.social
Posts Replies Media Videos
rd1899.bsky.social
In CONMEBOL qualifying for the FIFA U-17 WWC, all five teams in Group A of the 1st round ended on 5 points.

The top 3 teams in each group advance to the 2nd round. Of those 6, 4 will qualify for the U-17 WWC.

Chile lost to Argentina, but a late goal (86') gave them the goal difference advantage.
Final standings of the first round of the 2025 CONMEBOL Sub 17 Femenina. In Group A, Colombia, Paraguay, Chile, Argentina, and Venezuela all ended on 5 points (1 win, 2 draws, 2 losses). Colombia had a +2 goal difference, Paraguay at +1, Chile at zero, Argentina at -1, and Venezuela at -2. In Group B, Brazil topped the group with 4 wins and a full 12 points, Ecuador had 3 wins and a loss, so 9 points. Peru finished third with 6 points via 2 wins and 2 losses. Uruguay had a lone win and 3 losses and finished fourth, while Bolivia went winless and finished last.
May 10, 2025 at 2:22 AM
rd1899.bsky.social
On the reversed PK decision in the USWNT-England friendly, this seems like a case when the call was made too quickly and actually "stopped a promising attack" (to borrow a phrase from Law 12), as three other USA players were open in the penalty area.

(1/5)
Video still at the 63:34 mark, just as referee blows her whistle and points to the penalty spot. #24 Yazmeen Ryan had control of the ball. #10 Lindsey Horan was open above the penalty spot. On the upper left of the box, #7 Alyssa Thompson was wide open. Also, #6 Lynn Williams was a few yards outside the 6-yard box and clear of her defender, so she could have received the ball as well. Additionally, #16Rose Lavelle was open outside the box, though just behind the referee,
December 1, 2024 at 4:35 AM
rd1899.bsky.social
Looks like NWSL Boston first came up with the "BOS Nation FC" idea over 10 months ago.

BOSNation[dot]com was registered on December 4, 2023, and redirects to BOSNationFC[dot]com, which was registered 10 days later. (see screenshots)

www.cbssports.com/soccer/news/...
ICANN Lookup result for "bosnation.com". The domain was first registered on "2023-12-04" at "17:56:16 UTC". ICANN Lookup result for "bosnationfc.com". The domain was first registered on "2023-12-14" at "20:21:28 UTC".
October 15, 2024 at 4:04 AM
rd1899.bsky.social
Oof. Duke is up 2-nil against Stanford within 5 minutes.

Maggie Graham with a 15-second brace (3:53, 4:07).
October 11, 2024 at 2:19 AM
rd1899.bsky.social
Had to retire a 16-year-old SIM card after it would no longer connect to T-Mobile's towers.

It was for a prepaid line I used as a back-up, so temporarily losing service was just an annoyance. Except, it's the number I tend to use for 2FA.

(1/2)
Back and front of a full-sized T-Mobile SIM card, "39.01a" vintage. The copper contacts have three wear lines and other scratches, plus some dust in the crevices. The SIM card number is blurred.
September 26, 2024 at 3:20 AM
rd1899.bsky.social
Update on that article about Major League Soccer starting a professional women's soccer league:

The website "has decided to retract the story".

Screenshot from X .com:
Combined text from four X.com posts: Scarves and Spikes prides itself on being a reliable source of coverage for news about Atlanta United and MLS as a whole. That said, we don’t want to be afraid to admit when we’ve missed the mark, and this is one of those times. On Sunday night, we published a story from a writer who did his best to follow ethical reporting guidelines based on information from numerous sources he was in contact with. We’ve made the decision to retract that story. We never intended to disseminate inaccurate reporting — our goal is to build your trust, and we are committed to improving our editing and fact-checking protocols to ensure the accuracy of our reporting. We always strive to provide accurate reporting that meets long-standing industry standards and we will work hard to ensure our work better reflects that going forward.
August 12, 2024 at 11:53 PM
rd1899.bsky.social
The article does have a mention of MLS Next Pro, but the context supports the idea that the MLS's proposed women's league will not be on the same level as the NWSL.

The WPSL PRO discussed in the article is expected to be sanctioned as a Division III league (the lowest).

(9/?)
Multiple sources have also stated that the Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL) will be involved in this new league in some capacity. While WPSL leadership has directly informed Scarves and Spikes that the third-division WPSL Pro (launching in 2025) is not involved with the league, the amateur-level league — which began play in 1998 — has been in negotiations with MLS, per sources. The specifics of these negotiations are unknown at this time, but sources told Scarves and Spikes that they would not be surprised if the league is used as a reserve league similar to MLS NEXT Pro.
August 12, 2024 at 1:29 AM
rd1899.bsky.social
Second, MLS Commissioner Don Garber has openly discussed women's versions of MLS Next (which was created in the wake of the demise of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy) and MLS Next Pro (mostly farm teams with some independents).

(4/?)
Garber also left open the possibility of building out a women’s counterpart to MLS Next Pro, Major League Soccer’s developmental league. “With MLS Next Pro, we’re building a third division in our country,” said Garber. “(Soon,) we’ll have a hell of a lot more teams than we have today. And as we’re going out and building professional soccer at that level, in many, many markets outside of the MLS world, there’s no reason to think that at some point that there shouldn’t be an MLS Next Pro women’s division. Whether we do that on our own or whether we do that with the NWSL is still to be seen. But it makes sense, as we think about ‘the MLS way’ that is all about efficiency and productivity, and trying to lead, and lead with our resources, we ought to be able to figure out a way to further the growth of the women’s game. We have no plans on doing that today, but we ought to be thinking about how to do that tomorrow.”
August 12, 2024 at 12:38 AM
rd1899.bsky.social
Here's the most concerning paragraph from the article:

"...NWSL clubs under MLS ownership would be part of the minimum ten inaugural teams. Like MLS, the NWSL is a single-entity league, so there would be a buyout/liquidated damages clause for release from the league."

(2/?)
Along with the cities mentioned above, NWSL clubs under MLS ownership would be part of the minimum ten inaugural teams. Like MLS, the NWSL is a single-entity league, so there would be a buyout/liquidated damages clause for release from the league. However, the exact details of that clause these clubs would need to use are unknown.
August 12, 2024 at 12:09 AM
rd1899.bsky.social
Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that there was pressure from the athletic dept to resign.

Also, this wouldn't be the first time that Dorrance suddenly resigned to allow his preferred successor to take over.

The below excerpt is from a post that I wrote: wsoccerexpress.com/2012/10/18/u...
HIRING PROCESS — Dorrance, concerned that U.S. Soccer would choose the next head coach based on politics rather than what was best for the USWNT, groomed DiCicco to be his heir apparent and planned to used his last set of the matches, the 1994 Chiquita Cup, as DiCicco’s unofficial trial run as head coach. Two days before the tournament, and only sixteen days before CONCACAF qualifying for the 1995 Women’s World Cup, Dorrance informed U.S. Soccer of his plans to let DiCicco be acting coach. However, the next day, it was reported that Dorrance had resigned and DiCicco had been named the next head coach. But, the day after that, it was clarified that Dorrance would stay on through qualifying in a nominal capacity.
August 11, 2024 at 10:11 PM
rd1899.bsky.social
Excel achievement unlocked!

So, VBA it is...
July 5, 2024 at 8:48 PM
rd1899.bsky.social
We're halfway through the 2024 #NWSL season. Here are grids showing which opponents each team has faced so far.

Each team's number of opponents faced so far are far from balanced, with some having yet to face 5 opponents.

Google Sheets version (no formulas): docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
screenshot of tables showing which opponents each NWSL team has played so far this season (through June 20, 2024). The bottom two tables show which home and away matches, respectively, each team has played. The top table shows which opponents have played once, twice, and have yet to play. For a text version, see the Google sheets link.
June 21, 2024 at 11:12 PM
rd1899.bsky.social
2024 #NWSL Season - Cumulative Points By Date Chart
chart showing the cumulative points earned by each NWSL team during the progression of the 2024 NWSL season, through June 20, 2024
June 21, 2024 at 10:59 PM
rd1899.bsky.social
2024 #NWSL Form Guide (as of June 20th).

Only Gotham FC has a win streak at the moment (5 matches).

For a text version, see docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
simplified form guide for 2024 NWSL Season, through June 20, 2024. See Google Sheets link for full text version
June 21, 2024 at 10:54 PM