Carli Lloyd

The USWNT crushed Panama 5-0 to improve its record at the 2018 CONCACAF Women’s Championship to 2-0 with a goal difference of +11, all but guaranteeing a place in the semifinals of the competition and moving one step closer to automatic qualification for the 2019 World Cup in France.

The NWSL regular season wrapped up this past weekend with a mixed bag of business-as-usual and surprising results. All around the league, for playoff bound teams and doormats alike (we’re looking at you, Sky Blue), the level was turned up to 11, giving fans both feel-good entertainment and high quality football to get excited about heading into the postseason.

There was something vaguely familiar about yesterday’s Orlando Pride vs. Sky Blue match up: a handball clearance off the line in crunch time, a red card, a penalty, a penalty save. All right, it’s not exactly a World Cup knockout game and Carli Lloyd didn’t know much about the goal-saving move (it seems), but one can’t help but think of a certain Uruguayan striker by the name of Luis Suarez after seeing this.

Carli Lloyd's red card pic.twitter.com/iOnZwEiY0d

An early goal from Mallory Pugh, followed by an Alex Morgan brace and Carli Lloyd’s 99th USWNT goal led to a 4-1 U.S. friendly victory over Mexico Thursday night in Jacksonville, Florida. Katie Johnson pulled one back for El Tri with a nice chip, but the U.S. showed why they’re the overwhelming favorites at next October’s CONCACAF Women’s Championship.

The Houston Dash cannot catch a break. For the second time in the club’s short history, the Dash acquired a star USWNT player who doesn’t want to play for them. After putting up with an unhappy and unproductive Carli Lloyd for a couple seasons, Houston traded for Christen Press, who refused to report to the squad. The 29-year-old forward instead signed with Göteborg FC in Sweden on Monday. 

USWNT coach Jill Ellis revealed the final 23-player squad for the 2018 SheBelieves Cup on Friday. The tournament will see the world’s No. 1-ranked side (the U.S.) host Germany (No. 2), England (No. 3) and France (No. 6) in a round-robin tournament across three cities — Columbus, Ohio, Harrison, New Jersey, and Orlando, Florida.