It’s the end of the calendar year for the U.S. women’s national team, with 2022 performances all wrapped up in a bow. Naturally, that also means it’s time for end-of-year report cards to evaluate how each player did in the run-up to the 2023 World Cup.

Again, a quick set of criteria: Despite the team’s first three-game losing streak in decades, the U.S. lost only three games total in 2022. A failing grade would indicate a player is wildly unprepared for the game at this level, which is not something we saw from the group playing the lion’s share of minutes this year. Likewise, an A+ indicates a player with all-star, team-on-their-back, best-in-the-world status.

Throughout this series, which will grade players by position, I’m going to avoid those who didn’t get minutes in 2022 and those who have missed significant time due to injury.

So far, we’ve graded the goalkeepers, outside backs, center-backs, defensive midfielders and attacking midfielders. Now, let’s take a look at the winger position.

Sophia Smith – A+

Sophia Smith is my personal pick for USWNT Player of the Year in 2022. She scored 11 goals, played over 1,000 minutes and comfortably filled roles on the wing and occasionally at center forward. Her most consistent playing time came on the right side of the pitch, and the 22-year-old showed off new facets to her game when given more consistent opportunities. Smith is an obvious goal-scoring talent, but her versatility in space might still be underrated. She can drop back to help defensively, slide into the midfield to receive the ball and overlap with her teammates to exploit pockets of space as they open up.

Mallory Pugh – A-

Only compared to Smith does Pugh come in at a lower grade. If Smith was a force on the right in 2022, Pugh became her counterpart on the left. Pugh often leaves one or two obvious chances on the board, but they are noticeable because she creates them with such consistency. She paired well with Catarina Macario early in the year and was greatly missed during the USWNT’s two-game trip to Europe in October. In the final match of the year, she had perhaps her most comprehensive performance, driving the team forward with her constant energy and scoring the game-winning goal against Germany.

Trinity Rodman – B+

The greatest knock against Rodman is that we didn’t get to see nearly as much of her as we would have hoped. The 20-year-old played in 10 matches in 2022, with her most notable performance coming in the USWNT’s 2-1 loss to England in October. Rodman is a more connective player than she gets credit for, with a good sense of when to drop into the midfield for service. She scored an equalizer at Wembley off a scintillating full-team sequence that was controversially ruled offside. The way coach Vlatko Andonovski used her primarily as a late-game substitute underplays her readiness for the international level.

Margaret Purce – B

Purce was left off the U.S. rosters late in the calendar year due to Gotham FC’s NWSL struggles, perhaps unfairly. The USWNT is packed at winger, making roster decisions particularly difficult, but Purce did bring a spark off the bench in 2022 that served a valuable purpose. She sealed a Concacaf W win against Haiti with a goal earned through sheer tenacity. Purce has the competitiveness and intelligence of a World Champion-level player, but so often in the 27-year-old’s international career, she’s ended up the odd player out of a crowded position.

Megan Rapinoe – B-

It’s difficult to properly rate Rapinoe at this point in her career, since her strengths and limitations are so well-known. She’s one of the team’s key leaders, bridging the gap between the older generation of USWNT rosters and the new. She’s a killer in dead-ball situations, including on crucial penalty kicks, and she still can whip in a cross better than most. But when she plays significant minutes consecutively, she can leave the outside back behind her isolated in defense and isn’t always on the same page as the rest of the frontline when the U.S. moves quickly in transition. She’s perfect for her current role as intended, but Pugh’s absence in October underlined the USWNT’s vulnerability on the left if they have to rely on depth.

Claire Watkins is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @ScoutRipley.

The Tour de France Femmes confirmed its course for 2026 this week, setting up next year's event as the longest iteration of the race in the women's tour history.

The 2026 course will run in nine stages starting in Lausanne, Switzerland, on August 1st and continuing through the finish line in Nice, France, on August 9th.

Cyclists will cover a total of 1,175 kilometers, with 18,795 meters of climbing.

The course will feature three flat stages and three hilly stages as well as two mountain stages and one individual time trial, with riders tackling Mont Ventoux — an iconic climb from the men's event — for the first time.

Though 2026 will only by the fifth edition of the modern Tour de France Femmes, the race will make its debut in a standalone time slot one full week after the men’s race ends, with recent record viewership fueling the move to separate the races rather than continue the previous tactic of scheduling the two events back-to-back.

"We no longer need men for the Tour de France Femmes to exist,"  said race director Marion Rousse at Thursday's course unveiling. "There's no need to have the men's race as a platform to launch the women's race. Now people are waiting to see us."

"People have embraced us," Rousse continued. "The new dates, separate to the men, prove it."

This weekend's slate of international soccer features more than one blockbuster matchup, as some of the summer's top performers, including England and Brazil, begin the long process of preparing for the 2027 World Cup.

Reigning UEFA Women's Euro champions England will be hosting 2025 Copa América Femenina winners Brazil at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester on Saturday, when the Lionesses officially kick off their four-game Homecoming Series to close out 2025 play.

The match between world No. 4 England and No. 7 Brazil will serve as the first of the series of friendlies that will span the final two international breaks of the year, with the Lionesses closing out the opening pair of games against No. 15 Australia on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, while England fans will be enjoying the team's victory lap after their second-straight Euro title, other top UEFA competition are honing in on 2025 Nations League play.

Behind a long-range goal from winger Klara Bühl, No. 5 Germany snagged a narrow 1-0 victory over No. 6 France on Friday morning, taking the lead in the pair's two-leg semifinal.

The second Nations League semifinal round kicks off at 2 PM ET on Friday, when No. 1 Spain faces No. 3 Sweden live on Prime.

How to watch England vs. Brazil this weekend

England takes on Brazil at 12:30 PM ET on Saturday, with live coverage streaming on Prime.

The Wings have found their next sideline leader, as multiple reports on Thursday linked longtime University of South Florida (USF) head coach Jose Fernandez to the open position in Dallas.

Fernandez is still finalizing his contract with the WNBA team, with the 53-year-old exiting USF having led the Bulls for 25 years, making 10 NCAA tournament appearances along the way.

Calling his impact "profound," USF athletics CEO Rob Higgins acknowledged that Fernandez is leaving for a WNBA position in a Thursday statement.

"While this is a bittersweet moment for our program, it is a well-deserved opportunity for Jose," said Higgins. "We are incredibly proud of him."

Replacing Chris Koclanes after one year, Fernandez will become the fifth Dallas head coach in seven seasons, with the Wings trying to build a title-contending roster around 2025 WNBA Draft overall No. 1 pick and reigning Rookie of the Year Paige Bueckers.

Fernandez will also be the third WNBA hiring out of the college ranks in the last two years, joining Atlanta Dream boss Karl Smesko (FGCU) and LA Sparks manager Lynne Roberts (Utah).

Hoping to improve on a 13th-place 2025 finish — and make the WNBA Playoffs for the first time since 2023 — Dallas could claim a second straight No. 1 draftee next year, with the Wings entering 2026 with the highest odds to snag the top pick in the league's draft lottery.

The WNBA league office and the Players Association (WNBPA) exchanged escalating public statements this week, as both sides dispute terms surrounding a key issue in the ongoing CBA negotiations: revenue sharing.

"When the players opted out [of their CBA] a year ago, they made it clear they wanted a salary system that values their labor and allows them to grow with the business they are very clearly driving," WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson told ESPN in a statement this week, citing the vast disparity in revenue sharing percentages between the WNBA and the NBA.

Jackson continued by claiming that the WNBA intends to "run out the clock" and double down on a model that "intentionally undervalues the players."

Days ago, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said publicly that "[Revenue] share isn't the right way to look at it," pushing instead for salary increases in "absolute numbers."

WNBA leadership, however, denied that their current offer to players omits all revenue sharing, with the league calling the WNBPA's claim "incorrect and surprising," while indicating that an uncapped revenue sharing model "directly tied to the league's performance" is on the table.

"It is frustrating and counterproductive for the union to be making misrepresentations about our proposals while also accusing the league of engaging in delay," the WNBA's statement continued. "That is simply not true."

With both parties not seeing eye to eye, a resolution before the October 31st CBA deadline appears unlikely, though a formal request for an extension on negotiations is not currently in the cards.