A competition for the starting goalkeeper spot appears to be brewing on the U.S. women’s national soccer team.

Casey Murphy, keeper for the NWSL’s North Carolina Courage, got the starting nod in the Concacaf W Championship opener against Haiti, while veteran USWNT goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher was in net for the team’s Thursday match against Jamaica.

The rotation in goal led to much speculation about who owns the starting goalkeeper spot for the USWNT and who will start in the squad’s final Group A game against Mexico at 10 p.m. ET Monday.

USWNT coach Vlatko Andonovski declined to name a starter for the Mexico match when asked about Naeher and Murphy following Thursday’s game against Jamaica.

Who will get the start against Mexico?

Case for Alyssa Naeher:

Naeher is an experienced goalkeeper with 81 USWNT caps and two World Cup titles to her name. The 34-year-old spent much of her national team career quietly making a name for herself as a backup to Hope Solo. Before 2015, Naeher had just one international appearance with the United States, and Solo played every minute of the 2015 World Cup run.

The 2019 World Cup served as Naeher’s breakout tournament on the world stage, with the Red Stars keeper owning the starting spot ahead of the team’s trip to France. Naeher quieted any speculation about her readiness for the bright lights of a World Cup, coming up clutch multiple times to help the USWNT clinch the championship.

Naeher again proved her poise in big moments in the Tokyo Olympics, saving three penalty kicks to seal a quarterfinal final win against the Netherlands and advance to the semifinals against Canada. The star goalkeeper’s Olympic run, however, ended in heartbreak, as she injured her knee in the team’s 1-0 semifinal loss to Canada.

HUGE save from Alyssa Naeher to deny Netherlands from the spot 👊

(🎥 @NBCOlympics)pic.twitter.com/qKMWe5Jpd4

— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) July 30, 2021

Returning to the pitch in January after rehabilitation, Naeher is looking to solidify her starting spot again.

For Andonovski, Naeher offers a proven ability to make stops in high-stress situations and a veteran presence in the back. Naeher is a known quantity with the confidence to communicate with the backline.

Case for Casey Murphy:

Murphy exploded onto the scene in November with a magnificent USWNT debut, notching eight saves during the squad’s friendly against Australia.

The Courage star denied Sam Kerr multiple times, including with a stunning fingertip stop to clinch a clean sheet. The last player to log a shutout in their debut was Naeher in 2014.

.@CaseyMurph looking like a vet in her first cap 🧤 pic.twitter.com/2A6NIopzy5

— U.S. Soccer WNT (@USWNT) November 27, 2021

At 26 years old, Murphy has tremendous upside that may be hard for Andonovski to ignore. She may not have the international experience Naeher does, but she has shown her ability to make difficult world-class-level saves.

Standing at 6-foot-1, four inches taller than the 5-foot-9 Naeher, her towering height in goal doesn’t hurt either.

The USWNT will finish their Group A play against Mexico at 10 p.m. ET Monday on Paramount+.

Tuesday night's WNBA return was mostly chalk, but the No. 12 Dallas Wings gave fans something to cheer for as they upset the No. 4 Seattle Storm in style.

Though veteran guard Arike Ogunbowale led Dallas with 20 points in the 87-63 victory, the 14 points posted by Paige Bueckers pushed the Wings rookie into the WNBA history books, tying Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark as the league's fastest-ever players to reach 300 points and 100 assists.

"She's a true leader — she always has everybody's best interest at heart," Ogunbowale said of her first-year teammate.

Aces climb the WNBA standings

While Dallas pleased the crowds, the Las Vegas Aces were powering the night's biggest WNBA standings shift, shooting up two spots to No. 6 by downing No. 5 Atlanta 87-72.

Aces forward A'ja Wilson led her squad with 24 points, 12 rebounds, and five assists, while guard Dana Evans added 14 points off the bench.

"We're slowly creeping into the right place," Wilson said after the win. "Our chemistry is starting to form in a better way."

Atlanta, however, is slipping in the opposite direction, falling to 13-10 on the season after dropping six of their last nine games.

How to watch the WNBA on Wednesday

The Dream will look to right the ship against the No. 3 Phoenix Mercury at 10 PM ET on Wednesday.

The clash will air live on CBS Sports.

The defending Euro champs have done it again, as No. 5 England advanced to the UEFA Women's Euro 2025 Final with a 2-1 extra-time semifinals victory over No. 13 Italy — pulling off yet another knockout-stage comeback win.

"We're going to make a movie someday," manager Sarina Wiegman told BBC Radio 5 after the Lionesses' unlikely turnaround. "Well, this is a movie. My goodness, it's unbelievable."

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The Italian underdogs had the upset dialed in for most of the match, as veteran midfielder Barbara Bonansea put the Azzurre ahead 1-0 in the 33rd minute while the team locked into a sturdy defense that carried them through the end of regulation time.

However, 19-year-old England Euro super-sub Michelle Agyemang played hero in final minutes of stoppage time, scoring her second late equalizer in as many games to force the match into extra time.

As extra time drew to a close, England were awarded a controversially soft penalty, and though Italian goalkeeper Laura Giuliani originally denied the shot, second-half sub Chloe Kelly buried the rebound to give the Lionesses their 2-1 game-winning scoreline.

"Four years ago, I was just a kid throwing balls to some of these girls, now I'm playing with them," said senior team newcomer and breakout star Agyemang, who served as a ball girl during the 2022 Euro Final at London's Wembley Stadium.

How to watch the second match of the 2025 Euro semifinals

Eight-time European title-winners No. 3 Germany will close out the 2025 semifinals against 2023 World Cup champions No. 2 Spain at 3 PM ET on Wednesday.

The clash will air live on FOX.

The newest NWSL team officially has a name, with the Colorado addition announcing Tuesday that they've landed on Denver Summit FC ahead of the franchise's 2026 debut season.

"Denver Summit FC" earned top billing in the team's "Name the Club" community outreach campaign, which generated over 15,000 fan votes.

"It was vital for us to name our club in collaboration with our community," president Jen Millet said in the club's Tuesday statement. "Our crest, colors, and brand are representative of Denver and all of Colorado. It embraces our aspirational goals and pioneering spirit to build the best soccer club in the world."

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Along with a sunset the same hue as Colorado's famed red rocks, the Denver Summit crest also features a green and white mountain, reflecting the city's geographic surroundings.

"Our goal is to build a club that is always pursuing excellence on and off the field," said controlling owner Rob Cohen. "Much like the picturesque Rocky Mountains, our charge is to stand apart while always reaching for new heights."

Awarded a new NWSL team in January 2025, Denver is navigating a shorter runway than fellow 2026 expansion side Boston Legacy FC, though the club is already breaking sales records and has plans for a dedicated training facility and stadium in the works.

Denver has also been busy on the soccer operations side, with ex-Manchester City manager Nick Cushing reportedly close to becoming the club's inaugural head coach.

The success of the 2025 WNBA All-Star festivities extended beyond the court, as ESPN announced strong viewership across both nights of the midseason weekend's programming on Tuesday.

First on Friday, the 2025 All-Star 3-Point Contest and Skills Challenge claimed a viewership average of 1.3 million fans — an 89% increase over the 2024 edition.

Even more, Friday's viewership made it the most-watched All-Star contests in the events' history.

The competitions also ranked first in primetime viewership across several key demographics, winning the day for women aged 18 to 34, all adults aged 18 to 34, as well as all viewers under 35 years old.

Then on Saturday, the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game claimed an average of 2.2 million viewers, a slight dip from last year's 3.44 million with superstar and team captain Caitlin Clark stuck on the sidelines with a groin injury.

Trailing only that 2024 matchup, Saturday's matchup did become the second-most watched WNBA All-Star Game on record.

Additionally, it earned a significant 158% audience bump over the 2023 edition — the season prior to Clark's rookie campaign.

The 2025 WNBA All-Star competitions are reflective of the league's overall rise in viewership, coming less than one week after the first-ever pro clash between Indiana Fever sophomore Clark and Dallas Wings rookie Paige Bueckers became a Top-4 all-time most-watched matchup.

On the heels of impressive viewership during the league's first-ever fully broadcast preseason, the 2025 campaign has put up steady increases over last year, with ESPN reporting last week that WNBA numbers across all the broadcast giant's platforms are up 7% over 2024.