82 min YELLOW to Houston’s Haley Hanson for wasting time. This is going to be brutal.
80 min Reminder that there will be no extra time. If Chicago can somehow equalize, we’ll go to kicks from the mark, to use the technical term.
The orange bus has been duly parked in front of Houston’s goal, though the counter still looks dangerous.
79 min SUBSTITUTIONS
Houston: Veronica Latsko for Brianna Visalli
Chicago: Zoe Morse for Katie Johnson
Chicago: Makenzy Doniak for Savannah McCaskill
McCaskill must be exhausted, but that hurts.
If they had waited until after the final to announce the Best XI …
75 min HYDRATION BREAK and it is slipping away from Chicago, which concedes another chance.
Was this their last hope?
74 min STAT Chicago hasn’t conceded a goal in 270 minutes. 1-0 in the semifinal, 0-0 in the quarterfinal, 0-1 loss in the last group match on a goal in the 16th minute.
73 min CHANCE A Chicago turnover, and Prince and Daly play 1-2. Daly is pressured into a wide shot.
Trivia time: As a teenager, Goralski was on the Chicago Red Stars roster when they won the National Cup in 2012, but the Red Stars split their squad that day, and I’m not sure whether Goralski was on the National Cup team or the WPSL Elite team. Good times.
68 min A bit of pinball in the Houston box, but again, Chicago is just lacking something.
SUBSTITUTION: Zoey Goralski replaces the unfortunate Kayla Sharples, who conceded the penalty but was solid for Chicago thereafter.
67 min CHANCE And as I say that, Rachel Hill sprints up the middle with the ball, making it rather difficult to be called offside, and she earns a free kick. McCaskill’s 24-yard free kick is dipping, and Campbell has to knock it over for a corner.
65 min Less than 30 minutes to go, and Chicago just doesn’t seem to have figured it out. Sloppy defense, lack of quality in the final third, six offside calls. The injuries undoubtedly hurt, but you’d expect more intelligence from a lot of veterans coached by Rory Dames.
64 min A bad Chicago back pass gives Prince and opportunity to pounce, but the alert Naeher is out to clean up in a collision.
Daly fires the ball in and earns a corner while Naeher winces a bit.
63 min We did not see a replay of that offside call. MLS broadcasts dissect every call like the Zapruder film. NWSL broadcasts gloss over such things.
A Houston free kick doesn’t quite find Daly’s head.
60 min NWSL stats say Houston have completed 74% of their passes, a dramatic improvement from the **52.2%** in the semifinal win over Portland.
Chicago is at 71.7%. Does that count offside calls? Hill got caught again. Someone on the bench didn’t like it because that person — not head coach Rory Dames — just got a yellow card for dissent.
59 min Colaprico sends a speculative ball down the right for the speedy Watt. No connection there, but the one-way traffic might comfort Chicago fans for the moment.
57 min Rinse, repeat — Rachel Hill is offside. (Not on her shot a minute ago. She’s active, at least.)
56 min More promising from Chicago. Watt lays the ball off for Hill, who launches a solid but easily saved shot from the top of the box.
54 min Kealia Watt is finally into the fray, taking a McCaskill pass and dribbling parallel to the goal, but her 10-yard shot is deflected and easily corralled by Campbell.
53 min And it’s Prince again, this time cutting in before launching an impatient and off-target shot.
One NWSL term is trending, and it’s “Mewis.”
51 min Nichelle Prince battles to try to win a corner for Houston, but it’s a goal kick for Chicago.
The Red Stars go the other way, but Rachel Hill is offside. The disciplined Dash defense strikes again.
49 min Now it’s Chicago with a couple of corners, which means Julie Ertz gets to show her prowess on the offensive end. Ball finally goes out harmlessly for a goal kick.
47 min CHANCE as Katie Naughton gets a head on a corner kick and forces Alyssa Naeher to tap it over.
Naeher punches out the next corner.
Chicago just not dialed all the way in today.
46 min We’re back with no fanfare, and Houston nearly catches Chicago napping.
Tournament awards announced
MVP: Rachel Daly (Houston). I’d have said Lindsey Horan (Portland).
Goalkeeper: Kailen Sheridan (Sky Blue), though she didn’t make the Best XI below. That one’s hard to pick. Sheridan’s Sky Blue side beat Washington on penalties, but the Spirit did themselves in with a miss and another badly taken shot. Britt Eckerstrom (Portland) made the Best XI on the basis of the best performance of the tournament, shutting out overwhelming favorite North Carolina in the quarterfinals. Not bad for the Thorns’ third-choice keeper.
At halftime, commentator Lori Lindsey mentioned a few players who might be impressing U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski in this tournament. The list includes Mewis and defender Alana Cook.
Andonovski’s scouting is especially important because the U.S. team is … not young.
The half ends with Alyssa Naeher breaking up a Houston attack by blasting the ball into the seats.
You could say Houston is lucky to be here after beating a severely depleted Portland team, and Chicago has had some injury woes as well. But the Dash are simply playing smarter than the Red Stars. The defense is usually in the right place aside from an early scramble in which Savannah McCaskill, by far Chicago’s most dangerous attacker, really should’ve scored. At the other end, they’ve been opportunistic, outfoxing Chicago at every turn.
It’s a coaching masterclass from James Clarkson, shutdown defending by the back line and forceful runs by Kristie Mewis (now out injured) and Nichelle Prince.
Houston is 45 minutes away from a massive win for a long-suffering fan base. The Dash have never even qualified for the playoffs and still haven’t finished higher than fifth in any regular season.
45 min Two minutes of stoppage time here.
44 min Oh, we’ll need a replay there. Did Prince obstruct Sharples to keep her from that ball off a good Chicago buildup?
Not that obstruction is ever called, mind you.
42 min Another curious corner from DiBernardo, easily cleared.
41 min DiBernardo immediately seeks redemption with a nice move on the right, and you wonder what would’ve happened if she had chosen to go to ground after a slight trip. Instead, play continues, and we’ll have another corner.
40 min McCaskill chips her free kick into the mixer around the penalty mark, and it’s out for a corner. Vanessa DiBernardo puts that kick directly onto the top of the net.