Happy Friday! Another jam-packed weekend awaits on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, especially since the 2025 NWSL season is officially here. I’m Pardeep Cattry with the latest.
📺 Footy fix
All times U.S./Eastern
Friday, March 7
🏴 Championship: Norwich City vs. Oxford United, 3 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+, CBS Sports Golazo Network
🏆 NWSL Challenge Cup: Orlando Pride vs. Washington Spirit, 8 p.m. ➡️ Amazon Prime Video
Saturday, March 8
🏴 EPL: Nottingham Forest vs. Manchester City, 7:30 a.m. ➡️ USA Network
🇩🇪 Bundesliga: Bayern Munich vs. Bochum, 9:30 a.m. ➡️ ESPN+
🇮🇹 Serie A: Lecce vs. AC Milan, 12 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🇪🇸 La Liga: Barcelona vs. Osasuna, 3 p.m. ➡️ ESPN+
🇺🇸 MLS: Seattle Sounders vs. LAFC, 4:45 p.m. ➡️ Fox, MLS Season Pass
Sunday, March 9
🇪🇸 La Liga: Real Madrid vs. Rayo Vallecano, 11:15 a.m. ➡️ ESPN+
🏴 EPL: Manchester United vs. Arsenal, 12:30 p.m. ➡️ NBC
🇮🇹 Serie A: Juventus vs. Atalanta, 3:45 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🇺🇸 MLS: Inter Miami vs. Charlotte, 4 p.m. ➡️ MLS Season Pass
⚽ The Forward Line
🏆 Orlando Pride, Washington Spirit open NWSL season
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The 2025 NWSL season officially kicks off with Friday’s Challenge Cup, a one-off that this year will be a rematch of November’s Championship in which the Orlando Pride beat the Washington Spirit 1-0.
The luster of the Pride’s record-breaking 2024 campaign has not worn off just yet, earning them a spot in the Challenge Cup and a chance to win a third trophy in five months. Last season’s roster, smartly constructed by sporting director Haley Carter and led well by Coach of the Year Seb Hines, is mostly intact for another pivotal year. The big question for them is if they can get the same big performances out of certain individuals as they did in 2024, chief among them MVP candidates Barbra Banda and Marta.
The 24-year-old Banda made a noticeable impact with 17 goals in her first NWSL season, including the lone goal in the Championship, emerging as one of the league’s biggest global stars nearly instantly. The 39-year-old Marta, meanwhile, had a banner year in 2024 and even though she is in the final years of her storied career, she remains a fixture in Orlando. Her presence will undoubtedly help the Pride as the team’s identity shifts from one of the league’s perennial bottom-dwellers to the ones with a target on their back.
- Hines: “We’ve changed the narrative now. We were always known [as] this underdog and we always had something to prove. Now we’ve proven that we’re a good team, a championship team and it’s fulfilling those expectations now, holding ourselves to a very high standard being the No. 1 team, the team that everyone wants to beat and we went through that towards the end of last year when we were on that unbeaten run. We had the consistency to put out performances and win games and there’s no difference going into this year. We’re shifting into this championship mentality now, which is changing the [verbiage] from underdog to championship, but we have to stay consistent with everything that we do.”
In the Spirit, though, the Pride have as formidable an opponent as possible. They made an impressive run to second place in the regular season standings and the Championship despite waiting until the summer to welcome head coach Jonatan Giraldez, clicking both before and after his arrival. The Spirit boast one of the most exciting young attacking groups in the NWSL, led by 2024 MVP contender Trinity Rodman and Rookie of the Year Croix Bethune. The size of the role those two will play on Friday is unclear, though – both traveled to Florida but have been dealing with different issues, with Giraldez noncommittal on their status in Thursday’s pre-match press conference.
This is merely an appetizer for what could be another exciting NWSL regular season, which begins a week from now, especially as U.S. women’s national team players enjoy more reps with their club teams as the lengthy countdown to major international tournaments begins.
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🏴 Liverpool, Arsenal aim for ease after European tests
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After returning from their UEFA Champions League excursions midweek, Liverpool and Arsenal will take part in some Premier League action over the weekend in two games that offer a straightforward chance to win. That’s a welcome reprieve for both sides – but for two very different reasons.
Liverpool (with one more game played) have a 13 point lead over Arsenal and can survive a loss to last place Southampton, no matter how unlikely that will actually be. A boring victory, though, is much-needed for the Reds after being “lucky” to come out of their Champions League game at Paris Saint-Germain with a 1-0 win. The French champions fully outplayed the Premier League leaders, taking 27 shots to Liverpool’s two. Alisson’s nine saves ensured the Reds could capitalize on their one shot on target – Harvey Elliott’s 87th minute goal – but after the game, manager Ane Slot did not mince words.
- Slot: “If we had a draw, we would have already been the lucky one. That is clear for everyone. I think they were the much better team today. Especially in the first half they had a lot of chances, three or four big chances. In the second half, they were still the better team, still had a lot of shots on target but they were mainly from outside the box. I knew before the game, and I saw today again how much quality this team has, and all the individual players have.”
As for Arsenal, spirits are undoubtedly high this week after pummeling PSV 7-1 on Tuesday, all but assuring them of a spot in the Champions League quarterfinals. With the ability to rest players in Wednesday’s second leg, Arsenal can focus on their weekend game. It’s a fixture that carries weight based on history alone, but United’s dwindling form means the Gunners are the heavy favorites and may just have the chance to walk away with a second commanding win in a week. Three points are unlikely to help them much in the title race, even if Liverpool are fading a little bit, but there’s never a bad reason to win, especially against a foe that has famously treated them as a punching bag in the past.
🔗 Top Stories
🏆 A 64 team World Cup?: FIFA is reportedly considering holding a 64 team World Cup for the tournament’s 100th anniversary — even if it’s a very unpopular idea.
📅 Women’s Club World Cup pushed: FIFA pushed the inaugural edition of the Women’s Club World Cup from 2026 to 2028, one of a handful of updates to the women’s game’s schedule.
🇪🇺 European rewind: Barcelona beat Benfica and Bayer Leverkusen unraveled against Bayern Munich in the Champions League, while Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur went winless in the Europa League.
🇺🇸 Wilson announces pregnancy: USWNT star Sophia Wilson (formerly Smith) announced she is expecting her first child with NFL wide receiver Michael Wilson, and will miss the majority of the 2025 NWSL season.
🎶 Halftime show wish list: With the countdown to the 2026 World Cup final halftime show underway, here’s a list of the top 10 artists that should be eyed for the event.
💬 Nuno Tavares exclusive: In an interview with CBS Sports, Arsenal loanee Nuno Tavares talks about his move to Lazio and how it has revitalized his career.
💰 The Back Line
💵 Best bets
- Italian Serie A: Lecce vs. Milan, Saturday, 12 p.m.
💰 THE PICK: Milan to lead at half (+140): With only two wins in their last five matches, Milan’s form can’t get much worse than what we’ve seen to date, but Lecce is a side inching closer and closer to the relegation zone in Serie A. While Milan have had trouble holding onto leads once they get them, all this takes is an early goal and to make it to halftime, which is something that even they can manage facing a Lecce side prone to conceding early in matches. —Chuck Booth - English Premier League: Manchester United vs. Arsenal, Sunday, 12:30 p.m.
💰THE PICK: Arsenal to win (-135): Both teams are coming off of very different European experiences this week and while Arsenal can exhale with a six goal lead heading into the second leg against PSV, that’s not the case for Manchester United, which could lead to rotation in league play. Taking that into account, the simple call is to back Arsenal. —Chuck Booth
For more picks, predictions, expert tips and the latest betting news, don’t miss out on CBSSports.com’s betting home page.
📺 What’s on CBS Sports Golazo Network
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☀️ Morning Footy (Weekdays 8-10 a.m.): Join Golazo Network as it help fans get their day started on the right foot on the network’s flagship morning show with highlights, interviews and the biggest soccer storylines. Morning Footy is also available in podcast form, so you’ll never have to miss an episode.
3️⃣ Attacking Third (Monday, Thursday): The leading women’s soccer podcast and social brand is now a live studio show. The NWSL season is back and our coverage of the women’s game is stronger than ever. Our analysts will be breaking down the USWNT, NWSL and European domestic season all year long. And don’t miss Wednesday live streams on YouTube at 11 a.m. ET.
⚽ Call it What You Want (Monday and Thursday): A weekly podcast where Jimmy Conrad, Charlie Davies and Tony Meola cover all things USMNT and the state of the beautiful game in the United States. You can catch the show streaming live on YouTube every Monday at 1 p.m. ET and Thursday at 6 p.m. ET.
🥅 Scoreline (Daily): Scoreline is the newest place for fans to catch up on all the biggest news and results impacting global football, match highlights from the top soccer competitions and all the can’t-miss goals from the day’s action, starting Thursday and airing seven days a week.
📺 How to watch: CBS Sports Golazo Network is a free 24/7 channel exclusively dedicated to offering unparalleled coverage of all the top soccer competitions worldwide. You can stream for free on the CBS Sports app, Pluto TV and Paramount+.
