There's a Lily (Yohannes) in the Valley, Bright as the Morning Star

Listen, it’s been a week folks. For many, they are at some stage of the five stages of grief, and it seems like we’ll be there for a while. There is work to be done, and I try to find hope in the scary times. I come from a people who have survived much worse on this very land. My grandparents all left the only homes they ever knew, as migrants in their own country, to try to make a better life for themselves and their families. They left so they wouldn’t be murdered. We can do this work, the hard work, and we can look for hope in these trying times. The title gives away what a later section will talk about, but football still has the ability to give us hope, to bring us moments of joy, and build a community that can stand for one another. I’m clinging to that as I get to work. I hope you all can do the same, even for a few moments. We love you squad members and we’re on this walk with you.

Match Recaps and Notable Goal Score

^{*the number next to the name denotes the goal scorer and the minute of the match their goal was scored. (P) means it was a penalty goal, and a plus (+) sign added means the goal was scored in stoppage time}

The NWSL Playoffs kicked off this past weekend, Liga MX Feminil continued theirs, and the WSL, D1 Arkema (French 1st Division), and other European leagues continued their early season.

Barclays Women’s Super League

Manchester City 4, Tottenham 0 - Khadija “Bunny” Shaw 1, 15, 67

West Ham United 1, Leicester City 0 - Viviane Asseyi 45+7

National Women’s Soccer League

Orlando Pride 4, Chicago Red Stars 1 - Babra Banda 39, 45+6

Kansas City Current 1, North Carolina Courage 0 - Temwa Chawinga 8

Washington Spirit 2, Bay FC 1 - Asisat Oshoala 82

Gotham FC 2, Portland Thorns 1 - Reilyn Turner 75

The delegates showed up in playoff action this week, scoring in all four NWSL matchups. In Mexico, Thembi Kgatlana and Chidinma Okeke scored for Tigres Feminil and Club America Feminil respectively, as both teams advanced to the semi-final where they will face one another. In the French league, there were Shea Butter Bombs and Booms galore, with hattricks (that’s 3 goals for 1 player) from Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Tabitha Chawinga, and a special shoutout for former NWSL player and champion Ify Onumonu for bagging a brace (that’s 2 goals for 1 player) for her new club Montpellier.

Black In Action: Lily Yohannes

I’ll be honest with you dear reader, as an aunt to a current 17 year old Black girl, and an aunt to two other former 17 year old Black girls, it is a journey helping raise them up! They are informed and sure of themselves and are ultimately capable of making their own decisions. But, try telling them what they have to do, and oh boy, you will leave that conversation with some scars. But, in the end, it is all love and there is a deep, deep desire as adults to support them and their dreams. The Lily Yohannes recruitment saga has been fascinating, in the sense that I love how it has been her decision. Her parents have given her (and her brothers) that trust because they know they’ve done their job as parents and given their children the tools they need for these very moments. That family also knows what type of talent their youngest member has, and they all rally behind her in ways that I hope are an example of community as we go into this new regime in the United States.

I could go on, but now is the time to cry happy tears. I’ve said it for almost a year, Lily Yohannes is America’s child, and she heeded the call when America needed her the most. It is a lot of pressure to put on a player that isn’t a legal adult until the summer, but positing her as a savior of our midfield also doesn’t seem wrong. To me, she is what would happen if Sam Mewis and Lauren Holiday (I still call her Cheney, I can’t turn it off) had a soccer baby. She is incredibly strong in ways that someone that young should not be, and her vision and poise are well beyond her years. That pass she picked out for Trinity Rodman against South Korea is a pass that I think only she can make at this time. Her head is always up, almost always forward, and she will progress the ball with line breaking passes or with a brutal run that causes defenders to make a business decision as she steam rolls towards them. You will struggle to get the ball off of her with physicality, and she will release a pass or a shot before you can step to her completely. She is surprisingly light of foot, and despite being right foot dominant, she can get around most defensive setups on either side of the pitch, or centrally. The prospect of her freely running with a single pivot and Naomi Girma to protect her back, and arguably the best forward line in the world waiting to receive her passes, makes me giddy! With this announcement, the pressure is on to win a World Cup during her career, that’s how high her ceiling is in my opinion. There will be growing pains, Lily is still young and deserves our grace. But yeah buddy, the midfield feels a lot more fixed than it has been in a long time. There is a Lily in the valley for US fans, and it is bright as the morning star, and right on time.

Anatomy of a Goal: Viviane Asseyi

Viviane Asseyi has been a good forward for a while. She had her best seasons in terms of goal scoring at Bordeaux in D1 Arkema, but her greatest misfortune for country may be plain old timing. She is alive at the same time as the golden generation of strikers in France. While she has been on the national team and played in major tournaments, it is hard to get on consistently ahead of names like Marie-Antoinette Katoto, Kadidiatou Diani, Delphine Cascarino, and Melvine Malard. Her club form since joining West Ham has suffered some inconsistency, but she has also scored big goals for the Hammers, a team that is more likely to spend their season closer to the relegation line than the top of the table. Still, it is a team of veterans who know how to win the must win games, and Asseyi is no exception to that. This is a great goal between her and Manuela Pavi, who has the vision to pick her out as Asseyi holds the line to beat the offside trap. We do not get to see Asseyi’s first step after the pass on camera, but she holds her run and drifts it wide right of the keeper, as she sees she’s off her line and has an angle. The defender goes with her and ends up being cut off by her own goalie. Asseyi still has to finish the goal, and does so with great technique. Her hip swivel to helps her line up her shot on her favored right foot, and it is a finesse finish once she rounds the keeper to get it in at an angle. Asseyi usually plays on the left so that she can cut in with her right foot, but this game winning goal comes from the right and from her getting herself into a great position. It is a reminder to young players to work on the smaller things like your hips and your core, because it allows you to score goals like Asseyi’s when it matters most.

Cultural Cuts: Interview with Jessica McDonald

ICYMI: Check out our interview with NWSL Legand and World Cup Champion Jessica McDonald. It’s worth your time, we promise.

NWSL Playoffs: Semi-Final machups

Well, we’re here at semi-final week in the NWSL. We had three one goal matches last weekend, and while the competition was nice, the season coming down to the top four teams feels fitting. I know there has been a lot of conversation around whether playoff expansion is good or not for the game. I think it it ultimately a win for the league and the sport. The best game of the weekend was the 2 vs 7, a matchup that doesn’t happen without expansion. You do not grow the game by becoming more exclusionary. You don’t grow anything by becoming more exclusionary in my opinion. In a league where there will be 16 teams after next season, half your teams making the post season and half of them not feels like a balance we’ve long craved for the league. Six teams and bye weeks seems far less rewarding, and it kept the best team out of the championship almost every year. I’d much rather have eight teams, and I believe this will be the least lopsided year going forward.

Now that that’s out the way, let’s get into this week’s matchups.

3 Gotham FC vs 2 Washington Spirit: This one feels like the world will pick Gotham, and I do not blame them. They are the healthier team, in slightly better form, and they are the reigning champions that went and loaded up their squad. I am one who thinks outside Sonnett and Lavelle, Gotham’s best and most important players are the players they had during last year’s run. Yazmeen Ryan had an MVP season, and Nealy Martin and Delanie Sheehan are the midfield engines that make that team go. Gotham has even started scoring more, something they struggled with for much of the season. However, DC is the chameleon team of the league, and the only team remaining that didn’t build to win this year. They are playing with house money, and I think if all things are equal, Trinity Rodman is the best and most unique player on the pitch this weekend. I also trust both defenses about the same amount. Tara McKeown has been a revelation as a converted center back, and Casey Krueger continues to be the best 1-v-1 defender in this country. Emily Sonnett should have been an Defender of the Year candidate, and if you know me, that is not something I ever thought I’d say. They also have a healthy Tierna Davidson back, which helps with the balls that will surely get in behind that Gotham backline. I expect this to be much tighter than most, despite DC missing key players like Andi Sullivan and Croix Bethune. DC is incredibly efficient in scoring goals, and they are at Audi for this matchup. I started this section knowing I was going to pick Gotham, but I may have talked myself into DC. My prediction DC 3, Gotham 2 AET.

4 Kansas City Current vs 1 Orlando Pride: Orlando is the top seed, they are at home, and they have beaten Kansas City in Kansas City. Orlando should absolutely win this match. The stats say they should win this match. They are so sound as a team, especially defensively, and they have beaten every team in the league at least once this season, so they will fear no one. But, the other team has the best player in the league, and I’m always a bit weary of picking against the best player. In the NWSL, having the best player matters, especially in a post-season run. Portland had Sophia Smith on a heater. Gotham had Midge Purce playing ISO Midge on their run last season. In 2021, Trinity Rodman put her team on her back as a rookie. For all the celebration of team play this season, and it has been lovely to watch, I still think individal brilliance matters the most. Orlando has those players as well, in both Marta and Barbra Banda, and they may cancel out Temwa Chawinga. But, Kansas City is on a mission to play their final at home. This is more of a pick em than I’d like it to be, but I think I’ll still go chalk here, but I don’t feel great about it. Orlando 2, Kansas City 1(and that one goal will be Temwa’s)