Human Interest

Mahia Macías is a 7-year-old girl from Montevideo, Uruguay, who just wants to play football, but where she comes from, there aren’t nearly as many teams for girls. However, since she’s still young enough to play on the boys side, she’s become the first girl to play in the youth league of Club Nacional de Football, Uruguay’s most successful team apart from Peñarol.  

Former USWNT goalkeeper Hope Solo has just revealed that she’s pregnant with twins. The World Cup champion and her husband Jerramy Stevens (a former NFL player) are expecting the best of both worlds: a boy and a girl.

Two-time World Champion @hopesolo makes a special announcement on Weekend Winners. We join her in this ‘magisterial’ phase of her life. pic.twitter.com/jEDS4FHxuS

How do you fix youth soccer in the U.S.? Where do you even begin?

It’s too expensive, too exclusive, too unwilling to change. The underprivileged are unable to join in, minorities too often forgotten.

When Jim Frank first started volunteering as a Withrow High School soccer coach in Cincinnati, he and head coach Tyler Barrott had to base their substitution pattern on the players’ shoe size.

The soccer program had 40 players, almost all international students and most of them refugees, but only 23 pairs of cleats. 

“The disdain or pity on our opponents’ faces as we had to take the time to remove shoes and shin guards during substitutions was the emotional ‘aha’ moment that told me that I needed to do more than just coach these players,” Frank said. 

West Ham goalie David Martin made his Premier League debut on Saturday at Stamford Bridge. A boyhood fan of the Hammers, Martin went toe-to-toe with the likes of Olivier Giroud, Pedro, Mason Mount and world-beater Christian Pulisic.

Facing 19 shots — six on target — Martin more than held his own, recording a clean sheet as his team stunned Chelsea 1-0.

After the match, the West Ham goalie was in tears, overcome with emotion before his teammates rallied around him in support.

NWSL player Carson Pickett plays for the Orlando Pride and shows her pride each and every game both on and off the field. She does not only stand out for her play, but she was a born with a birth defect, which caused her to not have a left forearm and hand.

Despite her minor difference she did not let it hold her back from chasing her dreams and allowing others with similar qualities to be proud of who they are and to follow their dreams. 

Racism in the Eredivisie — and indeed across Europe — is becoming too much to bear. The Dutch first and second divisions have a plan to try to curb racial abuse in football stadiums in the Netherlands. 

This weekend, every Eredivisie and KKD (second division) match will kick off with an entire minute of players standing still, a nationwide protest to racism in the country.