The U.S. women’s national team’s send-off series is more about learning than celebrating.

For much of the first 45 minutes, the pregame celebration of the 1999 Women’s World Cup-winning team was the most excitement offered in Harrison, New Jersey as the U.S. kicked off its Olympic send-off games against Mexico.

After a handful of missed chances in the first half, Trinity Rodman, Mallory Swanson and Sophia Smith finally combined to give the U.S. the lead.

But the U.S. scored just one goal from 17 total shots, and the game showed how much more the USWNT needs to grow into head coach Emma Hayes’ system with the Olympics just a few weeks away.

The weather was also a factor, with soupy conditions thanks to the heat and humidity, and loud boos accompanied Korbin Albert’s arrival on the field, as well as her first few touches.

“For the chances we’ve created, we’re not hitting the frame enough,” said Hayes afterwards. “I still think that’s something to add. But I think the difference in momentum from first half, the second half was even bigger for us. Much more control. But I think we’re only scratching the surface.”

Meg Linehan, Steph Yang and Jeff Rueter discuss the key moments…

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It took a while, but the U.S. attack found a goal

Throughout the 2024 season, Rodman…

The Houston Dash have traded María Sánchez to the San Diego Wave for an undisclosed return.

Earlier this week, Sánchez publicly stated on her social media that she had requested a trade in late March. The NWSL trade window closes on April 19 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

A source briefed on the transaction said that there was more than one offer for Sánchez’s rights. According to a report by Theo Lloyd-Hughes at Pro Soccer Wire, Houston will receive a transfer fee but no players from the Wave.

Thank you, everyone, for the outpouring of kindness and support. pic.twitter.com/gcnN7dhCJU

— Maria Sanchez (@Maria17_7) April 19, 2024

Sánchez signed a blockbuster $1.5 million contract with the Dash in December 2023 that was supposed to keep her in Houston through 2026, with an option to extend through 2027. But after four games with the Dash in which Sánchez played 348 minutes, generating one assist and two shots, she will leave for the Wave, who are currently in seventh place and were last year’s NWSL Shield winners.

Sánchez’s contract is technically with the league, so the Wave must take on the remainder of that $1.5M contract, which counts total compensation including bonuses and an exercised fourth-year option.

Sánchez has played as a left winger for the Dash with varying degrees…

The NWSL will spend its break during the 2024 Olympics playing a tournament with teams from Mexico’s Liga MX Femenil, the leagues announced today.

The NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup will feature all 14 NWSL clubs and six Liga MX Femenil teams with the highest points earned in the 2023 Apertura and Clausura tournaments.

It will feature a group stage commencing on July 19 with a semifinal round ending the week of Aug. 4. The championship match will take place on the weekend of Oct. 25.

The tournament will feature five groups, with the top four teams in terms of points advancing to the semifinals.

A quick look at the NWSL x LIGA MX Femenil Summer Cup tournament groups and format. pic.twitter.com/TztnU0udEO

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) March 20, 2024

How does this impact the NWSL schedule?

Analysis by Meg Linehan

We always knew the NWSL was planning a summer tournament to overlap with this summer’s Olympic Games, and while the league deserves credit for tapping crossover appeal with Liga MX Femenil, the Summer Cup definitely feels like the 1.0 version of a standalone summer tournament.

To be fair, this has been in the works before CONCACAF announced its new qualifiers for the first FIFA Club World Cup, but three NWSL teams are about to have to pull double…

The four nations that have expressed their interest to host the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 have all signed a bidding agreement – a document that ensures the key principles of the process are observed. 

Brazil, South Africa, a joint bid from Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany and a joint bid from the United States and Mexico are the four interested parties.

FIFA say they will now “dispatch the full set of bidding and hosting documents to the respective member associations and all of them will be invited to join a bid workshop and observer programme that will take place in August during the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023.”

The hosts will be decided at the FIFA Congress via public voting on May 17 2024. 

The four bidders have until May 19 2023 to send a copy of the bidding agreement back to FIFA and confirm their involvement.

All the nations bidding to host the 2027 Women’s World Cup will be required to submit their bids to FIFA no later than December 8 2023. 

A FIFA statement added: “Following the submission of all bids, FIFA will conduct a thorough evaluation process, including on-site inspection visits, before publishing its findings in a Bid Evaluation Report in May 2024.”

Of the prospective 2027 bidders, Germany and the U.S are the only nations to have…

The first major deadline for hosting the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup is almost upon us. Any nation interested in bidding for the next women’s tournament must formally express that interest to FIFA by Friday or wait for 2031. With U.S. Soccer and the Mexican Federation announcing their intent for a joint bid on Wednesday, the potential candidates got some major competition.

From intention to bid to World Cup host selection, here’s everything you need to know about the process and timeline, plus just how much prize money will be on the line by 2027. 

Who decides the host of the 2027 Women’s World Cup?

The FIFA Council selects up to three bids for the FIFA Congress to choose a host using an open vote. FIFA said this year it has “the most robust and comprehensive bidding process in the history of the FIFA Women’s World Cup.” It includes establishing a Bid Evaluation Task Force, an independent audit company that will monitor FIFA’s compliance with procedures and Bid Compliance and Ethics Officer from each official bidding group. 

Ballots for the World Cup hosting vote will be made public.

If you feel like reading a lengthy PDF from FIFA on the process, the full document is available online here.

What’s the FIFA World Cup bid timeline?

First, countries that want to bid…

The United States and Mexico will jointly bid to host the 2027 Women’s World Cup, their national soccer federations announced Wednesday. Here’s what you need to know:

• The U.S., Mexico and Canada are hosting the 2026 Men’s World Cup. The 2028 Olympics are also taking place in the U.S. — in Los Angeles.
• Brazil also announced last month that it will bid to host the 2027 event; a joint bid of Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, and another from South Africa are also in contention.
• FIFA is expected to announce its choice in May 2024, U.S. Soccer said.

Together for 2027.  

The United States and Mexico will bid to host @FIFAWWC 2027 pic.twitter.com/t93UzXqb1L

— U.S. Soccer (@ussoccer) April 20, 2023

Backstory

FIFA’s deadline for member associations to submit expressions of interest to host was Wednesday, U.S. Soccer said. May 19 is the deadline to submit bidding agreements; U.S. Soccer and the Federación Mexicana de Fútbol (FMF) will provide more information on the bid close to that date.

The United States has previously hosted the Women’s World Cup twice, in 1999 and in 2003. The 1999 event was hosted at eight venues around the country and the 2003 event was held in six cities after it was moved from China. Mexico has never hosted a Women’s…

CONCACAF and CONMEBOL on Friday unveiled a wide-ranging partnership on Friday that will have significant ramifications for both men’s and women’s soccer in the western hemisphere, with the 2024 Copa America set to be hosted in the United States, the 2024 CONCACAF W Gold Cup to include four teams from South America and a new tournament featuring two men’s clubs from each federation set to come online in 2024.

We’re still waiting on many of the official details of the various competitions to be announced, but here’s what we’re hearing on how the partnership was formed and what it will end up looking like: 

How did this partnership come together? 

Ever since the centennial edition of the Copa America was held in the U.S. in 2016, bringing the tournament back to the United States has been an interesting possibility for all parties. 

Though that tournament was jeopardized when the U.S. Justice Department found that more than a dozen individuals involved with the initial organization of the event took more than $110 million in kickbacks, it still ended up setting Copa America records for attendance, television viewership and revenue. 

It was also a massive commercial success for U.S. Soccer, which led the organization of the tournament. According to USSF tax filings, the…