For Sounders’ fans, RBW’s inclusion is particularly bittersweet

This group is a blend of experience and fresh options as Pochettino and his staff build a new defensive core. Reed Baker-Whiting is in line for his US debut after a steady season starting at left-back for MLS’s best team. A feature on the Guardian’s Next Generation list in 2022, the 21-year-old made a smooth transition to Nashville after a winter transfer from boyhood Seattle and is a steady defender who integrates swiftly into a system. He’ll deputize for Antonee Robinson, who has appeared in all but one of Fulham’s first nine games.

And yet, somehow it doesn't include Midge Purce. 🤔

I think we could handle a fifth Maddie on the Reign

Forward Maddie DiMaria led the charge, scoring the game-winner with her 12th World Cup goal — the most by any USWNT player at a World Cup.

297 is not a lot

While the shuffle sends Haiti within their opponents’ borders, they couldn’t have found a more hospitable home away from home. Miami boasts by far the largest population of Haitians and their descendants in the US, with nearly half a million concentrated predominantly in south Florida. They will play at Nu Stadium, where they played the venue’s first international friendly – a pre-World Cup clash with Peru – in June before a sold-out crowd of 26,700. That support dwarfed the crowds they drew at Sabina Park, where their two matches attracted an average of 297 fans.

Certainly, this will once and for all resolve the conflict between pro/rel enthusiasts and single-entity stans

USL will bring promotion and relegation into this scene meeting somewhere in the middle of the MLS single entity structure and club systems based elsewhere. It will bring with it the romantic notions and expectations of pro/rel where teams have to fight and bleed for every point lest they suffer the unimaginable fate of the drop, miss out on bazillions of dollars in promotion rewards, create a competitive environment that football nations like Spain, Argentina (sorta), and Azerbaijan enjoy and in some cases have won the World Cup because of, and will make soccer more popular than the other sports that are played in the country. That’s the dream at least.

C'mon Reign 🤞🤞🤞

DAMMMMMMMMMMMMM

lol I wonder who is going to get Maddie DiMaria when she goes Pro, seems like a #1 prospect

It's called the under 17 world cup; 17 goals is explicitly too many

The U-17 USWNT takes on Kenya on Thursday at 2 PM ET (FS2).

I am not feeling great about the fact that we are this late in the cycle, and we’re asking significant question about who should be on the field (and we haven’t even gotten to What Is To Be Done About Ashley Sanchez)

Despite this consistency of personnel, Hayes has used 17 different combinations of three midfielders in that span. Tuesday was just the second time that Hutton, Heaps, and Lavelle opened a match together. The consensus “first-choice” trio of Coffey, Heaps and Lavelle has also started together just twice in 20 months. The most common combination has been Lavelle playing in front of a Coffey-Hutton double pivot on four occasions.

Let us hope we see a similar bump for NWSL after next summer’s World Cup in Brazil

The new research from Nielsen additionally said since MLS resumed play after the World Cup break, regular-season audiences on Fox and FS1 were “up 55 per cent among men 18–34 and 29 per cent among adults 18–34 compared to before the tournament.

It was time to move on when he decided to skip the Gold Cup; it's still time to move on now

Pulisic has struggled on international duty under Pochettino. He’s scored just once since the start of 2025, in a tune-up friendly against Senegal. His mostly poor performances at the World Cup hardly reinforced his bona fides to the Argentinian, who declined to directly address Pulisic’s situation during the recent international window.

Heaps is absolutely not the answer at the six for us

Hopefully, Sam Coffey is healthy and available for World Cup Qualifiers in November and next summer. However, relying on her as the only viable starting six is a recipe for disaster (and unfortunately, is not a new problem on the USWNT). Winning a World Cup will require rotation and keen fans will remember that Coffey had to sit out the 2024 Olympics quarterfinal against Japan due to yellow-card accumulation. With exceptional options like Claire Hutton and Jaelin Howell on the bench, it is puzzling why Emma Hayes chose to play essentially without a six against a very dangerous opponent.

Hopefully better facilities translates to better results against Spain

That first match against FIFA's top-ranked team is set for October 10th at Audi Field in Washington, DC. A second USWNT vs Spain matchup follows on October 13th at Subaru Park in Chester, Pennsylvania. Fans can catch both on TBS, TNT, and HBO Max.

This means a lot coming specifically from Crystal

“She created something that didn’t exist before: this safe space of speaking about something very vulnerable, but making it almost feel like, ‘Oh, this is just normal conversation,’ and that’s the beauty of it,” said U.S. legend Crystal Dunn, who was part of the Olympic squad and previously played under Hayes at Chelsea. “She’s transformed what used to be normal and completely created something very new, and it was very refreshing.”

It's impressive how Les Grenadiers have persevered in the face of adversity

Haiti has been unable to play games in its home stadium, Stade Sylvio Cator in Port-au-Prince, since it was overrun and captured by gangs in 2024. The island nation played its home World Cup qualifiers in Curaçao, yet managed to advance to the 2026 World Cup. It was the country’s second World Cup appearance and first since 1974. Haiti lost all of its three group games, falling to Scotland, Brazil and Morocco. To qualify for the Nations League quarterfinals, Haiti beat Trinidad & Tobago, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic, before falling in a rematch vs. Costa Rica all during the current international window.

I don't follow either of these teams but the US Open Cup is bananas and I love how absolutely unhinged it is.

Del Fava is a great defender, but I’d feel more comfortable with the Secretary of Defense in the back line against Spain

“Del Fava was already set to travel to Atlanta on Monday as an “overage” player in the U.S. Under-23 Women’s National Team training camp that is being held concurrently with Hayes’ camp at the Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer National Training Center. She will now just switch hotels.“

This shit has got to stop

For years, El Tri fans have soundtracked opponents’ goal kicks by chanting a homophobic slur. After considerable mistakes on both goals, the supporters instead bellowed the bigoted cry on Rangel’s restarts, with the stadium operators declining to follow through on their pre-match threats to stop the game if the chant emerged. The fans also took to booing Rangel’s every touch, taking one item off a hosting fanbase’s usual list of responsibilities

Hopefully, national team duty will get Big Fish back into her scoring ways

The U-23 WNT will play two matches during the international window, both against the Dominican Republic U-23s at the National Training Center. The first will be on October 9th at 5:30pm ET, with the second coming on October 13th at 12:00pm ET. It will be a chance for players to receive some minutes and still have an opportunity to show that they should be in the plans for the USWNT.

Sports bring in incredible amounts of money on the backs of public stadia; if cities retained ownership and charged reasonable usage fees, finding the money for facilities would be much easier

While all of this may sound frustrating and pointless, it’s worth noting that travel soccer generates a lot of money that might not otherwise be available. That money goes toward suitable fields – and scholarships for players who couldn’t play without financial help.

Ashley clearly has an axe to grind and I think there’s a serious chance she scores in Brazil

The 27-year-old's resurgence comes at a perfect time as the World Cup closes in. Sanchez will be hoping for a chance to banish her demons from 2023, when she was called into the World Cup roster but didn't play a single minute in Australia and New Zealand.

Dang that sucks.

I'm glad to see McCammon on the scoresheet but this is a disappointing result for the US

Brazil opened up the scoring in the 49th minute, thanks to a Sofia Courto tally, assisted by Clarinha. However, the U.S. responded quickly, with a 63rd-minute goal, unassisted, scored by Seattle Reign midfielder Ainsley McCammon.

I love seeing Seattle’ Emeri Adames get the assist, but this is a tough result against an Italy side that is playing in their first ever U20 World Cup

The USA got on the board first in the 18th minute after building out of the back. Central defender Lizzie Boamah dribbled down the left side before playing a pass to left wing Emeri Adames. The Seattle Reign forward beat her defender with a nutmeg, cut inside and played a square ball with pace across the face of goal. Italian goalkeeper Elena Belli got a finger on the ball, but it rolled to forward Micayla Johnson for a left-footed tap-in.