Courage
flourish after
heading south
Franchise moves pay off for reborn clubs
The franchise system may be anathema
to Europeans, but in the context of US
women’s soccer it appears to work. It is
not without casualties, but it serves as an
effective substitute source of renewal to
the promotion-relegation process of the
sport’s traditional heartlands. Further
evidence of this came in the seventh
season of the NWSL.
After winning the 2016 championship,
Western New York Flash were uprooted
to Cary, a 650-mile drive south, and
renamed North Carolina Courage. The
move was tough on Flash fans, but there
were not enough of them. As Courage,
the franchise have reached three more
championship Finals and won the last
two, confirming their status as North
America’s premier team with a 4-0
defeat of Chicago Red Stars in this year’s
Final. Paul Riley’s team also retained the
regular-season shield and, significantly,
drew attendances that were 52 per cent
higher than the final season as Flash.
Utah Royals, in their second season
since replacing Kansas City, became the
second NWSL club to post average five-
figure crowds. Their regular 10,774 was
more than five times higher than their
last season in Kansas.
Shorter moves also paid off. After
drawing 37,000-plus across two matches
at MLS club DC United’s Audi Field home,
Washington Spirit have stepped up
plans to leave Germantown, which has
been their base since founding but is in
Maryland, 25 miles outside the national
capital and holds less than 4,000. In
time all Spirit’s games are likely to be in
DC, but movement will be staggered.
Hoping for similar success are Sky Blue,
whose facilities have long been criticised.
They have agreed a deal to share stadia
with MLS club New York Red Bulls.
Reign FC, who dropped the Seattle
name from their title after going 35 miles
south to Tacoma, achieved the highest
average attendance in their history with
a 36 per cent rise on last season. They
also made the play-offs with Macedonian-
born Vlatko Andonovski named coach of
the year and then successor to Jill Ellis in
charge of the national team.
Reign took Courage the distance in the
semi-final, Ifeoma Onumonu’s injury-time
equaliser cancelling out Heather O’Reilly’s
88th-minute penalty. However, Courage
scored three times in eight minutes inextra-time. In the other semi-final
Chicago Red Stars edged past Portland
Thorns with the only goal coming from
Sam Kerr, her 19th of the summer.
However, Kerr – Golden Boot winner
for the third successive season – was
kept quiet in the Final as Courage
romped to victory. The outstanding
Debinha scored early, Jessica McDonald
and Crystal Dunn made it 3-0 at half-
time, and Sam Mewis completed the rout.
With the match played at Courage’shome ground in Cary it was a fitting
conclusion to O’Reilly’s glittering career.
The former North Carolina student, who
won 230 US caps, a trio of Olympic gold
medals, the 2015 World Cup and four
US domestic titles, took her leave in
the 89th minute to a standing ovation.
“What a way to end the year and what
a way to end my career,” said the 34-
year-old, who also won the FA Cup with
Arsenal. “Seventeen years ago I scored my
first national-team goal on this field. It’s
been quite a ride and I’m very grateful.”
Courage finished five points clear
in the regular season with a 6-0 win
at Portland Thorns summing up their
superiority. Lynn Williams scored 12
goals, Debinha 10.
Surprisingly, Abby Dahlkemper was the
only Courage player named in the NWSL
Best XI. Neither Debinha or Williams
even made the second string, despite
being among five nominations for MVP,
which was won by Kerr.
Rose Lavelle, despite playing only six
NWSL matches and scoring one goal,
was in the Best XI; Megan Rapinoe (five
games, no goals or assists) and Kelley
O’Hara (four games) were in the second
team. All three, of course, featured
prominently in USA’s World Cup win
but even Lavelle’s mother admitted
she had not voted for her daughter.
Does this really matter? Well, yes,
because inclusion in these teams is one
of the eligibility criteria for the league’s
new “allocation money”, a way of bringing
in a star player without smashing the
salary cap. While insufficient to keep Kerr
in the US it should help resist the growingGlenn MooreWomen’s Football
Final...Samantha
Mewis (on ground)
scores Courage’s
fourth goal against
Chicago Red StarsSupport...a sell-out
crowd of 19,471
watch Washington
Spirit take on
Orlando Pride[Western New York Flash]’s move was tough on Flash
fans, but there were not enough of them