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Alex Morgan, USWNT and NWSL star, announces retirement from soccer, pregnant with second child

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Alex Morgan, USWNT and NWSL star, announces retirement from soccer, pregnant with second child

U.S. Women’s National Team and San Diego Wave forward Alex Morgan announced she will be retiring as she and her husband Servando Carrasco are expecting their second child. Morgan, 35, will play one final game for the San Diego Wave on Sunday against the North Carolina Courage at home, she announced in a video posted to her social media Thursday.

“I have so much clarity about this decision, and I’m so happy to be able to finally tell you,” Morgan said. “It has been a long time coming and this decision wasn’t easy. At the beginning of 2024, I felt in my heart and soul that this was the last season that I would play soccer.

“Soccer was a part of me for 30 years, and it was one of the first things that I ever loved. I gave everything to this sport, and what I got in return was more than I could have ever dreamed of.”

Morgan played her final game with the USWNT in June before the Olympics, a 3-0 win over South Korea in Minnesota. Coach Emma Hayes made plenty of headlines for leaving her off the Olympic squad, and Morgan remained with the Wave during the summer.

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Morgan has been with the Wave since 2022, having previously played for the Orlando Pride and Portland Thorns FC in the NWSL, along with international stints in Lyon in 2017 and with Tottenham during the COVID-19 pandemic.

She will retire a two-time World Cup winner with the USWNT in 2015 and 2019 and a two-time Olympic medalist (gold in 2012 and bronze in 2021). In her 224 USWNT appearances, she scored 123 goals — leaving her ninth on the all-time list for team appearances, and fifth for most goals scored in the program’s history.

Morgan first broke through with the United States U-20 team in 2008, when she was early in her collegiate career at the University of California, Berkeley. She debuted for the senior national team in 2010, picking up her first cap on March 31, 2010, against Mexico.

Morgan was the youngest member of the 2011 World Cup squad at age 22, scoring her first goal in the hallowed competition in a 3-1 semifinal victory before opening the scoring in the final against Japan. The showing made her undroppable for the USWNT for over a decade, as she became a natural heir to Abby Wambach at striker. Morgan also began her club career that year, kicking off a long-nomadic saga with the Western New York Flash, playing for five teams between 2011 and 2017.

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Regardless of her club situation, Morgan remained consistent with the national team. She became the face of the program, winning the U.S. Soccer Female Athlete of the Year in 2012 and landing on the FIFA World Player of the Year shortlist that year. In terms of individual honors, she will retire as a four-time CONCACAF Player of the Year, a six-time member of the FIFPro Women’s World 11, the 2022 NWSL Golden Boot winner and a member of the USWNT All-Time Best XI in 2013.

“I grew up on this team, it was so much more than soccer,” Morgan said in U.S. Soccer’s official release about her retirement. “It was the friendships and the unwavering respect and support among each other, the relentless push for global investment in women’s sports, and the pivotal moments of success both on and off the field. I am so incredibly honored to have borrowed the crest for more than 15 years. I learned so much about myself in that time and so much of that is a credit to my teammates and our fans.

“I feel immense pride in where this team is headed, and I will forever be a fan of the USWNT. My desire for success may have always driven me, but what I got in return was more than I could have ever asked and hoped for.”

Morgan also contributed massively off the field, leading the USWNT players’ fight for equal pay — she was one of the five players who put their names to the first Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint that kicked off the long battle in 2016 before the team sued U.S. Soccer in 2019.

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As important as that fight was, she built a legacy off the field in the NWSL as well, serving as a key witness for Mana Shim, and then Sinead Farrelly, as they went on record with The Athletic in 2019 to share their stories of abuse they had suffered in the NWSL. Morgan, in addition to going on record, was a key figure behind the scenes in pushing the league to add protections for players against harassment and other abuses of power.

She also posted emails between Shim, Farrelly and then-commissioner Lisa Baird proving the league was aware that the two players were trying to come forward with additional information. “If we don’t absolutely claw and fight for ourselves, we’ve seen that we’re not going to get anything,” Morgan told The Athletic in 2021.

Morgan has always been willing to enter that fight, and with her retirement announcement Thursday, has left the game better for it.

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(Photo: C. Morgan Engel / Getty Images)

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Trump support drove wedge between former Mets star teammates, says sports radio star Mike Francesa

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Trump support drove wedge between former Mets star teammates, says sports radio star Mike Francesa

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New York sports radio icon Mike Francesa claims differing views on President Donald Trump created a divide within the Mets clubhouse. 

Francesa said on his podcast Tuesday that a feud between shortstop Francisco Lindor and outfielder Brandon Nimmo, who was recently traded to the Texas Rangers, was ignited by politics. Francesa did not disclose which player supported Trump and which didn’t. 

“The Nimmo-Lindor thing, my understanding, was political, had to do with Trump,” Francesa said. “One side liked Trump, one side didn’t like Trump.”

 

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New York Mets’ Francisco Lindor (12) gestures to teammates after hitting an RBI single during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in New York City. (Frank Franklin II/AP Photo)

Francesa added, “So, Trump splitting up between Nimmo and Lindor. That’s my understanding. It started over Trump… As crazy as that sounds, crazier things have happened.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Mets for a response.

DODGERS LAND ALL-STAR CLOSER IN RECORD-BREAKING DEAL AFTER BACK-TO-BACK WORLD SERIES WINS: REPORTS

New York Mets’ Francisco Lindor (12) and Brandon Nimmo (9) celebrate after a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers on June 27, 2023, in New York City. The Mets won 7-2. (Frank Franklin II/AP Photo)

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Nimmo was traded to the Rangers on Nov. 23 after waiving the no-trade clause in his 8-year, $162 million contract earlier that month. 

The trade of Nimmo has been just one domino in a turbulent offseason for the Mets, which has also seen the departure of two other fan-favorites, first baseman Pete Alonso and closer Edwin Diaz. 

All three players had been staples in the Mets’ last two playoff teams in 2022 and 2024, playing together as the team’s core dating back to 2020.

Brandon Nimmo #9 of the New York Mets celebrates an RBI single against the Philadelphia Phillies during the eighth inning in Game One of the Division Series at Citizens Bank Park on Oct. 5, 2024, in Philadelphia. (Heather Barry/Getty Images)

In return for Nimmo, the Rangers sent second baseman Marcus Semien to the Mets. Nimmo is 32 years old and is coming off a year that saw him hit a career-high in home runs with 25, while Semien is 35 and hit just 15 homers in 2025. 

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Many of the MLB’s high-profile free agents have already signed this offseason. The remaining players available include Kyle Tucker, Cody Bellinger, Bo Bichette and Framber Valdez. 

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FIFA responds to fan outrage, establishes new World Cup ticket tier with $60 prices

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FIFA responds to fan outrage, establishes new World Cup ticket tier with  prices

FIFA announced an affordable admission pricing tier for every nation that’s qualified for the 2026 World Cup co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The supporter entry tier will make tickets available at a fixed price of $60 for every match, including the final, for each nation’s participating members associations.

The new tier comes after supporters’ groups from Europe called out FIFA on the dynamic pricing of tickets, which changes the value based on the popularity of the teams playing in each match.

“In total, 50% of each PMA allocation will fall within the most affordable range, namely supporter value tier (40%) and the supporter entry tier (10%),” FIFA said in a statement on Tuesday. “The remaining allocation is split evenly between the supporter standard tier and the supporter premier tier.”

FIFA will also waive the administrative fees for fans who secure participating member association tickets. But if their teams do not advance, they can seek refunds.

Tickets sales were rolled out by FIFA in phases, with a third of the tournament’s inventory claimed during the first two phases. The third phase started on Dec. 11 and will go through to Jan. 13. During this period, fans have the opportunity to allocate tickets for a match based on a random selection draw.

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Before the new tier was introduced, the cheapest ticket for the World Cup final in MetLife Stadium in New Jersey would cost fans more than $4,000. The high prices raised concerns among European supporters.

“The prices set for the 2026 World Cup are scandalous, a step too far for many supporters who passionately and loyally follow their national sides at home and abroad,” the FSA, an organization of supporters for England and Wales, said in a statement posted on its website on Dec. 12. “Everything we feared about the direction in which FIFA wants to take the game was confirmed — Gianni Infantino only sees supporter loyalty as something to be exploited for profit.”

FIFA previously stated it adopted the variable pricing because it was common practice for major North America sporting events.

“What FIFA is doing is adapting to the domestic market,” a FIFA official said in the conference call. “It’s a reality in the U.S. and Canada that events are being priced as per the demand that is coming in for that event.”

A FIFA official told reporters before the first tickets went on sale that world soccer’s governing body expects to make more than $3 billion from hospitality and tickets sales and is confident the tournament will break the all-time World Cup attendance record set in 1994, the last time the men’s competition was held in the U.S.

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That 1994 World Cup featured just 24 teams and 52 matches. The 2026 tournament will be twice as large, with 48 teams and 104 games.

FIFA said it received 20 million requests during the random selection draw sales.

SoFi Stadium will host eight matches, beginning with the U.S. opener against Paraguay on June 12. The Americans will finish group play in Inglewood on June 25, playing the winner of a March playoff involving Slovakia, Kosovo, Turkey and Romania. Two Group G matches — Iran versus New Zealand on June 15 and Iran-Belgium on June 21 — also will be played in SoFi, sandwiched around a Group B match between Switzerland and the winner of another European playoff, this one featuring Wales, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy and Northern Ireland.

The teams for the three knockout-stage games to be played at SoFi Stadium — round-of-32 games on June 28 and July 2 and a quarterfinal on July 10 — haven’t been determined, but the possibilities include Mexico, South Korea, Canada, Spain, Austria and Algeria.

Staff writer Kevin Baxter contributed to this report.

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Titans star Jeffery Simmons calls burglars ‘f—ing cowards’ after home break-in during game vs 49ers

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Titans star Jeffery Simmons calls burglars ‘f—ing cowards’ after home break-in during game vs 49ers

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Tennessee Titans star defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons ripped into those who burglarized his home while he played against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

There were “at least six suspects” who burglarized Simmons’ Nashville home, which came shortly after 7 p.m., the Metro Nashville Police Department told ESPN.

That was the exact time frame the Titans were facing the 49ers in the Bay Area.

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Jeffery Simmons of the Tennessee Titans looks on during halftime against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Nissan Stadium on Nov. 30, 2025 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Jeff Dean/Getty Images)

“What if any of my family members was in my house??” Simmons wrote on social media while showing security camera footage of the burglars trying to enter his home. “All that materialistic s—- you can have but this is crazy!”

Simmons also called the burglars “f—ing cowards,” though he was complimentary of the Metro Nashville PD.

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“I want to extend my sincere appreciation to the Metro Nashville Police Department and the Titans’ security team for their professionalism and swift response,” Simmons said in a statement. “Their dedication to ensuring the safety of our entire Nashville community does not go unnoticed. I remain thankful for God’s protection and grace.”

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The suspects were said to have gained entry to Simmons’ home “after smashing out window glass,” while “multiple items were taken” in the process.

It’s unclear exactly what was taken from Simmons’ home.

Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons (98) reacts after sacking Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders (not pictured) during the fourth quarter at Huntington Bank Field on Dec. 7, 2025. (Scott Galvin/Imagn Images)

Meanwhile, Simmons was able to find the end zone despite the loss to the 49ers, so a good personal performance came to a screeching halt once he found out the news.

But unfortunately, Simmons isn’t the only NFL star who has been burglarized while playing a game.

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Kansas City Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce had it happen last season, as did Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. All of those burglaries were in connection with a South American theft group that was specifically targeting NFL and NBA players.

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Cleveland Browns rookie Shedeur Sanders also saw $200,000 worth of property taken from his residence while they were playing the Baltimore Ravens earlier this season.

The Titans’ security team said it is “actively working” with local police to recover the stolen items.

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