Tag: Orlando Pride

Orlando Pride midfielder Luana diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma

The 30-year-old will immediately begin chemotherapy treatment

Orlando Pride midfielder Luana has been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the NWSL club has announced.

The Brazil international has been placed on the Season Ending Injury list, and will immediately begin chemotherapy treatment.

“As a professional athlete I have faced many challenges, on and off the field. I have always fought with courage and determination, and this time will be no different,” Luana said in a club statement.

“I really appreciate the support of my family and friends who have strengthened me in this moment. I also want to thank Brazil’s national team and Orlando Pride for their unconditional support. I kindly ask that my privacy be respected at this time.”

The 30-year-old joined Orlando prior to the 2024 season from Corinthians in Brazil. She has made three appearances for the Pride.

On the international level, Luana has been a regular for Brazil over the past several years, representing her country at the World Cup in 2019 and 2023.

“On behalf of our club, players, and the entire Orlando community, I want to extend our unwavering commitment to Luana as she begins her treatment. We are thankful to have some of the best medical resources available through our partners at Orlando Health, and we are prepared to do all we can to care for Luana in this moment,” said Orlando Pride VP of soccer operations and general manager Haley Carter.

“We fight our battles together, on and off the field, and the Orlando Pride athletes and staff will be side-by-side with Luana and unified in our support of her throughout this process.”

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Heroic NWSL announcer inserts dozens of Taylor Swift references into broadcast

Mike Watts may just be a tortured poet himself

Taylor Swift’s new album came out on Friday, which also happened to be the night the Orlando Pride hosted the San Diego Wave in NWSL play.

Mike Watts was not about to let that welcome coincidence go to waste.

The Prime Video announcer and unabashed Swiftie provided a hint of what was to come just hours after the surprise 2 a.m. release of “The Tortured Poets Department.”

“A new Taylor Swift album dropped and I’m calling an NWSL game on Prime Video tonight?” Watts posted Friday morning on X.

But that teaser did not do justice to what was to come later that evening at Inter&Co Stadium.

As the game unfolded, Watts heroically managed to insert no less than 15 song titles from Swift’s new album into his commentary.

Below are the TTPD tracks Watts put into the match, which featured fellow Swiftie (and actual friend of Swift) Alex Morgan.

1. “Fortnight”

3. “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys”

4. “Down Bad”

5. “So Long, London”

9. “Guilty as Sin?”

10. “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?”

15. “The Alchemy”

18. “Imgonnagetyouback”

19. “The Albatross”

21. “How Did It End?”

22. “So High School”

23. “I Hate It Here”

26. “The Prophecy”

29. “The Bolter”

31. “The Manuscript”

As impressive as Watts’ accomplishment was, it was light work compared to what he did only weeks earlier. Alongside analyst Devon Kerr, Watts managed to insert a truly mind-blowing 235 Swift song titles into a U.S. Open Cup broadcast.

Unfortunately for Morgan and the Wave, Friday’s game ended with a 1-0 defeat. They’ll have the chance to, ahem, shake it off next Saturday against Bay FC.

Watch Watts drop a Swift masterclass

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USWNT striker Morgan limps off for San Diego with ankle injury

The Wave and USWNT will face a nervous wait on the striker’s injury

Alex Morgan limped out of the San Diego Wave’s match at the Orlando Pride on Friday after suffering an apparent ankle injury.

The forward was involved in a goal-mouth scramble late in the match, and appeared to roll her left ankle while fighting for the ball with Pride defender Emily Sams and goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse.

Morgan was down for several minutes and recieved treatment on the pitch before slowly limping off. The Wave were out of substitutions at the time of the injury, and were forced to play out the final minutes of the match with 10 players.

Orlando would win the game 1-0 at Inter&Co Stadium thanks to a 26th-minute goal from Summer Yates.

After the game, Wave head coach Casey Stoney said that she didn’t have much information other than the location of the injury.

“Just briefed on it, something to do with her ankle,” Stoney said in her press conference. “I’ve not heard anything more than that at the moment.”

The Wave and the U.S. women’s national team will now face a nervous wait to learn the extent of Morgan’s injury.

The 2024 Olympics kick off in three months, with Morgan recently playing her way back into a prominent role for the USWNT after being initially left off the roster for the W Gold Cup.

Morgan played in all six Gold Cup games, scoring two goals, before she started both SheBelieves Cup matches for the U.S. earlier this month.

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WNBA Draft pick Cardoso gets emotional after message from Marta

The third overall pick was surprised with a message from one of her country’s all-time sporting greats

One of the biggest days of Kamilla Cardoso’s life was made even more special by a video message from one of her country’s all-time sporting greats.

The Chicago Sky picked Cardoso third overall in the WNBA Draft on Monday, just a week after the center led the University of South Carolina to a NCAA championship.

In the aftermath of her selection, Cardoso, a Brazil native, was shown a message from Orlando Pride star Marta.

In the message, Marta said: “We are so proud of you, whole Brazil likes watching you and we can’t wait to see you shine again.”

Cardoso grew emotional upon seeing the message, saying: “I’m really happy, I’m a huge fan!”

Marta has been named the FIFA World Player of the Year a record six times, and played in six World Cups with Brazil. Even at 38, she’s still a vital player for the Pride, scoring twice in four matches in the 2024 NWSL season so far.

Watch Marta’s message to Cardoso

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After injury nightmare, USWNT’s Swanson scores first goal in over a year

One of the USWNT’s biggest names is back scoring goals

Mallory Swanson made her return from a major injury a few weeks ago, but on Friday she made sure to show that she is all the way back.

The U.S. women’s national team star scored her first goal in just over a year as the Chicago Red Stars and Orlando Pride battled to a 1-1 draw in the NWSL.

Swanson’s 64th-minute equalizer for Chicago was a classic example of the 25-year-old’s gifts, with her low-angle shot seeming to freeze Pride goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse before nestling into the furthest depths of the bottom corner.

The goal was Swanson’s first in a competitive game in 370 days, with her last strike being a successful penalty kick for the Red Stars on March 25, 2023.

Swanson was in staggering form early in 2023 for the USWNT, scoring seven times in five matches across January and February, but a torn patellar tendon suffered in a friendly against the Republic of Ireland kept her out of contention for last summer’s World Cup.

Swanson recently revealed that the procedure to repair that injury was followed by an infection that required emergency surgery, setting her recovery back significantly.

In the meantime, Swanson signed a long-term contract with Chicago, at the time making her the highest-paid player in the NWSL. That record was only broken earlier this week when Sophia Smith inked a two-year deal with the Portland Thorns.

Swanson told reporters after the match that what she had “learned the past three games, is, it takes time. I think I needed to give myself a little bit more grace with where I was.”

Still, as much as the goal was cathartic, Swanson couldn’t resist throwing in a deadpan bit of analysis. “That, and honestly just, take a deep breath and shoot the ball.”

Watch Swanson’s first goal in a year

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NWSL Weekend Take-Off: Pure chaos takes hold as Portland Thorns retake league lead

Nothing is ever what it seems in the NWSL

Does anyone want to win the NWSL Shield this season?

That’s the question at this point, after first place exchanged hands yet again. In the last 11 rounds of games, we’ve woken up on Monday with a new team atop the table eight different times. The Portland Thorns’ triumph over Cascadia rivals OL Reign, coupled with the San Diego Wave stumbling against a Kansas City Current side that kicked off in last place, gave us yet another change in the race for the Shield.

Let’s take a quick look at this insightful video that explains how this entire season has felt.

The Thorns do appear to be this season’s “best” team, whether you approach it from the eyeball test, data, or results. Portland can hit heights no one else can hit, and have shaken off Sophia Smith’s injury thanks to Best XI candidate Morgan Weaver.

However, as impressive as the Thorns can be, there are only 11 points separating Portland from the Chicago Red Stars in 12th. A team that hasn’t won a regular season game since June has nonetheless stayed above the playoff line all season. There are three rounds of games to go, and no one has been eliminated or clinched a postseason berth.

NWSL chaos, never change.

NWSL Weekend Take-Off: Playoff race tension grows after Racing Louisville, Angel City both win

No team can ever relax in the NWSL

The NWSL is built to ensure late-season drama.

There’s no other conclusion to reach after another weekend that could have blown the standings wide open instead drew the entire table closer together. For the second time in recent weeks, the schedule set things up for the top six to largely push the bottom six adrift. Four of the six games over the weekend paired a team in a playoff position up against a team on the outside looking in.

And just like last time, the results largely skewed towards a tighter, more tense race. Racing Louisville and Angel City FC got big wins to keep pace, the Washington Spirit had a surprising stumble at home, and the only match between teams in playoff position ended up somehow being a bonkers 3-3 draw.

With four games to play, the gap from top to bottom is only 11 points. The teams in seventh and eighth are within six points of first. If you pull up Google’s NWSL standings and look over at the “last five” column, you’ll see more red X images signaling a loss for the teams in the top six (12) than in the bottom six (eight).

The seatbelt sign for this NWSL season should be flashing, because we’re about to have a turbulent landing.

NWSL Weekend Take-Off: Sophia Smith injury looms as playoff pressure ramps up

Bad news for Portland, while Angel City picked up a huge win

The NWSL regular season returned from its World Cup slumber last week, but with several big names not truly ready to come back just yet, it was only this past weekend where the league felt truly “back.”

There were major developments: multiple draws for teams in the top six, paired with Angel City’s win over OL Reign, breathed life into the race for the final playoff spots. However, we’d be remiss if we didn’t start off with the league-wide show of support for Jenni Hermoso and the players of Spain’s World Cup-winning national team.

“Contigo Jenni” was on wrist tape all over the league, while fans — and not only those in supporters’ groups — brought banners reading the same. This is a league that knows all too well how vital it is to push abusive figures out of the game, and the resumption of club play isn’t going to mean the issues with Luis Rubiales, Jorge Vilda, and their enablers in Spain are going to be pushed aside.

That said, a different unfortunate piece of news bubbled up this weekend, with Sophia Smith suffering a knee injury of (as yet) unknown severity. An injury to the runaway MVP favorite is hardly the news anyone out there wanted, and it could change the entire complexion of this season’s stretch run.

Let’s sort through the good and the bad:

NWSL Weekend Take-Off: Orlando Pride serves notice, broadcast woes are back

We see you, Orlando Pride

The World Cup is over, but the drama is not, because the NWSL is already back.

We’re not just getting to loosen up and ease into the league’s return, either. The NWSL stretch run is literally here, with each team down to its final six games. The standings are packed tightly, and the next few weeks before the September FIFA window are going to feel like a full-on sprint.

Some teams were fully prepared to get moving at full speed. With four teams outside the playoff places hosting games over the weekend, this was a huge opportunity for most of the league to either get seriously into the mix, or for teams in the top six to keep the chasing pack at bay.

The Orlando Pride got off the line fastest with a blowout victory, while the Kansas City Current came up with a gutsy win that effectively kept their playoff hopes alive. Racing Louisville and the Houston Dash came back to get draws, but neither side is in a place where home draws are going to get the job done.

We’re going to be attempting a format experiment here, at least with the next couple of Take-Offs. The hope is that with a little streamlining, the column is more easily digested. We’re thinking less of a minivan and more of a hatchback.

And with that in mind, let’s get this car on the road.

When will World Cup players return for NWSL teams?

Notes on returning World Cup players from all 12 NWSL teams

The World Cup may still have a final and third-place game to finish, but the NWSL is done waiting.

The league’s break from regular season play concludes Friday, with the Kansas City Current and OL Reign kicking off a full slate of matches.

It’s awkward timing, with a few players still participating at the World Cup, others still recovering from a physically and mentally grueling process, and yet more having come back quickly after the group stage. With 61 different NWSL players going to the World Cup, there are probably 61 unique situations to deal with here.

Pro Soccer Wire knows fans want to know when their team’s internationals will be back in uniform, so we’ve done the relevant social media research and Zoom press conference recording. Consider this a status update for all 61 World Cup participants as the NWSL playoff chase truly gets underway.