Women's World Cup

As much as people love to hate on 2020 for being a crappy year, the sad truth is that as the calendar turns to 2021, our problems won’t magically go away. It’ll be many months — years even — until the Covid-19 vaccine can be fully administered to the global population. Most of the world’s governments are still doing everything in their power to ignore climate change. And let’s not forget police officers are still shooting unarmed Black men with near impunity. But one thing the change in year will bring about is more games on the 2021 USWNT schedule.

Mallory Pugh has unfortunately had a few injuries that've set her back, causing her to miss out on USWNT play, NWSL play and falling behind in fitness and performance. As a top-tier athlete, injuries can make or break players, and with the immense amount of young talent joining the USWNT senior squad, this leaves Pugh’s future on the squad unknown. 

Christine Sinclair was recently named Canadian Press Female Athlete of the Year after becoming the world's all-time leading international scorer in 2020.

Sinclair's made her mark representing Canada and made history in January while helping her national team book its ticket to the Tokyo Olympics. As someone who grew up watching Sinclair — and admiring her ability to find open space and be a threat in the attack every time she's on the ball — it's no surprise that she's continuing to be recognized for her talents. 

FIFA is slowly being dragged into the 21st century. On Friday, soccer’s global governing body approved increased protection for female players and coaches by establishing minimum standards for employment, including guaranteed paid maternity leave.

FIFA’s only a few decades late in catching up to the rest of the world on this matter, but at least it plans to do far more than the U.S. government.

Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands unveiled plans on Monday for a joint bid to host the Women’s World Cup in 2027.

A statement released by the three countries' football associations said they had already expressed their intention to bid to world football’s governing body FIFA and that they would put together a formal agreement by the end of the year.