As the 2014 season rolls into its final month, just one team has already booked a ticket to the postseason. League-leading Seattle Reign FC are in, and with a home playoff game to boot, but the other three playoff spots are still very much up for grabs. The Boston Breakers stared down elimination and escaped - at least for a night - with a 4-2 win against the Western New York Flash on Friday, but the Breakers’ season could still be officially over after this weekend. A Chicago Red Stars win against the Houston Dash on Saturday would eliminate Boston from playoff contention. No one else can be eliminated or clinch a playoff berth this weekend, but with seven teams still fighting for three spots, every game has huge implications and no one can afford to drop points.
NWSL week 16 preview: Elimination watch
Chicago look to move back into the top four, Portland try to narrow the gap with Kansas City, and Sky Blue FC aim to make a late-season push.
Chicago Red Stars vs. Houston Dash
Benedictine U. Sports Complex Stadium, Saturday 2:00 PM ET
There is some trick about using newspaper instead of paper towels with your preferred glass cleaner to minimize streaks. It would seem (in the dad-est of dad jokes kind of way) they don’t know this trick in the city of Chicago. Because, well, this thing is super streaky. Chicago played normal, streak-free soccer for three games at the beginning of the season before someone went crazy with the Windex and some chamois they ordered from the TV at 3am, all full of high hopes and empty promises. Since then, the Red Stars have been stuck in some combination of a bizarre OCD scheduling loop and a performance art piece, in which they do their best impression of either Seattle or Boston, alternating on a monthly basis. The Red Stars played six games in May - all against either Sky Blue FC, Houston or Boston - and didn’t lose a single one. Then Chicago played five games in June against five different teams, and didn’t win a single one. We are now back to the Imitation Seattle portion of the show, with the Red Stars going unbeaten so far in the month of July, with five games against only Portland Thorns FC and - in a super-meta move - Seattle. But what’s this now with a game against Houston in a Reign-Thorns only month? A mistake of some sort, surely.
The Dash haven’t played in more than a week, drawing 1-1 with Washington on July 17th, and Houston’s playoff hopes are slowly slipping away. The eighth-place Dash are currently 11 points out of a playoff spot and have been plagued by scoring troubles all season. Chicago’s streaky season once saw the Red Stars as high as second, but they’ve now slipped all the way into fifth. But, with the fourth-place Washington Spirit idle this weekend, a win would put the Red Stars back in the top four.
FC Kansas City vs. Sky Blue FC
Verizon Wireless Field Durwood Stadium, Sunday 6:00 PM ET
It may have taken 18 games, but have Sky Blue FC finally found their rhythm? New addition Nadia Nadim brought the offensive spark the Jersey side have lacked all season as Sky Blue turned in its most complete performance of 2014 last weekend, a 4-1 win over visiting Washington. But was all that a fluke - thanks to a well-rested Sky Blue taking on a Spirit team playing on very short rest - or can the Blue and Orange make a late season push for the playoffs? Perennial contender and current second-place squad FC Kansas City will be as good an indicator as any if there’s still a chance at the postseason for Jim Gabarra’s side. This test takes on additional weight when you consider that Kansas City rolled into New Jersey and ran over Sky Blue to the tune of 5-0 the last time these two teams met, at the beginning of July.
Kansas City, not that long ago, was enjoying a long unbeaten run that had the Blues pushing to catch Seattle at the top of the table. But that streak came crashing to a halt two weeks ago in spectacular fashion, with Kansas City on the wrong end of a 7-1 drubbing in Portland. The Blues tied Western NY 1-1 last weekend, but the last time Kansas City actually won a game - the last one of that eleven-game run - was July 6th. The good news for FCKC? It was the aforementioned 5-0 game against Sky Blue FC.
Seattle Reign FC vs. Portland Thorns FC
Moda Pitch Memorial Stadium, Sunday 7:00 PM ET
The penultimate Pacific Northwest derby of the regular season is upon us, but beyond regional pride, there’s plenty of big-picture stuff on the line for one of the teams. Seattle has already clinched not only a playoff spot, but also a home playoff game - a far cry from the seventh-place finish a season ago - but Portland is still fighting for its postseason life. The Thorns are currently in third, and with Washington idle this weekend, there’s no chance of Portland slipping out of the top four.
That doesn’t mean Paul Riley’s team is totally safe, though. The Thorns will have just three games remaining after Sunday, including the regular season finale against the Reign, and both the Red Stars and Spirit are currently within a win of pulling even with or passing Portland on points. The Thorns played to a 1-1 draw on Wednesday in Washington, while Seattle hasn’t played since last weekend. Sunday’s match also features two of the three players currently tied at 11 goals apiece in the Golden Boot race in Kim Little and Jess McDonald (Washington’s Jodie Taylor is the third). If either player scored, they would equal the NWSL record of 12 goals set by Lauren Holiday a season ago.
