China PR pulled out of their June 3rd friendly against the USWNT, according to a Friday US Soccer release which announced that Jamaica will replace the 2022 Asian Cup winners at Energizer Park in St. Louis.
As of now, China will still face the USWNT on May 31st in St. Paul, marking the first of the US’s upcoming two-game international break.
"After initially agreeing to play two matches during the upcoming FIFA window, the Chinese Football Association subsequently informed US Soccer that its Women’s National Team could play only the first match," USSF said in its statement.
The federation did not provide an explanation for China’s cancelation, quickly tapping Jamaica as stand-ins.
USWNT to contend with Concacaf foes Jamaica
Despite sharing a confederation, the US and Jamaica have only squared off six prior times, with June's match marking the teams' first meeting in three years.
The last clash between the pair occurred at the 2022 Concacaf W Championship, where the US walked away from the pitch with a 5-0 victory over the Reggae Girlz.
Led by Manchester City striker Khadija "Bunny" Shaw, Jamaica earned spots in the last two World Cups, advancing to the Round of 16 for the first time ever in the 2023 edition.
The pair's upcoming seventh meeting will also serve as a celebration of retired USWNT captain and local product Becky Sauerbrunn, with US Soccer calling the decorated defender "the greatest female player in St. Louis soccer history."
Spain's High Court issued a guilty verdict to Luis Rubiales early Thursday morning, finding that the former Spanish football federation president sexually assaulted Spain national team striker Jenni Hermoso.
The two-week trial centered on Rubiales forcibly kissing Hermoso during the 2023 World Cup trophy ceremony, as well as coercion attempts by both Rubiales and three other co-defendants to prod Hermoso into telling the public that the kiss was consensual after the fact.
Rubiales fined but avoids jail sentence
In the ruling, the court ordered Rubiales to pay a fine of €10,800 for the assault offense, but cleared him of coercion alongside the other trio of ex-federation officials.
Rubiales faced up to four years in prison if convicted on both charges, with prosecutors arguing for an incarceration period of two-and-a-half years. Also on the table was a maximum €50,000 in damages as well as a permanent ban on Rubiales from ever serving as a sports official again.
In addition to the fine, the judge banned Rubiales from communicating with or being within a 200-meter radius of Hermoso for one year. He must also compensate her an additional €3,000 for "moral damage."
In his delivery, Judge José Manuel Fernández-Prieto deemed the kiss "not the normal way of greeting people with whom one does not have an emotional relationship."
Despite calling it a "reprehensible act," the judge ruled against prison time on the basis that there was no intimidation or violence.
"The pecuniary penalty must be chosen, which is less serious than the custodial sentence," Fernández-Prieto explained in his ruling.
Rubiales sentencing earns praise and consternation
While many are celebrating Thursday's guilty verdict, the Rubiales's punishment sparked differing reactions — namely due to the lack of incarceration time.
Applauding the outcome was Spain’s minister of equality Ana Redondo, who tweeted, "When there is no consent, there is aggression, and that is what the judge certifies in this sentence."
On the other hand, the Federation of Progressive Women, a Spanish nonprofit that fights for gender equity, said the minimal sentencing sparked "deep disappointment."
"It has a deactivating effect on complaints from women who suffer #sexualviolence, reinforces distrust in the judicial system, and strengthens aggressors."
Ex-Spanish football federation president Luis Rubiales is officially on trial for forcibly kissing striker Jenni Hermoso during the 2023 World Cup trophy ceremony, with Hermoso taking the stand on Monday.
"I felt disrespected," Hermoso told the Spanish court. "I think it was a moment that stained one of the happiest days of my life."
"My boss was kissing me, and this shouldn't happen in any social or work setting."
Hermoso describes coercion efforts by Rubiales during trial
Though he denies the charges, Rubiales is on trial for sexual assault as well as for attempting to coerce Hermoso into telling the public that the kiss was consensual.
"I didn't hear or understand anything," Hermoso said about the moment Rubiales assaulted her. "The next thing he did was to grab me by the ears and kiss me on the mouth."
Hermoso testified that Rubiales asked her to record a social media video with him on the flight home from Australia to essentially exonerate him in the public eye.
"I said no," Hermoso told the court. "I was not going to do anything, that I was not the cause of this."
Three other men, including the team's former head coach Jorge Vilda, are also on trial for their attempts to force Hermoso into publicly supporting Rubiales in the incident's aftermath.
The trial is expected to last 10 days, with other high-profile witnesses — including some of Hermoso's World Cup teammates — scheduled to take the stand.
Rubiales faces possible prison time
According to Spanish law, Rubiales faces up to four years in prison if convicted for both charges.
That said, prosecutors are pushing for a sentence of two-and-a-half years (one for the assault and one-and-a-half for coercion). They are also asking the court for €50,000 in damages and a permanent ban on Rubiales from ever serving as a sports official again.
Intense pressure forced Rubiales to resign as the federation's president three weeks after the assault, and he's currently serving a FIFA-imposed three-year ban from soccer that is set to expire in 2026.
Notably, Spanish law has an often-employed buy-out clause for convicted criminals with sentences under two years, meaning Rubiales could avoid incarceration by paying increased damages if the court hands him a sentence of less than 24 months.
As for Hermoso, she explained to the court that public attention from the incident has deeply impacted her life. While her tenure with Liga MX side Tigres allows her an escape from the Spanish media when she's in Mexico, that respite dissipates whenever she returns to Spain.
"I have not been able to really live freely," she told the court on Monday.
Former Spanish soccer federation chief Rubiales will stand trial on charges of sexual assault and coercion for his unsolicited kiss of Jenni Hermoso after last year's Women’s World Cup final, a judge confirmed this week.
Back in January, Judge Francisco de Jorge recommended that Rubiales be held accountable for his 2023 actions, calling the kiss "unconsented and carried out unilaterally and in a surprising fashion" and within the bounds of "intimacy of sexual relations." On Wednesday, Spain’s National Court ruled that Rubiales should indeed stand trial.
Rubiales has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, saying the kiss was consensual. Hermoso, meanwhile, defined the incident, which occurred during the WWC medal ceremony, as "unexpected and at no time consensual."
Public prosecutors and lawyers for the Spanish Women's National Football Team star and Women's World Cup champion are seeking two and a half years of prison time for Rubiales: one year for sexual assault, and an additional 18 months for participating in coercion.
Rubiales is alleged to have pressured Hermoso into showing support for him following the kiss. Three other officials — including former women's national team head coach Jorge Vilda — are also facing coercion charges that could result in 18 months in prison.
A trial date has yet to be set. Last October, FIFA banned Rubiales from all football activity for three years. The sentence will be in place through the 2026 Men’s World Cup, but will have expired by the time the 2027 Women's World Cup begins.
The U.S. women’s national team of 2023 is not the one most adult fans remember from their youth. But the USWNT that changed the world of soccer in the United States and beyond are still influencing the current American squad.
The youngest member of the 2023 World Cup team was then-18-year-old Alyssa Thompson. And she carries advice from veteran USWNT players with her today.
The USWNT’s group stage match with Portugal features in Nextflix’s docuseries about the club, “Under Pressure: The U.S Women’s National Team.” The match ended in a 0-0 draw and the World Cup ended without a victory for the U.S. But after the draw, veteran forward Alex Morgan gave a speech to the locker room that had a particular impact on Thompson, but was cut from the docuseries.
“I remember at the end of our Portugal game, Alex gave a really inspiring speech. It was just very scary, that game, and the result was obviously not what we wanted, but we got through so we were just thinking about the next game,” Thompson said to TheWrap. “But Alex gave a really inspiring speech about how there’s going to be so [much], a lot of talk about our performance, our game, what we need to do, blah, blah, blah. But it’s about the 23 players in the room and we have to protect each other, and just be here together and not listen to the outside noise.”
The result of the 2023 World Cup was not to the United State’s liking. The team did not advance past the round of 16, and they took a lot of public criticism for it — just as Morgan said they would.
Morgan’s speech prepared Thompson for the heat of the World Cup and for the aftermath of the tournament.
“I thought that was super important because there was so much people were saying, and knowing that your team has your back is the one thing that you need to win tournaments,” Thompson said. “It doesn’t matter what other people are saying. I felt after that we were so together. We were just ready to prove to other people, and to ourselves, [that] this is what we wanted, and these are the results that we need to get.”
Spain has topped the FIFA rankings for the first time, with the World Cup champions ascending to the the No. 1 spot.
Following the 2023 World Cup, Sweden topped the world rankings. But Spain followed up its World Cup win with a string of impressive performances in the Women’s Nations League to finally move into the top spot. The first-time World Cup winners are just the fourth team to ever hold the No. 1 spot after the USWNT, Germany and Sweden.
Spain took five wins in the Nations League – including two over Sweden – to qualify for the Nations League semifinals in February, when they will face the Netherlands.
The USWNT, meanwhile, is up to No. 2 in the rankings after falling to No. 3 in the aftermath of a disappointing World Cup run. France took moved into the third spot.
After missing out on the Olympics and finishing third in their Nations League group, Sweden dropped to fifth. Similarly, European champion and World Cup runner-up England – also out of the Olympics – dropped to fourth.
A record 192 nations now have been featured in the rankings, with Central African Republic and Macau appearing for the first time in the latest edition. North Korea, American Samoa, Madagascar and Bahamas have made a reappearance on the list.
Kristie Mewis took on a difficult position at the 2023 World Cup: attempting to win with the U.S. women’s national team while also cheering on her now-fiancée Sam Kerr, who plays for Australia.
In the new Netflix docuseries “Under Pressure,” which chronicles the USWNT’s World Cup run, Mewis showcases how she balanced the team’s devastating loss in the Round of 16 with her support of Kerr. Mewis’ first minutes in the World Cup came at the end of the team’s shootout loss to Sweden, and included her taking – and making – a penalty kick as her first shot at the tournament.
“One of the coaches came over to me and Kelley [O’Hara] and he was just like, ‘I hope you guys are preparing yourselves to take a penalty kick.’ And I was kind of like, what?” Mewis said, noting that she entered the game, “running around for maybe 30 seconds” before the final whistle blew.
Still, she felt more than ready for her penalty shot.
“I’ve never felt more confident in a moment,” she said. “I have been preparing for that moment my whole life. Every time I went out and trained, every time I kicked with my left foot, I was training for that one moment. Because that was the only moment that I was going to get in the World Cup.”
Yet despite Mewis’ successful kick, the USWNT lost the shootout, resulting in the team’s earliest exit ever in a World Cup.
Instead of going home with the rest of the team, Mewis stayed in Australia to cheer for Kerr and the Matildas. While Kerr had started the tournament sidelined with an injury, she played in Australia’s quarterfinal match with Mewis in the stands. And she made her own penalty kick in that match, which Australia won over France to advance to the semifinals.
“It didn’t end the way that we wanted it to. But also, Sweden deserved to win. They kept us from scoring and they did better with their penalties,” Mewis said, before noting that the decision to stay and support Kerr was an easy one.
“Yes, my dream of being at a World Cup and winning a World Cup is now over. But Sam’s in the quarterfinals,” she continued. “This is just so crazy, this is everything that she’s always wanted too. Everyone knows that the U.S. team went back home, but there’s no place I’d rather be. I’m so happy to be here and support her. Obviously it is a little bit hard, but I think I can separate it because I love her so much.”
Even still, that love has boundaries. Mewis refused to wear an Australia jersey to support Kerr, despite the rest of Kerr’s family and friends doing so.
“They’re like, ‘Where’s your jersey? Where’s your jersey?’” Mewis said. “And I like, cannot put on an Australian jersey.”
Two Jamaica women’s national team members have said that “a number of players” still have not been paid their 2023 World Cup dues in full, in contrast to a statement given by the Jamaica Football Federation in October.
Jamaica goalkeeper Rebecca Spencer and forward Khadija “Bunny” Shaw claimed that some of the Reggae Girlz were still awaiting payments from the JFF in an interview with the Jamaican TV station SportsMax on Dec. 2.
“I can say that we haven’t [been fully compensated,] even up until now. I think that a number of players are missing payments back from February time,” Spencer said on “SportzMax Zone.”
Spencer’s statement contradicts a press release released by the JFF on Oct. 27, in which the federation states that it has indeed paid its World Cup team in full. Jamaica’s World Cup run included a number of firsts for the team: its first point, its first win and its first appearance in the knockout stage.
“The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) is pleased to advise that, as committed, we have now paid in full balances due to the Women’s World Cup Team,” the JFF said in the statement. “We will also start processing payments to all players who played in the qualifying rounds but were not in the final World Cup squad.”
Just three days before the JFF announced its completed payments, the organization said in a statement that it did not have the funds necessary to pay the players what they were owed. The federation had received just $1.2 million of its $1.8 million in prize money from FIFA, per the statement, and would not be able “to afford to pay out funds we have not received.”
In the space of three days, though, the JFF claimed to have distributed the outstanding payments to players.
Jamaican players have spoken out against the JFF on multiple occasions, citing poor communication from the federation, a general lack of support and insufficient compensation for their work, among other things.
On June 15, many Reggae Girlz players, including Spencer, posted a letter to social media outlining grievances against the JFF.
“On multiple occasions, we have sat down with the federation to respectfully express concerns resulting from subpar planning, transportation, accommodations, training conditions, compensation, communication, nutrition, and accessibility to proper resources. We have also showed up repeatedly without receiving contractually agreed upon compensation. We were told that all our requests and concerns would be resolved in a timely manner,” the letter states.
Still, more than a month after the JFF claimed to have paid the “full balances” due to the Reggae Girlz, players are saying that is not the case.
“I think it’s just very unfortunate because it’s not even about the money. I think it’s about having good communication,” Shaw said on “SportsMax Zone.”
Spencer believes that communication breakdown could be at the root of the issues between the JFF and the women’s national team.
“I think as a group of players that we deserve honesty and respect in every angle,” Spencer said. “When you’re left with no communication for months or for weeks about what’s happening, it makes it really difficult for a group of players to want to show up and to want to keep going and going through this each and every time if nothing ever changes.
“We’re sitting here on this and we speak the truth and we just wish that they could do the same in return.”
U.S. women’s national team forward Trinity Rodman plans to tune into the four-part documentary on Netflix chronicling the team’s journey at the 2023 World Cup.
Already two trailers have been released for the docuseries, which will premiere on the streaming platform on Dec. 12. The series, titled “Under Pressure,” recounts the USWNT’s campaign for a World Cup three-peat at the 2023 tournament, which ended in a disappointing Round of 16 shootout loss to Sweden.
“We’re all talking about this. I think for me personally, it is a lot of emotions, and I think it will be for a while,” Rodman told reporters on Wednesday, admitting that she hasn’t watched the preview yet. “I will be watching though because I think we all need to see behind the scenes and see the journey that we went on, as much as it does kind of hurt.
“I do feel like we all need to reflect and see how much we went through together so then we can grow in the future. I think it’s going to be really cool for everyone to see and for us to grow as people and as teammates to each other. It’s gonna be tough though.”
And while they didn’t get the result they wanted at the World Cup, Rodman is excited for outsiders to “see the work that we put in.”
“It will be really interesting. I mean, I think with Netflix, they’ve done a few of these four-part documentaries and they’ve been really interesting on a lot of different subjects and sports,” said defender Emily Fox, who has yet to watch the second trailer. “I think when the documentary comes out, I definitely will be watching it.”
The USWNT is preparing to play China PR on Saturday, Dec. 2 and Tuesday, Dec. 5 in their final games of 2023. Next year, they’ll start the work of reclaiming gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Under new head coach Emma Hayes, they’ll be focused on winning, just as they were in Australia and New Zealand, where Rodman said they were barely aware of the Netflix film crew.
“I think for all of us, our heads were down with all the outside noise. And I think going into the thing, we did say we came together as a team and said there is so much outside noise and we cannot pay mind,” Rodman said of the World Cup. “We are here for one thing, and that’s to win. And that’s all we were thinking about was training and winning the next game.”
Players at the 2023 World Cup did not believe themselves to be in peak physical fitness at the start of the tournament, according to a new survey from FIFPRO.
The global players’ union surveyed players from 26 of the 32 national teams that participated in the World Cup, with 53% of the players saying they felt as though they had “insufficient rest” prior to the tournament. The tournament began on July 20, just 54 days after the Women’s Super League ended and in the midst of the NWSL season.
Two-thirds of players did not believe themselves to be at their physical peak, while 60% said that their post-tournament rest also was insufficient. Less than three weeks after the World Cup final on Aug. 20, Champions League qualifying began, while NWSL players jumped right back into their season.
FIFPRO recommends “an off-season break of four weeks, with a retraining period of six weeks.” But 86% of players responding to the survey said that they had less than two weeks rest before rejoining their club teams. One player described the lack of recovery time as “mentally exhausting.”
“I was trying to rest and prepare at the same time, which doesn’t really work,” another said.
Also, while FIFA tournament regulations state that 100% of players must have a pre-tournament medical exam and an electrocardiogram (ECG), 10% of players surveyed did not receive an exam, and 22% did not have an ECG.
“Anything below 100% when it comes to access to an ECG or undertaking a pre-tournament medical is not acceptable,” said Alex Culvin, FIFA’s head of strategy and research for women’s football. “Regulations need to be applied and adhered to in full.
“Players need an environment that supports their holistic wellbeing, from mental health through to tournament conditions, so they have the platform to be at their competitive best.”
Two-thirds of the players surveyed also said that support for mental health could have been better at the World Cup.