Tag: Alyssa Naeher

Photo Courtesy of BDZ Sports

NWSL Player Spotlight: Yuki Nagasato

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.

Photo Courtesy of Jamie Schmed

USA Goes to Their Third World Cup Final in a Row

Before the game even kicked off this match made headlines. Megan Rapinoe who has scored five goals in the World Cup for the United States and four goals over the past two games was not in the starting lineup. This was a baffling decision and one that was only verified after the game as a decision because of an injury to Rapinoe’s hamstring.

England had some starting lineup news as well with their goalkeeper Karen Bardsley out with an injury. Her replacement, Carly Telford, does have experience in the World Cup since she started in their group stage game against Argentina.

Once the game did begin the United States had another signature quick start. Every game at this World Cup they have scored in the first 15 minutes and today’s match was no different.

Kelley O’Hara received a well played through ball on the far right side near the end line. She cross a ball into the box with just one touch and found Christen Press running unmarked into the box. Press was the player who replaced Rapinoe in the starting 11. She removed all doubt that she was qualified to start when she took that cross and headed it right into goal just ten minutes into the game.

After the goal, England was on their own mission to find the equalizer. The Lionesses would knock on the door many times to try and get that goal. Luckily for them they would not have to wait long.

Beth Mead had some space on the left side of the pitch. She took a few touches and then played a line drive cross to Ellen White right at the six-yard box. White just had to get her foot on the end of the cross to redirect the ball to the goalpost and into the net. 19 minutes into the match and already a 1-1 scoreline.

Rose Lavelle played spectacular for the United States. She took players on, took shots from all over that nearly resulted in goals and even had a nice nutmeg on the day. Her play on the field undoubtedly opened up space for the whole US team. It felt like the US would find another goal before the first half ended and when the USA needs a goal who do they look to? Alex Morgan.

Morgan had not scored a goal since the opening match when she had five goals. But in big moments big players step up. Lindsey Horan played a ball in perfectly to Morgan who jumped up and nodded the ball into the goal. Morgan turned 30 years old today, but the numbers that matter more to her are 2-1, the lead for the UWSNT.

After a whirlwind start with three goals in just 31 minutes, the game would settle down and stay 2-1 going into halftime.

Both teams would have chances in the second half, but nothing too substantial in the early minutes. England did have what seemed like another tying goal in the 67th minute, but thanks to everyone’s favorite three letter acronym, VAR, the goal was ruled off by a very tight offside call.

But just 12 minutes later VAR would have a substantial call go England’s way. A ball was crossed into the box right to White who just had to tap the ball in for a goal. Initially, it looked like she just whiffed at the ball, but upon further review there was small contact by US defender, Becky Sauerbrunn, and a penalty was awarded.

Nikita Parris had been taking the penalties for England but she is only 1/3 with penalties at the World Cup. So captain Steph Houghton stepped up to take it. With all of the delays there were less than ten minutes left to play and it seemed like England would score and this game would head to extra time.

The United States’ goalkeeper, Alyssa Naeher, had been criticized all tournament and deemed the weak link of the USA’s defense. Up until this game started she had only had four saves all tournament.

Houghton tried to place the ball into the lower left side of the goal, but she did not hit the ball with enough pace and Naeher guessed the right way. She easily blocked the shot and gathered the ball. Her teammates swarmed her with hugs, but she stayed focused and urged them to carry on with the game. The naysayers can be put to rest about Naeher. The USA have themselves a goalkeeper who can step up in big moments.

With seven minutes of regular time left and then eventually seven minutes of stoppage time, England had time to find a goal. But they struggled with time management. Fouling constantly and taking ill advised shots that limited their offensive opportunities. The most costly foul would come from Millie Bright who committed a cleats up foul on Morgan. The foul warranted a yellow card, the second for Bright in the game. Now the Lionesses would be chasing the USA with one less player on the field.

England would not be able to gather themselves enough to find a tying goal and the USA would go onto win 2-1. This is the third straight WWC Finals appearance for the USA and fifth overall. They are trying to get their fourth World Cup title. The loss for England is their second straight loss in the semifinals and the second straight semifinals they have lost 2-1. England will now play for third place.

After the match Phil Neville did speak about the game being disappointing since winning the World Cup was their goal and he continued to echo his belief that winning is everything. “It’s about winning. I can’t say to my players at the end that’s unlucky because they don’t want to wear that because they wanted to win… And that tells me that we are closer than we’ve ever been because maybe in the past we’ve probably accepted semifinal yes we’re happy we’re going on and we’ll get lots of supporters. But my players don’t want to wear that anymore they’re sick of it and so am I. We came here to win and we didn’t do that. And that’s sport for you.“

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The disappointment and devastation of losing in the semifinals will be a lot for the players to get over. However, England will have to gather themselves and prepare for the third place match and hang their heads proudly also knowing they have qualified for the Olympics next year and strive for that title in 2020.

The United States are moving on to defend their World Cup Title. Many believe they would not have been able to get to the Final if not for the play of Naeher and her penalty save late in the game. Morgan said “Alyssa Naeher came up huge for them with the save” and head coach Jill Ellis added, “She (Naeher) shone tonight, I mean she was the brightest… I give her full credit. People are just starting to see glimpses of what I see everyday in training in terms of her capabilities.” and then ended it with, “Hell of a save for sure.”

The USA may very well need her to step up again in their last match. The USA will have to wait to find out who their opponent for the final will be. The Netherlands and Sweden will face-off in their semifinal tomorrow at 3 pm ET on FS1.