The U.S. women keep accomplishing what the U.S. men cannot. On Friday in Ato Bodon Stadium, the exact same location of the USMNT’s capitulation to Trinidad and Tobago to miss out on the 2018 World Cup three months ago, the U-20 USWNT booked its trip to the 2018 U-20 Women’s World Cup with a win over Haiti.
Less than a year after being hired by the Canadian Soccer Association, Ecuadorian manager Octavio Zambrano has been replaced by the hugely successful coach of the Canadian women’s team, 42-year-old Englishman John Herdman. Former Herdman assistant Kenneth Heiner-Møller will now take charge of the side ranked fifth in the world with the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup just 17 months away.
In UEFA Women’s World Cup qualifying there are a lot of routs. Half of the 10 matches played Tuesday involved scorelines of 3-0 or worse (most were worse, much worse), including Germany’s 11-0 thrashing of Faroe Islands. Scotland’s match against Albania was no different but for one feature: none of those other lopsided affairs had a goal this pretty.
Iceland became the smallest nation to ever qualify for the Men’s World Cup earlier this month. The Iceland women’s national team is trying to follow suit. Iceland stunned Germany, the top-ranked team in Europe, 3-2 in UEFA qualifying for the 2019 World Cup on Friday in Wiesbaden, the first World Cup qualifying loss for the two-time world champions since 1998.
In a joint announcement between the Australian government and the football association, the country formally declared their interest to host the 2023 Women’s World Cup. And their odds of landing it are high. The national side is currently ranked eighth in the world and has consistently performed on the global stage, making it to the quarterfinals in each of the last three World Cups.
FIFA have made it known they plan on including more women in leadership roles and championing the women's game around the world.
This is how they are doing that:
Just asked Mahfuza Kiron who women's world champs are. 1st she said NKorea. I clarifiedworld, she said Japan then mumbled USA. 1/2
— Mani Djazmi (@BBC_Mani) May 8, 2017
Beginning with the USWNT’s infamous defeat to Sweden at the quarterfinal stage of the 2016 Summer Olympics, proceeding to the Under-17’s inability to advance from the group stage of the U-17 Women’s World Cup and now ending with the U-20’s defeat to North Korea at the sem
Twin sisters Sabrina and Monica Flores achieved a remarkable feat in and of itself by both playing at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. What’s even more sensational is the fact that Sabrina represents the USA while her twin sister plays for Mexico. Accordingly, the two squared off in the tournament quarterfinals.
Goals from midfield aren’t all created equal. Sure, they all involve one player absolutely hammering the ball from over 40 yards out, but it’s the intricacies of the attempt that surely separate one from the next. Where was the goalkeeper positioned? With how much pace and accuracy was the shot hit? What were the circumstances surrounding the goal/what was the significance of the match?
Bearing these questions in mind, here are the top three long range goals of all-time.
Editor's note: We received this letter from 13-year-old Mic Beedy and knew immediately we had to publish it. She's an aspiring soccer player with a bright future. She currently plays with the Missouri Thorns (a feeder club for the NWSL's Portland Thorns) and is a name you should remember – you just might hear it mentioned during the 2023 Women's World Cup. But it's not her soccer skills that caught our attention. It's the power of her words. Quite simply, she puts into perspective what it's like for a young woman to face inequality in sports.