The seventh season of NWSL play kicked off on Saturday, and the 2019 campaign will attract more attention than ever since it falls in a World Cup year. With 52 days to go until the main event in France, international players remain with their club sides for the time being. 

However, that’ll soon change, and USWNT call-ups will expect to miss around two months of the season (the Send-Off Series begins on May 12 vs. South Africa and the World Cup final takes place on July 7), although the NWSL will break for group stage play.

The National Women’s Soccer League is entering its seventh season, a testament to the staying power of a professional women’s soccer league in the United States. While there have been road bumps in the past — and there will be plenty more in the future — the league is in a strong place heading into what could be a big season with the Women’s World Cup this summer.

Alex Morgan has been a consistent impact player for the U.S. women’s national team. In her 2019 campaign, she has started and played in four games totaling 349 minutes for a total of 159 caps, ranking her 17th all-time in games played. She continues to add to her accolades after just being named the 2018 U.S. Soccer Player of the Year.

She finally reached her 100th goal at age 29 in an international friendly against Australia on Thursday in Commerce City, Colorado.

The U.S. women’s national team have been nothing but busy thus far in 2019. From being one step closer to equal pay, to being ranked No. 1 heading into the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the USWNT is proving its worth through its dominance both on and off the field. 

The red, white and blue will be shown off again on Thursday at 7 p.m. MT when Lindsey Horan and Mal Pugh get to represent their home state of Colorado versus No. 6 Australia.

The U.S. women’s national team just wants to be treated fairly and equally by the United States Soccer Federation. On Equal Pay Day — the date representing how far into the current year a woman must work to earn as much as a man earned the previous year — the USWNT received an unexpected boost toward equal pay. 

Youth soccer in America is changing. Over the past few years, U.S. soccer has moved to profoundly address the exclusivity of high-level grass roots play. Talented footballers at the high school age can get offered to play for a program known as a Development Academy (DA). Both Major League Soccer and other youth clubs all over the U.S. have Development Academy teams, from the high school age all the way down to U-12.