Chicago Red Stars vs OL Reign: Chaos

There’s something very weird happening in the NWSL this season. The standings are so extremely bunched up to the point that the difference between 7th and 2nd is just 2 points right now and the way officiating goes, you don’t know who’s going to be sent off at any point. But the Chicago Red Stars have generated their own personal brand of chaos that has once again been put on display in their 3-1 win over OL Reign.

This game did not start off well for the Red Stars. In just the 4th minute, Sophia Huerta put them in danger with a drive up the byline, but her cross couldn’t quite be finished at the near post. This wouldn’t be the end of it and in the 12th minute Celia Jimenez whipped in a cross from deep and caught an on-running Bethany Balcer sneaking around Sarah Gorden for an open shot on goal. Chicago put some pressure on later in the half with chances from Kealia Watt and Vanessa DiBernardo after the 35th minute, but neither troubled the keeper very much.

The second half started much more amiably for the Chicago Red Stars, with Mallory Pugh sending her own cross from the byline in the 49th minute. The cross was deflected by Celia Jimenez and made its way past Sarah Bouhaddi and into the net at the far post for an own goal. In the 55th minute, Kealia Watt found space cutting in behind the OL defense, but her shot would be blocked by Alana Cook and go out for a corner. But on that corner, Cook would once again get in contact with the ball, this time sending into the back of her own net for yet another own goal. Vanessa DiBernardo thought she’d finally scored Chicago’s first actual goal in the 59th minute when she found time and space in the box for a shot, only to have it bounce out off the far post. The team would have to wait until the 64th minute when Pugh emphatically put the ball in off of a quick turn and shoot from a throw-in. The Reign would have one last chance in injury time when Dzsenifer Marozsan squared up for a bicycle kick on a corner, but that would be pushed away to keep the final 3-1 for Chicago.

Here are three things we learned from this one.

Chicago Red Stars Still Building

Before I get into the Chicago Red Stars’ takeaways, something needs to be said about OL Reign. Despite having one of the most stacked teams in the league based purely on talent, they have struggled all season. Even after firing their head coach and hiring NWSL coaching legend Laura Harvey, Harvey still wasn’t even able to be there to coach the team yet. Reports state that Harvey will be joining after the Olympics, meaning that not only with the Reign be without top players like Megan Rapinoe and Rose Lavelle until August, they’ll be without an actual coach until then.

OL Reign’s main focus has to be learning to work with eachother. This is a group that hasn’t had enough real time to work together. OL has been sending players in to Tacoma and the US Women’s National Team has been taking players out of there. While there’s still enough quality there for each game and each lineup, there’s just not enough consistency for these players to finally mesh and start playing well together. But when they do figure it out, they have a team that can wreck the league.

Own Goal for MVP

Here’s the big story of the week. As of right now, own goals for the Chicago Red Stars is now the joint-leader of the NWSL Golden Boot race. Over the course of three games, the Red Stars drew five straight own goals, doubling their goals scored total on the season. It wasn’t until Mallory Pugh’s zinger in the 64th minute that their own goal streak ended. But even with that extra goal scored, Pugh is still behind “Own Goal” by two goals.

Own Goals aren’t the sort of thing that you plan for. They’re like getting hit by a pitch or goaltending where it’s not a strategy to look for it. There are ways you can slightly increase the chances for it to happen, but they’re just defensive mistakes. Somehow, the Red Stars have literally replaced Sam Kerr with “Nobody” and “Nobody” is scoring at an even higher rate than Kerr.

How this situation develops, I honestly don’t know. As I said, it’s not an actual strategy to go hunting for own goals, but if they keep happening, they keep happening. Own Goal for MVP.

Something Stupid Always Happens

Finally, I just want everyone to accept that the NWSL this season is the embodiment of chaos. It is my own personal motto in sports and a bit in life that “Something Stupid Always Happens.” If there is a chance for something to go completely sideways, it probably will. Or at least, things will always have a strong chance of being weird no matter what the final outcome is. Even if the outcome is as expected, the actual journey to that outcome will likely be unexpected.

In a season filled with own goals, controversial bookings, and massive teams under-preforming, the 2021 landscape of the NWSL is simply chaos. All you can really do is accept it and embrace it.