summer nights

Chelsea and Manchester United have both yet to lose, with United’s only blemish being a 0-0 draw against Arsenal. Y’all know I don’t fully trust Sonia, and Chelsea’s performances have been much less convincing than their results. This will be one of United’s best chances to get a dub over Chelsea, especially given the several octopuses in goal.

I have watched zero minutes of Nantes but they seem unafraid to score or concede goals, and I gotta respect it (8 scored, 9 conceded). With PSG being even more clown shoes’y than usual, Paris FC have taken the #2 spot behind Lyonnes. They haven’t lost in the league, and Clara Matéo is still very fun to watch.

Notre Dame has several future pros, which as per usual includes fun attacking talents. Izzy Engle has 11 goals in 10 games played (plus 43 shots!), and Annabelle Chukwu has 7 in 10. Grace Restovich has 6 assists and Laney Matriano has 5.

If the Pride thought they’d exorcised their attacking demons in a 2-1 win over San Diego last weekend, Club América reminded them that they have not, beating them 2-0 in the W Champions Cup. Meanwhile, Houston just got worked 4-0 by the Spirit, and over their last three games have conceded a total of 33 shots inside the box. Yikea.

I see the WSL decided to go off a bit this weekend. Not sure it’s the smartest thing ahead of the start of the UWCL group stages but that’s not my problem. Manchester City and Arsenal should be a banger, and both will need a win, particularly if Chelsea get three points from Manchester United.

UVA is #1 for a reason. They play some saucy soccer at times, and Lia Godfrey and Maggie Cagle are clever and technical attacking talents. They’ve combined to score 10 goals and drop 6 assists in 10 games, with several of them punctuating silky moves. But this is a rivalry game, so expect a bit of dastardly soccer.

North Carolina are out of the playoff positions right now and this is one of their last chances to do anything about it. Louisville are just above them, sitting in the 8th and final spot by a single point.

Utah have jumped from the bottom of the table to now sit 12th, which has put Chicago at the very bottom, and Bay FC at 13th. Egregious. Anyway, Bay can still play spoiler to a few teams, starting with Portland, who need points to stop their slide down the table.

Let the Gareth Taylor Fraud/Hater Watch continue. London City have gotten results when they haven’t faced top-4 clubs, and Liverpool are 11th with a -6 goal difference. If they don’t get it together somewhat soon, Taylor might not last the season. /cackles

The Spirit are in the playoffs but still need to add points to secure a home playoff run. The Wavé have been atrocious since play resumed with their goals drying up to a Sahara’ian level. This will very much be a scrap between two teams heading in completely opposite directions, but this is also the NWSL, so.

Suddenly, Gotham and Seattle is a battle of top-4 teams in October. I didn’t see that coming. At all. My bad.

Utah have only lost once since the break and Chicago just twice. But it says a lot about the extreme awfulness of their pre-summer break form that this has only results in Utah being up to 12th and Chicago is at the very bottom of the table.

Angel City have found themselves in a must-win game against one of the most dominant and complete teams in NWSL history. Well, good luck and godspeed. I’ll see you in Valhalla, brother.

Some very tasty matchups in here. Juventus and Benfica will be an appetizer but save plenty of room for screaming, howling and all caps posting from Arsenal/Lyonnes and Barca/Bayern.

Real Madrid have been very wobbly this season, and Roma will be a tricky opponent. But the Battle of the Unserious between Wolfsburg and PSG will get the main screen.