Alumni Corner: Leslie Osborne, Peak Soccer

Welcome to Week three of Alumni Corner! In Week One, we met Leslie Osborne and learned all about her youth soccer years in Wisconsin. In Week Two, we ventured through her high school years. ODP, Youth National Teams, College Recruiting. All of that led to where we are now: Week 3 and “Peak Soccer.” Santa […]

Alumni Corner: Leslie Osborne, the high school years

Welcome to Week 2 of Leslie Osborne’s Alumni Corner: the high school and recruiting years Thank you to the team at ECNL for partnering with SoccerNation for this series! Last week, we met Leslie Osborne. She grew up in Wisconsin, where she played her youth club soccer and got her biggest growth opportunities through the ODP program. […]

The road to Tokyo goes through Mexico

The U.S. Women’s National team will face Mexico on Friday February 7th. The winner qualifies for the 2020 Olympics. The American women cruised through the group round undefeated with three clean sheets. None of those games matter any more, however. In order to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, the USA must win their Concacaf Semi-Final […]

So far so good. USA 4 : 0 Haiti in Women’s Olympic Qualifying

After going into halftime with a slim 1-0 lead over Haiti, the US Women’s National Team stepped on the gas. The US Women cruised to a 4-0 win over Haiti to open CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying. First Goal of 2020: Christen Press Christen Press opened scoring 78 seconds into the match. Lynn Williams served up a […]

Tokyo 2020! US Women’s Olympic Qualifying 101

Women’s OLYMPIC SOCCER 101 Soccer, of course, is an Olympic sport. It’s not the World Cup, but it’s a big deal. Olympic soccer and World Cup soccer have different roster rules. Qualifying is a bit different as well. Read More about Olympic Qualifying for the Men Here OLYMPIC SOCCER FOR WOMEN: 12 TEAMS WITH NO […]

Tokyo 2020 is coming! US Men’s Olympic Soccer 101

2020 is an Olympic Year. All those sports Americans barely know exist in any other year — we love watching them all. Like Team Handball — why isn’t that a bigger deal here in America? It looks so fun! But back to soccer… Olympic Soccer 101 Soccer, of course, is an Olympic sport. It’s not […]

US Women’s Victory Tour: a Photo Album

On the heels of their fourth Women’s World Cup championship, the USA Women’s National team has embarked on a nation-wide Victory Tour. The first tour stop was the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on August 3rd. View this post on Instagram saturday night lights ? A post shared by Rose Lavelle (@lavellerose) on Aug 5, 2019 […]

Women’s World Cup Final: Preview from the Expert

There may not be a better person in the world to preview the 2019 Women’s World Cup Final. From 2009 until late 2017, Mirelle van Rijbroek was the director of all things girls’ youth soccer in the Netherlands. She trained, coached, and was an important part of the Dutch girls’ youth system that eventually became […]

Put me in, Coach!

Jill Ellis, spreading the playing time love around. No Alex Morgan.No Megan Rapinoe.To Tobin Heath.All three women had what seemed like iron grips on a starting spot on Jill Ellis’s Women’s World Cup roster. But none of the three started, or even played in, the USA’s second group-round game. In fact, only four of the […]

13-0. What do you think?

France opened the 2019 Women’s World Cup with a 4-0 win over Korea Republic. Spain, Norway, and Brazil also scored three goals each in their opening matches. The USA wanted to make a statement in their opening match against Thailand. With their 13-0 win, the American women didn’t just make a statement. They closed the […]

Meet Nike’s newest young star, and her Slammers FC team. #DREAMFURTHER

During the 2019 Champions League final, Nike debuted their big-budget ad, Dream Further. During today’s marquee Women’s World Cup match (USA! USA! USA!), the ad is sure to run again. The cinematic action-packed film features a young girl being brought along to be a part of some pretty big soccer moments. Nike’s emphasis is to […]

American Soccer: Using Our Strengths and Addressing Our Challenges (Part 1)

A conversation with the Director of Talent Identification for US Soccer, Mirelle van Rijbroek The 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup has kicked off in France. Leading up to this Women’s World Cup, I asked van Rijbroek the hard question: Who does she think will win the championship? She answered, “Well, I hope we do, of […]

WOMEN’S WORLD CUP | FUN FACTS: FORWARDS EDITION PART 1

Did you miss the previous Fun Facts? No worries! Here they are: Keepers edition (Naeher, Harris & Franch) Defenders edition, Part 1 (O’Hara, Sauerbrunn & Krieger) Defenders edition, Part 2 (Dunn, Sonnett, Davidson & Dahlkemper) Midfielders edition, Part 1 (Ertz, Horan, & Lavelle) Midfielders edition, Part 2 (Brian, Mewis & Long) Forwards edition, Part 2 […]

Nike’s “Dream Further” Ad Features Local SoCal Players and Referees

Nike’s Women’s World Cup ad made its television debut during the Champions League Final on Saturday June 1 Since it’s debut, Nike’s cinematic and action-packed “Dream Further” ad has been racking up the views & shares — for good reason! It’s pretty amazing. Have you seen it? If you haven’t, check it out. If you’ve […]

Women’s World Cup | Fun Facts: Midfielders Edition Part 2

Did you miss the previous Fun Facts? No worries! Here they are: Keepers edition (Naeher, Harris & Franch) Defenders edition, Part 1 (O’Hara, Sauerbrunn & Krieger) Defenders edition, Part 2 (Dunn, Sonnett, Davidson & Dahlkemper) Midfielders edition, Part 1 (Ertz, Horan, & Lavelle) Forwards edition, Part 1 (Rapinoe, Pugh, & Press) Forwards edition, Part 2 […]