With the exception of one game, the 2019 NWSL season will step aside for an international break after the Chicago Red Stars and Portland Thorns conclude this week's schedule (ESPNEWS, 3 p.m. ET Sunday) in a showdown between teams currently occupying first and second place.
While many of the league's players will stay busy in the interim with the U.S. national team's Victory Tour, Euro 2021 qualifying or the U-23 Nordic Tournament in England, the break is one last pause in the stretch run. By the time most teams resume play after Labor Day, more days will have passed since the World Cup final than remain until the NWSL final.