The news became official Monday: Julie Ertz has joined Angel City FC on a one-year contract, solidifying the star midfielder’s long-awaited return to the NWSL.

In a way, Ertz’s signing is a resolution years in the making, after Angel City acquired her playing in a trade with the Chicago Red Stars for expansion draft immunity prior to the 2022 season. Ertz entered 2023 a free agent and credited Angel City’s constant communication as a factor in her decision to sign with the club.

“From the moment they traded for my rights up until now, they have been unwavering in their support of my journey,” Ertz said in a team release.

Ertz has been based in Arizona during her time away from professional soccer. Now that she has also returned to the U.S. women’s national team, playing in both friendlies last week against the Republic of Ireland, an NWSL opportunity close to home could be just what the 30-year-old needs to be ready for her third World Cup this summer.

Her presence could also be just what Angel City needs to qualify for its first NWSL postseason.

Is Ertz the final piece?

As Ertz narrowed down her possible club destinations in preparation for the 2023 World Cup, the concept of fit had more to do with business off the field than skill on the field. Ertz is a proven leader who captained the Red Stars for a number of years, while winning World Cups in both the defense and the midfield for the USWNT. She’ll almost certainly be the new anchor of the Angel City midfield.

The match came down to which NWSL clubs could afford to pay the superstar, and which coaches would be willing to displace their regular defensive midfield starters in favor of a generational player. Ertz will be available for up to 12 games before she ostensibly leaves for the World Cup in New Zealand. While she is still working out her timing at the professional level, she remains an intimidating physical presence and her top sprint speed appears unhindered as she builds minutes.

Angel City taking the chance on a short-term home run in the midfield makes some sense. They struggled with possession build-ups in 2022, forcing them to put in more effort off the ball than they could sustain over the course of a season. As injuries piled up, ACFC’s inability to close out games haunted them, as they fell just short of the playoff line in their inaugural season. They haven’t had much better injury luck so far in 2023, losing forward Simone Charley to a season-ending Achilles tear and waiting on Christen Press and Sydney Leroux to return from long-term injuries.

Ertz herself is not going to score an overwhelming amount of goals for Angel City, but she’ll impact almost every play in the build-up to the attack. The midfielder is one of the best at covering space defensively in front of the backline, and she’s not afraid to try probing passes through the opposing defense to find runners in behind. Angel City also has room for her, though she’ll likely displace regular starter Dani Weatherholt from her spot at the No. 6 position, at least temporarily.

For the first time since Aug. 5, 2021, Julie Ertz is BACK on the pitch for the USWNT 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/E1R4A4NheB

— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) April 8, 2023

Short-term bet vs. long-term build

Ertz may very well bolster Angel City and set them up to make a run at the NWSL playoffs, even after she departs for the World Cup. But the decision to sign a veteran player openly making a push for a national team roster spot to a one-year deal places the L.A. club in an interesting place in the NWSL landscape.

Angel City has developed a delicate balance between veteran stars and rising talent over the last two years, with both positive and questionable returns. Press and Leroux have been key locker room leaders despite not seeing much time on the field, but a lack of availability has limited the team’s playing style in a way that hasn’t always been conducive to the grind of an NWSL regular season.

Ertz checks off similar boxes. She’s a fierce competitor, an excellent on-field communicator with years of experience and one of the best in the world when she’s fit. But she’s only committing to one year with the club and appealing for playing time to earn a spot with the USWNT. When she does play for Angel City, it will be because she’s likely still the best option at her particular position. But the lack of continuity will force head coach Freya Coombe to ask some tough questions of her lineup as she steers the club beyond 2023.

Angel City has shown a commitment to the future in other areas, most notably by drafting rising USWNT star forward Alyssa Thompson with the 2023 No. 1 pick. Thompson will only continue to improve going up against Ertz regularly in training, to the U.S.’s benefit. But if Ertz’s time in Los Angeles ends up being cut short for any reason, the team might have missed out on the opportunity to build a position of need organically.

Ultimately, Angel City is betting on a superstar at one of the most important positions to radically alter the team’s chances in the short term, and there’s almost no better fit in that role than Ertz. What happens after this season may have been pushed toward the future, but for an expansion club pushing for its first-ever playoff appearance, this might be the move that puts the team over the top.

Claire Watkins is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @ScoutRipley.

Longtime USWNT fixture Carli Lloyd took to Instagram Wednesday morning to announce that she’s pregnant with her first child. 

"Baby Hollins coming in October 2024!" she wrote. The caption framed a collaged image of baby clothes, an ultrasound photo, and syringes indicating what she described as a "rollercoaster" fertility journey.

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In a Women’s Health story published in tandem with Lloyd’s post, the Fox Sports analyst and correspondent opened up about her struggles with infertility and the lengthy IVF treatments she kept hidden from the public eye.

"Soccer taught me how to work hard, persevere, be resilient, and never give up. I would do whatever it took to prepare, and usually when I prepared, I got results," Lloyd told Women’s Health’s Amanda Lucci. "But I found out that I didn’t know much about this world. I was very naive to think that we wouldn’t have any issues getting pregnant. And so it began."

Lloyd went on to discuss her road to pregnancy in great detail, sharing the highs and lows of the process and expressing gratitude for the care and support her family and medical team provided along the way. She rounded out the piece with a nod toward others navigating the same challenges, encouraging people to share their own pregnancy journeys, painful as they may be.

"My story is currently a happy one, but I know there are other women who are facing challenges in their pregnancy journey. I see you and I understand your pain," she said. "My hope is that more and more women will speak up about this topic, because their stories helped me. I also wish for more resources, funding, and education around fertility treatments. There is much to be done, and I hope I can play a role in helping."

The 41-year-old New Jersey native retired from professional soccer in 2021, closing out her decorated career with 316 international appearances, the second-most in USWNT history, in addition to 134 international goals. A legend on the field, Lloyd walked away from the game with two World Cups, two Olympic gold medals, and two FIFA Player of the Year awards.

On Tuesday, FIFPRO announced the launch of Project ACL, a three-year research initiative designed to address a steep uptick in ACL injuries across women's professional football.

Project ACL is a joint venture between FIFPRO, England’s Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), Nike, and Leeds Beckett University. While the central case study will focus on England’s top-flight Women's Super League, the findings will be distributed around the world.

ACL tears are between two- and six-times more likely to occur in women footballers than men, according to The Guardian. And with both domestic and international programming on the rise for the women’s game, we’ve seen some of the sport's biggest names moved to the season-ending injury list with ACL-related knocks.

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Soccer superstars like Vivianne Miedema, Beth Mead, Catarina Macario, Marta, and England captain Leah Williamson have all struggled with their ACLs in recent years, though all have since returned to the field. In January, Chelsea and Australia forward Sam Kerr was herself sidelined with the injury, kicking off a year of similar cases across women’s professional leagues. And just yesterday, the Spirit announced defender Anna Heilferty would miss the rest of the NWSL season with a torn ACL. The news comes less than two weeks after Bay FC captain Alex Loera went down with the same injury. 

Project ACL will closely study players in the WSL, monitoring travel, training, and recovery practices to look for trends that could be used to prevent the injury in the future. Availability of sports science and medical resources within individual clubs will be taken into account throughout the process.

ACL injuries in women's football have long outpaced the same injury in the men's game, but resources for specialized prevention and treatment still lag behind. Investment in achieving a deeper, more specialized understanding of the problem should hopefully alleviate the issue both on and off the field.

With recent transfers Talia von Oelhoffen and Kiki Iriafen joining first-team All-American JuJu Watkins and the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class at USC next season, the Trojans look to transition from an up-and-coming squad to a legitimate title contender. 

Former Oregon State graduate student von Oelhoffen is the latest collegiate talent to commit to the program, announcing her transfer Monday via ESPN. She follows ex-Stanford leading-scorer Iriafen in the jump to the pair’s one-time Pac-12 rival.

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The 5-foot-11 Washington native was a two-time All-Pac-12 guard during her time at Oregon State. But after the recent dissolution of the Pac-12, the Corvallis side found themselves without a permanent home conference going forward. Many big name players opted to take their skill elsewhere as a result, with von Oelhoffen’s fellow ex-Beaver Raegan Beers announcing her own departure to Oklahoma on Monday.

According to DraftKings, USC is now tied with UConn for the second-best betting odds to win the 2025 NCAA women’s tournament. Dawn Staley’s tested South Carolina side, poised for a repeat performance, holds down the number one spot.

Last year, LSU loaded up in the transfer portal after beating Iowa to win the 2023 national championship. The Tigers were clear favorites coming into the 2023-24 season, but were bounced in the Elite Eight by Caitlin Clark’s Hawkeyes. Shortly thereafter, star transfer Hailey Van Lith opted to transfer a second time, this time signing with TCU. 

Yet while history proves that an excess of star power doesn’t always translate to on-court chemistry, on paper, USC sure looks ready to hold their own — in 2025 and beyond.

The United States and Mexico have withdrawn their joint bid to host the 2027 Women’s World Cup, per a Monday afternoon release from U.S. Soccer and the Mexican Football Federation.

According to the statement, they will instead focus on developing a "more equitable" bid for the 2031 tournament, with the ultimate goal of "eliminating investment disparities" between the men’s and women’s tournaments.

The federations went on to cite the upcoming 2026 Men’s World Cup in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico as an opportunity to build support for local infrastructure, improve audience engagement, and scale up media and partnership deals in preparation to "host a record-breaking tournament in 2031."

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"Hosting a World Cup tournament is a huge undertaking — and having additional time to prepare allows us to maximize its impact across the globe," said U.S. Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone. "Shifting our bid will enable us to host a record-breaking Women’s World Cup in 2031 that will help to grow and raise the level of the women’s game both here at home as well as across the globe."

The decision leaves just Brazil and a joint bid from Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands in the running for the 2027 host spot. Brazil — the rumored frontrunner — has never hosted a Women’s World Cup, while Germany hosted the 2011 tournament as a solo venture. 

Furthermore, this postponement doesn’t mean the U.S. is a shoo-in for 2031, as it's been previously reported that 2022 UEFA Women's EURO host England is considering their own Women's World Cup bid. FIFA is scheduled to confirm the winning bid after the FIFA Congress votes on May 17th.