A 17-Year-Old's First NWSL Goal 🎉

Happy Tuesday, TWG Readers!

I’m so happy to be back with you here! Becky took over the newsletter last week to introduce her brand new podcast with The Women’s Game: Teaming Up with Becky Sauerbrunn. Her first episode with Elizabeth Banks premiered last Monday and the second one with Katie Nolan just dropped yesterday! If you haven’t listened yet, please head over to our podcast feed or YouTube channel to check it out.

We’re gearing up for a big few weeks here at TWG with the Champions League starting today, another episode of Mewis Squared coming this Friday, NWSL playoffs approaching, and three USWNT games at the end of the month. We’ve also got some very special one-of-a-kind podcast episodes dropping over the next few weeks. I know — we just keep the mysteries coming, don’t we? If you’re curious, just subscribe and make sure you’re following on social! 

I feel like I am truly reinventing the phrase “multi-hyphenate” as I am attempting to embody all of my current roles as Sammy Media-auntie-dog mom-Oktoberfest participant-wife-birthday girl. It’s a big job, but somebody’s gotta turn 33 this week! I am juggling a lot, but am feeling so lucky and excited that I get to share so much of my life with all of you. Thank you all for being here and for making this job so fun.

Love,
Sam

NWSL Matchday 23: A Sinc Celebration in Portland 🌹

Portland Thorns 2-1 Bay FC

The three-time NWSL champions retired the No. 12 jersey of Canadian GOAT Christine Sinclair on Saturday, honoring one of the best to ever do it by making Sinc the first player ever inducted into the Portland Thorns Hall of Fame. Sinc’s former teammate Olivia Moultrie celebrated the occasion by scoring a second-half brace (including this USWNT link-up goal between her and Sam Coffey) to seal a win over Bay FC after trailing early in the contest. One year after making the postseason in their debut season, 2024 expansion-side Bay FC were officially eliminated from the playoffs with the loss.

Washington Spirit 2-1 San Diego Wave

San Diego’s French star Delphine Cascarino came off the bench to score a seismic 95th-minute equalizer in the capital city, almost stealing a point on the road for the beleaguered formerly second-place side. But Rosemonde Kouassi responded at the death with her second goal of the day to secure a Washington win. The Wave’s loss is their fourth in five games, and though they finished the weekend in the eighth and final playoff spot, San Diego still haven’t won a game since August.

More: Along with the win, the Spirit broke their single-season attendance record over the weekend with one home match to go.

• Sam’s Take 🗣️: This was such a crazy ending to this game! Delphine Cascarino's finish was beautiful: an outside-of-the-foot scoop around the GK. But the Spirit responded with relentlessness and got the three points back just seconds later. This match left me thinking about the "Spirit revenge year" we were promised...

📊 With only three weekends left in the regular season, check out the full NWSL standings.

📬 Enjoying The Women’s Game? Check out our other MiB newsletters:

🐦‍⬛ The Raven: Our Monday and Friday newsletter where we preview the biggest matches around the world (and tell you where/how to watch them) and recap our favorite football moments from the weekend.

🔍 The Correspondent: Rory Smith’s thoughts on the world of soccer, culture, food, and how they all connect – every Thursday.

🇺🇸 USMNT Only: Your weekly update on the most important topics in the U.S. men’s game, all leading up to next year’s World Cup.

Meanwhile, in England’s WSL 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Manchester City 3-2 Arsenal 

Manchester City finished the weekend in second place after securing a substantial three points at home against the Gunners, who dipped down to fifth with their first defeat of the season. Sunday’s test of top-of-the-table talent delivered on entertainment and drama as former City player and England star Chloe Kelly scored a rocket against her former club to equalize late in the second half, then celebrated by pointing repeatedly to her Arsenal crest. Kelly got the revenge goal in her first return to Manchester City Joie Stadium, but City got the win with one last 88th-minute response. 

• Sam’s Take 🗣️: Arsenal fans, how are you feeling five games in? Come to our Discord and let me know if you think Champions League against Lyon today is going to get you back on track or... make things worse?

Manchester United 1-1 Chelsea

Ahead of their first UWCL league-phase appearance, Manchester United held the top-ranked treble-defenders to a 1-1 draw while playing at home in Leigh Sports Village. American goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce—who’s emerged as a top candidate for the USWNT starting role since debuting with a clean sheet against Brazil in April—made five saves to help stymie the league-leaders. As for the Blues, they still finished the weekend in first place, but their perfect run of wins was interrupted with their first draw since March 30. Silver linings: More Sam Kerr and this Cat Macario back-heel assist.

🥤 Olipop power everything we do here at The Women’s Game. You can use code TWG20 for 20% off your first order at drinkolipop.com/TWG20.

Goals of the Weekend, Presented by New Balance 💥

The Champions League Is Back! 🏆

The 2025/26 Champions League is upon us, and begins with the first match of the inaugural league phase. The new design features 18 of Europe’s most elite teams competing in a single-round format that replaces the group stage with the top-ranked sides proceeding to a knockout round—the top four head to the quarterfinal automatically, with the next eight entering a playoff—which then leads to the final.

Ten different European nations are represented in this edition of the league phase as reigning champions Arsenal look to defend their title on the continent alongside two other English clubs in WSL titans Chelsea and Manchester United, who are appearing in their first-ever UWCL. In addition to England’s three teams, Spain and France also have three sides each in the league phase, including eight-time champions Lyon and three-time winners Barcelona, who the Gunners beat in last year’s final. Here are a few early tests to keep an eye on:

Arsenal vs. OL Lyonnes (TODAY, 3 p.m. ET, CBS) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🇫🇷

The defending champions of Europe start their title-defense against the winningest team on the continent, Lyon. USWNT fans have plenty to root for on either side, with a trio of Americans stationed in the south of France and two Olympians representing the Gunners. In a recent interview for Arsenal.com, one of those Gunners, Emily Fox, commented on her goals for this year: “I’m looking to maintain my levels with the defensive work I did last year and to now contribute more going forward." Consider us excited!

Barcelona vs. Bayern Munich (TODAY, 3 p.m. ET, CBS) 🇪🇸 🇩🇪

The three-time champions and last season’s runners up will start their campaign at home against German giants Bayern Munich. Aitana Bonmati will be the star to watch, fresh off her third-straight Ballon d’Or trophy. 

More: UEFA Women’s Champions League FAQ: Format, fixtures, schedule, how to watch live

Score Tickets to FIFA World Cup 26™ with Verizon 🎟️

FIFA World Cup 26™ starts in just 248 days and this is your chance to experience it in all its North American glory, thanks to our friends at Verizon. They’ve teamed up with David Beckham and an all-star roster of talent to launch Verizon Ultimate Access for FIFA World Cup 26™. Verizon customers will have access to thousands of free FIFA World Cup 26™ tickets, once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to win “Golden Tickets” for access on the field during game play, meet and greets and more on the road to the tournament. Come make football memories that will last a lifetime.

👉 Switch to Verizon for your chance to score tickets!

Upcoming NWSL Games to Get Excited About 🗓️

KC Current vs. Gotham FC (Saturday, 5 p.m. ET, ION)

While the postseason nears, two of the top teams leading the table provide an early look at what could potentially become a playoff contest. The 2025 record-setting Shield winners will host the 2023 champions in Kansas City for a Saturday evening marquee matinee.

Utah Royals vs. San Diego Wave (Saturday, 10 p.m. ET, NWSL+, Paramount+)

Utah is fighting to stay in the postseason conversation in next weekend’s bout with San Diego, who enter the matchup in eighth place. The Wave have three games left to hang on to a playoff spot, with a three-point advantage on the ninth-placed North Carolina Courage.

News and Notes 🗞️

• On matchday four of five in the Concacaf W Champions Cup group stage, Washington Spirit and Gotham faced off and settled for a 0-0 draw. That was enough for the title-holders, Gotham, to secure a spot in the semifinal round with one match left in the group stage. Winners of the tournament qualify directly for the 2027 FIFA Women’s Champions Cup and 2028 FIFA Club World Cup; Gotham has already qualified after winning the inaugural edition last season. Newly announced: the inaugural 2026 FIFA Women’s Champions Cup will be held in London.  

• Angel City defender and long-time leader of the New Zealand Football Ferns Ali Riley has announced her retirement from the beautiful game at the close of this season.

• Last Tuesday, the esteemed English manager of the USWNT, Emma Hayes, was inducted into England’s National Football Museum Hall of Fame.

It’s TWG Trivia Time 🤔

This week’s question: Ali Riley captained the New Zealand Football Ferns in their first-ever World Cup match, which they won 1-0 in Auckland. What team did they beat?

Respond to this email (or reply here) for a chance to win a coveted TWG patch.

Last week’s answer: Gift Monday’s hat-trick last week was the first scored by a Washington Spirit player since Crystal Dunn’s in 2015.

Congrats to Trina Phillips, who was the first person to respond with the correct answer. Trina, the patch is in the mail!

Good Reads 👩‍💻

• Tom Garry interviews Emma Hayes for The Guardian, ‘I don’t think coaches are always thought about as human beings’

• From Emma Sanders for BBC, ‘How a generation of cool keepers silenced trolls’

• From Katie Wright, also for BBC, ‘Is Beever-Jones making a case to be Chelsea and England number nine?’

Moment of Joy 🤸

Erica writes: Hi Sam,

Love the show. Recently listened to Mewis Squared and I had to laugh at your story about sideline donuts sparking your love of soccer. I’m the mom of a nine-year-old girl in her second year of our local travel team. When she was in kindergarten, she would lay on the sidelines and cry until my husband started offering her a donut for every goal she scored. Lo and behold, she jumped off the sideline and scored three goals that game. Years and dozens of donuts later, she has a genuine passion for the game that was all sparked by an equal passion for donuts. Glad to know we’re not the only ones with this strong association!

Erica M.

Sam writes: Erica! Reading this made me so happy! There’s just something about donuts and soccer that really go together. And thanks for listening to Mewis Squared! There’s a brand new episode on Friday and I feel like the chances of donuts being brought up again are high.

Sam

📝 Want to be featured in next week’s TWG newsletter? Send Sam an email! All your questions, comments, and dog (or wedding) photos can be sent to [email protected]

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