Insider Notes: Abby Wambach's future; France in line to host '19 WWC

Abby Wambach announced on Wednesday that she won’t be playing in NWSL this year, and while it’s disappointing news for the Western New York Flash, Wambach tells

Grant Wahl | Mar 18, 2015

Insider Notes: Abby Wambach's future; France in line to host '19 WWC /

Abby Wambach announced on Wednesday that she won’t be playing in NWSL this year, and while it’s disappointing news for the Western New York Flash, Wambach tells me it does not mean that she is retiring from professional club soccer.

USWNT flips the script, defeats France 2-0 to capture 10th Algarve Cup title

Wambach only would have played in three club games before the World Cup, and she says the four U.S. games and pre-World Cup camp will have her ready for the big tournament this summer. Wambach did say that she was open to potentially trying out European club soccer for a year, but she doesn’t have any specific club plans set as of yet. She said she’s still aiming to compete not just in this year’s World Cup but in next year’s Olympics as well for the national team.

Wambach is women's soccer's all-time leading international scorer with 178 goals and won the 2012 FIFA Women's World Player of the Year award.

Here are a few more insider notes from around the world:

France in line to host 2019 WWC

FIFA will announce the host country of the 2019 Women’s World Cup on Thursday. The two candidates are France and South Korea. The FIFA Executive Committee will vote for the winner, and one source who’s involved tells me while it’s not guaranteed, the tea leaves are saying: France.

WAHL: First daily fantasy game to launch for 2015 WWC

Men's World Cup confederation allocation still TBD

CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb out to enact change in region, FIFA

Qualifying for World Cup 2018 has already started, but strangely we still don’t know how many tournament slots each confederation is going to get. Nor will the answer come at this week’s FIFA Executive Committee meeting, a source tells me. This is where things get really political. The FIFA presidential election is coming up in May, and president Sepp Blatter has been working to push back the World Cup slots announcement until after the election.

The reason: He doesn’t want to alienate potential voters. CONCACAF is hoping to move from 3.5 to four slots, and there’s a lot of jockeying going on right now.

MLS biding its time with Miami expansion

Minnesota, Miami are on deck, but Sacramento ready for MLS expansion

In MLS expansion news, I’m told this round of expansion is only going to have one team: Minnesota United, which could be officially announced in the next couple weeks. MLS has decided to give David Beckham’s pursuit of a Miami stadium more time, mainly because the league doesn’t want to pull the plug on the project. That means Sacramento, which says it’s ready to put shovels in the ground for a stadium, is going to have to wait. MLS wants Miami to happen.

The earliest Sacramento could get an MLS team would by the end of the year, and even then only if the Miami bid flounders.

GALLERY: Soccer at baseball stadiums

Soccer at Baseball Stadiums

The U.S. women's national team played New Zealand in a pre-World Cup friendly at St. Louis's Busch Stadium on April 4, 2015.

New York City FC kicked off its Yankee Stadium era Sunday evening with a 2-0 victory over the New England Revolution. The MLS expansion club will play at the famed baseball venue for the foreseeable future, as it continues its quest to land a soccer-specific stadium in the Big Apple. But it’s not the first team to play soccer in Yankee Stadium–new or old–and it’s just the latest instance of soccer being played on Major League Baseball fields. Here are some instances throughout the years.

New York City FC takes on the New England Revolution during the club's inaugural game at Yankee Stadium on March 15, 2015.

Yankee Stadium set up for soccer on July 30, 2014.

Before the club's rebrand to Sporting Kansas City, the Kansas City Wizards played the 2008-2010 seasons at CommunityAmerica Ballpark, the everyday home of the minor league Kansas City T-Bones.

Liverpool played AS Roma at Fenway on July 23, 2014.

Liverpool played AS Roma at Fenway on July 23, 2014.

A Chelsea-Manchester City friendly match in 2013 at Busch Stadium.

Argentina played Bosnia-Herzegovina during the international friendly match at Busch Stadium on November 18, 2013.

Brazil played Chile at Rogers Centre in Toronto on Nov. 19, 2013.

The Brazil team on the field before playing Chile at Rogers Centre in Toronto on Nov. 19, 2013.

Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees tosses the coin before the International Friendly match between Real Madrid and AC Milan at Yankee Stadium on Aug. 8, 2012.

Real Madrid played AC Milan at Yankee Stadium on Aug. 8, 2012.

A.C. Roma played Zaglebie Lubin at Wrigley Field on July 22, 1012.

Ecuador played Greece at Citi Field on June 7, 2011.

Juventus FC played Club America at Citi Field on July 26, 2011.

Michael Ivins/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images

Mike Cameron of the Boston Red Sox on the field at Fenway before the start of a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 20, 2010. An image of a soccer ball was mowed into the center field grass to promote a match between Scottish club Celtic FC and Portuguese club Sporting CP that is set to take place at Fenway Park on July 21st.

Pele, while playing with the Cosmos in the 1970's, played in Yankee Stadium.

Pele played for the Cosmos from 1975-77.

Published Mar 18, 2015

GRANT WAHL

A leading soccer journalist and best-selling author, Grant Wahl has been with SI since 1996 and has penned more than three dozen cover stories.