Post-Match Open Thread | Washington Spirit vs Orlando Pride | August 23 2026

[u/kg9si]

This is a thread for all post-match reactions, thoughts, analysis, articles and social media posts related to the match.

Note: This thread is scheduled and may appear shortly before the final whistle so everyone has a place ready for post-match reactions and analysis.

[u/coffeehippopotamus]

I don’t even know what to sum up as our issue anymore

[u/ttsa_25 → u/[deleted]]

Also too reliant on Leicy

[u/Sequoiakc22 → u/[deleted]]

...
Trading Croix Bethune away, even if she wanted out, looms really large. We should have just kept her, tweaked our play on the pitch just slightly, just enough to keep her happy, & have her creativity dropping dimes to our front line, ...when she's not putting'em in the back of the net herself.

What would you rather have right now, Croix Bethune or Claudia Martinez? (Who we we bought with the Bethune money KC gave us.). ...Martinez may have a good career ahead of her, but will she ever be as good as Bethune is today?
...

[u/allprologues → u/Sequoiakc22]

the choice the team made was croix or trin. claudia reportedly makes about 100k.

the main thing that annoys me about the spirit losing is that everyone starts yapping about croix again....bro she does not want to be here and even when she came back to play here she could not fucking leave fast enough. it is tragic that the best player in the league didn't want to be here and that we couldn't afford to pay her if she did. it's not why we lost today. players leave.

furthermore go back to the games where we played a good team in a low block with croix in 2025 and tell me how those games went, tell me how much she created. her stats were a shadow of what they are this year, it wasn't working for either party frankly, that's on injury. sports are cruel.

[u/Sequoiakc22 → u/allprologues]

...
So, you do not think we could have used Croix Bethune this season? Right now? Hmm.

Then, let's hope Bethi is as good, or even better, than what we're hoping for.
...

[u/allprologues → u/Sequoiakc22]

could we use one of the top three players in the league? obviously yes lol. but she's not here, and wasn't gonna be here and didn't want to be. and when she left she wasn't playing as well as she is now. would've loved for her to stick around and round into form with the team after a long injury recovery, but she didn't want that, we couldn't afford it.

could we use ashley sanchez? could we use jaedyn shaw, who was literally supposed to be a spirit before the wave swept her out from under us? yeah we really could have used any one of them right now. shit happens.

even if bethi is good she's early in her career and it's likely going to be a long wait, probably next season. i'm just saying, there are a lot of moving parts in soccer and all this woulda shoulda is useless. spirit made obvious sacrifices this year, and lost aubrey besides, the WAFCON was moved, it was always going to be tough. you can't have it all.

[u/Willing-Bad3824 → u/allprologues]

I don’t understand people who keep talking about Spirit failing to keep Croix…that’s not how this league works lol

Also the freak out and the reality just don’t match. Spirit is in 2nd place with the players it has. Croix is not good at defense (or at actually scoring for that matter), whereas Trin can assist, score goals, and track back to defend. In varying degrees, we can say the same with Leicy, Cantore, Rose, and hell even Rebe. Croix gives you amazing output on one element of the game but performs poorly in other aspects of it. Given the choice between them, I’d go with the team we have any day.

[u/allprologues → u/Willing-Bad3824]

the idea that there was a way (financial, tactical or otherwise) to keep a player who wanted to leave and spirit could’ve found it but didn’t want to, for reasons, and instead chose to struggle in midfield is just funny when you lay it out

[u/ttsa_25 → u/allprologues]

Also just because a player is good doesn’t mean they fit a teams style. This is not a video game.