ZWF: The U.S. Women chose to win
Zander's Weekend Facts #93: Sunday, November 19, 2023
Inside this week’s edition of Zander’s Weekend Facts, the USWNT hire Emma Hayes as their new manager, and a look at what Zander’s been reading this past week. Plus, a compilation of the top headlines you need to know about from the last seven days.
Also, go listen to the latest episode of the Zander’s Facts podcast! Episode 123 previews the 2023-2024 College Basketball season, which is already underway. Download the Zander’s Facts podcast wherever you get your podcasts!
Here are Zander’s Weekend Facts for Sunday, November 12, 2023:
Emma Hayes hired as USWNT manager
There haven’t been many reasons to be hopeful as a fan of the United States Women’s National Soccer Team.
The team, who had won the previous two FIFA Women’s World Cups, crashed out of this year’s edition in the Round of 16 stage, the worst finish ever in the nine editions of the tournament for the U.S.
Partially due to a transition of talent that unfolded in a befuddling manner. While it became clear that veteran heroes such as Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe could no longer carry the U.S. to the promised land, the young studs destined to replace them had no experience leading a championship-winning squad.
And it didn’t help that the U.S. were led by a manager many were questioning before the trip to Oceania, only for consistent tactical and personnel struggles to become more and more evident as the tournament went on.
While the signs began showing after a disappointing bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the floundering at the World Cup solidified the notion that things were not all well with the once world-class U.S. Women.
There were not many reasons to be hopeful as a fan of the United States Women’s National Team.
That was, until news initially broke on the morning of Saturday, November 4 regarding the next manager of the USWNT.
As first reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer, U.S. Soccer was set to appoint Emma Hayes as the next manager of the U.S. Women’s National Team. That appointment was made official by U.S. Soccer on Tuesday.
Hayes, the manager of Chelsea FC’s women's squad, is widely regarded as one of the best managers in the women’s game. Under Hayes’ 12-year reign, Chelsea have won the FA Women’s Super League six times, including five of the last six seasons, and currently sit at the top of the table through seven matches. The last time a club other than Chelsea finished atop the league was when Arsenal won the 2018-2019 season.
Chelsea have also won the last three editions of the Women’s FA Cup, while the club has won five total editions of the competition since Hayes took over in 2012. The Blues have also taken home two trophies from the FA Women’s League Cup and emerged victorious from the 2020 Women’s FA Community Shield.
No other club in England has even come close to Chelsea in terms of silverware in the time Hayes has led the London-based side. The one blemish on Hayes’ tenure, you could say, is that the club never won the UEFA Women’s Champions League. (That of course could change as Hayes is staying with Chelsea through the end of the current season.) Although, Chelsea are the only English side to have made the final of the competition (in 2021) since Arsenal’s UWCL victory in 2007.
Hayes even has experience managing stateside. The 47-year-old began her managerial career with the Long Island Rough Riders in 2002, a member of the USL W-League. Hayes then took up the head job at Iona College in New Rochelle, New York for a couple of years. Then in 2008, after serving as an assistant and academy director for Arsenal, Hayes was appointed manager of the Chicago Red Stars of the NWSL. Hayes was ultimately sacked in 2010 after winning just 23% of matches, but things didn’t turn out too bad in the aftermath.
Even beyond the proven results and American connections, what makes Hayes such an exciting hire is her ability to motivate her players.
The DAZN documentary on Chelsea’s run of dominance between 2019 and 2021, “One Team, One Dream: This is Chelsea” (available on YouTube) has produced several viral clips on social media of Hayes’ inspirational team talks. One of those was a clip between Hayes and defender Jess Carter:
Fans of Chelsea even clamored for the men’s side to hire Hayes during the confusion that team faced last season.
In hiring Hayes, the U.S. are getting a consistent winner who knows how the game works in America, is one of the best in the world, and has a way of inspiring the players she manages.
If the reports of a $2 million salary are true, which would be nearly equivalent to that of USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter and the highest in women’s soccer, then she deserves every penny and more.
But just hiring Hayes doesn’t mean the U.S. are once again at the top of the sport. It will be a process that includes finding the true potential and leadership abilities of young stars such as Naomi Girma, Trinity Rodman, and Sophia Smith, while also matching up against countries such as the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden that have now caught up to the once superior stars and stripes.
And the transition will be tricky as Hayes will stay in London through the end of the season, which could be as long as May 25 if the Blues reach the final of the Champions League. That means Hayes will only have two international windows, featuring four friendly matches, to impose her will before the Olympic Games begin on July 26 in Paris.
However, there are few others on the planet, if any, who would have a better chance at succeeding in this role than the 2021 Best FIFA Football Coach. And her hiring shows that U.S. Soccer is not just expecting the Women’s National Team to be the best, but that it will also provide the resources to make sure that the U.S. continues to set the standard in the women’s game.
Soon, the mantra will be, “This is U.S. Soccer, we don’t do zero.”
Now, there are many reasons to be hopeful as a fan of the United States Women’s National Team.
For more information on this week’s top story, here’s an article from Yahoo Sports - With Emma Hayes’ record-breaking salary, U.S. Soccer puts its money where its mouth is
What Zander’s been reading
Chick-fil-A has been known for focusing mainly on chicken for decades… but that may be changing. The company recently opened a brand new restaurant, Little Blue Menu, in the Washington, D.C. suburb of College Park, Maryland. While the eatery serves everything you’d normally see at a Chick-fil-A, new items such as burgers and wings make an appearance on the menu, too.
Check out this week’s featured article at the Washington Post - A restaurant ‘created by Chick-fil-A’ appeared in Md. We investigated. - (Apple News link)
Zander’s Facts Sporting Club
Here are the top headlines from the sports world in the Sporting Club:
NFL Week 11: The highlight of this weekend’s NFL action, and potentially the season to date, won’t take place until Monday night when the Eagles visit the Chiefs in a rematch of February’s Super Bowl LVII. In today’s action, the Steelers face the Browns in the 1:00 pm et window, alongside the Titans playing the Jaguars, the Panthers hosting the Cowboys, and the Raiders taking on the Dolphins. At 4:00 pm et, the Buccaneers take on the 49ers, the Bills host the Jets, and NFC West foes the Rams and the Seahawks match up. At 8:20 pm et, the Vikings travel to Denver to take on the Broncos. To start week 11, the Ravens took down the Bengals 34-20 on Thursday night.
College Football Week 12: The penultimate weekend of the college football season didn’t bring many shockers as the Playoff contenders get set for their final tests. #1 Georgia (#18 Tennessee) and #2 Ohio State (Minnesota) both cruised by their conference foes by over 30 points, while #4 Florida State took care of North Alabama 58-13. #3 Michigan did have some trouble with Maryland but won 31-24, #6 Oregon thrashed Arizona State 49-13, and #7 Texas beat Iowa State 26-16. In the weekend’s top matchup, #5 Washington snuck by #11 Oregon State 22-20 on the road to remain undefeated. Elsewhere, #9 Missouri beat Florida 33-31 on a last-second field goal, #21 Kansas State stumped #25 Kansas 31-27, while #10 Louisville survived Miami 38-31.
Oakland A’s Relocation: The owners of the 30 MLB franchises unanimously voted to approve a relocation of the Oakland Athletics to Las Vegas. While the vote does not officially mark the move of the team, it is likely the team will move to Nevada in the coming years after Athletics owner John Fisher purchased a piece of land for a new stadium back in April. The A’s suffered the worst average attendance in the league last season at just over 10,000 fans per game. The team’s lease at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum expires at the end of next season, meaning the team would need to find a place to play before a potential new stadium would open in 2028.
Concacaf Nations League: The quarterfinals of the Concacaf Nations League are halfway complete as the first leg of the matches has wrapped up. The winners of the four matchups on aggregate will advance to the semifinals of the competition, set to take place in Arlington, Texas in March, and will also automatically qualify for next summer’s Copa America tournament. The losers of the matchups will play in a play-off in March to determine Concacaf’s final two participants in the competition. The U.S. beat Trinidad and Tobago 3-0 on Thursday, with the second leg taking place in Trinidad on Monday at 7:00 pm et on TNT, Max, and Universo. Mexico, however, fell 2-0 to Honduras and must make up the deficit in Tuesday’s match in Mexico City (9:30 pm et, Paramount+ and UniMas) to advance. In the other two matches, Canada beat host Jamaica 2-1 and Panama took down Costa Rica 3-0. Canada will play Jamaica again on Tuesday at 7:30 pm et on Paramount+ while Panama will host Costa Rica on Monday at 9:00 pm et on Paramount+.
Michigan Football Sign-Stealing: After initially appealing a three-game suspension imposed by the Big Ten Conference on University of Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh, the university backtracked last week and said it would accept the punishment. The conference imposed the suspension due to an investigation related to a sign-stealing operation occurring within the program, which the conference agreed to end. Michigan was reportedly presented additional evidence last week, including the involvement of a booster in the operation and an attempt by linebackers coach Chris Partridge, who was fired on Friday, to cover up evidence. Harbaugh’s suspension will conclude after #3 Michigan’s game against #2 Ohio State on Saturday.
Rapid-fire Facts
These are top news headlines from the past week in rapid-fire fashion:
Government Shutdown Averted: Congress passed a bill to fund the federal government and avoid a government shutdown last week. The two-tiered approach passed the House on Tuesday, with all but two Democrats joining a majority of Republicans to pass the bill. 95 Republicans in the House voted against the measure, which will fully fund the federal government at current spending levels until January 19, and then only fund 80% until February 2. The Senate passed the bill on an 87-11 vote later in the week, with President Biden then signing it into law. However, the approach sets up a likely showdown between House Republicans and Senate Democrats along with President Biden next year.
George Santos: The House Ethics Committee released a report last week stating that there is “substantial evidence” that Rep. George Santos (R-NY) “violated federal criminal laws.” The report claimed that Santos stole funds from his campaign and falsely led donors into believing they were donating money to his campaign when the payments actually benefited him personally. Santos announced on Thursday that he would not seek reelection. However, Santos may be removed from office sooner than January 2025, as the chairman of the House Ethics Committee, Rep. Michael Guest (R-MS) filed a resolution to expel Santos from Congress. The vote, which would need 2/3rds of members to approve, is expected to be held when Congress returns on November 28.
U.S.-China Summit: Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the U.S. last week to engage in a summit with several other Asian nations and U.S. President Joe Biden. One of the agreements reached between China and the U.S. was China promising to suppress illegal fentanyl production in the country. The two countries are also set to resume military-to-military communications. While in San Francisco, Xi also signaled that pandas could be returning to the States after three at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington D.C. were returned last month, calling them “envoys of friendship” between the two countries. The only remaining pandas in the U.S. currently reside at Zoo Atlanta but are set to return to China next year.
Starbucks Strike: Unionized workers at hundreds of Starbucks locations across the country went on a single-day strike on Thursday. Starbucks Workers United, the union representing over 360 stores, said it was the largest work stoppage in the company’s history. Starbucks has not engaged in any negotiations regarding a labor contract with the union, prompting the strike. The union is asking to engage in discussions surrounding better pay, benefits, and increased staffing levels.
Inflation Numbers: The latest inflation numbers from the Department of Labor showed a flat month in October. For the first time since September 2022, the consumer price index did not rise month-to-month last month. Compared to October 2022, the CPI rose 3.2%. In October of last year, the CPI had risen 7.8% from the previous year. Excluding food and energy prices, the CPI rose 4.0% from the past year, the lowest in over two years.
Wrapping up the Facts
Before this edition of Zander’s Weekend Facts wraps up, here’s another reminder to check out the latest episodes of the Zander’s Facts podcast. Download and listen to the latest episode of the podcast, along with every episode of Zander’s Facts, wherever you get your podcasts.
You can also listen to every episode of the podcast on this very website. All Zander’s Facts podcast episodes are now available on zandersfacts.com under the “Zander’s Facts” tab for your enjoyment! That includes the next episode of the Zander’s Facts Podcast, which comes out this Wednesday!
That’s a wrap on this week’s edition of Zander’s Weekend Facts. The facts in print return next Sunday, November 26, 2023. Have a happy Thanksgiving!
