The 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup isn’t over yet, but the 2022 NWSL regular season is upon us. While four teams still compete for the first trophy of the season, expansion club Angel City FC hosts the N.C. Courage at 10:30 p.m. ET on Friday night (live on CBSSN) to open what is sure to be an enthralling campaign. That means it’s time for some NWSL predictions.
In September, the USWNT crushed Paraguay in back-to-back friendlies by a 17-0 aggregate score. This past week, the USWNT crushed Uzbekistan in back-to-back friendlies by an 18-1 aggregate score. While the September matches felt mostly a waste of time, the April matches felt instructive and useful, for both Vlatko Andonovski’s plans moving forward and U.S. fans trying to figure out those plans.
The USWNT is the most dominant force in women’s soccer history. The U.S. has never been ranked lower than second in the world and has won more World Cups and Olympics than it’s lost. But if there’s one thing the players love more than winning, it’s dogs.
It’s National Pet Day, apparently, and I don’t know about you, but I can’t think of a better group of people to celebrate with than the USWNT.
If you just look at the opponent, the USWNT’s April friendlies against Uzbekistan are likely to be fairly drab. Matches against the 48th-ranked team in the world in Ohio and Philadelphia, on the face of it, don’t really kindle much enthusiasm. But the April USWNT roster makes it clear: This is the final chance for some young players to earn a spot on the team at World Cup and Olympic qualifying this summer in Mexico.
The 2022 SheBelieves Cup will be the least challenging yet for the U.S. women’s national team. So Vlatko Andonovski is giving less-experienced players an opportunity to show what they can do. But the USWNT roster for the 2022 SheBelieves Cup left off two of the nation’s most promising young players.
After a 2020 that was, in many ways, a lost year for international soccer, the U.S. women’s national team went into 2021 with high hopes. The year ended with feelings of missed opportunities and the need for a rethink moving forward less than 20 months away from the next Women’s World Cup.
Are you the kind of person who prefers to respond to emails and texts with GIFs instead of having to type something out? Do you also love the USWNT? If you answered “yes” to either of these questions, then you or a loved one may be entitled to a plethora of new USWNT GIFs.
As a sendoff for 2021, the USWNT social team decided to do its version of Spotify Wrapped in GIF form. You might want to put a few of these in your back pocket for a rainy day.
The USWNT released 18 total GIFs for your viewing pleasure. The18 (see what I did there?) USWNT GIFs are as follows.
The USWNT’s friendly against Australia on Saturday (well, Friday in certain parts of the States), was in many ways a changing of the guard. Lindsey Horan took over the vaunted No. 10 jersey from Carli Lloyd. Alana Cook and Tierna Davidson started together at center back. And Casey Murphy looked like a star in the making between the sticks.
Murphy made eight saves in her first career U.S. start, helping the USWNT blank the Matildas 3-0 on Saturday afternoon in Sydney, Australia.
There was a large sense during the USWNT’s last two friendlies against South Korea that the team was growing stale.
Carli Lloyd’s playing career is coming to an end. But first, two final farewell matches later this month against South Korea. On Wednesday, coach Vlatko Andonovski named his USWNT roster for the upcoming friendlies, which are little more than a chance to send Lloyd off in style.
Lloyd announced in August she will retire after the 2021 NWSL season, calling an end to an historic career.