- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 786,329
- Reaction score
- 53
Full Time Newsletter 
| This is The Athletic’s weekly women’s soccer newsletter. Sign up here to receive Full Time directly in your inbox.
We got our World Cup fix over the weekend, as rugby’s version wrapped up with England beating Canada in front of a record 81,885 fans at Wembley Stadium. Check out how it unfolded and learn about the Red Roses’ ambitions to follow in their soccer counterparts’ footsteps.
Today in Full Time:
USWNT thriving in France
On the road with Bay FC
NWSL trading card cheat sheet
Up first: It’s raining goals …
American(s) inParis Lyon
Lyon and Paris have long welcomed U.S. women’s national team talent. More than a dozen current and former players have gone to France to hone their game. Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Hope Solo and, more recently, Catarina Macario have all spent time with the eight-time Women’s Champions League winners OL Lyonnes, while Tobin Heath, Crystal Dunn and Allie Long headed to the capital city to play for PSG.
Some players, including Lindsey Heaps (formerly Horan) and Korbin Shrader (formerly Albert), have donned both jerseys.
This list is far from exhaustive. However, it does help explain why an affair like Saturday’s 6-1 result between the teams was always going to have a U.S. tilt. This time, the match was heavily skewed toward Lyonnes, who have won 18 league titles (four in the last four years).
Shrader, 21, assisted Heaps for the go-ahead goal before going on to score a hat trick herself in 15 minutes.
Fellow U.S. midfielder Lily Yohannes added an assist to the tally when she came off the bench in the 69th minute.
Lyonnes were busy this summer bolstering their already frightful attack, not only with Shrader, Yohannes and other international stars, but also by adding former Barcelona and Washington Spirit head coach Jonatan Giráldez. As for PSG, they’ve stumbled out of the starting blocks in Premiére Ligue, winning once, drawing once and losing to Lyonnes.
Despite the historic rivalry, Lyonnes’ top competitor so far is the other Parisian team: Paris FC. Both teams are undefeated with three wins apiece, and will face off on Nov. 1.
Meanwhile, Emma Hayes will call in her next U.S. camp for a trio of friendlies starting Oct. 23 at Subaru Park just outside Philadelphia. Seems like keeping an eye on France could help her selection.
Spirit clinch second NWSL playoff spot
From one Michele Kang team to another … the Spirit continued the goal celebrations for the multi-club owner yesterday with an emphatic 4-0 win over the Houston Dash to secure the second 2025 postseason ticket. (Kansas City clinched the first spot two weeks ago and the NWSL Shield, for most points, last week. More on them in a minute.)
Nigerian striker Gift Monday scored her first hat trick with the club, which was also the fastest in the league when counting from the start of a match. With her extensive selection of TikTok moves, Monday was never out of ways to celebrate.
“I love to dance, so there’s always a new step,” she said after the game.
Internal competition has been crucial for the Spirit this season, especially now that they have healthy options to choose from. Mid-season signing Sofia Cantore, who joined from Juventus as the first Italian player in the league, has added healthy competition for Monday. Cantore came on in the second half and scored one of her own that could only be described as . Check it out:
The NWSL always NWSLs when I’m out of the office, but one thing didn’t change during my month off after the birth of my son: Kansas City still has a commanding lead atop the standings, looking more and more impressive by the week.
It was fitting that my first episode back behind the microphone on the “Full Time” podcast was a deep dive into the Current’s 2025 Shield run with folks from across the team, trying to understand what makes them so successful: from Temwa Chawinga’s potential back-to-back MVP seasons to Lo’eau LaBonta’s leadership and Vlatko Andonovski’s resurgence as a club coach.
Still, there are bigger questions about the Current in terms of their ambitions beyond this year’s NWSL championship trophy.
Every NWSL team loves to obsess over becoming a “global brand,” and the Current are no different. They face a different challenge than Angel City or Gotham FC, who get a commercial bump from their famous metropolitan locations in Los Angeles and New York. The Current have been riding off storylines around their facilities for a couple of years now, with buzz around their purpose-built stadium, but this season their dominance provides a few more pieces to the puzzle.
It’s easy to forget this team is still only a few years old. Sure, there’s history in KC, but the Current brand has only existed since October 2021. That’s a drop in the bucket compared to the likes of OL Lyonnes, Arsenal, Chelsea and Barcelona in Europe. However, the Current do have their independence and their ambition. If they keep building on this momentum from the Shield and raise the trophy in November, Kansas City is going to permanently mark its spot on the global map of women’s soccer.
Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month
We’re smack dab in the middle of Hispanic Heritage Month, and The Athletic celebrated with a special episode of “Full Time,” connecting with three trailblazers in the NWSL about their Hispanic roots.
We spoke with Kansas City midfielder Rocky Rodríguez, the league’s first Costa Rican player, who signed with Sky Blue FC in 2016, as well as league newcomer Aisha Solórzano, who over the weekend became the first Guatemalan to score in the NWSL with her debut goal for Utah Royals.
We also caught up with American-born Reyna Reyes. The 24-year-old grew up in Texas and has since represented Mexico on the international stage. She spoke with us mere days before extending her contract with the Portland Thorns, even teasing her game day fit, which celebrated her Mexican heritage last week.
Personally, it was a satisfying episode to record, as a first-generation Argentine-American whose parents immigrated to New Jersey in the 1970s. It was fascinating to hear from these women, whose varying stories beautifully illustrated the multifaceted identities and cultures that make up Hispanic and Latinx communities around the U.S. and women’s football.
— Melanie Anzidei
On the road with an NWSL team
It’s not every day a journalist gets invited behind the scenes in the way Tamerra Griffin was this month with Bay FC, especially not during uncertain times like the team is currently facing. So, I asked Tamerra to share a little more about the experience. You can read her full report here.
“A few weeks ago, Bay FC invited me to embed with the team on their trip to Orlando to face off against the Pride: flying to Florida with the players, coaches and staff on their chartered flight (made possible by the CBA), staying in the same hotel, following along as they prepared for the game. It was a rare opportunity to peer beneath the hood of a professional women’s soccer operation in the lead-up to a game, especially on the road. I couldn’t have said yes fast enough.
“Then, four days before we were scheduled to take off from San Jose, Bay announced head coach Albertin Montoya would be resigning at the end of the season. Not exactly the best time to have a journalist nosing around, but the club upheld its invitation. I don’t think I’m being hyperbolic when I say the 39 hours I spent with Bay FC three weekends ago were some of the most enlightening experiences I’ve had as a women’s soccer reporter.”
Special edition: NWSL trading cards
Trading cards are even hotter now than they were during their initial pandemic lockdown resurgence five years ago. Thanks to the likes of Caitlin Clark and Lionel Messi, women’s sports cards and soccer cards are both experiencing big jumps in interest and value. Since the latest edition of NWSL trading cards was released recently, we got resident expert and soccer nerd Brooks Peck to give us the lowdown:
Official NWSL cards have been made by Parkside Collectibles since 2021 (that first edition included rookie cards of Trinity Rodman and Sophia Wilson).
You can buy them at hobby shops, Target and Walmart (although my local Target was sold out this weekend!), and online via Amazon, Parkside’s website and our partner eBay.
Packages come in two configurations: the $12 retail packs that include 25 randomly assorted cards from the set and the $95 hobby box, which contains 20 packs of eight cards and an average of two autographed cards per box.
As always with cards, buying packs can be fun, but if there’s a specific card you know you want, you’re usually best off just buying it individually to avoid disappointment.
While the autographs — headlined this year by the inclusion of Temwa Chawinga — are the big chase for many collectors, there are lots of fun card designs in the new set. Some of my favorites: the Identity inserts, the planetary-themed Vintage inserts and the annual batch of Promising Prospects.
I also highly recommend Parkside’s 2024 NWSL Pacific set, which has beautiful designs and some really cool relic cards (pieces of players’ match-worn jerseys). Happy collecting!
Building out: Two years ago, Kang told reporters she was looking for “70 to 100 acres of land” for the Spirit’s new training facility. That’s a lot of land in an area (D.C.) where land isn’t easy to come by. While Washington is still in search of a permanent training home, another one of Kang’s teams is getting one: London City Lionesses secured approval to begin development on a performance campus at Cobdown Park, about an hour train ride outside of London.
Scoring big: Reigning NWSL champion Orlando Pride have struggled this season, and things only got worse with a season-ending injury to Barbra Banda. Things turned around last weekend with the team’s first league win since June, defeating San Diego Wave 2-1. Could it have been forward Simone Charley’s pregame speech? Or was it the bump from record transfer signing Lizbeth Ovalle scoring her first NWSL goal? Either way, don’t count Orlando (fifth in the standings) out just yet.
Racing toward the pitch: The NWSL’s two newest clubs, Denver Summit and Boston Legacy, are nearing their inaugural seasons. The current expansion process has been “a blessing and a curse.”
Love Full Time? These stories can also be found on Yahoo’s women’s sports hub, in partnership with The Athletic. Also, check out our other newsletters.
(Top photo: Mark J. Rebilas / Imagn Images)
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
NWSL, Full Time Newsletter
2025 The Athletic Media Company
Continue reading...
| This is The Athletic’s weekly women’s soccer newsletter. Sign up here to receive Full Time directly in your inbox.We got our World Cup fix over the weekend, as rugby’s version wrapped up with England beating Canada in front of a record 81,885 fans at Wembley Stadium. Check out how it unfolded and learn about the Red Roses’ ambitions to follow in their soccer counterparts’ footsteps.
Today in Full Time:
USWNT thriving in France
On the road with Bay FCNWSL trading card cheat sheet
Up first: It’s raining goals …
Goals Galore
American(s) in
Lyon and Paris have long welcomed U.S. women’s national team talent. More than a dozen current and former players have gone to France to hone their game. Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Hope Solo and, more recently, Catarina Macario have all spent time with the eight-time Women’s Champions League winners OL Lyonnes, while Tobin Heath, Crystal Dunn and Allie Long headed to the capital city to play for PSG.
Some players, including Lindsey Heaps (formerly Horan) and Korbin Shrader (formerly Albert), have donned both jerseys.
This list is far from exhaustive. However, it does help explain why an affair like Saturday’s 6-1 result between the teams was always going to have a U.S. tilt. This time, the match was heavily skewed toward Lyonnes, who have won 18 league titles (four in the last four years).
Shrader, 21, assisted Heaps for the go-ahead goal before going on to score a hat trick herself in 15 minutes.
Fellow U.S. midfielder Lily Yohannes added an assist to the tally when she came off the bench in the 69th minute.
Lyonnes were busy this summer bolstering their already frightful attack, not only with Shrader, Yohannes and other international stars, but also by adding former Barcelona and Washington Spirit head coach Jonatan Giráldez. As for PSG, they’ve stumbled out of the starting blocks in Premiére Ligue, winning once, drawing once and losing to Lyonnes.
Despite the historic rivalry, Lyonnes’ top competitor so far is the other Parisian team: Paris FC. Both teams are undefeated with three wins apiece, and will face off on Nov. 1.
Meanwhile, Emma Hayes will call in her next U.S. camp for a trio of friendlies starting Oct. 23 at Subaru Park just outside Philadelphia. Seems like keeping an eye on France could help her selection.
Spirit clinch second NWSL playoff spot
From one Michele Kang team to another … the Spirit continued the goal celebrations for the multi-club owner yesterday with an emphatic 4-0 win over the Houston Dash to secure the second 2025 postseason ticket. (Kansas City clinched the first spot two weeks ago and the NWSL Shield, for most points, last week. More on them in a minute.)
Nigerian striker Gift Monday scored her first hat trick with the club, which was also the fastest in the league when counting from the start of a match. With her extensive selection of TikTok moves, Monday was never out of ways to celebrate.
“I love to dance, so there’s always a new step,” she said after the game.
Internal competition has been crucial for the Spirit this season, especially now that they have healthy options to choose from. Mid-season signing Sofia Cantore, who joined from Juventus as the first Italian player in the league, has added healthy competition for Monday. Cantore came on in the second half and scored one of her own that could only be described as . Check it out:
Meg’s Corner: Can Kansas City go global?
The NWSL always NWSLs when I’m out of the office, but one thing didn’t change during my month off after the birth of my son: Kansas City still has a commanding lead atop the standings, looking more and more impressive by the week.
It was fitting that my first episode back behind the microphone on the “Full Time” podcast was a deep dive into the Current’s 2025 Shield run with folks from across the team, trying to understand what makes them so successful: from Temwa Chawinga’s potential back-to-back MVP seasons to Lo’eau LaBonta’s leadership and Vlatko Andonovski’s resurgence as a club coach.
Still, there are bigger questions about the Current in terms of their ambitions beyond this year’s NWSL championship trophy.
Every NWSL team loves to obsess over becoming a “global brand,” and the Current are no different. They face a different challenge than Angel City or Gotham FC, who get a commercial bump from their famous metropolitan locations in Los Angeles and New York. The Current have been riding off storylines around their facilities for a couple of years now, with buzz around their purpose-built stadium, but this season their dominance provides a few more pieces to the puzzle.
It’s easy to forget this team is still only a few years old. Sure, there’s history in KC, but the Current brand has only existed since October 2021. That’s a drop in the bucket compared to the likes of OL Lyonnes, Arsenal, Chelsea and Barcelona in Europe. However, the Current do have their independence and their ambition. If they keep building on this momentum from the Shield and raise the trophy in November, Kansas City is going to permanently mark its spot on the global map of women’s soccer.
Bonus Content
Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month
We’re smack dab in the middle of Hispanic Heritage Month, and The Athletic celebrated with a special episode of “Full Time,” connecting with three trailblazers in the NWSL about their Hispanic roots.
We spoke with Kansas City midfielder Rocky Rodríguez, the league’s first Costa Rican player, who signed with Sky Blue FC in 2016, as well as league newcomer Aisha Solórzano, who over the weekend became the first Guatemalan to score in the NWSL with her debut goal for Utah Royals.
We also caught up with American-born Reyna Reyes. The 24-year-old grew up in Texas and has since represented Mexico on the international stage. She spoke with us mere days before extending her contract with the Portland Thorns, even teasing her game day fit, which celebrated her Mexican heritage last week.
Personally, it was a satisfying episode to record, as a first-generation Argentine-American whose parents immigrated to New Jersey in the 1970s. It was fascinating to hear from these women, whose varying stories beautifully illustrated the multifaceted identities and cultures that make up Hispanic and Latinx communities around the U.S. and women’s football.
— Melanie Anzidei
On the road with an NWSL team
It’s not every day a journalist gets invited behind the scenes in the way Tamerra Griffin was this month with Bay FC, especially not during uncertain times like the team is currently facing. So, I asked Tamerra to share a little more about the experience. You can read her full report here.
“A few weeks ago, Bay FC invited me to embed with the team on their trip to Orlando to face off against the Pride: flying to Florida with the players, coaches and staff on their chartered flight (made possible by the CBA), staying in the same hotel, following along as they prepared for the game. It was a rare opportunity to peer beneath the hood of a professional women’s soccer operation in the lead-up to a game, especially on the road. I couldn’t have said yes fast enough.
“Then, four days before we were scheduled to take off from San Jose, Bay announced head coach Albertin Montoya would be resigning at the end of the season. Not exactly the best time to have a journalist nosing around, but the club upheld its invitation. I don’t think I’m being hyperbolic when I say the 39 hours I spent with Bay FC three weekends ago were some of the most enlightening experiences I’ve had as a women’s soccer reporter.”
Special edition: NWSL trading cards
Trading cards are even hotter now than they were during their initial pandemic lockdown resurgence five years ago. Thanks to the likes of Caitlin Clark and Lionel Messi, women’s sports cards and soccer cards are both experiencing big jumps in interest and value. Since the latest edition of NWSL trading cards was released recently, we got resident expert and soccer nerd Brooks Peck to give us the lowdown:
Official NWSL cards have been made by Parkside Collectibles since 2021 (that first edition included rookie cards of Trinity Rodman and Sophia Wilson).
You can buy them at hobby shops, Target and Walmart (although my local Target was sold out this weekend!), and online via Amazon, Parkside’s website and our partner eBay.
Packages come in two configurations: the $12 retail packs that include 25 randomly assorted cards from the set and the $95 hobby box, which contains 20 packs of eight cards and an average of two autographed cards per box.
As always with cards, buying packs can be fun, but if there’s a specific card you know you want, you’re usually best off just buying it individually to avoid disappointment.
While the autographs — headlined this year by the inclusion of Temwa Chawinga — are the big chase for many collectors, there are lots of fun card designs in the new set. Some of my favorites: the Identity inserts, the planetary-themed Vintage inserts and the annual batch of Promising Prospects.
I also highly recommend Parkside’s 2024 NWSL Pacific set, which has beautiful designs and some really cool relic cards (pieces of players’ match-worn jerseys). Happy collecting!
Full Time First Looks
Building out: Two years ago, Kang told reporters she was looking for “70 to 100 acres of land” for the Spirit’s new training facility. That’s a lot of land in an area (D.C.) where land isn’t easy to come by. While Washington is still in search of a permanent training home, another one of Kang’s teams is getting one: London City Lionesses secured approval to begin development on a performance campus at Cobdown Park, about an hour train ride outside of London.
Scoring big: Reigning NWSL champion Orlando Pride have struggled this season, and things only got worse with a season-ending injury to Barbra Banda. Things turned around last weekend with the team’s first league win since June, defeating San Diego Wave 2-1. Could it have been forward Simone Charley’s pregame speech? Or was it the bump from record transfer signing Lizbeth Ovalle scoring her first NWSL goal? Either way, don’t count Orlando (fifth in the standings) out just yet.
Racing toward the pitch: The NWSL’s two newest clubs, Denver Summit and Boston Legacy, are nearing their inaugural seasons. The current expansion process has been “a blessing and a curse.”
Love Full Time? These stories can also be found on Yahoo’s women’s sports hub, in partnership with The Athletic. Also, check out our other newsletters.
(Top photo: Mark J. Rebilas / Imagn Images)
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
NWSL, Full Time Newsletter
2025 The Athletic Media Company
Continue reading...
