2025 nwsl week 10: xG race charts & g+ pass networks

Week 10 being a nice round number seems to make it a good time to see what teams we feel like we know, and what teams we don’t. Lessons learned include: being sure to bring snacks if you’re ever in an escape room with these Utah Royals, and the importance of flossing regularly and learning to accept the truth about the San Diego Wavé.

Here’s what week 10 looked like in xG race charts and g+ pass networks. Oh, plus a word about the Concacaf Champions Cup.

utah royals 1-3 orlando pride

Banda’d.

utah royals

Utah put in so much work to do, well, not very much. They’re the Rube Goldberg machine of the NWSL. Every attempted attack is like a small ball rolling down a book triggering a chain reaction of dominos that spins a wheel and knocks over a house of cards that sets a model car down a track that results in a .05 xG shot.

Then they reset it all and start again.

orlando pride

Without much threat to worry about, Orlando did what they do best: focus on defending and getting the ball to Barbra Banda. Additionally, the lack of threat helped Ally Watt stay higher and be more involved in the attack than she had been, whiled led to her first goal contribution since the opening game of the season.

seattle reign 1-2 washington spirit

The Spirit had another eventful first half (derogatory and complimentary), but managed to keep Shae Holmes’ goal the only opposition goal of the game—progress!

Laura Harvey, meanwhile, tried to bide time until she could load the attack with Jess Fishlock, Lynn Biyendolo, Ji So-yun and Nérilia Mondésir in the second half. Given all that, it’s disappointing that it only led to a handful of chances, even if they were decent ones.

seattle reign

Seattle’s three-back was ideally meant to keep a numbers advantage in defense and while gumming up midfield. Except both Spirit goals came from line breaking passes straight through midfield. Oops.

washington spirit

The Spirit looked a lot more like their dangerous selves in this one, but still not perfect. The extremely negative pass g+ from every attacking player is rare, and likely the result of Seattle’s numbers in midfield and narrow shape. On the good news front though, Spirit defensive players—particularly the CBs and CDMs—took the impetus and posted positive pass g+.

houston dash 2-2 bay fc

Sometimes mid-offs can be fun, and this was one of those times. Bay should be frustrated at dropping a late goal that made this a draw, but this game was also pushed back due to heat, and was still hot and muggy as it kicked off. Even with subs, you could see the impacts late.

houston dash

Oh, Dash. Missing Yazmeen Ryan’s ability to link midfield and attack made things hard, and then whatever this turned out to be made it even harder. We’ve seen the Dash go from ‘ooh promising’ to not really being sure what they’re up to. We’re still in the first half of the season, and rebuilds take time, but we should at least be seeing concepts of a plan on the pitch. After a promising start, those seem to have eroded away.

bay fc

Honestly, everything I said about Houston above applies to Bay too. Except they’re two years and a few million dollars into whatever they’re supposed to be.

chicago tsars 1-3 kc current

Good. Lord.

chicago tsars

Pick a quote, any quote, from this interview with Chicago GM Richard Feuz and simultaneously cackle and grow increasingly enraged at how it’s aged like milk on the surface of the sun.

kansas city current

Given that Alana Cook, Debinha and Claire Hutton didn’t start (the first two through injury), this managed to still be a complete performance. After losing so many key players the prior weekend, this was the performance the Current needed from players who suddenly found themselves in the XI.

angel city 2-3 rahsing louisville

Just about every week in the NWSL has one of those ‘she’s so crazzzzzzzzzy!’ games in which the league does something nonsensical just to avoid being thought of as predictable. This week, this was the game with a bag of potato chips on its head.

angel city

Sam Laity decided to sign off with…this. Alright man. Goodbye.

rahsing louisville

Despite posting 2.07 xG and scoring three goals from just 39% possession and only 281 passes attempted, Louisville still only managed 69% pass accuracy. No, not nice. Not nice at all. They remain the team that I am most confused and, at times, fascinated by.

san diego wavé 5-2 nc courage

Because, surprisingly, the xG was so close the figures are hard to see. American Soccer Analysis has it San Diego 1.88 to North Carolina’s 1.82. The final score being 5-2 means one team honored the finishing gods, while the other did not. The Wavé created seven chances above average xG value (.11) and scored five of them. North Carolina, the heathens, created six such chances and scored two.

san diego wavé

I’m going to have to do a deeper dive on San Diego because basically every week I’m like ‘didn’t expect this!’ yet they keep doing this. The structure in possession is pretty standard and creates a discernible 424 in attack, spread across the defensive line. So nothing here beyond Delphine Cascarino’s exceptional pass g+ really stands out.

But it’s their movement. They seem chaotic but also seem to know where each other are going, and how to react in the moments they might not be on the same page. They play fun and fast, and it’s high time we just accept that this team is not only legit, but legit entertaining.

north carolina courage

While the xG is good, the defense was not. San Diego had an absurd conversion rate, but still, giving up nearly 2.0 non-penalty xG isn’t great. The deeper concern will be whether or not the Courage’s new 3-4-2-1 formation is already being found out. San Diego wrecked them in wide spaces, which is a consistent vulnerability if teams are able to time runs and passes in the space between the wingbacks center backs.

North Carolina attempted to fight back with Jaedyn Shaw and Ashley Sanchez but only managed to get them 24 and 15 touches respectively—with each having just five in the attacking third. Manaka has been hoopin, but isn’t yet the kind of striker to be relied on for the bulk of the goalscoring.

Now we’re in week 10, and the most important thing for the Courage to figure out in the offseason—getting Ashley Sanchez and Jaedyn Shaw cooking together—remains unsolved.

congrats to gotham, our concacaf queens

Weeks ago Gotham and Portland played a random Tuesday match ahead of this weekend since both would be participating in semifinal and final rounds of the Concacaf Champions Cup (basically the Americas’ recently made up answer to the Champions League).

Portland was kept out of the championship by Tigres, yet beat Club América in the third place game. Meanwhile, Gotham eventually won the whole dang thing. It wasn’t without drama, and a remarkable bombardment by Tigres, whose ease playing out of pressure often negated the press Gotham frequently uses to dominate games.

In the end, it was a peak Concacaf moment from Emily Sonnett, a player seemingly birthed by Mother Concacaf herself, that made the difference.

Honestly, I was cackling all night. This is extremely silly, and maybe not the best way to win a final, but also may have been the very best way for this particular inaugural competition to be won. It was instant lore that’s also deeply aligned with Concacaf heritage. It’s silly, it’s intense, full of hoopers and 1v1 talents all over the pitch, deeply competitive, and highly entertaining in both feats of athleticism and comedy. That’s so Concacaf.

All in all I think the first Champions Cup was a success. It was a unique tournament with some unfortunate lopsided results early, but managed to end with a tense final between two stylistically very different opponents. The difficulty of the final was maybe seen in celebrations by Geyse and Esther González, who both have experience in the Champions League (with Geyse lifting that trophy as well).

With more promotion this tournament can become a respectable cross-domestic league tournament that’s been lacking this side of the hemisphere. Now that Canada’s NSL is up and running I’m hoping their champions are added too. We could be onto something uniquely fun and Concacaf, and what better way for it to be birthed than with Sonnett claiming its first ever trophy by bending herself over a defender’s knee and kicking her feet in the air.

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