Chicago Red Stars W v Orlando Pride W — prediction, stats and goal analysis

NWSL (W) · Thursday, 26 March 2026. Final score 0–3 (half-time 0–3). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 49% for over 2.5 goals. This match is older than our frozen ratings ledger, which keeps 30 days, so that figure is a reconstruction from pre-match data rather than a number we published at the time — a distinction worth making, because only the frozen ones prove what we actually said beforehand.

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Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals49%51%Under
Over 3.5 goals31%69%no pick
Both teams to score56%44%Yes

The result model puts Chicago Red Stars W at 34%, the draw at 25% and Orlando Pride W at 41%, from expected goals of 1.41 and 1.59.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. NWSL (W) has produced over 2.5 goals in 44% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Chicago Red Stars W have 2 in 2 this season (1 of 1 at home), Orlando Pride W 1 in 2. Those records are pulled toward the league rate with the weight of about 24 matches — enough that two or three unusual games cannot swing a rating — giving 49% and 45%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 2 and 2 games played this season, last season's rates are still blended in and fade out entirely by game 40 — the point at which our testing showed they stop adding accuracy. A single season is part luck, so each club's record is first pulled toward the league average by 34 games' weight. That moves the two figures to 50% and 36%.

The mix. Weighted 40% home side, 40% away side and 20% league — the split that beat every alternative across 30,582 matches of testing — that gives 43%.

Head to head. These sides have met 7 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 57%. That nudges the number 5% of the way toward the head-to-head pattern — deliberately small, because fixtures change more than reputations do — landing on 44%.

Goal expectation. Separately a Poisson model built from attack and defence strength — using real expected-goals data where the league has it — puts this match at 58%, from expected goals of 1.41 for Chicago Red Stars W and 1.59 for Orlando Pride W. Folding in 30% of that view gives 48%.

Calibration. Tested against 97,729 past matches, our ratings below 55% have run consistently too pessimistic — a figure in the high 30s, for instance, has come in about four points higher. So ratings in that range are lifted part-way back, giving 49%.

This breakdown is generated from the same inputs the rating uses, so it cannot describe a calculation we did not perform. The full model is set out in the methodology.

Season form

TeamGamesO2.5O3.5BTTS
Chicago Red Stars W2100%50%50%
Orlando Pride W250%0%100%

Head to head

7 Sept 25Chicago Red Stars W 5–2 Orlando Pride WO2.5
15 Mar 25Orlando Pride W 6–0 Chicago Red Stars WO2.5
9 Nov 24Orlando Pride W 4–1 Chicago Red Stars WO2.5
8 Sept 24Chicago Red Stars W 0–1 Orlando Pride WU2.5
29 Mar 24Orlando Pride W 1–1 Chicago Red Stars WU2.5
21 Aug 23Orlando Pride W 5–0 Chicago Red Stars WO2.5

More: Chicago Red Stars W season stats · Orlando Pride W season stats · NWSL (W) table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.