a question every nwsl team must answer as the season restarts

After an extended break to step aside for the men’s World Cup , the 2026 NWSL season restarts today. Most teams entered the break having played eleven games (a few 12, and some 13), which means every team has about two-thirds of their games left to play. Given what each team showed in the first third’ish of the season, I’ve come up with a question for each that will define the remainder of their season.

Angel City’s fans were just starting to get over the shock loss of Alyssa Thompson, helped by three goals and two assists in the first three games by new star forward Sveindís Jónsdóttir. Eventually she cooled off, then got injured, but the break was seeming like a chance to get healthy, recover the team’s early form, and start to recruit complementary pieces.

Um. Instead they yeeted their teenage attacking midfielder, Kennedy Fuller during her best stretch with the club, and head coach Alex Strauss decided to walk away. They dropped a bad to bring in Ally Sentnor for some reason, and now need to find a coach who can figure out a fit between her and Jóndsóttir.

I dunno what’s going on, it seems like Angel City would have been in a much better place had they not made the moves they decided to make. But they made them, and now have to live with them. I don’t see much of a plan, but maybe that changes over the course of the next couple windows.

Bay has decided that they wanna be Yung USWNT Midfielders FC. They already had Hannah Bebar (24) and Taylor Huff (23), and in the last couple windows brought in Claire Hutton (20) and most recently Kennedy Fuller (19).

That’s a fun idea, and something I would absolutely do in EAFC26, but in real life performances haven’t quite popped off to the level of the talent each player possesses. Part of that is coaching and development. This is head coach Emma Coates’ first season, but she comes from England’s U23 team so should be used to developing and refining young talents.

If they can get them all growing, combining and cooking together, shit could get real fun real quick. Problem is, that is not the trajectory they were on in the first third of the season. That has to change as the season continues.

Boston made a pretty big deal about signing Murphy, consistently labeling her in press releases and social posts as a USWNT goalkeeper. Technically, they weren’t wrong. Murphy seemed to be the clear successor to Alyssa Naeher, and then her form tanked, she got injured, and she hasn’t been with the national team in a long time.

This season has also not been great. Murphy has one of the lowest save percentages in the league at 64.2 percent according to Fotmob. Data from American Soccer Analysis isn’t any kinder. By their numbers, Murphy has faced 16.68 PSxG (post-shot xG measures the quality of a shot taken, whereas standard xG evaluates the scenario leading to the shot) and let in 19 goals.

For contrast, Denver Summit’s Abby Smith has faced nearly the same PSxG (16.84) and has let just twelve find the back of the net. The difference between Boston and Denver on the table is six points, and it doesn’t take much of a math expert to notice that seven fewer goals conceded could easily lead to six or more points.

Well, you tried it. I dunno why you tried it. Everyone told you it would be a bad idea. But you tried it anyway. Now you’ve fired your general manager who you thought was going to turn into some sorta Woso Billy Bean and lead you to glory while allowing you to keep as much money in your pockets as possible.

Now he’s out of a job, the team finished in last place last year, is in second to last place now, all the while being owned by Laura Ricketts, whose net worth is a number that ends in billion.

So, are you done trying to cut corners yet or nah?

Denver has been a surprise of the season so far, but that’s mainly a feeling based on vibes. In reality they’ve only won four games (4-3-4) and currently sit outside a playoff spot. That may seem harsh for an expansion team, but San Diego Wave and Bay FC made the playoffs their first seasons in the league.

The Summit’s big problem, and the reason I am asking this specific question of them, is that they’ve already developed a bad habit of losing points late. Three of their four losses came from goals conceded after the 65th minute.

As a lover of mess and drama, particularly with my sports, I appreciate their contributions. But they might wanna work on re-balancing their involvement in the drama and having some of these moments for themselves.

Depending on her form and ability to get back up to NWSL speed, this problem could be solved by Healthy Sam Kerr Doing Sam Kerr Things Again. But to make her life easier, it’d be helpful if Gotham could keep Jaedyn Shaw and Rose Lavelle healthy and productive throughout the season.

Last year Gotham’s romp from 8th seed to the championship was due to Lavelle’s perfectly timed return to form and fitness, and the September signing of Jaedyn Shaw. This season, Lavelle has started in 7 of Gotham’s first 11 games, while Shaw has managed eight starts.

Gotham’s style requires star attacking talents to come up with key moments in big games, making sure they can rely on one of them (preferably both) throughout the rest of the season and the playoffs is critical.

I was hoping to be able to see it by now. Early on I thought I saw it, but then it wisped away as the Dash went from a 3-0-1 start to a 1-2-5 finish. The mid-block pressing structure and timely moments from a collection of rookies (plus third year player Kiki Van Zanten) gave them a head start, but now teams seem to be onto them. So what now?

The Current assembled a juggernaut that’s dominated regular seasons but hasn’t found the right combination of timing, skill and luck to get them back to the championship game. It’s interesting, and rather uninspiring, that the team that only needed a tweak in the margins (and to keep Temwa Chawinga healthy) somehow ended up shipping off Claire Hutton to make the task even harder for a coach who’s unfamiliar with the women’s game, let alone the NWSL.

Ok girl if you say so.

Ever since Kerolin left Cary, NC after the 2024 season, the Courage have played slow building, incisive soccer that looks good but rarely leads to the goals needed to consistently win games.

This season Ashley Sanchez’s seven goals have her in the Golden Boot conversation, but have come from just 3.28 xG. As she’s never been a consistent goalscorer in the league, some reversion to the mean is expected. The hope was that Manaka Matsukubo, who has five goals from 3.68 xG (not far from the 11/9.92 xG overperformance she posted in 2025) picks up some of the slack, as well as Evelyn Ijeh, who looked to be finding her goalscoring touch (scoring all three goals coming in the three games before the break).

Except Matsukubo just signed for Chelsea. Oh dear.

Seb Hines’ defense-first gameplan is at its peak when the other end of the pitch is at its sharpest. During their 2024 win-everything season, Banda led the team in goals and assists with 13 and 6, but Marta added 9 goals, Adriana six, and Summer Yates five.

This season Banda is already up to an absurd 11 goals, but only one other teammate has scored more than once (midfielder Haley McCutcheon). Banda is leading the Golden Boot race but the Pride are clinging onto the final playoff spot. Hines’ natural inclination might be to lean into focusing on the defense, but the Pride are giving up the same expected goals against (xGA) as Utah, who are a draw form a game in hand away from topping the table.

While Anna Moorhouse improving on her 17 goals conceded from 14.55 xGOT faced would help a lot, so would another attacking threat or two beyond ‘Banda, go long’.

This one is simple. Pretty much every nerd who pays attention to the NWSL is in agreement that the Thorns’ current position on the table is a mirage. That’s because they’re significantly overperforming their xG (17.53; 20 goals scored) and xGA (19.72; 14 goals conceded.

With Sophia Wilson back and looking like herself, there’s reason to believe that the xG overperformance could stick around, it’s just a thing she does. But that’s not a thing their defense or goalkeeper does. They’ve found themselves in a privileged and lucky position entering the break, now it’s up to them to improve their defensive performances and stave off an expected reversion to the mean.

Last season was fun. Rahsing caught lightning in a bottle and rode an NWSL Heritage style of ‘press-low and counter’ to their first playoff appearance and a Coach of the Year award for Bev Yanez. After the front office used the offseason to do a whole lot of nothing except lose Ary Borges, a key midfield piece, things are, predictably, not going well.

Louisville are at the bottom of the table (though they have a game in hand over Chicago), have just two wins and one draw, and have let in the second most goals in the league. Yanez worked a miracle last season, and ownership decided to up the difficulty level and ask her to do it again.

To turn the decibel levels of the alarm bells up even further, the Chaos, Set Pieces and Emma Sears tactic might lose the Emma Sears portion altogether, given that she used the break to work up the courage to request a trade.

I’m a hater but I’m reasonable enough to admit when something has exceeded my expectations. I wasn’t confident at all that Jonas Eidevall’s high-possession, short passing style would do well in the NWSL. Well, the Wavé are at the top of the table (though they’ve played one more game than Utah) and have won more games than anyone this season.

They’re also finally starting to see what they have in Trinity Byars, and presumably Catarina Macario will make her debut at some point as well. Where San Diego has struggled is against teams that don’t fall for their shell-game passing and instead focus on containing them with a structured press and smart out of possession organization. This eventually transitions games from the football they prefer, to the soccer the other team wants to play.

San Diego only has four losses, but they’ve been kept off the scoresheet entirely in every single one. When the game calls for soccer, they don’t tend to have an answer.

Seattle is in the bottom three of xG per game (1.07), only kept from the bottom by Bay and Chicago, otherwise known as two of the bottom four teams on the table. In real life they’re doing even worse, only scoring .82 goals per game and their ten goals scored is third lowest (again, Bay and Chicago).

Pulling off their intended approach successfully would require a Gotham-level extreme system. The Bats have only scored twelve goals all season, but conceded just five. Currently, Reign’s approach has them with a -3 goal difference already.

You can’t really snap your fingers and be Gotham, and they don’t have a squad full of players who can make the most of minimal chances (plus Gotham just signed Sam Kerr, so), so scoring goals is gonna have to be a thing they try to do a lot more often, even if Laura Harvey will hate every second of it.

I know I’ve seemed like a hater but it’s not my fault. Utah has had multiple seasons where they look strong in one part of a season, and completely useless in the other part. I believe they have the personnel to not have such a wide variance in their performances, but their current trajectory is Shield Contender, not just Playoff Team.

Being a playoff team would be a significant improvement from what they’ve accomplished under Coenraets in previous years, and if that’s the extent of the drop-off they should still take that as a dub.

Back-to-back Ls in NWSL Championship game appearances, and this season the Spirit picked up another L in a final, this time the Concacaf W Champions Cup. The Spirit are one of the most talented and diverse teams in the entire league, and have had consistent regular season and playoff success.

The one problem is that all of that has still kept the trophy cabinet of the Michele Kang Era empty (bar a Challenge Cup game won on penalties, if you want to be generous). Winning is hard, but it is the expectation, and the route to the recognition the club wants on the national and international stage. With a Shield and Championship up for grabs this season, plus another W Champions Cup competition and eventually a Women’s Club World Cup, the Spirit really need to shake off the ‘can’t win a match with championship stakes’ label.

Unfortunately for them, that’s not something they can do in August, but it’s still the question that will define their season. ■