Mic'd Up: The analyst revealed all on Women's Sevens, broke down the Trinity Rodman contract dispute, and explained why some of the USWNT's top talents are looking abroad.
Jenny Chiu was there, telling the story for everyone. World Sevens, in its first iteration in Portugal last spring, was an immense success. Clubs from around Europe gathered to play small-sided soccer in what felt slightly insane but undeniably entertaining – a celebration of the women’s game that leaned fully into joy.
But it didn’t stay put. Organizers decided the tournament had to go transcontinental, staging its second edition in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in early December. This time, clubs from the NWSL, Liga MX Femenil, the Northern Super League, and Brasileiro Femenino descended on South Florida for a new – and perhaps improved – version of the event.
San Diego Wave won it all, collecting $2 million for their efforts. The money mattered. But the vibes mattered more. Chiu, who hosted and broadcast the tournament for DAZN, spoke to players every day – and kept coming back to the same answer.
"In every conversation, it is kind of like feeling childlike, a reminder of what they played growing up, why they fell in love with it, and it is so beautiful to see," she tells GOAL.
It was a nice change of pace from what can often be a painfully intense 11-a-side version of soccer.
"We cover games all the time. We see these players, and we talk to these players, and I have never seen them this happy. I've covered a lot of these players multiple times during NWSL or with the national teams. I've never seen this level of joy in the players," Chiu insists.
That joy, though, exists alongside a far more serious reality for women’s soccer in the United States. Trinity Rodman's future in the NWSL has become a hot topic of late, with the league unable – and perhaps unwilling – to stretch its salary rules in order to pay the USWNT's most marketable star. Chiu thinks it's bad for the league.
"I do think that they will lose credibility if they lose Trinity. They're kind of headed down that road. Alyssa Thompson goes. Naomi Girma goes, and you're like, 'Whoa, interesting.' Well, you know what, [USWNT manager] Emma Hayes has said that she wants her players to play in Europe, and so, they're doing exactly what they've been asked, and it works for them," she says.
She knows the landscape well. A former player and long-time broadcaster, the analyst and host has seen women's soccer grow and evolve in the United States. World Sevens is one of the positives. Rodman's uncertain future is a negative.
Chiu talked Women's Sevens, NWSL, and Rodman's future in the latest edition of Mic'd Up, a recurring feature in which GOAL taps into the perspective of analysts, announcers, and other pundits on the state of soccer in the U.S. and abroad.
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ON WORLD SEVENS
GOAL: What was it like being on the ground at World Sevens? The vibes looked great…
CHIU: It was really cool and really quality football. And I really hope that people go back and watch the games, because, right, it's 7v7. It's a completely different format, but these are professionals. These are high-level players, and I interviewed all of them, and in every conversation, it is kind of like feeling childlike, a reminder of what they played growing up, why they fell in love with it, and it is so beautiful to see.
We cover games all the time. We see these players, and we talk to these players, and I have never seen them this happy. I've covered a lot of these players multiple times during NWSL or with the national teams. I've never seen this level of joy in the players. It's just truly mind-altering for me to have seen what it can be like and what the organizers of World Sevens want it to be.
GOAL: And what's the response been like?
CHIU: Speaking to [World Sevens chief of strategy and former USWNT star] Aly Wagner, I'm like, "this is amazing", and she's like, "every piece of feedback that we've gotten from the players is 'please invite us back.'"
This was a nice recognition of love for the game. And I can see it. There were some young girls there, and you see them being so close to these players, like getting to celebrate with them – that's a part of it as well. Those players came out to watch, and you see the joy in them as well, getting to see their heroes and what they want to be. I went around the grounds, and I conducted interviews with young kids, and, like, adding color to the broadcast, and the little girls are ecstatic. They were like, 'This is the best tournament that we've ever been to! This is our favorite thing ever! The music is so fun, we want that at our games now!'
It was truly a joy for everyone involved.
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ON THE PRIZE MONEY
GOAL: How important do you think the prize money is? Because for some clubs, having millions to spend might be an unfair advantage in their home leagues…
CHIU: It's a good point. I didn't think about it in that way, because the way that we were thinking about it is these lesser teams, the Deportivo Cali, Nacional, even Flamengo, they describe this money being potentially life-changing for their club. Speaking to the Brazilian coach, he's saying, "This is in dollars. No matter whatever we take home, this is in dollars. That's four or five times what it is in Brazil." And he was like, 'That is incredible for us as a club.' So yes, we were thinking about it in that sense. Now, is there potentially a way in which that becomes 'unfair' in the NWSL? I guess we'd have to go to the rules to see how that would work. I'm not entirely well-versed on that, but for me, the most positive takeaways are the amount of money that people were taking. Everyone was talking about it.
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ON FINDING NEW TALENT
GOAL: And how was it for finding talent? Were you surprised by the level?
CHIU: We were incredibly impressed. I mean, if you go and just watch any of the Toronto matches, you're like, "oh, okay, we didn't expect that from Toronto," you know, from this Canadian league that no one really knows anything about. You're talking to other broadcasters. We're like, "we don't know, this is so new." Where do these players come from? And it was incredibly impressive. So good on them. I like that people get an opportunity to showcase themselves.
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ON TRINITY RODMAN
GOAL: What do you make of the Trinity Rodman situation with the NWSL?
CHIU: I do think that they will lose credibility if they lose Trinity. They're kind of headed down that road. Alyssa Thompson goes. Naomi Girma goes, and you're like, 'Whoa, interesting.' And then you see them shining on those stages, and you're thinking, all those highlight tapes, all those news articles, all the media, you're losing that because those big players are now somewhere else. NWSL is not getting covered in that way. You're losing credibility, and you're losing your power. People say 'NWSL is the best league in the world.' I'm not really sure of that anymore. You're losing all these players. The WSL facilities are top-level across the league.
The NWSL has some really good teams that treat their players and their facilities, like Kansas City, well. And there are some that are really bad. If people could get a look inside those places, you lose a star like Trinity Rodman, and let me tell you, her and her agent, they will talk. They will talk, and it will be a big deal. And NWSL, you start to look really bad. You start to look really bad. I don't think it's a lane they want to go down.
