Portland Thorns FC vs. Washington Spirit – Sport Highlights (1:59)
Watch the Sport Highlights from Portland Thorns FC vs. Washington Spirit, 06/16/2025 (1:59)
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Jeff KassoufJun 17, 2025, 11:39 AM ET
- Jeff Kassouf covers girls’s soccer for ESPN, specializing in the USWNT and NWSL. In 2009, he based The Equalizer, a girls’s soccer information outlet, and he beforehand gained a Sports activities Emmy at NBC Sports activities and Olympics.
The Washington Spirit have acquired ahead Sofia Cantore through switch from Serie A aspect Juventus, making Cantore the primary Italian worldwide in NWSL historical past.
Cantore will be a part of the Spirit after the NWSL switch window formally opens on July 1.
She has signed a cope with Washington via the 2027 season, with a crew choice for 2028.
“I am very proud to hitch this necessary membership and grateful for his or her belief in my talents,” Cantore mentioned in an announcement.
“I am excited to start out this new chapter of my profession as the primary Italian participant within the NWSL and may’t wait to work day by day with coach Adrián González and my new teammates.”
Cantore was lately named to Italy‘s provisional roster for this summer time’s European Championship. The 25-year-old has 5 targets in 37 appearances for Italy’s senior crew and in addition featured for the Azzurre on the youth degree.
She has spent her whole skilled profession to this point in Italy, together with a number of loans whereas below contract with Juventus.
Cantore scored 11 targets for Juventus this previous season, which was second on the crew and tied for fifth in Serie A as Juventus gained league and cup trophies.
She additionally scored two of Juventus’ 4 targets within the group stage of the UEFA Champions League.
Cantore joins a Washington Spirit crew that completed runners-up within the 2024 common season and playoffs however finds itself present process one other important transition.
Jonatan Giráldez will leave his position as Spirit head coach within the coming weeks to take over French champions OL Lyonnes, which shares ownership with the Spirit.
His mid-season departure comes a yr after a mid-season arrival from Barcelona in 2024. González, who the interim coach whereas the Spirit awaited the arrival of Giráldez final yr and stayed on as an assistant coach, will take over as head coach on a multi-year contract.
The Spirit are at the moment fourth within the NWSL with one sport to play earlier than the league’s summer time break.
They proceed to cope with an extended checklist of accidents, together with the continued absence of star American ahead Trinity Rodman as she rehabs a again harm.
United States head coach Emma Hayes instructed ESPN final week that Rodman ought to return to coaching with the Spirit in July.
Cantore is anticipated to additional bolster the Spirit’s assault.
“Sofia is a vital signing for this Spirit crew as we proceed to construct up our roster to compete for trophies,” González mentioned in an announcement.
“Her in depth expertise within the Italian leagues and distinctive expertise within the attacking third will assist add a brand new layer for the Spirit shifting ahead.”
The final time an Italian participant competed in a U.S. girls’s skilled league was in 2010, when ahead Patrizia Panico performed for Sky Blue FC (now NJ/NY Gotham FC) within the defunct Girls’s Skilled Soccer.
