The NWSL’s final pre-Olympic break matches are in the books, but that doesn’t mean club teams won’t get a workout before the league’s August 23rd regular season return.

All 14 squads — minus their Paris-bound teammates — will square off in the first-ever NWSL x LIGA MX Femenil Summer Cup beginning July 19th.

Going up against the NWSL are Mexico’s top six 2023 Liga MX teams: Tigres UANL, Club América, Chivas de Guadalajara, Rayadas de Monterrey, Pachuca, and Tijuana.

All 33 matches will air on CBS Sports platforms, with Seattle Reign FC kicking off the tournament against the Utah Royals at 9 PM ET on CBS Sports Network and Paramount+.

How the NWSL x LIGA MX Femenil Summer Cup works

The Cup’s 20 teams are split into five groups of four, with each group facing off round-robin style over a total of 30 group stage matches.

Only four of those five teams will advance to the August 6th semifinals. To move on, a club must both win their group and have amassed enough points to be amongst the top four winning teams, eliminating the group stage-winning team with the lowest points.

The two Summer Cup finalists will then have months to prepare for the title-winning match, set for October 25th — one week before the NWSL’s last regular season match weekend.

Interleague cups in the women's game

While interleague contests aren’t new to the women’s game — think UEFA Champions League — they’ve been relatively rare until recently. 

The Women’s International Champions Cup, which featured at least one NWSL team alongside two or three international clubs, ran for four years, with its final 2022 edition including the Portland Thorns, Liga MX’s Monterrey, the WSL’s Chelsea FC, and Cup champions Olympique Lyonnais.

The inaugural edition of the W Champions Cup, which kicks off next month, will pit Gotham, the Thorns, and the Wave against eight other Concacaf clubs, all vying for a spot in the newly minted 2026 FIFA Women’s Club World Cup.

In the US and abroad, new interleague competitions are continuing to pop up in an effort to meet growing demand — though subsequent injury concerns plague the increasingly packed calendar.

With arguably the most dramatic finish at the Paris Olympics so far, Team USA made the rugby sevens podium for the first time in history by upsetting Australia 14-12 in Tuesday’s bronze medal match.

Following the Olympic debut of the women's game in 2016, the US had never finished higher than fifth place before Tuesday afternoon. They entered the day knowing they’d already secured at least fourth place after clinching a semifinal berth, where they fell to eventual back-to-back gold medalists New Zealand.

Stunning finish clinches Team USA's bronze

The underdog Women's Eagles Sevens faced Rio gold medalists Australia in the bronze medal match, going toe-to-toe to end the first half tied 7-7. After going down 12-7 with what looked like a game-winning try from Australian Maddison Levi, the US blasted a chaotic comeback in the last play of the game. 

With 15 seconds left on the clock, Team USA’s Alex "Spiff" Sedrick pulled off an incredible 85-meter run to score a game-tying try as time expired. The try — alongside the two-point conversion attempt it earned — counted despite the clock running out because rugby, like American football, does not end a game mid-play.

Sedrick whipped in the subsequent conversion, ticking the final score up to 14-12 and securing her 2024 squad's place in the Olympic history books. 

"It was crazy because I was like no way this is happening. [She’s] been an MVP for me this whole season," teammate and social media star Ilona Maher said of Sedrick after the match.

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Medal marks turning point for USA rugby

Not only did today's game marked the first time any US rugby team has medaled in the Rugby Sevens event, it was also the first time the US has medaled in any Olympic rugby event since 1924.

But the historic hardware isn’t the only thing the US will bring home from Paris. The exposure — both from winning a medal and from an influx of support courtesy of celebrities and droves of newly minted fans — has rugby sevens grabbing the kind of attention that can boost a sport’s growth.

Investment in the sport was near-immediate. Mere hours after the US bagged bronze, trailblazing women's sports owner Michele Kang announced her $4 million donation to the team to grow the sport and support its players and staff in the leadup to the 2028 LA Olympics.

USA rugby sevens player Ariana Ramsey summed up the moment post-game: "We did a lot for our program just now. We are gonna bring out so many more fans now that we are actually winning. People are gonna want to see what rugby is about and learn more about our game."

With US swimmer Torri Huske’s 100-meter butterfly gold medal win on Sunday, Team USA’s combined tally of 14 swimming medals leads all countries across the Olympics.

But while the current haul is looking healthy, the USA’s Olympic swimming gold medal stranglehold is very much in danger of falling by the wayside.

Australia takes aim at USA's Olympic gold medal streak

It’s been 36 years since the coed US swimming squad came up short in the Olympic gold medal race — at least five years before anyone on today's team was even born.

That dominance, however, is hanging by a thread as the Australians are gold medal count favorites after running away with the 2023 World Swimming Championships.

"Certainly, there are some events… where we’ve got a significant amount of ground to make up," US head women’s coach Todd DeSorbo told reporters. "But I’m confident in the motivation and excitement and commitment of everybody — men and women — on the team that are prepared to do that."

Women's swimming wins keep hardware hopes alive

In the seven women’s events so far, the US has captured eight medals: one gold, four silver, and three bronze.

Joining Huske on Sunday’s 100-meter butterfly podium was US teammate and fellow NCAA swimmer Gretchen Walsh, who snagged silver just six weeks after becoming the event’s world record-holder at US Trials.

Monday’s 400-meter individual medley also saw two US swimmers medal in their second Olympic Games, with Katie Grimes and Emma Weyant taking silver and bronze behind 17-year-old Canadian phenom Summer McIntosh, who won the event by the equivalent of a country mile.

While Australia's Kaylee McKeown successfully defended her 100-meter backstroke gold medal on Tuesday — breaking her own Olympic record in the process —Team USA completed the podium. Regan Smith, who reclaimed the world record from McKeown at last month’s Trials, swam to silver, with first-time Olympian Katharine Berkoff taking bronze.

USA's Ledecky expected to make more Olympic history

After dropping to third in Saturday's 400-meter freestyle, seven-time USA gold medalist Katie Ledecky is still expected to own Wednesday’s 1500-meter freestyle, a race she hasn’t lost in 14 years. 

A medal in that event would tie Ledecky with three former Team USA athletes as the most decorated Olympic women swimmers in history.

Team USA tipped off their 2024 Olympic run with a statement in Monday’s 102-76 win over Tokyo silver-medalists Japan, setting down a path toward a record eighth-consecutive gold medal. 

The victory marked USA women's basketball 56th-straight Olympic win — a streak dating back to the 1992 Barcelona Games.

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Team USA towers over Japan

It took some time for the US to find its stride — particularly from behind the arc, with the team shooting just 4-for-19 and all but one three-pointer credited to first-time Olympian Sabrina Ionescu.

Japan, however, relied heavily on their range, sinking nine threes to stay within 10 points of Team USA for most of the first half.

To regain control, the US leaned into their height advantage, with a combined 46 points coming from 6-foot-4 forwards A’ja Wilson (24 points, 13 rebounds, four blocks) and Breanna Stewart (22 points, eight rebounds, three blocks) alongside 11 points from 6-foot-9 center Brittney Griner. With six US players at least as tall as Japan's 6-foot-1 center Maki Takada, Team USA's front court posted up in the key, ultimately helping the squad notch a whopping 64 points in the paint.

Also contributing to Team USA’s runaway win was Chelsea "Point Gawd" Gray, who dropped 13 assists — one short of the US Olympic record.

More USA chemistry is key to continued dominance

Team unity is also on the rise, with head coach Cheryl Reeve remarking, "what I'm excited about is just having such an unselfish group of really great players that don't care who gets the credit."

With a roster of athletes focused more on the Paris podium than their individual stats, Team USA's next opponent, Belgium, is in for a battle on Thursday.

Other noteworthy Olympic basketball results

Thanks to a combined 49 points from WNBA trio Leonie Fiebich (NY) and sisters Nyara and Satou Sabally (NY and Dallas, respectively), first-time Olympians Germany stunned Belgium 83-69 on Monday.

However, the most shocking result of the day came courtesy of Nigeria, who defeated favorites Australia 75-62 for their first Olympic win in 20 years.

On today’s episode, JWS podcast host Claire Watkins takes a look at the USWNT’s first two Olympic soccer matches, analyzing their performances as the team cruises to a quarterfinal spot with a group stage game still to play.

She talks through players making their own luck, some touchy moments in defense, and what to make of the team’s ever-shifting midfield. Later, she hits on a few of week one's biggest Olympic storylines, including a battle in the pool, a historic moment in gymnastics, and Team Canada's ongoing drone-gate saga.

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