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.

Cameron Brink already has her rookie of the year pick for the upcoming WNBA season, and it’s Indiana-bound star Caitlin Clark. 

In the latest edition of Kelley on the Street, host Kelley O'Hara caught up with Brink in New York hours before the Stanford phenom went No. 2 overall to the Los Angeles Sparks at the 2024 WNBA Draft. When O’Hara asked who would win the WNBA's rookie of the year, she answered without pause.

"Caitlin Clark," she said, while a fan commented that she thought Brink would take home the award. Brink later added that the extra foul granted to WNBA players will be "good for me."

"I hope it’s me," Charisma Osborne, who was later drafted by the Phoenix Mercury, said when asked her ROY prediction. "But, I don’t know — we’ll see."

Watch more of Kelley on the Street:

Maria Sanchez issued a statement on Thursday, confirming recent reports that she has requested a trade from the Houston Dash. 

In it, she revealed that the club has been aware of the request "since late March."

"This has all taken a toll and isn’t an easy thing to talk about, but I want to confirm that I’ve requested an immediate trade," she wrote. "My expectations and reasons have been clear. I trust that my current club’s management will honor my decision in a timely manner and proceed with accepting a trade."

"I’m eager to refocus and dive back into what I love most: playing football," she concluded.

Thank you, everyone, for the outpouring of kindness and support. pic.twitter.com/gcnN7dhCJU

— Maria Sanchez (@Maria17_7) April 19, 2024

Reports of Sanchez's trade request first surfaced on ESPN last week, and were later confirmed by multiple sources. 

In December of last year, Sanchez signed a three-year contract with the Dash valued at $1.5 million including bonuses and an option year. It was the largest contract in NWSL history at the time — a figure that would be eclipsed by multiple contracts in the following months. 

Sanchez spent the offseason as a restricted free agent, meaning that Houston could match any other team's offer to retain her rights. Should the Dash trade Sanchez, her current contract terms would remain intact, limiting potential buyers to teams able to afford to take on an inking of that size.

The Dash has yet to address the trade, instead reiterating to ESPN that Sanchez is "under contract, a choice she made in free agency at the end of 2023." 

Both the NWSL trade window and transfer window close tonight, April 19th, at 12 a.m. ET. The window will stay closed through the next 11 regular season games, reopening on August 1st, 2024.

The four-time league champion Seattle Storm unveiled their new practice facility on Thursday, with Storm co-owner Lisa Brummel dubbing Interbay's Seattle Storm Center for Basketball Performance the team’s "new home."

"It's just such a special space," Brummel told Fox 13 Seattle. "I think when the players get here, it's gonna be overwhelming."

The sprawling 50,000-square-foot, $64 million property is just the second designated practice facility to be designed and built expressly for a WNBA team, with the Storm further noting that 85% of all design and engineering team members involved in the project's construction were women and people of color. The finished product holds two professional indoor courts, two 3x3 outdoor courts, a state-of-the-art locker room, and players' lounge, plus designated areas for strength and conditioning, kitchen, dining, and nutrition, and recovery. 

"This facility reflects our commitment to providing our athletes an exceptional environment that supports their growth, health, and performance," said Storm co-owner Ginny Gilder in an official team release. "It’s built for women, by women, embodying our dedication to leading the way in professional women’s sports."

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For their part, the team can't wait to make the faciilty their own.

"It's amazing," Storm guard Jewell Loyd told Fox 13. "Not having to drive everywhere around, knowing you have access anytime of the day to get into the gym, to workout." 

Head coach Noelle Quinn said she predicts the team is "never going to leave this building."

"Which is a good thing for me," she continued. "You talk about having an edge in performance. We want our athletes to not only perform on the court, but get whatever they need."

All of the Storm's staff and operations will now live under one roof, and the team also has plans to launch a youth basketball program operating out of the building.

The Caitlin Clark effect is quickly making its mark on the big leagues, as WNBA host teams around the country rush to upgrade their Fever games to larger arenas in order to accommodate surging ticket sales.

With Clark mere weeks away from her Indiana Fever debut, both the Las Vegas Aces and Washington Mystics have officially relocated their scheduled home games with head coach Christie Sides' squad. On Thursday, the Mystics became the latest to adjust their plans, moving their June 7th matchup from Entertainment & Sports Arena in Southwest DC to the more centrally located — and much larger — Capital One Arena "due to unprecedented demand."

The Mystics home court's capacity taps out at 4,200, while Capital One Arena — home to the Wizards, Capitals, and Georgetown Hoya's Men's Basketball — can fit nearly five times that crowd at some 20,000 spectators.

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"The move to Capital One Arena will allow for additional fans in the stands as well as premium hospitality options, including Suites and the all-new all-inclusive courtside Hennessy Lofts," the team announced via Thursday's press release.

The Aces were one of the first teams to switch venues, aiming to take on the Indiana Fever in front of as many as 20,000 fans inside T-Mobile Arena on July 2nd. That’s a sizable a boost from their home venue, which holds just 12,000.

For those still planning to face the Fever in their home arenas, ticket prices have skyrocketed. Previously scheduled construction has already forced the LA Sparks to relocate their first five games — including their May 24th clash with the Fever — to Long Beach State's Walter Pyramid. The temporary venue is quite the downsize, holding just 4,000 in comparison to Crypto.com Arena's near-19,000. As of Friday, the get-in price for that game started around $400.

Despite fans launching a Change.org petition urging relocation, the Chicago Sky say they're unable to move their June 23rd Fever meeting from Wintrust Arena's 10,000-seat facility to the 23,500-seat United Center due to a concert. Tickets for that game start around $325 as of Friday.