Paul Riley is the most successful head coach in National Women’s Soccer League history. With three championships and three more NWSL Shields, the opinion of the Liverpool native carries a lot of weight in women’s soccer. And his opinion on the differences between his current league and the top flight in England highlight how far the FA Women’s Super League still has to go.
Riley and his Courage will welcome the Orlando Pride to WakeMed Soccer Park on Saturday for their season home opener. During a pregame news conference on Friday, Riley went into the differences between the NWSL and the WSL.
The topic is of some interest for this match. For one, Sam Mewis will be returning from Manchester City to rejoin the Courage (though she won’t be back in time for Saturday’s match). Additionally, Pride coach Marc Skinner started his career in the WSL with Birmingham City.
Riley, a 57-year-old WoSo veteran, didn’t hold back.
Paul Riley on Orlando, also goes in to difference between NWSL/England (very long): pic.twitter.com/nD4fhLxI3R
— Nicholas Schnittker (@nick_schnittker) May 21, 2021
(Thanks to reporter Nicholas Schnittker for transcribing the quotes used in this story.)
Riley started by talking about Skinner, who has won five of 33 matches since joining Orlando in 2019. (Skinner also has some interesting thoughts on equal pay and is more principal Seymour Skinner than FBI assistant director Walter Skinner.) Riley explained Skinner needed time to adapt to the NWSL coming over from England, despite having the talents of Alex Morgan and Marta at his disposal.
“Marc is getting used to the way that the league plays, a lot of transition game in the league,” Riley said. “I think the benefit of last year, of not playing, is that he’s had a look at the games and realized that transition is key.”
This led Riley into a long harangue on the differences between the top flights in England and the U.S. The WSL, Riley said, just doesn’t have players like Courage forward Lynn Williams.
“Sometimes in the English league, they just don’t have the type of athletes that we have in our league and the type of players that we have in our league,” Riley said. “They close you quickly and they don’t give you your breath. I think in the English league, it’s a bit more relaxed. … I just think it’s a little bit slower. They play slower, they play less directly, they play less in transition and they go side-to-side a lot.
“I think in the English game, it’s a lot more side-to-side and, to be honest with you, I fall asleep watching quite a few of the games compared to NWSL. I’m biased, of course, but that’s my take on it.”
Ouch.
That sounds a lot like men’s soccer fans in the U.S. who say they only watch European leagues and would never stoop to watching American soccer.
Riley went on to brag about the parity in the NWSL. In England, Chelsea was clearly the best team this season, followed closely by Manchester City. Arsenal and Manchester United, which featured Tobin Heath and Christen Press this season, finished third and fourth, respectively. After that there is a huge drop-off in talent. In the NWSL, a team that has never qualified for the playoffs won last summer’s Challenge Cup.
“I think that we’ve got much more parity in our league, too,” Riley said. “You can’t have a day off in this league — you’ll get beat. And in the English league, that’s not so true. You look at the top five and the bottom five have considerably different teams. I mean, there are some really good teams. Let’s be fair, Chelsea is really good. Man United is good. And City is really good. Chelsea is really good and then you start to drop off pretty quickly.
“Nobody has a clue what’s gonna happen this season (in the NWSL), because there’s so much parity in the league. And that’s why I love coaching in the league, the challenge of the league. I don’t want to play in a five-team league. I want to play in a 10-team league where anybody can win. And I feel like this year anybody can win.”
The higher levels of competition and abilities are, according to Riley, why Mewis and her former Manchester City teammate Rose Lavelle are returning to the NWSL after one season in the UK.
“And that’s why Sam is coming back and Rose is coming back,” Riley said. “I think there’ll be other players joining them coming back too. I think people want to be back in the league where speeds are a little bit more, more ferocious and more intensity to the games.”
Plain and simple, top to bottom, the NWSL remains the undisputed best league in the world, at least in Riley’s eyes. And as someone who has won three of the seven NWSL championships, he’s in a pretty good position to judge.
Unfortunately, we won’t get a chance to see some of the best in the NWSL compete with the top English clubs anytime soon. The 2021 Women’s International Champions Cup just announced its schedule for August and no WSL teams were included. Instead we’ll see French powerhouse Lyon, 2021 Women’s Champions League winner Barcelona, two-time NWSL champion Portland and plucky 2020 Challenge Cup winner Houston battle to be crowned the best club in the world.
Maybe when FIFA finally gets off its ass to create a Women’s Club World Cup we’ll be able to properly determine the best league in the world. Until then, I’m with Riley on this one. NWSL > FA WSL.
