As U.S. goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher looked ahead to the next Women's World Cup in 2027, she calculated what that would look like at her age.
Now 36, she already has a World Cup title and won an Olympic gold medal this year in France. She considered the mental, physical and emotional toll of a new cycle and decided it was time to step away.
“Honestly, I think I’ve been somebody that has given everything I’ve had to this team. I don’t do anything halfway. It’s kind of, if you can give 100% to it, then keep going," she said. “With that in mind, I kind of just felt like this was the right time coming off of the Olympics, having the year that we had, entering into a new cycle, a new stage for this team.”
Naeher is the latest veteran to announce she's stepping down from the national team as the next generation takes over under coach Emma Hayes. Among those who have wrapped up their soccer careers in the past couple of years include World Cup winners Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, Kelley O'Hara and Ali Krieger.
Naeher will be with the team for two more matches in the coming week. The Americans play England at Wembley Stadium on Saturday and then the Netherlands in The Hague on Tuesday.
Naeher said she's excited about the next generation of goalkeepers. In addition to Naeher, Mandy Haught of the Utah Royals and Phallon Tullis-Joyce of Manchester United are on the roster for the upcoming matches. Other goalkeepers who have been on recent rosters include Casey Murphy and Jane Campbell.
“I think the beauty of goalkeeping is that it’s not really a one-size-fits-all kind of position," she said. "The more that you can understand — that's going to be the challenge any young goalkeeper coming up, is really taking the time to understand what your strengths are and make them really, really elite and separate yourself.”
Naeher spoke on Wednesday from London after announcing her retirement on social media Monday.
Naeher made her senior debut with the national team in 2014 and was a backup to Hope Solo at the 2015 World Cup, which the United States won. She became the team’s regular starter following the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and was on the squad that repeated as World Cup winners in 2019.
Naeher won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 before the U.S. earned gold this year in Paris. She made a key one-handed save in stoppage time to preserve the Americans’ 1-0 victory over Brazil in the Olympic final.
For her career, Naeher has appeared 113 games with 110 starts, 88 wins and 68 shutouts. She had four shutouts over the course of the Olympic tournament in France.
While she's leaving the national team, she'll play one more year for her club team, the Chicago Red Stars in the National Women's Soccer League.
“I hope that I can be remembered as a good teammate, as a competitor, as somebody that was looked on as someone that could be relied upon on the field and supported those players around me,” she said. “I think it’s just been a really special team to be a part of. And I’m very proud of what we have been able to accomplish over the years.”
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
FILE - United States' Alyssa Naeher makes a save against Canada during the shoot out of a SheBelieves Cup women's soccer match Tuesday, April 9, 2024, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete, File)
FILE - United States goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher defends her net during a women's group B match between the United States and Zambia at Nice Stadium at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Nice, France. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
Losses for big technology stocks pulled major indexes lower on Wall Street. The S&P 500 fell 0.4% Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.3% from its record high a day earlier, and the Nasdaq composite lost 0.6%. Losses for Nvidia, Microsoft and Broadcom were the biggest weights on the market. Dell sank 12.2% after reporting revenue that fell shy of forecasts, and HP dropped 11.4% after giving a weaker-than-expected outlook. Treasury yields fell in the bond market. U.S. financial markets will be closed Thursday for Thanksgiving, and will reopen for a half day on Friday.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
Stocks wavered in afternoon trading on Wednesday, as losses for several Big Tech companies offset gains elsewhere in the market.
The S&P 500 fell 0.4% in afternoon trading, even though more stocks were rising than falling in the index. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 135 points, or 0.3%, as of 3:05 p.m. Eastern time. Both indexes set records on Tuesday.
The Nasdaq composite fell 0.5%.
Losses for tech heavyweights helped pull the broader market lower. Semiconductor giant Nvidia slipped 1.6%. Its huge value gives it outsized influence on market indexes. Microsoft fell 0.9%
Several personal computer makers added to Big Tech's heavy weight on the market following their latest earnings reports.
HP sank 11.8% after giving investors a weaker-than-expected earnings forecast for its current quarter. Dell slumped 11.9% after its latest quarterly revenue fell short of Wall Street forecasts.
Gains for financial and health care companies helped counter Big Tech's downward pull. Visa rose 0.9% and Thermo Fisher Scientific added 2.3%.
The U.S. economy expanded at a healthy 2.8% annual pace from July through September, according to the Commerce Department, leaving its original estimate of third-quarter growth unchanged. The growth was driven by strong consumer spending and a surge in exports.
The update follows a report on Tuesday from the Conference Board that said confidence among U.S. consumers improved in November, but not by as much as economists expected.
Consumers have been driving economic growth, but the latest round of earnings reports from retailers shows a mixed and more cautious picture.
Department store operator Nordstrom fell 8.5% after warning investors about a trend toward weakening sales that started in late October. Clothing retailer Urban Outfitters jumped 19.1% after beating analysts’ third-quarter financial forecasts. Weeks earlier, retail giant Target gave investors a discouraging forecast for the holiday season, while Walmart provided a more encouraging forecast.
Consumers, though resilient, are still facing pressure from inflation. The latest update from the U.S. government shows that inflation accelerated last month. The personal consumption expenditures index, or PCE, rose to 2.3% in October from 2.1% in September.
Overall, the rate of inflation has been falling broadly since it peaked more than two years ago. The PCE, which is the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation, was just below 7.3% in June of 2022. Another measure of inflation, the consumer price index, peaked at 9.1% at the same time.
The latest inflation data, though, is a sign that the rate of inflation seems to be stalling as it falls to within range of the Fed's target of 2%. The central bank started raising its benchmark interest rate from near-zero in early 2022 to a two-decade high by the middle of 2023 and held it there in order to tame inflation.
The Fed started cutting its benchmark interest rate in September, followed by a second cut in November. Wall Street expects a similar quarter-point cut at the central bank's upcoming meeting in December.
“Today’s data shouldn’t change views of the likely path for disinflation, however bumpy," said David Alcaly, lead macroeconomic strategist at Lazard Asset Management. "But a lot of observers, probably including some at the Fed, are looking for reasons to get more hawkish on the outlook given the potential for inflationary policy change like new tariffs.”
President-elect Donald Trump has said he plans to impose sweeping new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China when he takes office in January. That could shock the economy by raising prices on a wide range of goods and accelerating the rate of inflation. Such a shift could prompt the Fed to rethink future cuts to interest rates.
Treasury yields slipped in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.25% from 4.30% late Tuesday. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which more closely follows expected actions by the Fed, fell to 4.22% from 4.25% late Tuesday.
U.S. markets will be closed Thursday for Thanksgiving, and will reopen for a half day on Friday.
A sign marking the intersection of Wall Street and South Street is shown in New York's Financial District on Tuesday, Nov. 26 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)
FILE - People pass the New York Stock Exchange on Nov. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)
People walk past the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, Nov. 26 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)
A person walks in front of the Tokyo Stock Exchange building at a securities firm Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
