The Jugadora - January 22nd 2024
Barcelona claim their first trophy of 2024, FIFA celebrates 'The Best', and Mewis says farewell
If you’re a women’s soccer fan, you’re probably still in your feelings about Sam Mewis’ retirement last week – I know I am.
Mewis, nicknamed “The Tower of Power”, played a critical role in the USWNT’s run to the 2019 World Cup and was named USWNT’s Player of the Year in 2020. In 2021, ESPN recognized Sam Mewis as the best player in the world. But Mewis had been managing a knee injury since 2017 that continued to wear down and worsen with time. Mewis went through an arthroscopic surgery procedure on the knee in 2021 and another in January 2023, but ultimately wasn’t able to make it back to the field.
Last week, Mewis announced her retirement from professional soccer, joining the ranks of special athletes forced to walk away from sport too early.
In more uplifting news, the WSL returned to action over the weekend and Barcelona took home their first trophy of the year, proving that they’re the best team in Spain by a mile (or 100).
To the scores…
SCOREBOARD
Spain’s Supercopa Semifinal:
Barcelona 4, Real Madrid 0
Levante 3, Atl. Madrid 1
Spain’s Supercopa Final:
Barcelona 7, Levante 0
The question is no longer “can anyone in Spain beat Barcelona?” It’s now “can anyone even keep it competitive with Barca?”
Barcelona beat up on Real Madrid for the second time this year, winning the semifinal matchup 4-0 behind braces from Mariona Caldentey and Salma Paralluelo. In Saturday’s final against Levante, Barcelona once again steamrolled to a 7-0 victory. Caroline Graham Hansen led the way with a hat-trick and Ona Batlle, Aitana Bonmati, and Paralluelo (2) added goals as well.
Barcelona lifted the trophy and celebrated on the field postgame – likely the first of several times we’ll see this scene in 2024.
WSL:
Arsenal 2, Everton 1
Tottenham 4, West Ham 3
Manchester City 5, Liverpool 1
Chelsea 3, Manchester United 1
Rest of Europe:
Lyon 2, Montpellier 1
PSG 4, Reims 0
PSG 8, Bordeaux 1
Internazionale 2, Roma 0
Juventus 1, Sassuolo 0
Wolfsburg 10, Sparta Praha 0
Chelsea took on Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on Sunday and Lauren James came to play, scoring a hat-trick against her former team to lead Chelsea to the 3-1 victory. After a sloppy return from the holidays against West Ham last week, Chelsea looked significantly more in sync yesterday and dominated the Red Devils for stretches, despite the absence of Sam Kerr.
In other WSL action, Bunny Shaw scored a hat-trick for Man City in a 5-1 victory over Liverpool and Arsenal’s Vivianne Miedema made her first start since returning from ACL injury.
TOP OF THE TABLE - Key storylines from the past week
1. FIFA’s The Best Awards
It feels like a lifetime has passed since last Monday’s FIFA The Best awards, so I’ll keep it short and sweet.
To the surprise of no one, Aitana Bonmati took home the top award for Player of the Year. The other individual awards went to Mary Earps for Goalkeeper of the Year and Sarina Wiegman for Coach of the Year. No surprises or controversy here.
The FIFA 11 recognizes the top players of the year at each position, as voted by the players themselves. This year, seven of the eleven spots went to English players, with only two going to the Spanish national team players that beat them in the World Cup final. While some of the picks were maybe a little debatable, the only clearly WTF choice was Alex Morgan at one of the forward spots. Normally people would cry American media bias but in this case, the award was voted on by players, so it’s just confusing all around. Alex Morgan herself would probably agree.
Some players that I thought deserved to make the 11 and didn’t: The other two Player of the Year finalists (Salma Paralluelo and Jenni Hermoso), Mapi Leon, Patri Guijarro, Lena Oberdorf, and Naomi Girma.
2. Another week of January signings and trades
As we march through January, the deal wheel continues to spin. Here are the moves that were announced last week:
Angel City FC signed 16 year old phenom Casey Phair. Phair was the youngest player in the history of the World Cup, playing for the South Korea side this past summer.
Mal Swanson signed a new deal with the Chicago Red Stars worth about $2 million over 4 years, with a 5th year option. This deal sets a new high water mark for largest NWSL contract ever, surpassing the deal Maria Sanchez recently signed with the Houston Dash.
Sarina Wiegman extended her contract with England, which will officially keep her coaching the Lionesses until after the 2027 World Cup.
North Carolina Courage signed Wolfsburg and German National Team defender Felicitas “Feli” Rauch. She’s not quite Emily Fox but she’s a good player who will slot into Fox’s position and help them out.
Niamh Charles signed a new deal with Chelsea, extending her through 2027
Goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger signed a new deal with Arsenal, sorely disappointing Arsenal fans who were hoping that Arsenal still might acquire Mary Earps
Pia Sundhage, former USWNT, Sweden, and Brazil coach, signed on to become the Swiss National Team coach
Taylor Flint (Kornieck) was traded today from San Diego Wave to Racing Louisville in exchange for $150K in allocation money. I have so many questions about this one.
Christine Sinclair signed a 1 year deal to return to Portland. Will this be her last season as a pro?
Although unofficial at this point, news broke today that Mariona Caldentey has reached an agreement to renew with Barcelona
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“With both sadness and clarity, I am retiring from professional soccer. Unfortunately, my knee can no longer tolerate the impact that elite soccer requires. Though this isn’t what I wanted, it’s clear that this is the only path forward.”
- Sam Mewis, USWNT legend, announcing her retirement on Instagram
THINGS I LIKED MOST THIS WEEK
Kristie Mewis made her much-anticipated debut for West Ham, had some major issues with the wind in England, and notched her first WSL assist.
Source: Just Women’s Sports on Instagram US Soccer announced the field for the SheBelieves Cup in April: Canada, Japan, and Brazil (in addition the United States). I was hoping to see England here, but alas.
Source: USWNT Alongside her retirement announcement, Sam Mewis announced that she’d be taking on a new role as editor-in-chief of The Women’s Game by Men in Blazers. Hey Sam, let’s collab?
Source: The Women’s Game by Men In Blazers on Instagram Mary Earps’ gorgeous red dress at the FIFA Best awards
Source: Mary Earps on Instagram This photo of Lauren Hemp from Sunday’s match:
Source: Man City Women on Instagram
STOPPAGE TIME
In the wake of Sam Kerr’s ACL injury, both Arsenal/England captain Leah Williamson and Lyon/Norwegian legend Ada Hegerberg have spoken out about the toll the aggressive match schedule takes on female players’ health and the increased risk of serious injury. The combination of club and country schedules give players very little time to rest throughout the year and in the words of Williamson “you won’t be able to increase the ticket prices or get bigger crowds in the stadiums because you won’t have players to watch. We are driving ourselves into the ground with it.” Williamson herself is currently working her way back from an ACL injury suffered last year that kept her out of the World Cup. Hegerberg echoed this sentiment, saying “If you really want to see the women’s game grow you must keep players available. Right now, that’s a hell of a challenge.”
This year is the first in many that the USWNT isn’t holding a January camp, but NWSL teams are allowed to begin preseason training as early as tomorrow (January 23rd) so we’ll begin to see American players returning to the field soon. Champions League action returns this Wednesday and Thursday so plenty of good football coming soon! Same time, same place next week!
Sam Mewis 💔💔💔