Melanie Anzidei
@melanieanzidei.bsky.social
Soccer writer for The Athletic 📍NJ
The NWSL is expected to start its 2027 season in February, nearly a month earlier than previous years, per @melanieanzidei.bsky.social and @aslipelit.bsky.social. In the draft schedule, preseason begins in January, with playoffs running through the weekend before Thanksgiving. nyti.ms/44Tiaul
Victory for Zambia 🇿🇲 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑 Banda goals lead The Copper Queens to a 6-0 win against Egypt in their first match of WAFCON 2026 💫
There was something about the Wednesday night spent in a baseball stadium that felt perfectly NWSL: incredible and maddening, promising and problematic. Some thoughts (and 📸) from me on embracing the duality of the night at Citi Field. www.nytimes.com/athletic/745...
Gotham FC broke records with the Queens Classic. The next challenge is to make that success last (Gift Article)
A side effect of the NWSL's growth is that not everyone who was there at the start will follow where it goes next.
nytimes.com
honestly I am deeply happy the apple happened, as a former attender of mets games.
August 11, 1979. Pakhtakor -Uzbekistan's greatest ever football team - boarded a flight to Minsk. They never arrived. Tulagan Isakov missed the plane due to an injury. He told me Pakhtakor-79's story, and powerful legacy. @theathleticfc.bsky.social (FREE LINK) www.nytimes.com/athletic/737...
The tragic story of the plane crash that wiped out Uzbekistan’s greatest team (Gift Article)
In August 1979, Pakhtakor's squad boarded a plane to play Dinamo Minsk in the Soviet Top League. The flight never reached its destination
nytimes.com
Sources (w/ James Horncastle & @paultenorio.bsky.social): Christian Pulisic suffered a bone bruise and microfracture of his tibia/fibula in USMNT's loss to Belgium, sidelined for several weeks. More @theathletic.com:
Christian Pulisic suffered leg microfracture in USMNT loss to Belgium, will miss several weeks (Gift Article)
The USMNT star will be sidelined for several weeks but not months, multiple people briefed on the diagnosis told The Athletic.
nytimes.com
One day after welcoming Gotham FC to Queens with a press conference at City Hall, the club and NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani have once again partnered to release a limited batch of $15 tickets - this time for the Queens Classic. More in our exclusive story here: www.nytimes.com/athletic/742...
NYC Mayor Mamdani, Gotham FC offer $15 tickets to provide affordable access to Queens Classic
The tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis starting Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET.
nytimes.com
Monday’s loss was a critical reminder that while it’s nice to aim high and try to touch the moon, as Pochettino likes to say, sometimes it’s just as important to look down and see that your feet are still on earth — and that there’s a lot left to do down here. #USMNT www.nytimes.com/athletic/742...
USMNT's 2026 World Cup carried so much promise. It ended like it always does
nytimes.com
The sad and strange story about the fight to sell Maradona’s legacy, featuring broken families, broken businessmen and a man that carries a bag with Diego’s hair The battle raging over Maradona’s ghost: www.nytimes.com/2026/07/07/w...
As Messi Dominates the World Cup, a Global War Rages for Maradona’s Ghost
nytimes.com
It's official. Gotham has announced they will play their home games at Etihad Park in Queens, beginning in 2028. www.nytimes.com/athletic/742...
Gotham FC to move to NYCFC’s Etihad Park in Queens in 2028
The MLS stadium is expected to open for NYCFC in 2027 for the MLS' new fall-to-spring calendar.
nytimes.com
Flo Balogun on the field with his USMNT teammates after the match and shook the hands of all referees. Didn’t linger or seem to protest.
When he buried the penalty that sent Bosnia to the World Cup, he took off his shirt and held up his name. The son of survivors of Srebrenica, the Wisconsin-born Esmir Bajraktarević, who lost several family members in the massacre, will line up against the #USMNT. www.nytimes.com/athletic/740...
Esmir Bajraktarević is U.S.-born, but his Bosnian roots make for a World Cup plot twist
Esmir Bajraktarević was born in Wisconsin, but it's where he's truly from — and what his family overcame — that determined his national team
nytimes.com
We are forever grateful that Kerr spoke from the heart after that game in 2018. It kicked off storm that eventually lead to real changes for the players and the club. We're so damn happy to have her back!
Jenna Tonelli@jennatonelli.bsky.social · 2mo agoSam Kerr’s return to Gotham FC is truly the mark of how far this team has come since the Sky Blue days. I spoke exclusively with Kerr about her decision to return, how the #NWSL has changed, and what Kristie Mewis told her about Gotham to seal the deal. www.si.com/soccer/ahead...
Exclusive US Soccer has made Pochettino an offer to extend contract by four years & lead USMNT at 2030 World Cup. Proposal made pre-tournament to signpost interest in keeping Poch. All parties agreed to make final decision after ‘26 WC www.nytimes.com/athletic/739...
Mauricio Pochettino offered contract extension to lead USMNT for second World Cup cycle (Gift Article)
Any decisions will be deferred until after the 2026 tournament, where the USMNT is into the knockout stage.
nytimes.com
Gio Reyna just said his wife, Chloe, is pregnant. Seriously. He'd been waiting for the right moment to announce it, and decided this — a goal in the World Cup opener — was it.
Exclusive for @theathletic.com: Gotham FC has announced plans for their first-ever training facility in New Jersey. www.nytimes.com/athletic/734...
Gotham FC to construct $35 million training facility, a first for the club: ‘This is absolutely huge’
The NWSL team plans to build a 27,000-square-foot purpose-built center on the former site of the New York Red Bulls training facility
nytimes.com
the return of nwsl championship after dark! @aslipelit.bsky.social with the news on where we're heading this fall @theathletic.com www.nytimes.com/athletic/732...
NWSL championship returning to Washington, D.C. in 2026: Sources (Gift Article)
Audi Field last hosted the NWSL Championship in 2022.
nytimes.com
Ricardo Pepi hung up the phone on Gregg Berhalter when he was told he was out of the USMNT's 2022 World Cup squad. This time he received a much happier message. For Pepi, and other 2022 snubs, being picked on this roster offers a sweet taste of redemption. FREE READ: @paultenorio.bsky.social
For USMNT’s 2022 World Cup squad also-rans, 2026 call means that much more (Gift Article)
Through either snub or injury, five members of the current U.S. World Cup team missed out on Qatar. Their reward was worth the wait
nyti.ms
Exclusive @theathleticfc.bsky.social NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani secures 1,000 World Cup tickets at $50 to be balloted for New Yorkers (the cheapest at the WC) Inside the meeting with Infantino (& Wenger on FaceTime) & how Mamdani negotiated a rare FIFA concession. www.nytimes.com/athletic/729...
Mayor Mamdani secures $50 World Cup tickets for New Yorkers after negotiations with Infantino
nytimes.com
News: California's attorney general has written to FIFA re: World Cup ticketing and stadium map changes. Requesting a variety of info from FIFA "to assess whether California law may have been violated." Story @theathletic.com:
California AG writes to FIFA, will ‘assess potential violations of law’ in World Cup ticket sales (Gift Article)
Complaints alleging misleading ticketing practices have hit the radar of the legal arm of one of the states hosting World Cup games
nytimes.com
NEW: An NWSL spokesperson said Wednesday the league will continue operating under a spring-to-fall schedule through 2030, after "extensive evaluation and close collaboration with key stakeholders" and while continuing "the long-term evaluation of our calendar." More: www.nytimes.com/athletic/723...
nytimes.com
The president of the Norwegian football association has called for the abolition of the FIFA Peace Prize, which was awarded to U.S. president Donald Trump, and says she supports an ethics complaint against Gianni Infantino, the president of world football’s governing body.
Abolish FIFA Peace Prize awarded to Donald Trump, says president of Norway’s FA (Gift Article)
Lise Klaveness also said she supported an ethics complaint against FIFA President Gianni Infantino by a human rights organisation.
nyti.ms
Guro Reiten has officially made her NWSL debut, starting this afternoon on the left wing for Gotham against Bay FC. I caught up with her while she was still in Norway. She said, “I played with my heart for Chelsea, and I’m gonna play with my heart for Gotham." More: www.nytimes.com/athletic/721...
Guro Reiten interview: Gotham move, Chelsea memories and new perspectives – thanks to motherhood
The star winger is swapping Norway for New Jersey — and can't wait to start helping the NWSL champions find their peak form
nytimes.com
Another Gotham match where my first thought when sitting down in this press box is, “I really need binoculars.” Welp. Happy match day from gloomy Harrison, NJ!
New Jersey Transit confirmed in a media briefing on Friday that World Cup match goers will be charged $150 for a return rail trip from New York Pennsylvania station to MetLife Stadium this summer. Full story from @adamcrafton.bsky.social here ⬇️ 🔗 nyti.ms/4ck3Qj6
A lawsuit has been filed against Lionel Messi and the Argentine Football Association after the Inter Miami star did not feature in a friendly game against Venezuela in the United States in October last year. More from @samjoseph17.bsky.social and @melanieanzidei.bsky.social bit.ly/3OiLRjL
