RD Welch
banner
rd1899.bsky.social
RD Welch
@rd1899.bsky.social
women's soccer (mostly NWSL, USWNT), plus odds and ends
(he/him) #TeamPizzelles

woso blog: @wsoccerexpress.bsky.social
Personal Note: My father was moved to a hospice facility last week, so priorities are and will be elsewhere for the immediate future.

Thus, the wsoccerexpress.bsky.social account and its associated website will most likely not have any new content for a while.
May 21, 2025 at 9:59 PM
In CONMEBOL qualifying for the FIFA U-17 WWC, all five teams in Group A of the 1st round ended on 5 points.

The top 3 teams in each group advance to the 2nd round. Of those 6, 4 will qualify for the U-17 WWC.

Chile lost to Argentina, but a late goal (86') gave them the goal difference advantage.
May 10, 2025 at 2:22 AM
Four NWSL pros — Barbra Banda, Prisca Chilufya, and Grace Chanda of the Orlando Pride and Bay FC's Rachael Kundananji — were withdrawn from Zambia's squad for a friendly tournament in China due to concerns over "additional travel measures introduced by the new administration in the [USA]."
April 2, 2025 at 10:42 PM
The USWNT will be playing on this temporary grass pitch for the April 5 friendly against Brazil.
Greetings from SoFi Stadium. Natural grass installed.

Field dimensions: 64x100 meters (69.99x109.4 yards).

For World Cup, it will grow to 68x105 (74.36x114.8 yards).
March 20, 2025 at 11:02 PM
On the reversed PK decision in the USWNT-England friendly, this seems like a case when the call was made too quickly and actually "stopped a promising attack" (to borrow a phrase from Law 12), as three other USA players were open in the penalty area.

(1/5)
December 1, 2024 at 4:35 AM
Before the Triple Espresso, there was the "Young Guns"...

Alt text: 1989 photo of current England head coach Sarina Wiegman (R) plus USWNT legends Mia Hamm (L) & Kristine Lilly (C) in their UNC uniforms, cowboy hats, & bandanas. Two are holding firearms.

(1/2)
www.newspapers.com/article/the-...
Young guns help keep UNC on top (cropped)
Clipping found in The Chapel Hill News published in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on 9/29/1989. Young guns help keep UNC on top (cropped)
www.newspapers.com
November 29, 2024 at 11:14 PM
Looks like NWSL Boston first came up with the "BOS Nation FC" idea over 10 months ago.

BOSNation[dot]com was registered on December 4, 2023, and redirects to BOSNationFC[dot]com, which was registered 10 days later. (see screenshots)

www.cbssports.com/soccer/news/...
October 15, 2024 at 4:04 AM
Oof. Duke is up 2-nil against Stanford within 5 minutes.

Maggie Graham with a 15-second brace (3:53, 4:07).
October 11, 2024 at 2:19 AM
Had to retire a 16-year-old SIM card after it would no longer connect to T-Mobile's towers.

It was for a prepaid line I used as a back-up, so temporarily losing service was just an annoyance. Except, it's the number I tend to use for 2FA.

(1/2)
September 26, 2024 at 3:20 AM
Here's one for the "Takes That Aged Badly" file...

"F. Scott Fitzgerald Pens New but Not Great Novel"

(short review of 'The Great Gatsby')

www.newspapers.com/article/the-...
F. Scott Fitzgerald Pens New but Not Great Novel
Clipping found in The Plain Dealer published in Cleveland, Ohio on 5/23/1925. F. Scott Fitzgerald Pens New but Not Great Novel
www.newspapers.com
September 26, 2024 at 1:30 AM
This match had way more drama than what I had originally budgeted for emotionally.
U-20 WWC: The USA defeats Mexico 3:2 (aet) and moves on to the quarterfinals, where they will face the winner of Germany/Argentina.

USA goals: Tordin (10'), Sentnor (27'), Dudley (97')
MEX goals: Vargas (22'), Saldivar (39')
September 12, 2024 at 11:02 AM
That Mexico-Australia U-20 WWC match was the soccer gods equivalent of "right result, wrong reasons".

(AUS missed a PK, MEX's 1st goal was a wild deflection off a teammate that then hit a goalpost and went in.)
September 4, 2024 at 12:24 AM
Update on that article about Major League Soccer starting a professional women's soccer league:

The website "has decided to retract the story".

Screenshot from X .com:
August 12, 2024 at 11:53 PM
So, this article was posted about an hour ago about Major League Soccer planning to launch "a professional women’s soccer league".

Here's why I don't think there's enough evidence yet to think that this will be a direct competitor of the NWSL.

(1/?)

scarvesandspikes.com/2024/08/11/e...
Exclusive: MLS planning launch of women’s league after 2027 Women’s World Cup
A new professional women's soccer league operated by Major League Soccer is planned to begin after the 2027 Women’s World Cup.
scarvesandspikes.com
August 11, 2024 at 11:53 PM
Reposted by RD Welch
⭐Reminder⭐

The women's soccer ⚽🥇gold medal match between the USWNT and Brazil is on Saturday and kicks off at 11:00 a.m. EDT (8:00 a.m. PDT).

📺TV: NBC / Telemundo
💻Streaming: Peacock (sub req'd), NBC Sports app, NBCOlympics.com (latter two require cable/satellite/etc. log-in)
August 9, 2024 at 10:13 PM
Coffey is very, very lucky to not have been given a second yellow for that last foul (56'). #USWNT
July 31, 2024 at 6:23 PM
Reposted by RD Welch
If anyone's wondering how things are going on the hellsite: This setting was just turned on by default for everyone. if you still have an account with content, go log in and disable this so Grok can't use your tweets as training data.

Direct link:
twitter.com/settings/gro...
July 26, 2024 at 2:17 AM
And that's why you don't do zonal marking on a corner kick.

And, now Germany is 3-nil up.
July 25, 2024 at 6:29 PM
#NWSL Referee Assignments

Friday (7/5):
•Thorns vs. Wave: Alexandra Billeter (VAR: Adorae Monroy)

Source: proreferees.com/2024/07/03/2...
NWSL Assignments: Week 15 - Professional Referee Organization ®
The assignments for Week 15 of the 2024 National Women’s Soccer League regular season.
proreferees.com
July 5, 2024 at 8:51 PM
Excel achievement unlocked!

So, VBA it is...
July 5, 2024 at 8:48 PM
#NWSL⚽ Referee Assignments

Tonight (6/28):
•Current vs. Dash: Greg Dopka (VAR: Alexandra Billeter)
•Wave vs. Red Stars: Shawn Tehini (VAR: Kevin Broadley)

Source: proreferees.com/2024/06/26/2...
NWSL Assignments: Week 14 - Professional Referee Organization ®
The assignments for Week 14 of the 2024 National Women’s Soccer League regular season.
proreferees.com
June 28, 2024 at 10:00 PM
We're halfway through the 2024 #NWSL season. Here are grids showing which opponents each team has faced so far.

Each team's number of opponents faced so far are far from balanced, with some having yet to face 5 opponents.

Google Sheets version (no formulas): docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
June 21, 2024 at 11:12 PM
2024 #NWSL Season - Cumulative Points By Date Chart
June 21, 2024 at 10:59 PM
2024 #NWSL Form Guide (as of June 20th).

Only Gotham FC has a win streak at the moment (5 matches).

For a text version, see docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
June 21, 2024 at 10:54 PM
#NWSL Referee Assignments

6/21:
• Pride vs. Royals: Alyssa Nichols (VAR: Laura Rodriguez)

Source: proreferees.com/2024/06/18/2...
NWSL Assignments: Week 13 - Professional Referee Organization ®
The assignments for Week 13 of the 2024 National Women’s Soccer League regular season.
proreferees.com
June 21, 2024 at 10:45 PM