Megan Rapinoe’s remarkable 2019 didn’t come to a close without one more television appearance. Rapinoe made a cameo in a Dec. 22 episode of “The L Word: Generation Q” as a guest on the show “Alice,” talking about everything from locker room celebrations to her own coming out story.
As this decade is coming to an end, we reminisce over the successes of the USWNT. The spotlight, the hate and emotional rollercoaster of the 2019 USWNT team in particular is one that definitely tops the decade off at an all time high.
Britain may have royal weddings, but in America we’ve got something far better: the Krashlyn wedding.
The anticipated marriage between USWNT stars Ali Krieger and Ashlyn Harris was held with soccer royalty in attendance on Saturday in Miami, Florida.
Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, Abby Wambach, Heather O’Reilly, Marta, Becky Sauerbrunn, Crystal Dunn, Tobin Heath, Christen Press and more were on hand as two of their teammates tied the knot.
Coach Vlatko Andonovski announced his first USWNT roster of 2020 on Friday with 22 Women’s World Cup winners and one new face. Stanford sophomore Sophia Smith was given her first senior-team call-up as the U.S. prepares for Olympic qualifying.
Two days before Christmas, Heather O’Reilly announced via social media that she will be expecting a baby boy in June.
Look out world.pic.twitter.com/rF4MKRQZgA
— Heather O'Reilly (@HeatherOReilly) December 23, 2019
The 2019 Women's World Cup was a marvelous show of just how popular and powerful women’s soccer is. From Megan Rapinoe’s on- and off-field performances, to the stellar competition from start to finish to huge crowds in France and viewership on TV, the tournament was a rousing success.
Now FIFA wants to cheapen the whole experience.
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
Sports and politics have long been intertwined. For as long as athletes have had a platform, they’ve used it to speak up for their beliefs and ideals, from Muhammad Ali and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to Tom Brady and LeBron James.
But when it comes to American politics, soccer players have long been on the periphery, too obscure for anyone to really notice come election day. That began to change somewhat in 2016, and based on an announcement on Friday, 2020 could be a big year for American soccer players in politics.
U.S. Soccer announced Julie Ertz as the 2019 USWNT Player of the Year on Friday morning, the 27-year-old powerhouse beating out teammate Megan Rapinoe, who had been honored by FIFA and the Ballon d’Or as the best in the world.
Ertz has dominated wherever she plays for five years now, whether it’s anchoring a back line as a powerful center back or holding down the middle of the park as a box-to-box midfielder. Ertz was named to the Women’s World Cup team of the tournament as the USWNT won a second straight world championship.