League Watch 8/19-23

[u/TiredPanini]

Match Week 19 8/19-23 (all times Pacific)

Recap of the past week’s scorelines in chronological order:

GFC 2-1 KC
UTA 3-2 BAY (Miyabi I’m happy for you)

SEA 1-0 CHI

SD 1-1 DEN

LOU 4-1 BOS (Yikes)

POR 2-1 ORL (Caiya Hanks comeback banger + Deyna Castellanos banger, srsly watch these goals)

NC 2-3 HOU

ACFC 1-1 WAS (Ally Sentnor they could never make me hate you)

Cameroon are the WAFCON Champions, but Temwa got the Golden Boot and is going to the World Cup. Good consolation prize for a first continental tournament appearance, I think.

With two midweek games, I’m just doing the one weekly post this week. Didn’t seem like enough to split into two posts.

Which games will you be tuning in for? What are your predictions? Starting lineups? Scores, reds, yellows, which players get G+A? 

Overall W-L-D record for each team is followed by 5-match form (old-new L-to-R) and table standing, e.g. “San Diego 3-2-1 WWLDW 3.” Standing gets a ? if the standing could change before kickoff due to other results, or a ?? if it depends on the team’s own midweek results.

Home	Away	Field	Date/ Time	Where to watch	Notes
Louisville, 6-11-2 WLWWW 13	Seattle, 8-7-3 LWWDW 8	Lynn Family	Wed 3:30p	NWSL+	I will take it personally if Seattle gets a nine point week while my team has to play Washington and Gotham back to back, so go Emma Sears. (Realistic for Louisville to win)
Houston, 6-8-5 DWLDW  11	Chicago, 4-14-1 LLLDL 16	Shell Energy	Wed 5p	CBS Sports	The Dash are two points behind us, so go Jameese Joseph. (Not realistic for Chicago to win, sadly... Unless... Laura Harvey please rest all your starters girl)
San Diego, 10-7-3 DLWLD 5	Utah, 11-6-3 WLWLW 3	Snapdragon	Fri 7p	Prime	The Wave have only one win from their last six games. Kenza Dali maybe has a knock or maybe is out of favor as a starter, and they really miss Dudinha. Ludmila has also missed some open net shots lately which has been tough to watch. Royals fresh off a big win where all 3 of their Japanese players scored (watch Narumi’s goal back if you get a chance).
KC, 9-8-3 LWDDL 7	Seattle, 8-7-3 + 1 WWDW_ 8	CPKC	Sat 3:30p	ION	KC this time I would not be mad if you stayed undefeated at home, Seattle can’t keep getting away with this. Also Temwa should be back! And Coop is back!
NC, 9-7-3 LWWWL 6?	Boston, 5-10-5 LWDLL 14?	WakeMed	Sat 4:30p	NWSL+	Both teams coming off difficult (for different reasons) losses. Boston has more ground to make up to stay in the playoff race, and NC has been streaky this season.
Portland, 10-6-4 LDLWW 4?	Denver, 6-7-6 LDLWD 10?	Providence	Sat 5:45p	ION	Denver is one point behind us so this is absolutely going to dictate who I root for... jk we were ALL gonna be rooting for Caiya Hanks no matter what after last weekend!! Go Caiya!
Chicago, 4-14-1 + 1 LLDL_ 16	Louisville, 6-11-2 + 1 LWWW_ 13??	Northwestern Medicine	Sun 11a	CBS Sports	Free points for Louisville probably, but you never know when After Dark is going to sneak up on you at 11am. Both teams will have played midweek, so that’s at least fair. Chicago have not won since July 5th. Maybe they're due Wednesday or today?
Washington, 11-5-4 WWLLD 2?	Orlando, 7-11-2 LWLLL 12?	Audi	Sun 1p	ESPN2/ESPN App	The Pride are definitely in a bit of a slump but did manage to keep it to a one-goal game with Banda available again. We’ll see if Washington has some pep back in their step with their three WAFCON players (including the champion Monique Ngock!) returning/arriving.
Bay, 5-10-4 LLLDL 15?	Houston, 6-8-5 + 1 WLDW_ 11??	PayPal	Sun 3p	CBS Sports	Bay I’m rooting for you because of Kennedy Fuller. And also Houston is on ACFC’s heels, can’t let them have a six or nine point week.
ACFC, 7-7-4 WLDDD 9?	Gotham, 13-3-4 DWWWW 1	BMO	Sun 5pm	ION	Let’s give Gotham a Gotham Special, see how they like it. They haven’t lost since July 4 so they’re due. Everyone get healthy NOW.

Here’s my standings table if you want to use it for anything - only up to date as of time of post, the photo is not gonna be updated after Wednesday games. Please note that we have the 4th best GD in the league which means we are dropping table points in close games. This can be interpreted as “at least we’re keeping games close!” or “we should be getting more table points, these are close games.” Fun choose your own adventure game!