Cleaning toilets, mopping floors, 10-hour days packing Amazon boxes, working at least two side jobs, living with parents. These are the lengths many NWSL players have gone through just to be “professional” athletes. The NWSLPA hopes to ensure a living wage for all NWSL players with its new No More Side Hustles campaign launched this week.
Football Manager (and its yearly iterations) is a soccer video game focused on the minutiae of managing a club more so than a game focused on playing the actual sport. Perhaps a few years late, the popular series finally announced it will be adding women’s players, which could have rippling effects in other soccer video games like FIFA and PES/eFootball.
Trinity Rodman scored the best goal of her rookie season on Sunday, but it wasn’t enough as the Washington Spirit fell 3-2 to Gotham FC at Segra Field.
The Spirit looked doomed as early as the seventh-minute after Sam Staab was issued a straight red card for committing a foul as the last defender, but six minutes after her dismissal, Rodman shocked NJ/NY.
The 19-year-old used her pace to get on the end of a ball out wide, but with support arriving in the middle, Rodman elected to drift inside before unleashing a right-footed effort that flew inside the far post.
New Zealand’s Olympic soccer preparations were handed a blow a couple weeks before the tournament kicks off, and Football Ferns coach Tom Sermanni is not happy about it. Team captain Ali Riley and defensive star Abby Erceg were not allowed to join up with their national team until after this weekend’s NWSL games, leading Sermanni to excoriate the Orlando Pride and N.C. Courage.
Alex Morgan will have a little extra motivation to win gold at this summer’s Tokyo Olympics. After publicly questioning the IOC over whether she would be allowed to bring her young child with her to the Games, the USWNT superstar posted a gut-wrenching farewell to young Charlie Elena Carrasco, vowing to make their absence “worth it.”
Morgan made the trip to Japan with her USWNT teammates this week, leaving behind her 14-month-old baby to go for her second Olympic gold medal. On Thursday, Morgan said goodbye to her child on Instagram.
Olivia Moultrie is finally, officially, a professional footballer — and the youngest NWSL player ever too.
Moultrie, 15, moved to Portland at the age of 13 from California to begin training with the Portland Thorns of the NWSL, which had a strict age requirement of 18. After suing the National Women’s Soccer League over age restrictions, she’s been given a chance to sign a professional contract with the Thorns, agreeing to a three-year deal, the max allowable in NWSL.
In a YouTube video with a former Japan teammate, Washington Spirit forward Kumi Yokoyama revealed they are transgender.
Kumi uses they/them pronouns...and don't forget it!
— Washington Spirit (@WashSpirit) June 19, 2021
Jessica McDonald led North Carolina to a 2-1 win over OL Reign, but Jessica Fishlock provided the moment of the week with a magical goal for a late consolation on Saturday. The Jess Fishlock lob was in my opinion the best goal of the day, even with Euro 2020 going on.
Watch out NWSL: Alex Morgan is on fire and the league’s long-dormant potential powerhouse is awakening. There might be no stopping the Pride — at least until the Olympics roll around.
Before the NWSL match between N.C. Courage and Orlando Pride on Saturday, Courage coach Paul Riley said his Pride counterpart was still adjusting to the American league. Marc Skinner arrived in Orlando from England, where Riley said the pace is far slower.
Olivia Moultrie is a 15-year-old soccer phenom who has been training with the Portland Thorns since 2019 after Nike signed her to a nine-year endorsement deal. Moultrie has been denied from signing with a team due to the National Women’s Soccer League’s age rules, but that could soon change.