Lee Nguyen was always one of the more technically gifted players in the USMNT player pool. For 15 years he played all over the globe, from the Netherlands to Vietnam, Los Angeles to Boston.
On Friday, he announced his retirement to focus on coaching, re-signing as an assistant coach with the NWSL’s Washington Spirit.
On Thursday, the USWNT dropped its roster for the 2022 SheBelieves Cup, to be played in California and Texas later this month. Julie Ertz, a stalwart on the national team since 2013, was nowhere to be found. It was a similar story two days earlier when Angel City FC, the NWSL club that owns her rights, unveiled its preseason roster, without Ertz listed.
Where is Julie Ertz? Why isn’t she playing soccer right now? Fans across the country want to know.
The 2022 SheBelieves Cup will be the least challenging yet for the U.S. women’s national team. So Vlatko Andonovski is giving less-experienced players an opportunity to show what they can do. But the USWNT roster for the 2022 SheBelieves Cup left off two of the nation’s most promising young players.
Trinity Rodman was a revelation in 2021. Now the 19-year-old is becoming one of the highest paid women's soccer players in NWSL history.
Six months ago, the Spanish-Brazilian midfielder Stefany Ferrer van Ginkel signed with Tigres and became the first foreign player in Liga MX Femenil's history. Unfortunately, her contribution was underwhelming, and with just one goal in 10 games (224 minutes, to be accurate), she is now leaving the team.
Her departure, though, is not without another milestone in Mexican soccer. After joining Angel City FC, Ferrer van Ginkel is the first transfer in history from Liga MX Femenil to the American NWSL.
Let preseason commence — an NWSL CBA has been ratified.
Hours before players were scheduled to report to preseason training camps, the NWSL and NWSLPA reached an agreement on the league’s first collective bargaining agreement, which averts a potential work stoppage right before the 2022 season. The NWSL CBA provides basic minimum standards of compensation and treatment, including paid mental health leave, free agency and no longer being forced to play on substandard fields.
One of U.S. soccer’s greatest strikers is hanging up her boots to join the coaching ranks. Amy Rodriguez, who won at every level, retired from the NWSL on Friday to join her alma mater, USC, as an assistant coach.
A-Rod, as the 34-year-old is affectionately known, won an NCAA title with USC, two Olympic gold medals and the 2015 Women’s World Cup. She led FC Kansas City to back-to-back NWSL titles, scoring 64 goals in 160 matches in her professional career.
Megan Rapinoe isn’t hanging up the boots just yet. Following the lead of her fiancée, the USWNT icon is sticking around for at least one more season. Rapinoe re-signed a one-year deal to stay with the OL Reign in the NWSL, the club announced on Wednesday.
OL Reign Re-Signs Forward Megan Rapinoe to One-Year Deal
It’s o-Fishel — after a week of rumors, the anticipated Mia Fishel Tigres signing was announced Friday afternoon. The U.S. youth national teamer and former UCLA Bruin chose to join the Liga MX Femenil club instead of the Orlando Pride, who drafted her with the fifth overall pick in the 2022 NWSL Draft less than a month ago.
Trinity Rodman, the dynamic 19-year-old forward who was named 2021 NWSL Rookie of the Year, will finally get her first senior U.S. women’s national team experience this month. Two months after she rejected a previous invite, Rodman accepted Vlatko Andonovski’s call-up for the USWNT’s January camp.