The Houston Dash moved off the bottom of the NWSL table with a 2-0 victory over the Orlando Pride, powered by a Carli Lloyd strike. While at the other end of the table the North Carolina Courage continue to roll through the season, now with eight wins from 11 matches.
The MLS has said they’d like to implement Video Assistant Referees during the second half of the season, but the Philadelphia Union’s Haris Medunjanin should probably win the MLS Fair Play Award for overturning an incorrect call himself during Saturday’s match between the Union and DC United.
Medunjanin was shielding the ball for a throw-in when some pressure from United’s Luciano Acosta bowled him over near the sideline. The referee marched over, believed he saw Acosta kick-out at Medunjanin on the ground and promptly displayed a straight red.
Bruce Arena has finalized his 23-man roster for the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup, and it’s an interesting mix of veteran players that are desperate to impress and make one final World Cup squad while the next generation of talent aims to prove that their time has arrived.
While every player on the roster stands to either gain or lose a lot with regards to the ultimate goal of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, here are five players that could use this tournament as a springboard to more important roles next summer.
Ike Opara can't even believe what he's about to do. His face is all scrunched up in a surprised sort of way, the way one looks at the moment of realization that one is about to do something spectacular. And spectacular is the word for what Ike Opara did. The Sporting Kansas City center back will almost certainly lord this goal over all the other center backs for all of time. He will rub it in their faces, when center backs get together.
The Confederations Cup will play its eighth final on Sunday, July 2.
For the first time since 2003, Brazil will not be in said final.
The Brazilians have dominated this tournament, winning four of the seven editions and reaching the final another time. Only France (twice) has been to more than one final, winning in 2001 and 2003.
While the Confederations Cup can occasionally create some less-than-stellar matches in the group stage, the finals have been entertaining at the very least.
Kristen Hamilton couldn’t believe it: less than three minutes into her first career start in the NWSL, the high press of the NC Courage paid off when teammate Sam Mewis played her in to slot past the keeper.
Then, 10 minutes later, she doubled her team’s advantage as the ball fell to her feet after a scramble in the box and she made no mistake slamming it home for her second career goal.
“I almost don’t have words to describe it because it’s so different than what I’m used to,” Hamilton told The18.com this week.
Without trying to quantify the emotional side plots that make the U.S. Open Cup fifth round meeting between FC Cincinnati and the Chicago Fire so intriguing, we can objectively say that there’s never been a USOC match (at least outside of the final) as eagerly anticipated as this one.
For starters, a record attendance was on hand to watch Cincinnati defeat the Columbus Crew in the fourth round. With over 18,000 tickets having already been sold for Wednesday night’s match, Cincinnati are going to come close to matching or bettering that number.
The United States has appeared in 10 FIFA World Cups, including the last seven straight. Out of those 10 appearances, they've fallen at the first hurdle on five occasions. The most notable exceptions include the first-ever World Cup in 1930 when the side finished third in the 13-team tournament and their run to the 2002 quarterfinals in Japan and South Korea.
With registered youth soccer players in the United States growing from just over 100,000 in 1974 to over 3 million by 2014, the landscape of the sport has changed drastically over the last 40 years. As soccer has grown, tournament hosts have similarly had to adapt to greater numbers and greater competition while providing some of the best facilities and fields in the world.
A busy stretch of matches in the NWSL kicks off this weekend, with most teams set to play three games in the next nine days. Carli Lloyd is back with the Houston Dash, but that wasn’t enough to stop them from losing at home to an Orlando Pride side powered by Marta. The Pride added Alex Morgan back to their roster this week, who is still recovering from her injury in the UEFA Champions League Final.
NWSL Standings After Week 9:
North Carolina Courage: 21 points (+6 GD)
Chicago Red Stars: 17 (+4 GD)
Sky Blue FC: 16 (+1 GD)