Photo: Richard Callis / SPP

In a sold-out stadium at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final, Tori Penso stood alone at the monitor. The center referee was called over by VAR to review a possible handball by England in the second half where Spain was already up by a goal.

“The stadium was silent. A pin could drop and I would have heard it. All the eyes were on me, all the cameras were all on me, and two billion people are watching this moment and they’re all anxious to see what’s going to happen,” Penso told The Equalizer. 

Although Penso has made many decisions over her career, which has spanned USL, NWSL and MLS, this would be unlike any other. Not only was it a World Cup, but she would have to announce her decision to the arena of over 75,000 passionate fans.

After making her decision, Penso took an extra moment at the monitor practicing what she would say, walked back onto the field, took a breath, and announced to the world her decision: PENALTY. 

For Penso, announcing VAR decisions live is a welcomed change which allows referees to provide clarity and improve the in-stadium experience, but she sees another, more intriguing reason to continue to employ the practice.

“It adds a little drama and a little theater. We are in the entertainment business at the end of the day,” Penso said. “Who doesn’t love a little drama?”

Albertin Montoya, right, will lead Bay FC in 2024. (Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports)

When Albertin Montoya took over as interim coach of the Washington Spirit last year, both parties were clear: the relationship was only temporary. As highly regarded as Montoya is as a coach, he and his family have been based in the San Francisco Bay Area for decades. That was home. Plus, he was the longstanding technical director of a storied youth club there.

Coaching the Spirit, however, reminded Montoya of what he loved about the professional game that he had been part of in two previous leagues and two prior decades.

“I got the bug,” Montoya told The Equalizer this week. Now, he can put that feeling to good use.

On Wednesday, Montoya was named the first head coach of Bay FC, the San Jose, California-based National Women’s Soccer League expansion team slated to begin play in 2024. Montoya emerged from a long list of roughly 40 names “from every continent, from every type of background,” Bay FC general manager Lucy Rushton said, and a group of three finalists. In the end, the coach with deep, local ties was deemed the best fit by Rushton & Co for his tactical views and his ability to build culture and character within a team.

© Jon Durr-USA TODAY Sports

Monday marks the first day of the United States women’s national team without Megan Rapinoe. It remains weird to type that, let alone accept it, perhaps because Rapinoe is not really gone.

In literal terms, the talented forward is still playing – for her club, OL Reign. She has at least a few weeks left in her professional career to chase one of the few things she has not won: a National Women’s Soccer League Championship title. Winning that and paying back a club that shaped so much of her career, would be a perfect way to call time on a career. As Rapinoe has said, however, there are no perfect endings, exemplified by her missed penalty in the shootout with Sweden at the 2023 World Cup.

Rapinoe called time on a 17-year career with the United States on Sunday, ending a career that bridged generations of what was indisputably the best team on earth during her era. Summarizing Rapinoe’s entire career is a futile effort. Rapinoe’s list of on-field accomplishments runs the gambit from two World Cup titles, a Golden Ball, world’s best player, and an Olympic gold medal. Then, there is everything else that Rapinoe stood for away from soccer. Rapinoe is most proud of her off-field accomplishments “by a mile,” she said on Saturday.

Rapinoe was a vocal advocate for equality, gay and trans rights, and racial injustice. She put her career on the line for those things — literally, in 2016, when she knelt during the national anthem in solidarity with former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick and his protests against racism and police violence. U.S. Soccer soon made a (later retracted) rule requiring all players and staff to stand for the anthem, and Rapinoe went without several call-ups during that period. Even three years later, her decision to take on President Donald Trump — and his loyal supporters — in the public light carried life-changing implications.

None of that deterred Rapinoe from standing for what she felt was just. Ahead of her final game in a U.S. jersey, Rapinoe reminisced about a lesson her mom taught her and twin sister, Rachael, in their early teens as they began finding success in soccer and gaining popularity among their peers.

“I think it’s just kind of my worldview that you have a responsibility to use whatever talent you have or whatever way you can to make the world a better place in some kind of way,” Rapinoe said.