World Cup

Jack Warner, the former Trinidad and Tobago soccer official, has been ordered to pay $79 million in damages for his role in negotiating and accepting bribes and kickbacks over his years as a FIFA vice president and Concacaf president.

The ruling came Tuesday from a New York court, with U.S. District Judge William Kuntz writing the ruling after Warner failed to show up to fight the charge, the Associated Press reported. 

The USWNT victory party continued apace on Wednesday morning with the team embarking on a parade through New York City before settling down for a ceremony in front of city hall, which included a powerful speech from Golden Boot and Golden Ball winner Megan Rapinoe and a not-so-incredible talk from USSF president Carlos Cordeiro. 

Concacaf announced the redesigned qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup on Wednesday. The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football has made it even simpler for the two heavyweights in the region — Mexico and the United States — to qualify for the 2022 tournament in Qatar.

There’s perhaps no greater testament to the strength, drive, togetherness and badassery of the USWNT than the whirlwind tour they’ve been on since Sunday night.

Mere mortals like you and I would probably like nothing more than to curl up under a blanket and nurse a week-long hangover while regaining some sort of feeling in our legs after a month of heinous physical exertion, but the USWNT knows no chill.

The ratings are coming in from Sunday’s World Cup final between the USWNT and the Netherlands, and yup, they’re really impressive. Over on Telemundo, the game was the most-watched women’s match in Spanish-language history. The average total audience delivery was 1.6 million viewers, up 22 percent on the 2015 final despite the earlier start time. The game peaked at 2.03 million TV-only viewers towards the end.

Heading into the 2019 Women’s World Cup, the consensus was that the USWNT would ship its fair share of goals but overcome that deficiency by winning matches in barnstorming fashion — maybe a 4-2 here, a 5-3 there. This side was supposed to be the antithesis of the 2015 unit that conceded only three goals en route to the title.

In a month that’s seen the national discourse largely dictated by USWNT attacker Megan Rapinoe, it’s only fitting that the 34-year-old has finished her 2019 Women’s World Cup odyssey with the final’s game-winning goal, as well as the tournament’s two most prestigious individual awards: The Golden Boot (given to the leading scorer) and Golden Ball (given to the best player).

It was Alex Morgan who drew the foul in the area in the 60th minute, but Rapinoe stepped up to convert her third penalty of the tournament. 

The USWNT made history today by becoming repeat champions of the Women's World Cup following a 2-0 victory over the Netherlands. For all the talk of a closing divide between the Americans and their European counterparts, this one wasn’t even close. It took an hour for the U.S. to find its opener, but the final score could’ve easily been five or six to zero.

FIFA announced the Women's World Cup final referee and fans of both sides should have no complaints with the choice.

Stéphanie Frappart of France will be the center referee for the USWNT’s match against the Netherlands on Sunday as Team USA seeks its second straight Women’s World Cup title and fourth overall.

FIFA Women‘s World Cup - Match officials appointed for the FINAL #USANED, 7 July, Lyon

England does not like the VAR. The English FA, apparently full of Luddites, has been one of the last countries to begin to implement video replay, slow to accept that getting calls right is more important than anything else. 

Ellen White, England to her core, does not like the VAR either. She’d probably have the Golden Boot wrapped up by now were it not for video replay.