Lionel Messi was introduced as an Inter Miami player in front of a raucous sellout crowd of over 20,000 at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday night. Messi was welcomed in the driving rain with an impressive display of pyrotechnics and star-studded video messages (Tom Brady! Steph Curry! Gregg!), and he thanked the crowd for making his family feel so welcome in the city.
Although Wednesday's MLS All-Star Game from the nation's capital will feature all the league's must-watch talent (minus Lionel Messi) and Arsenal's flourishing squad, the biggest cheer of the night might be reserved for a Gunners player who spent last season in France and who might not even be on the roster come September: instant USMNT hero Folarin Balogun.
Diego Luna scored a goal in each half to lead Real Salt Lake to a 3-1 victory over the New York Red Bulls on Saturday night in Sandy, Utah.
Luna's scoring helped Salt Lake extend its unbeaten run to nine matches. Jefferson Savarino added a third goal late in the second half.
What is it with the youth of Japan and unforgettable set piece routines? Every year we're visiting the All Japan High School Soccer Tournament to watch some team perform Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake before scoring, so it comes as no surprise that when all the finest young Samurai Blue minds come together to represent Japan at the U-17 level, magic happens.
NEW YORK - United States defender Naomi Girma completes her meteoric rise from national team debutant to the Women's World Cup stage next month and many are predicting she will be a key player for the four-times champions for many years.
The 23-year-old center back first played for the senior U.S. team last year and quickly settled in to earn a place in Vlatko Andonovski's World Cup squad.
NEW YORK - Nine months ago, Alyssa Thompson was playing youth soccer. In July, the 18-year-old forward will test herself against the best after being named in the four-time champions United States' squad for the Women's World Cup.
It has been a dizzying rise for Thompson, the second-youngest ever named in a U.S. World Cup squad.
When it comes to rookies in the National Women's Soccer League, most of the discussion has centered around No. 1 overall pick Alyssa Thompson. The headlines write themselves when you're talking about an 18-year-old who's already scored some spectacular goals for Angel City and is challenging for the USWNT World Cup squad.
But what about No. 2 overall pick Michelle Cooper, the forward who won the 2022 Hermann Trophy as the nation's best college player with 19 goals and 11 assists in 22 games during her sophomore season at Duke?
We're witnessing greatness.
Days after being named the March/April NWSL Rookie of the Month, 18-year-old Alyssa Thompson scored another outrageous goal during Angel City's 3-2 win over the Kansas City Current on Sunday night.
The No. 1 overall pick now has three goals in seven appearances, and each has been a showcase of her otherworldly talent.
Trinity Rodman recorded one goal and one assist to spark the Washington Spirit to a convincing 3-1 victory over the visiting San Diego Wave on Saturday afternoon.
Ashley Sanchez and Paige Metayer also scored goals for the Spirit (3-0-3, 12 points), who notched all their tallies in the second half.
Alex Morgan scored a late goal for San Diego (3-3-0, 9 points), which lost its second straight match.
FC Groningen's relegation from the Eredivisie was confirmed Sunday following a 1-1 away draw at Go Ahead Eagles, although USMNT striker Ricardo Pepi provided a brief glimmer of hope (as he has all season) when he opened the scoring for the visitors in the sixth-minute.
This was Pepi's 12th goal of the campaign to go along with three assists, giving him 15 goal involvements in 26 games. The last 20-year-old to reach that benchmark for Groningen was one Luis Suárez, who scored 10 goals and created six more during the 2006-07 campaign.