It’s been awhile since we last talked! There has been so much exciting women’s soccer during this international break, and it’s still not over. We had four confederation championships, one regional championship, a bunch of international friendlies, and all sorts of club tournaments and exhibition games. To top it off, the NWSL returns to league play this weekend, and it’s time to get back into Fantasy NWSL!

We have a standard Friday deadline at 8e/7c/6m/5p with two matches kicking off the NWSL’s return: Chicago hosting Gotham in the latest edition of the Pizza Rivalry, and Louisville hosting Kansas City. To help you plan your Round 14 team, let’s start with a quick recap of the first half of the FNWSL season, and go from there…

What was going on in FNWSL?

• From a fantasy perspective, Kansas City was dominating on both offense and defense. Most FNWSL managers had at least three Currents on their team each week – and remember that Temwa Chawinga did not participate in WAFCON and should be fully available this round.
• Washington was on goal scoring tear leading into the break as well, even without several of their top attackers.
• San Diego was also scoring a lot of goals, though so many different Wavers were scoring that it was difficult to predict fantasy points. The situation was clarified somewhat with the departure of María Sánchez, and all three of Delphine Cascarino, Kenza Dali, and Adriana Leon are good fantasy options moving forward.
• Two of 2024’s most prolific goal-scoring teams, Gotham and Orlando, have been a little inconsistent this year, though both Barbra Banda and Esther Gonzalez were premium FW options each week.

Which NWSL players may not be playing in Round 14?

The WAFCON and Euro finals (both played July 27) involved the teams of six NWSL players: Anna Moorhouse, Esme Morgan, Esther, Jess Carter, Michelle Alozie, and Asisat Oshoala. Congratulations to England and Nigeria (both with very exciting comeback wins)! The only downside of these two great matches is that we can’t expect to see any of these players getting minutes for their clubs this weekend. I’d also be surprised if we saw Ann-Katrin Berger, as Germany went to the semi-finals. The same goes for Princess Marfo and Stella Nyamekye, as Ghana also lost the semi-finals in PKs on July 22

Zambia went out in the quarter finals on July 18, so it’s possible we may see Barbra Banda, Grace Chanda, Prisca Chilufya, and Rachel Kundananji back. However, make sure you have a backup plan, and keep an eye on availability reports!

Copa America Feminina is still ongoing. The final group stage games were played July 25, with semifinals scheduled for July 28 and 29, and the final on August 1. Brazil’s NWSL representatives (Marta, Angelina, Lorena, Ary Borges, and Gabi Portilho) and Colombia’s (Daniela Arias, Leicy Santos, and Ángela Barón) will certainly miss Round 14, and possibly 15 as well. Venezuela played its last game of the tournament on July 25, so their NWSL representatives (Deyna Castellanos and Barbara Olivieri) may be returning shortly, but I wouldn’t count on either in your FNWSL squad this week.

CONCACAF and AFC players should all be available as normal.

UPDATE: Stella Nyamekye and Esther are officially out this week.

What else has been going on?

A LOT happened in the NWSL over the past few weeks. I’m not going to try to cover everything, but here are a few important bullet points for FNWSL:

• FW Ashley Hatch will be going on maternity leave and will be unavailable for the rest of the season. Congratulations to Ashley and her family! I’ll probably transfer in Cascarino to replace her this week, but I’ll wait to see who is available this weekend.
• UPDATE: Claire Emslie and Vanessa DiBernardo are also on maternity leave. Congratulations to both!
• DF Sofia Huerta returned to Seattle after her loan to Lyon… and immediately scored two goals in an exhibition match against Urawa Red Diamonds. If you need a high-upside DF, Sofia is one of the most consistent backline scoring threats in the league.
• FW Mia Fishel also joined Seattle (transferring from Chelsea) – big upside here as well, but I’ll probably wait to see how she fits into the Reign lineup as she continues her return to form after tearing her ACL in February 2024
• Chicago placed both GK Alyssa Naeher and FW Jameese Joseph on the D45 injury list 🙁 UPDATE: Naeher has been activated and is available for Round 14
• Also, not necessarily FNWSL-related, but Tobin Heath officially retired from professional soccer in July. Congratulations to her on a great career! She’s one of only two players (in any sport) that I ever bought two jerseys for… feel free to guess who the other one was in the comments 🙂

Are you ready for Round 14? Comment or Bluesky @MansersAnswers!