Month: June 2023

The United States men’s national team are no strangers to playing completely unhinged games against Mexico. That continued to be the case on Friday night in Las Vegas, as the two sides squared off in a Nations League semifinal that went about as poorly as a game can go. That’s especially true for El Tri, which suffered a convincing, 3-0 loss to the Americans on the evening.

Right as the evening kicked off and with a spot in Sunday’s final against Canada was on the line, a bombshell report came by way of Paul Tenorio of The Athletic that changed the vibe around the evening. In a bit of news that was confirmed on Friday morning, the United States will end its search for Gregg Berhalter’s replacement by bringing Berhalter back as manager. While the team was able to make it out of a difficult group at the World Cup and consistently won CONCACAF knockout competitions under Berhalter, his return comes after he was given the all-clear following an investigation into an incident in 1992 where he kicked his then-girlfriend, Rosalind, to whom he is now married.

The incident came to light after Claudio and Danielle Reyna, the parents of current USMNT midfielder Gio Reyna, contacted higher-ups in U.S. Soccer and brought it up while discussing their frustration over their son’s lack of playing time at the World Cup. The whole thing was beyond messy and highlighted a long-standing problem within the Federation in which everyone knows everyone — Claudio was Gregg’s best man in his wedding to Rosalind, Danielle and Rosalind were college roommates, the conversation where this came to light featured a few of Claudio and Gregg’s old national team teammates who were put into positions of prominence within the Federation — and the news of Berhalter’s return to the team coming right as the ball was kicked to start a game against Mexico was, in retrospect, the only way a story this weird could come to a fitting conclusion.

And then, there was the game, which was as unhinged as any USMNT-Mexico game I have ever seen. It isn’t new for the U.S. to beat El Tri, but the size of the gap that appeared to exist between the two sides was rather shocking. Mexico didn’t have some of its top players — its first-choice attacking trio of Tecatito Corona, Raul Jimenez, and Hirving Lozano all did not play — but even beyond that, the Americans just completely played them off the park at Allegiant Stadium, something that was true even before Christian Pulisic opened the scoring by basically wanting a ball more than anyone on Mexico did.

Halftime came and went, and much was made of how the United States emerged from the locker room early, lined up, and waited for Mexico. We saw why right away, as Weston McKennie picked a pass into space for Timothy Weah, who ran onto it, played a ball across the face of the goal, and set Pulisic up for his second of the night.

Things were chippy before this, and after the Americans got a second, the intensity began ramping up. Fouls by both teams got under the skin of the opponents just that little bit more, and in the 69th minute, things finally boiled over.

Folarin Balogun, the high-profile debutant dual-national who chose the United States over England, tracked back to win the ball from César Montes. This didn’t go over well for the Mexican center back, who took out Balogun for an obvious red card that kicked off a fracas between the two teams. McKennie, one of the emotional leaders of the USMNT, emerged from things with a torn up jersey and likewise received a red for putting his hand around a Mexico player’s throat during the scuffle.

Less than 10 minutes later, with both teams playing down a man, a dual-national who picked the United States over Mexico gave the Americans a third. Sergino Dest ran through the Mexican defense and slid in a perfect pass for Ricardo Pepi, who was originally ruled offside but was given the goal after it was reviewed.

It was right around here that things completely went off the rails. On the pitch, this meant that things boiled over yet again, with a number of chippy fouls that eventually led to Dest and Gerardo Arteaga picking up red cards following some extracurriculars in the 85th minute.

Far more concerning, however, was what happened in the stands, as Mexico supporters loudly used an anti-gay chant in the game’s waning minutes. There have been numerous efforts by CONCACAF to try and stamp it out, but unfortunately, it popped up once again and led to the referee stopping the game. Things resumed in stoppage time, where the referee called for 12 additional minutes, but the chant continued and things were called early.

Next up for the United States is the Nations League final against Canada on Sunday evening. While it should be a tense game — particularly with both Dest and McKennie suspended due to their red cards — our hunch is it will not be anything like Thursday night.

Harrison Ford‘s reputation is that he’s a grump. But that’s not accurate: he’s only a grump about things that he should be grumpy about, like silly questions about Red Hulk. Otherwise, Ford seems like a chill dude who enjoys making movies, flying planes, and spending time with wife Calista Flockhart and his friends, including former co-star (and Oscar winner!) Ke Huy Quan.

The Everything Everywhere All at Once star surprised Ford on the red carpet for the Hollywood premiere of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Look at the smile on Ford’s face when he realizes who’s been jumping behind him. “You’re all grown up,” the Indy actor said with pride as the two exchanged a hug.

Ford also enjoyed saying hello to Kevin Brassard, the Disney World cast member who portrayed Indiana Jones in the “Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular” at Disney’s Hollywood Studios for nearly 30 years. “When I said to him, ‘I’m the man that’s been lucky enough to portray Indiana Jones that you created for the past 34 years,’ he thanked me,” Brassard, who was there alongside fellow Disney stunt performer Michele Waitman, told Disney Parks.

Several decades later, Kevin continues to play a key role as the comical “Director,” and as a trainer, he passes the torch to all the Indiana Jones stunt performers who follow in his carefully choreographed footsteps. “If I could tell myself starting with this show more than 30 years ago about today, first of all, I’d say strap in, it’s gonna be a wild ride. And you’re gonna love it,” Kevin said.

Ford is still waiting to meet his real hero, however: Big Al from the Country Bear Jamboree.

(Via Disney Parks)

The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow, and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.

Inconsistency, inconsideration, and indecisiveness. Kiana Ledé names those as her “biggest pet peeves” during an interview with Uproxx ahead of her second album Grudges. Throughout the album’s 17 songs, Ledé journeys through past relationships that left her to deal with those bad qualities. However, it doesn’t stop there. Ledé also lists the grudges she has against men overall and herself as well. “I’m naming my grudges and calling them out so that I can move forward with my life,” she says.

Grudges is Ledé’s first album since her 2020 debut Kiki. That project presented a young adult who sought a fairy tale love story and believed that it could exist for her. Even the album’s low moments amounted to nothing but a brief bump in the road as it concludes with “Separation” and “No Takebacks,” which proved that Lede’s hopes and dreams were reasonable and not the result of youthful naivety. Three years later, things are much different for her. The novelty behind romance has lost its shine a bit and the frustration that she can’t have this thing that so many other people can indulge in is more present than ever.

“As a mature young woman, if I seem to be in a relationship with someone, I’m agreeing to meet in the middle, not compromise, but meet in the middle,” Ledé says. “So when you’re not helping me help us or help you, I can’t have that and I don’t like things that are out of my control. So yes, it frustrates me when I don’t know what someone’s thinking.”

These frustrations make for the foundation of “Irresponsible” and “Gemini Slander” on the album. The former blends anger and disappointment for a message penned directly to an unnamed lover who failed to live up to the adult task of being transparent, mature, and honest in love. “Gemini Slander” places Ledé in the driver’s seat as she walks away from a man who lacks the consistency and decisiveness required for love. Through a listen of Grudges, it’s clear that Ledé’s pains in love weren’t a brief or occasional occurrence. She has enough stories to tell because she’s been through it.

“I went through a breakup actually, during COVID I went through two breakups, so I don’t know if I got the world record for modern relationships you can have in quarantine,” Ledé recalls with a laugh. “Was in both of them, and clearly they did not go so great, but it’s okay. It left me with great music.” Though it wasn’t immediately that Ledé knew these songs would become what we now know as Grudges.

“Maybe [after] a year, a year and a half of making the album we were just like, these are grudges,” she says. “It wasn’t just about me having a grudge about my [exes], it really just created this perfect headline of the grudges I hold against the world and everything that it encompasses.”

Kiana Ledé’s growth from her early days helped her reach this point of vulnerable and sheer honesty about herself and others. Even throughout Grudges, there isn’t a point where she is spiteful toward those who contributed to qualms in love. It comes from a level of accountability that exists in these situations, especially ones that the singer herself had a hand in creating.

“I think as I’ve gotten older, no matter how big my role was, in those relationships, and this way, I can acknowledge and accept the part that I played,” she notes. “Too Far” is a perfect example of this as she acknowledges the effects of crossing the friendship barrier to explore the once-forbidden fruit of intimacy.

Though spite and retaliation were absent, a loss of faith in love, people, and trust took its place for some time as she details on the album’s title track. “I went through so much and was put through so much pain by the people that I thought loved me the most,” she remembers. “When that sort of betrayal happens, it’s really hard to think – like if these people were supposed to love me, how will this person that I met on Tuesday that I think is a good person and could be a good friend, how are they not gonna screw me over?” In naming and eventually freeing her grudges, Kiana also found it necessary to do the same to overcome doubts.

“I realized that you can build a good community by just trying,” she says. “I had to accept that with love of any kind, is going to come pain, and we can’t escape loss. That’s just a part of life.” Here, Ledé speaks of having hope, hope that tomorrow will be better, hope that you’ll receive what you prayed would be eventually, and hope that it’ll all be okay. “My friends and my mom are like you just are hopeful,” she says. “I just hope that people are who they say they are. There’s gonna be that one in a million that really is, so there is some hope and love somewhere.”

Despite all that she goes through on Grudges, this hope comes alive to conclude the album with “Magic.” It plays a role similar to that of “No Takebacks” on Kiki, a record that pours out the hopes for a forever romance, and while “Magic” looks to do the same for Grudges, it does so with a new sense of reality.

I label Ledé as a bit of a hopeless romantic, a title she fully accepts and credits for her ability to hold a grudge so well. However, when Grudges comes to a close, we’re left with the feeling that Ledé wants to be more of a hopeful romantic – optimistic about love’s potential while being a bit more practical about its arrival. Look no further than “Where You Go” with Khalid for evidence of this transition Ledé wants to make in the future. Though that record is certainly romantic on the surface, underneath that is the reminder of an unhealthy codependence that Ledé used to have in a previous relationship.

“I do hold a grudge against my younger self that was codependent with people that I was in a relationship with,” she admits. “It feels so good to be able to rely on someone right? But once it gets a little too codependent, like ‘I go where you go,’ it can be a lot.” Simply put, recognizing your faults is the first step in eventually correcting them.

At the end of the day, Grudges is Ledé’s moment of self-reflection and self-work and the pressures of getting it all done to overcome the past and reach what is destined for you. We see this through the intricate and well-thought-out artwork for Grudges. “The mirrors are a representation of a self-reflection, looking at yourself, and also who you are presently in that moment,” Ledé says. “The cameras are a representation of there being a lot of pressure while you’re looking at yourself, everyone else is looking at you, while you’re just trying to figure it out.” Overall, it’s a “clusterf*ck of sh*t around you” that hones in on the overwhelming feeling of working on yourself as the world watches and expects you to show up and simultaneously meet their own expectations.

In these moments, as Kiana Ledé has proven, the best thing you can do with flaws (and grudges) is to name them, acknowledge them, and set them free. But whatever you do, try your best to not hold on to them.

Grudges is out now via The Heavy Group/Republic Records. Find out more information here.

Being happy led Pharrell Williams to an RIAA diamond-certified single. Now, with Voices Of Fire (stars of a Netflix documentary of the same name), there’s another emotion the musicians are bringing to the forefront. On Pharrell and the choir’s new joint single, “Joy (Unspeakable),” the group shouts from the mountain tops how their deep familial bond is only strengthened by the Lord up above.

No matter how demanding his duties as Louis Vuitton’s new Men’s Creative Director, the producer will always carve time out to create new music. The single serves two purposes: To give glory to God and to further establish Pharrell’s musical legacy across genres with his uncle Bishop Ezekiel Williams (of Faith World Ministries) at the helm.

The song’s chorus leaves all of their worries at God’s feet, as the lyrics read, “Lately, I’ve had a hard time / Ain’t been satisfied when I testify / Wanna make sure I’m short when I make that / Point of view / When them blessings come through (I play villain) / And even though I’m clean / When you do it again, they must understand / The point of view.”

Although Voices Of Fire has been classified as a non-traditional choir, they certainly aren’t lacking in their vocal anointing or overall ministry.

In a statement shared about the track, Bishop Williams shared his proud in the song, saying, “When the dream team finally came together on this song — Pharrell, Voices of Fire, Pastor Larry George, and yours truly — I knew that moment in the studio was one of destiny.”

Listen to the track above.

One of the biggest stories in the NBA in the lead-up to next week’s Draft is the availability of Washington Wizards star Bradley Beal. While there are no indications that Beal wants out of Washington, reports indicate that the Wizards would work with his representation in the event the team decides to rebuild.

Now, Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report brings word that the two sides have taken another step towards a potential move. Haynes reports that the Wizards have given Beal and his representation permission to hold conversations with teams for whom he’s interested in playing.

Via Bleacher Report:

It’s believed Beal will only consider teams with a chance to win.

He owns a rare no-trade clause, giving him authority to veto and approve potential trades, sources say. The Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks are expected to talk with Beal and his agent, Mark Bartelstein, sources say.

Miami and Milwaukee are the two teams that have been most closely linked with a Beal trade ever since news broke that he could be attainable on the trade market. Beal is one of the more unique players in the league, as he holds the NBA’s only no-trade clause and just finished up the first year of a 5-year, $251 million max extension.

Honestly, interviewing someone like Ben Mendelsohn makes all the stressful and, sometimes, unenjoyable interviews worth it. He is, every time, a delight. The last time we spoke, I was told he wasn’t doing press for Captain Marvel through the studio because he was busy filming another movie, but I could always ask his personal publicist. I did just that, sending an email asking if we could set something up. A few minutes later my phone rings and it’s Ben Mendelsohn. It’s true, he was filming a movie, but at that moment he wasn’t doing anything, so why not just talk now? (To be clear, things like that never happen.)

So, speaking of Captain Marvel, Mendelsohn is back as Talos (after a brief cameo in Spider-Man: Far from Home) in Secret Invasion. In Captain Marvel, there was the twist that the Skrulls were actually not the villains this time around and had been driven from their home planet by the Kree. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) has been working alongside Talos, giving the Skrulls shelter on Earth while trying to find them a new home planet. Unfortunately, some Skrulls have grown impatient and have divided off, deciding Earth is a good place to stay and it would be much better without humans. And they’ve figured out it’s not hard to get humans to just kill one another through violence. Nick Fury and Talos try to stop this from happening, even though Nick and Talos don’t even see eye to eye on the Skrull’s role on Earth.

Ahead, an, again, always delightful Mendelsohn explains why he wanted to return as Talos. He also looks back on the arc of Rogue One, how it went from a troubled production to, now, a beloved Star Wars movie. And when I bring up the possibility of Mendelsohn returning as Orson Krennic in Andor, let’s just stay he breaks out some comedy for our entertainment…

I still tell people about the last time we spoke…

Oh?

That made it sound ominous. No, it wasn’t anything like you saying, “Not on my watch, sir,” and slapping a glove right across the face.

You froze in the middle of that. And it really had a tension to it that was not built in. And then the last thing was me doing a quick motion and saying, “Glove across the face.”

No, you didn’t do that.

No, I know, but I missed it is what I’m saying.

I felt I made it sound ominous, and then I came up with a story that you took a glove and slapped me across the face, but then Zoom froze. So then my joke went bad.

It’s got a good backwash, kind of craziness to it. It would’ve been great.

If it wasn’t for technology, we would’ve had a little moment there.

Absolutely. Paradox.

After I saw Captain Marvel I was told you weren’t doing press because you were filming another movie. I emailed your publicist that I wanted to talk to you and then you just called me five minutes later.

Oh yeah! That was a great conversation. I remember that really well. Okay. Hadn’t connected.

It was on the phone. It was before Zoom.

I remember that. Because, I remember her telling me, and then I went, bam, picked up the phone!

Yeah, that never happens.

[Singing] I work hard for the money…

I didn’t expect to hear a Donna Summer song during this.

Hey, we’ve got them all here. This is going to go very quick, brother. So, if you got any new questions, now might be the time.

I’m going to just read the transcript from last time. And, we can discuss it.

Fine. We can do it again.

Okay, so when do they come to you and say, “We want you to play Talos again”? Because when Captain Marvel came out, there weren’t these Disney+ shows.

We did not have the streaming component at all then.

So, could you have said, “No, I don’t want to do this anymore?” Or, were you already signed in?

Originally, Talos died on page 50 or something, when I took the original commitment. It was more to do with Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden than to do with anything else. Mississippi Grind.

Right. One of my favorite movies.

So, when this developed into what it’s become, I just kept thanking my lucky stars. I went and did the film for them, because I was like, “Well, come on, you guys turned me into a…” I’m not going to name the figures, but… [starts jokingly pointing at his bling]

Right…

But, basically, “can you come and see Kevin [Feige] and Louie [D’Esposito],” and that was like, yeah. Because usually they don’t say, “Listen, don’t you ever come back, stay away, don’t you ever come back to us.” So I knew it was going to be something good.

Oh, right. They wouldn’t call you in to say, “We don’t like you.”

Exactly. I thought that would be a very disappointing result. And they didn’t, in fact, do that. And then they basically laid out the thing. Right? The basis of it. And I was very, very excited to do it. Very excited to do it. This is, primarily, it’s about Sam. This is going to be a very significant Sam show. And it’s a film, show, whatever you want to be and to have an opportunity to be a really significant part of that.

Well, it has serious undertones. Even in the first episode, that line about stroking people’s anger and rage to bring violence. That is very precedent in what the world is experiencing right now.

Look, absolutely. And not just now, time and again, we visit these places in times and societies where this type of a thing occurs. There is a grievance, a set of grievances. It becomes enacted in a way that it becomes enacted, which is, classically, violence. And, classically, there’s a lot of indiscriminate nature to that. So yeah, it’s a serious, serious subject. And them mentioning they wanted to do something which would had more of a Cold War thriller field to it. The meat on the bones of this was really all of the bonus section of it. For me, it was just an opportunity to come back and work with something that was going to be very much about Nick Fury to do my job well enough that whatever Sam did had the benefit of the people around him.

And Talos is Nick Fury in Spider-Man: Far From Home.

He is Nick Fury from Far From Home. Talos has got that. So we know, in some ways, that Talos has been carrying a ball. Right? And what they did with that one sort of strange coda on Far from Home and what they’ve taken that through and developed it into? I mean, look, Kevin and Louie and Jonathan [Schwartz] – there’s a reason that these guys are the current heavyweight champions of the world, and that we really haven’t seen a mind like this in terms of a studio boss since, I don’t know when, if ever, when dealing with the preexisting material and slicing it, dicing it. Having the conceptualization to be able to understand.

A lot of people are trying to do it and not quite getting there.

Nobody does it better. Sometimes I wish someone would. Nobody does it half as good as him. [Singing] Baby, baby, baby. He’s the best.

Are you happy with the arc that Rogue One has taken? When it came out the story was about the reshoots, the last third being redone. Now, seven years later, everyone just really likes it.

Do you know what’s really interesting about it? That is that when George Lucas saw it, it was his favorite. When George Lucas saw that film, way back when. It was instantly, as it was reported to me, it was his favorite, I’m assuming outside of the initial movies. But it’s his favorite. So, that says a lot. And I think … really, look, the first time I saw it, I had a shock, and I had a very, very difficult relationship to that film. The second time I saw it, I was with an audience, and I went, “Ahhhh, this is really, this isn’t bad. This isn’t that bad.”

Oh, you were worried?

Oh, I don’t watch them for that reason. I can’t quite deal with it. You know, it’s the reason that I think I’m able to keep sort of going and try things the way I do, is that I don’t involve myself with how it ends up. Because that’s not my… I don’t do that bit. I don’t do any of that.

I hope you show up in Andor. That’s what I want.

Oh, that’s right! That’s the precursor show? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, they’re doing that now?

Yes. You should be in it.

Tony’s doing it? Tony Gilroy’s doing it?

He is.

[Mendelsohn tilts his head, puts his hand on his chin and does an “aint I a stinker” face.]

I have to figure out how to describe that face you’re doing.

Secret Invasion! You wait! You are going to love this.

I look forward to it.

[Mendelsohn stands up and gets right into the camera] You will not be disappointed!

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

Gucci Mane works on his jump shot — and takes shots at certain internet personalities — in his new video for “Bluffin” with Lil Baby, which kicks off the rollout for Gucci’s new album, Breath Of Fresh Air. “Bluffin” is a boastful track that finds Lil Baby and Gucci taking turns challenging competitors to call their bluffs, assuring them that they’re definitely holding winning hands. Gucci’s verse makes fun of old, washed-up, out-of-shape rappers (a nod to his commitment to getting fit) and denounces motormouthed music manager Wack 100 for talking too much on internet interview shows.

The press release for the album and song notes that “Bluffin” is Gucci’s fourth single of 2023 after “Pissy” with Roddy Ricch and Nardo Wick, “06 Gucci” featuring DaBaby and 21 Savage, and “King Snipe” with Kodak Black. It also offers a pre-release link for Breath Of Fresh Air which is due on October 13th via Atlantic Records/The New 1017 Records. The cover for the album features a family photo of Gucci, his wife Keyshia Ka’oir, and their son and daughter, all dressed in formalwear.

2023 looks like a bounceback year for Gucci after his 1017 label suffered a string of setbacks in 2022, including the death of Big Scarr and the incarceration of Pooh Shiesty. While the So Icy Boyz: The Finale compilation did much to prop up the remaining roster, as his label’s sole remaining superstar, it’s once again up to Guwop to save the day — and if anybody can do it, it’s the trap rap godfather.

Watch the “Bluffin” video above and get more info on Breath Of Fresh Air here.

Gucci Mane is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Last year, Lil Nas X accepted the Hal David Starlight Award at The Songwriters Hall Of Fame. “This award means a lot to me for the simple fact that, somehow, I keep just doing things and it keeps working out,” he said in his acceptance speech.

It was revealed in May that this year’s award would go to Post Malone. It honors “gifted young songwriters who are making a significant impact in the music industry with their original songs,” and the 27-year-old is undoubtedly one of the biggest hitmakers of this generation. He accepted the award at the ceremony last night (June 15) at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City, and thanked his fiancée and their baby.

Along with his speech, he also gave an acoustic performance of his 2016 song “Feeling Whitney” from his debut Stoney. “I’m sorry that I played a song that nobody knows,” he joked (as Stereogum notes).

The “Circles” performer is set to hit the road soon on the If Y’all Weren’t Here I’d Be Crying tour. It kicks off in the beginning of July, a few weeks before the release of his highly anticipated new album Austin.

Austin is out 7/28 via Mercury Records/Republic Records. Find more information here.

When the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup kicks off in Australia and New Zealand later this summer, the U.S. women’s national team will chase history as it looks to become the first team to win the tournament three times in a row. That pursuit, and the efforts to knock them from their perch, will be the driving narrative of the tournament, the hook used by networks to entice viewers to keep odd hours in the hopes of witnessing the unprecedented. After all, an international sporting event as all-encompassing as the World Cup is only as good as the stories it brings with it.

This summer, there will be no shortage of intrigue surrounding football’s biggest competition. A crowded field of contenders are desperate to prevent the World Cup from returning to the United States. A number of the best players in the world are coming off of successful campaigns with their clubs. There will be the heartbreaking injuries, the coaches whose feet are held to the fire. Campaigns championing equal pay that are led by players will be under the spotlight.

While the USWNT’s story at this tournament tends to end with them lifting the World Cup, time will tell how things go this year. Recently, we caught up with a handful of players from the team following a victory over Ireland in a friendly, and there was a sense of relief in the air. The group just wrapped its last camp, a whirlwind of meetings, workouts, and training sessions where coach Vlatko Andonovski could judge who might make the all-important 23-player roster.

The match against Ireland was a cagey affair played on a pristine pitch at the newly-opened City Park, sponsored by Truly — the first hard seltzer to lend their logo to the women’s game — and watched by a crowd of 22,294 fans in St. Louis. The day after, a trio of Americans — Lindsey Horan, Kristie Mewis, and Sofia Huerta — took time to discuss the national team. From roster questions sparking furious competition for starting spots to shocking injuries, exciting talent, and new leadership, the players reflected on the build-up to a World Cup that they hope will go down in the history books.

Camp Competition

When the USWNT steps onto the pitch in Auckland for its first match in group play against a newly-minted Vietnamese squad, the players will be united by the same goal: earning a win and the necessary points to put them atop the group. But during camp, it’s everyone for themselves.

“Everyone kind of felt the tension a bit,” Mewis tells UPROXX. “It’s obviously good, because you want that in the team. You always want to compete because, at the end of the day, that’s what’s going to make us win the World Cup.”

“Consistency” frequently pops up often when chatting with USWNT players. Huerta sees implementing what she’s learned at the club level as key to her fight to earn a spot on the team. “I think we’re all on the same page, that we want to win and everybody wants to play well, people want to start,” she says. “I just think naturally you’re going to get the best out of everyone because we all just want to get minutes and we want the team to be successful.”

For Horan, who played a key role in the team’s last World Cup run, the competitiveness of camp is only amplified by how Andonovski’s preferred style of play has evolved the women’s team. While former head coach Jill Ellis proved the U.S. could win (and win big) with her disciplined, regimented tactics, Andonovski’s system allows for more freedom of expression on the pitch, with an emphasis on possession and an attack-minded approach.

“For so long I would think about how Jill operated our team and [the] things I wasn’t completely agreeing upon during the World Cup, but ultimately I look back and I think she did all the right things in terms of the team that she put out, how she played us with our personnel. I think now, Vlatko has a more difficult job,” Horan explains. “You have players that want to play a better style of football than maybe we played in 2019 — a more possession-oriented football — but [we] also need to keep what we’re so incredibly good at in this high transition-style attack.”

Despite those growing pains (or perhaps because of them), this version of the USWNT feels fresher, more threatening, and more unpredictable than ever. They also seem ultra-confident, both in their individual skills and their ability to come together when it matters to get the job done.

“Beforehand, everyone’s fighting for their lives out there,” Horan admits. “But anytime that roster is named, we’ve always sat down and had a conversation as players. We’re like, ‘All right, this is it. This is the World Cup. It’s about the team. It’s about us winning.’ That’s what truly makes our team great — once we go into that tournament, you don’t care about yourself anymore. You don’t care if you’re playing, you’re starting, whatever. It’s ‘what does the team need to win?’”

Changing of the Guard

On April 8, the U.S. won its first of two friendlies with a 2-0 victory over Ireland, but that win felt a bit hollow considering what the team lost in the process. A torn patella tendon suffered in the first half means that forward Mallory Swanson could miss the World Cup, a heartbreaking result for the player and for a team in need of her goal-scoring abilities. She’s not the only American currently out of commission, as Christen Press, Catarina Macario, Sam Mewis, and Tobin Heath are all still fighting to come back from injury, and it’s unclear if any of them will be able to make the 23-player roster. Of course, the U.S. isn’t the only squad struggling to keep players healthy either — the sport features a perpetual push-and-pull between the lucrative club season and the international calendar. League play gets stretched, games are added to the club season, and the strain on an athlete’s body becomes more intense. And because the women’s side still hasn’t been allocated the resources or research when it comes to recovery and sustainable training methods, its players are paying the price.

Swanson was expected to expand on her role from the 2019 World Cup, and plenty of her teammates are likewise undergoing role changes within the team’s constantly shifting ecosystem. Huerta, who takes on the role of warm-up DJ whenever Megan Rapinoe is off duty — Migos’ “Fight Night” always makes the playlist — measures her worth in how her game can lift up others. “Whatever my role is,” she says, “I’m just playing the best so I can make everyone around me better.”

Mewis, who is fighting to secure a spot in the midfield — the part of the roster surrounded by the most uncertainty — is a bit of a bulldog on the pitch. She takes pride in what she brings to the team, which she describes as “I’m not going to take any other team’s sh*t.” Horan, who is stepping into more of a leadership role for the squad, is likewise proud of where she fits into the lineup.

“I’m sharing the captain’s armband,” Horan says. “So now it’s like, ‘How can I help everyone be better and be prepared for games?’ Especially with so many young players on the team, it’s going to be such a difficult atmosphere and environment. No one understands what it’s like to be in a World Cup. Helping get everyone up to speed, I think that’s what I can do the best. And then just bringing my quality on the field, working my hardest, and playing my game.”

Horan is 29 and Mewis is 32, but both refer to the talent on the squad in terms of their youth. They’re “babies” and “young kids,” brimming with untapped potential and undeniable swagger but looking to their more experienced counterparts to set the tone come game day.

“I think there comes a time where they do kind of look to you for how you’re responding, how you react to things — how positive are you being? How hard are you working?” Mewis says. “Abby Wambach was like that, such a hype woman. She just loved getting the team going. I think she’s someone who I would love to embody in a way because she’s just super positive, wants to big everybody up like, ‘You’re the f*cking best player here. You are the f*cking best player here. You’re going to score goals.’ And I think that no matter what, I want to try to be that for someone, too.”

Playing the Long Game

When the 2023 Women’s World Cup kicks off in July, the USWNT’s accomplishments will once again be distilled to the bottom line of a score sheet. They’ve fought for historic equal pay agreements, influenced other national teams to campaign for better facilities and treatment, weathered scandals within the top American domestic league, and done it all while advancing the popularity of women’s soccer, both stateside and abroad. But all of that will be easily forgotten — or worse, weaponized against them — should they fail to live up to the impossibly high standards their success has set for themselves.

It’s both unfair and the nature of the game. It’s also what fuels great players to reach that next level in their athletic careers. Horan views England, the defending European champions, as the team’s obvious roadblock to another title, but warns that fans shouldn’t sleep on France despite a last-minute coaching change and team tensions that led to chaos in the buildup to the tournament. That uncertainty, that sense that the U.S. might have to battle harder than they ever have to come away with the trophy, might unsettle fans, but it’s proof that the USWNT has played a major role in changing women’s soccer for the better.

Mewis sees that in how NWSL players banded together after five out of the league’s then-10 teams had coaches resign in 2021 following shocking abuse allegations against the management of top clubs. “All the things that are being brought up now are so valid and so important that I think it does make us play a little bit harder, it makes it mean more in a way,” Mewis says. “We do a really good job as a team and as a league that, once we step on that field, we know why we’re out there. I think there’s a sense of togetherness now.”

Horan, who’s been tapped for advice by international players on her Lyon squad looking to implement the same strategies that earned the USWNT their equal pay win, prioritizes the U.S. performance but is constantly reminded of the legacy her team is building off the field too.

“We showed what was possible,” she says. “Players on my team in Lyon are asking me so many questions — I think that’s the most important thing. We started this movement and obviously, there’s still work to be done. I sit here and talk to a lot of my teammates in Lyon about our national teams. It’s absolutely absurd. And I’m just like, ‘If it is possible for us, it’s possible for you. It’s just what you put out there, how you do it together.’”

Even something as seemingly small as a photo shoot for a popular hard seltzer brand shows how far the women’s game has come. “It’s actually so cool,” Horan admits. “I was looking at the can with the U.S. logo on it. Everyone knows Truly, and now they’re sponsoring U.S. Soccer. It’s not just the men anymore. These brands are reaching out and supporting us. I think it’s just a very special thing and that’s how it should be.”

But even with those wins both on the pitch and off, the team’s guiding philosophy remains fairly simple: play the game you love. For Huerta, gaining perspective through adversity has reshaped her relationship with the sport. For a long time, soccer became synonymous with pressure, the anxiety-fueling kind that robbed the defender of her joy of playing. “I wasn’t getting called in, I was so down on myself,” she remembers. “I just wasn’t having fun anymore.”

She recruited a sports psych and a life coach — “I have it all,” she says — and started redefining what “success” meant to her.

“I defined success as ‘if I’m on the national team, if I’m going to World Cups, if I’m going to Olympics.’” Huerta says. “But really, just being a professional athlete, that makes me successful, regardless. So, by changing the definition of that, taking the pressure off of myself, it just allowed me to be more present, and have more fun, and be who I could be on the field.”

By now, Huerta, Mewis, and Horan have put in months of work with their respective clubs, hoping to improve their games and show they’re ready for the responsibility of representing their nation on an international stage. It’s what every player hoping to make the 2023 World Cup roster is doing, whether they’ve lifted the World Cup in the past or hope that this summer marks the first time they reach the peak of the sport. Right now, they’re all fighting for spots, but come July, they’ll be fighting for something bigger. Team glory, yes, but also the respect and recognition that their sport deserves. They’ll be fighting to prove that the future of the women’s game is secured, filled with players to whom fans feel a deep sense of connection and stories worth investing in.

UPROXX was invited on a hosted trip through Truly for reporting on this piece. However, Truly did not review or approve this story in any way. You can find out more about our policy on press trips/hostings here.

In the past few months, Maryland rapper Foggieraw has become a vertical video sensation thanks to his self-shot music videos for songs like “Persona,” “TGI Fridays” with Ari Lennox, and “Psalm 62,” which highlight his conversational flow with cleverly staged vignettes following the ultra-charming recording artist on his adventures in life and love. However, many of those songs had yet to receive official releases, either because of sample clearance issues or other behind-the-scenes holdups.

That changes today, as not just one but two of his fan-favorite singles were officially released to DSPs: “Ms. Johnson,” which samples Musiq Soulchild’s 2007 single “teachme,” and the aforementioned “Psalm 62,” which samples Alicia Keys‘ notorious 2003 Grammy-winning hit, “You Don’t Know My Name.” Back in March, Foggie implored his fans to help him get the song out, writing, “okay guys I’ve tried everything in my power to get this out… maybe y’all could kindly ask miss alicia on my behalf lol.”

Well, it seemingly worked; this week, Foggie posted a follow-up tweet with a video of himself performing a snippet of the song at a piano alongside the New York singer herself to announce the single’s release.

With two of his massive overstock of songs out in the world, it’s only a matter of time until Foggieraw makes the leap from social media favorite to genuine superstar. Listen to “Psalm 62” above and “Ms. Johnson” below.