USA

Game week 9 of the FA Women’s Super League came to a close on Sunday, and it was a massive weekend for USWNT stars in the division as Tobin Heath helped Manchester United stay top, Alex Morgan converted from the spot for Tottenham and Sam Mewis scored in Manchester City’s massive clash with Arsenal.

Man United remains undefeated after a 2-1 victory over Reading. Heath went the full 90 and delivered the corner in the 83rd minute that was eventually turned home by Hayley Ladd for the win. 

Three years ago, it looked like Anthony Precourt was ready to pack things up in Columbus and take one of the 10 charter MLS clubs south to Austin. Everyone outside of Texas’ weirdest city grew to despise Precourt for trying to rip the Crew from America’s heartland. 

History was made at the MLS Cup final on Saturday night. Kathryn Nesbitt became the first woman to officiate a championship match in a major men’s professional sport in North America.

A couple of weeks ago, Sarah Fuller became the first female to play in a Power 5 football game. Unfortunately, the Vanderbilt offense she played with was absolutely garbage and failed to even get her within field goal range, leaving her with a directional kickoff as her only contribution.

On Saturday, Fuller finally got her chance, and she nailed it. 

Mesut Özil hasn’t featured in an Arsenal game since March 7. The German midfielder has been shunned from the first team and was even left out of the Gunners’ Premier League and Europa League squads. With no playing time in sight, perhaps an Özil MLS move could happen in the near future.

According to an ESPN source, the 32-year-old said he is open to the idea of playing in the U.S. with an MLS club. His ludicrous £350,000-per-week contract with Arsenal ends in the summer, meaning a free transfer to MLS would be a real possibility.

Columbus Crew midfielder Darlington Nagbe confirmed on social media Friday that he tested positive for COVID-19.

His post on Twitter came one day after the Crew listed both Nagbe and fellow midfielder Pedro Santos as "medically not cleared to play" against the Seattle Sounders in the MLS Cup final on Saturday.

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Defending champions Seattle Sounders head into the MLS Cup on Saturday against hosts Columbus Crew seeking a third title in five years to rubber stamp their status as the current dominant force in the North American league.

Led by Uruguayan midfielder Nicolás Lodeiro and American forward Jordan Morris, who were finalists for the MVP award this year, Seattle are looking to join D.C. United, Houston Dynamo and LA Galaxy as the only MLS teams to win back-to-back titles.

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.

Wednesday was a pretty good day for Americans playing for Manchester City in the Champions League. Sam Mewis popped up for a late winner as the women’s team beat Göteborg 2-1. Then Zack Steffen became the third American goalkeeper to start in the men’s UCL when he recorded a clean sheet in a 3-0 win over Marseille. 

Former England captain David Beckham and his ex-Los Angeles Galaxy team mates Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane were named on a list of 25 greatest Major League Soccer players on Wednesday as the competition celebrated its silver jubilee.

The 25 were selected from a list of 137 players by a panel of nearly 200 MLS experts from across North America, recognising those who achieved team and individual accolades and made an impact off the field.

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