Usually I start off this newsletter with me opining on some #discourse that happened over the past week. I try and be measured and use some of the wisdom I’ve picked up in almost 50 years on this planet to not sound like a complete fool. Hopefully I succeed sometimes.

This week however I don’t have anything really to talk about because I made a conscious effort to step back from social media and avoid the #discourse. Not working at all (besides on this newsletter) is doing things to my mental health, and I didn’t want to exacerbate the bad aspects of that by going online and getting upset at more things outside of my control. So this week in addition to watching soccer I worked on projects in my community.

I’m on a committee to help a friend of mine run for county council where I live and am helping out where I can. There’s so much good that can be done at the county level, and having a good person on council who will vote against dropping a data center in your neighborhood or will advocate for their constituents instead of for corporate interests is a good thing (or so I hear, my current councilperson doesn’t do that for us).

I’ve also been bugging the State to fix an intersection near where I live. I made a formal request a few weeks ago to ask for a three-way light to be installed, warning that increased traffic as well as parking along the shoulder of the road for sports events would lead to more accidents. The week before last I was told no study was needed. Last week, a young girl was hit crossing the intersection. She is expected to make a full recovery, but it underscored my initial point that something needed to be done.

I encourage all of you reading this to think about ways you too can make your community a little better, a little safer, a little nicer. Talk to your local councilperson or mayor or whomever about a topic. Offer solutions. Find volunteer opportunities to plant trees or pick up litter. If you’re struggling with mental health issues, it might help you get some relief. It’s helped me a bit knowing I’m doing what I can to make my home a nice place to live and keep it that way. It’s much easier to focus on fútbol when the bigger life problems aren’t weighing you down.

It’ll be a rematch of the 2024 Clausura Final as Rayadas and América will play for the 2026 Clausura title. In the first leg, Pachuca got out to a 2-0 lead over Monterrey, but Rayadas came back at home after going down a goal to score four unanswered to punch their ticket. América meanwhile absolutely hammered Toluca 7-1 in the first leg before winning the second leg by a modest 4-3 scoreline. This will mark Rayadas’s eighth time in the Final, winning four and losing three. It will also be América’s eighth time, however they’ve only won twice before while losing the other five.

In other news around the league, Querétaro announced that the club had parted ways with ten players, including Joana Robles and Lady Andrade.

More teams are announcing departures, so stay tuned for a transfer tracker coming this week.

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Jamaican forward Khadija “Bunny” Shaw will leave Manchester City at the end of this season. While Chelsea are listed in the article by the Guardian to be the favorites, I’m holding out hope she’ll go to my beloved Pumas. Don’t you dare ruin this for me.

PSV Eindhoven won the Dutch Eredivisie Vrouwen this past weekend, meaning the organization won both the Dutch men’s and women’s leagues this season.

VfB Stuttgart won promotion to the Frauen Bundesliga for the first time ever. (h/t to 50 Plus Döner)

Minnesota Aurora of the USL W has signed the club’s first transgender player, goalkeeper Issac Ranson. (Full disclosure: I am a part owner of Minnesota Aurora.)

Concacaf is remaking the W Champions Cup tournament in 2027, which “will feature 11 clubs and transition to a decentralized, knockout-only format, eliminating the group stage and centralized Finals.”

Wellington Phoenix will play in their first A-League Women’s final for the first time in club history after overcoming a 2-0 first leg deficit by defeating the Brisbane Roar 2-0 in the second leg. Wellington is the only New Zealand club in the ALW. They’ll face off against Melbourne City on May 16 a 3:15 PM local time

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani took in the Gotham FC vs. Boston Legacy match this weekend, proving that it’s not impossible for a New Yorker to go to a soccer game in New Jersey.

Don’t ever let them tell you no one pays attention to women’s soccer.

If you have something that should be included in this segment, please reach out to me via bluesky or email me at [email protected].