International Soccer

The U.S. women’s national team is heading back to the Olympics thanks to a bit of revenge on the team that knocked it out of the last Olympics less than a year ago.

Alex Morgan converted a 78th-minute penalty kick to finally break through against Canada for a 1-0 win in the Concacaf W Championship final on Monday in Monterrey. Neither team had given up a goal all tournament, and Morgan buried the winner against her club teammate Kailen Sheridan, who was marvelous on Monday to keep the U.S. off the scoreboard from open play. 

DUBAI - Dragan Skočić has been reinstated as head coach of Iran after a meeting between the board of directors of the Iranian Football Federation and its technical committee, the official IRNA news agency reported on Sunday.

Skočić's dismissal had been reported on Monday, prompting widespread criticism among the public just four months ahead of the World Cup finals in Qatar.

The Netherlands, after playing with fire and group stage elimination at Euro 2022, reeled off three goals in the final minutes to turn a precarious 1-1 scoreline against Switzerland into an emphatic victory on Sunday, although the reward of passage to the quarterfinals is sobered by the fact that it's France lying in wait.

Playing again without star striker Vivianne Miedema — who was still experiencing Covid symptoms — the Dutch looked much less than the sum of their parts against a stubborn Swiss defense that threatened on the attack through the dazzling feet of Ramona Bachmann.

Spain secured its spot in the Women's Euro quarterfinals and has a date with England after defeating Denmark 1-0 on Saturday. 

The final group stage game of Group B saw Spain and Denmark enter the match level on three points. Spain had the goal difference advantage therefore only needing a draw to advance. The stats might show that Spain dominated in possession with 75%, but the victory was anything but straight-forward.

Denmark had its chances tallying 10 shots and had the Spaniards on the ropes at several points throughout the game.

Oh, Canada. Soccer has never looked so promising up north. Both the women's and men's teams have qualified for the World Cup and boast promising young stars like Julia Grosso and Alphonso Davies. Popularity is skyrocketing for a sport which is widely considered to be the fastest growing in Canada. With growth at an all-time high, this is a crucial time for Canada Soccer.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Friday dismissed appeals filed by the Russian soccer federation and four Russian clubs against FIFA and UEFA's decision to ban them from all competition until further notice following the country's invasion of Ukraine.

The USWNT secured a spot in the Concacaf W Championship final on Thursday after defeating Costa Rica 3-0.  The winner of the Concacaf W Championship will book one of two spots in the 2024 Paris Olympics. The U.S. will play the winner of Canada vs. Jamaica in the final on Monday.

USWNT vs Costa Rica Highlights

Thursday’s semifinal was frustrating at times for the USWNT as the team couldn’t put away golden opportunities. Alex Morgan failed to score two big chances in the opening 20 minutes. 

It seems to happen every time the U.S. women’s national team plays in a major tournament. Fans flock to stores online and in person seeking USWNT merch. Almost without fail, Nike, the U.S. Soccer Federation and other outlets quickly run out of stock, never learning from past mistakes to properly prepare for spikes in demand.

No more.

The USWNT Players Association launched its own line of USWNT merch on Thursday, taking full advantage of bargaining for their name, image and likeness rights in 2017.