Bernal will represent Mexico in upcoming friendlies against Uruguay

Washington, D.C. (05/17/2025) – Washington Spirit defender Rebeca Bernal has been called up to the Mexico Women’s National Team for the federation’s May/June friendlies, the Mexican Football Federation announced this week. The side will take on Uruguay in Puebla and Tlaxcala beginning later this month. 

Bernal has appeared in over 60 matches, scoring eight goals for Mexico since making her senior team debut in 2017. The defender helped Mexico capture the gold medal at the 2023 Pan American Games in Chile and was named to the tournament Best XI for her performance at the 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup. At the club level, Bernal helped C.F. Monterrey become the second-most decorated club in Liga MX Femenil with four trophies before winning the 2025 NWSL Challenge Cup in her first match with the Washington Spirit. 

Mexico’s May/June Friendly Schedule: 

• vs Uruguay | Friday, May 30 at 8 p.m. EDT (Estadio Olímpico BUAP, Puebla, Mexico) 

• vs Uruguay| Tuesday, June 3 at 8 p.m. EDT (Estadio Tlahuicole, Tlaxcala City, Mexico) 

The Spirit will take the pitch at home again this Saturday, May 17 when the side faces off with Utah Royals FC in the club’s annual Salute to Service match. Single match tickets are available here. Fans can secure their spot to see the Spirit in all the team’s matches at Audi Field by becoming 2025 Season Ticket Members here. 

About The Washington Spirit

The Washington Spirit is the premier professional women’s soccer team based in Washington, D.C. and plays at Audi Field in Buzzard Point. The Spirit was founded on November 21, 2012 and is an inaugural member of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) the fastest growing sports league in the US. The club is home to some of the best players in the world who have won championships for both club and country. For more information about the Spirit, visit WashingtonSpirit.com and follow the club on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Two deaths from trees falling on cars were reported in Northern Virginia Friday evening as severe thunderstorms quickly passed through the D.C. area.

A woman was killed when a tree fell on her car in the area of Mount Vernon and Woodlawn.

Another person died after a tree fell on a car in the area of GW Parkway and Morningside Lane.

Fast-moving severe thunderstorms whipped the DMV with lightning, hail and strong winds Friday evening.

Some storms were designated “destructive” with winds of 80 mph capable of toppling trees and downing power lines.

Several severe thunderstorm warnings were issued in for D.C. and surrounding counties in Maryland and Virginia.

A severe thunderstorm watch for D.C. and counties including Arlington, Fairfax, Montgomery and Prince George’s was canceled by about 6:30 p.m. after the storms cleared the DMV.

Another round of potentially severe storms is expected between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. but won’t be as strong as the evening storms.

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The chairman of the D.C. Council said he believes the Council will approve the deal to bring the Washington Commanders back to D.C. — but it’s going to take longer than the team and the mayor have agreed to.

After months of delays, Mayor Muriel Bowser sent her 2026 budget to the Council. It includes funding for the stadium development and her 2025 supplemental budget, which includes $400 million in cuts imposed by Congress.

Since the announcement that Bowser and Commanders owner Josh Harris reached a deal to bring the team back to D.C., the big question has been: Will the D.C. Council approve the deal to spend more than $1 billion of D.C. taxpayer money?

On Thursday, Council Chairman Phil Mendelson — who has opposed public funding for the stadium — said a stadium deal will likely be approved.

“Let me be clear. I think that we, I think that ultimately, the Council will agree with the stadium. But I think that we can make the deal better,” he said. “It’s what the Council has done with every stadium proposal in the past. But this all takes time. We don’t even have the documents concerning the stadium.”

Mendelson warned there are still some obstacles, with the first being timing: The deal signed by the mayor and the team calls for Council approval by July 15 or the Commanders can pull out.

Mendelson said he doesn’t see a way the Council can approve the Commanders deal — and the budgets — until late July or early August.

“I think the July 15 deadline, which was negotiated without any collaboration or discussion with the Council, is going to be very difficult,” he said. “The members met yesterday to discuss what the budget schedule would look like, and that’s going to be difficult.”

Mendelson also expressed concerns about the financial impact of the deal for taxpayers, but he is optimistic those can be worked out.

“I have found the Commanders to be very cooperative, and they want to get this deal done, and we want to get this deal done,” Mendelson said.

The Commanders deal is far from the biggest issue facing D.C. residents in the budgets just submitted by the mayor. Both budgets will include hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts, including about $400 million in cuts imposed by Congress that have to be made before October.

Mendelson has a sober warning to D.C. residents about what those cuts will mean: “I think they should be bracing for bad news, but I don’t know exactly what that looks like. And when I say bad news, that there will be service reductions. There’ll be contracts frozen and probably some furloughs.”

The Council plans to hold public hearings on both the stadium deal and the budget cuts in coming weeks.

If the District misses that July 15 deadline to get the Commanders deal approved, the team and the District could agree to extend that deadline, or the team could opt to restart negotiations with Maryland or Virginia.