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NWSL Player Spotlight: Yuki Nagasato

Featured NWSL Soccer

The World Cup is over which leaves all the focus turned to the NWSL. The players from the UWSNT and other World Cup teams are on various clubs all throughout the league. But just because Alex Morgan, Carli Lloyd or Rose Lavelle might not be playing that night or for a specific team does not mean you should not still tune in. The NWSL is flooded with talent and we have created a weekly series that looks at players in the NWSL who did not go to France this summer, but could very well turn into your new favorite player. Second up on our series is Yuki Nagasato.

The USWNT start their Victory Tour today which will give fans the opportunity to see how competitive the NWSL is without their stars.

Not only is the NWSL flooded with American talent but also international stars who kept the league going during the World Cup. Nagasato, who is from Japan, has played with the Chicago Red Stars since 2017. However, she saw limited action in 2017 due to an injury, but was still able to give the Red Stars a goal in just six appearances. Her appearances doubled to 12 in 2018 as well as her goals doubling to two and adding an assist. So far in 2019 she has 14 appearances but has doubled her 2018 goals to four and added four assists to her impressive resume.

Nagasato’s four goals has her ranked eighth in the NWSL and her four assists as her tied for second, only behind last week’s Player Spotlight, Lynn Williams.

The Red Stars are crowded with talent especially from World Cup players including Sam Kerr, Julie Ertz, Alyssa Naeher and Morgan Brian. Despite all of that talent on a roster Nagasato is still arguably one of the most integral pieces to the Red Stars success. Nagasato leads the team in assists but her passing all across the field has been able to lead to scoring chances that do not always put her on the stat sheet. She has the second highest pass success rate at 77.5% behind Brian (79.2%). Her second place standing is a little misleading since Nagasato has a total of 512 passes whereas Brian has 197 passes. Another impressive stat for Nagasato is that she does lead the team in the number of key passes with 33 and the next closest is Kerr with only 17.

Nagasato and Kerr find themselves in sentences together often and have created one of the most lethal offensive duos in the league. The very first goal of the 2019 NWSL season saw a signature threaded Nagasto pass to a clinical Kerr finish.

Nagasato has her stats show can provide her own offense and add goals for the Red Stars. Often times she is scoring while in the air showing she has a true aerial presence. Her latest goal was scored with a flying volley on the hip of the defender.

Nagasato is important to the Red Stars and will be key in helping them stay a top team in the league. Chicago is currently in third place, but just three points off from the lead. They have won four of their last five games and will look to continue their hunt for first place in their next match against the Utah Royals.

You can watch Nagasato and the Red Stars take on the Royals later today at 8:00 pm ET on YAHOO! Sports.