The San Diego Wave hired Landon Donovan as its new interim head coach, the team announced Friday. Donovan replaces outgoing interim head coach Paul Buckle, whose original commitment to the team only ran through the summer window. Donovan holds a USSF A senior license and will coach the Wave through the end of the 2024 NWSL season while the club continues its search for a permanent hire.

Donovan is one of the most decorated U.S. men’s soccer players in program history with 57 goals in 157 international caps, as well as winning the MLS Cup six times. He was vice president of soccer operations for the San Diego Loyal in USL until the club folded in 2023 due to an inability to find “a viable near- and long-term stadium solution in the market.” Before that, Donovan was the Loyal’s head coach from 2019 to 2022.

“Landon’s level of knowledge, understanding and experience as both a player and a coach, provides us with a leader that can help guide this club to where we want to be — in a playoff position and competing for a Championship. His passion for this city and growing the game, along with having a player-first mentality, make him a natural fit for this club,” said Wave general manager Camille Ashton via a club statement.

Donovan will take over immediately, coaching…

PARIS — Twelve years ago, the last time the U.S. women’s national team won a gold medal at the Olympics, Mallory Swanson was watching the game at a Buffalo Wild Wings. Trinity Rodman joked that she was five years old (she was 10, actually). Sophia Smith added she had been watching the very team she stars for today for as long as she could remember.

On Thursday, the three starting forwards for the USWNT — now having dubbed themselves “Triple Espresso” (or at least, they’re throwing it out there for workshopping purposes) — spoke to reporters at the Olympics’ press center. In two days’ time, they’ll have their chance to truly stamp their mark on this program with a major tournament victory.

“This team has always had a standard of winning, and winning on the biggest stage,” Smith said Thursday. “We take so much pride in that, and want to uphold that in everything that we do to pay our respects to the players that have come before us.”

For all the worries about the USWNT’s inability to score in the send-off games last month, and as tight as the knock-outs have been against Japan and Germany, all three of the forward line have scored three goals so far this tournament. Swanson has also added two assists, and Smith and Rodman one.

There’s no secret…

PARIS — The U.S. women’s soccer team is through to the Olympic semifinals following its 1-0 extra-time victory against Japan at Parc des Princes thanks to Trinity Rodman’s left foot, a heaping dose of patience and confidence in consistency.

It wasn’t pretty football, but it was what the U.S. expected. When the players walked through the mixed zone, they didn’t care how it looked. They cared about moving on to the semifinal against Germany in Lyon. The same went for head coach Emma Hayes.

“I’m paid to do this job,” Hayes said. “What I’m interested in is what we do in-house. I’ve been coaching football matches a long time. I’ve said it from the beginning: connections help. I don’t believe we’d have gone through if we’d have made too many changes.”

With Japan in a low block and content to allow them to possess for most of regular time, the U.S. could only try pushing the ball horizontally across the back line from Emily Sonnett to Naomi Girma to Emily Fox and back. Their brief forays forward were generally rebuffed, and Japan shut down most attempts at creating any pockets of space.

By the second half of Saturday’s game, the isolated whistles from the crowd at the conservative passes between the USWNT back line had escalated into stadium-wide…

The French, German and Zambian national women’s football teams have denied using drones to spy on opposition training sessions.

In an internal email, Canada head coach Bev Priestman, who has been suspended by FIFA for a year after admitting to using drone surveillance at the 2024 Paris Olympics, accused the top 10 teams of deploying the same covert methods.

“…for scouting it can be the difference between winning and losing and all top 10 teams do it,” Priestman wrote in an internal email dated March 20, 2024.

However, after the highest-ranked federations — Spain, France, Germany, USWNT, Japan, Brazil, Australia, Colombia, New Zealand, Nigeria, and Zambia — at the Paris Olympics were contacted by The Athletic, several denied this was the case and rebuked Priestman’s claims.

“We only wish to state that the French Federation is never using any spying methods on the opponents’ teams,” the French Football Federation (FFF) said. “We also add that, if the mail does exist, we strongly reject these baseless accusations.”

GO DEEPER

Canada’s Olympic soccer spying scandal explained: What we know, who’s involved and what’s next

“Team Zambia does not use drones to spy on our opponents,” said a spokesperson for Team Zambia. “Our approach to match preparation…

The Court of Arbitration for Sport on Wednesday upheld a six-point Olympic tournament deduction for the Canadian women’s soccer team in a drone spying scandal, affirming FIFA’s choice to heavily limit the reigning gold medalist facing sharp questions about its tactics to engineer a repeat.

The dismissal of Canada’s appeal came hours before the entire field, with 12 teams split among three divisions, was set to compete in the final games of group play, a decisive moment with four teams to be eliminated by the end of Wednesday night.

It also came as FIFA released a full report of the findings that led to its decision to punish Canada for using a drone to watch New Zealand practice ahead of their Olympic opener. The report revealed a damning picture of Canada’s use of drones to surveil opposing training sessions.

Emails from Bev Priestman, Canada’s coach who was sent home from the Olympics as national officials tried to shield players from fallout, mentioned regular spying in both men’s and women’s soccer, which Priestman described in one correspondence as something that “can be the difference between winning and losing.”

An attorney for Priestman did not return a message seeking comment.

On the pitch, the immediate implications were stark for Canada, which lost the…

Bev Priestman’s dismissal from the Paris Olympics in the wake of the Canada spying scandal raises questions over the future — let alone the legacy — of a coach previously regarded as one of the most respected in the women’s international game.

In a press conference on Friday, the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) chief executive David Shoemaker announced he has since learned of “previous drone use against opponents predating the Paris 2024 Olympic Games”, which also risks tainting one of Canada’s proudest modern-day sporting achievements.

Their gold medal at the Tokyo Games in 2021 was Canada’s first in women’s football and earned Priestman back-to-back nominations for the Best FIFA Coach of the Year award. There will be no third act any time soon: FIFA disciplinary proceedings have resulted in Priestman’s suspension from any soccer-related activity for one year. Canada assistant coach Jasmine Mander and the staff member who flew the drone, Joseph Lombardi, are also suspended from soccer for one year. FIFA has deducted six points from the team’s Olympic group-stage total. Canada have lodged an appeal against the points deduction but, either way, the chances of a second successive gold feel slim.

GO DEEPER

Canada, New Zealand and how an Olympics spying scandal…

MARSEILLE — To be in the mixed zone at Stade de Marseille following an Olympic soccer match is to witness an impromptu tap show. As each player enters the small maze of ropes to meet their tournament obligations, their cleats create a chaotic rhythm punctuated by their laughs or sighs, depending on which side of the result they’re on.

For the U.S. women’s national team on Sunday night, fresh off a dominant 4-1 win over Germany, the good vibes kept rolling on. Center-back Naomi Girma giggled as she took baby steps through the press area, as her fellow defender Jenna Nighswonger offered to help keep her balance. Some simply stopped, untied their cleats and opted for socks. No matter what method they used, everyone shared the same buoyant, if still determined, mood.

After all, while the USWNT may be sitting in control of Group B with six points through their two games so far and guaranteed a quarterfinal spot at the 2024 Olympics, this is still just the beginning. A win or a draw against Australia assures first place in the group and a trip to Paris later this week to begin the knockout rounds.

“We’re playing with more structure and discipline, and then I think we’re having fun too,” midfielder Rose Lavelle said when assessing the difference in the start between these…

Canada is appealing the six-point deduction levied by FIFA against the Olympic women’s soccer team that stemmed from a staffer flying a drone over New Zealand’s training sessions before the start of the Paris Games.

The Canadian Olympic Committee and Canada Soccer filed the appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Monday, arguing it “unfairly punishes the athletes for actions they had no part in and goes far beyond restoring fairness to the match against New Zealand.” A hearing will likely take place Tuesday, with the final decision expected midday Wednesday, CAS said in a news release. Canada plays Colombia on Wednesday at 9 p.m. in Nice (3 p.m. ET) in its final group stage game.

Canada defeated New Zealand and France in its first two games, but currently sits third in Group A with zero points because of the deduction. Canada could still advance out of the group stage with a win over Colombia, but a restoration of the six points would put the Canadians atop Group A entering the final game.

In addition to deducting six points from the team’s Olympic group stage total (the equivalent of two wins), FIFA suspended Canada women’s soccer coach Bev Priestman and two other staffers for one year and issued a fine Saturday. Canada did not appeal the…

In December 2023, the presence of 3,000 women at the Tehran derby between Persepolis and Esteghlal seemed to indicate progress in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Female fans had been banned from attending men’s matches across the country since 1981, two years after the nation’s Islamic Revolution. For more than four decades, female protestors and campaigners tried to circumvent the ban — often by dressing up as men. The state responded with arrests, beatings and forced exiles.

Despite women returning to some football stadiums in restricted numbers, they are still not universally allowed to attend matches in Iran. They remain forbidden in several stadiums and there is no clarity from Iranian authorities or FIFA on their attendance, though the two parties are in ongoing dialogue about these issues.

Following the Tehran derby, FIFA president Gianni Infantino wrote on Instagram in December: “Thanks to the ongoing dialogue between FIFA and the Islamic Republic of Iran Football Federation (FFIRI), progress is being made.” In the same post, Infantino said that at a recent meeting with then-Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi — who died in a helicopter crash in May of this year — he had raised the “development of women’s football in the country and progress made regarding…

The U.S. women’s national team of a summer ago is gone. The current group has found its scoring shoes.

At the 2023 Women’s World Cup, the USWNT scored four goals in 390 minutes and was eliminated on penalties in the round of 16 against Sweden. On Sunday, the team scored four — the first to do so against Germany in a competitive match since 2008 when Brazil did it in the Olympics semifinals, according to Opta. Forward Sophia Smith scored a brace, while forwards Mallory Swanson and Lynn Williams added a goal each as the U.S. took down Germany 4-1 to guarantee a place in the quarter-finals.

Jeff Rueter and Steph Yang dissect how the U.S. took the top spot in Group B with one game to go.

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What is the key to the USWNT’s front-line success?

If there’s only one thing you can write down in a tactical binder, it should be, “Make sure Swanson and Smith look connected and you’ll profit.”

Swanson and Smith looked like a dynamic duo again on Sunday, reading each other’s movement and providing opportunities for each other in front of goal. Swanson crashed the box for the second U.S. goal, catching Smith’s rebounding shot off Germany goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger. Then Swanson almost put Smith through a few minutes later, picking her out through traffic in front of goal….