The Biggest Winners and Losers of the 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup
Another edition of the NWSL Challenge Cup has wrapped up with the North Carolina Courage being crowned champions, and for the first time, it had three divisions. They defeated the Washington Spirit with a 2-1 scoreline in a match that didn’t come without controversy. We take a look at some of the biggest winners and losers from the tournament.
Winners
North Carolina Courage
https://twitter.com/TheNCCourage/status/1523092613611483136
After an offseason where they underwent a lot of roster movement, the Courage took home the trophy. The players showed that the Courage is still a dangerous team, and even though last season didn’t go as planned, their still title contenders. North Carolina won the East Division and then defeated the Kansas City Current in the semifinals to secure a home Championship matchup. Brazilian, Kerolin had a terrific tournament in her first few NWSL matches, and she’ll be a big part of this team as they head into the regular season. With a mix of veteran faces and newcomers, the Courage starts off great in 2022.
California
Angel City FC and the San Diego Wave finally began play. It’s been a long time coming for the state of California. California is a hotbed for women’s soccer, and it’s only fitting that they now have two NWSL clubs in the state. On the field, neither of the clubs had the best tournament, but they were able to get games under their belts. It’s exciting to see professional women’s soccer back in the state.
OL Reign
OL Reign went through the group stage, winning four out of six and coming out on top of the West Division. Their lone loss in the tournament was the semifinal match against the Spirit that came down to a penalty kick shootout. The Reign is playing great soccer and is positioned well to continue to rack up wins and be real title contenders this season.
Losers
Orlando Pride
UPDATE: Orlando Pride Forward Marta Placed on Season Ending Injury List.
Details: https://t.co/WQKLBmxZHo #AdAstra pic.twitter.com/SfGSJevaJh
— Orlando Pride (@ORLPride) April 1, 2022
The Orlando Pride had a disappointing tournament going 0-4-2 in their division. It is important to note that this is a team with a lot of new and young faces, as well as a new head coach in Amanda Cromwell. On top of building team chemistry with a new coach and a roster overhaul, they also lost their leader, Marta, to a season-ending injury early on in the tournament. With the regular season just getting underway, the Pride has time to create the play they expect.
Officials
Unfortunately, there were a lot of missed calls in the Challenge Cup that highlighted the continued officiating struggles in the league. There was an obvious missed handball call at the end of regulation in the Washington Spirit and OL Reign semifinal. It was a missed penalty call that should have given OL Reign a chance to win it but instead sent the game to a shootout.
Sam Staab with a horrendous tackle in the box… but no PK… again.#NCvWAS | 1 – 1 pic.twitter.com/d0wRQFGLK1
— The Equalizer (@EqualizerSoccer) May 7, 2022
In addition, there were dangerous plays in the championship game. Washington committed a bad tackle on Kerolin that should have given the North Carolina Courage a penalty opportunity. Those are just a couple of examples of missed calls. For the league to continue to grow, better refereeing has got to be a priority.
Scheduling
Having a preseason tournament has come with mixed reviews, but one constant complaint has been the scheduling issues. The tournament should never have overlapped with the start of the regular season. Teams that made it to the semifinals were forced to juggle three games in a week. It didn’t prioritize player safety, and that needs to change.
The scheduling and bad calls led to many injuries around the league throughout the tournament. If the league wants to continue to have the Challenge Cup each year, they must plan the schedule better.
Featured image via Getty Images
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