Leed’s United become Leads United States of America!
The addition of American midfielder Weston Mckinney joining Leeds United giving an EPL team a possible all American Midfield with Brendon Aaronson, and Adams along with a forward in Jack Harrison who played in the US for college and MLS during his formative years and of course an American coach in Jesse Marsch, Asst coach in former USMNT & NY Red Bulls alum Chris Armas and finally American partial owners in the San Fran 49’ers Enterprises who are looking to take over completely. Leeds might just be replacing Fulham America as America’s Team in the EPL. So if you are like me and considering adapting Leeds United as your new EPL favorite team- here are some things to know. Leed’s Fight Song, History, video history.
US Women – She Believe’s Cup Next Week Feb 16-22
The US ladies don’t have much time to recover from their trip down under as She Believes Cup is just over a week away and battles against 3 top 10 teams in Canada, Japan and Brazil. Expect more returnees as Megan Rapinoe is expected back by She Believe’s Cup time with no word yet on Tobin Heath or Angel City’s Christen Press and of course Sophia Smith will be missing.
Where the US Women will Stay in Aucklin in the World Cup this summer. Cute ad on ESPN is out now – USWNT foiled by stoppage time in latest ‘This is SportsCenter’ ad.
U.S. women’s national team roster by position (Club; Caps/Goals) — 2023 SheBelieves Cup:
GOALKEEPERS (3): Adrianna Franch (Kansas City Current; 10), Casey Murphy (North Carolina Courage; 12), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars; 87)
DEFENDERS (7): Alana Cook (OL Reign; 21/0), Emily Fox (North Carolina Courage; 24/0), Crystal Dunn (Portland Thorns FC; 128/24), Naomi Girma (San Diego Wave FC; 12/0), Sofia Huerta (OL Reign; 27/0), Becky Sauerbrunn (Portland Thorns FC; 212/0), Emily Sonnett (OL Reign; 70/1)
MIDFIELDERS (6): Lindsey Horan (Olympique Lyon, FRA; 123/26), Taylor Kornieck (San Diego Wave FC; 9/2), Rose Lavelle (OL Reign; 86/24), Kristie Mewis (NJ/NY Gotham FC; 47/7), Ashley Sanchez (Washington Spirit; 19/3), Andi Sullivan (Washington Spirit; 39/3)
FORWARDS (7): Ashley Hatch (Washington Spirit; 15/5), Alex Morgan (San Diego Wave FC; 201/120), Midge Purce (NJ/NY Gotham FC; 22/4), Megan Rapinoe (OL Reign; 197/63), Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit; 12/2), Mallory Swanson (Chicago Red Stars; 84/28), Lynn Williams (NJ/NY Gotham FC; 49/15)
US Men tie Colombia in a Fierce Friendly – next up Nations League in March
Huge news that the US will host the Copa America in the summer of 2024! Turning to last week’ game the US started a much more experienced team Sat night is a fiercely played “friendly” Sat night in an outnumbered LA Galaxy stadium. Five World Cup players started including Long and Zimmerman at CBs and Sean Johnson in goal. Still it was the youngsters who impressed as Aaronson, Hoppe, John Tolkin (left back) and late sub Brandon Vazquez were the most impressive on the night along with late d subs Sam Rogers and Jalen Neal in the middle. (Full hightlights 9 min – Spanish hightlights). Each US January camp at least 1 sometimes 2 or 3 players announce themselves. I think LB Tolkin, #9 Vazquez and Mexican-American winger Alejandro Zendejas and perhaps Cade Cowell will be the FIND’s in this camp and should join the #1 team when we play Nations League play in the late March window. (What a Save by Gaga). Brandon Vasquez Cincy FC Man Scored the lone US Goal. Cowell hits post twice vs Serbia
Games to Watch
So I started watching “We are Wrexham” the TV series on FX following Ryan Reynolds & Rob McElhenney buying a near lowest division team in England and trying to move them up the table this week after being just thrilled with their effort vs 2nd division club Sheffield United in the FA Cup Sun morning. They tied their home FA Cup game 3-3 and should have won it as they outplayed them (highlights). They play @ Sheffield United FA up 4th Round Tues @ 2:45 pm on ESPN2 with the winner advancing. This goal by Real Madrid’s Rodygo in El Classico is worth watching again. EPL play returns this weekend with Chelsea hosting Fulham America and Tim Reem/Jedi Robinson at 3 pm Friday on USA Network. Sat gives us league leaders Arsenal traveling to Everton with their new manager at 7:30 am on USA, followed by Man United hosting American Chris Richards & Crystal Palace at 10 am on Peacock, while New Castle vs West Ham is at 12:30 on NBC. MLS CONCACAF League Winner Seattle Sounders will play Al Ahly at 12 pm on Fox Sports 2 as the first ever MLS team has made the World Club Cup with a chance to face Real Madrid Tues if they win. Sunday has Leeds United States of America and their new American Signee Weston McKinney headed to Nottingham Forest at 9 am on USA, followed by Man City traveling to Tottenham at 11:30 am on NBC. The Milan Derby AC vs Inter is Sunday at 2:45 pm on Paramount+. American’s on TV – (tons of stories, great GK Saves & More below)
Carmel FC 2010 Boys is extending tryouts this winter for the Spring Season.
Contact the Ole Ballcoach at shanebestsoccer@gmail.com if your son was born in 2010 or 2011 and interested in working out with us.
ANY CARMEL DAD’S CLUB PLAYERS & CARMEL FC PLAYERS : Winter Players League (WPL) – Badger Indoor Fieldhouse –REGISTRATION READY for Session Two (6 weeks): Feb 17th, 24th / Mar 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th
As the fall season comes to a close over the next month, we wanted to let you know that we will be launching an indoor soccer league over two six week sessions within our new Badger Fieldhouse. Games will be played on either Friday night ( 6pm to 10pm) or Sunday afternoon (1pm-5pm) depending on age groups: U8s, U9&U10, U11&U12, U13-U15 and U16+ (Coed Teams allowed). Referees for each game, 50 minute games, 5v5, 7v7 and 9v9 matches.
Register NOW, gather teammates and be ready to play! Visit: https://form.123formbuilder.com/6349623/winter-players-league-session-2-registration-form
GAMES ON TV
(American’s names in Parenthesis)
Fri, Feb 3
3 pm USA Chelsea vs Fulham (Ream, Jedi)
Sat, Feb 4
7:30 am USA Everton vs Arsenal (Turner)
9:30 am ESPN+ Dortmund (Reyna) vs Freiburg
9:30 am ESPN+ Union Berlin (Pefok) vs Mainz
10 am USA Aston Villa vs Leicester City
10 am Peacock Man United vs Crystal Palace (Richards)
10 am Peacock Wolves vs Liverpool
12 pm Fox Sp2 SEATTLE SOUNDERS vs Al Ahly
12:30 pm NBC New Castle vs West Ham United
12:30 pm ESPN+ Atletico Madrid vs Getafe
12:30 pm ESPN+ MGladbach (Scally) vs Schalke
2:30 pm NBC EPL Goal Zone
3 pm beIN Sports Lille (Weah) vs Rennes
10 pm Fox Sp2 Santos Laguna vs America
Sun, Feb 5
9 am USA Nottingham Forest vs Leeds United (Adams, Mckinney)
10:15 am ESPN+ Girona vs Valencia (Musah)
11:30 am NBC Tottenham vs Man City
11:30 am ESPN+ Wolfsburg (Paredes) vs Bayern Munich
12 noon CBS SportNet Fiorentina vs Bologna
12:30 pm ESPN+ Atletico Madrid vs Getafe
2:45 pm Para+ Inter Milan vs AC Milan (Dest)
3pm ESPN+ Barcelona vs Sevilla
Tues, Feb 7 FA Cup
2 pm FS2 Flamengo WC vs Al Hilal – Club World Cup
2:45 pm ESPN+ Grimsby vs Luton Town (Horvath)
2:45 pm ESPN+ Sunderland vs Fulham (Ream, Jedi)
2:45 pm ESPN 2 Sheffield United vs WREXHAM
Wed, Feb 8
2 pm Fox Sport 2 Seattle/Al Ahly vs Real Madrid Club World Cup
3 pm Peacock? Man United vs Leeds United (Adams, Aaronson.Mckinney)
Sun, Feb 11
2 pm Fox Sport 2 Club World Cup Final ?
Thu, Feb 16 She Believes Cup
7 pm TNT USWNT vs Canada
Sun, Feb 19
3:30 pm TNT USWNT vs Japan
Wed, Feb 22
7 pm TNT USWNT vs Brazil
Soccer Saturday’s are every Sat 9-10 am on 93.5 and 107.5 FM with Greg Rakestraw
US Men
What we Learned from the Jan Camp – Stars & Stripes
US Defender & Captain Tim Ream Saves Fulham vs Chelsea
Brandon Vázquez has shined for U.S. soccer. Could they lose him to Mexico?
USMNT unwraps some young gems and ends up with a tie against Colombia
5 takeaways from USMNT’s draw vs. Colombia in international friendly
USMNT instant match ratings from scoreless draw vs. Colombia
USMNT battles to draw against Colombia to close out January camp
5 takeaways from USMNT’s 2-1 loss vs. Serbia
USMNT instant match ratings from 2-1 loss vs. Serbia
Hernández: USMNT must demonstrate it is invested in Alejandro Zendejas’ future
The secret is out: Galaxy’s Jalen Neal ready to contribute to U.S. national team
What’s behind sudden departures at U.S. Soccer, and how will they impact USMNT in 2026?
COPA
South America will hold prestigious Copa America tournament in the United States in 2024
2024 Copa America to be played in USA
US Ladies
USWNT ROSTER BUBBLE: WHAT WE LEARNED FROM NEW ZEALAND GAMES
NEW ZEALAND TRIP GAVE USWNT ‘TEST RUN’ FOR 2023 WORLD CUP
ROSE LAVELLE SCORES BRACE FOR USWNT IN 5-0 WIN VS. NEW ZEALAND
Rose Lavelle leads USWNT to emphatic win over New Zealand
Three thoughts on the USWNT’s fact-finding win over New Zealand
USWNT hits New Zealand with second-half blitz in 4-0 friendly win
Lindsey Horan rejoins Lyon, will miss USWNT vs. New Zealand
ALL-TIME LEADING GOAL SCORERS IN USWNT HISTORY
The USWNT needs Julie Ertz but she won’t be at the World Cup. What now?
Where the US Women will Stay in Aucklin in the World Cup this summer.
USWNT foiled by stoppage time in latest ‘This is SportsCenter’ ad
POWER COUPLE KRISTIE MEWIS AND SAM KERR GEAR UP FOR WORLD CUP
GOTHAM FC MAKES IT OFFICIAL WITH USWNT DEFENDER KELLEY O’HARA
MLS
MLS embarks on new era with Apple partnership and debut of MLS Season Pass
‘Once in a lifetime’: Seattle Sounders carrying MLS banner at Club World Cup
SEAvASC 101 PREVIEW: All you need to know when the Seattle Sounders face Al Ahly SC in the FIFA Club World Cup
Three matchups to watch when the Seattle Sounders take on Al Ahly SC in the FIFA Club World Cup
New forward Héber adds to Sounders FC’s already talented attack heading into Club World C
Real Madrid expected to continue European dominance of Club World Cup
Can Brazil’s Flamengo end Europe’s Club World Cup dominance?
EPL
Jesse Marsch adds USMNT, RBNY alum Chris Armas as assistant coach
Brighton dump Liverpool out of FA Cup, Wrexham denied Hollywood ending
Ryan Reynolds says Wrexham football adventure is ‘greatest experience’
Wrexham denied Hollywood ending in FA Cup thriller
Ranked! The 25 best players in Premier League this season so far
WORLD
Five-star Sassuolo leave Milan’s title defence in tatters, Monza stun Juve
Nagelsmann’s Bayern in ‘results crisis’ before PSG clash
Brazil open door to breaking foreign coach taboo
Southgate reveals family convinced him to stay as England boss
Gio Reyna scores another winner for Borussia Dortmund (video)
REFFING
Reffing – Yellow Card Suspension Rules are Changing – see below
SAOT Semi Automated Offside Technology
w To Become A Referee | Indiana State Referee Association
How To Become A Referee | Indiana State Referee Association
Goalkeeping
Man City GK Ederson Working – Recognize this CFC GKU – High School Keepers ?
U.S. will host 2024 Copa America, a critical opportunity for USMNT and whoever the new coach is
Henry BushnellFri, January 27, 2023 at 10:51 AM ES YAHOO SOCCER
The 2024 Copa America, arguably the most competitive international soccer tournament outside the World Cup, will be played in the United States — and the U.S. men’s national team will likely participate.CONMEBOL, the South American soccer governing body, and CONCACAF, its North and Central American equivalent, announced the plan Friday as part of a new “strategic collaboration agreement.”The men’s Copa America, which typically includes South America’s 10 national teams and two guests, will expand to 16 teams and welcome six from CONCACAF in 2024.Those six will qualify via the 2023-24 CONCACAF Nations League — meaning the U.S. is not guaranteed a place at the tournament. But the USMNT — along with Mexico and Canada — will be favored to earn a place.The tournament will likely give the three North American nations their highest-leverage games between now and the 2026 World Cup, which they will co-host — and for which they therefore won’t have to qualify.Whereas 2026 World Cup games will be shared among the three nations, 2024 Copa America games will be played exclusively in the U.S. — in many of the same cities and stadiums that will welcome the world two years later.he competition will return to the U.S. just eight summers after it last visited but on different terms. The 2016 Copa America Centenario was a one-off fiesta officially hosted by the United States. It netted the U.S. Soccer Federation some $80 million in profit.The 2024 edition, on the other hand, is a regularly scheduled Copa America that is moving north because no South American nation wanted to host it. It will be run by CONMEBOL and hosted, technically, by CONCACAF, not by U.S. Soccer — meaning the stateside windfall will be limited.Hosting duties are typically assigned on a rotating basis to one of CONMEBOL’s 10 members. It was Ecuador’s turn in 2024. But Ecuador declined a nomination, and CONMEBOL entered 2023 without an agreed-upon host.
CONCACAF and its most powerful federations, meanwhile, were searching for meaningful games in 2024 and 2025. And “obviously,” as U.S. Soccer CEO JT Batson told a couple of reporters two weeks ago, “Copa America is a hell of a property.”Batson also mentioned that, while in Qatar for the 2022 World Cup, he heard consistently from other federations: “A lot of people want to come play soccer in our country. We have very impassioned fans, we’ve got great facilities, and of course, with the World Cup coming here, teams want to scout it out.”A North American hosting arrangement made too much sense. Discussions intensified after the 2022 World Cup, and an agreement was finalized this week.The agreement stretches beyond the Copa America and beyond men’s soccer to the women’s game and the men’s club game. CONCACAF will open its inaugural women’s championship, the W Gold Cup, to four South American teams in 2024. That tournament will also be played in the United States.CONMEBOL and CONCACAF also hope to launch a “final four”-style club competition in 2024 featuring the top two teams from each region.But the headliner is the Copa America, which could be Lionel Messi’s last major tournament with Argentina. It will, at the very least, bring the reigning world champs and a host of other stars to the U.S.It will also be a critical measuring stick for the USMNT, perhaps the first and most important under a new coach. It will be an opportunity to assess progress and personnel at the midway point between the 2022 and 2026 World Cups. It will also make U.S. Soccer’s vacant sporting director, general manager and head coach jobs more attractive to potential candidates.This was a key priority for U.S. Soccer coming out of Qatar, as part of its review of the USMNT program.”Obviously there’s a lot of focus on who men’s national team or women’s national team head coach is. But as a part of our review, we’re looking at this broadly,” Batson said Jan. 13 at the United Soccer Coaches Convention. “By virtue of hosting [in 2026], we don’t have World Cup qualification, so what does that mean for the environments our men’s national team are in, from a competitive games standpoint, over the next 3.5 years?”On Friday, they went a long way to securing one important answer.
USMNT weekend viewing guide: Familiar face, new place
Magic Wes could debut for Leads. By jcksnftsn Feb 3, 2023, 10:57am PST STars and Stripes
Saturday
Real Betis v Celta Vigo – 3p on ESPN+
Luca de la Torre got his second straight start last weekend against Athletic Club and picked up his first La Liga assist in the 1-0 victory. It was a pretty massive three points for Celta Vigo as they still sit just one point out of relegation. They’ll need to continue to scrap their way to some results and this weekend they face a sixth place Real Betis side that currently are within striking distance of Champions League qualification. It looks like de la Torre has worked his way into the starting lineup, which is a great sign for his continued growth and career trajectory.
Other notes:
- Gio Reyna was an unused substitute last weekend in Borussia Dortmund’s 2-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen. Dortmund had a 2-0 lead 53 minutes into the game, so they didn’t need Reyna to come on and score a third straight match winner. BVB will face Freiburg at 9:30a on ESPN+.
- Jordan Morris, Cristian Roldan, and the Seattle Sounders become the first MLS team to compete in the FIFA Club World Cup when they take on Al Ahly at 12p on FS2.
- Jordan Pefok and Union Berlin face Mainz at 9:30a on ESPN+. Pefok has been used as a substitute in Union Berlin’s past two matches, and the club is on a three game winning streak, pulling them back to within a point of league-leading Bayern Munich.
- John Brooks jumped right into the starting lineup for Hoffenheim, starting the club’s league match last weekend and their DFB-Pokal match midweek. Unfortunately, the club lost both matches while giving up seven goals, so there is still much work to be done. Justin Che also saw his first minutes for Hoffenheim in their Pokal loss to RB Leipzig and it would be good to see his opportunities increase. Hoffenheim face Bochum this weekend at 9:30a on ESPN+.
- Chris Richards and Crystal Palace have their second matchup with Manchester United in two weeks. In the first match, Richards received his first career start for Palace and the teams played to a 1-1 draw. This weekend, the two sides will kickoff at 10a on Peacock.
- Joe Scally was back to the starting lineup and Borussia Mönchengladbach were back to their winning ways after two losses that Scally did not start. Scally came off the bench in one match and didn’t appear in another after starting every match prior to the World Cup break, so his usage is a bit puzzling. ‘Gladbach face Schalke this weekend at 12:30p on ESPN+.
- Erik Palmer-Brown continues to start for a Troyes side that continue to struggle defensively. The club has given up 45 goals through 21 matches and they are currently just one point out of the relegation spots. They face Lyon this weekend at 1p on beIN Sports.
- Tim Weah has started three straight league matches for Lille, who face Rennes at 3p on beIN sports. Lille currently sit in sixth place, five points behind fifth place Rennes.
Sunday
Nottingham Forest v Leeds United – 9a on USA Network
Weston McKennie has joined the USMNT contingent at Leeds United and will have his first opportunity to help Tyler Adams, Brenden Aaronson, and Jesse Marsch avoid relegation when they kick off against Nottingham Forest this weekend. Leeds sit just a point out of the relegation spots, and three points back of their opponent this weekend, who are in 13th place in a crowded bottom third of the table where just six points separate the bottom eight teams. It should be quite a finish to the season as a team which already plays a high intensity style ratchets up the intensity, particularly for a USMNT fanbase looking for some of their foundational pieces to succeed on soccer’s largest stage.
Other notes:
- Yunus Musah and Valencia travel to Girona at 10:15a in a match that will be shown on ESPN Deportes and ESPN+. Valencia are also just one point out of relegation and still adjusting to new management.
- Kevin Paredes will get the opportunity to go up against league giants Bayern Munich when his Wolfsburg side host the league leaders at 11:30a on ESPN+. Paredes has appeared in Wolfsburg’s three matches since restarting from their winter break and picked up his first goal last weekend in a 2-1 loss to Werder Bremen.
- Sergiño Dest’s AC Milan take on Inter in a Milan derby on Sunday at 2:45p on Paramount+. Dest missed last Sunday’s match due to muscular issues and was reportedly left off the upcoming Champions League squad.
Seattle Sounders carrying MLS banner at Club World Cup, eye dream clash vs. Real Madrid
3:26 PM ET Cesar Hernandez ESPNFC
Long before helping the Seattle Sounders win the 2022 CONCACAF Champions League and qualifying for the current Club World Cup, forward Jordan Morris was just another local kid from the Emerald City, rooting for his favorite players.”I remember even before I was on the [Seattle] team and watching [CONCACAF] Champions League games, I wanted them to win the tournament and be the first MLS team to do it,” the 28-year-old told ESPN.Morris and the rest of the Sounders squad have accomplished at least part of that childhood aspiration, snapping a streak of 13 consecutive CCL titles for Liga MX teams. With a 5-2 aggregate victory at Lumen Field over Pumas UNAM in last May’s final, Seattle made history as the first-ever Major League Soccer side to win the North American competition in its modern era.On Saturday, that fairy tale will continue, and it could lead to a coveted clash against Real Madrid.
EDITOR’S PICKS
- Sounders won’t look past Al-Ahly to Real Madrid3dReuters
- Can Brazil’s Flamengo end Europe’s Club World Cup dominance?17hTim Vickery
- Why are Al Hilal representing Asia at CWC even though they haven’t won last season’s ACL?2dGabriel Tan
The Club World Cup, held this year in Morocco, brings together champions from each continent for a knockout-round tournament. The Sounders will debut against Egypt’s Al-Ahly at Ibn Batouta Stadium in Tangier. The winner then faces Madrid in the semifinal round. On the other side of the bracket, African champions Wydad Casablanca tackle Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal, who will then meet Brazilian outfit Flamengo.Granted, with the MLS regular season not kicking off for another three weeks, the Sounders will playing their first competitive matches of the year.”It’s definitely been more challenging in terms of building fitness and building sharpness within the group,” said Morris, who has spent a shortened four-week preseason with his teammates in the Spanish town of Marbella. “You gotta get up to fitness, speed and sharpness a lot quicker.”While other MLS sides are waiting to begin the regular season on Feb. 25, the Sounders have needed to expedite their efforts. They’ve done trainings in which players have been pushed more than normal, taken part in second sessions when needed, and played in two friendlies within a 24-hour time frame last Saturday — a 0-0 draw with Austria’s Wolfsberger AC and a 3-2 loss to Sweden’s Hammarby That said, there were few complaints about their beachside location.”Well, Marbella versus Tucson,” joked head coach Brian Schmetzr about the difference in this year’s preseason camp. “Not to put Tucson, Arizona, down, we’ve had some good days there.”It just lends a little bit more flavor, a little bit more pizzazz, a little bit more team bonding when you’re in a foreign country, it just feels different. The players are energized.”
eteran goalkeeper Stefan Frei was also content with his latest surroundings.”The weather has been good, the pitches have been fantastic, the training grounds are really close to our hotel. So it makes everything very, very convenient,” Frei said.Whether the camp location was selected simply for its proximity to Morocco or for the idyllic nature of the Marbella area, it seems like the right move for Seattle considering the immediate buildup and expectations being placed on them as the first MLS side in the Club World Cup.No longer watching from afar after Liga MX represented the CONCACAF region in every previous edition of the tournament, the Sounders will finally have a chance to boast what one of MLS’ top teams can achieve on a global stage. Looking ahead, Schmetzer was open about this weight on the shoulders of his team.”We don’t want to spend all this time and travel, and all that, to come to Morocco and not play very well, not be competitive. There is that little added bit of pressure individually and collectively, for sure,” he said.
With that pressure, there’s also an immense amount of pride for the players being part of a changing soccer landscape in America. With the 2022 World Cup over, there’s now a shifting focus toward the United States, which will co-host the 2026 World Cup with Mexico and Canada. In the early days of a new cycle, success at the Club World Cup could help kickstart even more growing interest for the sport in the country.”I think it continues to add to the excitement and add to the growth of soccer in this country,” Morris said, who was part of the USMNT’s World Cup squad in Qatar. “To be the first MLS team to play in this tournament, to be able to represent Seattle, represent MLS, is something that is a big honor. … It’s a once in a lifetime thing.”https://www.youtube.com/embed/8980x3l0GDo?wmode=transparentA highly significant and invaluable moment would also await them in the semifinals if they get that immediate win against Al-Ahly.Although the players and coach all stressed the idea of taking things game by game — Schmetzer himself said that he has been messaging his roster “that we’ll never get there unless we beat our first opponent” — there’s an undeniable thrill for all involved to possibly facing the 14-time UEFA Champions League winners.”I’ve been lucky enough to play against Real Madrid in friendlies, once with Toronto FC, once in an MLS All-Star Game, and that’s all nice and dandy, but to get to actually play in a meaningful competition in a meaningful game, that’s another level,” Frei said.No longer a kid watching CCL games and hoping for Seattle to succeed, Morris knew that he and his teammates could possibly face a top European side at the Club World Cup. “It was a cool experience, but the sentiment is that we have to get there first. We have to focus on this first game,” Morris said.In a competition as short and compressed as the Club World Cup, the measures of success and disappointment have varied wildly from CONCACAF’s previous Liga MX entrants, and often defined by just 90 minutes of play.In 2018, there was a sense of failure after Chivas arguably outplayed Japanese side Kashima Antlers before losing 3-2 in the initial round. In 2019, there was widespread praise for a Monterrey side that narrowly won their first game and then put up a fight in a narrow 2-1 loss to Liverpool in the semis. Similar accolades were given to Tigres in the 2020 edition for two close victories and then losing 1-0 to Bayern Munich in the final.Managing expectations and ambitions will be key, but then again, what has helped the Sounders reach the level that they’re currently at is through those high expectations that they put on themselves.
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SATURDAY, FEB. 4 (all times ET)
• Dortmund vs. Freiburg (9:30 a.m.)
• Cologne vs. Leipzig (9:30 a.m.)
• Atletico Madrid vs. Getafe (12 p.m.)
• Real Betis vs. Celta Vigo (3 p.m.)
SUNDAY, FEB. 5 (all times ET)
• Mallorca vs. Real Madrid (8 a.m.)
• Wolfsburg vs. Bayern Munich (11:30 a.m.)
• Barcelona vs. Sevilla (3 p.m.)
“Our mantra has always been that we take every game, whether it’s a training game, anything, we want to win. We’re competitive in that way,” Schmetzer said.”All those experiences that we’ve had — winning some MLS Cups, winning [U.S.] Open Cups, winning the CCL championship — certainly will help us in that regard. The guys are super focused, they’re prepared. That’s the normal course of business for this franchise.”Seattle has been touted as one of the league’s model clubs since joining MLS in 2007 as an expansion franchise. The team has won two MLS Cup titles and four U.S. Open Cup wins while continuing to be among the top in attendance figures.”Our mentality is always to win trophies. We’ve been a club that prides ourself on that, and this is a new opportunity, a new challenge, but again, it goes back to taking it game by game,” the forward said.If Liga MX clubs have been close before, if teams from Japan, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Ecuador and Democratic Republic of the Congo have all had an opportunity in previous finals, then why not Seattle?As showcased in the CCL last year, Frei continues to have the reflexes to single-handedly change the outcomes of matches, attacking midfielder Nicolas Lodeiro was capable of providing crucial goals and assists, and up top, there are few players in CONCACAF club soccer that have been as clutch in big game moments as Peruvian striker Raul Ruidiaz. In support, others like Morris and Cristian Roldan were brilliant. Also, if midfielder Joao Paulo is back to full fitness this week, that’ll provide an extra boost as well.
Players like these have bought into not only striving for success with the Sounders, but also being a part of what could be a storied history.”When you go through a Bayern Munich or an AC Milan trophy room, you see the black-and-white picture of the team that won their trophies for the very first time,” Frei said.”We’ve done that in 2016 [with an MLS Cup], we’ve done that with winning CONCACAF Champions League, and now we get to represent our community, our club, Seattle as a city, our families and also the league.”Even if they don’t win it all, even if they lose that first match, there could be another young fan watching from home, wishing to one day see them lift that title.
Weston McKennie reportedly finalizes move to Leeds, a win for all parties and an American dream
Nick Bromberg and Henry Bushnell Sat, January 28, 2023 at 9:30 AM EST Yahoo Soccer
Another member of the United States men’s national team, midfielder Weston McKennie, is reportedly heading to Leeds United.Leeds is finalizing a deal with Juventus to bring McKennie to the English Premier League, where he’ll join forces with USMNT captain Tyler Adams, fellow U.S. teammate Brenden Aaronson and American manager Jesse Marsch. Pending a medical, the transfer could be completed Sunday.And crucially, McKennie is making the move with little downside. It is, according to multiple reports, an initial loan deal that gives Leeds the option to buy McKennie permanently this summer.The loan fee is reportedly $1.3 million. The eventual transfer fee would be upward of $35 million, which Leeds would presumably pay if McKennie, 24, performs well and keeps them in the Premier League, but presumably wouldn’t pay if they get relegated.Leeds currently sits in 15th out of 20 teams in the Premier League, with four wins in 19 games, just one point above the relegation zone. The bottom three teams at the end of the EPL season are relegated to the second-tier Championship. The downside of McKennie’s move, if it were a simple permanent transfer, would have been that three key USMNT players were in danger of spending prime years together in a second division.The exact terms of the actual deal have not been disclosed, but Leeds’ eventual purchase is likely, either contractually or implicitly, contingent on the club staying in the top flight. And the downside is therefore limited. If Leeds go down, McKennie and Juventus could find another buyer this summer.It is also a win for cash-strapped Juventus. McKennie’s current contract runs through the end of the 2024-25 season. Juve made the move to sell him after it received a 15-point penalty over its recent transfer activity. The club was found to have made fraudulent accounting maneuvers — a result and now an aggravator of its financial struggles.McKennie has played a key role, albeit a fluctuating one, for Juventus over the past three seasons. He has made 13 Serie A starts and has a goal and an assist in 2022-23. He made 15 starts during the 2021-22 season before suffering a foot injury.Overall, McKennie has scored nine goals in his three seasons at the legendary Italian club. He joined Juve after spending four seasons with Schalke in the Bundesliga.
Leeds solidifies itself as America’s EPL team
In England, the Texas-born McKennie will reunite with Aaronson and Adams. All played key midfield roles for the U.S. in its four games at the 2022 World Cup. McKennie and Adams started all four matches while Aaronson was one of the first players off the bench throughout the tournament.Aaronson has started every EPL game for Leeds while Adams has started all but two. McKennie will likely slot into the starting lineup sooner rather than later, and could complete an all-American three-man midfield on some occasions. He’ll also strengthen an already-strong friendship with Adams. The two have known each other for over a decade, and made their USMNT debuts in November 2017. Ahead of the World Cup, at a media event in Cincinnati, McKennie crashed Adams’ session and posed as a reporter. McKennie asked him: “What position do you find yourself most comfortable in? The 6 role? The 8 role?””Which one do you think, coach?” Adams shot back with a smile.”I mean,” McKennie said, “I mean, I like when you play 6 and run for me.” Both burst into laughter. And they’ll be coached, at least for now, by Marsch, the most accomplished American coach in European soccer; and his newly hired American assistant, Chris Armas. Marsch is on an increasingly hot seat, but an FA Cup win on Saturday should keep him in the job until at least February .The club is also minority-owned by the York family and 49ers Enterprises, the owners of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers.They are not quite Fulhamerica. Fulham will retain the record for American representation on a single Premier League roster. The London club employed Clint Dempsey, Carlos Bocanegra, Brian McBride, Kasey Keller and Edie Johnson during the 2007-08 season. Leeds now moves into joint-second place alongside 2012-13 Stoke City. But never has a single top-flight European club had three prime-age USMNT stars, and a fourth starter who went to an American high school and college (Jack Harrison), and an American head coach, and an American assistant coach, and American owners. Leeds, at this potentially fleeting moment, is America’s team.
How Weston McKennie will fit in at Leeds
By Jeff Rueter The Athletic Jan 31, 2023
There’s a convenient shortcut one can use to assess Weston McKennie’s fit at Leeds United: an increasingly strong connective tissue coloured red, white, and blue.
His coach at Elland Road is fellow American Jesse Marsch, who could also commiserate with McKennie about their respective stays in the German Bundesliga. He’ll join a midfield including their countryman Tyler Adams, the captain of his national team who has been a first-choice option for the USMNT alongside McKennie for years. When he looks to leave the centre of the park, he’ll do so alongside another American Brenden Aaronson, another U.S. international who became Leeds’ record signing last summer.
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Scan beyond the obvious, however, and you’ll find an interesting partnership.For McKennie, this will appear to be a step down from a perennial title contender in Juventus to a side mired in a Premier League relegation scrap. Leeds’ move to sign him should not be seen as Marsch offering a life raft to a compatriot as the S.S. Old Lady appears to be taking on water. Rather, Leeds’ transition to playing in a 4-3-3 more often required someone who can do all the pressing work of a defensive-minded midfielder without forcing the coach to put another deep-lying player onto the pitch.“I thought seriously,” McKennie told The Athletic on Monday at Elland Road. “Juventus are a Champions League club, a strong club, one of the top teams in Italy and around the world. But for me, I just felt like I couldn’t express my style or play and my full potential there. Leeds are a team who I feel like I fit toe-to-toe with everything that they want to do and accomplish.“I have friends here. Obviously I think about myself first because it’s my career, but it helps. Tyler’s a similar player to me. He fits in well here, so I’ve heard only good things. That’s how I came to my decision.”For a player so often asked to do everything he can to keep an amorphous team well-calibrated, a more specialised role could be needed for his development. Conversely, Leeds have found a younger midfield replacement for Mateusz Klich, who has moved to D.C. United of MLS this winter — and McKennie won’t struggle to find friendly faces as he acclimatises.
When analysing McKennie, it is easy to prioritise the proverbial eye-test over the numbers.It is impossible to look away from the U.S. international when he is at his best. McKennie is a sharp reader of a game who loves to get into dangerous areas to give team-mates an outlet for passing — to force another Americanism into the mix, something of an ideal game-breaking wide receiver. His often eye-catching hairdos (with a patriotically colourful patch at the recent World Cup) are outshone by his work rate, which seemingly keeps him in the TV cameras’ shot no matter the vantage point. He’s also been somewhat amorphous in his young career, that less-specialised player who coaches often ask to fill gaps left open by more defined team-mates.“When I was at Schalke (from 2016-20), I was all over the place,” McKennie said yesterday. “I was playing right-back, I was playing midfield, I was playing striker, I was playing centre-back… everywhere. I learnt to play different positions.“When I came to Italy, they could see I was a bit hectic in some of my runs and pressing sometimes — running 60 yards instead of running 30 yards and doing the same thing.“I definitely learned some tactical and positional discipline. But at the same time, it became a little bit too much — where it felt like I was on a string. The string is pulled here, the string’s pulled there and I couldn’t completely have some type of freedom.“That was one of the main reasons why I came to the conclusion that I’d come to England and see how I shape up.”
McKennie holds off Borussia Dortmund’s Achraf Hakimi during his time at Schalke (Photo: Alexandre Simoes/Borussia Dortmund via Getty Images)
Like Aaronson and Adams before him, his first chance to make a strong impression on his new fanbase could come with his defensive pressing.So far in 2022-23, McKennie has averaged 4.98 ball recoveries per 90 minutes, with 41.9 per cent of these coming in the opposition’s half of the pitch. In comparison, Klich averaged 6.48 during two and a half Premier League seasons for Leeds, playing mostly under Marcelo Bielsa, including 47.4 per cent in the attacking third. Some of that was dictated by the difference in styles seen in the Bundesliga and Serie A, as McKennie averaged 8.18 recoveries per 90 with Schalke, while that rate dipped to 5.5 after moving to the fallen Serie A giant.While he filled the role assigned to him, it was never a fully compatible match between Juventus’ style and McKennie’s brand of flair.“In Italy, there’s a little bit more on the serious side — not in a bad way either,” McKennie said. “They’re very presentable. I’m very, I don’t know… outgoing. I have a really big personality and sometimes it doesn’t work out. Also, the playing style. Italian football in general is very defensive and different paced to what you get here (in England). I’m a very up and down (box to box) type of guy, so that was another reason.”
McKennie will no doubt hope that Marsch will enable him to unleash more from his game, which he had to contain at the Allianz Stadium.That box-to-box approach should serve Leeds well as it works to progress up the pitch more quickly. Currently, Leeds average 14.4 passes per minute of possession, a tick below the league average of 14.68. Leicester City lead the Premier League with a 16.2 passing rate, while Southampton operate at a more lethargic 13.1 clip.While Leeds pass close to the league average, they aim to be more progressive than most.Their 64.6 progressive passes per 90 is fractionally ahead of league leaders Arsenal, ranking sixth overall behind Liverpool, Manchester City, Brighton, Tottenham and Manchester United. While Marsch’s current midfield partnership of Adams and Marc Roca have both proven capable of spraying passes from deep, McKennie will be far from redundant.
To put it mildly, McKennie is seldom compared to Andres Iniesta.Among all midfielders in the European game’s Big Five leagues who played at least 500 minutes ahead of the recent World Cup, none had a smaller share of his team’s live (aka, open play) passes than the U.S. international. However, only six qualified midfielders had a higher share of their team’s received progressive passes, illustrating his capability of getting into promising areas down the pitch.The same point can be illustrated with a full season’s worth of play.McKennie logged 1,369 league minutes for Juventus in 2021-22, starting in 15 of his 21 appearances. In that time, Smarterscout data shows that his receptions were far more impactful for their ball progression as a team than his passes or his carries.
While it is odd to think of a first-choice midfielder being a poor passer, even in this age of role specialisation, McKennie’s strengths in receiving and ball recoveries should help round out the midfield when deployed ahead of summer signings Adams and Roca. That spatial awareness should be a welcome addition for Roca in particular, as the Spaniard can lack options to receive his line-breaking passes due to Leeds’ narrow shape.
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Marsch may need to move further away from relying on a 4-2-3-1 base formation in order to accommodate a trio of midfielders who certainly did not come to Yorkshire for 25-minute shifts from the bench. Some of that work has taken place already this month: after lining up in a 4-3-3 just once before the World Cup — in October’s 1-0 defeat against Arsenal at home — Leeds have used the shape for four of their five league matches since play resumed post-Qatar, with Aaronson and Wilfried Gnonto alternating makeshift midfield responsibilities.
Although teenager Gnonto has been an electric inclusion, McKennie could offer much of the Italian’s threat to receive progressive balls while giving Leeds a more natural base shape. Marsch could then play the matchup game by game and pick between Aaronson and Gnonto to join Jack Harrison and Rodrigo in the attacking third — without giving them additional orders to track back.
Adams and McKennie, team-mates with the USMNT, reflect on the draw with Wales at the recent World Cup. Now they are club-mates at Leeds (Photo: Maja Hitij – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
After so much instability on the pitch since before Bielsa was replaced by the American last February, McKennie’s signing appears to give Leeds far greater balance in midfield.Roca can stay back with greater confidence that he’ll have a target to find with a pass while Adams continues doing the metronomic work of alternating a series of short passes with his tireless efforts to disrupt opposing build-up sequences.There is also the fact that, as the squad stood previously, Marsch’s go-to midfielder after Adams and Roca has been Sam Greenwood — a raw youngster who, up to the very end of last season, was regarded as a centre-forward. Beyond that, Adam Forshaw, a 31-year-old veteran of Leeds’ days in the Championship, has lacked fitness this term and barely played, and Darko Gyabi also boasts little experience at age 18.While signing a central midfielder now was not an urgent priority, it was not difficult to make the argument that Leeds recruiting one of McKennie’s calibre in this window felt extremely prudent.https://theathletic.com/report/podcast-clip/?clip_id=7045 They can also enjoy a trial period to determine if he is the missing piece to complete Marsch’s newly preferred midfield trio before committing significant funds to making the move permanent.McKennie was brought in on loan with 24 Champions League appearances for Schalke and Juventus to his name, with Leeds holding a purchase option close to £30million ($37m). Currently a point above the relegation zone, they will have to avoid the drop back down to the Championship over the next four months if they are to trigger that option, on top of certain other conditions.But that is a question for later in the season. For now, McKennie is squarely focused on making a strong first impression for a team hoping to escape the battle at the bottom of the league far sooner than they did last season, when survival was not assured until the final match. That is very much in his character, as those close to him say he’s “too much of a fighter” to stomach being relegated.He has enough to focus on the short-term to ensure that purchase option does not loom over his Premier League debut.“I’m an in-the-moment type person — I’m coming here with how the deal is but if I love it then I don’t see why not,” added McKennie when asked about the prospect of staying. “If maybe Leeds aren’t happy with me or I’m not happy, we’ll see how that goes.“But, for now, my head is here.”
How McKennie sealed Leeds transfer following Orta’s vision and the American connection
By Phil HayJan 30, 2023
The Athletic has live coverage of transfer deadline day. Follow along with the latest deals, news and analysis.
Weston McKennie to Leeds United is a done deal and the links between Elland Road and the United States grow stronger but Germany and Gelsenkirchen is where the roots of this transfer lie.McKennie has joined a club who are stars and stripes in so many respects: with Americans as their head coach and primary assistant, future American owners and, after McKennie’s transfer from Juventus went through, a squad with three USMNT internationals in it. But as negotiations played out last week, German Bundesliga side Schalke were referenced in dispatches as the place where Leeds’ tracking of McKennie first started, the part of his career which caught director of football Victor Orta’s eye and got him thinking.Orta has a tendency to work like that.Initial interest develops into long-term appreciation and sometimes, as with Robin Koch, a deal is done to sign a player who Orta has been monitoring in the background for years.Leeds, it transpires, first thought about buying McKennie in 2020, the summer when Juventus prised him out of Schalke, initially on loan. After that, with the move becoming permanent the following March, the idea of recruiting him was shelved but Orta has a habit of staying in touch, keeping the door open and nurturing relationships in the meantime. Communication improves the odds of a successful outcome if the opportunity presents itself again.That was where Leeds found themselves with a week of this year’s January window to go, after a call to Juventus was met with a receptive response at the other end of the line. Before last Tuesday, when an enquiry from Elland Road bloomed into active talks about the 24-year-old, it was not certain McKennie would be leaving the Italian giants this month. He was aware that Leeds admired him and there was talk about Premier League interest from Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest but none of it promised anything definitive.McKennie, in any case, had been a regular presence in Juventus’ team during the first half of the season and, for much of this month, Leeds spent time thinking about Azzedine Ounahi, Morocco’s World Cup star.
McKennie had been tracked by Leeds since his time at Schalke (Photo: Ronald Wittek/Pool via Getty Images)
Signing a new central midfielder was a temptation but not an outright necessity. As they came into January, Leeds’ priorities were a defender capable of playing left-back and a quality forward — bases covered by the £10million ($12.3m) arrival of Max Wober from Red Bull Salzburg and the record-breaking capture of Georginio Rutter from Hoffenheim for a fee that could rise to £35m ($43.2m) with add-onshttps://495d424347a4a7f599f26bd0c1ef6213.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html
The club had allowed Mateusz Klich to move on after more than four years in England, terminating his contract so he could join DC United ahead of the 2023 MLS season, and that slimmed down their midfield ranks, but whereas Wober and Rutter were viewed as essential additions, signing a new central midfielder was dependent on availability and price. The latter, in the end, was where Leeds’ interest in Ounahi fell down.When they asked French club Angers about Ounahi last summer, they were told he would cost between £8m and £12m ($9.9m and $14.8m).When they went back to Angers in this window, following his impressive World Cup with surprise semi-finalists Morocco, the club currently bottom of Ligue 1 were talking about a fee closer to £20m ($24.7m), if not more. Napoli, the Serie A leaders, were also quoted a high price for the 22-year-old which they declined to match. Orta told Leeds not to go overboard on him and, if it came to it, to leave Ounahi alone.By last week, Leeds were actively working on McKennie instead and Napoli had not budged either.It might have been a sign of the lack of active offers for Ounahi that on Sunday, with less than three days to go before the transfer deadline, Angers sold him to fellow French club Marseille for less than £10m ($12.3m) up front — a modest fee given his performances at the World Cup.
Leeds were told by Angers after the World Cup that Ounahi would cost around £20m ($24.7m) (Photo: Mike Hewitt – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
McKennie was valued much higher, above £20m ($24.7m) by Juventus — and that price tag was considered realistic.The deal struck by Leeds, a loan for the rest of this season with an option to buy which the Yorkshire side plan to activate in the summer, will cost them closer to £30m ($37m) if they do take McKennie permanently, reflecting his Champions League experience (24 appearances) and his status as one of the leading members of the USMNT squad.
ADVERTISEMENTTriggering that option to sign him full-time will rely on Leeds avoiding relegation, and there are also other conditions attached.Based on assurances he has been given about what his role will be at Elland Road, McKennie can expect to be in the thick of Leeds’ Premier League campaign, provided he stays fit.Juventus are in crisis after an investigation into their financial management ended with a 15-point deduction in the league.Head coach Max Allegri even talked about relegation as a genuine threat for a side now 13th in Serie A after they lost 2-0 to Monza on Sunday, a match which played out as McKennie was preparing to board a flight to the UK.Nonetheless, a loan deal with an option for McKennie suits them. Even if Leeds had completed a permanent deal now, Juventus were not planning to spend money on new players in what was left of the January window.His transfer is highly likely to become permanent later this year but if for some reason that plan falls through, McKennie’s value will not diminish drastically. Where Leeds are concerned, they avoid a scenario where they take on a £30m ($37m) fee and then fall back down to the EFL in May. Contracts held by players of McKennie’s stature invariably include relegation release clauses.
USA’s McKennie takes on Virgil van Dijk of the Netherlands in the round of 16 at the 2022 World Cup (Photo: Chris Brunskill/ISI Photos/Getty Images)
After several days of discussion over the structure of the deal, a loan with an option to buy worked for everyone.There were complications on Friday night, at a point where McKennie thought the transfer was as good as wrapped up. By then, he had started saying his goodbyes to team-mates in Turin and was getting ready to travel to England. Further discussions the next morning, though, got all sides on the same page and by lunchtime, Allegri was confirming to the Italian press that McKennie would not be involved against Monza. “He is at the centre of a negotiation,” Allegri said. “I think the club have already found an agreement with his new team.” “It was stressful,” McKennie told The Athletic after officially joining Leeds tonight. He had first been told that a bid for him from Yorkshire might be on its way a fortnight ago. “I’m at home and one minute I’m chilling. The next I’m calling my agent like ‘do I need to pack, do I not need to pack, what am I doing?’ I’ve got three dogs, I’ve got everything up and running in Turin, perfected. I’m trying to figure out what I need to do because I’m not just packing one suitcase.“I’m the type of player who lives in the moment so when I heard the deal was possibly going through, going through the process and all trending well, in my head it was already ‘I’m leaving, I’m coming to Leeds.’ Then you start thinking ‘is it happening, is it not, what’s going on?’ It was a bit of a head-turner but as soon as I was told ‘you’re flying tomorrow’ — good!”Orta tracking McKennie since his Schalke days did not mean the US connection at Leeds was not important.Tyler Adams, a fellow central midfielder McKennie has grown up with internationally and will now link up with domestically, was influential in selling the move and the location. Adams was at Elland Road this evening to welcome McKennie and interview him for the club’s TV station after as he finalised his loan forms. While Juventus are in a spell of trouble, they were Italy’s dominant club for years and McKennie was accustomed to mixing in Champions League circles. Prior interest from non-Champions League sides in England had failed to attract him in the same way.Jesse Marsch, Leeds’ American head coach, spelt out McKennie’s role in his line-up, and McKennie was given an idea of how Leeds want to evolve down the line, with a takeover by minority shareholder 49ers Enterprises bubbling behind the scenes. The overall vision satisfied him enough to say yes.Though a permanent move to Leeds for McKennie would technically happen in the summer transfer window, the past month has seen the club commit to £70m ($86.4m) worth of first-team players — beyond what was widely anticipated for January.Monday also saw them put in place an agreement for Diego Llorente to go on loan to Roma, a switch which is intended to become permanent and could recoup the £18m ($22.2m) paid for a centre-back who has never managed to wholly convince in two and a half seasons in England.
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It has been the most active January for years at Elland Road and a break from tradition for a club who, for so long, saw the winter window as a bad time to do business.In getting McKennie over the line the day before the deadline, they have comprehensively pushed the boat out.
Seattle Sounders carrying MLS banner at Club World Cup, eye dream clash vs. Real Madrid
Long before helping the Seattle Sounders win the 2022 CONCACAF Champions League and qualifying for the current Club World Cup, forward Jordan Morris was just another local kid from the Emerald City, rooting for his favorite players.”I remember even before I was on the [Seattle] team and watching [CONCACAF] Champions League games, I wanted them to win the tournament and be the first MLS team to do it,” the 28-year-old told ESPN.Morris and the rest of the Sounders squad have accomplished at least part of that childhood aspiration, snapping a streak of 13 consecutive CCL titles for Liga MX teams. With a 5-2 aggregate victory at Lumen Field over Pumas UNAM in last May’s final, Seattle made history as the first-ever Major League Soccer side to win the North American competition in its modern era.On Saturday, that fairy tale will continue, and it could lead to a coveted clash against Real Madrid.
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The Club World Cup, held this year in Morocco, brings together champions from each continent for a knockout-round tournament. The Sounders will debut against Egypt’s Al-Ahly at Ibn Batouta Stadium in Tangier. The winner then faces Madrid in the semifinal round. On the other side of the bracket, African champions Wydad Casablanca tackle Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal, who will then meet Brazilian outfit Flamengo.Granted, with the MLS regular season not kicking off for another three weeks, the Sounders will playing their first competitive matches of the year.”It’s definitely been more challenging in terms of building fitness and building sharpness within the group,” said Morris, who has spent a shortened four-week preseason with his teammates in the Spanish town of Marbella. “You gotta get up to fitness, speed and sharpness a lot quicker.”While other MLS sides are waiting to begin the regular season on Feb. 25, the Sounders have needed to expedite their efforts. They’ve done trainings in which players have been pushed more than normal, taken part in second sessions when needed, and played in two friendlies within a 24-hour time frame last Saturday — a 0-0 draw with Austria’s Wolfsberger AC and a 3-2 loss to Sweden’s Hammarby That said, there were few complaints about their beachside location.”Well, Marbella versus Tucson,” joked head coach Brian Schmetzer about the difference in this year’s preseason camp. “Not to put Tucson, Arizona, down, we’ve had some good days there.”It just lends a little bit more flavor, a little bit more pizzazz, a little bit more team bonding when you’re in a foreign country, it just feels different. The players are energized.” Herculez Gomez and Sebastian Salazar debate the biggest storylines and break down the best highlights that soccer in the Americas has to offer. Stream on ESPN+ (U.S. only) Veteran goalkeeper Stefan Frei was also content with his latest surroundings.”The weather has been good, the pitches have been fantastic, the training grounds are really close to our hotel. So it makes everything very, very convenient,” Frei said. hether the camp location was selected simply for its proximity to Morocco or for the idyllic nature of the Marbella area, it seems like the right move for Seattle considering the immediate buildup and expectations being placed on them as the first MLS side in the Club World Cup.No longer watching from afar after Liga MX represented the CONCACAF region in every previous edition of the tournament, the Sounders will finally have a chance to boast what one of MLS’ top teams can achieve on a global stage. Looking ahead, Schmetzer was open about this weight on the shoulders of his team.”We don’t want to spend all this time and travel, and all that, to come to Morocco and not play very well, not be competitive. There is that little added bit of pressure individually and collectively, for sure,” he said.With that pressure, there’s also an immense amount of pride for the players being part of a changing soccer landscape in America. With the 2022 World Cup over, there’s now a shifting focus toward the United States, which will co-host the 2026 World Cup with Mexico and Canada. In the early days of a new cycle, success at the Club World Cup could help kickstart even more growing interest for the sport in the country.”I think it continues to add to the excitement and add to the growth of soccer in this country,” Morris said, who was part of the USMNT’s World Cup squad in Qatar. “To be the first MLS team to play in this tournament, to be able to represent Seattle, represent MLS, is something that is a big honor. … It’s a once in a lifetime thing.”A highly significant and invaluable moment would also await them in the semifinals if they get that immediate win against Al-Ahly.Although the players and coach all stressed the idea of taking things game by game — Schmetzer himself said that he has been messaging his roster “that we’ll never get there unless we beat our first opponent” — there’s an undeniable thrill for all involved to possibly facing the 14-time UEFA Champions League winners.”I’ve been lucky enough to play against Real Madrid in friendlies, once with Toronto FC, once in an MLS All-Star Game, and that’s all nice and dandy, but to get to actually play in a meaningful competition in a meaningful game, that’s another level,” Frei said. No longer a kid watching CCL games and hoping for Seattle to succeed, Morris knew that he and his teammates could possibly face a top European side at the Club World Cup. “It was a cool experience, but the sentiment is that we have to get there first. We have to focus on this first game,” Morris said. In a competition as short and compressed as the Club World Cup, the measures of success and disappointment have varied wildly from CONCACAF’s previous Liga MX entrants, and often defined by just 90 minutes of play. In 2018, there was a sense of failure after Chivas arguably outplayed Japanese side Kashima Antlers before losing 3-2 in the initial round. In 2019, there was widespread praise for a Monterrey side that narrowly won their first game and then put up a fight in a narrow 2-1 loss to Liverpool in the semis. Similar accolades were given to Tigres in the 2020 edition for two close victories and then losing 1-0 to Bayern Munich in the final. Managing expectations and ambitions will be key, but then again, what has helped the Sounders reach the level that they’re currently at is through those high expectations that they put on themselves.
“Our mantra has always been that we take every game, whether it’s a training game, anything, we want to win. We’re competitive in that way,” Schmetzer said. “All those experiences that we’ve had — winning some MLS Cups, winning [U.S.] Open Cups, winning the CCL championship — certainly will help us in that regard. The guys are super focused, they’re prepared. That’s the normal course of business for this franchise.” Seattle has been touted as one of the league’s model clubs since joining MLS in 2007 as an expansion franchise. The team has won two MLS Cup titles and four U.S. Open Cup wins while continuing to be among the top in attendance figures. “Our mentality is always to win trophies. We’ve been a club that prides ourself on that, and this is a new opportunity, a new challenge, but again, it goes back to taking it game by game,” the forward said. If Liga MX clubs have been close before, if teams from Japan, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Ecuador and Democratic Republic of the Congo have all had an opportunity in previous finals, then why not Seattle? As showcased in the CCL last year, Frei continues to have the reflexes to single-handedly change the outcomes of matches, attacking midfielder Nicolas Lodeiro was capable of providing crucial goals and assists, and up top, there are few players in CONCACAF club soccer that have been as clutch in big game moments as Peruvian striker Raul Ruidiaz. In support, others like Morris and Cristian Roldan were brilliant. Also, if midfielder Joao Paulo is back to full fitness this week, that’ll provide an extra boost as well.Players like these have bought into not only striving for success with the Sounders, but also being a part of what could be a storied history.”When you go through a Bayern Munich or an AC Milan trophy room, you see the black-and-white picture of the team that won their trophies for the very first time,” Frei said. “We’ve done that in 2016 [with an MLS Cup], we’ve done that with winning CONCACAF Champions League, and now we get to represent our community, our club, Seattle as a city, our families and also the league.” Even if they don’t win it all, even if they lose that first match, there could be another young fan watching from home, wishing to one day see them lift that title.
USMNT coach Hudson says Tolkin, Vazquez, Zendejas in the mix for Nations League
Jason Anderson follow January 28, 2023 11:36 pm ET
The purpose of any January U.S. men’s national team camp has always been to identify players for the future, and at least on that front, it sounds like the mission was accomplished.Following Saturday’s surprisingly intense 0-0 draw with Colombia, USMNT interim head coach Anthony Hudson didn’t eliminate anyone in this camp from future consideration, but he mentioned three players as ones to watch out for when the team reconvenes in March for Nations League matches against Grenada and El Salvador.Two won’t be a surprise: Alejandro Zendejas may have had to leave camp early — he was named to the starting lineup as Club América faced Mazatlán later on Saturday night — but Hudson still clearly rates the 24-year-old dual national.
Similarly, Brandon Vazquez has seemingly boosted his chances, with Hudson praising him after he scored against Serbia and then bringing him up again after the Colombia draw as a candidate for future call-ups.“All I can say on Brandon and Alejandro is, for me personally, I thought they were both very, very good,” Hudson told reporters in his post-match press conference. “Alejandro in the last game, I thought was excellent. He was great in training. We loved to have him in camp. Good character, enjoyed being here. And the same with Brandon. I’ve really enjoyed working with him. So they’re two players that are well and truly going to be in our conversations when we get back to Chicago.”Vazquez’s 2022 season with FC Cincinnati was impressive enough that he was seen as a potential dark horse for the final World Cup roster, only for Gregg Berhalter to tell him it was too late to integrate him before the tournament.Zendejas, meanwhile, drew raves from Hudson before he flew back to Mexico City, and has both the USMNT and Mexico making major overtures for his international future.Curiously, Vazquez — another dual national eligible for both countries — says he has not heard from El Tri. Either way, playing in a Nations League match would be far more consequential, as FIFA recognizes that as an official competition. Even subbing in for the final seconds of one match in that tournament would tie either player’s international future to the USMNT for good.
‘Big personality’ Tolkin in the frame
New York Red Bulls wingback John Tolkin also impressed Hudson, with the 20-year-old being name-checked as “someone in our group of players” for future consideration.“I love him around the place, I love him in camp,” enthused Hudson. “He’s just got such a big personality. And then you see his personality on the field: he’s incredibly brave, he’s an aggressive player, he’s a physical player. I don’t think this situation fazed him at all.”Tolkin, after coming up through the Red Bulls’ academy system and impressing as a teenager with the club’s satellite team (which at the time played in the USL Championship, but has since moved to MLS Next Pro), quickly became an MLS fixture after making his debut in the league in May 2021. Despite not turning 21 until July, he’s already racked up 59 MLS appearances.“He embraces everything. He’s a very confident kid,” added Hudson. “He’s one that we’re glad we’ve seen, because he’s impressed us before when he [was] in our pre-World Cup camp. He’s now someone that’s in our group of players.”Left back has long been a problem position for the USMNT, but Tolkin finds himself in a large group of candidates for the job.
Antonee Robinson is a locked-in starter, but after that it seems like any number of options could become more of a fixture. Joe Scally plays regularly at right back with Borussia Monchengladbach, but within the USMNT is probably more of a candidate to play on the left. Sam Vines was still in consideration for the World Cup squad well into fall of 2022 as well, while 19-year-old Jonathan Gómez started against Serbia and is already in Europe with Real Sociedad.
Reggie Cannon can play on either flank, while DeJuan Jones — who finished Saturday’s game on the left after looking strong in 80 minutes on the right — has been a first-choice left back with the New England Revolution for years. Kevin Paredes has been playing further forward with Wolfsburg, but is a left back candidate and scored his first Bundesliga goal just hours before the USMNT kicked off on Saturday. George Bello hasn’t gotten a call-up since summer of 2022, but has 14 appearances at Arminia Bielefeld at just 21 years old.
Nonetheless, Tolkin’s first call-up saw him seize his opportunity, and based on Hudson’s remarks, it seems that the competition at left back will be fierce in the coming months.
Power Rankings: Who are the favorites to be the next USMNT head coach?
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January 24, 2023 10:57 am ET
With reports that José Mourinho and Zinedine Zidane have been eyed for the U.S. men’s national team coaching job, it would seem that the Gregg Berhalter era is coming to a close. And while there is nothing official yet from U.S. Soccer, there could well be a head coaching search coming for the men’s program in the not-too-distant future. Who knows, it might already be underway!It is an appealing job, given that Berhalter guided a very young group to the knockout stage of the 2022 World Cup. Now with that young group set to hit their prime and a deep talent pool coming up the ranks, this will be a job that, if it opens, will generate a lot of interest. The fact that the 2026 World Cup is mainly in the United States should make the job even more appealing.With that in mind, here are our power rankings for USMNT coaching candidates.
13Giovanni van Bronckhorst
Why it makes sense: A top-tier Dutch international, Van Bronckhorst had a recent spell at Rangers that saw them win the Scottish Cup and also reach the Champions League group stage for the first time in 12 years.He also has a close relationship with the Reyna clan, having played with Claudio Reyna at Rangers. In fact, Gio Reyna was named after Van Bronckhorst.Why it doesn’t make sense: Van Bronckhorst has never been a manager at the international level and a steady, seasoned hand is needed to guide this group. While he is available, his time at Rangers wasn’t as successful as it could have been given the resources at his disposal.
12Robin Fraser
Why it makes sense: The Colorado Rapids head coach has turned a club with some major issues into a very solid team on the pitch. Given the lack of resources in Colorado, Fraser has gotten more from less than any other league head coach over the past three years. A former U.S. international, his calm and steady style would be a stark contrast to a fiery predecessor.
Why it doesn’t make sense: Fraser has yet to win a trophy with Colorado. It might be a tough sell to the federation ahead of hosting the World Cup in 2026, given that Fraser’s resume lacks any big splashes (even if he is the most under-appreciated head coach in MLS, by a mile).
11Gregg Berhalter
Why it makes sense: Berhalter got plenty out of this young group including a Nations League win (over rival Mexico), a Gold Cup win (again, over rival Mexico) and a trip to the knockout rounds of the World Cup. Continuity does matter in international soccer and based on results alone, Berhalter may deserve another cycle.
Why it doesn’t make sense: Yeah, no. You just can’t now.
10Steve Cherundulo
Why it makes sense: A former United States international and a highly-respected player in the German Bundesliga, Cherundulo is certainly finding his footing as a head coach in MLS. He spent time in Germany as an assistant and in 2018 with the USMNT on their staff. In his first season as head coach of LAFC, Cherundulo won the Supporters’ Shield and MLS Cup last year. Additionally, he knows how to manage big-ego players and handle a locker room.
Why it doesn’t make sense: Cherundulo turns 44 years old next month and still needs some more seasoning as a head coach. He’s only been a top-flight head coach since last year. Next cycle, however, he might be the front-runner for the job.
Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
9Peter Vermes
Why it makes sense: Among the most accomplished head coaches in MLS history, Vermes has turned Sporting Kansas City into a model team over the past decade. As a former MLS player and United States international, he was a model of consistency. The man is simply intensity personified when it comes to the sport in this country.
Why it doesn’t make sense: A head coach who is as fiery and passionate as Vermes might be too much for this generation of players. Sporting KC hasn’t won a trophy since 2017 (the U.S. Open Cup) and has missed the playoffs two of the past four seasons.
8Brian Schmetzer
Why it makes sense: Probably not a name that pops off the list for many national team fans or media insiders, but a source said that Schmetzer is a name to watch for this cycle. Why? He is calm, steady and has managed big personalities in Seattle while finding success. Since taking over the Sounders in 2016, they have won MLS Cup twice (and twice were runners-up) while becoming the first MLS club to win the CONCACAF Champions League. That international success gives Schmetzer some real clout.
Why it doesn’t make sense: At 60, Schmetzer is the oldest candidate in this group. While his Champions League success with Seattle is impressive, he has never played or coached at the international level.
7Tata Martino
Why it makes sense: From his time with Atlanta United, Martino has been a favorite among national team fans for the way he built a winning culture and handled a lot of star power. He is bilingual and highly respected, with an impressive resume that includes stints in charge of Argentina and Barcelona.
Why it doesn’t make sense: Martino’s tenure with Mexico didn’t exactly see the Argentine cover himself with glory. El Tri lost two finals to the USMNT and failed to qualify out of the World Cup group stage for the first time since 1978.
Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images
6 José Mourinho
Why it makes sense: Mourinho isn’t just a name in coaching, he may be the name. His hiring would create instant excitement in the fanbase. His resume is filled with trophies and he’s helped rebuild a slightly damaged reputation with a respectable spell at Roma thus far.
Why it doesn’t make sense: He’d demand money to leave Roma and his temperament just simply may not jive with the American mindset. It sounds exciting, but Mourinho, despite his resume and success, would still represent a huge gamble at the international level (he has never coached a national team).
5 Jim Curtin
Why it makes sense: The Philadelphia Union head man has become one of the top managers in MLS over the past four seasons. The Union develop young talent and are prudent in the transfer market. He is methodical and steady while maximizing the player pool at his disposal. Curtin has spent offseasons in Europe with Red Bull Salzburg, learning the style there.
Why it doesn’t make sense: Curtin has never played or coached at the international level. The American certainly has a bright future and is well-regarded, but like Cherundulo, this may not be the cycle for him (although a move abroad is likely the next step and European clubs are certainly watching).
4 Tab Ramos
Why it makes sense: One of the most accomplished United States internationals of all time, Ramos has an intriguing resume for this job and is among the top candidates. He guided the U.S. to four consecutive U-20 World Cups as well as serving as an assistant coach with the senior team. He was a tremendous player and being bilingual certainly has its perks in CONCACAF. He might make the most sense except for…
Why it doesn’t make sense: Ramos had a tough two seasons as head coach of the Houston Dynamo, a club that only committed to spending after his departure. Should that be held against him? No. In fact, he is admired as a head coach (and is currently head coach of Hartford Athletic in the USL). But will it be held against him? Sadly, yes.
3 David Wagner
Why it makes sense: The current coach of Championship club Norwich, Wagner is a former United States international who has experience in the Bundesliga and Premier League. This would be a great opportunity (and lifestyle choice) for an energetic, visionary head coach. If Wagner has an interest, he should be considered a front-runner.
Why it doesn’t make sense: Would Wagner have interest? Despite being capped eight times by the USMNT, Wagner never spent substantial time in the United States. He also may not want to leave Norwich, which he only joined this month and is currently in the thick of a promotion battle.
2 Giovanni Savarese
Why it makes sense: This one might be a surprise to many, but Savarese should be a name heavily considered for this role. He is a player’s coach who has just the right measure of feistiness mixed with a strong tactical acumen. He is loved in Portland by his players and is known as a fantastic recruiter. In MLS and prior to that with the New York Cosmos, he managed some very big personalities. He also earned 30 caps with Venezuela.
Why it doesn’t make sense: Savarese has had success in Portland but has never won a trophy. That shouldn’t take Savarese out of the mix though, as his Portland teams have consistently been among the best in the league. But he’s never been on a coaching staff at the international level, meaning his personality and vision would have to win over the federation’s brass.
1 Jesse Marsch
Why it makes sense: As the second native-born American to ever coach in the Premier League, Marsch has the credentials from his time coaching in MLS and then his stops in Europe (Austria, Germany and now Leeds United). His job keeping Leeds afloat last season was certainly impressive. He also was an assistant with the national team for the 2010 World Cup, giving him a unique perspective.
Why it doesn’t make sense: Unless he wants to move on from Leeds (or vice versa), it is hard to pull away a competitor like Marsch from the Premier League. It is, however, unclear exactly how long he’s got left as Leeds manager.
Photo by ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images
What’s next for USMNT after World Cup? Busy 2023 schedule on deck
March 24: Nations League @ Grenada CBS/Paramount Plus
(Photo by Ronald Cortes/Getty Images)
The USMNT will have two CONCACAF Nations League group-stage matches in March, starting with a trip to Grenada. The U.S. defeated Grenada 5-0 in the home leg last June. This will be the first FIFA window after the World Cup, meaning the USMNT should be able to call upon most of its top players including those who featured in Qatar.
March 27: Nations League vs. El Salvador – CBS/Paramount Plus
(Photo by MARVIN RECINOS/AFP via Getty Images)
The U.S. squad will return home to host El Salvador at a to-be-announced stadium three days after facing Grenada. El Salvador drew the USMNT 1-1 in San Salvador last summer.
May 20-June 11: U-20 World Cup Fox
(Photo by ORLANDO SIERRA/AFP via Getty Images)
The USMNT’s under-20 team will compete in the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Indonesia next summer. The squad includes Philadelphia’s Quinn Sullivan, who has scored nine times for the U-20 team, and Paxten Aaronson, who is set to join Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany next month.
June: Nations League Finals – CBS/Paramount +
(Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports)
Assuming all goes well in the March group stage matches, the USMNT will advance to the Finals of the Nations League in June (the exact dates are to be announced). The USMNT defeated Mexico 3-2 in the final of the 2021 competition.
June 24-July 16: CONCACAF Gold Cup –
(Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports)
The USMNT is set to compete in the 2023 Gold Cup at to-be-announced venues against to-be-drawn competition this summer. The U.S. will be defending its title after defeating Mexico 1-0 in the 2021 Gold Cup final.
Three more windows in the fall
(Yukihito Taguchi-USA TODAY Sports)
After the summer tournaments, FIFA will have international windows again in September (4-12), October (9-17) and November (13-21), giving the USMNT opportunities to play up to six more friendlies later in the year. Those matches will be announced at later dates.
TV info: Turner Sports (TNT, TBS and HBO Max) owns the rights to U.S. Soccer’s friendlies; Fox Sports will broadcast the Gold Cup; and CBS (Paramount+) still holds the rights to Nations League matches. Exact channel information will become available closer to the match dates.
Paxten Aaronson a bright spot as USMNT plays scoreless but entertaining draw vs. Colombia
10:32 PM ET EPSNFC Jeff CarlisleU.S. soccer correspondent
CARSON, Calif. — The United States men’s national team earned a 0-0 draw with Colombia in the second of two January friendlies for the home side, as both teams fielded relatively inexperienced sides.Colombia had the edge in shots 12-5, but shots on goal were 2-1 in favor of the home side. And it was the U.S. that had the better chances with Paxten Aaronson, in his USMNT debut, going close in the first half. Sean Johnson was the slightly busier of the two keepers, but overall had little to do on the night.
Rapid reaction
1. U.S. earns draw in a very un-January friendly
Friendlies that cap off the January camp are often tepid affairs. The U.S. players are in preseason mode, and the lack of sharpness outweighs most of the positives. There is also the relative lack of experience on show. While the U.S. featured World Cup participants Walker Zimmerman, Kellyn Acosta, Jesus Ferreira and Aaron Long, as well as veteran Paul Arriola, some of the other players were making their initial forays at the international level.
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That went for Colombia as well. Aside from left back Frank Fabra, no Colombian starter had more than three caps. But this encounter had some spice to it, helped in no small part by the heavily pro-Colombia crowd. There was plenty of end-to-end play and some clear looks at goal in the opening half, including a deflected effort from Paxten Aaronson in the 14th minute that grazed the post.LAFC‘s Cristian Arango had some clear opportunities as well, but failed to get a shot on target. Such was the chaotic nature of the game that the performers on show seemed to alternate good plays with poor ones, often in the same sequence. Matthew Hoppe was a case in point. The Middlesbrough winger was indefatigable in terms of his defensive pressure, and consistently put himself in good positions with his runs off the ball. But his decision-making on the ball looked rusty, a product of the lack of playing time with his club.There was some physical play as well, with a trio of first-half yellow cards dished out by referee Said Martinez, all to Colombia. Two were the result of attacking runs by Arriola that forced the Cafeteros into fouls near the box. The frenetic pace cooled a bit in the second half, with interim manager Anthony Hudson feeling confident enough to finish out the match with two young center backs in Jalen Neal and Sam Rogers. Substitute Brandon Vazquez nearly got on the end of a Kellyn Acosta free kick late, but couldn’t connect, leaving both teams to settle for a draw.
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga & more (U.S.)
2. Another Aaronson makes a positive impression
Interim manager Anthony Hudson had said he would heavily rotate his squad from the team that fell 2-1 to Serbia, and he was true to his word, making 10 changes to the lineup that started against Serbia, with Zimmerman the only holdover. That meant another pair of international debuts, this time for Paxten Aaronson — brother of Leeds United and U.S. international midfielder Brenden Aaronson — and New York Red Bulls defender John Tolkin.Aaronson — who signed with Eintracht Frankfurt from the Philadelphia Union in November — was up for the challenge and showed off many of the same qualities as his older brother. He was an absolute pest on defense, was active in seeking out the ball and showed off some lightning-quick feet. He nearly got onto the scoresheet in the 14th minute when his deflected effort grazed the post.His performance wasn’t completely free of struggle. One area where Aaronson needs to improve is simply to sense danger with his back to his opponent. He was dispossessed four times in the first half, a problem that can be solved by simply playing quicker.Fellow debutant Tolkin struggled with some physical battles as well, but adapted as the game went on. The quality of his left foot isn’t in question. But games like this are about the future. These players just starting their international careers don’t need to produce for the U.S. next week or even in March, when the first choice players will convene for the first time since the World Cup. Yet players have to start somewhere, and this was a needed first step.
3. Did anyone earn a spot for the March window?
Across the two games, 12 players made debuts (the most ever in these January camps), with Vazquez doing the most to help himself. The U.S. goal scorer against Serbia came on as a substitute in this match and while he didn’t score, the FC Cincinnati man provides a physical presence that few others in the pool can match. Combine that with his finishing touch, and he is a player who could force his way in.
Alejandro Zendejas, who returned to Club America after the Serbia match, should also get an extended look given his dynamism on the wing and his precision in terms of end product. Of course, with Zendejas the question is if he’s called up for an official competition, will he commit or file that one-time switch to Mexico? That remains to be seen.
Credit is due to Cade Cowell as well. He was an unused sub on this night, but showed plenty of potential against Serbia. The key now is can he replicate that performance at club level with the San Jose Earthquakes?
Otherwise, it feels as though the rest of the young performers in this camp are still a ways away from threatening to break through. That said, for many of them, time is on their side.
Best, worst (and mixed-bag) performers
Best: Paul Arriola, U.S.
It’s perhaps no surprise that one of the more experienced players on the field would fare well (he earned his 50th cap), but the FC Dallas man was a menacing presence on the flank and forced two different Colombian players to commit yellow card fouls.
Best: Diego Valoyes, Colombia
The Colombia attacker gave Tolkin all he could handle, especially in the first half. He also created a team-high three chances.
Best: Paxten Aaronson, U.S.
Aaronson’s had more positives than negatives in his international debut, and adjusted his game in the second half.
Worst: Frank Fabra, Colombia
The U.S. found plenty of success down his side, with Arriola forcing a yellow card foul. Fabra struggled on the ball as well, completing just 67.5% of his passes.
Mixed bag: Matthew Hoppe, U.S.
A “worst” label would have been too harsh considering the positions he put himself in, but his decision-making and touch let him down at times. He is in desperate need of games at club level.
Highlights and notable moments
Paxten Aaronson was one of the players who stood out for the USMNT, as evidenced in this early scoring chance against Colombia.With more playing time and experience, he can be expected to put these into the net.
After the match: What the managers and players said
U.S. interim coach Anthony Hudson, on Paxten Aaronson’s debut: “Paxten is a really exciting player, hugely confident. He came in a day or two late but you can see his quality. We don’t know what his level will be, but we believe in his talent and will see what he can do.”
USMNT keeper Sean Johnson, on the camp: “It’s a great group of players, and that speaks to the depth of our player group. … There’s good times ahead for us. We would have loved to win, and we had our chances, but it was solid all around. As a group, I feel like this camp was a step forward.”
Hudson, on whether he’ll continue as interim coach: “Until I’m told otherwise, I’m going to do my best for the team and the players.”
Up next
U.S.: With no games until the March matches against Grenada and El Salvador as part of their Nations League title defense, expect all the action to be off the field as the speculation mounts during the coaching and general manager search.
USWNT SCHEDULE 2023: FROM SHEBELIEVES CUP TO THE WORLD CUP
The U.S. women’s national team is ramping up its preparation for the World Cup this summer. The reigning World Cup champions started their year with two resounding wins against New Zealand. The trip also provided a preview of the team’s World Cup base camp in Auckland and of the arenas for its group-stage matches.The SheBelieves Cup comes next in February, with matches against Brazil, Canada and Japan. February also brings FIFA’s intercontinental playoffs, which will decide the final three World Cup qualifiers — including one of the USWNT’s group-stage opponents. What do we know about the rest of the USWNT’s 2023 schedule? Very little so far, outside of the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
FIFA has marked two more international windows on the calendar ahead of the start of the World Cup on July 20. One runs from April 3-11, and it brings with it the possibility for two international friendlies. Another runs from July 10-18, just before the World Cup; the USWNT played a three-match Send-Off Series ahead of the 2019 tournament.
SHEBELIEVES CUP
The top team in the FIFA world ranking, the USWNT will face off against three squads in the top 11 at the SheBelieves Cup: No. 6 Canada, No. 9 Brazil and No. 11 Japan.
- Thursday, Feb. 16 — 7 p.m. ET
- United States vs. Canada (Exploria Stadium, Orlando)
- Sunday, Feb. 19 — 3:30 p.m. ET
- United States vs. Japan (Geodis Park, Nashville)
- Wednesday, Feb. 22 — 7 p.m. ET
- United States vs. Brazil (Toyota Stadium, Frisco, Texas)
WORLD CUP
The USWNT will play three group-stage matches at the World Cup, one against each of its opponents in Group E.
Group E includes the team the United States beat in the 2019 World Cup final, the Netherlands. Still, USWNT legend Julie Foudy said the USWNT landed a “very winnable group.”
- Friday, July 21 — 9 p.m. ET
- United States vs. Vietnam (Eden Park, Auckland)
- Wednesday, July 26 — 9 p.m. ET
- United States vs. Netherlands (Wellington Regional)
- Tuesday, Aug. 1 — 3 a.m. ET
- United States vs. Intercontinental playoff winner (Eden Park, Auckland)
Should the USWNT advance from the group stage, the knockout round will start Aug. 5. The round of 16 runs from Aug. 5-8, followed by the quarterfinals from Aug. 11-12 and then the semifinals from Aug. 15-16. The championship match is set for Aug. 20 in Sydney, with the third-place match one day earlier in Brisbane.
Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe headline USWNT SheBelieves Cup roster
12:56 PM ET ESPN FC Jeff Carlisle U.S. soccer correspondent
San Diego Wave forward Alex Morgan, OL Reign forward Megan Rapinoe and Portland Thorns defender Becky Sauerbrunn highlight the 23-player U.S. women’s national team roster for the SheBelieves Cup.The competition includes Brazil, Japan, and Olympic champions Canada in the four-team competition. All three teams qualified for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, and are ranked in the top 11 in the world.The U.S. will face Canada on Feb. 16 in Orlando, and then take on Japan three days later in Nashville. The U.S. will finish out the tournament with a match against Brazil in Frisco, Texas.”All three of these matches are great opportunities for the players and coaches as we enter the final stretch to choose the World Cup roster,” USWNT coach Vlatko Andonovski said.”To get to play three top teams, all who are in the World Cup, over seven days, will test our team mentally and physically, and that’s exactly what we need at this point in our preparations. We still have a few players in the pool recovering from injuries, but we are confident that they will be ready for selection for our April matches.”Rapinoe, who has recovered from an ankle injury, is the only addition to the roster from the group that played two matches in New Zealand earlier this year. She enters the competition with a chance to hit 200 caps during the tournament. She is currently on 197.Defender Tierna Davidson, a 2019 Women’s World Cup champion and 2020 Olympic bronze medalist, is in the final stages of her recovery from an ACL injury and will participate in the first part of the training camp in Orlando but will not be on the tournament roster.Reigning NWSL MVP Sophia Smith is the most notable omission from the roster. A U.S. Soccer spokesperson said Smith has recovered from a foot injury that prevented her from taking part in the New Zealand matches, but hasn’t regained enough fitness to participate.The U.S. is attempting to win the tournament for the fourth straight time, and sixth time overall, having prevailed in 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022.
U.S. women’s national team roster by position (Club; Caps/Goals) — 2023 SheBelieves Cup:
GOALKEEPERS (3): Adrianna Franch (Kansas City Current; 10), Casey Murphy (North Carolina Courage; 12), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars; 87)
DEFENDERS (7): Alana Cook (OL Reign; 21/0), Emily Fox (North Carolina Courage; 24/0), Crystal Dunn (Portland Thorns FC; 128/24), Naomi Girma (San Diego Wave FC; 12/0), Sofia Huerta (OL Reign; 27/0), Becky Sauerbrunn (Portland Thorns FC; 212/0), Emily Sonnett (OL Reign; 70/1)
MIDFIELDERS (6): Lindsey Horan (Olympique Lyon, FRA; 123/26), Taylor Kornieck (San Diego Wave FC; 9/2), Rose Lavelle (OL Reign; 86/24), Kristie Mewis (NJ/NY Gotham FC; 47/7), Ashley Sanchez (Washington Spirit; 19/3), Andi Sullivan (Washington Spirit; 39/3)
FORWARDS (7): Ashley Hatch (Washington Spirit; 15/5), Alex Morgan (San Diego Wave FC; 201/120), Midge Purce (NJ/NY Gotham FC; 22/4), Megan Rapinoe (OL Reign; 197/63), Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit; 12/2), Mallory Swanson (Chicago Red Stars; 84/28), Lynn Williams (NJ/NY Gotham FC; 49/15)
USWNT ROSTER BUBBLE: WHAT WE LEARNED FROM NEW ZEALAND GAMES
JANUARY 23, 2023 – CLAIRE WATKINS https://justwomenssports.com/uswnt-new-zealand-world-cup-roster-decisions
The U.S. wrapped up their January game schedule in New Zealand on Friday, kicking off 2023 with two big wins, nine goals scored and none conceded. The trip was as much about getting acclimated to long travel in the World Cup host country as it was about friendly competition, but now that we’re under six months away from the tournament, every game matters.Here are my three main takeaways from the 4-0 and 5-0 wins, which provided some insight into final roster decisions.
THE USWNT’S ATTACKING DEPTH IS RIDICULOUS
No matter who is healthy in July, the U.S. is going to have to leave multiple world-class attackers off the World Cup roster due to sheer force of numbers.
Take a look at the list of attacking players who have been in camp in the last calendar year and wonder at the potential: Sophia Smith, Trinity Rodman, Alex Morgan, Catarina Macario, Mallory Swanson, Ashley Hatch, Lynn Williams, Midge Purce, Megan Rapinoe and Alyssa Thompson have all gotten minutes with the U.S. and made an impact. The USWNT took seven forwards to the 2019 World Cup, which puts the numbers at odds with the current player pool before even considering other players who deserve looks, like Christen Press and Mia Fishel.In New Zealand, the team was without Macario, Rapinoe and Smith and still didn’t miss a beat in the attack. Midge Purce, whom coach Vlatko Andonovski placed on the bubble late in 2022, did everything but get on the scoresheet in the team’s first match. The Gotham FC forward was the biggest bright spot in the USWNT attack during a tepid first half.
If Purce came back with a vengeance, then Trinity Rodman set the whole house on fire. The 20-year-old notched three assists in two games, providing passing outlets and attacking dangerously off the dribble. Rodman has just three USWNT starts in her career thus far, but she looked calm and collected as she collaborated well with the rest of the frontline. Lynn Williams also looked sharp in her first minutes with the U.S. since last February, scoring one goal and notching one assist off the bench in two games.But perhaps the best example of Andonovski’s looming impossible attacking decisions is Ashley Hatch. Hatch has been in with the U.S. for an extended period of time dating back to December 2021, but she has struggled to get on the field as other players have risen around her. Competing positionally with both Alex Morgan and Catarina Macario, Hatch also doesn’t have the versatility to play both centrally and out wide like a number of her teammates.And yet, there she was scoring in New Zealand, making the most of the minutes granted to her. Hatch probably still has a steep climb onto the 2023 World Cup roster, but her job is to make the decision as difficult as she possibly can. That level of competition is good for the team at large, with every player making an impact in preparation even if they don’t get the call in July.
THE MIDFIELD STILL FEELS THIN
Andonovski made one major positional concession last week when he put Rose Lavelle and Ashley Sanchez on the field together as a No. 8 and a No. 10, superseding the stretched dual No. 10 we saw at times in 2022.
The new spacing allowed Andi Sullivan to play at her best as the team’s defensive midfielder. The Spirit captain moved confidently and passed around New Zealand’s mid-block press. It’s obvious that the team’s Plan A is to rely heavily on Sullivan, and reconfiguring the playmakers around her to provide defensive support and passing lanes paid dividends in the second half of the first match and the entirety of the second.
Plan B in midfield personnel, however, feels as thin as ever. Andonovski started Taylor Kornieck as the No. 6 in the first half of the first match, and the San Diego midfielder didn’t appear ready for the role thrust upon her in her very first USWNT start. Portland Thorns defensive midfielder Sam Coffey didn’t get time in either match, with Kornieck coming off the bench in the second match to close things out.
In general, the midfield roster as constructed feels full of too many specialists, which has resulted in only a few players getting consistent starts. Kornieck is great in the air and has strong passing vision to break lines, but she’s not a No. 6 defensively. Kristie Mewis is another reliable option as a No. 8 off the bench, and Sanchez effectively gives them another creative attacker when she’s on the pitch.But if the plan is to have Lavelle or Horan play as true No. 8s, the team appears to be relying too heavily on its specialists without giving experience to the players who could become starters with time. Sanchez proved this week that she has a unique skill set worth adjusting for, but other roles remain unclear.
THE BACKLINE IS VERY ATTACKING-MINDED
We can attribute some of this to the way the U.S. wanted to play New Zealand, who were missing a number of key players, but the USWNT defense once again shined in attacking possession rather than defensive transition.
Sofia Huerta excelled as an attacking generator in the second match, and what she brings as a crosser will likely cement her place on the 2023 World Cup roster. Crystal Dunn looked her sharpest at left back in the second match, combining in passing triangles that unlocked New Zealand’s defensive formation.
Naomi Girma started both matches and was given the freedom to push forward and find the best passing lanes through New Zealand’s defense. But in the very brief moments the U.S. had to scramble on counterattacks, the defense felt somewhat shaky.
Casey Murphy started the second match in goal. The 26-year-old had one cautious punch off a corner kick turn into a chance opportunity, upon which the USWNT benefitted from a foul call to calm the danger. Murphy has all the tools to be a great international goalkeeper, but even in limited action, her occasional hesitation in goal is obvious enough to set the defense on edge. The U.S. has struggled at times to defend set pieces over the last year, and the communication didn’t always seem crisp last week.
Overall, the team appeared collectively calm, like they had righted some structural imbalances from late in 2022 and were having fun. As the schedule turns to the SheBelieves Cup in February, these games provided several lessons the U.S. will want to carry with them.
Claire Watkins is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @ScoutRipley.
Five players the USWNT still has time to call up before the World Cup
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January 27, 2023 9:30 am ET
The U.S. women’s national team is 179 days away from kicking off the 2023 World Cup, and the roster feels close to being settled.
USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski has said as much, indicating at a recent press conference that the team’s technical staff has shrunk their list of possible candidates from somewhere north of 40 down to just 32.
That follows a trend that the USWNT has seemed very intentional about, with little serious change in squad selection. Rosters have seen players come and go, but those changes are largely down to replacing injured regulars; Andonovski has kept to a smaller pool of players for some time now.
There’s merit to that approach, to be fair: players know the system, they know the culture on and off the field, no one’s coming in and having to play catch-up. However, the benefits of that approach can become a problem if players feel too comfortable. A settled team is also one with a hierarchy, and plenty of teams (including past, World Cup-winning iterations of the USWNT) have benefitted from a positive tension that comes when the competition for places is more open.
It’s late in the process, but there are a few players that the USWNT should still take a serious look at. The World Cup is going to be more competitive than ever, and there are players who either merit their first-ever call-ups, or deserve another look due to good form and how their specific skill sets dovetail with the USWNT’s needs right now.
Sam Staab
Data in soccer isn’t always perfect, but sometimes it can really tell a story. This is a graph of the top six individual NWSL center back seasons in American Soccer Analysis’ Goals Added (G+) metric since Staab entered the league in 2019, along with the most recent season for the last four players to appear at center back for the USWNT.
(Note: Emily Sonnett’s 2022 sample size, due to injury and the CONCACAF W Championship, falls below the 1,000 minute threshold, so we’re using her 2021 G+ score)
Simply put, Staab had a monster season on a team that was a mess off the field for so much of 2022. Staab’s G+ score was the best among all center backs, and was bettered by only nine players in the NWSL last season (a mix of Best XI players, USWNT starters, and legends like Debinha and Jess Fishlock).
So okay, Staab was great last year, and that comes following a championship-winning season. She’s a left-footed center back (something the USWNT does not have until Tierna Davidson returns), and she has outstanding chemistry with Vlatko Andonovski’s current first-choice defensive midfielder, Andi Sullivan. She’d also be arguably the most athletic center back on the current team, and would bring a weapon — she can launch a throw-in almost to the back post, and they’re zipping in there rather than floating slowly — that no one in the USWNT pool has shown they can match.
FBref says that in 2022, she was in the 98th percentile among NWSL center backs for expected assists. And going back to G+, that figure breaks down player actions into six categories: dribbling, fouling, interrupting, passing, receiving, and shooting. In the passing category, Staab was head and shoulders above any player at any position in the league. That’s a testament to her borderline telepathic connection with U.S. attackers Ashley Hatch and (especially) Trinity Rodman, which is the root of much of the Washington Spirit’s goal threat.
In other words, Staab has all of the tools to do things no center back in the USWNT pool can do. She’s succeeded at club level, is only getting better, and has important on-field links with existing USWNT players. That’s a recipe for a player that can succeed right away, much less someone who deserves a first call-up.
Even if Davidson is healthy and back at her best in time for the World Cup, Staab has made a case at club level that is arguably better than anyone in the pool over the last year, and as such she merits a serious look within the squad before they jet off to New Zealand.
Morgan Gautrat
One issue the USWNT has had for some time now is a lack of midfield balance, with the two more attacking players in Andonovski’s 4-3-3 jumping into the attack with aggression. When the ball turns over, it leaves the No. 6 with little support to slow transitions down. The USWNT either has to successfully counter-press, or they’re defending three-on-three or four-on-four in huge amounts of space.
Andonovski has of late begun to alter his team to deal with this. Against Germany, he asked Lindsey Horan to be less aggressive, instead playing as a more traditional No. 8. In the two friendlies against New Zealand, the USWNT played out of a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Horan and Rose Lavelle both seeing time closer to Sullivan and Taylor Kornieck, the defensive midfielders in those two wins.
Horan is a natural in this role, and plays there at the club level with Lyon. Lavelle looked very sharp, and against teams that are more likely to stand off and congest, she makes plenty of sense as an option going forward. But it just so happens that there’s a two-time World Cup-winning No. 8 who thrives at the specific tactical need the U.S. has for someone who denies passing lanes and anticipating opposing moves before the opponent can actually make them.
We’re talking about Gautrat here, who came back from a long battle with injury to be the platform for the Chicago Red Stars. Yes, Mallory Swanson had a spectacular season that got her into the MVP discussion, but the only reason Chicago were actually able to leverage that into wins is the success of their central midfield.
Danny Colaprico and Vanessa DiBernardo were both important in that regard, but Gautrat took things to another level. She was the connective tissue of the team, improving their defensive structure, possession, and overall fluency. Gautrat is off to Kansas City, which is very bad for the Red Stars, but it also means she’ll be in a better club situation in 2023.
The USWNT is — even with Sam Mewis an unknown at this point — stocked with plenty of No. 8s. However, with Kristie Mewis trying to shake off the universal difficulty anyone at NJ/NY Gotham FC had in 2022, and Taylor Kornieck shuffling between all three central midfield roles at club and national team level, the door should still be open for Gautrat.
(Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Mia Fishel
We could not touch on this topic without talking about Fishel, who scored 33 goals in 2022 for Tigres. In soccer, it is generally good to score that often, and it also generally leads to national team call-ups.
Pro Soccer Wire already got into Fishel’s status with the USWNT this month, so we’ll be a bit more brief here. Andonovski has said his piece on this point, and in his eyes the situation boils down to the incredible depth of talent the U.S. has up front.
Fishel is dominating in a league that is not at NWSL’s level, and it is fair to wonder how many goals the other USWNT strikers would produce in the exact same situation at Tigres. Is Fishel on the level of the players getting called in? It’s hard to gauge without more direct reference points between NWSL and Liga MX Femeníl. Certainly her aerial ability looks the part, and she’s comfortable enough dropping off the front line and linking play like Alex Morgan has been doing over the past year.
However, when a player is scoring as often as Fishel is — particularly a first-round draft pick who was on numerous youth national teams and got a USWNT call-up in college — the normal thing to do is to call them up and see how they stack up within the group. Even if the idea is prepping her for the culture for the next World Cup cycle and not this one, there’s reason to call her in now.
There’s one ideal way to figure out how Fishel’s form in Mexico translates at the national team level, and it’s one the USWNT has overlooked. If she’s in camp, you get your answer. Getting Fishel into the group is the fairest way to settle whether she should be competing with Morgan and Hatch today, rather than sometime after the World Cup.
Credit: Club Tigres
Bethany Balcer
The only USWNT-eligible forward with more NWSL goals over the past three full regular seasons than Balcer (22) is Hatch (26). Balcer has been a consistently dangerous player on a successful team, and yet has just one cap in a late 2021 friendly at Australia.
There’s also a stylistic match that isn’t far off from Fishel’s. The USWNT has increasingly wanted its No. 9 to drop off and connect more, thanks in part to its evolution and the goalscoring punch they get from Swanson and Sophia Smith (not to mention the flock of players fighting for the other wide forward roles this summer).
People look at Balcer and think instinctively that she’s going to be a target forward, but she’s at her best as a second forward or as a false No. 9. If the USWNT is going to build itself around an attacking identity that fits Catarina Macario — which, by the way, we don’t actually know what Andonovski will do when he has Macario and Morgan both available — having another option that takes up similar positions has serious merit.
It’s tough to shoehorn one more forward into this team, but if having good chemistry applies for Staab, it surely applies for Balcer. With her Reign teammates Rose Lavelle, Sofia Huerta, and Megan Rapinoe all factors in the attack, it stands to reason that Balcer would be able to transition from one red, white, and blue kit to another.
Mandatory Credit: Stephen Brashear-USA TODAY Sports ORG
Re-open the goalkeeping competition
We’re cheating a bit here on this last item, but it may be the spot most likely to see a shake-up before the World Cup.
In fact, after the W Championship, Andonovski already made a shift. With AD Franch ramping her form up dramatically as the summer began, the Kansas City Current goalkeeper pushed her way back into the USWNT frame. Andonovski had a decision to make, and Franch has taken a spot that was held by Aubrey Kingsbury for a few months.
What’s curious about that is that Casey Murphy’s spot seems solid, despite club form that would point in the opposite direction. Murphy’s USWNT debut showed how high her ceiling is, but her 2022 with North Carolina was rocky at best. Murphy has the tools and has shown flashes of world-class play, and based on Andonovski’s willingness to get her minutes, he seems to see her spot as one that’s at least somewhat settled.
With the depth of talent available, it probably shouldn’t be. Franch should get a crack at climbing the depth chart, just as much as Kingsbury — admittedly coming off of a club season that was not as sharp for her as we saw in 2021 — shouldn’t necessarily be out of contention. Both of them have a strong argument that their form has been at least as good as Murphy’s over the past 12 months.
Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
Bella Bixby just helped the Portland Thorns win it all, and seems to be emerging not just as a top goalkeeper, but as a leader. Jane Campbell, who was far more consistent in 2022 than in years past, brings the penalty kick-saving X factor to the table that could make her worth a place on the flight to the World Cup purely as a specialist to send on late in extra time. Phallon Tullis-Joyce offered some compelling evidence, particularly in organizing the defense in front of her, that she belongs in the conversation as well.
Andonovski, to his credit, held the door open for as many as six or seven goalkeepers for much of the last three years. It’s just that for most of that time, there wasn’t actually much competition. This may be the first moment in the entire cycle where that many candidates are actually on even terms with one another, and in that case it’s time to stoke the competition rather than turn the page. Alyssa Naeher has the No. 1 shirt on lock, but both of the other goalkeeper slots should be more up for grabs than they appear to be.
REPORT: NWSL WILL EXPAND TO SAN FRANCISCO, UTAH AND BOSTON
The NWSL is reportedly going to add teams in Boston, Utah and the San Francisco Bay area, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The league is in advanced discussions to expand with those three teams, with both Boston and San Francisco set to pay around $50 million in expansion fees. Owners in Utah will pay the agreed-upon amount from a few years ago, anywhere from $2 to $5 million.
Both San Francisco and Utah are set to begin play in 2024 while Boston will launch its team later.“We remain engaged in our expansion process and are excited about our prospects,” a league spokesperson told the WSJ and other outlets. “When we have news to share, we will do so.”Among those backing the Bay Area team are former USWNT standouts Brandi Chastain, Aly Wagner, Leslie Osborne and Danielle Slaton.Previously, NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman had said that “over 30 investor groups” were interested in joining the league, and that two teams were going to be added for the 2024 season.Both Utah and Boston have previously had professional teams. Utah Royals FC entered the NWSL in 2017 but folded and essentially transferred to Kansas City in December 2020. It was agreed upon that the franchise could be revived at a later date.Boston, meanwhile, was home to the Boston Breakers. The Breakers were part of the NWSL for five years before folding in 2018.While San Francisco has not previously had a team, both Angel City FC in Los Angeles and the San Diego Wave have experienced successes in their first seasons as expansion clubs.
Leeds United: A reshaped squad with focus on potential, resale value and first-team impact
By Phil Hay and Mark Carey The Athletic Feb 1, 2023
Leeds United finished last season by bouncing off the walls at Brentford and it was obvious to the club as they journeyed home that one era was almost behind them.
They were no longer Marcelo Bielsa’s baby and change was coming in other respects too. Raphinha was destined for Barcelona, saying goodbye to Leeds by trekking the length of the field at Brentford on his knees. Kalvin Phillips would soon have Manchester City all over him. The signing of Brenden Aaronson from RB Salzburg fell into place immediately and a busy summer lay ahead.
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Leeds did not intend to wholly abandon the promotion squad of 2020 but the passionate loyalty shown to it by Bielsa was giving way to a bigger appetite to recruit, helped by £90million ($110.7m) promised from the sales of Phillips and Raphinha. The dressing room looked different by the end of that transfer window. As January finished last night, the make-up of it had moved again, redrawn by fresh expenditure which could hit £70million if Weston McKennie becomes a permanent fixture.
Ten first-team players signed in the space of eight months, 12 counting Darko Gyabi and Sonny Perkins, which is the most sizeable overhaul of the squad at Leeds since the first transfer window on Andrea Radrizzani’s watch as chairman, back in 2017. They have remnants of the side who took the club out of the Championship two and a half years ago, some still prominently involved, but they are not far off the point of an entirely new line-up, moving away from the previous policy of gradual, incremental change. January, at Elland Road at least, has never been so active.
The sale of Phillips last summer helped fund recent transfers (Photo: Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)
In reality, a shift in mindset had to happen. Leeds reached the point last season where the depth of their first-team ranks was asking for trouble. Injuries compounded the cracks but thin resources and a young core below the surface of the starting team made them easier to pick apart. It is not that the club have abandoned the recruitment of potential — in fact, the opposite is true — but the past two windows have focused on increasing the supply of players who are either proven in general or proven in the division they are arriving from.
Age is a significant factor in Leeds’ recruitment and has been for years. Victor Orta does not target outfield signings who are 30 or over. Goalkeepers are different but even there, Leeds are into their third season with Illan Meslier as first-choice, one of the youngest keepers in the Premier League. While the club, since the beginning of last summer, have worked on landing footballers with a meaningful track record, most are yet to reach their peak. Joel Robles aside, Marc Roca is the eldest of the incomings at 26. Mateusz Klich departing leaves Rodrigo as the only outfield player brought in since promotion who is in his 30s. Leeds are sticking to a model of potential and resale growth, but gambling on shorter odds at the same time.
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Max Wober and Tyler Adams make that point as well as anyone else. Wober, bought from Red Bull Salzburg at the start of January, has taken no time to show leadership, the trait which earned him the armband at Salzburg. Adams, the captain of the USMNT, is considered a natural candidate for the same role at Leeds as and when the baton passes on from Liam Cooper. For all that, Wober is 24 and Adams is 23, both of them young by the standards of the modern game. But what the club’s recruitment has done, and what it had to do after last season finished, was address the scenario where inexperience on the pitch was too great and options on the bench too untested. As Bielsa’s final year in charge went on, the substitutes behind his preferred line-up grew ever more raw. Dependable choices were too few in number.
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It is apparent from the Premier League table as it stands that the business done by Leeds for this season has not yet had the effect they wanted. They are 15th with four wins and just a point separating them from the bottom three, albeit while reaching the FA Cup fifth round. But after a month in which the club made successful bids for Wober, McKennie and Georginio Rutter, there is far more of a case to say Jesse Marsch has what he needs to deliver a better position, and that it should be forthcoming in the second half of the term.
By any measure, the balance of the squad at Elland Road is not completely perfect. If Wober plays as a left-sided centre-back then it remains to be seen if Leeds can shore up the troublesome left-back role, although the presence of a confident-looking Wober in the backline might serve to help with that.
Loaning Diego Llorente to Roma means right-sided central defenders are not crawling out of the woodwork either. On deadline day, Leeds looked briefly at Manchester United’s Axel Tuanzebe as additional cover after he was offered to them before deciding to remain as they were. Marsch, though, has stronger resources than Bielsa did latterly, even if selling Raphinha and Phillips stripped two of the club’s best players from the dressing room. Marsch has stronger resources than he himself had in the 12 matches he took charge of towards the end of last season. One look at Leeds’ personnel on May 22 shows how much change has occurred:
With McKennie signed on loan from Juventus and his proposed £30million transfer lined up to fall in the next window, Leeds’ net spend for this season stands at between £30million to £40million — £90million or so raised from exits, £130million or so spent on new arrivals. Recruitment at Elland Road has been maligned at points of Radrizzani’s reign as majority shareholder but the way in which that cash has been used to reshape the team looks like good and logical business.
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While Raphinha and Phillips were used to fund last summer, Leeds avoided losing Jack Harrison yesterday despite concerted interest from Leicester City running right to the last hour of the deadline. More contract talks with Harrison are expected soon. Llorente’s form has been such that negotiating a loan and an option with Roma, potentially recouping money paid for him in 2020, feels like a savvy move; a proposal worth taking. One thing that cannot be said about Llorente is that he looked like the solution to the problematic rate at which Marsch’s side have been conceding goals.
McKennie is probably the best indication of how proactive Leeds were in January. A central midfielder was not essential but it made sense to find one — and to find one who offered a high chance of improving Marsch’s starting line-up quickly. Marsch has not been able to call on Adam Forshaw any more than Bielsa was and there is risk in a scenario where Sam Greenwood is routinely the first midfield change from the bench. It is no secret or surprise that many of the signings made by Leeds, McKennie included, have been identified and scouted with Marsch’s tactics in mind. Leeds have made a concerted attempt to find names who should fit. But however suited they are to Marsch’s footballers, many of them are still fundamentally good footballers. And it could not be claimed on this occasion that Leeds sat on their hands when January came:
The board at Leeds have supported Marsch through difficult periods, unmoved by dissent towards him, but this is where they will look for the surge of momentum he has been promising to manifest itself in better results. He can vary his formation readily now, with Adams, Roca and McKennie offering a strong midfield in a 4-3-3, Rutter and a returning Patrick Bamford providing more scope for two up front, and enough attacking depth to field two completely different groups of four in a 4-2-3-1. Leeds appear to have struck a better balance in finding signings who possess promise and future resale value but also the capacity to impact on the season now. Part of the reason why a change of ownership is in the pipeline at Elland Road is because Premier League clubs need continuous clout in the market — the ability to provide repeat investment at a level which keeps a team turning over.
This almost feels like the second stage of Premier League life for Leeds which is why, once again, survival is critical. They are further away from the promotion team than they have ever been. They are in the middle of boardroom transition. They are experiencing brushes with relegation, like many promoted sides do, and they are trying to bridge the gap to competent, mid-table existence. They have work to do to stay up and here and now, that work falls predominantly to Marsch. But they are stronger than they were and as the January window recedes once more, not many clubs will feel happier about the way they used it.
Why The Athletic is jumping on the Wrexham bandwagon – first stop, the Turf Hotel
By Richard Sutcliffe Feb 1, 2023 55
So there I was, probably like countless footballers up and down the land, minding my own business as the clock ticked down towards the end of the transfer window when the gaffer asked for a quiet word.
“We’re sending you to Wrexham for the month,” he said. “This is a big opportunity. They’re a club going places, as you saw for yourself on Sunday. Get some games under your belt on loan and who knows where it might lead.”
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Okay, I made that last bit up. My days of playing football ended years ago via a ruptured Achilles. Plus, I’ve known Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson long enough for him to take great delight in greeting me and a colleague from another newspaper as “the gruesome twosome” before his weekly press briefing at Bradford City. So he can rest assured the boots will not be following me to north Wales.But my laptop certainly will be making the trip as I set about the task of covering a hectic month that could go a long way towards deciding whether Wrexham will soon get that long-awaited EFL return to go with its newfound city status.Starting with Saturday’s National League trip to Altrincham, The Athletic will be joining Parkinson’s side every step of the way as they negotiate eight tasty fixtures in February, including an FA Cup fourth-round replay at Sheffield United that now has Tottenham Hotspur as the prize.I’ll also be keeping an eye on goal machine Paul Mullin as he goes toe-to-toe with Erling Haaland in the race to be the country’s top goalscorer.
All the latest Wrexham news, features, scores and results
Exciting times at a club reborn since the February 2021 takeover by Hollywood duo Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, as I discovered for myself last weekend. The atmosphere as the home side came from a goal down to lead 3-2 until the final seconds against Championship high-flyers United was electric, probably the best I’ve experienced all season.That was not just in terms of noise but also the passion from both sets of supporters that never once strayed towards the antagonism that can too often sour these big occasions, particularly when the kick-off is late enough to offer the opportunity for a few hours in the pub beforehand.The only regret was that the new Kop stand is yet to be built. Imagine how loud things would have been at a four-sided ground?
Wrexham fans – and the club’s owners – enjoyed a classic FA Cup tie against Sheffield United at the weekend (Photo: Michael Steele/Getty Images)
With five home games in February — including huge fixtures against Woking and Chesterfield, two clubs hoping to capitalise if Parkinson’s side and Notts County slip up — this interloper from West Yorkshire is hoping for more of the same, including plenty more airings of the ‘Always Sunny in Wrexham’ tribute to Deadpool star Reynolds and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia co-creator McElhenney by local band Declan Swans.
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It is so catchy that two members of the Sheffield United press corp were still singing ‘Bring on the Deadpool… and Rob McElhеnney’ when getting into their cars at 8.30pm on Sunday.I can’t claim to be a lifelong Wrexham fan, as you’ve probably guessed. Before Sunday, my last visit to the Racecourse had been on Boxing Day 1986, for a 2-2 draw with Burnley.But the place did leave a lasting impression, not least how from my vantage point on the back row of what is now called the University End there seemed to be a pub to our right that was actually part of the ground, complete with balcony overlooking the pitch.
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It fascinated me. Why did it have an uninterrupted view of the pitch? Did the drinkers watch for free? And would this Burnley team, comfortably the worst in the club’s history that season, look any better through the bottom of a dandelion and burdock glass? (I was 13 at the time!)On checking just now with The Football Grounds of England & Wales — a truly seminal book by Simon Inglis that sufficiently engendered a love of football grounds in a young Sutcliffe that last October I finally achieved the lifelong ambition of joining the Ninety Two Club — this is the very same Turf Hotel that viewers of the Welcome to Wrexham documentary now see as the heartbeat of the area’s football support.The Turf will be one of my first stop-offs for a pint. Then it’s down to work. And it’s here that I’d love your help, Wrexham supporters.What would you like to read about your club? Whose story — be that a lifelong fan who lives just down the Mold Road or a new devotee from overseas who fell in love with the club via the documentary — should we tell? Is there a player you really want to hear from?We spoke to Phil Parkinson at length before the Sheffield United Cup tie but is there anyone else on the coaching staff whose story you’d like told? All suggestions are welcome in the comments below.For now, though, I’m doing what all loanees sent out on deadline day have to do — I’m getting to know my new surroundings. It promises to be a lot of fun.
Da bod yma,
Sooty.
PS Don’t worry Blades fans, I won’t be neglecting the ‘day’ job. I’ll still be keeping across all things Sheffield United, especially with my gaffer insisting any loan deal didn’t include a clause precluding me from facing the club I’ve covered since The Athletic started life in the UK, way back in August 2019. So, see you all at the Lane next Tuesday.
You can follow Richard on Twitter here.
Explained: Premier League yellow card suspension rules and the players at risk
By Ed Mackey and Nnamdi Onyeagwara
Twelve teams reached the halfway point of the Premier League season over the weekend, while Fulham became the first to reach 20 games.
For players at those 13 clubs, the disciplinary slate has been wiped clean for now.
But there are still seven teams yet to have played 19 matches this term, leaving a handful of players treading a tightrope ahead of their fixtures over the next few days — including some hoping to be involved in Arsenal’s clash with Manchester United on Sunday.
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Here, The Athletic explains the rules around suspension in the Premier League and looks at the players who could still be punished for their ill-discipline.
How many yellow cards lead to a ban in the Premier League?
Premier League players are allowed some leeway regarding yellow cards, but repeat offenders run the risk of suspension.
Any player who is shown five yellow cards inside the first 19 league games of the season will serve a one-match ban in the league. It is key to point out that yellow cards no longer carry across into either of the domestic competitions, although red cards still do.
Reaching the 19-game mark offers relative respite, but cautions from the first half of the season are not totally cleared.
Those who accumulate 10 Premier League yellow cards prior to, and including, the 32nd game of the season must serve a further two-game suspension.
Which players are running the risk of suspension?
The seven teams who will play their 19th game of the season this week are: Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Brighton, Liverpool, Crystal Palace and Leeds.
The fixtures worth keeping an eye on are:
- Crystal Palace vs Manchester United
- Manchester City vs Tottenham
- Liverpool vs Chelsea
- Leicester City vs Brighton & Hove Albion
- Leeds United vs Brentford
- Arsenal vs Manchester United
Manchester United’s Brazilian midfielders will have to keep themselves in check at Selhurst Park on Wednesday. Both Casemiro and Fred have been shown four bookings this season so another caution in midweek would mean that they are suspended for the trip to Arsenal on Sunday.
Jeffrey Schlupp and Joel Ward will also have to watch out on Wednesday as the Palace pair are also treading the tightrope.
Manchester City’s 19th game sees them host Tottenham on Thursday evening but with Erling Haaland and Joao Cancelo leading the way on only three bookings, there are no suspension worries for Pep Guardiola.
The same can be said of the Liverpool players in action at Stamford Bridge in Saturday’s early kick-off, with Trent Alexander-Arnold’s three bookings keeping him in the clear.
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Alexis Mac Allister will have to be mindful during Brighton’s visit to the King Power Stadium at the weekend. The World Cup winner goes into that match with four yellow cards to his name – another one would see him suspended for the subsequent visit of Bournemouth.
Jesse Marsch, whose team became the first in Premier League history to be shown 100 yellow cards in a season last term, will have to remind a few of his players to maintain their discipline. Robin Koch, Rasmus Kristensen and Marc Roca are all another caution away from suspension heading into the visit of Brentford.
Last, but certainly not least: Mikel Arteta’s title-chasing Arsenal.
Bukayo Saka is in danger of picking up a one-match ban (Photo: Steve Bardens/Getty Images)
Gabriel Jesus picked up his four yellow cards in quick time but his injury will mean he avoids any possibility of a ban. However, Gabriel, Bukayo Saka and William Saliba will all have to be on their best behaviour against Manchester United.
A booking for any of those three would see them miss the trip to Everton on Saturday, February 4.
Players at risk of suspension this week
- Manchester United — Casemiro & Fred
- Crystal Palace — Jeffrey Schlupp & Joel Ward
- Manchester City — none
- Liverpool — none
- Brighton — Alexis Mac Allister
- Leeds — Robin Koch, Rasmus Kristensen, Marc Roca
- Arsenal — Gabriel, Bukayo Saka, William Saliba
Which players have picked up the most bookings in the Premier League this season?
Several players have already been forced to serve suspensions for their repeat offences, which leaves them at risk of further bans.
The all-important 32nd set of fixtures is currently set to be played on the weekend of April 22. Once that match round is complete, there are no more suspension risks associated with picking up individual yellow cards.
Here is the list of players that have picked up the most bookings this season.
7 — Ruben Neves.
6 — Joelinton, Bobby De Cordova-Reid, Cheick Doucoure, Anthony Gordon, Marc Guehi, Joao Palhinha, Kenny Tete, Ivan Toney.
5 — Rodrigo Bentancur, Yves Bissouma, Bruno Fernandes, Moises Caicedo, Diogo Dalot, Andreas Pereira, James Maddison, Scott McTominay, Chris Mepham, Aleksandar Mitrovic, Amadou Onana, Harrison Reed, Antonee Robinson, Adam Smith.
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Other than Andreas Pereira, who was shown his fifth yellow card after Fulham had already played 19 games, each of the above players have had to serve one-game suspensions this season.
Ruben Neves being shown a yellow card — a familiar Premier League sight (Photo: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
Which teams have accumulated the most cards in the Premier League this season?
Fulham have been the worst offenders regarding discipline this season.
Marco Silva’s players have been shown 49 yellow cards and one red card, a record that looks set to challenge the mark set by Leeds last season (101 yellows and three reds).
At the other end of the spectrum, Manchester City have picked up the least bookings. Their tally of 17 yellows is one fewer than Liverpool — both teams have been shown one red card each.
Here is how the Premier League disciplinary table looks, in order of most yellows:
- Fulham — 49 yellow cards, one red card
- Manchester United — 46 yellow cards, no red cards
- Aston Villa — 43 yellow cards, one red card
- Nottingham Forest — 42 yellow cards, no red cards
- Crystal Palace — 41 yellow cards, two red cards
- Everton — 41 yellow cards, no red cards
- Chelsea — 39 yellow cards, three red cards
- Wolves — 39 yellow cards, three red cards
- Leeds — 38 yellow cards, two red cards
- Tottenham — 37 yellow cards, one red card
- Newcastle — 34 yellow cards, no red cards
- Bournemouth — 32 yellow cards, no red cards
- Arsenal — 32 yellow cards, no red cards
- Southampton — 31 yellow cards, no red cards
- Brentford — 26 yellow cards, no red cards
- Brighton — 26 yellow cards, no red cards
- West Ham — 25 yellow cards, no red cards
- Leicester — 24 yellow cards, no red cards
- Liverpool — 18 yellow cards, one red card
- Manchester City — 17 yellow cards, one red card
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