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Takeaways from the USWNT January Call-Ups

Emma Hayes continues her tradition of having debut call-ups in camps- midfielders Riley Jackson and Sally Menti and forwards Maddie Dahlien and Reilyn Turner are uncapped at the senior level.  Trinity Rodman is back in camp for the U.S. and is the most experienced member of the current roster having picked up 47 international senior-level appearances. Worth noting, though, that she's currently listed as "unattached" and not with Washington.  Rose Lavelle isn't in the squad for the January games- I'm guessing, from an analytical standpoint, that means that her spot for the CONCACAF qualifiers is essentially secure (she does have over 100 senior-level international appearances for the U.S. after all).  Olivia Moultrie switches back to midfield. She was in the forward rotation for the November/December games but switches back to her usual position for these games. In my mind, that's because midfield is her best spot- she was a MOTY finalist at the NWSL awards. Jo...
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Dear FIFA...

What the heck is FIFA doing? They know the men's World Cup is only in three countries this year, right? And only on one side of the globe? And yet they've made the weird decision to not only have one international window on the women's side this summer, but nine days - June 1st through the 9th.  I'll repeat that: Nine days. Just one window.  And if you can't make that? Congrats, no international soccer until October for you, I guess. So FIFA's telling every international women's team on the planet that they have to  A- Get all national-team players assembled for national-team duty... B- Get them into a camp, C- Train for a game, D- And actually have the game All in a little over a week.  Otherwise, no national-team soccer until the fall. What makes this even more grating is the fact that FIFA didn't have to do this- only three countries on one continent are hosting the World Cup this year on the men's side, so they could've extended the window a...
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Thoughts on the Denver Summit

Ahead of their inaugural season in a few months, the Denver Summit have their opening two signings in the defensive third- Kaleigh Kurtz and Megan Reid. The thing about both of them? They're both Ironwomen, which is huge both short- and long-term. I'll explain both of these. Short-Term: The Summit are looking to compete right out of the gate.  You don't sign Ironwomen in defense if you're looking to take part in the season. You sign Ironwomen if you're looking to compete in the season.  Long-Term: The Summit are saying "this is who we want on our team".  Ironwomen in any position, but especially defense, are hard-working and gritty and extremely dependable, and the Summit signing two of them ahead of their inaugural season sends a message that these are the kinds of players they want and the kind of roster they want long-term.  
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Thoughts on the USWNT callups for the Italy games- Goalkeepers

Jordan Silkowitz has been called up to join Mandy McGlynn and Claudia Dickey- both Dickey and McGlynn have tallied four appearances each between the pipes for the senior-level side. Given that Silkowitz hasn't logged a senior-level appearance, I'm guessing she's just in this window for the national-team-camp experience and is more on Hayes' radar for the 2026 or 2027 cycle. 
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NWSL News

The Washington Spirit have declined the 2026 option on the contract of Chloe Ricketts, meaning that she'll be eligible to start talking with other teams on July 1st. Since signing with the team in 2023- and with their next game August 3- she's appeared thirty-two times for the Spirit. 
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Old Blood in the UFC Heavyweight Division

Jon Jones has officially retired, ending one of the weirdest heavyweight championship reigns in UFC history- Tom Aspinall won *and defended* the *interim* heavyweight championship during which Jon had one title defense and... nothing else. Although most will remember his heavyweight reign largely for that, his overall UFC career is quite impressive. Looking past the no-contest or the times he had to vacate the titles for various outside-the-cage issues, Jon made the walk to the Octagon twenty-four times- he debuted at UFC 87 back in 2008- of which sixteen were title fights (seventeen if you count his UFC 214 bout that was overturned). His UFC record is an impressive 22-1 with 1 no-contest and he finishes up 28-1 with 1 no-contest. 
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New Blood in the UFC Heavyweight Division

Ante Delija has joined the UFC heavyweight roster. He's a two-time PFL heavyweight finalist and the 2022 champion who fought eleven times in the SmartCage, going 8-3.  Overall, he's 25-6 with 18 finishes- 12 by KO/TKO and six by submission (four RNCs, a guillotine and a north-south). Interestingly enough, back in 2020, he was going to face off against Cyril Gane at a UFC Fight Night in Abu Dhabi, but the bout was cancelled because Delija was under contract with PFL. 
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