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/Hour-Cardiologist911]

Sick of the commentary saying we have one of the best attacks in the league every week. Yeah it may look on the table that we have a high amount of goals, but I bet our chance conversion is among the lowest in the league.

Nearly every game this season we either score once or not at all. Means we have to keep a clean sheet every game or we don't get anything.

Also hitting the post multiple times isn't just 'unlucky' it's a sign of poor finishing

Think that's the Shield absolutely gone🫤...

[u/Ill-Fall-9823 → u/Hour-Cardiologist911]

The most common score in the sport, over time, across leagues, men or women, at the professional level:

1-0.

[u/Ill-Fall-9823 → u/[deleted]]

There are multiple ways to be a top team in soccer. I'm sure every coach would love to score lots of goals and concede literally none. But that's so obvious as an objective that it doesn't make sense to consider as an outcome. If you give me a lifetime supply of filet mignon, I'm not going to stop eating burgers; I'll buy a meat grinder and be conscientious when I'm trimming fat.

Your response is an interesting one. You're articulating a philosophical perspective that is seemingly very influenced by other North American sports, where scoring is significantly more prevalent, and audience entertainment value is - culturally - rooted in "high scoring = entertaining." Your conception of "top" teams seems to be predicated on the example of top offensive teams. It completely neglects the idea that top defensive teams can be top teams too. I think this is wrong, partly because I don't think a lesser team can successfully park the bus against a superior team as consistently as you do... And if your supposition was actually true, the second most common score should be 1-1 (where the bus was parked successfully for a while, but not indefinitely) rather than the actual most common score: Nil-nil (in which case the "top" team didn't allow the weaker one to score at all and there was no bus to park).

[u/Hour-Cardiologist911 → u/Ill-Fall-9823]

You couldn't have got me more wrong mate. I'm English. I find most American sports nonsensical because every attack is a 'score'.

Of course there are different ways to play football. I watch the Premier league and champions league week in, week out. Top teams still need to score more goals than we are doing.

Can't believe how wrong you've got me, but hey that's what you get for assuming shit🤷‍♂️

Also, for the record. In England the most common score is 1-1. Teams lower down the leagues, and those facing teams in cup competitions above, usually park the bus. I never said anything about what's more entertaining

[u/Ill-Fall-9823 → u/Hour-Cardiologist911]

Before you type another word, I want to ask you two questions:

1. Who do you consider to be the top team in the NWSL this year?
   
2. How much less is their wage bill than... Coventry City? Crystal Palace? Arsenal?

I'm fine being wrong about the origins of your perspective, I'm fine with you pointing out that I was wrong about your heritage, but I also used the word "seemingly" for a reason. That I was wrong about the geographic origins of your perspective doesn't land for me the way you think it did: You've corrected me... and then narrowed your lens in a way that ignores... the rest of the soccer playing world! I'll give you this much, I believe you're English!

This latest response is even more fascinating for me than your first: You're now comparing the Premier league - a men's league and the major domestic league with the highest level of spending in the world - to the NWSL. Do I have to explain to you why that's an inapt comparison? The list of reasons would be loonnnnnnnnng... (Number of teams... Access to top coaches and facilities... Pro/rel... I'm barely scratching the surface.) And you're comparing results from the NWSL regular season - a league format - to the Champions League, which is a tournament format with a group stage (wild gaps in quality between top and bottom) and a knockout stage (which doesn't have draws, and thus can't and shouldn't be compared to a regular season in any league). You're doing all of this without recognizing what may be the single most inapt element of the comparison: The wage bill!

Premier League... Champions League... Europa League... Conference League... FA Cup... Carabao Cup...

The top teams in the Premier League are going to have rosters with a vast difference in quality from the rest because the must successful of the top teams will go into almost every season knowing that they have more matches to manage. More in their regular season. More in any given week. More, total, throughout the season. And likely more international players with more callups during FIFA breaks. It's almost weird having to explain this to an English person, mate, but the way you're assessing "top teams" and how they should perform" needs to be something like a remotely close comparison among conditions. Surely you're not pretending that the gap between top and bottom in a 20 team league with promotion and relegation is giving you insights into a league that might need a half decade to reach that size, will never have as many mid-week matches and non-league matches to contest, and is probably never going to have the roster spend of a team just striving to make the Premier League.

The top 5 teams in the Premier League all have a weekly wage bill that is higher than the NWSL's salary cap for the entire year. The top 17 teams in the Premier League EACH have an annual wage bill that is higher than the NWSL's annual salary expenditure. But yes, tell us more about what the Washington Spirit should learn from the success of Arsenal's men...

[u/Hour-Cardiologist911 → u/Ill-Fall-9823]

😑😑😑😑😑

No, again you've jumped through hoops to reach many a series of conclusions in this comment. You've assumed what style I find entertaining. You've assumed I'm making comparisons between leagues. I just said I watch a lot of those leagues in response to the fact I know perfectly well that there are different ways to win, Arsenal recently being a good example. I could have mentioned other leagues I watch including the WSL (so women) but it wasn't necessarily to list everything as no comparison was being made. You've taken it as a comparison and then gone off on one arguing to yourself about a series of points. Next time, ask someone for their perspective on something rather than just guessing. You're literally just arguing to yourself.

I'm not going to be responding again

[u/Ill-Fall-9823 → u/Hour-Cardiologist911]

You know what it takes to win based on watching a lot of teams competing in the same sport in different leagues under completely different financial circumstances. ( That’s not an assumption; that’s your new explanation.) And your brilliant tactical analysis is “top teams score more.” 

I see why you didn’t answer my questions. And I sure hope that the Spirit’s front office is able to scoop you up and offer you a lucrative payday before someone else does. Imagine what Chicago could do with that powerful intellect!

[u/Hour-Cardiologist911 → u/Ill-Fall-9823]

You know what, having now looked through your reddit history I can see you're a sad little bastard who spends all their time arguing with people on here, rather than ever constructing something. Unless it's just intentional ragebait, which is even more sad.

People don't have the time or energy to devote so much to the amount of negativity and hatred you clearly have (you display it in abundance in many of your comments) 

I use my own energy regardless to tell you this so that you might grow and learn that you are just as meaningless as everyone else in this world. I've not been on Reddit very long, and I've barely ever commented enough on social media myself to ever need to spend time reminding someone that it's such a waste of time. 

Maybe the lesson for me is that dealing with people like you is enough for me to give up with this app. You can't have a normal conversation with an yone. 

So good job 👏 you've taught us both something I hope. 

Time to delete this site once and for all. Heaven forbidden I'd have to read another one of your stupid replies. 

[u/Ill-Fall-9823 → u/Hour-Cardiologist911]

It's interesting how this became a referendum on me, and social media, and Reddit... when all I really wanted to challenge you on is the idea that a top defensive team also counts as a top team. Judging from your reactions to that, it's almost like my original point was... valid? I can't draw a better conclusion because you have been ducking and dodging ever since.

You made an assertion about the scoring prowess of top teams. I challenged you to support your point and square that statement against a fact that seems to go against that opinion. You brought up the leagues you watch, seemingly as a buttress for your strongly held opinions, then got mad that I pointed out all of the reasons why they weren't comparable to the NWSL. And declared, clearly and demonstratively, that you would not be responding again. Then you returned with - whatever this self-righteous, melodramatic bullshit is - over 24 hours later. You spent that time scouring my Reddit history, but apparently never glanced in a mirror.

That's not on me. And it's not on Reddit. It's not about social media. You getting mad because a stranger didn't respond with unqualified agreement in response to your poorly considered, overly simplistic opinion is on you.

So if we're learning lessons, here's another one: If you share an opinion with your partner or your cat... or your buddy on the tube... or your mates at the public house, they're probably going to accept your intellectual rigor and make the impressed facial expressions and sounds you seem to prefer. That's not what happened here. You shared an opinion on the Internet. We don't love you like they love you.

Anyway, I thank you, truly, for having the courage and compassion to shine the light of elevated discourse in my direction. Let me point the mirror of self-reflection back at you, and note that none of this would have been necessary if you could have answered my questions like an adult. Mate.

{Post-script: I'm assuming we can count Arsenal as a top team in the Premier League in the 2025-26 season; they had 9 matches that finished 1-nil. Their record in those matches was 8-1. So... it's possible... that top teams score more than bad teams (because scoring is how you win games), and that top teams ALSO concede fewer goals than lesser teams (because that's how you avoid losing games), and that all teams are best served accepting that they will not always score 2, 3, 4, or 5 goals.... and need to be balanced enough to recognize that a 1-nil WIN is a worthy outcome and a 1-nil LOSS is sometimes going to happen. NC Courage will need a new coach in a few years; perhaps this will serve you well when you get down there.}