Major Link Soccer: USWNT advance to quarterfinals

World

The USWNT beat Colombia 2-0 yesterday, however the majority of fans seemed to be disappointed with the US's play. Megan Rapinoe and Lauren Holiday both earned yellow cards in the game and will hence be suspended for the US's quarterfinal game against China. Regardless, FiveThirtyEight.com still gives the USWNT a 88% chance of making it to the next stage of the tournament.

The women's World Cup often receives a bad rap when discussed in reference to the men's World Cup, except for in the eyes of the American Outlaws, it turns out. "We don’t see them as any different, whether you play on the men’s or women’s team you deserve equality of support."

Sepp Blatter has announced his resignation as the president of FIFA, but there is still no favorite to replace him (if he does indeed step down). A recent report said that Diego Maradona wants to change that.

Despite currently being in a state of "environmental emergency," Chile's capital city, Santiago, is set to host the Copa America quarterfinal tomorrow. Unlike the players they'll be watching, fans (as well as other citizens) are under advisory to "not engage in physical activities and other outdoor activities."

MLS

After reporting Sunday that Andrea Pirlo will soon be making the move to New York City FC, the New York Daily News is now saying that NYCFC didn't even want to make the signing in the first place (instead prefering a younger DP that the team could build around), but City Football Group (the owner of NYCFC, Manchester City FC, etc.) forced Pirlo on them in order to have the Italian eventually play for Manchester City in the Champions League.

If Pirlo is indeed on his way to MLS, he has likely been paying attention to the plight of one of his ex-teammates, Kaká. The Brazilian has not been playing too well in his past few games, but fear not, his poor play has less to do with him, and more to do with opposing teams having no one else to defend against.

Chris Wondolowski has played the underdog for much of his life, rising from relative obscurity in high school, to the fourth round of the MLS Supplemental Draft, to eventually playing in the World Cup for the USMNT. MLS's website is releasing a 3-part mini-series on the longtime Earthquake. Part one is shown below:

Sounders

MLSsoccer.com currently has a poll up for its upcoming rivalry week. As of writing, the Sounders are down to the Timbers by about 20 percentage points. Feel free to change that, or don't, it's a poll on MLSsoccer.com and doesn't really matter.

In case you missed it, Sky Sports is reporting that DeAndre Yedlin will head out on loan for the coming year (perhaps to Bolton Wanderers, perhaps elsewhere). That should probably be taken with a grain of salt though, as Yedlin Tweeted this out yesterday:

Internet rumors crazy...

— DeAndre Yedlin (@yedlinny) June 22, 2015