This Week In Women's Soccer

five Iranian players have reportedly escaped their handlers on the Gold Coast and are being protected by police. incredible.

www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...

NWSL Preview: The West Welcome to part one of our NWSL preview, a quick guide to what's cool, interesting, or scary about each team in the league

Part 1 of my NWSL preview is up! We're taking a look at the Western Conference, I know there's no Western Conference but I had to break it up. What's the story with each team? Who's the star? Who else should you watch? Do they score cool goals?

this-week-in-womens-soccer.ghost.io/nwsl-preview...

The Chinese fans in attendance were all booing and goalscorer Wang Shuang was encouraging them, doesn't seem like there's a lot of love lost between the two communist states, lmao

China gets a tap-in after North Korea's offside trap just barely misses

North Korea is basically refusing to go back on the pitch after VAR gave the goal

rather than force them to go on the pitch the ref just calls halftime, amazing match, amazing sport

multiple hard challenges already in the first five minutes, including North Korea getting lucky not to have a red card, amazing

matches are starting imminently!

With high stakes, better teams, and, ah, some notable geopolitical spiciness, I'm definitely watching North Korea/China

The other match is significantly more desperate. Bangladesh or Uzbekistan need to win to have a chance, they need to win by several goals in order to definitely pass the Philippines, or they need to hope that Vietnam gets absolutely destroyed by Japan tomorrow

Like Group A, Group B has two clear favorites playing one another and two clear underdogs playing one another. But unlike last night, there's a clear advantage to playing for the victory tonight: the winner of North Korea/China avoids Australia in the quarterfinals.

North Korea has the tiebreaker

AFC Asian Cup Welcome to the official AFC Asian Cup YouTube Channel.

Asian Cup final group stage preview here! China v North Korea and Bangladesh v Uzbekistan both kick off in 2.5 hours or so. All Asian Cup matches can be viewed on their Youtube channel: www.youtube.com/AFCAsianCup

#woso

the rest of the world should probably take some action. kicking the united states out of sporting competitions would be a simple, immediate gesture

2026 HINGES ON… Nothing. I mean the obvious thing to say here is "consistency" but when Gotham has won two championships in the last two years from the lowest seed in the playoffs, does consistency matter? This team has the talent and the coaching to win anything they get into. It's up to the rest of the league to make them not do that anymore.

working on my #NWSL preview and got to Gotham and like, why even bother?

Villalba kung fu kick against HULK (that Hulk, from Porto, Zenit and 2014 WC), what makes this kick awesome (?)

amazing!

CHECK OUT THE KUNG FU KICK AT 1:10

oh yes

Stream is up #woso

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g19...

Looks like Australia is Going For It Fully, at least in the lineup, so that might make my choice

?

I haven't decided which match I'm watching, tbh. which brand of morbid curiosity will win out?

Iran, who've had a, uh dramatic tournament, are still in decent shape if they manage to get the win, but the bigger the win the better. I'm not sure Iran can really stop a goal if it happens, but I'm not sure the Philippines can actually score.

In the other match, things are relatively simple: the winner has a good shot at getting into the knockouts, and from there the World Cup. The Philippines have looked dismal and negative all tournament, but their goal difference means a win should get them into the QFs without worry

you're not very good anymore Luke

...lose to China in the QFs, get stunned in the playoff by an organized Taiwan team, and get a bad draw in the intercontinental playoffs and miss the World Cup. That would take some bad luck, but why risk it? Come out and play hard, Australia!

...the thing is, the biggest prize available isn't necessarily the trophy, but World Cup qualification, which is automatic for quarterfinals winners, while others go into the playoffs. So, for example, the #matildas could finish second here.....

so what IS at stake? First place in the group for South Korea and Australia. But it's a bit dubious, winning the group means taking on favorites Japan in the semifinals. South Korea has the advantage on goal difference, so Australia MIGHT not come out with their best team at full force, but....

As I wrote about in this week's #woso newsletter, the drama of the group stage has been limited by saving the "big" matches for the end. Australia/South Korea have both already qualified, Iran/Philippines are both just chasing a third place slot

this-week-in-womens-soccer.ghost.io/this-week-in...

AFC Asian Cup Welcome to the official AFC Asian Cup YouTube Channel.

Preview of the Asian Cup matches tonight, starting in a couple hours (and on Youtube) www.youtube.com/AFCAsianCup

It's the finish of Group A with Australia/South Korea and Iran/Philippines kicking off simultaneously

this is with me limiting recs to three per league, btw, but I believe virtually every NWSL match fits my standard of "two high quality teams playing matches of consequence"

Next week is utterly ridiculous for #woso with full club football AND the meat of the Asian Cup, and the week after that, the Champions League is back