Tag: Sophia Smith

Sophia Smith made some epic USWNT history with her absolutely incredible World Cup debut

Sophia Smith completely took over the USWNT’s first World Cup match

Everybody expected the US Women’s National Team to win their debut World Cup match against Vietnam in the group stage of the competition.

It wasn’t a matter of whether they’d win — folks were more curious about how they’d do it. Or, rather, which players would see step up and earn the win for Team USA? After all, there are 14 players on the roster who are playing in their first World Cup.

RELATED: 5 teams who can actually beat the USWNT in the World Cup.

As it turned out, we got a pretty special performance from Sophia Smith. One that actually came with a little bit of history.

USWNT player ratings: Smith stands out as U.S. eases past Vietnam in World Cup opener

Smith was at the center of most of the USWNT’s best in their win

It may not have been the blowout some expected, but the U.S. women’s national team started the World Cup off with a 3-0 win over Vietnam.

A first-half brace from Sophia Smith — one goal was clinical, the other needed a fairly hefty slice of luck — set the USWNT on their way. After some missed chances, including an Alex Morgan penalty kick that was saved by Vietnam’s Tran Thi Kim Thanh, Lindsey Horan added the third on an assist from Smith.

In the context of Vietnam’s recent results, including only falling to Germany 2-1, it’s a decent result. It’s also not the rout that fans may have thought was coming, though on another day the goals may have been flowing with just a touch more sharpness from the attacking players.

As a reminder, here’s the Pro Soccer Wire player rating scale:

Our scale:

  • 1: Abysmal. Literally any member of our staff would have been been able to play at this level.
  • 6: Adequate. This is our base score.
  • 10: Transcendent, era-defining performance. This is Carli Lloyd vs. Japan in the 2015 final.

‘Everything we do is for Katie’ – Smith, Girma lead USWNT mental health initiative to honor late teammate

The nonprofit Common Goal will team up with Fox Sports and the USWNt to spotlight mental health

The U.S. women’s national team is helping launch a campaign to spotlight mental health and for two of its biggest stars, the mission is deeply personal.

Last year, Sophia Smith and Naomi Girma lost their former Stanford teammate Katie Meyer, who died by suicide.

Smith, Girma, Sofia Huerta and several other USWNT players have collaborated with Fox Sports and the nonprofit Common Goal to launch a new mental health initiative.

On Tuesday, Girma wrote a tribute to Meyer in The Players Tribune, saying the goalkeeper was “the truest friend I ever had. The most unapologetic, positive, caring person in the world.”

On the mental health campaign, Girma added: “We know how important it is to destigmatize the conversation around mental health, especially for the millions of young people around the country who will be watching this World Cup, so Fox Sports will be dedicating one percent of its broadcast coverage to spotlighting the importance of mental health across all its platforms.”

In a press release, Fox Sports said that one percent of all its World Cup coverage through 2026 would focus on mental health, including a three-part feature series and multiple PSAs.

Smith also spoke about Meyer and the Common Goal initiative during a press conference on Wednesday, two days before the USWNT kicks off the 2023 World Cup against Vietnam.

“Anytime I talk about Katie, it’s obviously emotional, and then just with everything coming out today, it kind of brings all those feelings back to the surface,” Smith said. “But I feel like I’m in a place where I can talk about it and talk about Katie in a really positive light, and it brings me more happiness.

“But obviously, yeah, anytime it’s all over social media, it’s tough to see, and it kind of just reminds you. But I think what we put out and The Players Tribune by Naomi, it was really cool and really good to read, and everything that we do is now for Katie, so it means a lot.”

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USWNT star Smith: I want to prove I’m the best in the world

The 22-year-old has set some big expectations for herself ahead of her first World Cup

Sophia Smith is hoping to use the upcoming World Cup as a platform to being considered the best player in the world.

Smith has begun to build a strong case over the past year. The Portland Thorns star was named the youngest NWSL MVP ever in 2022, and then scored the winner in the NWSL championship game.

A couple months later, Smith was named the 2022 U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year — becoming the youngest player to win the award since a 22-year-old Mia Hamm in 1994.

Heading into her first World Cup, Smith is expected to be a vital member of a USWNT side looking to make history by becoming the first country to ever win the competition three times in a row.

In a conversation with USA Today’s “Sports Seriously,” the 22-year-old attacker said she is expecting big things for herself heading into her first major tournament.

“I am very content with where I am and what I’ve done, but at the same time I want more,” Smith said. “I’m always trying to prove to myself more than anyone that I am the best in the world.

“I don’t think that is an end goal. I think that’s a constant, just like day-to-day life of how I go about things. I want to be the best in the world in how I carry myself.

“So this World Cup, I think it’s a great opportunity for the world to see who I am every day. It’s different than the NWSL because it is a global stage, more people are watching, more people are invested. So I’m excited for the World Cup in that sense, but I do feel like all I have to do to prove myself is be myself, and that’s what I plan on doing.”

Smith and the USWNT will have their final World Cup tune-up this Sunday when they face Wales in their send-off match at PayPal Park in San Jose, Calif.

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Sophia Smith looks ready to dominate the World Cup for the USWNT

Note to the world: It’s bad to play against Sophia Smith

If Sophia Smith brings her current form to the World Cup, the rest of the world should be on the high alert.

Smith, projected to start for the U.S. women’s national team in New Zealand and Australia, bolstered her NWSL MVP candidacy with a jaw-dropping hat trick as her Portland Thorns won 4-2 in a top-of-the-table clash with the Washington Spirit.

It took something special: the Spirit came into the match with one of the league’s best defensive records, and walked away feeling like they’d largely played well. In an electric 90 minutes that could serve as a calling card for the NWSL as a league, no one had more wattage than Smith.

“[I] thought we turned up and we were fantastic in being brave, and making this more like a game that we wanted to control,” said Washington head coach Mark Parsons.

“But, we played against Sophia Smith.”

Smith’s first goal was a masterpiece. Picking up a smart pass from Sam Coffey, it seemed like the job was to hold onto the ball and wait for support. There were five Spirit players in proximity, and Smith’s angle to her closest teammate Crystal Dunn was blocked.

Normally this isn’t a huge problem for opposition defenses. Best case, you make a tackle. Worst, you contain and win the ball later.

Against Smith? Seven seconds later, she’s celebrating one of the best goals anyone will score this season.

The Spirit equalized within two minutes after Ashley Sanchez — who was one of several players to put in a top-tier performance in this game, only for all to be overshadowed by Smith going supernova — delivered a spectacular backheel to Ashley Hatch on the doorstep.

Washington has been good all year at turning these potential momentum-swing moments to their advantage. But, again, they played Sophia Smith.

The 22-year-old got a bit lucky after blocking USWNT teammate Andi Sullivan’s attempt to flick an awkward bounce out of danger. Instead, the ball fell kindly for Smith, and in a flash, it was 2-1.

“When I’m dribbling towards the goal, if I see a sliver of an open net, I’m taking a shot,” Smith told reporters after the game before adding a casual remark that may read as a terrifying threat to the other 31 teams at this World Cup. “Recently, I’ve had some good luck with shots from distance. So, I’m gonna keep doing that.”

Sanchez would equalize seconds after the halftime break ended, but once again, Smith had the immediate answer. This time, she ran into an improvisational toe-poke from Hina Sugita that caught the Spirit back line stepping up. Smith’s finish was a little easier this time around, but no less clinical.

“Obviously, Sophia Smith’s a great player,” said Sanchez after the match. “When you give her time on the ball, you know bad things are gonna happen.”

Smith ‘the one percent tonight’

Following the game, Parsons acknowledged that his team were punished for some very small mistakes by a very special player.

“Let’s be honest: In those moments, I think 99%, you don’t concede a goal,” said Parsons. “And Sophia Smith decided that she was gonna be the 1% tonight.”

“I have to go into this tournament feeling like my best self, feeling like my most confident self, and I knew this game was important in doing that,” said Smith in evaluating her own performance. “Because if I were to leave this field and feel like I didn’t do what I needed to do, and I wasn’t myself, it’d be a stressful time.”

It seems like she’ll be completely relaxed, then, as her second hat trick in a season that has only seen 13 rounds of games was possibly her best showing as a professional. Even Christine Sinclair, her club teammate and playful banter target, was left wondering if playing a USWNT with Smith would be a good or bad thing at the World Cup.

“I believe the path [for both teams] would mean we’d be playing in the World Cup final, so why not? Let’s go for it,” reasoned the most prolific international goalscorer on the planet, before having a second thought. “Maybe not if she’s in the form that she was in tonight.”

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‘Gutted’ USWNT players open up on World Cup without Becky Sauerbrunn

USWNT players agree that they’re “heartbroken” over Sauerbrunn’s absence

The U.S. women’s national team may be locked in on next month’s World Cup, but Becky Sauerbrunn’s absence from the roster is still weighing heavily on the group.

Sauerbrunn has battled a nagging foot injury that has persisted since late April. Facing a recovery timeline with too many variables, the USWNT captain announced last week that she would not be on a fourth straight World Cup roster.

The mood around that news understandably tempered the normal positivity surrounding the official start of a USWNT World Cup hype cycle. Sauerbrunn’s absence is clearly on the minds of everyone involved with the team.

U.S. Soccer made four players available to media on Wednesday shortly after the roster was released, and every single one of them used the word “heartbroken” when Sauerbrunn came up. The only person to not do so was head coach Vlatko Andonovski, but only because he used a different synonym.

“First, I want to say we’re all gutted for Becky,” said Andonovski in his very first words to media after the 23-player roster came out. “It’s no question that we’re gonna miss Becky. We’re gonna miss her on the field, we’re gonna miss her off the field. If there is someone that has a relationship, a connection, and someone that wanted Becky on this roster, that’s me.”

Andonovski coached Sauerbrunn for four years with FC Kansas City, winning two NWSL championships in 2014 and 2015, and like his predecessor Jill Ellis, made the defender a foundational element within the team’s structure.

“Becky will always be our captain. That’s how we feel, the staff, that’s how the team feels, that’s how everybody feels. I mean, Becky is U.S. women’s national team captain,” added Andonovski, who said he would reveal the team’s replacement captain publicly once he has a chance to gather the squad together and announce the choice internally.

USWNT ‘heartbroken’ for Sauerbrunn

Andonovski’s opinion was clearly shared by USWNT players, whether they be veterans like Crystal Dunn and Alex Morgan, or World Cup first-timers like Naomi Girma and Sophia Smith.

“Becky is not only just a huge presence on the field, and leader on the field, but she’s a person who holds people accountable. She raises the level of standards on every team she’s on,” explained Morgan, presumably one of the top candidates to captain the team in New Zealand and Australia. “Having played with her now for over 12, 13 years, I just have immense respect for her.”

“I don’t think that there’s a bad thing that has come out of a teammate’s mouth [on] Becky, ever in her career,” added Morgan. “That’s a testament to her as a leader, a person, a player, and it’s just terrible news to have right before a World Cup.”

Crystal Dunn, who plays alongside Sauerbrunn with the Portland Thorns and has spent the last few years positioned next to her on the USWNT back line, made no bones about the news being a blow to the group’s hopes this summer.

“Losing her is bigger than just her play on the field,” said Dunn. “Her ability to gather the group and really lead us in the right direction at all times, I think, is something that we are going to greatly miss.”

“I checked in with her, we’ve had a lot of communication back and forth,” added Dunn, who called Sauerbrunn “one of my really great friends.”

“You know, it hurts,” said Dunn. “She’s doing okay. The leader that she is, and she’s always thinking about the team first, and I kind of had to tell her, ‘it’s okay to think about your situation and not only care about the team at this moment.'”

Looking ahead, the USWNT’s solution to winning a third straight World Cup without such a pivotal leader is to call on one of its greatest historic strengths: a belief that the group will fill the void through collective strength and individuals stepping up.

“Not having Becky there, it’s going to be different. It’s going to be a challenge,” said Smith. “It’s going to require a lot of players to step up. I think that’s a [task] that we can accomplish if we stick together.”

“We’re ready to take on that role while she’s not there,” added a confident Naomi Girma, who will likely shift over into Sauerbrunn’s left-center back position with the veteran missing out.

For Dunn, Sauerbrunn has left the team a blueprint on how every player in the squad can take on some of the leadership burden.

“I think everything that I’ve learned from Becky is really all about just being the best player showing up possible,” said Dunn. “That means not just on the field, but that means encouraging your teammates. That means giving words of advice when you see fit, and overall, just being the best version of yourself in that environment. So that is something that I’ve always learned from Becky, and I’ll hope to try to do my best obviously in leading the group in this World Cup.”

Andonovski — who has seen so many key players miss crucial time with the USWNT for a variety of reasons — conceded that the situation is “a part of sports,” but added that the group as assembled still has his backing to go accomplish the mission at hand.

“We’re very, very confident in the team that we have,” declared Andonovski. “We’re very confident in the abilities of the players that we have on our team that will be able to overcome the deficiencies that may occur with Becky’s absence.”

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Shop USWNT 2023 World Cup Nike jerseys

Get all the latest Nike gear ahead of the tournament

The United States women’s national team is eyeing up another World Cup title.

The four-time world champs are looking to defend their 2019 World Cup title, which was earned when the USWNT topped the Netherlands in the final in France.

The 32-team World Cup kicks off on July 20, with the tournament set to be held in two countries for the first time: Australia and New Zealand. The United States’ group features Vietnam, Portugal, and a rematch with the Dutch.

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Get ready for 2023 World Cup action by gearing up and grabbing yourself an official USWNT Nike jersey.

Portland Thorns in another bananas 3-3 draw, this time at NC Courage

The Thorns are guaranteed entertainment these days

If you’re a chaotic neutral and want guaranteed entertainment, your best option right now might be to just watch the next Portland Thorns game.

For the second straight week, Portland found themselves in a bonkers 3-3 draw, this time on the road against the North Carolina Courage. The Thorns trailed three times, but kept coming back thanks to an ability to conjure up spectacular goals from Crystal Dunn — who had a brace — and Olivia Moultrie.

Not to be outdone, the Courage had tremendous strikes of their own, with Kerolin and Victoria Pickett (after scintillating footwork from Olivia Wingate) getting in on the action.

“Still just trying to wrap my head around how we went down three times in the game, but we’ve come back, so [I’m] proud,” said Thorns head coach Mike Norris in his post-game press conference.

Last week’s Thorns 3-3 draw involved the absurdity of a goalkeeper scoring an equalizer seven minutes into stoppage time, and this week’s picked things up inside the first minute. Ryan Williams’ cross clipped Emily Menges, sneaking in at the near post before Bella Bixby could dive over to claw it to safety.

That just set the stage for the first of Portland’s many equalizing goals. The Courage stood off of Sophia Smith in space on the left in the 22nd minute, and the U.S. women’s national team star patiently waited for a window to find Dunn (playing her first full 90 minutes since becoming a mom) for a simple finish.

The assist is Smith’s fifth in six league matches; no other player in the NWSL has more than two.

Just four minutes later, the Courage offered a perfect response. Kerolin fought through a challenge with Sam Coffey, then unleashed a pinpoint long-range shot that tucked into the bottom corner.

Somehow, that wouldn’t end up being the best goal of the night. Early in the second half, the Thorns authored a glorious team goal, winning possession in the Courage’s half and stringing together 30 seconds of possession before an unreal one-touch sequence between Meghan Klingenberg, Morgan Weaver, Christine Sinclair, and Smith pried open NC’s defenses.

Klingberg ended up crossing for Dunn, who guided home her second on the night.

“I think that second goal was a collective goal,” said Dunn after the match. “Players were able to penetrate the ball, some layoffs there. Soph obviously had an amazing backheel to Kling that continued her run in. Actually the joke was, [Klingenberg] was actually about to shoot it, but I had yelled, ‘Hey, Kling, you got me in the box!’ and she was able to find me.”

A goal like that can leave any team shook, but the Courage were totally undeterred. Rookie Olivia Wingate continued her impressive start to life in the NWSL, dragging Menges wide before nutmegging the veteran to set up Victoria Pickett — who only just barely got to North Carolina after being traded by NJ/NY Gotham FC — for a clinical 70th minute finish.

Somehow the saga continued, with Portland producing yet another brilliant goal. This time, it was just about all one player, with Moultrie — despite challenges from either side — curling home a 24-yard left-footed effort.

As good as the goal was, it came with some added drama, as VAR checked a possible foul from Dunn on Pickett. After a few tense seconds, the goal stood, which may have been why Courage head coach Sean Nahas jokingly started his post-game remarks with a request to not be asked about the refereeing.

“We knew we were going to need [resilience] coming back as the defending champs,” said Moultrie. “That’s kind of the momentum I was carrying in that moment. And yeah, then it’s just, [Natalia Kuikka] drove in and gave me a great pass, I saw the space and I was like ‘alright, I’m gonna go for it.'”

Given that mental strength, the raw entertainment value and the wildness of Portland’s last two games, and with their outstanding early-season results, it seems like they should be atop any sort of NWSL must-watch list right now.

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Sophia Smith’s boyfriend, a football player, was selected in the NFL Draft

The Arizona Cardinals took Michael Wilson with the 94th overall pick

Michael Wilson is trading the Stanford Cardinal for the Arizona Cardinals.

The wide receiver, and boyfriend of U.S. women’s national team star Sophia Smith, was selected in the third round of the NFL Draft on Friday.

The couple met at Stanford, where Smith starred for two seasons before leaving school early and becoming the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NWSL draft.

Wilson played five seasons at Stanford, compiling 134 catches for 1,662 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Wilson will join another USWNT significant other in Arizona, where Julie Ertz’s husband Zach Ertz currently stars as a tight end for the Cardinals.

In addition, J.J. Watt, who is married to former Dash and Red Stars forward Kealia Ohai Watt, retired last year after spending his final two seasons with the Cardinals.

Smith, who plays for the Portland Thorns, will at least be on the same side of the country as Wilson, though Portland and Phoenix are more than 1,000 miles apart.

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