SPORTS
August 3, 2020
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 11
Asians in American sports w Asian Americans in world sports
Successful NWSL Challenge Cup featured
crop of talented Japanese forwards
By Mike Street
Special to The Asian Reporter
A
goal over that span. She even scored the
game-winning goal against the Chicago
Red Stars.
The Courage’s quarterfinal match
against the winless Portland Thorns
should have been an easy victory. Instead,
Portland goalkeeper Britt Eckerstrom and
the Thorns defense smothered the
Courage, and Portland sent Erceg and the
Courage home with an upset 1-0 victory.
Asian-American girls saw pivotal
icon in Baby-Sitters Club
Continued from page 7
publishers
doing
the
buying “don’t seem like
they’re getting much more
diverse.”
Kuhn, the Heroine Com-
plex author, is optimistic
that female editors of color
rising in the ranks will
change that. They are more
likely to think broader.
“The story of rejection a
lot of marginalized authors
get is someone saying ‘I just
couldn’t connect to it,’”
Kuhn said. “What always
blows my mind about that
is all of us have spent our
entire lives connecting
with characters who do not
look like us.”
With
the
increased
national dialogue sur-
rounding white privilege,
adult
Asian-American
“BSC”
readers
ack-
nowledge the books are
lacking in some areas.
Claudia talks little about
being Asian in an upscale,
white community and
probably wouldn’t know
the term “micro aggres-
sion.”
The TV version fleshes
out some elements like a
poignant scene where
Claudia,
played
by
Momona Tamada, learns
her grandmother was an
internment camp survivor.
In a nod to the character’s
newfound cultural aware-
ness, Cucukov had Tamada
wear a t-shirt from “Angry
Asian Man” blogger and
activist Phil Yu — who also
appears in the docu-
mentary. Designed by
artist Irene Koh, it says
“Stay Angry.”
“Claudia is going to go
through that journey and is
going to learn about
activism,” Cucukov said.
“God willing, if we get a
season two, we’ve got much
more growth for Claudia.”
Tang reported from Phoenix and
is a member of The Associated
Press Race and Ethnicity team.
Japanese forward Nahomi Kawasumi
and Sky Blue FC fared better in the
Challenge Cup, advancing to the semifinal
round. Kawasumi started all six of her
club’s matches and scored a dramatic
second goal in a 2-0 thumping of the
Houston Dash. When the Houston keeper
left the box to clear a loose ball, it landed
near Kawasumi, who lifted a long 40-yard
shot over the keeper’s head into the net.
Tiếng Anh như một
Ngôn ngữ Thứ hai
CẢI THIỆN TIẾNG ANH CỦA QUÝ VỊ!
Đọc, Viết, Nghe và Nói
LỚP TIẾNG ANH NHƯ MỘT NGÔN NGỮ
THỨ HAI (ESL)
• Học cách đọc, viết, nghe và nói tiếng Anh. 12 giờ mỗi tuần
HỌC PHÍ: $30 - $60 mỗi học kỳ *
CÁC CẤP BẬC TRUNG CẤP VÀ CHUYỂN TIẾP:
• Học cách đọc và viết tiếng Anh dành cho đại học và nghề
nghiệp. Tìm hiểu kỹ năng giao tiếp và công nghệ cần thiết
để đạt được mục tiêu của quý vị.
12 giờ mỗi tuần
HỌC PHÍ: $60 mỗi học kỳ*
* Có hỗ trợ miễn lệ phí
Giờ học: Buổi sáng và Buổi tối
Ngày: Thứ hai - Thứ năm
Địa điểm: Gresham hoặc Portland
LỚP MIỄN PHÍ VỀ QUYỀN CÔNG DÂN HOA KỲ:
• Nghiên cứu cách nộp đơn ghi danh và
phỏng vấn để
nhập tịch Hoa Kỳ.
ĐỂ BIẾT THÊM THÔNG TIN:
503-491-7333 (Tiếng Anh)
503-491-7675 (Tiếng Tây Ban Nha)
503-491-6100 (Maywood)
mhcc.edu/aboutESL
MAYWOOD PARK CENTER
10100 NE Prescott Street, Portland OR, 97220
TRƯỜNG GRESHAM CAMPUS
26000 SE Stark Street, Gresham OR, 97030
Nếu cần hỗ trợ đặc biệt do khuyết tật xin liên lạc với Văn Phòng Dịch Vụ Khuyết Tật (Disability Services Office) tại số
503-491-6923 hoặc dsoweb@mhcc.edu. Vui lòng gọi điện hoặc gửi email ít nhất hai tuần trước khóa học.
MHCC.EDU
fter a delay due to the coronavirus
pandemic, the National Women’s
Soccer League (NWSL) kicked off
its 2020 season with the Challenge Cup
tournament. With the exception of the
Orlando Pride, which withdrew before the
tournament started because several
players and staff tested positive for the
virus, all the current NWSL teams partici-
pated. The competition came as a welcome
antidote to the coronavirus sports drought,
and the games featured plenty of Asian
talent, especially Japanese forwards.
With a tightly packed schedule, a lot of
players on each squad appeared in the
Challenge
Cup,
including
several
mentioned in my June column. Japanese
forward Yuka Momiki, for example,
showed why OL Reign was so excited to
sign her, but also why she may struggle for
quality minutes.
The Reign played five tournament
games, and Momiki started just one of
them, a 0-2 loss to the Houston Dash.
Though she didn’t make a difference in
that game, she needed only nine minutes
to leave her mark in the match that
followed. Coming into a scoreless draw,
Momiki delivered a beautiful cross to
Bethany Balcer, who scored the game-
winning goal.
It would be the Reign’s only goal of the
tournament, as they followed that match
with two scoreless draws. The second of
those came in the quarterfinal matchup
against the Chicago Red Stars, one of three
such draws in that round. In the
penalty-kick shootout that followed,
Momiki converted her chance, but two of
her teammates missed, and the Reign
were eliminated by Chicago.
Captain Abby Erceg and the defending
champion North Carolina Courage also
had a disappointing tournament finish.
The Courage rolled to four victories in the
preliminary round of games, as Erceg
anchored a backline that allowed just one
COMPETITIVE CUP. After a delay due to the
coronavirus pandemic, the National Women’s Soccer
League kicked off its season with the 2020 Challenge
Cup tournament. The competition came as a welcome
antidote to the coronavirus sports drought in the U.S.
Pictured are OL Reign forward Yuka Momiki (top
photo, #21) and North Carolina Courage defender
Abby Erceg (bottom photo, left, #6). (AP Photos/
Rick Bowmer)
Kawasumi contributed to Sky Blue’s
penalty-kick shootout victory over the
Washington Spirit in the quarterfinals,
but Chicago bottled her up in the
semifinals. The Red Stars scored twice in
the first 11 minutes, and Sky Blue couldn’t
recover, losing 2-3.
Chicago has its own Asian force in
Japanese forward Yuki Nagasato, whom
we covered last November. In 2019, she
scored eight goals and led the NWSL with
eight assists, but seven of those assists
went to superstar Samantha Kerr, who is
now playing with Chelsea’s women’s side.
The Red Stars are figuring out how
Nagasato and the team can play without
Kerr’s world-class talent. Chicago had a
rough start in the tournament, winning
just one of its first four preliminary
matches, with Nagasato playing in two of
them and contributing just one shot on
goal.
Then Nagasato suffered a left leg injury
that kept her out of the rest of the
Challenge Cup. In the quarterfinal match,
Chicago edged the OL Reign on penalty
kicks, 4-3, then defeated Sky Blue, 3-2, to
face the Houston Dash in the
championship game. Chicago sorely
needed Nagasato, as they didn’t get
anything going on offense against the
Dash, who won 2-0 for the franchise’s first
ever trophy.
Two other players with Asian roots
appeared in the Challenge Cup, one of
them making her NWSL debut, the other
seeking to expand her role. The
Washington Spirit saw the first minutes
from Japanese forward Kumi Yokoyama,
whom they signed last December.
Just 26 years old, Yokoyama has been a
Continued on page 12