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.
Estados Unidos tuvo un debut horrendo en los Juegos Olímpicos. La caída 0-3 ante Suecia fue tan categórica que Megan Rapinoe lo resumió mejor que nadie: "nos patearon el trasero". Hoy, sin embargo, el USWNT se recobró del mal paso con una contundente victoria de 6-1 ante la selección de Nueva Zelandia. La historia es que pudieron ser diez, pero cuatro conquistas fueron anuladas por fuera de juego.
The USWNT bounced back, as basically everyone expected it to do, taking care of New Zealand 6-1 on Saturday in Saitama, Japan. After they were crushed by Sweden in the Olympic opener, the Americans needed a response, and this was a pretty good one. It was a fairly straightforward victory, though not necessarily the sort of performance that will scare the other medal favorites in Japan.
One thing Team USA did accomplish was providing one of the few audience members a profound understanding of the intricacies of the offside rule.
The USWNT on Friday filed an opening brief in the appeal of its lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation, saying the decision to dismiss it was based on flawed legal reasoning.
The brief, filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, asks that the ruling be reversed and the case sent back to district court to be heard by a jury.
Raúl Ruidíaz scored one of the goals of his life against Austin FC on Thursday with an absolute missile from near midfield. Ruidíaz saw Austin’s goalkeeper off his line and made him pay for it with a sumptuous strike. This is one of the best MLS goals of the season.
RUIDIAZ FROM WAAAAAAY DOWNTOWN #SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/BbZykUpvet
It’s the moment athletes wait their entire lives for: To walk into a stadium of roaring fans alongside compatriots during the Olympic Games opening ceremonies. Things were a bit different this year as Olympic Stadium in Tokyo was mostly empty, fans unable to attend because of the Covid-19 pandemic still raging around the world.
But that didn’t stop the USWNT from having fun, even from a hotel room about 20 miles away.
After a shocking 3-0 loss to Sweden to open Olympic group play, the USWNT saw its 44-match winning streak snapped on Wednesday. Even though the team hadn’t lost since January of 2019, a small group of Americans took joy in it because of the USWNT's stance against racism.
Megan Rapinoe was quite blunt on the USWNT’s 3-0 loss to Sweden; they got their asses kicked. The forward also added a term I don’t think I’ve ever heard from an athlete before, the team “got bopped.” What does it mean to get bopped? Let’s consult the internet.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, the USWNT suffered a crushing end to its 44-game unbeaten streak and opened the Tokyo Olympics with a humbling 3-0 defeat to the only team that’s been able get the better of the U.S. in recent times, Sweden.
Stina Blackstenius — who scored against the U.S. at Rio 2016 — hit a brace, and Lina Hurtig put the game beyond doubt in the 72nd minute.
Men’s Olympic soccer is a weird experience. Not quite a major international as it is on the women’s side and not quite a full youth competition, the result is a bizarre amalgamation of young and old players on the 16 national team rosters. So before you wake up at 4 a.m. and wonder who in the holy name of Ted Lasso are these blokes running around in Japan, here’s a guide for the weird and notable over-age Olympic soccer players to watch this summer.