National Teams

The Mewis sisters Sam and Kristie dominated this year in women’s soccer, so it’s of little surprise that Sam Mewis was named 2020 USWNT Player of the Year on Saturday. It’s Sam’s first U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year honor.

Whether you call her Samantha, Sam or the Tower of Power, you can now *officially* refer to her as: #USWNT !

Jordyn Huitema and Alphonso Davies are two of the brightest young stars in soccer today. They also happen to be Canadian and have been a couple for at least the last three years. And they also have been bombarded with the most vile, disgusting racism imaginable at such a young age.

The Best FIFA Football Awards were unveiled on Thursday, which means it was once again time for soccer’s world governing body to highlight just how little it knows about women’s soccer. Even Megan Rapinoe questioned her own inclusion in the award ceremony.

Paolo Rossi, Italy's goalscoring hero from their victorious 1982 World Cup campaign and scorer of a hat-trick against Brazil in one of the most famous matches in the competition's history, has died at the age of 64.

The celebrated striker's death comes with the soccer world still in mourning for Argentina icon Diego Maradona, who passed away late last month. Italian TV channel RAI Sport, where Rossi had been working as a pundit, said on Thursday "Pablito" had died of an "incurable disease.”

I think we can all agree 2020 has been a really great year, right?

Sure, there was a global shutdown because of a horrible pandemic that has killed more than 1.5 million worldwide. And yes, there was a nasty U.S. presidential election in which a record number of people voted for the candidate you didn’t like. Oh and let’s not forget about climate change creating increasingly deadly and costly weather-related destruction.

But you know what? The USMNT and USWNT finished undefeated in 2020. So, overall, pretty good year.

The draw for UEFA World Cup 2022 Qualifying took place Monday, December 7, leaving us with an enticing list of matchups to look forward to in 2021.

The 2022 World Cup qualifying groups have been drawn for European countries  pic.twitter.com/rfziJTsq0j

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) December 7, 2020

FIFA is slowly being dragged into the 21st century. On Friday, soccer’s global governing body approved increased protection for female players and coaches by establishing minimum standards for employment, including guaranteed paid maternity leave.

FIFA’s only a few decades late in catching up to the rest of the world on this matter, but at least it plans to do far more than the U.S. government.