Just Women’s Sports’ NWSL power rankings are back after a two-week break, and while we went on pause, the league chaos definitely did not.

As the Red Stars drop down the standings and OL Reign balance on the edge of losing their playoff position, teams continue to prove that anything can happen in the remaining six and a half weeks of the regular season. The NWSL’s East Coast teams have consistently been at the bottom of the standings. This past week, however, the last-place North Carolina Courage tied the No. 1 Portland Thorns, and the No. 8 Orlando Pride beat the third-place San Diego Wave. If that trend continues, the rankings might not be divided into “West Coast, best coast” and “East Coast, least coast” for long.

Only three teams remain in the same spot from the last power rankings on Aug. 3. Here is where the league’s 12 teams stand at this point in the season:

12. NJ/NY Gotham FC (4-9-0) -1

Gotham is in a period of transition. After the club parted ways with head coach Scott Parkinson last week, Beverly Goebel Yanez filled in until interim coach Hue Menzies arrived in time for their 4-1 loss to the Reign on Sunday. The team has struggled to find results since making a number of high-profile acquisitions in the offseason, and moving on from a coach who was well-liked by the players will require an adjustment period.

11. North Carolina Courage (2-6-4) -1

The Courage are the best/worst team this league has ever seen. Offensively, anyway. Despite sitting in last place in the standings, they continue to lead the league in possession, they have scored 23 goals in 12 games, and they tied the first-place Thorns last week. Against the Kansas City Current on Saturday, however, they lost 4-3, again conceding goals at the same rate that they scored them. The Courage have now given up three or more goals in each of their last three games.

🌟 NEW RECORD! 🌟@diana0rdonez's eighth goal of the season is a new record for a rookie in the #NWSL!#NCvKC | @TheNCCourage pic.twitter.com/lKU4mRtb02

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) August 14, 2022

10. Washington Spirit (1-6-9) -1

There isn’t much left to say about the Spirit. It’s the same narrative every time. They’re a dominant team that can often out-possess, out-shoot and pass with more accuracy than their opponents, like they did against the No. 1 Thorns on Wednesday. Where they come up short is in getting that finishing touch to hit the back of the net. The reigning champions need to fix it fast, because with only eight games left, the playoffs are about to be out of reach.

9. Racing Louisville FC (2-6-8) +3

Jumping three spots in the power rankings after two draws would seem laughable, and it wouldn’t have happened if Gotham, Washington and North Carolina hadn’t moved down. There is something to be said about Racing Louisville tying the No. 2 Houston Dash on Friday while playing down a player for 48 minutes. Thanks to hard work and discipline, Louisville controlled much of the second half. They carried the momentum over from their previous game, a draw with the Spirit, in which Louisville could have just as easily walked away with three points.

8. Orlando Pride (4-5-6) –

Undefeated across six games since the beginning of July and inching closer to playoff positioning, it’s becoming harder to remember that this is supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Orlando Pride. Most impressively, Orlando claimed a 1-0 win on Saturday over the San Diego Wave, who were in first place for most of the season. The win snapped the Pride’s three-draw streak and would have pushed them up the standings if there was a team ahead that deserved to drop.

A Pride PK to start the scoring!@ORLPride | #PrideOfOrlando pic.twitter.com/C4nq2tlixh

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) August 14, 2022

7. Angel City FC (6-5-3) –

A draw and a win in the last two weeks kept Angel City at seventh in the league standings, but it won’t be long until they move into a playoff spot. Much like the Pride, they would also have risen in the power rankings if a top-six team deserved to move to seventh. Against the Red Stars on Sunday, they dominated for 65 minutes and held onto the 1-0 lead until the end. Savannah McCaskill, who scored the lone goal, called the performance a testament to their growth.

6. OL Reign (6-4-6) -1

The Reign have continued to quietly stick around. They evened out their 2-1 loss to Houston with a 4-1 win over Gotham on Sunday, scoring the most goals in a match all season. There was a little more hype at Lumen Field that day with OL Reign’s sister club, Olympique Lyonnais, visiting from France. The Reign will need to maintain that momentum because they are getting dangerously close to losing their grip on a playoff spot.

5. Chicago Red Stars (6-4-5) -1

The Red Stars have been off their rhythm throughout the last month, winning just one of their last four games. Teams in the lower half of the standings are starting to get desperate to secure a playoff spot, as Angel City showed in their 1-0 win over Chicago on Sunday. Especially at this point in the season, Chicago can’t take any opponent lightly.

4. San Diego Wave FC (7-5-4) -2

The first two weeks of August haven’t gone in the Wave’s favor. A poor defensive performance cost them against the Current in a 2-1 loss on Aug. 7. They improved against the Orlando Pride a week later, but were unable to find the back of the net and suffered another defeat, 1-0. With just one match left at the University of San Diego’s Torero Stadium, they might get a boost when they move into their brand-new Snapdragon Stadium. Until then, they’ll have to find their way out of fourth place in the power rankings.

3. Kansas City Current (7-4-4) +3

For the first time in franchise history, the Current have cracked into second place in points. With two wins in the last two weeks against San Diego and North Carolina, Kansas City earned the biggest jump in this week’s power rankings. In a 4-3 victory over the typically high-scoring Courage for their fourth straight road win, the Current showed they can take over a match in crunch time.

.@ClaireLavogez with a 𝙎𝙏𝙐𝙉𝙉𝙄𝙉𝙂 run and strike to put @TheKCCurrent ahead late on! 🚀#NCvKC | #TealRising pic.twitter.com/0w8JjGVUDu

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) August 14, 2022

2. Houston Dash (7-4-4) +1

Houston has no more problems. A couple of hiccups in early July sent them back a bit, but they’ve been on the rise ever since, defeating the Reign 2-1 and drawing with Louisville 0-0 in their most recent games. It’s not ideal that for the rest of the season they’ll be without star player Rachel Daly, who left for Aston Villa, but the team has already gotten accustomed to life after Daly. When she was away all of July for the Euros, the Dash scored nine goals and picked up two wins. The addition of Ebony Salmon has been key to the team’s potent offense.

1. Portland Thorns FC (7-1-7) –

Portland is the obvious choice for first in these rankings. They’re the only team with a single loss — three fewer than the next-closest team — and the only team with a goal differential in the double digits at +21. In the last two weeks, they beat Washington 2-1 and tied with North Carolina 3-3 to extend their unbeaten streak to 11 games.

Jessa Braun is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports covering the NWSL and USWNT. Follow her on Twitter @jessabraun.

The 2025 Wimbledon Championships wrapped its second round on Thursday, with the grass court Grand Slam seeing just 15 of the tournament's 32 seeded players advance to the Friday and Saturday's third round.

A full half of the WTA's Top 10 players did not survive the week, with 2024 Wimbledon finalist and world No. 5 Jasmine Paolini joining four first-round star exits by falling to unseeded Kamilla Rakhimova in a three-set, second-round battle on Wednesday.

At the same time, unseeded fan favorites like Japan's No. 53 Naomi Osaka and England's own No. 40 Emma Raducanu secured third-round spots at the London Slam, joining top surviving contenders like No. 4 Iga Świątek and defending Wimbledon champion No. 16 Barbora Krejčíková.

Notably, a full five US players managed to move ahead, tied for the largest national contingent still standing at the tournament.

Led by 2025 Australian Open champion No. 8 Madison Keys, the US group also includes No. 10 Emma Navarro and No. 12 Amanda Anisimova, as well as unseeded players No. 54 Danielle Collins and No. 55 Hailey Baptiste.

With matches against Świątek and No. 7 Mirra Andreeva, respectively, Collins and Baptiste have a tough third round ahead — though Navarro's battle against the 2024 champ Krejčíková arguably headlines Saturday's slate.

How to watch Wimbledon this weekend

While world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka is still holding strong in the dwindling field, this year's Wimbledon play is proving that the London Slam is anyone's to take, as the grass court humbles even the sport's top stars.

Expect the twists and turns to continue as tennis's best battle for spots in Sunday's Round of 16.

Round-of-32 Wimbledon play kicks off at 6 AM ET on Friday, with live continuous coverage of the tournament airing on ESPN.

The 2025 European Championship is officially underway, as Euro action kicked off with a group-stage upset on Wednesday.

Though the 2025 UEFA tournament's opener was a sweltering affair amid a European heat wave, world No. 26 Finland prevailed, earning a 1-0 upset win over No. 14 Iceland in Group A.

Finnish winger Katariina Kosola played hero, curling in the winning goal in the match's 70th minute — just 12 minutes after Iceland midfielder Hildur Antonsdóttir picked up the competition's first red card.

"The result is important for our confidence," Kosola said after Finland's first major tournament win since the 2009 Euro. "It was the kind of goal I have been practicing a lot."

"It's terrible to lose and we feel frustrated," said Iceland head coach Thorsteinn Halldórsson. "It is an even group and we knew Finland were good, but our first half wasn't good enough."

Elsewhere, No. 16 Norway closed out Wednesday's slate on top of Group A, taking three points by defeating host No. 23 Switzerland in day's second match.

Led by captain and 2018 Ballon d'Or winner Ada Hegerberg — who pulled the match even with a second-half strike — Norway battled to a 2-1 comeback win, despite the Swiss side outshooting and out-possessing the Norwegians.

How to watch this week's 2025 Euro action

Group B steals the 2025 Euro spotlight on Thursday.

While No. 13 Italy snagged a 1-0 opening win over No. 20 Belgium to kick off the day, 2023 World Cup champions and tournament favorite No. 2 Spain will face No. 22 Portugal at 3 PM ET.

Friday's Group C slate will pit No. 12 Denmark against No. 6 Sweden at 12 PM ET, before No. 3 Germany contends with No. 27 Poland at 3 PM ET.

Closing out the first group-stage matches will be arguably the toughest draw of the 2025 Euro pool.

Saturday's Group D slate features major tournament debutants No. 30 Wales against the No. 11 Netherlands at 12 PM ET, with No. 10 France taking on defending champions No. 5 England to cap the day at 3 PM ET.

Live coverage of 2025 Euro matches will air across Fox Sports platforms.

The world No. 1 USWNT ruled the pitch on Wednesday night, shutting out North American rivals No. 8 Canada 3-0 to finish the international window on a high note.

Catching the Canada backline sleeping, US midfielder Sam Coffey opened the scoring at the 17-minute mark before 19-year-old Claire Hutton claimed her first-ever USWNT goal by heading in a Rose Lavelle corner kick in the game's 36th minute.

Houston Dash forward Yazmeen Ryan then padded the US tally in the waning minutes of the match, finding the back of the net just eight minutes after subbing onto the field.

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Despite fielding a young roster, the US overpowered a veteran-heavy Canada side in almost every category, topping their Northern neighbors in shots, shots on target, possession, and — most notably — set pieces.

Canada ultimately couldn't match the game's mental pace or physical battle, as the USWNT scored all three goals off dead ball situations — a free kick, a corner kick, and a throw-in.

"It's not about the opponent," US head coach Emma Hayes said after the match. "It's about what we do, and I felt that was extremely dominant."

With Wednesday's contributions, the USWNT finishes the summer window with 11 goals scored across the three friendlies — and zero goals conceded.

The US now enters an extended break before reconvening for another as-yet-unannounced friendly series in October — but players will be expected to perform in the meantime.

"I said to the players in the end in the huddle, if you want to compete to win the biggest things, it's not what you do here that matters," said Hayes. "It's what you do when you go back to your club."

The 2025 WNBA regular season returns on Thursday night, with teams at the top of the league standings looking to prove their mettle against close competition across the long holiday weekend.

The No. 5 Seattle Storm have arguably the toughest weekend assignments, taking on the No. 4 Atlanta Dream on Friday before tackling the No. 3 New York Liberty on Sunday.

Four middle-of-the-pack teams will look to close in on a double-digit season win tally while the league's frontrunners strive to maintain their advantage in this weekend's slate:

• No. 7 Las Vegas Aces vs. No. 8 Indiana Fever, Thursday at 7 PM ET (Prime): Though still without star Caitlin Clark, the Fever hope to harness their 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup victory momentum against an Aces side tied with Indiana with an 8-8 season record.

• No. 5 Seattle Storm vs. No. 4 Atlanta Dream, Thursday at 7:30 PM ET (WNBA League Pass): Seattle will look to make strides against a strong Atlanta side while putting last Sunday's stinging 84-57 loss to up-and-comer Golden State in their rearview.

• No. 6 Golden State Valkyries vs. No. 1 Minnesota Lynx, Saturday at 8 PM ET (WNBA League Pass): The rising Valkyries must face a Lynx side hunting redemption, as the league-leaders look to bounce back from their stifling Tuesday Commissioner's Cup upset loss.

• No. 5 Seattle Storm vs. No. 3 New York Liberty, Sunday at 1 PM ET (CBS): With injured Liberty center Jonquel Jones still sidelined, the Seattle Storm will have a chance to steal a weekend game against the reigning champs, as New York struggles to re-find their footing.

With the 2025 WNBA All-Star break looming, early top performers must keep standards high if they want to hold the line when the season crosses the midway point.