Evelyn Ijeh’s Breakout Fuels North Carolina Courage Surge INTRODUCTION Evelyn Ijeh, North Carolina Courage’s 24-year-old Swedish forward, has turned a three-game losing streak into a two-game playoff-charging streak almost single-handedly. A hat trick against Orlando Pride and a follow-up road win at Denver Summit have vaulted the Courage into seventh place in the NWSL standings, … Read more
INTRODUCTION Denver Summit’s 2-0 loss to North Carolina Courage on Wednesday cost more than three points: it’s the latest sign the expansion club’s playoff hopes are fading in its inaugural season, and it came with prized new signing Gemma Bonner still stuck on the bench, four days after joining specifically to help stop results like … Read more
INTRODUCTION Nigeria advances to WAFCON quarterfinals after thrashing Egypt 6-2 on Wednesday, but the Super Falcons’ path through Group C ended up decided by something stranger than a scoreline: a three-way tiebreaker so tight that Zambia won its final match and still went home, while Malawi lost its final match and still finished top of … Read more
INTRODUCTION Nigeria vs. Egypt WAFCON action Wednesday night in Rabat is a straightforward must-win for the Super Falcons: lose, and the record 10-time African champions could become the first defending WAFCON titleholder in tournament history to exit at the group stage — and lose their most direct path to the 2027 World Cup in Brazil … Read more
INTRODUCTION Utah Royals FC jumped to No. 1 in ESPN’s latest NWSL Power Rankings after routing Portland 5-1, while Washington Spirit tumbled following a 1-0 home loss to San Diego. But the swing is more a shift in form-based rankings than an actual changing of the guard — Washington still leads the real NWSL standings … Read more
INTRODUCTION The Gemma Bonner Denver Summit signing, announced Aug. 1, brings a decorated English defender back to the NWSL for the first time in five years and reunites her with a coach who already knows exactly what she offers: Denver head coach Nick Cushing managed Bonner at Manchester City from 2018 to 2020, and he’s … Read more
INTRODUCTION The NWSL Victory+ deal has ended after less than a full season, with the league terminating the agreement on July 30 over missed rights payments and shifting every affected match to its own free streaming platform, NWSL+, starting this weekend. Fans lose nothing in terms of access — but the collapse exposes how fragile … Read more
INTRODUCTION The USWNT vs. Spain October friendlies will put the world’s top two ranked teams on the same field twice in four days — Oct. 10 at Audi Field in Washington, D.C., and Oct. 13 at Subaru Park in Chester, Pennsylvania — in the last FIFA window before Emma Hayes’ team enters win-or-go-home World Cup … Read more
INTRODUCTION The 2031 Women’s World Cup, set to be jointly hosted by the United States, Mexico, Costa Rica and Jamaica, has been pulled into the biggest governance fight in soccer in years. On July 30, CONCACAF’s 41 member federations — including U.S. Soccer — formally rejected a FIFA plan to sell private investment stakes in … Read more
Introduction USWNT players don’t all wear the same brand anymore. Nike still outfits the national team’s kits, but several of its biggest stars have built their own, separate gear deals. Naomi Girma fronts Nike’s Tiempo boot line, Trinity Rodman has her own signature Adidas cleat, and captain Lindsey Heaps (formerly Horan) has a standalone insole … Read more