2025 nwsl week 22: xG race charts & g+ pass networks

Gonna drop this in here again for the new folks. The xG race charts now have this handy and fun sidebar that lists all good/great shots (over .15 xG value). I talk about shot quality a lot, so decided this would be a pretty useful. Hope you find it useful too.

g+ passing/receiving networks explainer

The xG charts are straightforward, but the pass networks include custom data from American Soccer Analysis in order to spotlight passing and receiving impact. These are measured using ASA’s goals added (g+) metric, which calculates how much each touch—in this case passing & receiving—changes their team’s chances of scoring and conceding across two possessions.

(If you want to fully nerd out, here’s a deep dive into the methodology of g+.)

week 22

In a game Portland had to have Rob Gale got his lineup and tactics all wrong. As a result, his team generated next to nothing, and are now at the other end of the table having to scrap for their playoff lives. Womp.

gotham

We got Josefine Hasbo in midfield as opposed to the Shaw-Howell-Lavelle trio I refuse to shutup about. Shaw was still able to tuck inside to find the ball though, and central passing opportunities like the beautiful throughball that led to the first goalscoring linkup between Shaw and Lavelle.

portland thorns

This was always going to be a tough game to win, but the XI Rob Gale fielded took their chances from possible to impossible before the first kick. Adding Deyna Castellanos to the attack without a vertical threat rolled out the red carpet for Gotham to smother them in midfield. This passing network right here is scattered, smothered and covered.

Well, yeah.

Kansas City do a lot of things at a very high level and one that stands out is that they very rarely whiff on big chances. It sounds simple and like it’d be easy, but teams and players flounder big chances every day b. Not the Current, they created five in this game and scored three.

kansas city current

You would think that leaving that much of a gap between midfield and defense would be a less than ideal thing to do against Ludmila. But Kansas City are quite tidy with the ball and don’t take risks in areas that would put them under the most pressure. They have Temwa Chawinga, whose defensive contributions from the forward line remain unreal.

chicago tsars

Kansas City are a historically dominant team so there’s no shame in getting worked. On the surface this doesn’t look bad, but it’s all about what Kansas City will and won’t allow you to do. The passing at the back was fine, but the further up the pitch Chicago tried to go the more the blue lines between players begin to fade.

I’m super here for Carson Pickett’s goal machine era. She had the only good quality chance of the game and buried it to take the lead (it was also a very clever central run, especially from a player most familiar with operating as a fullback).

San Diego’s total xG total is more a math equation than representative of quality play. Their sixteen (16!) shots averaged .07 xG per shot, and they didn’t manage a single shot at or above .15. Stinky.

san diego wavé

The Wavé are truly trapped in JonasBall now. Lotta cute triangles and passing combinations but far away from goal without anyone actually threatening the center of the pitch. This is the pass network of a man who thought he didn’t need Viv Miedema.

orlando pride

This is extremely not the fix I’ve been waiting for from Orlando, as they pretty much relied on San Diego’s poor chance creation and finishing to gut their way to the three points. I’m still waiting to see Seb Hines come up with a more balanced structure without Barbra Banda (or trying to get someone to do a passable-if-you-squint-hard-enough Banda impression).

I love me a throwback NWSL team and that’s exactly what Rahsing have become this season. Both teams had three good/great chances, but Rahsing managed to create the two highest value shots. One of those became the game’s only goal and was manufactured through intense high pressing from Emma Sears, who won the ball cleanly on the edge of the box and immediately delivered an assist.

rahsing louisville

Can’t lie to y’all, I’m fully gone off #datpurp. Faded, as the kids might say. They’re very physical, do their best work out of possession, and if their constant pressure doesn’t lead to chances they’ll just yeet the ball along the channels and gamble on their player being faster than yours. There’s many ways to play this game, don’t let anyone tell you that this one isn’t valid.

angel city

Terrific backline spacing, but after that? Oof. Tiernan is on an island, and Louisville’s press kept Angel City pinned.

One fairly inescapable thing about having a fullback as a star player is that when they have to mark a dangerous wide attacking player who likes getting in behind, it will limit how much they can contribute at the other end.

Soccer’d right in the mf’n face.

These sorts of games aren’t unfamiliar to Bay. They don’t have clinical finishers and often let in early or first half goals, which shifts the game state out of their favor. In terms of chance creation they did well enough to respond after going down 0-2 early, but couldn’t make the number on the scoreboard change. Whoops.

bay fc

I think part of Bay’s lack of cohesion in the final third problem is thanks to Albertin Montoya’s erratic lineup shuffling, which has made developing established connections and/or patterns of play almost impossible. They’re in year two and their only repeatable sequence is still calling ISO for Racheal Kundananji. (This is not a terrible thing, but also pls get her some help. A decoy run, a late arrival into the box, an under- or overlapping run. Something. Anything.)

utah royals

The result probably flatters Utah a bit. They did well to get the early goals, but they tried quite hard to fumble it away. If Mia Justus hadn’t decided to go God Mode this game probably ends 2-2, at best. Fotmob has Justus with 5 saves inside the box, 2 diving saves, 1 clearance as a sweeper, and 0 goals allow from 1.33 xGOT (xG on target). She hooped.

Goodness me.

Houston started the match with an intense high press that resulted in what felt like 900 throw-ins in Washington’s half within the first ten minutes. Then the Spirit decided that was enough of that and proceeded to tear through Houston’s defense to take 15 of their 16 shots inside the box.

washington spirit

Adrián González is in his wild boi era. He told us weeks ago that he doesn’t believe in positions and we’re starting to see evidence of that. By now we’re all used to team shapes varying in and out of possession, and the Spirit’s certainly do, but they’re also doing a lot of hybrid movements within the same possession too.

Right back Gabby Carle’s positioning was key to it all, as she would either go wide like a fullback, get into the attacking third like a wingback, or tuck inside like an auxiliary central midfielder. The Spirit might be the most fun team to watch off the ball in possession.

houston dash

Oh deary me.

The Courage’s two best chances came in the first 25 minutes, both taken by Tyler Lussi, who failed to convert either. After that, the Harvs’ing intensified.

seattle reign

Laura Harvey’s sufferball hasn’t always worked this season but it’s allowed them to take points from all but three of their nine games since the break. With peak NWSL chaos happening as teams scrap for the playoffs and hit shuffle on the league table every matchday, those points suddenly have Seattle sitting in 4th.

north carolina courage

North Carolina put themselves in a position where they needed goals from Hannah Betfort and Tyler Lussi in an important match late in the season. Betfort managed to score the seventh goal of her NWSL career, while Lussi’s best chances were blocked.

The Courage are now a point outside of the playoffs, and Manaka Matsukubo (6 goals, 4 assists) left the match with an injury late in the second half. Yikea.

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