Tag: USWNT

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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Gaetino anticipates ‘incredible’ challenge from Horan, Lyon in Women’s Champions League

Eva Gaetino highlighted USWNT captain Lindsey Horan as Lyon’s most important player ahead of Saturday’s semifinal

Eva Gaetino hasn’t gone up against Lindsey Horan all that often in her young career, but she’s seen enough of the U.S. women’s national team captain to be impressed.

Ahead of a UEFA Women’s Champions League semifinal between Gaetino’s Paris Saint-Germain and Horan’s Lyon, the 21-year-old highlighted the USWNT veteran as possibly the most important player in the tie.

In quotes published by Goal, Gaetino made it clear that she spent some of her first USWNT camp paying close attention to Horan, and praised the 29-year-old’s all-around game.

“I think even just being in camp with her and being on her team and seeing her strengths, she’s incredible on both sides of the ball,” explained Gaetino. “She’s very dynamic in the attack, very creative, and is also a very good defender. Having to face her higher up the field is exciting for me because I look up to her so much.”

Gaetino ‘excited’ to face Horan, Lyon

Despite going pro before finishing her collegiate eligibility and the big names on the PSG roster, the 5-foot-11 Gaetino has pushed her way into regular starts already. The former Notre Dame captain has started seven games for manager Jocelyn Prêcheur since arriving in the French capital.

That puts her in line to face Lyon in the biggest pair of games in PSG’s season. The Parisians will play the first leg at Lyon’s Groupama Stadium on Saturday, before hosting the second leg at the Parc des Princes on April 28.

Gaetino — who only signed with PSG earlier this year —  indicated that she knows full well that PSG faces a really difficult task against Lyon, a perennial Champions League finalist and a side that has more often than not bested PSG in domestic play.

“They have world-class players and even in my [30] minutes against them previously, just the types of crosses that they were hitting and the runners and the timing of their headers, it’s a huge threat,” said Gaetino, whose professional debut came in Division 1 Féminine play against Lyon in February. “I think that’s going to be a huge challenge and I’m excited for it.”

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USWNT star Macario gets assist in first Chelsea start

It’s been 686 days, but Macario is back starting games again

Making a big step after her injury nightmare, Catarina Macario started a match for the first time in 686 days.

The U.S. women’s national team star was on the pitch from kickoff as Chelsea hosted Aston Villa in the Women’s Super League on Wednesday, making her first start for the Blues since joining the club in June 2023.

The 24-year-old would end up logging 70 minutes in a 3-0 win, with the Blues climbing back above Manchester City at the top of the WSL standings on goal difference.

Macario had not started a game anywhere since tearing her ACL in her final appearance with Lyon, all the way back on June 1, 2022.

Since then, Macario has missed a World Cup for the USWNT, and had totaled just 169 minutes of playing time for Chelsea and the U.S. before being named to the starting 11 by Emma Hayes for Villa’s visit.

Villa goalkeeper Anna Leat was sent off after just four minutes for denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity after making a save well outside her 18-yard box, helping Macario and the Blues ease into the game.

Aggie Beever-Jones’ 18th-minute volley opened the scoring, and Macario followed that strike up with a clever 38th-minute assist. The USWNT attacker’s near-post heel flick completely caught the visitors’ defense off-guard, setting Japan forward Maika Hamano up for a tap-in.

Despite her lack of playing time, this marked the third assist for Macario since her return, to go with two goals (including one in her first appearance for the club).

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Rapinoe and Bird’s production company announces first scripted series

The legendary ex-pro athletes will serve as executive producers on ‘Cleat Cute’

Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe’s production company, A Touch More, has announced it is developing its first scripted TV series.

Bird and Rapinoe will serve as executive producers on an adaptation of the best-selling novel “Cleat Cute” from author Meryl Wilsner.

According to a press release, the novel “follows a young soccer player as she juggles being the new rookie player, her goals of making the national team, and a budding romance with her team captain.”

Bird and Rapinoe added: “We are thrilled to be working with Future Shack [Entertainment] to bring Meryl Wilsner’s wonderful book to life. Having spent most of our lives on teams, we want to celebrate the ways in which relationships, both romantic and platonic, are organically created through sports.

“‘Cleat Cute’ will not shy away from the messiness, occasional frustration, and undeniable beauty that come with loving the game and the players within it.”

“Cleat Cute” will be the first foray into scripted TV for A Touch More, which Bird and Rapinoe founded in 2022.

A Touch More was also part of ESPN’s 30 for 30 Podcast “Pink Card,” a series that followed women in Iran fighting for the right to watch soccer.

The company was founded with the aim of amplifying stories from  underrepresented communities, including LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and women.

Rapinoe retired last year at the end of a decorated career in which she became one of the all-time greats for the U.S. women’s national team. Similarly, Bird retired in 2022 after becoming one of the WNBA’s greatest ever players.

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Lavelle provides injury update as USWNT star awaits Gotham FC debut

The USWNT star has now been sidelined more than a month with a leg injury

Rose Lavelle was one of several U.S. women’s national team stars who joined Gotham FC as marquee offseason additions.

But unlike Tierna Davidson, Emily Sonnett and Crystal Dunn, the playmaker has not yet stepped on the field wearing the Gotham crest.

Lavelle hasn’t played since the W Gold Cup, where she featured in all six of the USWNT’s matches as it lifted the regional title.

The 28-year-old has been sidelined with what the NWSL availability report calls a lower leg injury, missing the Challenge Cup and all three of Gotham’s regular season games thus far.

As her absence stretches past a month, Lavelle gave an update on her progress during a media event in New York marking 100 days until the Olympics begin.

“I’m doing good — I’m hoping I’ll be back in the next couple weeks,” Lavelle said in quotes published on the Philadelphia Inquirer.

“It’s frustrating to start the year off with an injury, just because I feel like you come off preseason and you’re revving to go, so it’s so annoying.”

Last month, interim USWNT coach Twila Kilgore called Lavelle’s absence from the SheBelieves Cup roster “mostly a preventative measure in terms of taking care of her health.”

Kilgore has coached her final game for the USWNT, as she moves back to an assistant role ahead of Emma Hayes’ arrival next month.

With the Olympics kicking off soon and Hayes facing some tough decisions to cut her roster down to just 18 players, Lavelle knows time is of the essence.

“The strength of our team is there in so much depth, so unfortunately that means really good players are going to get left off too,” she said.  “And I think for all of us, it’s just about being ready for whatever role is given to us, embracing that, and looking to put it into a collective picture so that we can go into the Olympics ready to go.”

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Press on comeback: The only promise I’ll make is that I’ll try

The forward continues to work her way back after missing nearly two years

Christen Press doesn’t know if her comeback will ultimately prove successful, but she is giving it her best shot.

The U.S. women’s national team and Angel City FC forward hasn’t played in nearly two years, having suffered a torn ACL in June 2022. That injury has been followed by a number of setbacks, as the 35-year-old revealed last summer that she was forced to undergo a fourth surgery on the problem.

Press has been gradually working toward returning to the field, and posted a series of photos on Wednesday of herself on the training pitch.

“The comeback is coming along,” Press wrote on Instagram, before offering an optimistic and realistic assessment on her progress.

“The only promise I’ll make to you is that I’ll try. And what a beautiful, giving thing it is to try.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/C5mMgfMSzbf/?hl=en&img_index=1

Press played in eight games with Angel City in 2022, the club’s inaugural season, scoring two goals. She most recently played for the USWNT in the Olympics in 2021. Overall, Press has has made 155 appearances for the USWNT and is ninth all-time with 64 goals scored.

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USWNT learns Zambia will be final Olympic group stage opponent

It will be the first ever meeting between the two sides

The final piece of the Olympic group stage puzzle is now complete for the U.S. women’s national team, which learned late Tuesday that it will face Zambia in France this summer.

The USWNT was matched up with Germany and Australia in Group B in last month’s Olympic draw, and was set to be joined by a playoff winner from Africa.

That team has now been confirmed as Zambia, which defeated Morocco 2-0 in a qualifying playoff on Tuesday to advance via a 3-2 aggregate scoreline. Orlando Pride striker Barbra Banda scored both goals on the evening.

The Copper Queens took part in their first major international tournament at the 2020 Olympics in Japan, and then played in their first World Cup last summer. They were eliminated at the group stage in both events.

Zambia will present a potent attacking threat with Banda and Racheal Kundananji, whom Bay FC signed for a world-record transfer fee prior to the 2024 NWSL season.

The USWNT and Zambia will open their Olympic campaigns against one another on July 25 at the Allianz Riviera in Nice. It will be the first-ever meeting between the two teams.

The U.S. will then take on Germany at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille on July 28, before facing Australia three days later at the same venue.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, Nigeria also secured its spot in the 12-team field for the Olympics, drawing South Africa 0-0 to earn a 1-0 aggregate victory. The Super Falcons will go into a tough Group C alongside Spain, Japan and Brazil.

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USWNT 2024 schedule: Results, fixtures, TV channel and streaming

All of the USWNT’s fixtures in 2024, including the Olympics and W Gold Cup

The U.S. women’s national team is looking at a busy 2024.

Two significant tournaments await. The first-ever Concacaf W Gold Cup will come up quickly in February and March, while the 2024 Summer Olympics will be the biggest priority.

New USWNT head coach Emma Hayes will join up in time for a pre-Olympics FIFA window, a short run-up before leading the team to Paris in pursuit of an improved showing after a disappointing 2023 World Cup.

Between those two events, the USWNT will face a revamped SheBelieves Cup in April, while there are multiple friendly windows after the Olympics finish up.

Here is a list of all of the USWNT’s fixtures for 2024.

USWNT players union issues statement rebuking Albert

USWNT Players issued a statement toward Albert — even if it did not name the midfielder

The union representing the U.S. women’s national team has issued a statement hitting out at the social media activity of Korbin Albert.

Albert, 20, has been embroiled in controversy after fans discovered last month that she had posted and reshared anti-LGBTQ+ content on her TikTok account.

The PSG midfielder quickly apologized, saying that the posts were “offensive, insensitive and hurtful” and that she had been “immature and disrespectful” by sharing them.

Several USWNT players past and present have rebuked Albert for her actions, including team leaders Alex Morgan and Lindsey Horan.

Now, the USWNT Players Association has joined in with a statement aimed toward Albert — even if it did not name the midfielder.

USWNT Players have long believed one of our primary responsibilities is advocacy.

Advocacy for ourselves, our teammates, our sibling teams, our fans and society at large. Our ability to be advocates is one of the great privileges representing this national team affords us.

The women’s soccer community is one of joy, excitement, kindness and love. We have worked to ensure our community is safe, inclusive, and welcoming to everyone. As allies and members of the LGBTQIA+ community, those efforts will not stop.

Across the country, human rights are being stripped away.

LGBTQIA+ right are human rights. Trans rights are human rights.

Today and every day, the USWNT Players will stand up for those rights.

After the outcry over Albert’s social media activity, the USWNT kept her on the roster for the SheBelieves Cup. Interim head coach Twila Kilgore refused to answer a question over whether there was any consideration of removing Albert from the team for the two-game tournament this month.

“There’s been several internal conversations about this that will remain internal,” Kilgore said.

Albert came off the bench in the second half of Saturday’s 2-1 win over Japan, with several fans at Mercedes-Benz Stadium booing the midfielder upon her arrival on the field.

The USWNT will face Canada on Tuesday night in Columbus in the SheBelieves Cup final.

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USWNT great Ertz announces she’s expecting second child

The two-time World Cup winner announced her retirement last fall

Former U.S. women’s national team star Julie Ertz has announced that she and her husband Zach Ertz are expecting their second child.

The couple already has a son, Madden, who was born in August 2022. In an Instagram post on Saturday, Zach Ertz announced that the pair is expecting again this summer.

“Happy Birthday Mama! We love you! Adding to the family Summer 2024!” Zach Ertz wrote.

After an illustrious career with the USWNT, Julie Ertz announced last fall that she was retiring from the game at age 31. In explaining her decision, the two-time World Cup winner said that she was hoping to spend more time with her family.

“This sport takes sacrifice,” Julie Ertz said. “And I think time with my family is just irreplaceable, especially with where Madden is and his age.”

Zach Ertz, who is entering his 12th NFL season, signed a one-year contract with the Washington Commanders last month.

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