{"id":363140,"date":"2025-12-23T05:01:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T05:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/363140\/"},"modified":"2025-12-23T05:01:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T05:01:11","slug":"sophia-wilson-signing-is-thorns-holiday-gift-plus-a-soccer-twist-on-classic-holiday-films","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/363140\/","title":{"rendered":"Sophia Wilson signing is Thorns\u2019 holiday gift. Plus: A soccer twist on classic holiday films"},"content":{"rendered":"

Full Time Newsletter \u26bd| This is The Athletic\u2019s weekly women\u2019s soccer<\/a> newsletter.\u00a0Sign up here<\/a> to receive Full Time directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n

Get into the holiday spirit with this story about how a bit of hurtful banter turned into a\u00a0call to help the hungry<\/a>.\u00a0In today\u2019s Full Time:<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udf32 Sophia Wilson stays in Portland
\ud83c\udfa5 Sprinkling soccer into our favorite holiday movies
\ud83c\udfc6 Setting the next phase of Champions League<\/p>\n

It\u2019s nearly Christmas, so let\u2019s start by handing out some presents \u2026<\/p>\n

Gifts<\/p>\n

Three women\u2019s soccer presents<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the season of giving, which means it\u2019s time to share some women\u2019s soccer gifts. This point in the soccer calendar has everyone feeling a little tired, so to avoid going completely down the \u201cGift of the Magi\u201d route, I\u2019ve kept it to three simple offerings.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udf81 Mary Poppins and a spoonful of sugar to all of the NWSL (league offices, players and fans included).\u00a0I listened to the original soundtrack to the \u201cMary Poppins\u201d musical on vinyl this weekend, and it hit me: \u201cIn every job that must be done\/There is an element of fun.\u201d The recent back-and-forth over Trinity Rodman\u2019s contract and the future of the league, including the\u00a0players association\u2019s rejection<\/a>\u00a0of the league\u2019s High Impact Player mechanism, has really dampened what was otherwise a monumentally entertaining season.<\/p>\n

The potential solutions, the responsibility to the players and their rights as free agents, and the open grievance are all very serious matters. There has to be a simple solution, though, because at the most basic level, all parties want a better future for the sport. A no-nonsense nanny and a dose of supercalifragilisticexpialidocious could really put things back on track.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udf81 Extra healthy limbs to players around the world.\u00a0We saw another rash of ACL tears and injuries this year, including to Germany and Bayern Munich star Lena Oberdorf (knee, again) and Aitana Bonmati (leg). I could give this gift out every year, but maybe there\u2019s hope ahead with\u00a0organizations, including FIFA<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0U.S. Soccer<\/a>\u00a0(via the Kang Women\u2019s Institute), announcing new research into women\u2019s health.<\/p>\n

With the increasing number of tournaments (ahem,\u00a0FIFA\u2019s Women\u2019s Champions Cup semifinals<\/a>\u00a0featuring Gotham FC, SC Corinthians, Arsenal and ASFAR in five weeks), having a few extra limbs around can\u2019t hurt.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udf81 And finally, for you, my deepest gratitude for reading along with us for more than two and a half years.\u00a0In a world where it\u2019s getting harder to tell if there\u2019s a real person on the other side of the words we read, I feel so lucky to have an engaged and thoughtful community sending us notes after every podcast, leaving comments on our posts and even saying in-person hellos when we get to events.<\/p>\n

We have one more newsletter left in 2025 to reflect on the year and look forward to the next, but for now, I just want to say thank you! (Sorry if \u201cgratitude\u201d feels like a $10 Visa gift card and a pair of socks, but it really is the thought that counts. It\u2019s very difficult to send gift baskets to almost 200,000 people!)<\/p>\n

I would give the Portland Thorns a gift, but they already got the biggest present of the offseason so far \u2026<\/p>\n

Meg\u2019s Corner: Sophia Wilson is staying home<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve talked extensively about Rodman and where she might or might not be in 2026, but there was another member of the Olympic gold-winning \u201cTriple Espresso\u201d whose future was unclear \u2014 until now.<\/p>\n

U.S. women\u2019s national team forward Sophia Wilson is\u00a0staying with the Thorns<\/a>\u00a0for the 2026 season after exercising the player option on a contract extension she originally signed in 2024.\u00a0The option year, determined long before the latest discussion over High Impact Player mechanisms, is worth a record $1 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The 2022 NWSL champion, 25,\u00a0spoke to me<\/a>\u00a0about her decision to stay, becoming a mom and her continued drive to win.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know a lot of times it\u2019s good to be uncomfortable,\u201d Wilson said, \u201cbut I feel like I\u2019m at a point in my life and career where (comfort is) what I need, coming back from having a baby<\/p>\n

What to Watch
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

Holiday movies \u2014 with a soccer twist\u00a0<\/p>\n

Our good friend Sandra Herrera at CBS sent in this question for the\u00a0\u201cFull Time\u201d mailbag episode<\/a>\u00a0earlier this month:\u00a0What are your top three holiday movies and which U.S. player most embodies them?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Without further explanation, here are Meg and Tamerra\u2019s must-watch movies this holiday season:<\/p>\n

Meg\u2019s holiday films:<\/p>\n

\u201cFamily Stone\u201d (an annual rewatch): The only right answer to which USWNT family belongs in a holiday movie is Rose and the Lavelles.
\n\u201cMuppet Christmas Carol\u201d: Thinking about which baller would handle the role of the only human in this movie, it\u2019s Washington Spirit midfielder Croix Bethune. (Or, if we can repeat, Rose Lavelle.)
\n\u201cRound and Round\u201d (a 2023 Hallmark Hanukkah film): Because the lead character must overcome a time loop conundrum, defender Naomi Girma is the perfect fit.<\/p>\n

Tamerra\u2019s films:<\/p>\n

\u201cSanta Claus is Coming to Town\u201d (this claymation is on every year without fail or it\u2019s not Christmas): Jaedyn Shaw deserves to sing the classic \u201cPut One Foot in Front of the Other\u201d after the year she\u2019s had. Turns out the path gets you an NWSL Championship title.
\n\u201cHome Alone\u201d: There were a few ways to go with this one. Is it the youthful vibe or the ability to be left on your own? The latter won out, so the U.S. captain, Girma, gets another starring role. (Honorable mention for chaos: Emily Sonnett.)
\n\u201cThe Preacher\u2019s Wife\u201d (admittedly holiday-adjacent): With its epic soundtrack and acting from Whitney Houston and Denzel Washington, Crystal Dunn is the obvious choice. It will be interesting to see how Dunn works her way back to the national team after a difficult year with PSG, too.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc40 Watch\u00a0the \u201cFull Time\u201d podcast tackle this question and more:<\/p>\n

Need to Know<\/p>\n

Dressing up for end-of-year awards<\/p>\n

This time of year also brings award season in some sports. Last week,\u00a0Charlotte Harpur<\/a>\u00a0attended BBC\u2019s Sports Personality of the Year Award ceremony, watching the top British or United Kingdom-residing athletes accept special recognition. While multiple European champion Lionesses and World Cup-winning Red Roses were on the list, it was golfer Rory McIlroy\u00a0who took home the top honor<\/a>\u00a0(or\u00a0honour, over there).<\/p>\n

Think ball gowns and bow ties, red carpets and canap\u00e9s, iconic music over majestic montages. We asked Charlotte to cure our FOMO (or fuel it) by sharing more:<\/p>\n

Were you shocked by any results?<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcac I was surprised neither Lionesses Hannah Hampton nor Chloe Kelly made the top three, but having two England women\u2019s players was always going to split the audience vote. Given women\u2019s rugby is still building its fan base, Red Rose Ellie Kildunne\u2019s second-place finish ahead of Formula One driver Lando Norris was a shock \u2014 in a good way.<\/p>\n

McIlroy was the deserved winner after he claimed a career grand slam and led Europe to Ryder Cup victory, as was England\u2019s 2025 European Championship savior Michelle Agyemang, 19, who beat darts world champion Luke Littler (18) for Young Sports Personality of the Year.<\/p>\n

What was the best quote of the night?<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcac \u201cI\u2019m just a dad keeping a promise to a little girl. Elsie wanted me to run the London Marathon and I did.\u201d<\/p>\n

You could hear a pin drop when David Stancombe, the father of two young girls killed last year, spoke in the most touching moment of the night.<\/p>\n

In July 2024, Bebe King, age 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9, were killed in an attack at their dance studio.<\/p>\n

Elsie\u2019s father, David, and Alice\u2019s dad, Sergio, were presented with the Helen Rollason Award for outstanding achievement in the face of adversity. They ran the 2025 London Marathon to help fundraise and establish lasting legacies in their daughters\u2019 names.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Full Time Newsletter \u26bd| This is The Athletic\u2019s weekly women\u2019s soccer newsletter.\u00a0Sign up here to receive Full Time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363141,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,8081,561,82,67875],"class_list":{"0":"post-363140","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nwsl","11":"tag-soccer","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-us-womens-national-team"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}