Song: ‘Army of Me’ - Björk
Hæ.
So, I was going to start doing these on Monday but last weekend the NWSL made me mad so I wrote a thing and just sent that. But most of the European leagues are back within the next few days so this was necessary. There’s a lot to discuss and write about, so you just may get another one of these Monday.
Anywhomst, 2026 has started with an overload of horrors, so please take care of yourselves and others. If you can and are able, give to the families of Keith Porter and Renee Good. We’re all we got.
Onto the woso…
upcoming matches + euro reset…
🏴 women’s super league
today, january 10
arsenal v. manchester united
7:30 a.m. | espn+
sunday, january 11
Just when everyone thought the WSL might actually get a little funky at the top with Chelsea finally loosening their stranglehold on the league, Manchester City decided to get serious, yeet Gareth Taylor, and start looking like the sum of their talents. As such, they’re the New Chelsea now, and have a six point lead at the top with ten wins, no draws, one loss, and a +22 goal difference (nearest is +13).
City still have to contend with second league games against Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United, but if they don’t drop points in two of those contests it’s very likely the WSL will have its first non-Chelsea winner since 2018/19. You read that right, you gotta go pre-panini for a different winner. Remember the before times? You know, several decades ago?
Other Notes:
City will probably be without Yui Hasegawa for most of March while she’s away at the Asian Cup, but it looks like they’re going to cope by signing Sam Coffey.
Gareth Taylor’s Liverpool remain the only winless team in the league, and on IG he’s dropping a pic of himself after each game captioned with just the scoreline. Man’s got some weird energy.
Liverpool have only scored eight goals all season, but former FSU Seminole Beata Olsson has scored five of them. Idc that she just got there, someone please go save her.
Freshly promoted London City had to run through a hellish gauntlet to start the season but finished the break in a wildly respectable 6th place, a point above Brighton and just six away from the top 4. So naturally they yeeted their coach lmao. Even stranger is that their new coach, Eder Maestre, looks like the Luigi to Jona Giráldez’s Mario.
🇪🇸 liga f
DAZN have the rights to Liga F but don’t stream every game, and have decided to do Liga F dirty in their return. The two games below are the only two streaming from a full weekend slate, plus midweek games for Barcelona and Real Madrid. Ugh.
today, january 10
If leagues that are all but wrapped up by the midway point are your thing then buddy you are in luck. While Barcelona was beaten in the league for the first time since Madrid CFF beat them in June of 2021(!!), they’re still 7 points ahead with sixty-two goals scored and only three conceded.
Real Madrid are closest with 32 points, but they’ve lost twice, including to Barcelona, who mollywhopped them 4-0. The surprise of the season so far has been Real Sociedad, who finished 7th last season with 41 points but currently sit third with 30. They’ve only lost twice, and were the squad that beat Barcelona.
Other Notes:
Aitana Bonmati fractured her leg training with Spain in late November. The recovery timeline being talked about is three months. That seems rather ambitious for a broken fibula, which is the skinny bone next to the big bone in your lower leg. Opening yourself up to being kicked there again after just three months sounds unwise.
Over the break Atlético Madrid decided to become my favorite Liga F team again by signing one of my favorite names in soccer, Priscila Chinchilla.
One of the reasons Real Sociedad has been cooking is because Edna Imade has been cooking. Barcelona players are 4 of the 5 highest scorers in the league, but Imade splits them with 8 goals. It’s a legit 8 too, three pens and 5.1 non-penalty xG. Problem is, she was on loan from Bayern Munich, and they decided they’d seen enough and recalled her over the break. Ouch.
🇫🇷 première ligue
wednesday, january 14
Copy/paste the thing about leagues that already have a champion-in-waiting. Lyonnes are seven points up, same as Barcelona in Liga F, but they have zero losses and zero draws, and a +44 goal difference (nearest is +16).
Other Notes:
Lyonnes are doing this while being a bit weird. I’m considering digging into this more but essentially Jona Giráldez is flooding the final third with numbers and leaving tons of space for a single midfielder to cover. As a result, there’s a bit of a weird battle brewing between Lily Yohannes, Korbin Schrader and Damaris Egurrola.
My childhood club, Paris FC, have signed Kysha Sylla on loan over the break. Which I think is good and cool.
PSG are a mess who crashed out of the UWCL league phase by losing to Wolfsburg, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Bayern Munich (fine), and failing to beat OH Leuven and Benfica (wut). Yet somehow they’re still second in the league, and have only lost once (a 6-1 megastomping by Lyonnes).
Except they’re not actually 2nd, they’re 5th. Over the break PSG were hit with a 9 point deduction for being bad at paperwork and fielding a player without an international transfer certificate. Sounds slightly pedantic, but it’s a process every team everywhere is familiar with, so.
🇩🇪 frauen bundesliga
Back in a couple weeks. More then.
things to read…
Got fed up listening to people in leadership positions within the NWSL continue to ignore the fact that soccer is important to a soccer league. I had a fear this is what Jessica Berman would eventually turn out to be, which is annoying in and of itself. But perhaps even more annoying is that the league still has several owners who would rather hold the league back than allow it to grow.
Also, LigaMXF is back! Eugénie Le Sommer: still quite goodt.
more #content for you…
Annie, Ella & I aren't quite ready to let go of the Washington Spirit's 2025 season just yet. We tallied votes then sat down to unveil our six winners for the season! Find out who won our awards for Biggest Surprise, Big Damn Hero, Goal, Assist and Defensive Play of the Year, and of course, who will be the second ever recipient of our MVP award, the Candy Corn Crown.
for funsies.
Unrivaled is back.
