Increase Your Soccer IQ

Has your daughter’s coach mentioned that it would be GREAT for the players to watch some higher level soccer? Perhaps girls could attend local high school or college games or enjoy a match on television? Players can watch exciting English Premier League games scheduled nearly every weekend, for example, and dramatically increase their soccer IQ. Starting the weekend of April 13-14, fans can also watch National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) regular season games on nwslsoccer.com, NWSL Apps and My Lifetime App. Girls can be encouraged to observe how the pros look over their shoulders, receive the ball, make one-touch passes and move the ball around the field.

It’s an exciting time for women’s soccer as the top NWSL “rock star players”  head towards The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019, which will begin on June 7th. Leading up to this exciting tournament, we have a 3-part series of articles to help our players learn more about the United States Women’s National Team and The FIFA World Cup 2019.

Part I. Introducing the National Women’s Soccer League

There are 9 teams in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) based in cities across the United States. These teams are comprised of some of the best female soccer players in the world. They compete in games against one another and train with their team for about 7 months of the year, March-September.

You Can Follow Your Favorite Team on Instagram

Chicago Red Stars Follow @chicagoredstars

Houston Dash Follow @HoustonDash

North Carolina Courage Follow @thenccourage

Orlando Pride Follow @orlpride

Portland Thorns FC Follow @thornsfc

Seattle Reign FC Follow @reignfc

Sky Blue FC Follow on Instagram @skybluefc

Utah Royals FC Follow @utahroyalsfc

Washington Spirit Follow @washingtonspirit

Do the NWSL team names’ sound familiar? If so, that might be because 8 out of our 10 Academy and Development Teams are named after them!! (FYI – Impact and Fury are also named after professional teams, but not current NWSL teams.)

Fun Challenge! Explore the NWSL website, www.nwslsoccer.com, which leads you to all of the individual sites. You can watch video clips and learn how you can view games. Their Instagram accounts are also listed above. Consider following and learning more about your favorite teams and players.

Finally, the TOP players from the NWSL make the US Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT) and have the honor of representing the United States in international play all over the world, including the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup.

Part II.  The US Women’s National Team

Who are these “rock star” players and where do they come from?

The top American players from the National Women’s Soccer League make the 2019 US Women’s National Soccer Team(USWNT) and have the honor of representing the United States all over the world. The National Team participates in the Olympics and in the FIFA Women’s World Cup along with other international competitions. Coach Jill Ellis has been leading the team since 2014.

The USWNT has been the most successful women’s team in international women’s soccer to date and has celebrated 3 World Cup titles and 4 Olympic gold medals. Coach Jill Ellis will finalize her 23-player squad closer to the 2019 World Cup, but listed here are some players to watch for:

Alyssa Naeher, goalkeeper from Chicago Red Stars; Abby Dahlkemper, Defender from NC Courage; Becky Sauerbrunn, Defender from Utah Royals; Julie Ertz, Midfielder from the Chicago Red Stars; Lindsey Horan, Midfielder from Portland Thorns; Alex Morgan, Forward from Orlando Pride; Mallory Pugh, Forward from Washington Spirit.

Why not coordinate a team viewing party of a live or recorded match? Fox and FS1 will air matches.

The US Women’s National Team is scheduled to play:

June 11, 2019 3 pm ET US vs Thailand

June 16, 2019 12 pm ET US vs Chile

June 20, 2019 3 pm ET US vs Sweden

Part III. FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019

France is gearing up to host the FIFA World Cup 2019, beginning on June 7th in Paris. 24 women’s teams from different countries will participate in 9 cities throughout France in a total of 52 matches over the course of about a month. After winning the tournament in 2015, the United States Women’s National Team will strive to hold onto its status as World Champions and earn its 4th World Cup title. Powerhouse teams such as Germany, England and Japan will be tough competitors!

The history of women’s soccer is rich and interesting. Girls may be surprised to know that the first Women’s World Championship was held in China in 1991, actually not so long ago… Many of these amazing and influential athletes from countries all over the world are using their platform and their voices to serve as role models to advance women’s soccer and demand gender equality and treatment. These women have important goals both on and off the field!