u/panoramicpanoramic

MLB's All-Star Game rosters are required to feature at least one player from each team. What is the best NWSL team you could put together if you picked a player from each team?

My choices:

Forwards

Dudinha (SD Wave)
Banda (Orlando Pride)
Chawinga (KC Current)

Midfield

Moultrie (Portland Thorns)
Hutton (Bay FC)
Manaka (NC Courage)

Defenders

Patterson (Houston Dash)
Rudd (Washington Spirit)
Sonnett (NJ/NY Gotham)
Thompson (Angel City)

Goalkeeper

Dickey (Seattle Reign)

Subs

FW: Traore (Boston Legacy)
MF: Flint (Racing Louisville)
DF: Kurtz (Denver Summit)
DF: Staab (Chicago [Red] Stars)
GK: Justus (Utah Royals)

These picks are based on current, healthy rosters. My thought process when picking players was to start with the teams with clear talent outliers (Bay, Courage, Houston) then filling it out using teams with deeper talent pools (e.g. Wave, Spirit, Gotham). That's why Rudd and Sonnett make it over Rodman and Rose - both are very talented players in their own right and play positions without as much star depth. You could definitely argue about some things; I debated Soph instead of Moultrie, putting her on the right wing and letting you have a defensive mid pairing of Flint and Hutton but it felt insane to have the 2x reigning MVP off the bench. What changes would you all make and how would you approach it?

The Washington Spirit are actually 0-2026 in the playoffs

As an American, I look forward to when our soccer discourse can be on the same level as the enlightened Europeans

Forwards

Midfield

Defenders

Goalkeeper

Subs