Angel City has paid a hefty sum three times over in order to get and keep Alyssa Thompson within their ranks.

First, there was the tangled web of rule-shaping to ensure that Thompson would be available to be drafted, having just turned 18 in late 2022, and with no under-18 signing mechanism formally in place yet in the National Women’s Soccer League. The club gave up three college draft picks, including the No. 5 overall pick in 2023 (not to mention passing Yazmeen Ryan through to Gotham), to acquire the No. 1 overall pick and thus keep the Southern California prospect in her own backyard.

The contract Thompson then signed likely wasn’t cheap, either. As a blue-chip teenage prospect who was the top pick of the 2023 NWSL draft and seemed to become draft-eligible that year to be signed only by Angel City, Thompson held all the leverage. A three-year deal for a player already with two caps for the U.S. women’s national team was sure to tie up a great deal of the club’s payroll.

As everyone who follows women’s soccer in America now knows, North Carolina Courage head coach Sean Nahas was fired Wednesday evening “effective immediately.”

We might know less about the reasons for that firing than we did when it was first announced, thanks to a terse and combative press conference conducted Thursday morning by Courage sporting director Dr. Ceri Bowley and director of communications Jake Levy.

Whatever the reasons for Nahas’s firing, he leaves behind a complicated legacy as a head coach. He served for nearly five seasons as assistant coach under Paul Riley, and assumed the head coaching job in the wake of Riley’s firing for sexual misconduct. Nahas often spoke about the long process it took for the club to heal itself after that, noting that only by 2025 had the club returned to “level ground,” where you could see “smiles on the players’ faces” again. He went to great lengths to paint a portrait of himself as a players-f

The statement was released at 7:45pm local time on Wednesday, with no explanation given for Nahas’s termination.

Nahas made an appearance Wednesday morning on 99.9 The Fan, a local North Carolina sports radio station. He also posted a story to his Instagram page at about 4:30pm local time on Wednesday, posing with Courage coaching staff after training. Neither media appearance made any indication that Nahas was aware he was to be fired.

Nahas was an assistant coach with the Courage under Paul Riley for nearly five seasons, before sexual coercion allegations led to Riley’s termination in late September 2021. The Courage made the postseason under Nahas in three out of four attempts, never advancing past the first round.

This story is being updated.

Broadcasters Jenn Hildreth and Jordan Angeli had a lot to say about the “NWSL screenwriters” in the closing phase of the Washington Spirit’s 2-1 win over the Portland Thorns on Sunday. After all, Trinity Rodman managed to score the game-winner on only her ninth touch after entering her first match since April 12, the specter of a years-long back injury perhaps finally behind her.

Even Hollywood screenwriters would have considered scrapping such an ending for stretching the bounds of belief. Yet there Rodman was, lurking at the far post completely unmarked, ready to pounce on Courtney Brown’s cross after Croix Bethune flicked it on.

The Audi Field crowd of more than 16,000 naturally went wild. Rodman burst into tears. Her teammates enveloped her with love and support, knowing what that moment meant for her and for the club.

There’s no denying the belief in Ally Sentnor that every coach and sporting director has shown her over the last few years.

From the University of North Carolina to every draft war room across the National Women’s Soccer League, from the Utah Royals brain trust to U.S. women’s national team head coach Emma Hayes, everyone believes that Sentnor has the goods.

The trouble is that she has been stuck on a cellar-dwelling roster of a recent expansion team that forces her to be everything the rest of the squad can’t be. Not an easy thing.

That ended on Friday, when The Athletic reported Sentnor would be transferred to the Kansas City Current. Jeff Kassouf followed up in ESPN with details of the record-breaking $600,000 intra-league transfer fee (plus a 20% sell-on fee) the Royals would receive.