FootyPop: Beth Mead Signs With Manchester City

In this week’s women’s soccer news, Manchester City signed Beth Mead; the USWNT got a tough win against Brazil; Gotham announced a new training facility; and more!

High of the Week

This week, Manchester City announced that they have signed midfielder Beth Mead through 2029. It’s a huge signing for City, who are coming off their best season yet, winning the WSL title. They played well on both sides of the ball, and they’re adding a very experienced player to that roster. Mead spent the last nine years with Arsenal, where she appeared in 167 games and scored 54 goals. Before joining Arsenal in 2017, she played for Sunderland from 2011-16 and scored 66 goals in 82 appearances there. Mead also has extensive experience with the England National Team after earning her first cap in 2018.

The midfielder is a playmaker, though, and distributes the ball terrific; she currently holds the record for the most assists in the WSL with 54. It’s a big signing for City, who are looking to pick off right where they left off next season.

Low of the Week

The USWNT’s second match against Brazil was one of the worst games to watch. It was a really rough match with players taking knocks left and right, as well as a lot of stoppage, so it disrupted the flow of the match. Brazil is a very physical team, and the USWNT found that out in their 2-1 loss, so with that in mind, they decided to match that style of play in their second match, but things got out of hand quickly. There were a total of 10 yellow cards between both teams and an astounding eight red cards. These two teams have a large rivalry, but this game just spiraled, and things got out of control for the referee.

One of the highlights, though, was that this game was played in front of 55,000 fans, and playing in a hostile environment is a real learning moment for this young USWNT that Emma Hayes is trying to prepare for the next major tournament. With that being said, though, I think everybody can agree that this wasn’t a pretty game. It certainly was something that you don’t see every day. In the end, the USWNT got the 1-0 win, but they had to really fight for it.

Historically, the matches against Brazil have always been entertaining games and extremely competitive, and I think we saw that again during this international break.

News of the Week

Unfortunately, during the international break, Dudinha suffered a season-ending injury while playing for Brazil against the USWNT. She announced the injury on her Instagram. It comes at a terrible time as Dudinha has been in tremendous form for her club team, the San Diego Wave. The injury came after a collision in Brazil’s 1-0 loss in their second match against the USWNT. She’s put up MVP-worthy numbers for the Wave with either an assist or a goal in nine of the Wave’s 19 goals so far this season. It’s a huge blow for Brazil and especially the Wave, who are currently in first place, and they’ll be without their playmaker. We’re wishing Dudinha a speedy recovery!

Win of the Week

This week Gotham FC announced that they would be opening their first dedicated training facility. It will be a 27,000-square-foot building that they will create inside the old Red Bull New York training facility in Whippany, New Jersey. Right now, the targeted open date is sometime in the summer of 2027. Some features of the new facility will be a dining area, a large gym, a hydrotherapy room, and three grass fields. Another cool addition is that it will have a dedicated area for families of players and staff. It will also have a space made specifically for content and press. It’s really cool to see teams continue to invest in their players, and creating something like this will be a huge addition for this Gotham team and players. We’ve seen many teams around the league begin to create these dedicated training facilities, like the Kansas City Current, who have a wonderful facility. It’s also been announced that Denver and Atlanta are opening their own as well.

Signing of the Week

The San Diego Wave announced this week that they’ve signed goalkeeper, Sandra Paños. She brings a lot of experience to the Wave as she’s played professionally since 2010. She first started her career in Spain with Levante, where she made 114 appearances. In 2015, she joined Barcelona, where she played in 169 games and helped them win quite a few trophies, including three UEFA Champions League titles and five league championships. In 2024, she joined Club América and made 72 appearances there before leaving to join the Wave.

Player of the Week​

Sophia Wilson got back to her scoring ways for the USWNT after being on maternity leave. Her goal in the USWNT’s first match against Brazil was her first since 2024. Then just a couple of days later she scored again against Brazil with a goal that ended up being the game winner. The goals were very similar, with both coming from just outside the box. Wilson has been terrific for the Portland Thorns since returning to the field in March. In 13 games for the Thorns, she’s scored five goals and tallied an assist. A healthy and scoring Wilson is a huge factor for this USWNT that has World Cup qualifying coming up at the end of the year and the 2027 Women’s World Cup on the horizon.

Goal of the Week​

Melvine Malard scored a tremendous goal that words really don’t describe; you have to see it and then watch it over and over. Malard had the ball deflect off of her head and then she was able to tee it up and score a bit of a bicycle kick. It was a beautiful goal that ended up being the game-winner in France’s 1-0 win over the Republic of Ireland.

Favorite Social Media Post​

Current and former members of the USWNT gathered in Los Angeles to support the USWNT in their World Cup opener against Paraguay. It was nice to see these players all come together in one place.

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