Emily Fox Bags Assist and Player of the Match for Arsenal 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

It’s Monday, January 29th. Give us four minutes, we give you everything The Women’s Game.

Hey TWG Subscribers! It's Sam Mewis, your editor-in-chief of The Women's Game. What a week! We dropped our podcast with Lindsey Horan, caught a glimpse of the NWSL schedule for 2024, saw my sister, Kristie Mewis get her first win in the WSL with West Ham, and watched Emily Fox win Player of the Match for Arsenal. I even squeezed in a puck drop at the PWHL Boston game! Whew!

Things are flying here at TWG. We're working to bring you more great content and coverage this week. Up next on the podcast, we have an incredibly touching interview with Mal Swanson. We talked about her battle back from injury, her early days breaking into the USWNT, and what her and her husband, Chicago Cubs Shortstop Dansby Swanson, like to do in Chicago in their spare time. That episode drops on Thursday. I can't wait for you to hear it. In the meantime, I'll be reading your emails in between Champions League games on Tuesday and Wednesday this week! Thanks for being here with us. 

I. Back with a Bang for the Arsenal: Mead, Miedema, Williamson all make big marks for Arsenal last week (PLUS Foxxy gets Player of the Match) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

With matchday 12 of 22 in the books this past weekend, England’s Women’s Super League is officially in the second half of another gripping campaign that sees a number of teams battling down the stretch for the league title. 

For now, Chelsea, led by US Manager-Elect, Emma Hayes, remain top of the pack as they aim for a remarkable fifth straight title. Lauren James was electric once again to deliver victory at Brighton. Colombia’s dynamic 24 year old striker Mayra Ramírez who joined Chelsea this week for a world record fee, also made her debut. Ramirez had six goals in seven games for Spanish side Levante before signing for Chelsea, coming off a World Cup year when she was pivotal to Colombia’s incredible, historic quarter-final finish. 

Arsenal had a fantastic weekend winning 2-0 at Liverpool. Manager Jonas Eidevall’s side were buoyed by the continued return to form of multiple world class talents Leah Williamson, Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema after long-term injuries over the past week. Against Liverpool, Arsenal dominated and took the lead on the hour. An incredible move started with a give and go that saw Fox carry the ball up field, weaving through no less than three flummoxed defenders before setting up Vivianne Miedema, the Dutch phenom who returned to the pitch this past October after tearing her ACL in December 2022, an injury that kept her from the World Cup last summer. Though she returned slowly in October, Miedema earned just her second start and first goal since injury against Liverpool. Miedema’s finish was truly stunning, a thunderous torrent of emotion. Some way to mark your first goal back. Fox was also part of the build up to Arsenal’s second goal, finished by Australia’s Caitlin Foord. The American has adapted to life in England with aplomb, earning Player of the Match plaudits. As Fox noted to ESPN on her move abroad, "I feel like I want to develop more of my attacking game and so I think the style that Arsenal plays allows me to have freedom.”

Arsenal's momentum against Liverpool comes at the end of the week that saw other world class talents return to form after ACL injury as well. England captain Leah Williamson sent this dime of a pass for Lioness forward extraordinaire Beth Mead to finish off in Arsenal 6-0 trouncing of Reading last week.

Next up for the Gunners? Clear your schedules, USWNT fans. Emily Fox is taking on USA teammate Kristie Mewis next Sunday in London as third-place Arsenal meet eleventh placed West Ham, coming in fresh off of Kristie Mewis’ first win (more on that below.)

II. NWSL’s 2024 schedule dropped and the season starts soon 🇺🇸

NWSL is swinging into February, with (hopefully) all the smooth drive of Alex Morgan on the golf range this past week. 

Teams began their preseason training as NWSL officially confirmed their schedule for 2024. With 14 teams now competing (Bay FC and Utah Royals officially join the pandemonium), fans can finally plot their travels to see the new teams, the super teams, and their favorite players throughout the year. 

The race for glory begins in mid-March, as last year’s NWSL Champions Gotham FC (replete with a new slew of USWNT stars) host last year’s Shield winners San Diego Wave in a one-off Challenge Cup title game at Red Bull Arena (March 15, 8 p.m. ET, Prime Video). 

The next day, the season officially kicks off with matches across the country, including a historic first-match clash between Portland Thorns and Kansas City Current, who open the campaign as the first match of the year played at the first women’s specific soccer stadium in the country: CPKC Stadium in Kansas City (March 16, 1 p.m. ET, ABC). 

ii. As a busy off-season for free agency transfers and other big news continues, clubs have kept us in the loop with some exciting news drops this week. That includes Portland Thorns letting us know that THE PEOPLE’S CAPTAIN IS BACK, breaking the news via Portland’s famous bookstore Powell’s, for the bookworm captain, of course. 📚

iii. The Thompson sisters might win the day with Ali Riley getting an assist for best schedule drop video, while San Diego confirmed with a family affair celebration that former England captain Casey Stoney is staying put as head gaffer in San Diego. 🎥

iv. With the transfer window closing imminently abroad, more news is flying this way, as big signings are choosing to ply their promise in the high-stakes parity chaos of NWSL. That includes the news that Canada’s beloved Jessie Fleming is leaving Chelsea behind for Portland shores turning the Thorns, with Janine Beckie and Christine Sinclair already on the roster, into Canada South. 🇨🇦

v. AFCON Women’s Player of the Year, the Nigerian wonder-forward winning trophies with Barcelona, Asisat Oshoala was left-off Barcelona’s bench as the elite talent is rumored to move to NWSL for $162,000. 🇳🇬

One more thing: MAL SWANSON IS BACK IN TRAINING. 🙏

III. UEFA Women’s Champions League has just one group game left 🌍

WHAT A WEEK. But there’s more in store in the coming days, as the final match of the UEFA Women’s Champions League settles the score this Tuesday and Wednesday across Europe. All eyes will be on Group C, where all four teams can still qualify. After defeating the ascendant Ajax at home, PSG are in top spot. And with a freshly-capped USWNT midfielder, the 20-year-old Korbin Albert from Grayslake, Ill. earning 22 minutes among them, they look poised to pry their way into the knockouts come matchday six. But PSG have a fierce collection of aspirational group stage victors chasing for contention, as they head to Bayern Munich who sit just three points behind them in third place. Ajax hosts Roma, sitting second and fourth. 

ii. Last week, Chelsea officially booked their spot in the quarterfinals as they overcame Real Madrid at home. The match featured the USA’s Mia Fishel of San Diego, California, starting at striker after transferring to Chelsea last summer from a few sensational goal-scoring seasons in Mexico’s Liga MX Femenil. Fishel played 45 minutes in the Blues’ 2-1 victory, which made them the first team to officially join Barcelona and Lyon in the quarterfinals. Elsewhere in Group D, Paris FC and Häcken fought to a 0-0 draw against one another (featuring an immense goalkeeper performance for Paris FC and Nigeria keeper Chiamaka Nnadozie), and will now joust separately for the points necessary to move on over one another. 

iii. Thanks in part to Barcelona’s seamless victory over Frankfurt, Benfica are through to the quarters in second-place behind the Spanish giants, settling Group A. In Group B, SK Brann beat Slavia Praha 1-0 to confirm their spot 

IV. The great Lindsey Horan joins the pod to talk joy, disappointment, and playing the beautiful game abroad 🗣️🇺🇸🇫🇷

There’s often a unique, almost familial tie cultivated between elite athletes who compete against each other for starting roles on a national team squad, while still pulling for glory in the same direction. That fierce fight for minutes doesn’t always end in life-long kinship, but it did forge an empathetic connection for US National Team midfielders and 2019 World Cup Champions, Samantha Mewis and Lindsey Horan. 

Who better to host as Sam Mewis’ first guest on episode two of The Women’s Game pod?

The pair of veteran USWNT stars talk about that trophy-lifting summer in France, competing for World Cup minutes, and all the most pressing questions before the US National Team today. 

✨ The impending future with soon-to-be USA manager Emma Hayes, following her in-person visit to USWNT camp this past December:

“It was something you needed. I think when I walked out, I was like that's a true leader, a true coach, someone that has a lot of experience, and someone that wants to take this team to amazing, amazing places and sees the potential in it, and then maybe sees the drop off and what needs to be done.” 

✨ And what went wrong down under: 

“Well one, I think it’s 100 percent a testament to the growth of the game…” but added: “...I think in a whole, the preparation could have been a little bit better. That is not just throwing shade at the staff, it's for us as well…” as well as lots more.  

LISTEN HERE, SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE, AND SHARE WITH A FRIEND! 

V. News and Notes 

a. Kristie Mewis came on in the 70th minute for the Hammers as they fought to a 2-1 victory over Bristol City at Ashton Gate this Sunday. The victory sees West Ham end the weekend in eleventh place, and marks Mewis’ first WSL win. 

b. NWSL signings stay cooking. Deyna Castellanos signed for NWSL expansion side Bay FC this week, departing Manchester City for the California Coast. The 24-year-old Venezuelan talent played three years with Florida State University before signing for Atlético Madrid, where she was then scouted by the esteemed Manchester City. 

c. FIFA rejected Luis Rubiales’ appeal for his 3-year ban from football. 

d. West Ham’s Katrina Gorry with the unintended moment of the weekend. “Tell me you are Australian without telling me you're Australian.” 🇦🇺

VI. Parting Shots 🥃

In a weekend that saw Massachusetts original, World Cup champion, and Men in Blazers’ Women’s Game boss Sammy Mewis drop the puck for PWHL Boston as they faced Minnesota, LSU vs South Carolina women’s basketball was the most-watched sporting event on Thursday night, supplanting the NBA for that spot. MORE. WOMEN’S. SPORTS. ON. TV.