The NWSL schedulers really know what they're doing in terms of manufacturing storylines. The Orlando Pride, the newest NWSL franchise, and the Portland Thorns completed a trade this offseason that sent Alex Morgan, one of the most marketable USWNT stars, from Portland to Orlando.
So of course they played each other for their season opener.
You're a defender, and you're playing against the United States Women's National Team. This in and of itself would be nerve-wracking. The USWNT are the defending World Cup champions and they have a habit of beating up on opponents by scores of like, 7-0.
You're a defender and you're facing the USWNT and you're already a little worried and then it happens: the Americans trot out the most terrifying, intimidating female player in the world.
Abby Wambach has been in the news for the wrong reasons lately. On Sunday, she was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of intoxicants, and at her initial court appearance, court documents revealed that the retired USWNT player had tried cocaine and marijuana ten years ago, per the BBC. Her lawyer has entered in a plea of not guilty on her behalf.
The twisted tale of love and deceit between Argentine footballers Mauro Icardi and Maxi Lopez took another soap opera-style twist on Sunday when their respective club sides met in an Italian Serie A match.
Icardi, 23, is the striker for Inter Milan while Lopez, 32, plays the same role for Torino. The bad blood between the two came to a head following Lopez’s messy divorce with 29-year-old Argentine media personality Wanda Nara in 2013.
"Forget me," says Abby Wambach in her retirement-celebration commercial, brought to you by Gatorade. "Forget my number. Forget my name. Forget I ever existed."
At the time, I argued that that particular action on the part of the fans was impossible, and Wambach made it even more impossible this weekend when she got arrested for duii (driving under the influence of intoxicants) in Portland.
Iker Casillas has married his longtime girlfriend Sara Carbonero according to reports. The pair’s relationship became a source of daily news throughout the 2010 World Cup, beginning with Spain’s shocking loss to Switzerland in group play and ending with an on air kiss between the two.
Casillas and Carbonero began dating in 2009, and their relationship was immediately thrown into the spotlight due to Casillas being Spain’s starting goalkeeper and Carbonero working as a sports reporter for Telecinco, a leading Spanish news source.
Death. Taxes. These words are usually followed by a third thing used to illustrate certainty. Death. Taxes. Gigi Buffon.
Death. Taxes. The patriarchy.
This one is interesting because the latter subject is responsible in varying degrees for the other two, and because it may not be such a certainty anymore. One arena where the patriarchy has always been unquestioned in its dominance is the literal arena. Sports.
Michelle Lomnicki is talking about her injured back. A lingering injury, notoriously fickle, and one that played a hand in her decision to retire.
“It’s something that had always kind of been there. You knew that there was going to be an end at some point.”
Even though the MLS has trouble attracting international superstars young enough to be of some use on a soccer field, the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) has no such problem.
Case in point: the Portland Thorns just signed French international Amandine Henry, who is very good at soccer and just 26 years old.
Henry, a midfielder won the Silver Ball award as the second-best (behind Carlo Lloyd) in last year's World Cup
The second FIFA women’s football and leadership conference featured rousing calls from both Billie Jean King and Moya Dodd for more involvement from women in finding solutions to the ills which plague FIFA.
FIFA’s culture, spearheaded by the chauvinistic Sepp Blatter and his old boys' network of archaic cronies, was exposed as inadequate and in need of an overhaul after being rocked by scandal after scandal over the past few years.