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Try something new today. Emily Olsen here with Meg Linehan — welcome to Full Time!
Don’t Stop Believing
One more game
SheBelieves Cup will come down to the last match, with the U.S. women’s national team and Japan vying for the trophy on Wednesday at 10:30 p.m. ET at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego (watch on TBS or Universo or stream on MAX or Peacock). Both teams won their first two games, but Japan currently holds the tiebreaker with a better goal differential.
Utah Royals forward Mina Tanaka has scored four goals for Japan and has tied Mallory Swanson’s record for most goals in a single SBC. However, it was FC Bayern Frauen midfielder Momoko Tanikawa’s 18-second goal that stole the show yesterday in a 4-1 win over Colombia.
For the U.S., the tournament is — say it with us — about development, as Emma Hayes likes to remind us.
Hayes changed the lineup completely between Thursday and Sunday. In yesterday’s 2-1 win over Australia:
- Five of the starters had fewer than five previous appearances with the senior national team.
- Kansas City Current’s Claire Hutton, 19, earned her first cap.
- Gisele Thompson made her first start, lining up alongside her sister Alyssa — the third set of sisters to do so for the U.S.
Less than a minute in, 31-year-old mainstay Lynn Biyendolo scored the opening goal — her first under her married name. (Fun fact: her husband Marley is from Australia and watched from Oz.)
Michelle Cooper added a second goal for the U.S. in the 68th minute, becoming the second player to record their first U.S. goal this camp after Ally Sentnor’s goal last week …
A grand entrance
If you are an avid follower of the U.S. at the youth level, you know Sentnor’s name. The 21-year-old was Sports Illustrated’s SportsKid of the Year in 2019. She played for the prestigious Tar Heels in North Carolina, earning first-team All-ACC honors in her two seasons before going pro.
Utah selected her first in the final NWSL Draft last year. The Massachusetts native also played a key role for the United States at the under-20 World Cup, scoring three goals en route to a bronze medal finish last summer — the nation’s best showing at the tournament since 2012.
Last week, she scored her first goal for the senior team. A long-range shot launched into the upper corner of Colombia’s net.
We’re watching this on a loop, Coop 🤩
Michelle Cooper’s first WNT goal is the @ATT Play of the Match!
[image or embed]
— U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team bot (@uswntbot.bsky.social) February 24, 2025 at 3:41 PM
She followed that up with an assist against Australia.
Because I couldn’t find the words for her goal, I asked the group on Slack to describe it in one word:
Meg’s Corner: Debuts on and off the field
There have been plenty of first caps on the field under Hayes, but we also got a first cap on the broadcast side this SheBelieves Cup. Former USWNT captain Becky Sauerbrunn stepped behind the desk for the first time after retiring from playing last year.
As a player, we all knew and appreciated her quiet leadership. As an analyst, there were a few moments where you could see her comfort zone being stretched. For the most part, though, Sauerbrunn looked like a natural as she drew upon her decades’ worth of knowledge.
Sauerbrunn, who joined me on the podcast last week, spoke about the media boot camp she attended earlier this year and how podcasting with former U.S. teammate Sam Mewis prepared her for her television debut. She also spoke about the deep trust she already has with this broadcasting team, even as her relationship shifts with her exploration of the media space.
Between that trust and her thoughtfulness, I’m excited to see what she brings to USWNT broadcasts. Better analysis, education and storytelling benefit the players and everyone else in this space.
Plus, we got that deeply adorable moment of Biyendolo and Sam Coffey surprising her after the Colombia game, and Sauerbrunn’s classic protest: “I’m trying to be professional here!”
After the Australia game, Biyendolo got a little more sappy: “What made you so special on the soccer field is what is going to make you so special off it.”
🎧 Listen to last week’s “Full Time” episode for the full chat with Sauerbrunn.
European Update
Rubiales found guilty of sexual assault
Se acabó. It’s over.
The verdict was swift — or as swift as a Spanish court decision can be. After two weeks of testimonies, Judge Jose Manuel Clemente Fernandez-Prieto found the former president of the Spanish Football Federation guilty of sexual assault for the non-consensual kiss of Jennifer Hermoso during the medal ceremony of the 2023 Women’s World Cup final.
- Rubiales was fined more than €10,000 ($11,400), but he will not go to jail. He was also ordered to pay a further €3,000 for moral damages and half of Hermoso’s legal costs.
- The ruling from Spain’s High Court bans Rubiales from going within 200 meters of Hermoso and from communicating with her for one year.
- However, the 47-year-old and three other RFEF employees — including the former Spain women’s coach Jorge Vilda — have been acquitted of the charge of coercion.
Laia Cervello Herrero reported on Spain throughout the World Cup from New Zealand and Australia. She was in court in Madrid and knew this case better than anyone.
On Thursday, she wrote: “The important thing about the sentencing of Luis Rubiales is not whether he will go to prison, or how many thousands of euros he will have to pay to compensate Jenni Hermoso, the World Cup-winning footballer he kissed without consent while the world was watching. The important thing is that it represents an end to the impunity of this powerful man who believed himself to be above the law.”
Laia’s full column is worth a read.
Even though both Rubiales and Hermoso could appeal, it feels like this chapter is officially over.
What’s happening in Nations League?
The UEFA Women’s Nations League is an international competition among the senior teams across Europe. League A group winners go through to the semifinals, with the bottom team getting relegated. The finishing positions of this year’s competition will determine where teams are placed in each for the European qualifiers for the 2027 World Cup.
Spain, who won the inaugural competition last year, took the field on Friday, a day after the Rubiales verdict came down, and completed its comeback against Belgium to win 3-2.
Their next game is a fitting rematch of the 2023 World Cup final against England on Wednesday at Wembley Stadium. A couple more highlights from Friday’s matches:
- England drew Portugal 1-1 in a game that showed some old cobwebs are still hanging around. Haunted by familiar frailties, England found itself not just looking for a replacement for the injured Georgia Stanway but for the answers to questions that have lingered for much of head coach Sarina Wiegman’s tenure.
- Wales, who qualified for its first Euros earlier this year, fell to Italy 1-0. Before the match, The Athletic spoke to Welsh defender Haley Ladd about her style of play and the “perfect carpool companion.”
- France, Sweden and Austria won their matches to round out the group leaders in League A, which also includes Spain.
Full Time First Looks
Who’s the boss?: Last week, Angel City FC sporting director Mark Parsons told us he’s getting close to naming the team’s next head coach. While the pool of candidates is down to four, the two possible timelines vary between having a coach in March and waiting until June/July after the European seasons end.
Puzzling hire: On Friday, Bay FC’s sporting director backed the hiring of Graeme Abel, the club’s new head of domestic scouting at the college and professional levels. Abel was the subject of a 2024 investigative report from The Oregonian over his conduct as the head coach of the women’s soccer team at the University of Oregon.
You pick: Fans can vote on the name of the NWSL’s newest expansion club in Denver. The team unveiled six possible team names Wednesday in a poll. Anything is better than BOS Nation, right?
We all bleed: Arsenal is reminding people of that fact in its new advertisement, which aims to break the stigma around periods in sports. The campaign, “Every Stain Should Be Part of the Game,” is worth watching.
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(Top photo: Patrick Fallon / Getty Images)
