NWSL club Sky Blue FC has been down in the dumps recently due to poor working conditions for its professional athletes. It's so bad that newcomers that just achieved their lifelong dreams of playing professional soccer are refusing to sign with the team. Prior to being drafted, both draftees said they would not play for Sky Blue in hopes that manager Phil Murphy wouldn’t pick them.
The USWNT crushed Panama 5-0 to improve its record at the 2018 CONCACAF Women’s Championship to 2-0 with a goal difference of +11, all but guaranteeing a place in the semifinals of the competition and moving one step closer to automatic qualification for the 2019 World Cup in France.
The NWSL regular season wrapped up this past weekend with a mixed bag of business-as-usual and surprising results. All around the league, for playoff bound teams and doormats alike (we’re looking at you, Sky Blue), the level was turned up to 11, giving fans both feel-good entertainment and high quality football to get excited about heading into the postseason.
There was something vaguely familiar about yesterday’s Orlando Pride vs. Sky Blue match up: a handball clearance off the line in crunch time, a red card, a penalty, a penalty save. All right, it’s not exactly a World Cup knockout game and Carli Lloyd didn’t know much about the goal-saving move (it seems), but one can’t help but think of a certain Uruguayan striker by the name of Luis Suarez after seeing this.
Carli Lloyd's red card pic.twitter.com/iOnZwEiY0d