The U.S. women’s national team is advancing to the Round of 16 at the World Cup, but the tournament has hardly gone smoothly so far: Head coach Vlatko Andonovski’s team went 1-0-2 in Group E, only narrowly avoiding defeat Tuesday against Portugal with a 0-0 draw.

The team’s uneven performance has led some fans and experts to panic. But Heather O’Reilly, a former USWNT midfielder turned Fox Sports analyst, sees a lot of similarities to the 2015 team that won the World Cup after starting slow in the group stage.

"This team needs us to get behind them... They're going to take care of business with the next opponent and they have this crazy self belief that they're going to move on."@HeatherOReilly, @stuholden and @karinaleblanc share some positives after the USWNT's draw vs Portugal ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/hkq5TIGIR6

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) August 1, 2023

“There was so much chatter. Are we going out early? Does this team have it?” O’Reilly said. “That doesn’t help. That doesn’t help the players, That doesn’t help the staff. That doesn’t help the football. We need to get behind the team.”

Former USWNT captain Carli Lloyd, also a Fox Sports analyst and a hero of the 2015 team, has been among the harshest critics of the team’s performance this World Cup.

“There’s been a shift within this team, within the federation, within the culture, the mentality,” Lloyd said after the Portugal match. “The importance and meaning of winning has changed. What has come from winning has become more important.”

O’Reilly, however, was quick to point that the team was hardly dominant in the group stage in 2015: The USWNT beat Australia, 3-1, in its first match, but then played Sweden to a 0-0 draw and escaped with a 1-0 win against Nigeria.

“Our backs were against the wall,” said O’Reilly, who played on that team alongside Lloyd. “We fought back. A couple tactical changes were made. Carli Lloyd made history.”

O’Reilly acknowledged that Andonovski needs to make some changes – she suggested moving Julie Ertz back to midfield from center-back – but believes the USWNT has what it takes to once again right the ship.

“They’ve only given up one goal in three games. They’re a very defensive-minded group. Vlatko Andonovski, he’s a conservative coach, so we have to embrace that,” she said. “This team, they don’t even care who they’re playing. They don’t care if it’s Sweden… They’re going to take care of business with the next opponent, and they have this crazy self-belief they’re going to move on.”

Sweden veteran defender Magda Eriksson is hanging up her international boots to focus on her health, with the 32-year-old officially announcing her retirement from her national team on Sunday.

Eriksson will continue competing at the domestic level for her German club, Bayern Munich.

The longtime captain sat out the most recent international window due to a head injury, watching as world No. 3 Sweden fell to No. 1 Spain in the two-leg 2025 Nations League semifinals.

"It's by far the toughest decision I've ever made," Eriksson said in her social media announcement. "But I'm listening to my body and mind instead of my heart."

"I've landed in the fact that unfortunately it's a decision that has to be made."

After an 11-year career with the Swedish senior national team, Eriksson retires as a two-time Olympic silver medalist, earning those podium finishes in Rio in 2016 and at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Games.

Often leading Sweden through major tournaments where early domination dissolved into a third-place finish, Eriksson also helped her team eke onto the World Cup podium in both 2019 and 2023.

"It is heavy news," said Sweden head coach Tony Gustavsson after Eriksson announced her international retirement, calling her "one of our most important players for a long time."

"[Magda's] professionalism, courage, and heart have left a strong mark on the national team," he added.

Chelsea FC's £1 million gamble is paying dividends, as USWNT rising star Alyssa Thompson continued her goal-scoring momentum for the six-time defending WSL champs on Sunday.

The young forward found the back of the net in the ninth minute of the Blues' 1-1 Sunday draw with Liverpool, solidifying her status as a decisive attacking threat for her new club.

"You can see how much talent she has and the quality she brings to the team," Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor said of Thompson earlier this month. "She's improving game after game, becoming more connected to her teammates, and understanding the way we want to play better."

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Thompson left NWSL side Angel City for Chelsea on a then-record £1 million transfer fee in early September, with the 21-year-old going on to notch three goals and one assist in four matches across both WSL and Champions League play.

"Being able to play with players that are the best in the world is an amazing opportunity," said the striker. "I want to learn, grow, and develop a lot. I feel like Chelsea is such an amazing environment to do that in."

Beyond individual accomplishment, Thompson's success underscores Chelsea's depth as they continue to hunt domestic and continental honors on a now-34 match WSL unbeaten streak — while also looking to potentially draw more USWNT stars away from the NWSL.

Women's professional baseball has landed a home base, with Front Office Sports reporting on Monday that the newly formed WPBL will play the entirety of its 2026 debut season at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois.

The incoming league prioritized a neutral venue without an existing baseball team to house its four inaugural clubs — New York, Boston, LA, and San Francisco — for its first campaign, with barnstorming games also planned for each team market.

"Our sport is for everybody," WPBL co-founder Keith Stein told FOS. "It's for middle America, everybody. We thought, 'Our teams are on these two coasts, it would be good to be in the middle of the country.'"

Founded in 2024 as the first professional women's baseball outfit in the US since 1954, the WPBL will hold its first-ever draft on Thursday, with the league's four teams drawing from a pool of 120 eligible players.

The WPBL recently fielded an oversubscribed Series A investment round, telling FOS that they're closing a $3 million raise with another round planned ahead of its August 2026 season-opener.

Each 30-player team will operate under a $95,000 salary cap for the first year, with the league also covering living costs throughout the seven-week season as well as giving players a percentage of sponsorship funds.

How to watch the first-ever WPBL Draft

The 2025 WPBL Draft kicks off at 8 PM ET on Thursday, with live coverage streaming across the league's Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube channels.

Las Vegas Aces boss Becky Hammon spoke her mind last week, telling CNBC Sport that the WNBA might need "a change in leadership" for the league's CBA talks to successfully progress.

"I just think [player relations] might be too fractured at this point, but we'll see," Hammon said, while also noting that she's had only limited interactions with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert.

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Citing Engelbert's "private conversations...with individual players — or lack of the conversations," Hammon described the commissioner's current relationship with players as "rocky" while describing her widely criticized leadership style.

"I don't know if she can ever regret, retract, and get that traction back from those conversations," the Aces boss posited.

"When the players speak, people need to sit up and listen," she continued. "I think [Engelbert is] sitting up and listening now."

Hammon also voiced support for Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier after the five-time All-Star described the WNBA as having the "worst leadership in the world" in her now-viral 2025 exit interview.

"I completely agree with Napheesa that the players should be making more than coaches," the Las Vegas sideline leader — who publicly earns seven figures per year — continued. "They're due for a huge increase in salary, and it's got to be something that is sustainable. That's the biggest thing you got to remember, that this league is still a young league."

Ultimately, while the 2025 WNBA season is over, CBA concerns loom large over the league's current offseason and 2026 campaign, leaving Hammon and others looking to avoid a lockout as the November 30th extension deadline nears.