“I’ve been told that females aren’t qualified to coach.”

- Men in Blazers spoke with Julianne Sitch this week, the first female manager to win a Men’s NCAA Soccer National Title with the University of Chicago 🏆. The Oswego, Illinois native spearheaded University of Chicago’s first grasp of national brass while guiding them to a 22-0-1 undefeated season. She now moves on to try her heroic hand at University of Denver, where she’ll be leading the women’s team.

I. USA interim boss Twila Kilgore names 27-player squad for September friendlies 🇺🇸

We’ve been extolling their names for so long it feels impossible. But two-time World Cup Champions and national team starlets, stalwarts, and soon-to-be retired veterans, Julie Ertz and Megan Rapinoe, bid adieu to the USWNT this month.

Ertz will earn her honors first, saying farewell to a career noted for a world class, tenacious interpretation of her midfield and center back roles before a celebratory crowd in Cincinnati on September 21st. A few days later in Chicago, Megan Rapinoe exits an international career as remarkable off the field as it was on it, as Rapinoe is the only human being on the planet to have won both a Ballon D’or and a Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Their departures headline a brace of friendlies against South Africa that dwell in a moment of national team limbo.

We remain in the absence of a permanent head coach, and steer toward next summer’s Olympics in the care of interim coach Twila Kilgore. This week, Kilgore named a 27-player squad, reassembling the beleaguered ship that gathers for the first time since that historically disappointing Round of 16 World Cup exit in Melbourne.

Of the 23 players that fell short down under, 21 were originally called to return this month, accounting for all but Kristie Mewis (Gotham) and Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns) who miss out due to injuries. As confirmed this weekend, though, both Kelley O’Hara (Gotham) and Rose Lavelle (OL Reign) will also miss out due to injury (though Lavelle will indeed travel to her hometown of skyline chili and soccer greatness, Cincinnati).

O’Hara and Lavelle are replaced by a set of two fresh faces. Gotham forward Midge Purce returns with 23 caps and Angel City F.C.’s uncapped defender M.A. Vignola marks the third uncapped player in camp.

With those late changes, the public prepares to say so-long to legends of our American game while celebrating the introduction - or return - of a few names that may mark our future.

Of the 8 players in camp that missed the World Cup, five of them are already capped with the national team. That includes Sam Coffey (Portland Thorns), Ashley Hatch (Washington Spirit), Midge Purce (Gotham), Casey Kreuger (Chicago Red Stars) and Tierna Davidson (Chicago Red Stars). Chicago defender Tierna Davidson is a 2019 World Cup Champion, and her fellow Red Stars teammate Casey Kreuger played a role in getting them there. Coffey is among NWSL’s elite defensive midfielders, Purce is a reliable threat on Gotham’s wing, and Hatch is in contention for this year’s golden boot. All three arguably deserved a spot in the squad this summer, having made their case abundantly clear via performances in the league.

And while those names are a joy to see return and interesting additions to consider, perhaps the most exciting names in camp are those we’ve yet to see.

That includes M.A. Vignola, whose late addition was announced Saturday shortly before the left-back took to the pitch against Chicago. Angel City’s manager Becki Tweed commented: “You are going to see a lot more of her over the next couple of years. This is just the first step in that direction…”

We will also see San Diego Wave’s 18-year-old star from Frisco, Jaedyn Shaw, who was named US Soccer’s Young Player of the Year in 2022. Shaw’s versatility across the pitch can be utilized in a number of roles, bringing a creative flourish and prescient eye to every position (setting up goals like this one, and scoring them like this).

And we will also get a chance to observe, at long last, the long clamored for Mia Fishel, who arrives from England where she prepares for her first season with Chelsea after reeling in the goals in Liga MX Femenil. The 22-year-old San Diego native scored nearly 40 goals across two seasons with Tigres in Mexico, becoming the first foreign player to abscond with the golden boot.

MORE: From Jonathan Tannenwald at The Philadelphia Inquirer, this USWNT roster ends one era and starts a new one.

II. Spain calls in 21 of 39 Spanish players refusing national team call-ups as “Se Acabó” continues, after Rubiales resigns 🇪🇸

We wrote at length in last week’s edition of The Women’s Game about the reckoning rocking Spain in the aftermath of their first Women’s World Cup trophy. An uninvited kiss that Luis Rubiales planted on Jenni Hermoso sparked international furor, resulting in the “Se Acabó” (“It’s over”) movement, which carries on as we speak.

Jorge Vilda, the long-criticized manager that led Spain to victory despite protestations from players (including a 15-player boycott of his tenure in advance of the World Cup), has been moved on.

Last Sunday, the unwanted-kiss-planting culprit Rubiales announced he had no choice but to resign.

But the women who’ve collected historic firsts on the field, intend further changes off of it. The rot, they feel, is more pervasive than a few changes at the helm could rectify. And so as the women’s game heads toward the first international break since the World Cup this week, La Roja’s pool of players made clear they demand more change.

A total of 39 Spanish footballers, including 21 of the 23-player squad that defeated England’s Lionesses 1-0 in the World Cup Final, announced their refusal to rejoin the team until more has been done. Among their demands is that temporary RFEF president Pedro Rocha step down.

In a speech delivered last week, two-time Ballon D’or recipient and Barcelona and Spain’s world class talent Alexia Putellas told the world:

“We need agreement, values and leadership from the institutions, please, and that’s why we are not going to stop here, we will join those who have fought before us and we will join in for the effort we put in every day, we will do it for all the girls and boys who want to, one day, be like us. We will not fail you.”

Remarkably, despite the 39-player announcement demanding further changes before players report to camp, the RFEF today called in a 23 player squad that includes 21 of the 39 players on that list.

Of those 21 players called in, despite their clearly communicated intentions to boycott, 15 were a part of this summer’s trophy-winning squad. Jenni Hermoso, notably, is not among them.

Today’s squad announcement also names five of the original 15 players (the so-called “La Quince”) that boycotted Jorge Vilda’s time as manager beginning in 2022. That includes exceptional Barcelona talents Mapi Leon and Patri Guijarro, whose absences from this summer’s affair were among the most glaring.

Mere hours before announcing today’s roster (a roster now led by Montse Tomé, following Jorge Vilda’s ousting) the RFEF put out a statement urging players to join the change led by the Federation, saying (as translated by DAZN Football reporter Alex Ibaceta):

“It’s clear that the federation, society and the players are aligned with the same objective: the renovation and the start of a new stage where football will be benefited by this whole process.”

The statement goes on to “guarantee” a safe environment for players, dedicated to mutual trust.

La Roja manager Montse Tomé (speaking midday Monday on the American east coast) told press: "I trust that the players are professionals, they come from being world champions, they love the profession, being in the Spanish team is a privilege, and I know that they will be with us tomorrow.”

As for the players, according to La Periódico’s Barcelona-based journalist Laia Bonals Ruiz, they were unaware of the federation’s intention to call them in. According to Ruiz, they found out on tv like the rest of us.

Whether they indeed report for duty remains to be seen. Though rather notably, as reported by El Español, the leaders and employees of the Spanish Federation are ready to take legal action against players that refuse call ups to the national team.

MORE: 39 Spanish players issue statement demanding more change

AND MORE: Spain’s players were not told about Nations League squad amid strikes

III. NWSL playoffs loom amid weekend of voluminous crowds and smashing debuts 🏆

There are but three whimsy weekends now separating us from the 2023 NWSL playoff season. The race for the shield is as tight as the sprint for playoff contention. And this past weekend’s league-wide tests of end-of-season momentum delivered the drama and the dreams.

In New Jersey, Gotham introduced their newest World Cup champion-winning addition, Esther Gonzalez, to a jubilant crowd. Gonzalez delivered on the hype and the home crowd fervor with a two-goal performance against Washington Spirit, taking just five minutes between her first and second goal.

Across the nation, Portland settled back into first-place in the NWSL before a 25,218 person sellout crowd. Morgan Weaver marked the occasion with her third-goal in three games. According to Opta, Weaver’s goal marks the first time in NWSL history that two teammates scored 10 or more goals in one season across all competitions. Portland’s pair of 10-goal ballers is of course Weaver and Sophia Smith. The records don’t end there for Portland, who left Saturday’s Cascadia rivalry match with 40 total goals. That’s Portland’s fourth 40-goal season (and second consecutive), officially the most of any NWSL club.

As Weaver told the media afterward: “I don’t know if you saw my celebration but I was letting everyone know this is Portland and this is our home.”

And finally, while World Cup stars such as Brazil’s Debinha marked the weekend with yet another rocket-goal to launch her Kansas City side to victory over previously top-ranked San Diego Wave, other World Cup stars marked their weekend by narrowly avoiding horrific injury. San Diego Wave’s Alex Morgan responded to a dangerous tackle in that same match with shock, and questions as to how a call was missed.

MORE: Women’s World Cup winner Esther Gonzalez aims to mix Spanish style with NWSL physicality

IV. News and Notes

V. Parting Shots

Women’s Super League Chair Dawn Airey: ‘WSL can be first billion-pound women’s football league in the world’