NWSL Challenge Cup
Houston Dash claim victory in a successful tournament both on and off the pitch
With the coronavirus laying waste to the football calendar, the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) hurriedly put together a tournament – the NWSL Challenge Cup. After an uncertain start, with Orlando Pride being forced to withdraw on the competition’s eve after a slew of positive tests, it was an unqualified success.
The short format also threw up a surprise, with Houston Dash, a hitherto unremarkable expansion franchise, emerging as victors while favourites North Carolina Courage failed to make the last four.
While the Dash were understandably jubilant, the real winners were the NWSL front office for successfully pulling off the challenge of making women’s soccer the first sport back in the US. They were rewarded with excellent TV ratings at home (the final drew 653,000 on CBS) and a spark of interest in England prompted by Lioness Rachel Daly, the Dash captain, winning MVP and the Golden Boot.
The tournament was staged in Utah with all players ensconced in a quarantined “bubble” in housing provided by Dell Loy Hansen, owner of Utah Royals. Regular COVID-19 tests were conducted with zero positives.
Several players opted out, including US internationals Megan Rapinoe, Tobin Heath and Christen Press; others were injured or had playing time limited by the national team. However, in the circumstances it was a solid effort and if there was some stardust absent at times qualities such as resilience and unity came to the fore.
Courage were the best team by a distance in the initial group stage, winning all four matches to finish five points clear of the pack. Second favourites Portland Thorns were unexpectedly last, with three draws and a loss. This pitted them together in the seeded quarter-finals and Thorns subsequently produced the first upset, back-up goalkeeper Britt Eckerstrom denying Courage with a string of saves either side of rookie Morgan Weaver’s debut goal. That proved the only goal of the quarter-finals with the other ties all going to penalties.
Having put out the hosts in the shoot-out, the Dash beat Thorns in the semi-finals with an opportunist goal by Daly, the competition’s first for six hours. With the drought broken, Chicago Red Stars then edged a five-goal thriller in the other semi, holding off a resurgent Sky Blue.
Red Stars, championship play-off finalists in 2019, were favoured but the Dash had grown to relish their underdog role. Sophie Schmidt’s early penalty gave them something to defend which they did valiantly before Shea Groom’s injury-time breakaway sealed victory. “It’s just been a special journey,” said Groom. “We took it one step at a time, one game at a time, one minute at a time.”
Head coach James Clarkson added: “We’ve got to go on and prove that we can do these kinds of things on a week-to-week basis when the league gets back up and running. It’s just going to get harder for us. It’s exciting. We’re at the start of something.”