The U.S. women’s national soccer team is one win closer to the 2023 FIFA World Cup.

After defeating Haiti 3-0 on Monday in their opening match of the Concacaf W Championship, the USWNT prepares to face Jamaica on Thursday.

The U.S. is first in Group A, followed by Jamaica, Mexico and Haiti. The top two teams after the three-game group stage qualify for next year’s World Cup.

“I think we’re really excited for the next game,” said defender Emily Fox. “We have a lot of respect for Jamaica. We know they have a lot of good threats, so for us it’s about learning from the last game and trying to improve each game and taking it step by step.”

Jamaica head coach Lorne Donaldson is familiar with two of the USWNT’s starting forwards, Mallory Pugh and Sophia Smith, whom he coached during their youth club careers at Real Colorado. The Jamaican team trained in the high altitudes of Colorado in preparation for this tournament instead of playing any friendlies during the international window in June. The lack of matches didn’t deem to be an issue in Jamaica’s 1-0 upset win over host nation Mexico on Monday.

The USWNT will have to pick up their pace of play to get past a tough Jamaican side. Defense and injuries are a couple of the other big concerns that head coach Vlatko Andonovski addressed in a press conference on Wednesday.

‘Lindsey is medically at 100%’

At Olympique Lyonnais, Lindsey Horan’s club team this past season, the midfielder was nicknamed Potato because of her swollen knee.

In the USWNT’s opener on Monday, she started and continued to play with a taped knee. She raised concerns further after a video from training earlier this week showed her favoring the same knee.

Andonovski tried to dispel those fears on Wednesday.

“Lindsey is medically at 100 percent,” he said. “But just because she had a little bit of a break between her last game in Lyon and in the first game here, we’re trying to manage her properly and not overload her, but build her up to her minutes.”

Currently, the plan is for Horan to start Thursday’s match against Jamaica.

“We’re going to continue building her so she is properly ready for the upcoming games,” the coach added.

Coming into the tournament, there were also health concerns surrounding defensive midfielder Andi Sullivan, who has been recovering from a quad injury. In the June friendlies, Horan prepared herself to step in as a backup at the No. 6 position should Sullivan need rest.

Andonovski said the starting lineup against Haiti will likely be the same group that sees most of the minutes against Jamaica and throughout the rest of the tournament. Horan and Sullivan were both in Monday’s starting XI.

“Obviously, there are some bumps and bruises with some of the players, but the good thing is everybody is ready and prepared to play,” Andonovski said.

‘Two goalkeepers ready’

With 80 caps, Alyssa Naeher leads a goalkeeping trio that also includes Casey Murphy (five caps) and Aubrey Kingsbury (one). Two of them are guaranteed to appear in this tournament.

After Murphy got the start against Haiti, Andonovski said it’s “not a secret” that they will also play Naeher, who was the starting keeper at the Tokyo Olympics before she injured her knee in the semifinal.

“She’s an incredible goalkeeper,” he said. “We know what she can do.”

While it makes sense for Naeher to hold onto the starting role deep into the tournament given her experience, Andonovski said they will decide how to move forward after Thursday’s match. Regardless, it was important for Murphy to get a game in right away. Backup keeper AD Franch hadn’t played a game at the Olympics up until the 22nd minute of the semifinal, when Naeher had to leave the pitch, and she then started the USWNT’s bronze-medal match against Australia.

“This way, we know we’re going to have two goalkeepers ready after these two games,” Andonovski said.

A huge save from Casey Murphy. 🧤 pic.twitter.com/3C9pjGe7zc

— Attacking Third (@AttackingThird) July 4, 2022

‘Our backline is stellar’

The USWNT’s backline weathered a couple of scares against Haiti on Monday, including a penalty in the box and missed one-v-ones.

After controlling most of the possession in their games over the last year, the USWNT defense hasn’t had much experience withstanding top opponents in high-stakes situations. Andonovski believes the mishaps are important preparation for next summer’s World Cup, and they don’t have as much to do with the defense making mistakes as they do with world-class opponents getting creative in the attack.

“I think our backline is stellar,” the coach said. “I truly believe that we have the capability to stop any attack, any player in the world and I have no problem saying that we’re ready to do that regardless of who is in the backline.”

Andonovski likes to push numbers forward, which puts the backline under greater pressure against a quick counterattack. And the Concacaf teams will continue to test the USWNT’s defensive tactics.

“It will be tough,” Andonovski said. “It will create different problems for the backline, but that’s what we want. We do want to play teams like that, and we do want to play teams that will create different challenges for us.”

Morgan makes a case for the No. 9

Before Catarina Macario tore her ACL, she was supposed to be the starting center forward for the USWNT. For months, the plan was to build the team around the 22-year-old.

Without her, there was uncertainty right up until the Haiti match about who would start in the No. 9 — Ashley Hatch or Alex Morgan.

Morgan earned the nod and took full advantage, scoring a first-half brace off a backheel flick and a header.

.@alexmorgan13 🤌🤌🤌

pic.twitter.com/8gVDtC2nrT

— U.S. Soccer WNT (@USWNT) July 4, 2022

“I’m so happy to see her performing as well as she does,” Andonovski said. “I know it sounds crazy, but I do believe that she’s actually playing better every time you see her on the field. The goals she scored the other day, I think that they’re world-class goals. The first goal, but even the one that was offside. Unbelievable run, great run, great angle, good finish.

“So that’s Alex Morgan in a nutshell. When you need her the most, you can count on her. As a as a coaching staff, we decided for her to be a starter on this team for a reason, and I think it was a good explanation — or the goals scored were explanation — of what the reason was.”

Andonovski said he doesn’t know what the forward line will look like when Macario returns. For now, he’s riding the play of his veteran.

“Cat will have to come back and earn her spot back and then we’ll see where she falls the best, but if Alex plays the way she is, I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know how someone takes that spot.”

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

The 2025 NWSL Championship claimed a major viewership milestone on Saturday, as Gotham FC's 1-0 title win over the Washington Spirit became the first-ever league match to record an average of more than one million viewers.

The CBS evening broadcast averaged an impressive 1.184 million fans and peaked at 1.55 million viewers, making it the most-watched NWSL match of all time.

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The 2025 final marked a 22% viewership increase over the 967,900 fans who watched 2024's Orlando Pride victory — the previous NWSL viewership record-holder — and a 45% ratings gain over Gotham's 2023 championship win, which averaged 816,800 viewers.

Saturday's gains both matched the 22% viewership increase the NWSL regular season saw this year and also far exceeded the 2025 postseason's pre-final year-over-year increase of 5%.

Calling the one-million viewer mark "an extraordinary achievement" in Tuesday's league statement, NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman also noted that the "record-setting audience demonstrates the deepening connection fans have with our players, our clubs, and the world-class competition on the field, and it underscores the growing demand for women's soccer on the biggest stages."

"We're incredibly proud of what this moment represents for the NWSL and for everyone who continues to invest in and believe in the future of our game," Berman added.

Incoming offseason league Project B scored more major WNBA signings this week, as the upstart venture continues stacking its roster ahead of a planned November 2026 launch.

Indiana Fever guards Kelsey Mitchell and Sophie Cunningham have both publicly signed on with Project B, joining already announced talent like Seattle Storm star Nneka Ogwumike and Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas, New York Liberty center Jonquel Jones, and Las Vegas Aces guard Jewell Loyd.

Also inking deals to join the inaugural season of Project B are Chicago Sky center Kamilla Cardoso, Golden State Valkyries forward Janelle Salaün, and Li Meng, a former Washington Mystics guard and current player in the Women's Chinese Basketball Association.

The multi-continent, Formula One-style traveling tournament circuit will ultimately sign 66 international stars, as Project B looks to field six 11-player teams in its debut 2026/2027 campaign.

Project B player signings will undoubtedly impact other offseason leagues like Unrivaled and Athletes Unlimited, but the new venture is also looming large over the ongoing WNBA CBA talks.

With negotiations racing toward this Sunday's extended deadline, Project B is putting WNBA compensation offerings under increased pressure, as the new league is reportedly anteing up multimillion-dollar salaries to its signees — far exceeding the 2025 WNBA maximum as well as the $1.1 million-max currently on the negotiating table.

World No. 1 Spain will take aim at a second-straight UEFA Nations League title this week, as La Roja take on No. 5 Germany in the first leg of the 2025 tournament's final at 2:30 PM ET on Friday.

The defending Nations League champions booked their spot in the 2025 final by dismantling No. 3 Sweden 5-0 on aggregate in the semifinal round, while Germany advanced after a tense 3-2 aggregate win over No. 6 France.

Germany must also contend with availability issues during Friday's match, as 28-year-old Bayern Munich forward and senior national team leading scorer Lea Schüller will be out due to family reasons.

To overcome that disadvantage, German head coach Christian Wück is reinforcing the team's back line, adding Athletic Bilbao defender Bibi Schulze Solano to the roster on Wednesday.

Also aiming to shut down Spain's offensive firepower on Friday is new NWSL champion goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger, who joined her German compatriots late following Gotham FC's title celebrations in New York this week.

While Spain and Germany will contend for the 2025 Nations League trophy this week, the pair — along with ousted semifinalists Sweden and France — have already booked spots in the top group of teams battling for tickets to the 2027 World Cup, with UEFA qualifying set to begin in 2026.

A full 19 months removed from their back-to-back Final Four runs, No. 11 Iowa basketball refuses to go away, with the Hawkeyes already notching one Top-25 win in the young 2025/26 NCAA campaign so far.

The still-unbeaten Hawkeyes took down No. 15 Baylor 57-52 last Thursday, with Iowa starting post players Hannah Stuelke and Ava Heiden combining for 28 points while guard Taylor Stremlow added another 12 off the bench in the marquee win.

"We have nice pieces," said Iowa head coach Jan Jensen this week. "But it's knowing when to play which pieces and with whom, and we're six games in."

The Hawkeyes have been finding their new identity under Jensen after a transformative period saw Iowa's longtime head coach Lisa Bluder retire while superstar guard Caitlin Clark joined the WNBA.

"Jan's been amazing," Stuelke told JWS at the Big Ten Media Day in October. "She stepped up like she needed to, and she's been growing every day since she's been the head coach, which it's really cool to see she cares. And it's a great environment for all of us."

"I have a year under my belt," Jensen echoed. "I know what this chair feels like now, and I have a little better of understanding of what that first road trip feels like, what that first big win feels like, or the tough loss feels like."

Iowa's season heats up with a ranked rivalry matchup against No. 10 Iowa State on Wednesday, December 10th.

The state rivals will tip off at 7 PM ET, with live coverage airing on ESPN.