soccer

Teammate Sydney Leroux reveals mistake she made officiating Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger’s wedding

The stunning nuptials of USWNT stars Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger received a well-deserved standing ovation — and then some. 

Sydney Leroux, a teammate of Harris and Krieger’s from the 2015 World Cup and currently with the Orlando Pride, officiated the wedding last month and revealed on Instagram on Tuesday that a small mistake she made led to guests standing throughout the entire ceremony. 

“Remember when I forgot to tell everyone to sit down after I said ‘all rise’ so everyone stood for the entire ceremony?” she said alongside a photo of herself with the two brides. “Whatever. We stand for the queens.”

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Texans’ J.J. Watt slams coverage of fiancée Kealia Ohai’s trade to Chicago Red Stars: ‘Be better than this’

The Houston Dash of the National Women’s Soccer League traded forward Kealia Ohai to the Chicago Dash on Monday, a move Ohai said she is “extremely excited” for. 

Her fiancé, Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt, is excited, too — but not necessarily about the coverage his future spouse is getting. 

While Watt said on Monday that he is “very proud” and “excited” for Ohai, his attention on Tuesday turned instead to a local Houston news outlet that neglected to use Ohai’s name in a tweet announcing the news of her trade. The post only referred to Ohai as “J.J. Watt’s fiancée,” causing the NFL star to respond on his own Twitter page. 

“This headline is trash,” he began, before explaining that Ohai is “incredible entirely in her own merit and deserves to be treated as such.”

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Alex Morgan gives glimpse of growing baby bump in sweet pics with husband Servando Carrasco

USWNT star Alex Morgan posted two adorable photos with her husband to Instagram on Sunday, but our attention went straight to her growing baby bump. 

Morgan uploaded two photos alongside Servando Carrasco, her spouse of 5 years, while the two were in Berkeley, California, over the weekend. Morgan and Carrasco met while they both were attending and playing soccer at UC Berkeley, and according to Morgan, this was the first time the two had been back to the city together since they graduated. 

“So many good memories!” she gushed underneath the snaps of the couple atop Grizzly Peak Vista Point overlooking the city. 

The second photo in the post gave fans a new glimpse at Morgan’s pregnant belly, roughly two months after the couple announced that they were expecting a baby girl. 

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USWNT stars Ali Krieger and Ashlyn Harris marry in star-studded ceremony

Ali Krieger and Ashlyn Harris are teammates on and off the soccer field, and on Saturday, the two World Cup champions officially tied the knot. 

Krieger, 35, and Harris, 34, wed on December 28 at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens in Miami, Florida, surrounded by family and friends — and several fellow stars from the United States Women’s National Soccer Team, including Megan Rapinoe, Crystal Dunn and Alex Morgan, who took to Instagram to share snaps from the celebration. 

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Baby bumps, hair touch ups, and wedding goals.

A post shared by Alex Morgan (@alexmorgan13) on

Krieger also shared a sneak peek of the couple’s full wedding video, which shows that the reception featured a speech by Rapinoe, a rainbow wedding cake and plenty of dancing. 

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Alex Morgan spills the tea on Trump, celebrations and the difference between 2015 and 2019

Two-time World Cup champion Alex Morgan knew there was something special about the 2019 U.S. women’s national soccer team – its voice. 

The 2019 roster, which was without Abby Wambach and Hope Solo but gained names like Rose Lavelle and Crystal Dunn, quickly delivered record TV ratings. Their comments and actions off the field, however, were what sent them to an unprecedented level of fame.

The players of the USWNT this year were targets of criticism from fans and analysts for running up scores and celebrating goals. United States President Donald Trump even weighed in, sparking a feud with Morgan’s co-captain, Megan Rapinoe, mid-tournament over her comments regarding the traditional White House championship visit and her protests during the national anthem.

That deluge of backlash would be difficult for anyone to weather, but Morgan believes that growth between the 2015 World Cup and this year’s iteration helped to prepare the 2019 team.

“In 2015, we realized that we had the microphone but we were still new at learning how to use it,” she told AOL.com on behalf of DICK’S Sporting Goods. “I think we grew into that in the last four years.”

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Barack Obama praises USWNT, shows off personalized jersey on Twitter

The United States Women’s National Team may be publicly feuding with the sitting president, but a former commander in chief has taken to Twitter to show his support for the champions. 

Former President Barack Obama posted a photo and a heartfelt message to the World Cup winners on Wednesday as they paraded through the streets of New York City. 

Obama showed off a personalized team jersey and praised the players “for being such a strong inspiration to women and girls – and everybody – all across the country.”

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USWNT stars blow up Instagram during World Cup celebration in New York

The women of the United States National Soccer Team certainly know how to have a good time. 

Since their World Cup victory, the players have been hopping from celebration to celebration, with their medals, trophies and plenty of alcohol in tow. 

On Wednesday, the team’s celebratory parade rolled through the streets of Lower Manhattan – and our favorite rowdy athletes put on quite a show for their fans both in person and on social media. 

Stars including Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan and Ali Krieger took to Instagram to post photos and videos from the party on wheels. As has become the norm for these players, there was plenty of singing, dancing and champagne to go around. 

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After narrowly missing 2015 World Cup, Crystal Dunn is ready for France

Crystal Dunn was the final player cut from the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team prior to the 2015 World Cup. 

The news was a painful blow to Dunn, who watched from home as the U.S. went on to win the tournament for the third time. 

“I was in a low, low place,” she told AOL.com of the days following the decision.

The forward didn’t let her sadness keep her down, though. She still had a season to play with the North Carolina Courage and preparations to make for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. 

“I went out and really tried to get back to the basics and perform for my teammates,” Dunn said. “It was important for me to just reset and regroup.”

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USWNT’s Christen Press addresses need for equal pay: ‘It affects the sport and how it’s respected’

In the United States in 2019, the average woman makes roughly 80 cents to the dollar of her male counterpart.

Such a discrepancy is notable in any career path, but it’s often most egregious in sports, where thousands or even millions of dollars are in play for athletes at the top of their game.

That’s not just referencing the contracts bordering on half a billion dollars that were recently handed out in Major League Baseball. Even soccer, one of the world’s most popular sports, sees a massive disparity between pay for male and female athletes. In fact, men who make the U.S. World Cup roster currently receive a bonus that is $31,250 more than what is given to the women who do the same. 

Christen Press, a forward on the United States women’s national soccer team, opened up about how the pay disparity between men and women negatively affects sports — and women everywhere. 

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Forbes reveals ranking of the highest-paid athletes of the year

Forbes has released its annual ranking of the world’s highest-paid athletes for 2017, and some of the amounts listed are staggering.

Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo came in at No. 1 for the second straight year, thanks to his hefty salary and endorsements. His earnings increased by $5 million in 2017, bringing his total annual earnings to $93 million.

The list unsurprisingly had striking similarities to ESPN’s ranking of the year’s most famous athletes, including an identical top 3 of Ronaldo, LeBron James and Lionel Messi.

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