NWSL Week 9 preview: The one where we watch all of the games, all at once

This is it. We’ve made it to the final weekend before NWSL takes a little break for the group stage of the World Cup. Everyone but FC Kansas City is in action this week, and with only eight points separating first from last, we could see one more big shift in the table before league play resumes on June 19th.

All four of this week’s games are on Saturday, which is also the day the World Cup kicks off, because why wouldn’t they be? And they’re not just on the same day. No. That would be too easy. Instead, Saturday’s two World Cup games and four NWSL games all overlap. Seriously. Who are the scheduling wizards who came up with this one:

Canada-China: 6 p.m. ET
Washington-Boston: 7 p.m. ET
Western NY-Chicago: 7 p.m. ET
Houston-Portland: 8:30 p.m. ET
New Zealand-Netherlands: 9 p.m. ET
Seattle-Sky Blue FC: 10 p.m. ET

So, get your TV and your computer. Get your neighbor’s TV and computer. Get all of the TVs and computers. All of them. Then kick back and enjoy. Worry about the electric bill later.

Washington Spirit vs. Boston Breakers
Maryland SoccerPlex, 7 p.m. ET

It seemed unlikely even a few short weeks ago, but Saturday’s meeting between the Spirit and Breakers is suddenly a second vs. third situation. Sure, Washington’s been hovering in or around the top four pretty much all season, but Boston? It wasn’t that long ago that the Breakers were mired in a race for the bottom, struggling to find a first win or a first point. Something, anything, that wasn’t a loss. Now though, Boston heads into the weekend with a three-game unbeaten run on the line, and the team with the league’s worst goal differential has allowed just one in those three games as it’s climbed from the bottom into third.

Second-place Washington, which could move into first with a win and a Chicago loss, is coming off a 2-1 win last weekend against Portland that included Crystal Dunn scoring her eighth of the season to take the lead in the Golden Boot race.

Western NY Flash vs. Chicago Red Stars
Sahlen’s Stadium, 7 p.m. ET

Western NY and Chicago meet for the first time on Saturday, celebrating -- or mired in -- seasons that could not be more different. The top-of-the-table Red Stars, who still haven’t lost this season, brought their unbeaten streak to seven with a 0-0 draw last weekend in Seattle. The Flash, on the other hand, are coming off a bye last week and last played on May 23, a 3-2 loss to Washington. Aaran Lines’ side is still stuck in a battle for the bottom, tied on points with last-place Sky Blue (but not actually in last by themselves by virtue of actually figuring out how to win more than one game).

Houston Dash vs. Portland Thorns FC
BBVA Compass Stadium, 8:30 p.m. ET

Thanks to a late goal last weekend in New Jersey to salvage a draw with Sky Blue FC, Houston has climbed into fifth on the table, a single point behind both FC Kansas City and Boston (FCKC has a bye this week). The Dash also head into Saturday owners of a three-game unbeaten streak, and will take on a Portland side they’ve already beaten once this season, and not that long ago. The Thorns and Dash met in Portland on May 23, with Houston taking a 1-0 win back to Texas courtesy of a first half goal from former Thorn Jess McDonald.

McDonald, who led Portland in scoring a season ago but was shipped to Houston in a draft day trade, is someone whose services her former team could use right about now. The once mighty Thorns have slid all the way into seventh place, winless in five and losers of three straight, the most recent addition to that streak coming last weekend in Washington. The Thorns’ offense has continued to slip away. Genoveva Anonma finally opened her account last weekend, but her goal is the only one anyone on Portland has scored in three games.

Seattle Reign FC vs. Sky Blue FC
Memorial Stadium, 10 p.m. ET

Remember how last season Seattle had this habit of stealing games late, somehow coming away with at least a point despite spending like 80-90 minutes just kind of hanging out, propped up against a wall at the 7-11, cigarettes rolled up in a shirt sleeve, unbuttoned flannel and scuffed Docs, way-too-cool and totally uninterested? Well, meet the anti-Seattle. They’re called Sky Blue FC. They play in New Jersey and they love to give away games late. Love it so much, apparently, that they cannot stop doing it. Last weekend against Houston, Sky Blue had a lead for 75 minutes. They even saved a penalty. Houston scored in the 86th minute and the game ended 1-1. The week before that? Sky Blue scored in the seventh minute before allowing Boston to equalize in the 60th. The game ended 1-1. And the week before that? Ninety minutes of scoreless soccer and Sky Blue FC still lost, this time to the Spirit, with Crystal Dunn nabbing the stoppage time winner for Washington.

The good news? Jim Gabarra’s team has managed the opposite of this -- coming back rather than blowing the thing up -- exactly once this season, and it happened against a team called the Seattle Reign. Granted, it was on a late and controversial penalty/red card, but it happened all the same.

The Reign player on the receiving end of that red card, Jess Fishlock, should be back in the lineup for Seattle after serving her suspension last weekend while her team played to a 0-0 draw with Chicago.