Sandy • The Utah Royals traded U.S. women’s national team player Heather O’Reilly to the North Carolina Courage on Thursday for midfielder Makenzy Doniak.
Doniak played in 23 games last season for North Carolina, and scored four goals in 22 games for the Western New York Flash in 2016 as a rookie. She recently returned from playing overseas in the Australian W-League for Adelaide United.
O’Reilly is a North Carolina graduate who has won three Olympic gold medals and one World Cup title.
Rooney signs with D.C. United
English soccer star Wayne Rooney has signed with Major League Soccer’s D.C. United. Rooney, 32, is the all-time leading scorer for England’s national team and Manchester United in the Premier League. He had most recently been with Everton, where he scored 11 goals in 40 games.
D.C. United announced the long-reported signing Thursday, hours after Rooney posted to Twitter a photo of himself on a plane with an emoji of the American flag. Adding Rooney gives D.C. United a star as it opens its new stadium in Southeast Washington in July. The club is 2-4-6 and in last place in the Eastern Conference.
U.S. keeps interim coach around for a while
Dave Sarachan’s contract as interim U.S. soccer coach has been extended through the end of the year by the U.S. Soccer Federation. The USSF said Wednesday it also had extended the contracts of assistant coaches Richie Williams and Matt Reis.
Sarachan was Bruce Arena’s top assistant and took over when Arena quit last October after the loss at Trinidad and Tobago eliminated the U.S. in World Cup qualifying, causing the Americans to miss their first World Cup since 1986.
Carlos Cordeiro replaced Sunil Gulati as USSF president in February, and the USSF hired former American midfielder Earnie Stewart to start as general manager on Aug, 1. Stewart will recommend a new coach to the USSF board and has not given a timetable for the search.
