Washington Spirit beat Chicago Red Stars 3:0 in the NWSL Group Stage at Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium on 20 September 2026. The visitors left with all three points and moved further clear at second place, while Chicago remain rooted to the bottom of the table.
Trinity Rodman opened the scoring in the seventh minute, and it was only a matter of time before the gap widened. A penalty was awarded after a VAR check for Lucia Di Guglielmo, and Andi Sullivan converted in the thirty-fourth minute. Bea Franklin picked up a yellow card in the thirty-third minute, by then the hosts had already gone behind twice.
And here's the thing — we had called for a Washington win at 61 per cent confidence, and it came to pass. The visitors played the second half a man up after substitutions, and they found a way back into it when they needed to. Chicago ran out of legs, and the table goes out of the window in these games.
The numbers back up what you saw. Washington controlled 59 per cent of possession and created four big chances, while Chicago managed none. The hosts had five shots on target but failed to find the net, and the visitors could have done better with their accuracy too. It was a matter of clinical finishing on one side and frustration on the other.
Chicago sit sixteenth after fifteen matches played, five wins, two draws and eighteen defeats, twenty-five points from the top. Washington are second with forty-six points after fourteen wins, four draws and seven losses. The goal difference tells its own story, and there is unrest in the dressing room somewhere down south.
