Chicago Red Stars Vs Utah Royals: 3 things we learned

1. Analyzing the knockout round

After the OL Reign and Portland Thorns ended 0-0 and the North Carolina Courage beat Sky Blue FC, the Chicago Red Stars now know their knockout opponents.

As the sixth seed in the draw, the Red Stars face OL Reign, who are the third seed after earning five points from their four qualification games. The Reign won just once, a 1-0 victory over the Utah Royals, but did keep three clean sheets. It could be a tough outing for a struggling Red Stars attack. One of the positives

It did look as though the Red Stars would face the Washington Spirit. That may have been their preferred option. Chicago seemed completely out of it during their previous fixture and will be eager to avenge their poor opening-day performance.

One of the positives for the Red Stars is that they are on the opposite side of the draw to the Courage. While they will have to improve substantially to even have hopes of making the final, that should offer some rest bite for a team finding their feet.