Keep an eye on the Champions League where Tillman, Ricardo Pepi and Sergino Dest could all figure for high-flying PSV against Lens (Tuesday 2pm EST, Paramount+). That day, then on Wednesday, Reyna will hope to feature for Dortmund in the same competition against Newcastle United (2pm EST, Paramount+), and Pulisic and Yunus Musah will also be in Champions League action away to Paris Saint-Germain in Paris (also 2pm EST, Paramount+).
GAMES ON TV
Tues, Oct 24 — Champs League
12:46 pm Para+, TUDN Galatasary vs Bayern Munich
12:45 pm Para+ Inter Milan vs Salzburg
3 pm CBSSN Union Berlin vs Napoli
3 pm para+ PVS (Dest, Tilman) vs Lens
3 pm Para+, Gala Man United vs Kebenhavn
3 pm para+ Sevilla vs Arsenal
3 pm para+ Sporting Braga vs Real Madrid
Weds, Oct 25 — Champs League
12:46 pm Para+, TUDN Barcelona vs Shakhtar Donetsk
3 pm CBSSN Celtic (Carter Vickers) vs Atletico Madrid
3 pm Para+, Gala PSG vs AC Milan (Pulisic, Musah)
3 pm para+ New Castle vs Dortmund (Reyna)
3 pm para+ Young Boys vs Man City
7:30 pm Apple TV NY Red Bulls vs Charlotte FC Playoffs
9:30 pm Apple TV Sporting KC vs San Jose Earthquakes Playoffs
9 pm FS2 Monterrey vs Tijuana
11 pm FS1 Juerez vs Atletico San Luis
Thurs, Oct 26 — Europa League
12:45 pm Para+ Olympiakos vs West Ham
3 pm Liverpool vs Maccabi Haifa
3 pm para+ Panathinaikos vs Rennes (Balogen)
3 pm Para+ Brighton vs Ajax
9 pm TBS, Peacock USA Women vs Colombia
Fri, Oct 27 –
3:30 pm USA Crystal Palace vs Tottenham
Sat, Oct 28
7:30am USA Chelsea vs Brentfort
9:30 am ESPN+ Werder Bremen vs Union Berlin
9:30 am ESPN+ MGladbach (Scally) vs Heidenheim
10 am USA Arsenal vs Sheffield
10:15 am ESPN+ Barcelona vs Real Madrid- El Classico
5 pm FS1/Apple TV NE Revs vs Philly Union Playoffs
8 pm FS1/Apple TV LAFC vs Vancouver
Sun, Oct 29
9 am USA West Ham vs Everton
10 am Peacock Aston Villa vs Luton
10 am USA ? Brighton vs Fulham (Ream, Robinson)
10 am 😕 Liverpool vs Nottingham Forest (Matt Turner)
1030 am ESPN2 Dortmund (Reyna) vs Franfurt
11:30 am USA?? Man United vs Man City
1 pm Para+ Inter vs Roma
3:45 pm Para+ AC Milan (Pulisic, Musah) vs Napoli
5:30 pm TNT Tele USA Women vs Colombia
6 pm Apple TV Houston dynamo vs Real Salt Lake
8 pm FS1/Apple TV Cincy vs (eastern Wildcard)
Mon, Oct 30
7 pm FS1/Apple TV Nashville vs Orlando City Playoffs
9 pm FS1/Apple TV Seattle Suonders vs FC Dallas
Wed, Nov 1
7:30 pm FS1/Apple TV Columbus vs Atlanta United
MLS playoffs 2023: Schedule, TV channel and streaming
The 2023 MLS playoffs are here, with 18 teams vying to lift MLS Cup on December 9.MLS has introduced a new playoff format this year, with five separate stages taking place: the wild-card round, a best-of-three round one, conference semifinals, conference finals, and finally MLS Cup.Two teams in each conference will kick off the playoffs in the wild-card round, with both of those matches set to go straight to a penalty kick tiebreaker if the teams are level after 90 minutes.After the wild-card round, eight teams in each each conference will partake in round one, which will see a best-of-three series with the higher seed hosting games one and (if necessary) three.Like the wild-card round, games in round one will go straight to penalties if tied after 90 minutes.From there, the conference semifinals, conference finals, and MLS Cup will be one-off matches that do include the possibility of extra time if the teams are tied after 90 minutes.Below is a schedule of all the games for the 2023 MLS postseason. In all instances, the home team is listed first.
Game one: FC Cincinnati vs. East Wild Card winner — TQL Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio. 8 p.m. ET, Apple TV/FS1/FOX Deportes
Saturday, Nov. 4
Game two: East Wild Card winner vs. FC Cincinnati. 7 p.m. ET, Apple TV
Saturday, Nov. 11
Game three (if necessary): FC Cincinnati vs. East Wild Card winner — TQL Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio. 2 p.m. ET, Apple TV
Orlando City (2) vs. Nashville SC (7)
Monday, Oct. 30
Game one: Orlando City vs. Nashville SC — Exploria Stadium, Orlando, Fla. 7 p.m. ET, Exploria Stadium, Apple TV/FS1/ FOX Deportes
Tuesday, Nov. 7
Game two: Nashville SC vs. Orlando City — Geodis Park, Nashville, Tenn. 9 p.m. ET, Apple TV
Sunday, Nov. 12
Game three (if necessary): Orlando City vs. Nashville SC — Exploria Stadium, Orlando, Fla. 5 p.m. ET, Apple TV
Columbus Crew (3) vs. Atlanta United (6)
Wednesday, Nov. 1
Game one: Columbus Crew vs. Atlanta United — Lower.com Field, Columbus, Ohio. 7:30 p.m. ET, Apple TV/FS1/ FS2 (Spanish)
Tuesday, Nov. 7
Game two: Atlanta United vs. Columbus Crew — Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, Ga. 7 p.m. ET, Apple TV
Sunday, Nov. 12
Game three (if necessary): Columbus Crew vs. Atlanta United — Lower.com Field, Columbus, Ohio. 7 p.m. ET, Apple TV
Philadelphia Union (4) vs. New England Revolution (5)
Saturday, Oct. 28
Game one: Philadelphia Union vs. New England Revolution — Subaru Park, Chester, Pa. 5 p.m. ET, Apple TV
Wednesday, Nov. 8
Game two: New England Revolution vs. Philadelphia Union — Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass. 7 p.m. ET, Apple TV/FS1/ FOX Deportes
Sunday, Nov. 12
Game three (if necessary): Philadelphia Union vs. New England Revolution — Subaru Park, Chester, Pa. 3 p.m. ET, Apple TV
Western Conference
St. Louis City (1) vs. West Wild Card winner
Sunday, Oct. 29
Game one: St. Louis City vs. West Wild Card winner — CityPark, St. Louis, Mo. 10 p.m. ET, Apple TV/FS1/ FOX Deportes
Sunday, Nov. 5
Game two: West Wild Card winner vs. St. Louis City. 5 p.m. ET, Apple TV
Saturday, Nov. 11
Game three (if necessary): St. Louis City SC vs. West Wild Card winner — CityPark, St. Louis, Mo. 6 p.m. ET, Apple TV
Seattle Sounders (2) vs. FC Dallas (7)
Monday, Oct. 30
Game one: Seattle Sounders vs. FC Dallas — Lumen Field, Seattle, Wash. 9 p.m. ET, Apple TV/FS1/ FS2 (Spanish)
Saturday, Nov. 4
Game two: FC Dallas vs. Seattle Sounders — Toyota Stadium, Frisco, Texas. 9 p.m. ET, Apple TV
Friday, Nov. 10
Game three (if necessary): Seattle Sounders vs. FC Dallas — Lumen Field, Seattle, Wash. 10 p.m. ET, Apple TV
Los Angeles FC (3) vs. Vancouver Whitecaps (6)
Saturday, Oct. 28
Game one: LAFC vs. Vancouver Whitecaps — BMO Stadium, Los Angeles, Calif. 8 p.m. ET, Apple TV
Sunday, Nov. 5
Game two: Vancouver Whitecaps vs. LAFC — BC Place, Vancouver, B.C. 7:30 p.m. ET, Apple TV/FS1/ FS2 (Spanish)
Thursday, Nov. 9
Game three (if necessary): LAFC vs. Vancouver Whitecaps — BMO Stadium, Los Angeles, Calif. 10 p.m. ET, Apple TV
Houston Dynamo (4) vs. Real Salt Lake (5)
Sunday, Oct. 29
Game one: Houston Dynamo vs. Real Salt Lake — Shell Energy Stadium, Houston, Texas. 6 p.m. ET, Apple TV
Monday, Nov. 6
Game two: Real Salt Lake vs. Houston Dynamo — America First Field, Sandy, Utah. 9 p.m. ET, Apple TV
Saturday, Nov. 11
Game three (if necessary): Houston Dynamo vs. Real Salt Lake — Shell Energy Stadium, Houston, Texas. 4 p.m. ET, Apple TV
Conference semifinals (Nov. 25-26)
Eastern Conference
Matchups and schedule TBD.
Western Conference
Matchups and schedule TBD.
Conference finals (Dec. 2-3)
Eastern Conference
Matchups and schedule TBD.
Western Conference
Matchups and schedule TBD.
MLS Cup
Saturday, Dec. 9, 4 p.m. ET
Eastern Conference winner vs. Western Conference winner.
NWSL playoffs 2023: Schedule, TV and streaming
The NWSL playoffs have arrived, as six teams aim to lift the league title on November 11 at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego.After winning the NWSL Shield, the San Diego Wave will be one of the favorites to lift the title and become just the second team to do so at its home stadium.Last season’s champion, the Portland Thorns, stumbled on the final day of the season to lose the Shield, but still finished second and clinched a bye to the semifinal round. The Thorns will be aiming to become the third NWSL team to repeat as champions.Only two clubs in the playoffs, the Thorns and the North Carolina Courage, have won the NWSL title before, with four teams vying for their first title.Two of those teams, OL Reign and NJ/NY Gotham FC, will be looking to send two legends of the game (Megan Rapinoe and Ali Krieger, respectively) into retirement with a championship.Below is a schedule of all the games for the 2023 NWSL postseason. Outside of the United States, every game will be available to stream on Watch.NWSLSoccer.com.
There is only one place to start with our weekly look at the fortunes of the U.S. men’s national team players — San Siro and a top-of-the-table meeting between AC Milan and Juventus.But American attention wasn’t just on Serie A. Germany, the Netherlands and Scotland also saw members of Gregg Berhalter’s squad in action on a busy weekend.With next year’s home Copa America and the 2026 World Cup in mind, we’re keeping tabs on how they perform each week on our player tracker.
Issue of the weekend
Sunday night’s game between Milan and Juventus at San Siro was always going to be a big one as the hosts hoped to go top in Serie A and their rivals looked to claw back ground just behind them.Milan vs Juventus is a game that transfixes Italy but the presence of four USMNT players going gave it a unique twist — and served further proof that the influence of American players in some of Europe’s big leagues is only growing.Milan opted to start with USMNT captain Christian Pulisic and midfielder Yunus Musah in their engine room, while Juventus had Timothy Weah and Weston McKennie in midfield.
Juve’s 1-0 win ensured Weah and McKennie were the ones left smiling but for Pulisic, it was a doubly frustrating evening. He was sacrificed before half time by coach Stefano Pioli after team-mate Malick Thiaw was sent off for a foul that denied Moise Kean a clear goalscoring opportunity.“I removed an attacker to maintain the same defensive structure that we had prepared during the week,” Pioli told DAZN afterwards. “I decided to make Rafael Leao and Olivier Giroud work against the three Juve defenders and maintain the defensive setup we had, as there were some good reference points against them.“We believed that the contribution of the midfielders like Musah and Tijjani Reijnders, or Giroud holding up the ball for Leao, could allow us to continue being dangerous in attack.”
Yunus Musah takes on Adrien Rabiot (Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
Pulisic looked understandably unhappy at making way, although he kept whatever frustration he was feeling bottled up afterwards, restricting himself to saying the result was a “tough one” on his Instagram feed.As for the Americans of Juve, there were more positives to reflect on. Weah put in an eye-catching and influential shift (none of his team-mates eclipsed his six ball recoveries) and he created the game’s crucial moment: his 63rd-minute pass supplied Manuel Locatelli, whose deflected shot sealed victory. McKennie also had the highest passing accuracy (90 per cent) of any of his midfield colleagues.The former Leeds United midfielder completed the full game, too, which will have pleased his father John, who vented his frustration on Twitter a few weeks ago when McKennie was subbed off during a game and replaced by Weah. Great night at the office for all in white and black then? Well, almost. Juve manager Massimiliano Allegri got so wound up towards the end of the tense match that, incensed his players were not keeping the ball better, he tore off his jacket and tie in frustration and was even yellow-carded for rushing out of his technical area to shout orders. A big three points presumably added more than enough consolation after he cooled down.
Allegri loses his cool (Marco Bertorello/AFP via Getty Images)
Player of the weekend
Giovanni Reyna’s two goals lit up the USMNT’s impressive win over Ghana during the international break, with the 20-year-old stepping up his return to the fold under Berhalter following their high-profile falling-out and subsequent reconciliation. The challenge for the midfielder now is to prove he can be consistently available and influential for his club, Borussia Dortmund, too. A lot will depend on whether the pattern of injuries that have dogged Reyna’s young career can abate, but there were encouraging signs on Friday. He did not make the starting line-up but there was much to admire about his half-hour cameo after replacing Marius Wolf.
Reyna, left, continued his good form (Lars Baron/Getty Images)
He created two chances, completed 96 per cent of his passes, drew four fouls and was involved in the game’s only goal that secured Dortmund’s win, linking up with Emre Can who then played in Julian Brandt for the German to calmly convert.
Graphic of the weekend
Saturday saw Auston Trusty make his second career Premier League start for Sheffield United after previously going the distance on October 7 against Fulham. Both matches ended in defeat, as most have for Sheffield United at this stage of the season. However, the former Philadelphia Union homegrown is continuing his emergence since leaving MLS last summer.
After making his first start on his strong-footed left side of the back line, against United, he was shifted across to right center back in a 4-4-2. The unfamiliar vantage point may have played a part in Scott McTominay’s opener, as Trusty was caught in two minds between helping mark Rasmus Hojlund and converging to close the Scottish midfielder’s shooting angle. Dalot’s match-winner left Trusty with his head hung and his hands planted on his knees in frustration. Still, he finished the day second among Sheffield United players for ‘true’ tackles (five) and was only dribbled past once out of five attempts.Sheffield United are going through an injury crisis, with Trusty being just one of two senior center backs who aren’t actively stricken by an injury. The latest, Anel Ahmedhodzic, damaged a hamstring before the United match. As the team struggles to build momentum to stave off an extended relegation battle, Trusty should have ample opportunity to feature and, if he avoids the injury bug that’s feasting in the Bramall Lane dressing room, could improve his case for USMNT involvement.
Jeff Reuter
Quote of the weekend
With four of his players involved in Milan on Sunday, Berhalter was an interested spectator and spoke beforehand about the quartet’s time in Italy.Naturally, the questioning started about Pulisic and whether he was enjoying life at the San Siro but Berhalter wanted to sing the praises of all four.“Very much so,” he said when asked about Pulisic. “But Musah and McKennie also told me that they’re happy in Italy. Christian is unquestionable in terms of talent, as well as his character and tctical ability. At Milan and with Pioli, he has found the confidence to get to the top.“He defends, attacks, dribbles. He is a top player and I’m sure he will become even more complete in Italy. Tim Weah is everybody’s friend. McKennie is the funniest. And then there’s Musah, the bright light, everyone feels his warmth.“Musah is a very strong character and he never leaves you alone. He is a complete, dynamic and versatile midfielder. Weston will make the most of his opportunity, he seems very determined. He can help the team in lots of different ways.”
How did other U.S. players get on?
Name: Malik Tillman Club: PSV Eindhoven Position: Midfield League appearances: Five
He’s already been dropped from the squad for arriving late for a pre-game team meeting this season. Now in his most recent outing for PSV, Tillman cost his side a goal by conceding a daft penalty. Fortunately for the attacking midfielder, his team still won 3-1 to maintain their unbeaten start to the Eredivisie campaign. Tillman had an otherwise quiet game but has the chance to atone this week when PSV face Lens in the Champions League.
Name: Cameron Carter-Vickers Club: Celtic Position: Defence League appearances: Four
Celtic remained comfortably top of the Scottish Premier League after their win over Hearts on Sunday and Cameron Carter-Vickers played a big part in it. His 13 successful duels, the highest of any other player in the game, caught the eye as the 25-year-old nears his best after a hamstring injury caused him to miss five games earlier in the season.
Name: John Brooks Club: Hoffenheim Position: Defence League appearances: Eight
Brooks has been in fine form for Hoffenheim this season but had a rare off day during his team’s 3-1 defeat by Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday. Withdrawn at half-time, the 30-year-old had struggled to cope with forward Omar Marmoush and was dribbled past three times, while winning just two of his six duels.
What’s coming up?
Keep an eye on the Champions League where Tillman, Ricardo Pepi and Sergino Dest could all figure for high-flying PSV against Lens (Tuesday 2pm EST, Paramount+). That day, then on Wednesday, Reyna will hope to feature for Dortmund in the same competition against Newcastle United (2pm EST, Paramount+), and Pulisic and Yunus Musah will also be in Champions League action away to Paris Saint-Germain in Paris (also 2pm EST, Paramount+).
Indy 11 tie San Antonio – Playoffs Sunday 4 pm @ Charleston on ESPN+, MyIndyTV 23
Indy Eleven (13-11-10) closed out the regular season with a 3-3 tie at San Antonio FC (14-6-14) on the road Saturday night. With the tie, Indy finishes the season as the No. 6 seed in the USL Championship Eastern Conference. As the No. 6 seed, Indy will go on the road to face No. 3 Charleston in the opening round of the USL Championship playoffs on Sunday, Oct. 22 at 4 p.m. ET and can be seen on ESPN+ and MyIndyTV 23 or listened to on Serius XM FC 157.
US Dominates Ghana 4-0
So the US righted the ship Tuesday vs Ghana with a convincing thrashing of Ghana 4-0 in Nashville (Highlights). Gio Reyna’s coming back party was highlighted with 2 goals ( 1ST | 2ND) and an assist as he garnered Man of the Match in just one half of play. Much like his play against Germany – Reyna was world class in the 10 spot feeding the forward, wingers and scoring on his own. A healthy Gio Reyna could well be the difference maker in our attack moving forward. US vs Germany (High-lights). I thought Miles Robinson looked great in the middle with Chris Richards – would have been interesting to see Robinson with Reem at some point. Sergio Dest was electric in his move from left to his natural right back spot and his combo play with Tim Weah and Reyna was electric. Balogun showed his prowess with a wonder goal and Pulisic was dangerous as always.
England certainly looked good vs Italy in their 3-1 win (high-lights) – as England clinches their spot in the Euro’s next summer while Italy has to win its next 2 to qualify.
US Ladies play Colombia Thur & Sunday
The US ladies are back in camp as they face Colombia Thursday at 9 pm on TBS as they have called a number of new younger players into camp and welcome back captain Becky Suerbrunn who missed the World Cup with injury. I will be interested to see if newcomers Olivia Moultrie, Sam Coffey, Mia Fishel and Jaedyn Shaw get any time in these friendlies.
Full USWNT roster vs. Colombia Oct 26 & Oct 29
Goalkeepers (3): Aubrey Kingsbury (Washington Spirit), Casey Murphy (North Carolina Courage), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars)
Defenders (9): Alana Cook (OL Reign), Crystal Dunn (Portland Thorns FC), Emily Fox (North Carolina Courage), Naomi Girma (San Diego Wave FC), Sofia Huerta (OL Reign), Casey Krueger (Chicago Red Stars), Becky Sauerbrunn (Portland Thorns FC), Emily Sonnett (OL Reign), M.A. Vignola (Angel City FC)
Forwards (9): Mia Fishel (Chelsea FC, ENG), Ashley Hatch (Washington Spirit), Alex Morgan (San Diego Wave FC), Midge Purce (NJ/NY Gotham FC), Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit), Jaedyn Shaw (San Diego Wave FC), Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns FC), Alyssa Thompson (Angel City FC), Lynn Williams (NJ/NY Gotham FC)
NWSL Playoffs Start Tonight 10 pm Rapinoe last game? & Sun
Megan Rapinoe will get one more home game in her legendary career, and it could also be her last game. Rapinoe and OL Reign will host Angel City FC on Friday night (tonight) in the first game of the 2023 NWSL playoffs. at 10 pm on Paramount Plus. Sunday The NWSL playoffs have arrived, as six teams aim to lift the league title on November 11 at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego.After winning the NWSL Shield, the San Diego Wave will be one of the favorites to lift the title and become just the second team to do so at its home stadium. Only two clubs in the playoffs, the Thorns and the North Carolina Courage, have won the NWSL title before, with four teams vying for their first title.Two of those teams, OL Reign and NJ/NY Gotham FC, will be looking to send two legends of the game (Megan Rapinoe and Ali Krieger, respectively) into retirement with a championship.
Games to Watchthis Week
AC Milan vs Juventus on Paramount Plus leads the hot games for the week for American fans who hope to see Milan’s leading scorer Christian Pulisic & fellow American midfielder Yanus Musah travel to Juventus and American’s Wes McKinney and Tim Weah Sunday at 2:45 pm. Saturday Chelsea hosts Arsenal at 12:30 pm on NBC as the league leading Gunners will travel to disappointing Chelsea. MLS host decision day on Sat @ 6 & 9 pm on Apple TV MLS Season pass as the final teams vie for playoff spots. Champions League returns Tues/Wed with the biggest game being AC Milan traveling to PSG with both teams desperate for the points on Wed at 2:45 pm Paramount plus. El Classico – Barcelona vs Real Madrid – rarely disappoints – and this year expect nothing different check out these threads Barca plans to wear the Rolling Stone hot lips version. The game will be on ESPN+ next Sunday at 3 pm.
Tough Day at Murray as Both Carmel Teams Lose Regionals to Cathedral
The Top Ranked Carmel High boys lost a close one to Cathedral 2-1 for a 2nd straight year in the Regional Finals. Carmel finished the season at 17-2-2 with its playoff journey taking it through the daunting road of Westfield, Zionsville, North Central, Pike and Cathedral. Also a tough end to the season for the two-time State Finalist Carmel High Girls lost to Cathedral 2-1 at home Saturday in the Regional Finals. Cathedral turned the tide from last year with a PK and a questionable goal In the first half and held on to win despite a Red Card controversy in the 2nd half. Still a great season for Carmel and their seniors.
GAMES ON TV
Fri, Oct 20
2:30 pm ESPN+ Dortmund (Reyna) vs Werder Bremen
10 pm Paramount+ OL (Seattle) Reign (Rapinoe, Lavelle, Cook) vs LAFC (LeRoux, Thompson)
Sat, Oct 21
7:30am USA Liverpool vs Everton
9:30 am ESPN+ Hoffenheim vs Frankfort
9:30 am ESPN+ Union Berlin vs Stuttgart
10 am USA Man City vs Brighton
10 am Peacock Nottingham Forest (Turner) vs Luton Town
10 am Peacock Newcastle vs Crystal Palace
12 noon CBSSN Torino vs Inter
12:30 pm NBC Chelsea vs Arsenal
12:30 pm ESPN+ Mainz vs Bayern Munich
12:30 pm ESPN+ Sevilla vs Real Madrid
6 pm Apple TV MLS Final Day Decision Day
9 pm Apple TV Austin vs LA Galaxy
9 pm Univision America vs Santos Laguna
11 pm Univsision Tigres vs Cruz Azul
Sun, Oct 22
7:30am USA Liverpool vs Everton
9:30 am ESPN+ Koln vs MGladbach (Scally, Pefok)
11:30 am Aston Villa vs West Ham United
12 noon CBS SN Atalanta vs Genoa
2:45 pm Paramount+ AC Milan (Pulisic, Musah) vs Juventus (McKinney, Weah)
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The NWSL playoffs have arrived, as six teams aim to lift the league title on November 11 at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego. After winning the NWSL Shield, the San Diego Wave will be one of the favorites to lift the title and become just the second team to do so at its home stadium. Last season’s champion, the Portland Thorns, stumbled on the final day of the season to lose the Shield, but still finished second and clinched a bye to the semifinal round. The Thorns will be aiming to become the third NWSL team to repeat as champions. Only two clubs in the playoffs, the Thorns and the North Carolina Courage, have won the NWSL title before, with four teams vying for their first title. Two of those teams, OL Reign and NJ/NY Gotham FC, will be looking to send two legends of the game (Megan Rapinoe and Ali Krieger, respectively) into retirement with a championship. Below is a schedule of all the games for the 2023 NWSL postseason.
Quarterfinals
Friday, Oct. 20
OL Reign vs. Angel City — Lumen Field, Seattle, Washington. 10 p.m. ET, Paramount+
Sunday, Oct. 22
North Carolina Courage vs. NJ/NY Gotham FC — WakeMed Soccer Park, Cary, North Carolina. 7 p.m. ET, CBS Sports Network.
Semifinals
Sunday, Nov. 5
Portland Thorns vs. North Carolina Courage or NJ/NY Gotham FC — Providence Park, Portland, Oregon. 7 p.m. ET, CBS Sports Network
San Diego Wave vs. OL Reign or Angel City — Snapdragon Stadium, San Diego, California. 9:30 p.m. ET, CBS Sports Network.
USWNT’s Becky Sauerbrunn, Sophia Smith return to roster ahead of friendlies vs. Colombia Thur/Sun next week
United States women’s national team interim coach Twila Kilgore has called up 27 players for the October training camp.Kilgore kept things largely the same as last month’s roster, with 24 returning players from the September session. The U.S. will face Colombia in a pair of friendlies later this month in Utah on Oct. 26 and San Diego on Oct. 29. Center back Becky Sauerbrunn makes her return, having missed the 2023 World Cup with a foot injury. While she did not make the September roster, she attended training in Chicago ahead of Megan Rapinoe’s final USWNT match. Portland Thorns forward Sophia Smith also makes her return to the roster following a knee injury that kept her out of the tail end of the NWSL season — she still secured the league’s Golden Boot thanks to her 11 goals. Keeping with the Thorns theme around the roster, Kilgore has called up 18-year-old midfielder Olivia Moultrie for the first time. Moultrie will have an opportunity to earn her first senior national team appearance this month, along with San Diego Wave’s Jaedyn Shaw, who earned her second USWNT call-up on this roster.
Full USWNT roster vs. Colombia
Goalkeepers (3): Aubrey Kingsbury (Washington Spirit), Casey Murphy (North Carolina Courage), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars)
Defenders (9): Alana Cook (OL Reign), Crystal Dunn (Portland Thorns FC), Emily Fox (North Carolina Courage), Naomi Girma (San Diego Wave FC), Sofia Huerta (OL Reign), Casey Krueger (Chicago Red Stars), Becky Sauerbrunn (Portland Thorns FC), Emily Sonnett (OL Reign), M.A. Vignola (Angel City FC)
Forwards (9): Mia Fishel (Chelsea FC, ENG), Ashley Hatch (Washington Spirit), Alex Morgan (San Diego Wave FC), Midge Purce (NJ/NY Gotham FC), Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit), Jaedyn Shaw (San Diego Wave FC), Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns FC), Alyssa Thompson (Angel City FC), Lynn Williams (NJ/NY Gotham FC)
Is this more limbo for USWNT?
Yes and no — the coaching search is still in progress, led by U.S. Soccer’s sporting director Matt Crocker. And while September’s games felt strange, between the retirements of midfielder Julie Ertz and Rapinoe, who were stalwarts on the roster, October is a chance to leave some of that dissonance behind and have the team move forward as much as they can while still waiting for the exact vision to take shape under the new coach. That wait could be over by the end of the year.“I am really happy with where we are with the search,” Crocker said in September. “We have an unbelievably diverse pool of exciting candidates. We are on track to be in a position to have the head coach in place ready to support the team from early December.”Meanwhile, on the pitch, Colombia has been a familiar opponent for the USWNT over the years, but they can’t be overlooked as an easy win by any means. They’re one of the few other teams who have qualified for the 2024 Olympics, and their 2023 World Cup run was one for the history books. It’s good timing for a real test for the USWNT and for players to start making their case in earnest. Certainly, any prospective coach will be watching the film.A different-looking midfield
It’s not just the now-retired Ertz’s being taken off the roster for October. Rose Lavelle was called up in September before eventually being replaced, as she continues to work back from a lower leg injury. OL Reign coach Laura Harvey addressed Lavelle’s status following the Reign’s Decision Day win that sent them into the playoffs.She said Lavelle was on the bench “if we desperately needed her to be there, and thankfully we didn’t.” Harvey mentioned Lavelle was running on the field after the match in an effort to continue her preparation for the Reign’s quarterfinal match, though her status or ability to play significant minutes remains unknown.That leaves Lindsey Horan leading the group of six midfielders. Her 135 appearances for the USWNT is more than the other five combined (85 total). The October games should provide an interesting look at potential new combos on the field, though it feels a safe enough assumption that the starting three will be Andi Sullivan, Horan and Ashley Sanchez as the like-for-like replacement to Lavelle.
What they’re saying
“If we just look at the team right now, we know change is coming,” Kilgore said Wednesday when asked about the USWNT’s biggest challenge right now. “We know that we’re coming out of a moment at the World Cup that we’re not satisfied with … We know we have an amazing opportunity to play against Colombia and come back together and continue to improve our style of play and execution of the game plan.“To continue (to) progress in the change on toward the Olympics, both individually and collectively with so much change on the horizon, is a task that we’re up for, but it’s definitely a challenge.”Kilgore also said arrivals for this camp will be staggered, with some arriving three days before the first game, but everyone should be in by matchday minus two.“There’s an opportunity to build on previous performances and make some changes, but there’s a lot of small steps that we can take to improve the performances, that are realistic within a short timeframe.”When addressing Lavelle and Tierna Davidson’s injuries, Kilgore said they’re not ready for international minutes yet and she’s being “careful with protecting players.” Davidson is recovering after suffering a hit to the face in a Sept. 30 game with the Chicago Red Stars.
MEN IN BLAZERS ROGER BENNETT
“So much quality when he’s on the field. He definitely brings it to the game. He’s one of my favorite guys to play with. I’m just happy for him. I’m happy he’s back. Hopefully he can go back to (Dortmund) and get more games. I’m just proud of him. This window for him has been amazing.”
—Tim Weah on Gio Reyna, saying what we’re all thinking: that we’re happy he’s back, and that BVB needs to get him on the pitch more
USMNT Fades Against Germany, Smashes Ghana:
The USMNT’s two “friendlies” against Germany and Ghana — a 3-1 loss and a 4-0 win, respectively — weren’t just a tale of two matches, but more a tale of four halves.
We went toe to toe with Germany in the first half of Saturday’s game in Hartford, the first 45 finishing level at 1-1. But then Die Mannschaft adjusted at halftime, us not so much, and we were left drowning in schnitzel in the second stanza. Hence the loss.
Against Ghana, our first half was all free-flowing, creative football, mixed with clinical finishing. We started out with joy and a hard edge, 11 marauding warrior poets on a cool Nashville night. “The guys really came out flying,” said Christian Pulisic afterwards.
But once again, the second half saw a dip in performance. Not to the degree of the Germany match, but still a case of us taking our foot off the gas. A habit even the players would like to rid themselves of.
“Our concentration went down a little bit,” said Sergino Dest. “We were not as sharp as the first half. And I felt like we wanted it, but not as bad as the first half. So I feel like we should improve that and keep going in the second half as well, to smash teams, you know?”
Perhaps it is just a matter of focus and staying sharp. But perhaps there’s another, more obvious reason why the U.S.’s performances dipped in the second half against both Germany and Ghana.
Gio Reyna was on the pitch for neither.
Gio the Big Winner of the Window:
By far the biggest storyline heading into these two matches for the USMNT was the return of Gio Reyna . Working his way back from an injury suffered this summer, the uber-talented 20-year-old attacking midfielder had but 27 minutes of club ball to his name coming into this window. Plus, the whole Greggate thing. So how would Gio respond? Would he fit back in with the team? And how effective would he be as our number 10 in Hartford and Nashville?
To quote the late, great Nashville musician and poet David Berman from his aptly-named song Tennessee, “You’re the only ten I see.” Which is how we were all left feeling after the two halves Gio partook in. You are now the only 10 we see, Gio.
Gio hit the ground running against some familiar faces in Germany, his 45 minutes in Connecticut a collage of saucy dribbles, incisive passes, and solid defending. But then he found another level entirely against Ghana, banging in two goals (WATCH: 1ST | 2ND) and playing with the elite skill and offensive daring that make him such an absolute joy for USMNT fans to watch.
The lad from Bedford, N.Y. ultimately emerged as the one big winner of the entire window. Literally, if you consider that in the two halves he played, the U.S. won 5-1 on aggregate. His play even left the big boss impressed.
“Besides the goals, it was how (Gio) brings players into the attack, how he is able to be calm on the ball, gives us that calm and the poise that we need at times, but then is decisive when making final passes,” said USMNT manager Gregg Berhalter after the Ghana game. “This performance was just an indicator of his entire camp. He had, as I said before, a very strong camp, great mindset, great training sessions.”
Gio was not the only standout performer over both matches, though he was the most standout-iest. But the boys from France and Italy also made their mark.
Balo did his best Hakeem the Dream impersonation against Ghana (WATCH) … Sergino Dest played like a Dutch-American Devin Hester … Puli had two goals, one an all-time Hartford Heater (WATCH), the other a cool, calm pen (WATCH) … And Timmy Weah was stealth brilliant at times, mind-blowingly brilliant at others (WATCH).
Now it’s back to Europe for the lot of them, with those heading back to Italy set to partake in an absolutely mouth-watering Americans Abroad clash between AC Milan and Juventus on Sunday. Yet another reminder of this golden age of American soccer watching that we are currently living in. May it never end.
While the USMNT was shipping goals to Julian Nagelsmann’s Flannel Army in Hartford, the USWNT’s Lindsey Horan (29; Golden, CO) was kicking some ASSE in France. The Great Horan pulled off a hat-trick in Lyon’s 6-0 win over AS Saint-Etienne on Saturday (WATCH: 1ST | 2ND | 3RD). The goals were Horan’s first of the season, and helped keep OL atop France’s Division 1 Féminine. Allez Lindz!!!
West Brom boss Carlos Corberan provided an update on Daryl Dike (23; Edmond, OK), confirming that the USMNT striker isn’t likely to return from his ruptured Achilles until after the holiday season. “He’s very committed with the club. He’s very committed with his recovery, but it’s a very long-term injury, so he’s one player that I cannot expect to play until January.”Josh Sargent (23; O’Fallon, MO) has signed a contract extension with Norwich City through 2028. “”I see myself as being a big part of the team moving forward. My family have settled really well here, we’re really happy with our time so far here. It’s a lovely place to live. I really want to get promoted with this club, it’s the biggest thing.” Congrats, O’Fallon d’Or! Congrats are also in order to the US U23s — the true Baby Eagles — who beat Japan 4-1 on Tuesday after topping Mexico 2-1 on Wednesday. Mini Medford Messi Paxten Aaronson (20; Medford, NJ) was in the goals against Japan (WATCH).
Parting Shots:
A special Parting Shot this week, as Rog provides a tribute to Michael Bradley, the Great American Midfielder and son of former USMNT manager Bob Bradley, who has announced his retirement.
Here’s to Michael Bradley, who announced Tuesday he will retire at the end of this MLS season — his 10th with Toronto FC. The 36-year-old won 151 USMNT caps (third-most all time), went to two World Cups, and had an accomplished European career with Borussia Monchengladbach, Chievo Verona, AS Roma, and others.
His legacy was forever intertwined with the darkness of the failed 2018 World Cup Qualifying cycle, but it should not be. He was a remarkable human being at his peak to witness. Before he returned to MLS, he played with the simmering intensity of Jean-Luc Picard, Yul Brynner, and Jason Statham compressed into a single human being. A ferocious player on the field, and, to be honest, a ferociously guarded interview as well.
In that 2014 cycle it felt like the whole American game depended on the balance between pushing Michael Bradley forward and keeping Michael Bradley back. He was that dominant on both sides of the ball. I interviewed him the night before the Snowmageddon game, and his methodically-selected words emerged with a fierceness that suggested each had been forged in an incandescent foundry burning somewhere deep inside of him. He kept swiping the air with his hotel key card to punctuate his points. I was sure he was going to slice my nose off. We talked for a long time, and he reminded me of his famous quote after the 2009 Confederations Cup when we shocked Spain: “All the [expletive] experts in America, everybody who thinks they know everything about soccer, they can all look at the score tonight, and let’s see what they have to say now.”
That is how he should be remembered. A player constantly written off, yet loved his chances to win, because of it, not in spite of it. And he most often did win.
Mexico and Germany play to 2-2 tie in front of more than 62,000 fans at Lincoln Financial Field It was the first time Mexico brought a “home” game to South Philly, and the big crowd was entertained by a wide-open game. Mexico’s Erick Sánchez (right) celebrates his goal against Germany early in the second half.Eduardo Munoz / AFP via Getty Images by Jonathan Tannenwald Published Oct. 17, 2023, 10:34 p.m. ET | Updated Oct. 18, 2023, 2:08 a.m. ET There are many kinds of spectacles in American soccer these days: MLS and NWSL games in big cities, lower-league games in smaller places, U.S. national team showcases, European club tours. But for many years and still today, there’s no spectacle like a Mexican men’s national team game on American shores. On Tuesday, Philadelphia got its turn to sample the noise and color that washed over Lincoln Financial Field for El Tri’s 2-2 tie with Germany. It was Mexico’s third trip to Philadelphia in recent years, after a 2011 friendly against the United States and the 2015 Gold Cup final against Jamaica. But this was the first time Mexico brought its perennial barnstorming tour of “home” games to South Philly. Some of the thousands of Mexico fans in the stands at Lincoln Financial Field.Joe Lamberti / AP The crowd of 62,284 needed a little while to fill all of its seats, and the teams to get to the stadium. Kickoff was delayed a few minutes because the buses got stuck in traffic amid 126,579 ticket-holders flocking to the Linc, the Phillies game, and the Flyers game. Everyone settled in soon enough, though, and was thoroughly entertained. Germany’s Antonio Rüdiger kicked things off with a goal in the 25th minute, Uriel Antua tied it in the 37th, Erick Sánchez put Mexico up in the 47th, and Niclas Füllkrug had the last say in the 51st.Veteran Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo “Memo” Ochoa, who played this game and the previous two here, said he was impressed by the big crowd.“We have to play more often here,” he told The Inquirer, having been impressed by the big crowd. “For us, this support is always important … It’s always amazing playing in all of America, because the people follow us very often.” » READ MORE: An Inquirer countdown of Philly’s Top 10 ‘Do You Remember When’ soccer moments Right after the pregame fireworks at Citizens Bank Park, the Linc took its turn as the teams lined up for the national anthems.Alex Grimm / Getty Images Santiago Gimenez was Mexico’s star attraction, a 22-year-old striker who’s his country’s next great hope for a star. El Tri has a history of valuing veteran experience over young potential, which is why Gimenez has come off the bench more than he starts. Manager Jaime Lozano, a former stalwart player for his country, got a pile of questions about Gimenez in his gameday-eve news conference Monday. That felt appropriate in a place famed for knowing the thrill of victory and the agony of reading about it the next day. “It’s the usual for the Mexican team,” veteran Fox broadcaster Rodolfo Landeros told The Inquirer before the bilingual Mexican-American worked as the sideline reporter on the English broadcast. He also knows Philly fandom, having called many NFL and MLS games over the years. “Extremists in a sports way,” he said of Mexican fans. “When [Mexico] wins, especially against teams like Germany, or if they beat Brazil, we think we’re World Cup champions, even though it’s a friendly. But if [they] lose to any team in the world, we’re the biggest losers and don’t deserve to be in a World Cup.” A more authentic form of agony came in the 33rd minute, when Gimenez received Jesús Gallardo′s free kick in the 33rd minute unmarked eight yards out and blasted it over the bar.But there were enough goals the rest of the way to make up for it.Rüdiger opened the scoring with an opportunistic finish, jumping to Robin Gosens’ header of Leroy Sané’s corner kick.Union left back Kai Wagner must have enjoyed watching his countryman of the same position take a corner a few miles up I-95 from Wagner’s turf in Chester. Gosens probably doesn’t know Wagner, but he does know one of Wagner’s former teammates: Brenden Aaronson is now Gosens’ colleague at Union Berlin. Antuna tied the game by slipping in a crafty setup pass from Mexico’s biggest current star, Hirving “Chucky” Lozano. It came after German veteran Thomas Müller put the ball in the net at the other end, but was narrowly flagged offside.Longtime MLS followers might remember that Antuna spent 2019 with the Los Angeles Galaxy after two years in Manchester City’s youth academy. He went from L.A. to Chivas of Guadalajara, one of Mexico’s biggest clubs, and is now at another powerhouse in Mexico City’s Cruz Azul.
Burke: Don’t judge the USMNT like a club team; international soccer is unpredictable
When Brazil was invited to the Gold Cup ahead of the 1998 World Cup, it was a great chance for CONCACAF to get a genuine World Cup contender on American soil. When the U.S. was drawn against the Samba Kings in the semifinals, most people would have expected Brazil to win comfortably.This was not a vintage Brazil side; Romario headlined a squad made up of fringe players, yet it was still the four-time world champions against a soccer minnow, and it was still Romario, one of the greatest strikers in history, against defenders earning comparative chump change. No amount of plucky underdog American spirit was expected to tame genuine star quality.Things didn’t quite go that way. Inspired by an era-defining performance by goalkeeper Kasey Keller, the only player to wear the stars and stripes that day playing outside of MLS, the USMNT defied the odds to win 1-0 off a goal from Predrag “Preki” Radosavljevic in front of a crowd of just under 13,000.
United States men’s soccer was hot. Including that Brazil win, Steve Sampson’s side was on a six-match winning streak, and the future of American soccer had never looked so bright. If you can beat Brazil, you can beat anyone… right? Well, that sense of belief carried into the World Cup that summer and propelled the United States to… a last-placed finish in the tournament.It’s a quintessential example of one of the main differences between international and club soccer: individual results generally don’t mean much in internationals. Most games are not in the competitions that matter (World Cups and qualifiers). Venues are various and players are unavailable for all sorts of reasons completely out of the manager’s control. It’s an unpredictable brand of the sport where success is extraordinarily hard to come by, even for so-called superpowers. A lot about soccer has changed in the near-quarter-century since USA 1, Brazil 0, but that much hasn’t.Yet I get the sense that some U.S. fans (though certainly not all of them) are watching this young, still-developing squad as if it were a club team – a situation where game-to-game results really do have a distinct impact on things. And perhaps no recent international window better encapsulates the fault in that thinking than this last one, which saw the U.S. fall 3-1 to Germany on Saturday in Hartford, Conn. before Tuesday’s dominant 4-0 win over Ghana in Nashville, Tenn.
There will be a wave of positivity after the Ghana game, just like there was marked discontent among many after the Germany game. And perhaps a certain amount of that is good: the fanbase is no longer content with being plucky underdogs against the traditional soccer superpowers. It expects to compete, particularly on home soil. But one must also acknowledge some realities.At the international level, coaches are not afforded the time on the training pitch to develop comprehensive tactical schemes to counterbalance a difference in individual quality. World-class talent often shines through. Germany had a red-hot Leroy Sane, Jamal Musiala and Ilkay Gundogan as proven game-changers – the U.S. options are certainly talented and promising but comparatively untested in the biggest games. At the coaching level, small adjustments can make all the difference; in this aspect, Germany’s Julian Nagelsmann is among the world’s upper echelons. As for Berhalter, who is contracted to lead the United States’ “golden generation” through to the home World Cup in 2026, the jury is still out.The U.S. could have held on to win that game in Hartford 1-0, and all those things would still be true.A few days later in Nashville, the U.S. seemed to right its wrongs, blitzing Ghana with three quick goals in the first half and keeping the pressure on them throughout. Gio Reyna looked excellent in his 45-minute appearance, scoring two goals from the No. 10 position he has stated is his preferred spot to play.Yet still there are larger questions: If Reyna is to play at the No. 10, will the midfield unit as a whole be strong enough to control matches against better opponents? And what’s the backup plan if Reyna can’t go amid his continued injury issues? How does Tyler Adams, the U.S. captain at the World Cup who could be out for a significant stretch with his own injury, fit in upon his return?Ghana could have somehow pulled off its own U.S. vs. Brazil result in this one, and those questions would still be relevant to this team in the next World Cup cycle.
Over the next three years, including next year’s Copa America, Berhalter will oversee wins, losses and draws that may seem to be defining for one reason or another. But the journey between international tournaments is long and torturous, and putting too much stock into matches in between is something fans the world over have learned is largely futile. This isn’t a league, where a loss can dent your title hopes, or a win can steer you clear of relegation. Shutout streaks and goal-scoring runs don’t build momentum in the same way. Tactical breakthroughs can be easily abandoned. Nothing matters more than finding balance.
Still, the opportunity to face the best can be a useful measuring stick, and last year’s draw with England in the group stage of the World Cup acts as a useful blueprint for success for a team capable of hurting opposition of all levels in transition.
The reality is that winning teams at the international level often sacrifice style for substance, favoring a pragmatic approach with a sprinkling of match-winning talent to make the difference against the best. Even the great Spain sides of 2008, 2010 and 2012 prioritized a slow build-up and possession as a method of protection over the more attacking “tiki-taka” style from that era’s all-conquering Barcelona side.
The USMNT has come a hell of a long way since 1998, but the demands are basically the same. Sometimes it takes heroic goalkeeping displays, a water-tight defensive shape and goals against the run of play to find success when it matters most: just ask Morocco, who would not trade their journey to the semi-final of the World Cup for an expansive style that may have caused an earlier exit.
Or ask the 1998 USMNT, whose signature win came within months of its most disappointing performance in the modern era.
USA vs. Ghana, 2023 Friendly: Man of the Match
Gio! Gio! Stars & Stripes
The United States Men’s National Team got back on track Tuesday night in Nashville, defeating Ghana 4-0 in a dazzling first half display of offense. The USMNT looked great in rebounding from their loss to Germany over the weekend, and got some goals from some of their brightest stars.
Gio Reyna’s two goals were the highlights of the night, and the SSFC community thought he was the best player on the field. His 8.76 average rating easily earned him the SSFC Man of the Match. Tim Weah, Sergiño Dest, and fellow goalscorers Folarin Balogun and Christian Pulisic all earned average ratings over 7 from the community.
The full SSFC community ratings:
Gio Reyna – 8.76
Tim Weah – 7.87
Folarin Balogun – 7.86
Sergiño Dest – 7.83
Christian Pulisic – 7.74
Matt Turner – 7.34
Chris Richards – 6.58
Miles Robinson – 6.45
Kristoffer Lund – 6.40
Yunus Musah – 6.38
Weston McKennie – 6.38
Gio Reyna’s first-half brace guides USMNT to 4-0 friendly win over Ghana
By Paul Tenorio and The Athletic StaffOct 17, 2023
The U.S. men’s national team toppled Ghana 4-0 in Tuesday’s friendly in Nashville, Tenn., behind Gio Reyna’s first career international brace. Here’s what you need to know:
Reyna opened the scoring in the 10th minute, blasting home a loose ball in the box for his first USMNT goal since June 2021. He added another on a dazzling indirect free kick inside the box in the 39th minute.
The 20-year-old Reyna returned to the squad in Saturday’s friendly loss to Germany after suffering a leg fracture in the CONCACAF Nations League final in June. That game also marked his first match under coach Gregg Berhalter since their relationship came under the microscope after the 2022 World Cup.
Christian Pulisic — who assisted on Reyna’s second goal — converted a penalty in the 19th minute and Folarin Balogun made it 3-0 in the 22nd minute on a goal assisted by Tim Weah. All three goalscorers were subbed off at the start of the second half.
How USMNT performed against Ghana
It was everything Berhalter could have asked for. Coming out of the 3-1 loss to Germany, the USMNT coach said the team sat down for a video session to go over where things had gone wrong in their first friendly in this window. The U.S. needed to be more precise, more decisive and more organized in key moments against Germany. The response against Ghana was all over those things.he U.S. needed just 22 minutes to take a three-goal lead, the fastest the U.S. had taken a three-goal lead against a non-CONCACAF opponent since at least 1931, per Opta. How’s that for getting better? Ghana did not look good, and you could argue that three of the four goals came off of big Ghanaian mistakes, but the U.S. took full advantage and held a four-goal lead at the half. It was a wonderful performance that saw Reyna, Balogun, Weah and Pulisic all get involved — which is exactly what the U.S. wants. — Paul Tenorio, senior soccer writer
Evaluating Reyna’s performance
Reyna again played just 45 minutes in the game, but once again put in a very effective shift and this time got on the scoresheet with his first brace in a U.S. crest. Reyna opened the night by volleying home a rebound from a sliding clearance 10 minutes into the game, then scored another goal off of an indirect free kick from inside the Ghanaian 18-yard box. Reyna will be pleased with his output over the first two games and with his role in the team, playing as a No. 10 in midfield, which he prefers over the winger role he played for all of the last qualifying cycle. — Tenorio
Looking ahead to Nations League quarterfinals
The pairings for the Nations League quarterfinal will officially be announced on Wednesday, but results were trending on Tuesday night toward the U.S. facing Trinidad and Tobago in a home-and-home next month. A win over T&T isn’t just about booking a place in the CONCACAF Nations League final four and a chance at a third straight Nations League title, but also a berth in next summer’s Copa America.
The U.S. will go into those games with confidence, for sure, after the result on Tuesday night. — Tenorio
What they’re saying
“We learned a lot of lessons against Germany, for sure,” Balogun said “We had a lot of meetings and we decided we wanted to have a reaction tonight and I felt like we showed that with a good performance, especially in the first half. From this camp, we just learned we have to improve to compete against the top, top teams.”
USMNT analysis BRIAN SCIARETTA American Soccer Now.com
Analysis & Player Ratings: Dest, Weah, Reyna, & Balogun impress in 4-0 USMNT win over Ghana
The USMNT ended the October window with a convincing 4-0 win over Ghana in Nashville behind two goals from Gio Reyna, and one from Pulisic and and Balogun. ASN’s Brian Sciaretta offers up his thoughts and player ratings.
HE UNITED STATES national team rebounded from Saturday’s loss to Germany with a convincing 4-0 rout over Ghana on Tuesday night at GEODIS Park in Nashville. The U.S. team scored all of its goals between the 10th and 39th minutes in a relentless offensive display before coasting against a Ghana team that was very poor on the night.
For U.S. manager Gregg Berhalter, it was a great way to end camp.
Gio Reyna scored the opening and final U.S. goals. The first came at the end of a furious rush up the field led by Sergino Dest. The PSV right back played Folarin Balogun into the box and his cross was blocked by Ghana’s Nicholas Opoku and fell right to Reyna for a close finish.
The second goal was a penalty after Gideon Mensah tripped Tim Weah in the box. Christian Pulisic took the ensuing penalty and hit it up the middle past Abdul Narudeen.
Three minutes after conceding a penalty, Ghana conceded again. Opoku was stripped of the ball deep in his own third by Weah who then fed Balogun in the middle for a calm but powerful finish from close range.
Then in the 39th, the U.S. team was a awarded an indirect free kick inside its own box on a violation from Opoku. Reyna tapped it to Pulisic, Pulisic tapped it to Reyna who powered it into the top shelf.
In the second half, the U.S. continued to control the game albeit with the intensity notched down a bit. The 4-0 scoreline held, and the U.S. concluded its October window with a win.
Here are some thoughts.
DEST & WEAH LEAD THE RIGHT SIDE
The U.S. team best line of attack was the right side of the field. That is where a majority of the team’s scoring chances came from.
Neither Sergino Dest nor Tim Weah scored or directly assisted in this game, but they were the two best players in the game. Both carved Ghana apart attacking the right side by making effective dribbles, finding spaces for through balls, drawing fouls in the attacking third, and drawing attention from defenders to create space for others.
Dest has had some quality moments on the left side, but he is far more comfortable on both sides of the ball while playing on the right side. After he struggled against Germany, this game was a good game for him to showcase his ability and head back to PSV more confident.
As for Weah, he just needs to get on the field for Juventus. It doesn’t matter if he’s a right wingback for his club and a pure winger for the U.S. team. He can adjust fine. The question is just getting on the field.
REYNA CAPS STRONG CAMP
Reyna was very dangerous in this game, and he ended camp in a great position. In total, he played 90 minutes over two games and the U.S. team outscored its opponents 5-1 with him on the field. The U.S. team was outscored 2-0 without him on the field. That’s not by accident.
It’s more than the goals. Both of the goals he scored against Ghana were fairly lucky – a fortuitous bounce off a bad block and an indirect free kick inside the box are not highlight goals. But the revealing nature is what Reyna does for other players. He opens the game up offensively. He is that critical connection between the midfield and the attack that allows Balogun, Pulisic, and Weah to be far more dangerous.
FINDING BALOGUN
It was critical that the team find ways to make Balogun more dangerous. This was stressed repeatedly in camp. Berhalter said that most of Balogun’s goals at the club level come from great movements in the box that his teammates identify and are able to get him the ball. It’s harder to develop that chemistry at the international level because teams are not together nearly as much, but it can be done. It’s just a longer process.
The Ghana game was a big step in the right direction. Balogun’s goal wasn’t the best indicator of that because that was a bad turnover. But the opening goal was stronger evidence the team is finding out how to pick him up. Dest had a good idea where Balogun was going to be in the box and got it to him for the dangerous cross that was blocked to the feet of Reyna.
But a revealing stat is simply the total number of Balogun shots. In this game he had five shots in just 45 minutes of action. That is indeed a furious pace, made possible by teammates who are getting a better idea of how to get him the ball.
GHANA’S TERRIBLE NIGHT
The U.S. team played well, but it would also be fair to mention that Ghana was simply terrible in this game. It was more than just getting out-played. Ghana was making errors that were almost amateur in nature.
Mensah’s foul on Weah for the penalty showed a complete lack of awareness. It was unnecessary and Weah was in the box but was not in a dangerous position to create a scoring chance. Opoku had a nightmare performance and was at fault for the first, the third, and the fourth goals. Then conceding an indirect free kick from 10 yards was also completely unavoidable.
It wasn’t long into the first half when Ghana looked like they didn’t want to be there. They were fouling carelessly because they didn’t want to defend properly. Their fullbacks were constantly caught up the field and out of possession. And only once could they muster a shot that tested Turner.
The U.S. team played well against Ghana and made progress in key areas – such as making effective use out of Reyna and developing chemistry with Balogun.
But some key questions were left unanswered. For example, did Berhalter learn enough about central defense combination? The answer is probably not. The Germany game wasn’t great by any means, but central defense was also hung out to dry by the midfield. Against Ghana, Miles Robinson and Chris Richards (followed by Cameron Carter-Vickers) just did not have a lot to do. They were not bad at all. But Ghana’s poor outing left the central defenders with more of an incomplete grade.
There is also the question about playing without Tyler Adams. Adams was sorely missed against Germany as all three German goals came up the middle of the field. Adams likely would have been a huge help.
Johnny Cardoso got an unexpected start against Ghana. His 34/36 passing was a positive for the team, but again defense is the question at this position and Cardoso was untested. Lennard Maloney likewise had a lot of questions about what he could offer the team in terms of his foot speed, his progressive passing, his ability to hold the ball, etc. But the intensity of the game was completely dialed back when he came into the game for Cardoso in the 65th minute. It was hard to tell either way.
Finally, Kristoffer Lund had a pretty good game as well at left back, but most of the attacking came up the right side. It’s hard to say yet that he is clearly the team’s backup left back behind Antonee Robinson but Berhatler is giving him a solid look.
MOVING FORWARD INTO NOVEMBER
The U.S. team will now only have CONCACAF Nations League games and January camp through the summer. Because of that, players will need to maintain a high level with their clubs. The U.S. team won’t be seriously tested until a possible Mexico game or Canada game in March.
For now, it’s worth keeping an eye on certain players. Can Weah find his way back into the starting XI for Juventus on a regular basis – and by extension can Weston McKennie remain as a central midfielder?
The lack of playing time for Richards is a huge concern and it hurts his ability to play consistently well for the U.S. team. Will he push for a loan or transfer in January? If so, what will be his chances to start with his new club? The same with Robinson who seems very likely to move in January as well. As with any player heading towards a move, there are natural risks associated with playing time.
Tim Ream continues to impressively hold off Father Time, but eventually he will lose that battle – like everyone does. The question is how much longer? He seems to be a player who goes month-by-month.
Then there is the long list of those outside of the team who are pushing to get into the mix. Brandon Vazquez has been great for Cincinnati and is pushing for a move this winter. How does he compete with Ricardo Pepi who plays limited minutes at PSV? The same with Josh Sargent when he returns from injury or Haji Wright.
Mark McKenzie, Auston Trusty, and Walker Zimmerman are still in the central defense pool. Perhaps one or two of them emerge as overage candidates for the Olympic team?
PLAYER RATINGS
THE STARTING XI
Matt Turner: The New Jersey native made a huge save in the 41st minute on a shot from Mohammed Kudus. But aside from that, it was a relatively easy night. He did everything that was asked of him. Rating: 6.5
Sergino Dest: The PSV right back was one of the best players on the field as his dribbling and passing opened the right side of the field. Defensively, he was sufficient. Rating: 8.5
Chris Richards: Along with Miles Robinson, Richards was in a pairing that didn’t have to do much. But what they did, they did well. Ghana had one shot in this game that tested turner and that was from distance. Rating: 6.5
Miles Robinson: Was the same as Richards, only he went the full 90. He helped contain Ghana, who generated little on the day. Rating: 6.5
Kristoffer Lund: The Palermo left back wasn’t flashy and made no noticeable errors. He attacked well, but wasn’t as explosive as Dest as most of the U.S. team’s best chances came from the right side. Rating: 6.0
Johnny Cardoso: Defensively he was untested but with the ball, Cardoso was effective getting the ball to the attackers and being that link between defense and offense. Rating: 6.5
Yunus Musah: The AC Milan midfielder had a quiet night but he was still useful in his 75 minutes to keep possession and link the defenders to the midfield – something that was a problem Berhalter wanted to fix from the Germany loss. Rating: 6.0
Gio Reyna: It wasn’t either of his fortuitous goals that made Reyna great in this game. It was how he opened the game up for his teammates. 30/31 passing with seven passes into the final third, effective runs. He made the offense run. Rating: 8.0
Tim Weah: Was also one of the best U.S. players on the day as his right side was where almost all of the goals and chances originated. He drew a penalty. He provided the steal and assist on Balogun’s goal. He made runs that put Ghana on their heels. He was instrumental in the winning effort. Rating: 8.0
Christian Pulisic: He wasn’t as active from the run of play over his 45 minutes as the other attackers, but he made the most of his penalty and on the exchange off the indirect free kick. Rating: 6.5
Folarin Balogun: The Monaco forward played to his strengths and made a huge impact in the game. His movements helped create the first goal and score the third. It was a very good 45 minutes for Balogun who continues to grow within this team. Rating: 8.0
THE SUBSTITUTES
Ricardo Pepi: Played the second half but was hardly noticeable with 14 touches, three completed passes, and no shots. Rating: 5.0
Weston McKennie: Played the second half and did well to connect long balls to switch the point of possession. He also defended well to keep Ghana off the board. Rating: 6.0
Brenden Aaronson: Had one dangerous moment, but otherwise was quiet in playing the second half – completing all seven of his passes. Rating: 5.5
Lennard Maloney: The Heidenheim defensive midfielder made his U.S. debut and played conservatively with the ball and sat in front of the backline to help keep the clean sheet. Rating: 5.5
Cameron Carter-Vickers: The Celtic central defender replaced Richards in the 72nd minute but didn’t have much to do by that point to see out the win. Rating: 5.5
Luca de la Torre: Replaced Musah in the 75th minute and looked to get the ball forward into the attacking half, but the U.S. team was simply focused on keeping a clean sheet to end the game by that point. Rating: 5.5
Giovanni Reyna’s drought-ending goals could signal a new era
Kyle Bonagura, ESPN Staff WriterOct 18, 2023, 12:36 AM ET
fter two more than two years, Giovanni Reyna‘s goalless drought with the United States is over.The 20-year-old attacking midfielder bagged his first-ever international brace as the U.S. overwhelmed Ghana4-0 on Tuesday at Geodis Park in Nashville. All four goals came in the first half with the three goal scorers — Christian Pulisic, Folarin Balogun and Reyna — exiting after 45 minutes.For Reyna, the performance represents an important step forward, both for the U.S. and for his prospects at the club level, where he has appeared just once this season for Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga.Let’s start with what it means for him in a U.S. shirt.The past two years have been close to a worst-case scenario. That’s partly because of the expectations that accompanied his debut in a friendly against Wales as a 17-year-old in 2020. It was hard not to view him as anything other than a superstar-in-waiting. He had already broken through at Dortmund, had made an impact in the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League and slotted right into coach Gregg Berhalter’s U.S. starting XI — a place he figured to occupy with the team for the next decade or so.
That status quo remained right up until the start of World Cup qualifying, when he got injured at El Salvador in the first of the 14-game process. Since then, it has been setback after setback. Injuries have been the primary culprit and, of course, there was the embarrassing family drama that tarnished the World Cup and contributed to Berhalter’s absence from the team for half a year. There will come a time when that saga won’t have to be rehashed but, given this was Reyna’s first camp under Berhalter since their once-close families’ very public falling out, this always figured to serve as a significant milestone.
We aren’t privy to an honest accounting of what the Berhalter-Reyna interactions were like this last week, but the on-field results were encouraging. Against Germany on Saturday, the U.S. was demonstrably better with Reyna on the field, and that was the case again vs. Ghana. With Reyna playing both games in more of a central midfield role underneath Balogun up top, the U.S. is perhaps as dangerous in the attacking third as it has ever been. Reyna’s position with the national team has been a topic of debate since his breakthrough. Prior to the game against Germany, Berhalter had strictly used Reyna as a winger. The logic was easy to follow: It put Reyna in a place to impact the game offensively, while allowing the midfield three of Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and Yunus Musah to play together. Except as good as that trio was at times, the combination didn’t lead to much in the attack. The team struggled to consistently create chances throughout World Cup qualifying and at the World Cup.
With Reyna floating in advanced role in midfield, all of a sudden the team has someone who can create, score and dictate the game. That element combined with Balogun’s talent at striker — with Pulisic and Timothy Weah on the wings — should solve a lot of what has plagued the U.S.
Reyna’s first goal illustrated that. Balogun was played into a dangerous area by Sergiño Dest, and his strike across the box rebounded to Reyna, who calmly smashed it home in the 10th minute. It wasn’t precision execution by any means, but the result of good things happening by applying pressure. After a penalty from Pulisic, Balogun showcased an impressive turn and finish after Weah forced a turnover. The rout was on just 22 minutes into the game.
A clever indirect free kick sequence initiated by Balogun and Pulisic from inside the box set up Reyna for his second, despite all 11 Ghanaian players posted up below the penalty spot.
The U.S. was so dominant in the first half Tuesday, it was fair to question the Black Stars’ motivation. A classic chicken-or-egg dilemma to assign credit and blame. The reality, though, was the U.S. fielded a strong, motivated lineup on home soil against a team that has more pressing fixtures ahead on the schedule.
As insightful as Reyna’s 90 minutes this window were for the national team, they also could serve as a springboard to more playing time back in Germany. There were no obvious signs of rust from his return from a foot injury he suffered with the U.S. during the Nations League in June, and the hope for Berhalter was that minutes with the U.S. — his half-time substitutions were planned — would help improve his fitness and show Reyna was again ready to contribute. There’s now hope Reyna can rekindle that trajectory in Dortmund.
Did Neymar have his career derailed… before he was 21?
This was supposed to be one of the greatest players to ever play the game – yet he missed over 100 matches for Paris Saint-Germain. Injury has robbed us of an all-timer in the league of Pele – and it’s ironic, in a way.
Neymar was hailed as the new Pele while coming through at Santos. Incredibly, he played more times for his boyhood side than any other in his career. But what may shock you… is how many times that actually was.
225 – all before the age of 21. That’s an astounding number of senior matches in one of the most physical environments in professional football. Is it possible that Neymar simply burned out over time?
The Brazilian was never the most physical player, anyway. He was slight and wiry, drawing fouls from opponents as his ankles took the brunt. It was brutal in Brazil: it didn’t ease off too much in Europe.
In England, we cite the cases of Jack Wilshere and Michael Owen as wonderkid superstars who were burdened with regular roles at a young age. There’s a parallel with Neymar – and he didn’t exactly get much respite. A talisman for club and country, he was constantly being rushed back to action, whether that’s vital Champions League knockout fixtures every blooming season or World Cup games as recently as last December.
There was those shocked by him moving to Saudi Arabia at 31, yet it’s not too uncommon for many Brazilians to leave Europe at an early age, is it?
The move to Paris Saint-Germain never helped Neymar’s case to be the GOAT… and neither did Brazil
Ultimately, Neymar had a damn fine career – but the 2017 record-breaking move to PSG was the breaking point. He moved to step out of Messi’s shadow and became responsible for pushing a boulder up the hill in France.
Likewise, Brazil has not been blessed with another generation of the three Rs, Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho. The 2010s gave them just one man with the talent of all three – and he couldn’t drag them to glory on his own, as he bowed out from the Selecao’s best chance, a home World Cup, with a serious back injury. Neymar may well be remembered for being a disappointment by some. He had the hopes of his country on his shoulders and Messi’s move to PSG was seen as some as proof that Neymar on his own there had failed. But it’s important to note just how big the hype was – and just how big the natural talent was to accompany it. Unfortunately, when you’re just that good… you’re going to play a lot. Seemingly, Neymar’s body couldn’t take the strain.
OL Reign vs. Angel City FC: How to watch NWSL quarterfinal, TV channel, streaming
Megan Rapinoe will get one more home game in her legendary career, and it could also be her last game
Rapinoe and OL Reign will host Angel City FC on Friday night in the first game of the 2023 NWSL playoffs.
Rapinoe, who is retiring at the end of the season, scored a double against Chicago last weekend to ensure OL Reign reached the quarterfinal, while Angel City earned an emphatic 5-1 win over Portland on the season’s final day to clinch the franchise’s first playoff berth.Watch Megan Rapinoe on Paramount+
The biggest question around this game for OL Reign surrounds the health of Rose Lavelle, who has hardly played this season. Head coach Laura Harvey said Lavelle could have played against Chicago, but only if the club “desperately needed her to be there.” The latest is that Lavelle is available, but the USWNT playmaker’s ability to play major minutes is still an unknown.There was better news on fullback Sofia Huerta, who returned from a hamstring injury against the Red Stars.Angel City will look to keep up its surge under interim coach Becki Tweed, who has led the team to just one loss in her 11 league matches in charge.The winner of this match will face the San Diego Wave in the semifinal next weekend.
Here’s everything you need to know to catch the action:
OL Reign possible lineup: Dickey; McClernon, Barnes, Cook, Huerta; Quinn, Sonnett; Rapinoe, Fishlock, Latsko; Huitema
Angel City FC possible lineup: Anderson; Vignola, Nielsen, Gorden, Riley; Hammond, Henry; Camberos, McCaskill, Emslie; LerouxWatch OL Reign vs Angel City FC
The US Men got spanked by Germany 3-1 on Saturday and now will face a Ghana tonight at 8:30 pm on TNT and Peacock. This Ghana team that lost to Mexico 2-0 over the weekend. Watch Christian Pulisic score a worldie against Germany Ok lets start with this is not a good loss to a more talented and better team. Germany sucks right now and has not played well for months – hell years to be honest. This is a poor German side that we should have tied at worst. Richards was exposed AGAIN – Miles Robinson is our best inside back with Ream and Dest is NOT and never will be. Outside back Scally showed me enough to jetison Dest unless we are down 2 at the half. Adding the Robinson’s would have kept this at 1-1. Simple enough. Now let’s see if GB has the brains to at lest put Miles in. Have to have speed next to Ream not cluelessness. Now we see why Richards can’t get time in the EPL – needs more learning. The offense in the first half especially was exciting and we created lots of chances. Pulisic was fouled by Ter Stegan (who played fantastically) should have been 2-0 early. Still we could not feed Balogun but Pulisic and Weah were electric. We lost the Dmid though – Musah can not be that guy to replace Adams against good teams. Now Ghana is not good – but I am going to guess they will slide 1 in somehow – so how about 2-1 USA.
DEFENDERS (8): Cameron Carter-Vickers (Celtic/SCO; 12/0),Sergiño Dest (PSV Eindhoven/NED; 28/2), DeJuan Jones (New England Revolution; 7/0), Kristoffer Lund (Palermo/ITA; 2/0), Tim Ream (Fulham/ENG; 52/1), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace/ENG; 12/1), Miles Robinson (Atlanta United; 26/3), Joe Scally (Borussia Mönchengladbach/GER; 6/0)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Johnny Cardoso (Internacional/BRA; 7/0), Luca de la Torre (Celta Vigo/ESP; 17/0), Lennard Maloney (Heidenheim/GER; 0/0), Weston McKennie (Juventus/ITA; 46/11), Yunus Musah (AC Milan/ITA; 29/0), Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund/GER; 20/4), Malik Tillman (PSV Eindhoven/NED; 6/0)
FORWARDS (6): Brenden Aaronson (Union Berlin/GER; 34/8), Folarin Balogun (Monaco/FRA; 4/2), Kevin Paredes (Wolfsburg/GER; 1/0), Ricardo Pepi (PSV Eindhoven/NED; 18/9), Christian Pulisic (AC Milan/ITA; 62/26), Tim Weah (Juventus/ITA; 33/5)
Indy 11 Wrap Up Season with 3-3 win @ San Antonio
Indy Eleven scored a pair of first half goals then held on for a 3-3 win at San Antonio on the road Saturday evening. The win improved the Boys in Blue to 13-12-9 on the season, Indy has already clinched a USL Championship playoff spot, its third since joining the league in 2018.
Tough Day at Murray as Both Carmel Teams Lose Regionals to Cathedral
The Top Ranked Carmel High boys lost a close one to Cathedral 2-1 for a 2nd straight year in the Regional Finals. Carmel finished the season at 17-2-2 with its playoff journey taking it through the daunting road of Westfield, Zionsville, North Central, Pike and Cathedral. Also a tough end to the season for the two-time State Finalist Carmel High Girls lost to Cathedral 2-1 at home Saturday in the Regional Finals. Cathedral turned the tide from last year with a PK and a questionable goal In the first half and held on to win despite a Red Card controversy in the 2nd half. Still a great season for Carmel and their seniors.
UEFA European Championship TV schedule
Tuesday, October 17
02:45 PM ET Lithuania vs. Hungary (UEFA Euro Qualifying)
The United States Men’s National Team return to action tomorrow when they take on Ghana at GEODIS Park in Nashville. The USMNT are coming off a 3-1 defeat to Germany over the weekend and they hope to get back on track against a Ghana team that has been a real rival over the years.
The two teams have met 4 times previously, with the series split evenly. Both sides have won twice, and each match has ended with a 2-1 score. The last time the two teams faced each other was in July 2017, which was a 2-1 win for the United States. Can history repeat itself with the scoreline? It won’t matter for the United States so long as they get the win.
D (2-2) – Canada – Concacaf Gold Cup Quarterfinal*
W (6-0) – Trinidad & Tobago – Concacaf Gold Cup Group A
*Advanced on penalties
**Lost on penalties
Ghana
L (0-2) – Mexico – Friendly
W (3-1) – Liberia – Friendly
W (2-1) – Central African Republic – Africa Cup of Nations Qualifying
D (0-0) – Madagascar – Africa Cup of Nations Qualifying
D (1-1) – Angola – Africa Cup of Nations Qualifying
What To Watch For
Get the defense back on track. Germany made the American defense look disorganized for much of the second half, so it’s important for guys to not let Ghana get behind them and create chances. Ghana can get frustrated if their intensity is matched, and on the field the USMNT needs to bring the energy to keep Ghana on their heels.
Who steps up on offense? The offense was stagnant in the 2nd half, and most considered it pretty aggressive for much of the first. They need to finish chances, and that’s going to come in time. The hope is that the attackers can string a couple of plays together to get open shots on goal, or to use our set pieces to create a good scoring chance.
The subs need to make an impact. The substitutes in the past few matches haven’t given us a ton to sing about. They hopefully recognize that they have the chance to make an impact and fans want to see one of them do just that tomorrow.
Lineup Prediction
The USMNT will likely have some changes in their starting XI, but some of the continuity will continue when they take the field against Ghana:
Predicted Lineup vs. Ghana
Matt Turner will once again be in goal, with DeJuan Jones, Tim Ream, Cameron Carter-Vickers, and Sergiño Dest will make up the back line. In the middle, we will once again see Weston McKennie, Gio Reyna, and Yunus Musah, while up top, Ricardo Pepi will get the start alongside Tim Weah and Christian Pulisic.
Prediction
The USMNT get back on track with a 2-1 victory.
In loss to Germany, USMNT shows it has to evolve in Berhalter’s second cycle
Ahead of Saturday afternoon’s friendly against Germany, U.S. men’s national team coach Gregg Berhalter said games like this were “not about being afraid of the result (or) being afraid of competing, it’s about embracing these moments.”His hope: that in the next three years before the 2026 World Cup, games like this would serve as opportunities to learn what it will take to compete — and beat — the very best in international soccer.
The 3-1 loss to Germany in front of a sold-out crowd of 37,743 in East Hartford, Connecticut, however, showed the U.S. still has to evolve – from the team that was eliminated by the Netherlands in the knockout round of the 2022 World Cup to one that can make a deep run on home soil.“We still have a lot of work to do,” center back Tim Ream said bluntly when asked what the big takeaway from the game was. The U.S. started the game well, but in the second half Germany seized control of the contest and the Americans never really found their way back into it. The U.S. was at times too stretched in defensive transition after bad turnovers, and in other moments Germany was given too much time and space near the top of the box.“We do need to not give the ball away so quickly in bad areas,” Ream said. “You give the ball away around the 18? OK, fine. In the attacking half? I get it, that’s no problem, you’re trying things. But when you give the ball away too quickly in midfield as we’re trying to get our attacking and build-up shape then it’s going to look A) disjointed, and B) guys are going to look out of position. And when you do that against good players, they punish you.”
Gio Reyna went 45 minutes in a central position (Andrew Katsampes/ISI Photos/Getty Images)
Some of the defensive problems highlighted the absence of captain Tyler Adams, who has been a stalwart for the U.S. at defensive midfield and helps to break up passing lanes, make key tackles and set the tone in midfield. The World Cup captain has been out with a hamstring injury since March, and after suffering a setback earlier this month is now expected to miss a significant amount of time more. Berhalter said going into this window that Adams’ absence gave the U.S. a chance to test out some “Plan B” options for playing without him. The Germany game showed that the “Plan B” still isn’t quite clear.But it wasn’t about the absence of one player. There were disconnects that both allowed Germany to get on the ball higher up the field, and then find the small lanes around the box that their world-class players exploited. “When you watch them and what they do and it’s one of those where you break a line and you get down to their box and all of a sudden they’re behind the ball,” Ream said. “And I think that’s kind of where we need to learn, is to get guys behind the ball, get compact, especially in and around our defensive 18. And that’s something that again, it’s a learning process, and it’s something that we need to look at and make sure we do better.”Multiple players said the U.S. needs to find ways to put together more complete performances over the whole 90 minutes. The first half gave the team confidence that they could match Germany — they were able to get in behind Germany’s back line on multiple occasions and seemed to just lack that final action — but there was a drop-off in the second half performance.Yunus Musah started as the deeper midfielder on Saturday, with Weston McKennie ahead of him and Gio Reyna in a No. 10 role.Reyna, who played exclusively as a winger in the last World Cup cycle, looked dangerous and effective centrally under interim managers earlier this year. His return to the team with Berhalter on the sideline was among the headlines of this camp, and how Berhalter would utilize him was the biggest question. Reyna had a solid 45-minute outing on Saturday, and playing him in that central role showed promise. Reyna had to come out at halftime, however, as he ramps up his form and fitness.In the first half, though, the U.S. looked dangerous in attack at times and got behind Germany on several occasions. Early in the game, Pulisic was called offside on what would have been a breakaway; Berhalter felt it should not have been whistled dead. On another attack, Reyna found Balogun to set up Pulisic in alone on Marc-André ter Stegen, but Pulisic went down after taking a touch around the goalkeeper.“I went around him and there’s for sure contact,” Pulisic said.The referee didn’t blow the whistle, but a few minutes later Pulisic scored a fantastic goal, beating four German defenders and blistering a ball into the upper corner.“That’s a world-class goal,” Berhalter said.After Pulisic gave the U.S. an early lead, however, Germany pulled back even. Leroy Sané used a clever double-touch to split Musah and Reyna in the 39th minute at the top of the box, and Ilkay Gündogan played a perfect through ball to Sané to put him through on goal. Goalkeeper Matt Turner made the initial save, but Gündogan was there to tuck home the rebound for the equalizer. In the second half, Germany took further control.In the 58th minute, Germany once again enjoyed too much time and space on the ball in their attacking third, and Jamal Musiala found Robin Gosens, whose stylish one-touch pass played Niclas Füllkrug in on goal. Left back Sergiño Dest was late to step, holding Füllkrug onside, and Germany had the lead. Three minutes later, Germany once again attacked the space right on the top of the box. The U.S. was a bit unfortunate in that Ream’s tackle on Musiala deflected right to Füllkrug, who found Musiala in the box to make it 3-1. But while the lucky bounce may have helped, the goal felt reflective of the spaces Germany attacked regularly.
“It’s these split seconds where you need to be well-positioned,” Berhalter said.
In the end, as Ream said, the result showed how much more the U.S. has to do to catch the world powers. But the group also felt that, like at the World Cup last year, they’re not far off.
“It’s frustrating because it’s just little moments,” Turner said. “I sort of alluded to this recently about how little moments could have made a big difference for us in the World Cup. And it’s kind of like the same story.”
(Photo: Adam Glanzman/USSF/Getty Images for USSF)
USMNT learns hard lessons vs. Germany in attack, defense
Jeff Carlisle, U.S. soccer correspondentOct 15, 2023, 07:11 AM ET
EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — Prior to the U.S. men’s national team’s match with Germany on Saturday, manager Gregg Berhalter said “we need to learn” from playing such a high-powered opponent. Die Mannschaft certainly dealt out more than a few lessons in beating the United States3-1 at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field.The match saw the U.S. break the tie in the 27th minute thanks to a stunning long-distance goal from Christian Pulisic. But even at that point, Germany had been carving up the U.S. defense, and eventually the goals arrived on the way to a deserved win.Overall, the result felt similar to the 3-1 defeat to Netherlands that knocked the U.S. out of the 2022 World Cup in the round of 16. Granted, the U.S. on that night in Qatar had much better possession — Germany had a 60-40 edge on Saturday — but in critical moments, both the Dutch and the Germans had that extra bit of quality to turn opportunities into goals.More critically, the U.S. defensive performance left plenty to be desired. One of the glaring issues against Germany included how the U.S. struggled to handle the visitors’ press. Germany made 10 recoveries in the U.S’s defensive third — that’s the most by a U.S. opponent since the 2-0 defeat to Japan right before the 2022 World Cup, one that wasn’t as close as the score might indicate.
The frequency with which the U.S. was coughing up the ball made it difficult to get the entire team pushed up-field into the attack, which left the Americans’ defensive shape vulnerable when the ball turned over. The U.S. got “gapped” — where there was little to no defensive midfield pressure in transition — by smart passes on far too many occasions. Not even a tweak to the team’s defensive shape in the first half, when it moved from a 4-4-2 to more of a 4-3-3, was enough to stem the tide.”When you make those mistakes of giving the ball away in the midfield, then [transition chances] are going to happen,” central defender Tim Ream said. “And that’s kind of what you saw today, the breakdowns with guys being out of position and then there’s an overwhelming desire to try to win the ball back immediately. That complicates things as well. You want to press after the loss and that complicates getting into that defensive shape.”So it’s not for want of trying. I think sometimes, it’s overworking instead of maybe picking and choosing the moments.”With Tyler Adams missing due to an ongoing hamstring injury, Berhalter turned to Yunus Musah and Weston McKennie for some bite and defensive coverage in midfield. Except it didn’t work. Much of this was down to the fact that positionally, the two left too much space in the middle for Germany to exploit, whether it was in the middle third or near the top of the U.S. penalty area.It’s worth emphasizing the fact that Germany’s lineup is brimming with quality, be it Ilkay Gündogan, Leroy Sané, Jamal Musiala or Florian Wirtz. And to be fair, the Germans also got some fortuitous bounces. Matt Turner‘s touch from Sane’s dribble fell right Gundogan for Germany’s first. Ream’s tackle deflected to Niclas Füllkrug in the runup to Germany’s third.But too often, the U.S. didn’t help itself, allowing Germany to make the most of its luck. On all three goals, the U.S. pressure just outside the box was lacking. Someone, anyone, needed to deliver a tackle that was going to defuse the situation. All of this left the U.S. back line in difficult situations.”It was kind of like seeing a train wreck coming, but you couldn’t quite move from it,” defender Chris Richards said. “That’s kind of what it felt like at some points.”He added about Germany: “When they’re on the ball and they have 20, 30 yards [of space], it’s a tough team to play against.”All of this pointed to how much the U.S. is missing Adams. Saturday’s game wasn’t the first time that the U.S. has had to do without the AFC Bournemouth midfielder. The Americans claimed the Concacaf Nations League title despite him being absent, but Germany is the kind of opponent to punish mistakes more ruthlessly than Mexico or Canada, and the tenacity in midfield that was missing on Saturday is precisely the kind Adams provides.It seems unlikely Adams would have missed tackles with the same regularity that the U.S. did Saturday. With him on the shelf for the foreseeable future, it’s up to Berhalter to find a way forward. There doesn’t appear to be any easy answers.
Berhalter: Performance vs. Germany should give USMNT confidence
Gregg Berhalter explains what the USMNT can take from their 3-1 loss to Germany.
There were lessons to be had on the attacking side as well, though they were tougher to spot, especially given the wow factor of Pulisic’s goal. The U.S. created some transition opportunities of its own in the first half, with Timothy Weah taking the chance to showcase his speed on more than one occasion. Germany was certainly left to scramble a few times in order to keep the U.S. at bay, and Pulisic had one goal called back for a dubious offside call. (A penalty appeal from Pulisic was also denied.)
The U.S. cause was aided significantly by having Giovanni Reyna back in the lineup. In this calendar year, the U.S. has looked the most fluid when Reyna has been on the field, especially when he plays more centrally. Reyna did float around the field a bit, but he was involved often enough in his 45 minutes of action to give some hope that the U.S. can trouble the world’s better teams.
All that said, the U.S. was still missing some precision in the final third, which remains one of this team’s biggest weaknesses and is a big reason it hasn’t yet moved closer to the world’s elite. Not for the first time, centering passes were just a bit behind their intended targets, or just a bit too high. The USMNT’s out-of-sync attack reflected in its stats: Its xG from open play in Saturday’s match was 0.09, the lowest such mark in any game under Berhalter. As dangerous as the U.S. was at times, it absolutely has to get shots off.
Is Germany an excellent team? You bet. But the chances were there for the U.S., and it didn’t take advantage of its at times excellent approach work.
“[There are] still a lot of things that we can do better. A lot of things we improve on,” Ream added. “A lot of things to work on to be able to compete for 90 minutes, not just for 45.”
The U.S. will get a chance to show that Tuesday against Ghana in Nashville.
Christian Pulisic goal not enough for USMNT in 3-1 loss to Germany in friendly
By The Athletic Staff and more Oct 14, 2023
By Paul Tenorio and Seb Stafford-Bloor
The U.S. men’s national team fell 3-1 to Germany in a friendly Saturday after a promising first half from the American side. Here’s what you need to know:
USMNT captain Christian Pulisic opened the scoring in the 27th minute with a blistering shot from outside the box into the upper right corner. But after İlkay Gündoğan tied it up in the 39th minute, Germany dominated the second half and scored in the 58th (by Niclas Füllkrug) and 61st minutes (Jamal Musiala).
Gio Reyna started for the U.S. in his return to the squad after suffering a leg fracture in the CONCACAF Nations League final in June — it also marked his first match under coach Gregg Berhalter since their relationship came under the microscope after the 2022 World Cup.
The match was Germany’s first with new coach Julian Nagelsmann, hired in September, at the helm.
How did Reyna look?
Saturday’s game was the first time in which Berhalter and Reyna were back in U.S. men’s national team camp together. Berhalter said ahead of the game he no longer wanted to look back and instead, “it’s about talking about the future.” The Germany game provided a first opportunity to do that.
One way that happened: Reyna starting as a No. 10.
After playing mostly as a winger who came inside the pocket to find the ball in a 4-3-3 during the last cycle, the 20-year-old played in the No. 10 role in Nations League games under interim managers Anthony Hudson and B.J. Callaghan this spring and summer.
Berhalter clearly liked what he saw in those games. While Reyna was on a minutes limit — he had played just 27 minutes for club or country since injuring his leg on June 18 in the Nations League final — he started in the game in that spot.The new shape allowed Berhalter to test out a formation change when the team is missing captain Tyler Adams, who is out for an extended period of time with a hamstring injury. Yunus Musah dropped into a lower role in midfield, and Weston McKennie played in a No. 8 role behind Reyna. Pulisic and Tim Weah started on the wings.Reyna had some good moments in the first half, at one point playing Folarin Balogun through on a chance where Pulisic was in alone on goal and went down looking for a penalty after taking a touch past Marc-André ter Stegen. It was an overall positive outing for Reyna, who was subbed at halftime as he works back from his injury.The U.S. will likely look to build on it on Tuesday against Ghana. — Paul Tenorio, senior soccer writer
With Adams out due to a hamstring injury, the U.S. started with Musah as the No. 6. Germany, though, found far too much space around the edge of the Americans’ penalty box, and Adams’ ability to step in, make tackles and kill off attacks was clearly missed.The outing likely will give Berhalter some headaches as he thinks through how to best set up this team when Adams is out. He could opt for a player who is more of a traditional defensive midfielder, like Johnny Cardoso or Lenny Maloney, or he might be forced to play with two more defensive-minded midfielders in a double pivot. — Tenorio
Germany’s flaws remain much as they were. Their defense is still porous and continues to look fragile against the counter-attack. A more ruthless opponent might have built a bigger lead than the U.S. managed.Nevertheless, this was still a success. One of the long-term issues that Nagelsmann inherited was an inability to create chances. It was heartening, then, to see the Germans so potent with the ball. Nagelsmann’s gegenpress seemed well-oiled and it created opportunities, but he will also have been pleased by how much movement there was ahead of, and around the ball in the attacking third. Germany manufactured plenty of scoring opportunities through the quick, intricate passing that has been so absent from their games in 2023.Leroy Sané really should have scored at the end of a slick second half move. Füllkrug might have more than just one goal.Germany looked dangerous. More to the point, Germany were actually fun to watch and that has not been the case for a long time.It matters, too. Nagelsmann is facing a technical challenge, because there are areas of his team in which the depth of talent simply is not there, but he is also — in effect — having to remarket this team to its own country. The German public has grown disinterested and disillusioned with the national team, but performances like this, that possess vibrancy and life, will hopefully start to reverse that process.This was a good afternoon for Nagelsmann and for Germany. — Seb Stafford-Bloor, Germany soccer writer
USMNT has Adams-shaped hole in midfield, no one to fill it
Jeff Carlisle, U.S. soccer correspondentOct 16, 2023, 10:28 AM ET
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EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — Saturday’s match against Germany gave U.S. men’s national team manager Gregg Berhalter a chance to try out what he calls his “Plan B” in the U.S. midfield. Otherwise known as: Life Without Tyler Adams.
It’s not the first time the U.S. has had to rummage around in its tactical bag to find a way to compensate for the absence of the injured AFC Bournemouth midfielder. Just last June, the U.S. won the Concacaf Nations League without Adams’ influence. The situation was similar two years prior, with Adams reduced to a late, 37-minute stint in the extra-time win over Mexico in that year’s Nations League final.
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But the Americans’ 3-1 defeat to Germany on Saturday gives one pause. Neither Yunus Musah nor Weston McKennie delivered the kind of bite and ground coverage that Adams usually provides in midfield, and the center of the U.S. defense was worse for it. The U.S. was more vulnerable than usual on the counterattack, and there was general ineffectiveness in terms of putting in tackles near the top of the U.S. penalty area.
So a question that has been on the collective mind of the U.S. comes even more into focus: What is the best path forward without the Americans’ World Cup captain?
That assessment puts Berhalter in a bit of a bind given how Adams’ skill set is nearly impossible to replicate. It also highlights the reality that while the U.S. established a solid foundation at the last World Cup, building on that performance isn’t straightforward. The form of players fluctuates, as does their health. That said, Berhalter prefers to look at the at the situation in a more positive light.
“It gives us an opportunity to have a Plan B when — and if — Tyler isn’t available and we’ll work through this,” he said on a recent conference call with reporters prior to Saturday’s match against Germany.
Easier said than done.
Adams is one of the most important players on the U.S. men’s national team. His aforementioned range and tackling enable the U.S. to play with a single defensive midfielder, allowing the likes of Musah and McKennie to push further forward in a bid to augment the U.S. attack, and his overall prowess helps snuff out opposition counterattacks. That latter trait could have come in especially handy against Germany, as the U.S. was continually overrun in central positions during a 3-1 loss.
Adams’ stats bear this out. Among Concacaf midfielders who logged at least 500 minutes of playing time during qualifying for the 2022 World Cup, Adams ranked second in tackles per 90 minutes (including stoppage time) at 3.01, fourth in defensive interventions per 90 minutes at 13.15 and second in duels won at 60.8%. He put up similar numbers in the Premier League with Leeds last season, delivering 3.42 tackles per 90 minutes of actual playing time along with 14.12 defensive interventions and a duel-win rate of 57%.Yes, these numbers are a function of his position, but they also reveal he did his job well. So well, in fact, that his injury is viewed in some quarters as being a primary reason Leeds were relegated to the English Championship. His play at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar drew similar praise.Now Berhalter has to find an alternative. On Saturday, he opted to drop Musah and McKennie deeper in a double pivot. That, however, is a solution that is rife with issues.Berhalter noted how in last week’s UEFA Champions League match between AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund, Musah was deployed deeper in midfield, but Musah’s preference to carry the ball out of trouble resulted in some hair-raising moments in which possession was lost in dangerous areas. He had some similar difficulties on Saturday, although not as often.If Musah really is going to be positioned in a deeper-lying role, he’ll need to come up with a greater variety of solutions than just dribbling out of tough spots. He knows it, too.”I feel like it’s an area of the field where it’s delicate, so you have to be like, try and play simple,” Musah said on a Zoom call with reporters. “So I have to simplify my game and try to play simple one-, two-touch. Obviously, you’re not in the pockets as you are when you’re playing higher.”As for McKennie, giving him more defensive responsibility could blunt some of his better attributes, namely his ability to make late runs into the box. He’s also admitted he prefers a role that’s more expansive than playing as a No. 6.”My favorite role for sure is to play an 8 on both sides of the ball,” he told reporters via Zoom. “I don’t really … I wouldn’t say that I don’t do well, but I am someone that just likes to be free to roam around the field, and I feel like I have a good understanding of the game, a good vision of the game, and I know where I’m needed at certain points and where I’m not.”The problem is that Gio Reyna, who made his first appearance for the U.S. on Saturday since fracturing his right leg last June, also prefers some freedom. At some point, there needs to be a little less freedom and more positional discipline, something that McKennie has at times struggled with. Berhalter recognized this Saturday, eventually moving Reyna further back to help McKennie and Musah, but to no avail. In the second half, Berhalter subbed in Luca de la Torre for Reyna without much impact, but dropping him deeper just might be worth trying again.One criticism of the so-called “MMA midfield” of Musa, McKennie and Adams is a general lack of creativity and precision passing. This is an area where De la Torre’s presence could benefit the U.S. team. The downside, however, is that De la Torre is light in terms of the defensive side of the ball. Over parts of two seasons with LaLiga‘s Celta Vigo, De la Torre’s win percentage in terms of tackles, duels and aerials is 27.3%, 31% and 25%, respectively, far below Adams’ numbers of 39.7%, 57% and 63.4%. In terms of defensive interventions, he averages 5.77 per 90 minutes this season, although it’s worth noting that with Celta he’s usually playing higher up the field.erculez 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)Plenty of eyes will be on Heidenheim midfielder Lennard Maloney, Berhalter’s latest dual-national recruit. His defensive numbers over parts of the past two seasons (33%, 49.4% and 55.4%), which include a title-winning campaign in the 2. Bundesliga, veer closer to Adams, although his passing percentage of just 73.7% will need to improve.The best fit of all might be Internacional midfielder Johnny Cardoso, who has been tidy on the ball in Brazil’s Serie A (86.1% pass completions in the past three seasons) as well as solid in defense (34%, 51.1% and 57%) in the same time span. However, he hasn’t really caught the eye in the few opportunities he’s had for the U.S. (eight appearances since 2020). He’s currently in camp, and might get more of a shot against Ghana on Tuesday.
There are other options. LAFC‘s Kellyn Acosta has filled in for Adams in the past, but his play has been uneven on those occasions. Other possibilities included Venezia‘s Tanner Tessmann and the Columbus Crew‘s Aidan Morris, both of whom could get some looks with the U.S. Olympic team.Complicating matters is the question about where to deploy Reyna. Berhalter hasn’t ruled out playing the Dortmund attacker in any number of spots, be it right wing, attacking midfielder in a 4-2-3-1 or as part of a midfield three. If Reyna is used as an attacking midfielder, that will impact the decision as to who plays behind him.The next opportunity to test out the U.S. team’s midfield options is Tuesday against Ghana, followed by next month’s encounters in the Concacaf Nations League. Based on how the U.S. midfield currently looks, more experimentation is needed.
U.S. men’s soccer falls short in major test against star-studded Germany
After Christian Pulisic’s dazzling opening goal, a defensive collapse in the second half loss showed how far the Americans still have to go before hosting the 2026 World Cup.
Germany’s Jamal Musiala tries to dribble past the United States’ Joe Scally (left) and Gio Reyna during the first half.Jessica Hill / AP
EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — Given a rare chance to play a major European power, the U.S. men’s soccer team’s stars showed at times against Germany that it could rise to the moment. But after playing the first half to a creditable tie, a defensive collapse in the second half of an eventual 3-1 loss showed how far the Americans still have to go before hosting the 2026 World Cup.The packed crowd of 37,743 at Rentschler Field certainly got its money’s worth. Hershey’s Christian Pulisic scored a spectacular opener for the U.S. in the 27th minute, Ilkay Gündoğan answered in the 39th, while Niclas Füllkrug and Jamal Musiala decided the game in the 58th and 61st minutes.“The first half especially, I thought we were really good, and then it came down to some moments,” U.S. manager Gregg Berhalter said. “I think the goals were conceded a little bit too easily. … Good learning experience for the group, and we know we need to get better if we’re going to win these.”Headlining the American starters was Gio Reyna, whose presence helped finally put to bed the scandal that swept up his and Berhalter’s families. Berhalter gave Reyna a further endorsement by starting him in a central attacking midfield role, unlike the right-wing position he’s played for the U.S. in the past. Weston McKennie and Yunus Musah started in the deeper central spots.
Gio Reyna (right) battling for the ball with Germany’s Jamal Musiala during the first half.Jessica Hill / AP
Germany is not as dominant a force in the soccer world as it used to be, but the Mannschaft’s roster oozes with talent and prestige — and a much-needed dose of youth. Star playmakers Musiala (Bayern Munich) and Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen) are just 20 years old.
The highlights
Without the stakes of an official competition, the first half was wonderfully wide-open. Though the U.S. was outshot, 11-4, it gave as good as it got, including a beautiful combination in the 26th minute involving Reyna, right-back Joe Scally, and the starting front line of right winger Tim Weah, striker Folarin Balogun, and Pulisic, who played left wing.
Pulisic’s goal was one of his finest in a U.S. jersey — or any jersey. He took a layoff pass from Balogun on the left wing, cut to the middle amid two German defenders, and then sent former Chelsea teammate Antonio Rüdiger (now of Real Madrid) backward as he kept going forward. Twenty yards from goal, Pulisic uncorked a dazzling curler of a shot that German goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen had no chance to save.
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🚨 ¡Oooobra de arte de @pulisic! ¡Espectacular GOLAZO! 😱😱😱
The lead lasted 12 minutes. Leroy Sané, also of Bayern, shredded the U.S. back line with a run in from the right wing for which eight American players had front-row seats. A quick give-and-go with Gündoğan later, goalie Matt Turner was forced into a dive that pushed the ball right to Gündoğan’s feet on the doorstep.
Reyna departed at halftime in a preplanned move, replaced by Luca de la Torre. That also gave the midfield some defensive reinforcement, as de la Torre played level with McKennie and Musah instead of in front of them.
The lowlights
It didn’t feel like much reinforcement, though, when Füllkrug put Germany ahead. After recovering a Turner goal kick, the Germans built a 14-pass move under relatively little pressure that culminated in an open 12-yard shot.Füllkrug makes no mistake from there 💥
Musiala and Füllkrug teamed up on the third, with the former’s delicate chip to the latter starting the decisive give-and-go. Turner charged for the ball, Füllkrug slipped it behind him, and Musiala did the rest.
”We cost so much energy with our own counterattacks that it’s hard to really stay consistent in all of your actions [and] your defensive shape,” Berhalter said. “The games against opponents like this can’t be that open. It needs to be tighter.”
“They found space in the middle of the field, in the midfield and on top of our [18-yard] box,” he said. “Balls kind of bounced around and our shape was broken, sagging, and keeping guys onside.”
Five minutes after Germany’s third goal, Berhalter made a triple-substitution: Cameron Carter-Vickers for Chris Richards at centerback, Medford’s Brenden Aaronson for Weah, and Ricardo Pepi for Balogun. The Americans’ final subs came in the 75th, Johnny Cardoso replacing McKennie and Kevin Paredes for Pulisic.”I came on and just tried to do the best I could, really, and just tried to make some things in the final third happen,” Aaronson said.Aaronson had a highlight in the 78th when he spun around Rüdiger on the right wing, darted into the 18-yard box, then took a shove in the back from Rüdiger. But referee Fernando Guerrero of Mexico didn’t judge it a foul, and, with no video review in use, play went on.
Brenden Aaronson (left) chases after a loose ball in front of Germany’s Robin Gosens, a teammate at Bundesliga club Union Berlin.Winslow Townson / Getty Images
At the start of second-half stoppage time, Aaronson won a free kick atop the 18-yard box with some fancy footwork, and he got to take the shot. But as all 10 German outfield players and eight Americans took their places nearby, Aaronson’s attempt hit Germany’s jumping wall of defenders.“And they were all 6-foot-4, so that didn’t help,” he quipped.That felt like a pretty good metaphor for the task at hand for the U.S. men, in this game and for the next three years. At least it won’t be long until the next chance for a win: Tuesday against perennial World Cup foe Ghana in Nashville (8:30 p.m., TNT, Universo, Max, Peacock).
Why Gio Reyna hasn’t found his USMNT, Borussia Dortmund form
Ryan O’Hanlon, ESPN.com writerOct 17, 2023, 08:09 AM ET
The answer depends on who’s asking the question. The average American probably knows him as the kid whose parents tried to blackmail U.S. men’s national team coach Gregg Berhalter out of a job during the World Cup. But I think — I hope? — we can move on from that.
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To many USMNT fans, then, Reyna represents the ceiling of the team’s potential. Imagine what might’ve happened in Qatar had Reyna been healthy and not feuding with the manager?
For all of the success of the current generation — already the most successful generation of American soccer players — the likes of Christian Pulisic and Tyler Adams are top players in large part because they’re top athletes who can cover lots of space. While Reyna isn’t lacking in athletic ability or size, he offers a different kind of promise to the other top Americans — one where a playmaker steps on the ball, slows the game down, glides past defenders and slips in a through-ball. It’s a vision of American soccer that we’ve never actually seen in the real world before.When you ask everyone else in the soccer world, including his current club team, who Gio Reyna is, he exists as a projection more so than as an actual player. He’s a promising young talent in a competitive landscape with more of them than ever before. He’s a 20-year-old who has started 10 games for Borussia Dortmund since we started letting fans back in the stands.In reality, none of us really know who Gio Reyna is because none of us ever really get to watch him play.
Injured players keep getting injured, and Reyna is no different
Back in May of 2021, Reyna seemed like he was the next uber-prospect at Borussia Dortmund. We already knew about Erling Haaland by then. Jadon Sancho was pumping out goals and assists at a rate that rivaled Kylian Mbappé. Already Jude Bellingham had his jersey retired by Birmingham City.Reyna was right there with them. In fact, Reyna scored more goals, created more assists, started more matches and played more minutes than Bellingham across the 2020-21 season. At this point, Reyna was keeping elite company.Minutes played is a powerful predictor of future performance, and it’s also a solid indicator of current quality. If you’re doing winning things on a soccer field, chances are you’re going to play. And among players who are currently still in the 20-and-under age group today, Reyna had played the fourth-most total minutes across Europe’s Big Five leagues by the end of the 2020-21 season.
According to the crowd-sourced valuations at the site Transfermarkt, those four other non-Reyna players are, respectively, the 17th-, 23rd-, ninth- and third-most valuable players in the world as of today. At the top, Bellingham is valued at €150 million, while Wirtz marks the low end at €85 million. The average valuation of the four players is right around €105 million.The specific numbers matter less than how they compare to the fourth guy on the minutes list. Reyna’s current valuation sits at €25 million, which puts him in a tie with more than 60 other players for the 307th-most valuable player in the world.What happened is that, well, nothing happened. As of today, Camavinga, Bellingham, Wirtz and Pedri all rank in the top seven for minutes played among players currently age 20 and under. Camavinga is first (8,770 minutes), Bellingham is second (7,865), Wirtz is third (6,087) and Pedri is seventh (5,468). Reyna, meanwhile, has dropped down to 16th, with 3,404 minutes — now behind a pair of other Americans in Yunus Musah and Joe Scally. Put another way, Reyna has played just over 1,000 minutes over the past two-plus seasons.The main reason: injuries. Now, both Pedri and Wirtz have dealt with significant injury problems over the same stretch, and they’ve still each managed to double their minutes-played totals since the end of the ’20-21 season. Reyna, though, is injured so often that he suffers in multiple ways.
Why Gio Reyna is integral to USMNT success
Sebastian Salazar and Herculez Gomez discuss Gio Reyna’s performance on his return to the USMNT vs. Germany.Reyna misses games because he’s simply unavailable for selection. He misses games because he’s always working back from injury, so he’s rarely what any manager would consider fully fit. And he misses games because he’s so frequently out of the picture that even when he is available for selection, other Dortmund players get chosen ahead of him since they’re in front of the coach in training and matches every week.Per Transfermarkt, Reyna has already missed 67 games due to injury across his fledgling pro career. For comparison, Camavinga has missed 13 and Bellingham four. Wirtz is at 71 and Pedri is at 66, so injuries aren’t the only explanation for Reyna’s lack of game time, but all three of them have already missed a ton of matches. Perhaps the most consistently available non-defender-or-goalkeeper of his generation is Liverpool‘s Mohamed Salah. He has missed 26 matches due to injury across his entire career. He’s 11 years older than all of these guys.
How does Reyna play when he plays?
Back to that original question: Who is Gio Reyna?In his one season as a consistent starter, Reyna mostly profiled as a “dribbler” according to Michael Imburgio’s DAVIES model, which classifies players into various roles based on their statistical profiles. A dribbler, per the model, is an “attacking player that play[s] relatively high up the pitch, usually linking play between creators and finishers, and often look to beat defenders on the dribble when they receive the ball.”There are “direct dribblers” — guys who beat defenders and either shoot or create chances — and “wide dribblers” — guys who beat defenders and cross the ball — and Reyna looked like a bit of both. In his 600-something minutes from Dortmund last season, Reyna fit into a number of different roles, but he spent the biggest chunks of his time looking like either a direct dribbler or a progressive forward. The definition of the latter, from Imburgio: “Finishers that often drop deep and play progressive passes forward in addition to getting on the end of attacking move.”
Last season, Reyna attempted 3.5 shots per 90 minutes, nearly a two-shot increase on his 2020-21 rate of 1.7. While his goals unsustainably outpaced his expected goals (7 goals vs. 4.2 xG), his rate of non-penalty xG per-90 nearly tripled from his one season as a starter, from 0.18 to 0.51. Per FBref, over the last 365 days his xG-per-90 rate puts him into the 95th percentile among attacking midfielders and wingers across the Big Five leagues.
Except, more than half of all the xG he generated last season came from three shots — two of which were either from rebounds or knockdowns on set plays. While the instinct to crash the goal in these situations is a valuable one, it seems pretty unlikely that Reyna could drive this much proportionate goal-scoring if he were ever to regain a consistent spot in the Dortmund lineup.
The problem with any kind of statistical analysis of Reyna’s performance, then, is the same problem with any kind of analysis of his performance: He doesn’t play consistently enough for anyone to be confident about anything. Reyna’s career is rife with small on-and-off sample sizes.
However, if we look at all of his Bundesliga minutes over the past four seasons together, then we’re at least getting 3,000-plus minutes of game time. Over that stretch, he stands out in three specific areas among all players in Germany’s top tier. Per Soccerment, he’s in the 91st percentile for open-play expected assists. Here are all of his passes worth at least 0.05 expected assists, or xA, during his Dortmund career:
Reyna is also in the 94th percentile for the expected threat created from carries — which looks at where a carry begins and ends and then determines how much it increases a team’s probability of scoring a goal. And he’s in the 96th percentile for one-two passing sequences opened — which just means you’re the player who starts the one-two.That, overall, checks out. As a mostly teenage pro, Reyna has mainly been someone who drives the ball upfield with his feet, combines in tight spaces with teammates, and creates chances for his teammates in and around the box. If you want to take the most optimistic view possible, you can look at last season, squint a little bit, and decide that he has also added goal-scoring to that profile.I, of course, would caution against that because I’d caution against anything with Reyna, right now. At 17, he was so impressive that he looked pretty likely to become a star. In the years since, he has been so injured that it’d be hard to imagine him not continuing to get injured for the rest of his career. However, neither one negates the other. The potential for Reyna to still be a star exists, as does the potential for him to be one of those guys who never develops because he’s never healthy enough to be on the field consistently enough.
The most likely outcome, as ever, exists somewhere in between. Since 2010, 42 players have registered at least 20 non-penalty goals and assists across the Big Five leagues before their 21st birthday. Reyna is one of them. He has one fewer goal contribution than Son Heung-Min, a superstar, and one more than François Kamano, a player currently in the Saudi Pro League who you’ve almost definitely never heard of.
There’s so much that can still happen. Gio Reyna just has to play.
How Christian Pulisic’s offseason training shaped his form with AC Milan, USMNT
Christian Pulisic is a player reborn since signing for AC Milan in July. The former Chelsea winger left behind a frustrating spell in the Premier League for life in Serie A, and thus far, the American has delivered. Pulisic has scored four goals in eight games for the Rossoneri while becoming a key piece to Stefano Pioli’s new-look side.
Pulisic’s reemergence isn’t a coincidence. While he waited for a new club over the summer, Pulisic traveled to South Florida for a week of individual training with Ethan Sonis, who runs SAT Soccer in Miami. Sonis, 27, leads a five-person team of professional trainers who have amassed an impressive list of global clientele. His location in Miami certainly helps. For years, footballers have flocked to the city during their offseason.
The sessions take place under the hot Florida sun on a private field away from the cameras and scrutiny that his clients, like Pulisic, constantly attract.
“I don’t stargaze,” Sonis said. “(The players) don’t have to be perfect. I treat them like any regular human. I catch them raw. I catch them emotionally. They can get hot-headed with me. They can cry, they can scream, they can mess up.”
European-based players Paulo Dybala, Andrés Guardado, Moises Kean, Jorge Sánchez and Joaquín Correa have all worked with Sonis in Miami. A longer list of MLS players have relied on Sonis, as well. He trained Austin FC’s Sebastián Driuissi and Julián Carranza of the Philadelphia Union in 2022. Driuissi scored 25 goals and finished runner-up in the MLS MVP race last year, while Carranza had a breakout season with the Union during their MLS Cup run.
But Pulisic was the big get for Sonis. When he launched SAT Soccer four years ago, Sonis trained youth and college players. The pandemic, though, changed his business completely. When football around the world stopped, former Inter Miami winger Rodolfo Pizarro contacted Sonis and asked if he could train with him. The requests from other players continued thereafter, many of whom contacted Sonis via social media.
Pulisic’s camp reached out to Sonis before the United States’ CONCACAF Nations League semifinal versus Mexico. Milan had not yet finalized the deal to sign Pulisic for $24.2 million. French side Lyon had also shown interest. With his future briefly uncertain, Pulisic and Sonis tailored the training sessions around the three positions that Pulisic typically occupies: right wing, left wing and the No. 10.
SAT Soccer trainers Sergio Perdoma (left) and Ethan Sonis (right) with Christian Pulisic. (SAT)
“What can you do better?” Sonis asked Pulisic. “That’s the conversation I had with Christian and with any player that I work with. My goal is to prepare them to be the best. I’m not preparing them to be two or three. I’m preparing them to be number one. That’s my expectation and that’s the demand that I’m putting on them.”
“I have to get them to believe that what we’re going to do can really work and can really be successful,” said Sonis. He said that professional offseason training regimens remain “old school” with a focus on cardio.
“I’ve seen what the clubs give players,” Sonis said. “It’s just a running packet and that’s not enough.”
Pulisic arrived with his own checklist to work on, and Sonis came prepared having reviewed a number of Pulisic’s past matches with Chelsea and the USMNT. He presented Pulisic with the good and the bad, then customized a program for Pulisic that would maximize their time together – one that honed in on beating defenders off of the first touch, sharpening Pulisic’s touches in tight spaces and finishing. Because Pulisic’s next club destination was not known, Sonis covered a number of tactical scenarios as well.
“We had to be as prepared as possible and open to many different positions to get him ready for whatever league that was going to be,” Sonis said. “He does like the 10. He really enjoys that, but we said as a group, let’s prepare for everything. You’re working with such a high-level elite player, so it’s about adding pieces. Turning off his first touch. That was a big one.”
Pulisic’s injury history was another data point that Sonis had to consider. At Chelsea, Pulisic was plagued by ailments that forced him to miss more than 50 games over five seasons in London. It has become a stigma for the USMNT captain — a seemingly inevitable setback that Pulisic would face every European season.
After he signed with AC Milan, the analysis that followed centered mainly around Pulisic’s last chance to impress at a big club and whether he could stay healthy long enough to help Milan fight for their second Scudetto in three years. Pulisic’s start in Serie A is the byproduct of having had a complete and injury-free preseason under Pioli, who was among the American’s main admirers.
Pulisic takes a shot during a finishing drill in South Florida (SAT)
“For a guy like Christian, with injuries, we needed to work a lot on getting the confidence to pull through sessions without feeling anything and being confident in front of goal,” Sonis said. “That was our biggest thing.”
Pioli has been measured with Pulisic’s minutes to start the season. Through eight games, Pulisic has had just one 90-minute performance, which came in Milan’s second Serie A match against Torino. Pulisic has started eight of Milan’s 10 games (including in Champions League), often conceding his place to Nigerian winger Samuel Chukwueze.
Pulisic’s four goals, each one a different type of finish, mirror the work that he did with Sonis. Every session ended with a heavy workload in front of goal that stressed repetition and clean technique. Sonis said that the objective was to increase Pulisic’s goal-scoring production this season “to where he’s an all-around lethal finisher.” Pulisic isn’t known as a prolific goal scorer, but he is expected to be an integral part of Milan’s attack. So far, so good.
Pulisic’s latest goal for Milan was the winner in a 1-0 victory over Genoa on Oct. 7. It was a lovely bit of skill that featured a deft first touch, a turn in a tight space and a clinical finish — everything he worked on rigorously over the summer.
The goal Pulisic scored in his Milan debut against Bologna, however, highlighted his most dominant traits. From the right wing, Pulisic split two defenders with a quick burst then dribbled into the half space where he combined with Olivier Giroud. His former Chelsea teammate’s one-time pass set up Pulisic towards goal. After two close-control touches, he unleashed a shot into the opposite corner of the net.
Scoring again in the next match against Torino, Pulisic picked up the ball in the middle of the park and led a Milan counterattack. He played his other ex-Chelsea teammate, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, into space and then met Loftus-Cheek’s cross for an easy tap-in.
Pulisic’s goal against Lazio on Sept. 30 was a difficult left-footed half-volley from a Rafael Leão cross. But it was his movement that must’ve made Sonis proud. Pulisic came off the right wing and sprinted towards the penalty spot. He recognized his opportunity and took the space that Giroud had left behind. It was a training ground move and finish.
“I’m not the guy that’s teaching Christian something new,” Sonis said. “I’m just giving him another layer to say look, you can do this type of stuff. Go for it. You’re an elite player. No one should be able to touch him with the type of speed that he has.”
Pulisic was a big signing for Milan, but he isn’t the team’s star man. That’s quite the opposite when Pulisic represents his country, where he is relied upon heavily for goals and chance creation. He’ll lead the U.S. in a marquee friendly against Germany on Saturday in Connecticut. Speed and agility training was an important part of Sonis’ sessions with Pulisic, who was fresh off his first round of workouts with Sonis leading up to the CONCACAF Nations League semifinal. An inspired Pulisic was unplayable against Mexico, as he used his pace to overpower his markers and score a brace in the American’s 3-0 win.
Pulisic continued to work with Sonis up until his transfer to Milan was completed. The results were positive and Pulisic’s start in Italy is further proof.
“He enjoyed it,” said Sonis. “And I give him a lot of credit. This is Florida. It was hot and muggy. He felt in his own heart that he gave himself the best shot.”
Sonis stays in touch with each player and their respective camps and will travel to them if a player requests it. That’s especially true of Pulisic; working with him has been the pinnacle of Sonis’ short career as a professional trainer.
“Christian is the face of U.S. Soccer,” said Sonis. “He’s the guy. He’s the captain. Who would have thought three, four years ago when I started this whole business that I would be training the guy,” he said. “The best marketing for me is when Christian goes and puts two on Mexico. That’s the truth.”
Welcome to The Rondo, our weekly look around the USL Championship and beyond. I’m Nicholas Murray.This Rondo sounds like:Always Ascending by Franz FerdinandBut first…The brackets are set, now you can join more than 2,500 fans who have submitted their picks in the 2023 USL Championship and League One Playoff Bracket Challenge so far. Click the banner below to make your picks and you could win the grand prize of a 65-inch Hisense television.
1. One Big Thing – Meet the Playoff Dark Horses
Before we start, a caution – the winner of the USL Championship Final has never been lower than a No. 4 seed entering the postseason.No. 1 seeds have claimed five of the 11 Championship Finals that have previously been played, with No. 2 seeds accounting for three more.But, as we enter this year’s postseason, here are three teams seeded No. 5 or lower that based on form and squad could do the unthinkable in the 2023 USL Championship Playoffs.Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC
COLORADO SPRINGS
Head Coach: Stephen Hogan Regular Season: 16-13-5, 53pts – 5th, Western Conference Best Prior Postseason Run: Western Conference Final, 2022Why They’ll Make a RunThe Switchbacks are the hottest team in the Western Conference going into the playoffs, undefeated in their last seven games – their longest run since the 2021 season – while claiming a Western-best 17 points from their last eight outings.
The squad has changed substantially from a season ago when the side reached the Western Conference Final, but the quality is still here. Jamaican forward Romario Williams equaled a career-best with 15 goals, while goalkeeper Christian Herrera stepped into the starting role and tied for fifth in the league with 10 shutouts and seventh with 79 saves.
Colorado Springs has shown it can measure up to the best in the West. It swept its series with No. 3 seed Orange County SC and defeated No. 1 seed Sacramento Republic FC on home turf. It also took victories against two of the top three in the East in Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC and the Charleston Battery in their interconference meetings.Why They Won’tThe first hurdle is the biggest. San Antonio FC has had Colorado Springs’ number over the past four years, going 10 games undefeated in the series between the sides since the Switchbacks won 1-0 early in the 2019 season. The Switchbacks must go to Toyota Field to not only try to advance, but to end a lengthy streak of failure against SAFC.Indy Eleven
INDY 11
Head Coach: Mark Lowry Regular Season: 13-11-10, 49pts – 6th, Eastern Conference Best Prior Postseason Run: Eastern Conference Final, 2019Why They’ll Make a RunAfter a shaky start, Indy’s form has been comparable to the better teams in the Eastern Conference over the final two-thirds of the season. Since June 1, Indy’s 10 wins have only been surpassed by the top two seeds in the conference. Since August 1 the side has gone 7-3-3 to comfortably secure its first trip to the playoffs since 2019. That’s a group that’s figured some things out.
If Indy’s going to win it all, it’s almost certainly going to have to do so on the road. The good news? Indy was the second-best road team in the USL Championship in the past regular season, taking 28 points from 17 games. The Boys in Blue won away from home at Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC and the Charleston Battery and drew with the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Memphis 901 FC. Seems good.
There might be no better motivation for a group of veterans than adding the one thing that’s eluded them so far. In players like Solomon Asante and Sebastian Guenzatti, Indy has players who’ve been to the Championship Final before only to taste defeat. In Aodhan Quinn, it has a league legend who has never played in the league’s biggest game. Expect the energy to be amped up.Why They Won’tIndy’s defense tied for third-fewest goals allowed in the regular season with 38 allowed in 34 games. It also ranked 18th in Expected Goals Conceded at 44.49xGA. It had better hope the regression that seems ready to show up doesn’t appear in the next month.New Mexico United
New MEXICO
Head Coach: Eric Quill Regular Season: 13-14-7, 46pts – 8th, Eastern Conference Best Prior Postseason Run: Western Conference Semifinals, 2020Why They’ll Make a RunYou could say New Mexico United’s playoff run has already begun. With three games to go, the side was in 11th place in the West and rated a 7 percent chance to make the postseason. Since then, it’s reeled off three consecutive wins against Louisville City FC, Phoenix Rising FC, and Memphis 901 FC to get back into the playoffs. Those are no small feats, and this side has positive momentum.
New Mexico has shown it’s got enough firepower to hang with anyone. United’s 51 goals tied for sixth-most in the league this season, and they came from a variety of sources. El Salvador international Amando Moreno led the way with 10 goals, but 11 players for New Mexico scored at least twice this season. A different hero for every game? Could be.
This group has players who know what it takes to win in the postseason. Both Justin Portillo and Kalen Ryden were on Real Monarchs SLC’s 2019 title-winning squad – at No. 4, the lowest prior seed to win the title. Greg Hurst won a League One title with Union Omaha in 2021. Head Coach Eric Quill has also guided a team to playoff silverware, winning the League One title in 2019 with North Texas SC.Why They Won’tFor all its positives, New Mexico won only four road games in the regular season. To win the title, it will have to match that number in four consecutive weekends.
The US Men get a golden chance to face the toughest teams they will face other than in Copa American this summer when they face Germany Saturday afternoon at 3 pm on TNT and again Tuesday night at 7 pm vs Ghana on TNT. For the US a chance to see how our inform group of European players can compete against a Germany team who needs to win with new manager Nagelsmann in charge.
DEFENDERS (8): Cameron Carter-Vickers (Celtic/SCO; 12/0),Sergiño Dest (PSV Eindhoven/NED; 28/2), DeJuan Jones (New England Revolution; 7/0), Kristoffer Lund (Palermo/ITA; 2/0), Tim Ream (Fulham/ENG; 52/1), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace/ENG; 12/1), Miles Robinson (Atlanta United; 26/3), Joe Scally (Borussia Mönchengladbach/GER; 6/0)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Johnny Cardoso (Internacional/BRA; 7/0), Luca de la Torre (Celta Vigo/ESP; 17/0), Lennard Maloney (Heidenheim/GER; 0/0), Weston McKennie (Juventus/ITA; 46/11), Yunus Musah (AC Milan/ITA; 29/0), Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund/GER; 20/4), Malik Tillman (PSV Eindhoven/NED; 6/0)
FORWARDS (6): Brenden Aaronson (Union Berlin/GER; 34/8), Folarin Balogun (Monaco/FRA; 4/2), Kevin Paredes (Wolfsburg/GER; 1/0), Ricardo Pepi (PSV Eindhoven/NED; 18/9), Christian Pulisic (AC Milan/ITA; 62/26), Tim Weah (Juventus/ITA; 33/5)
Indy 11 Wrap Up Season Sat @ San Antonio & former GK Jordan Farr on WNDY TV
Indy Eleven scored a pair of second half goals to come from behind and defeat FC Tulsa, 2-1, on the road Saturday evening. The win improved the Boys in Blue to 13-11-9 on the season, while Tulsa fell to 9-15-9 and was officially eliminated from playoff contention. Next up, The Boys in Blue close out the regular season at San Antonio on Oct. 14. Kick is slated for 8:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. CT and will air locally on WNDY and on ESPN+. Indy has already clinched a USL Championship playoff spot, its third since joining the league in 2018.
CHS Girls are at Brownsburg Thursday night with the Regional Finals Sat night at Carmel’s Murray Stadium. The #1 Ranked CHS Boys defeated Pike in OT 1-1 (PK 4-1) in OT @ Pike. They play Sat afternoon at Murray Stadium. Head on out to watch some good play.
CHS Girls Are Sectional Champs
UEFA European Championship TV schedule
The European Championship TV schedule highlights games throughout qualifying, too. With so many teams fighting for qualification, games happen in bunches during the international breaks, even though most nations only play two or three times during those breaks.
Thursday, October 12
12:00 PM ETLatvia vs. Armenia (UEFA Euro Qualifying)
Braden Ransberger, Daniel Grave and Shane at Zionsville Soctoberfest on Sun
Goalkeeping
Congrats to Carmel High and former Carmel FC GK Mary Grace Knapp for winning Sectionals and are headed to Regionals this week.
Gio Reyna returns to the USMNT for big October games vs. Germany and Ghana
It’s the first time Reyna is available to play for Gregg Berhalter since the post-World Cup scandal that rocked not just those men, but their families. Brenden Aaronson also is on the squad.
Gio Reyna playing for the U.S. men’s soccer team earlier this year.John Locher / AP
The U.S. men’s soccer team has played 14 games since departing the World Cup last December. Some of them have been exhibitions; some of them have been official. Some have had the big-name stars; some have had prospects. But none has really mattered all that much.Now that changes, and it will stay changed. The countdown to the 2026 World Cup, which the U.S. will co-host with Canada and Mexico, officially began Thursday when manager Gregg Berhalter named his squad for marquee friendlies this month against Germany and Ghana.The biggest headline is Gio Reyna’s inclusion for the first time since Berhalter returned to the job last month. Although Reyna took part in U.S. teams earlier this year, this is the first time he’ll be available to play for Berhalter since the post-World Cup scandal that rocked not just those two men, but their families.
erhalter said he and Reyna met over Zoom a few weeks ago to clear the air.“The conversation was positive,” he said, though he didn’t offer much detail. “There is a difference between a Zoom call and being in person, but I think that both intentions are positive. And the idea is that, you know, we work together for the team to be successful. And I think we’re both prepared to do that.”Berhalter further said that “although it may take some time, we’re both aligned with what we want to accomplish.”Though Reyna will command the spotlight, the questions directed at him won’t just be about Berhalter. Reyna, 20, hasn’t played all season for his club team, Germany’s Borussia Dortmund because of the latest in a series of annoying injuries. He’s been on the bench for Dortmund’s last four games amid hints that he’d get on the field, but he did not.“How many minutes can we give him on the field, that he can build up in a safe way, and then go back to Dortmund and really propel him to make a big impact for his club?” Berhalter said. “We’re going to be creative with the minutes — we want to certainly get him on the field.”
Gio Reyna has been practicing with Borussia Dortmund but has yet to play this season.Martin Meissner / AP
Who’s in and who’s out
As for local representation, Medford’s Brenden Aaronson and Hershey’s Christian Pulisic made the cut, but Bear, Del.’s Mark McKenzie and Media’s Auston Trusty did not. Berhalter noted that McKenzie had a broken toe that cost him four games for his club, Belgium’s Genk, before a return to action Thursday.But even if he was healthy, he might not have made this squad. Cameron Carter-Vickers’ return from a nearly-two-month injury absence allowed him to join a quartet with Chris Richards, Tim Ream, and Miles Robinson that might just be the top of the depth chart. McKenzie, Walker Zimmerman (who likely will visit the Union with Nashville SC on Saturday), Trusty, and veteran John Brooks are in the next “You have four guys that could easily make the case to be on the roster that aren’t on it, and that’s just the depth of our player pool right now,” Berhalter said.The biggest absences overall are midfielder and captain Tyler Adams, who’s got a hamstring injury; and Antonee “Jedi” Robinson, who’s dealing with a groin injury that’s threatening to become a sports hernia.“He got injections before the last national team break, and he’s still struggling with that a little bit, and we want to get ahead of it,” Berhalter said. “I think this was an opportunity where he needs to cool this down because he does have inflammation in that area, and he’s in some pain.”
Berhalter’s first games back in charge of the program were last month, but a booked-up global calendar left the team only able to schedule relative lightweights Uzbekistan and Oman. Germany’s visit was set a long time ago, and drew headlines as soon as it was announced. The same with Ghana, a longtime nemesis of the Americans at past World Cups and a fine sparring partner anytime.It so happens that Germany and the U.S. are in similar boats right now because Germany is co-hosting next year’s European Championship. So it has room in its calendar that its star-studded continental brethren do not. Die Mannschaft, as the program is nicknamed, will play the Americans on Oct. 14 in East Hartford, Conn. (3 p.m., TNT, Telemundo 62, Universo, Peacock), then travel south to Philadelphia to face Mexico at Lincoln Financial Field on Oct. 17 (broadcast TBD).Ghana will travel the other way: a meeting with Mexico on Oct. 13 in Charlotte, N.C. (broadcast TBD), then to Nashville to face the U.S. on Oct. 17 (8:30 p.m., TNT, Universo, Peacock).Germany has a local tie: Its new manager, Julian Nagelsmann, is a former protégé of Union sporting director Ernst Tanner. Thirteen years ago, Tanner brought Nagelsmann into the coaching world at TSG Hoffenheim. Nagelsmann, now 36 (and still quite young by coaching standards), has since led Hoffenheim, RB Lepizig, and Germany’s biggest team of all, Bayern Munich.
New Germany manager Julian Nagelsmann is a close friend of Union sporting director Ernst Tanner.Michael Sohn / AP
The U.S. team’s next games (and Mexico’s) will be against lesser opponents, but with huge stakes: a home-and-away quarterfinal series in the Concacaf Nations League next month that will double as qualifying for next year’s Copa América. The U.S. is guest-hosting another special expanded version of South America’s continental championship, with that region’s 10 teams plus six from this one. But because the U.S. is a guest host of someone else’s event, it has to qualify.The quarterfinal opponent will be known after a quick group stage featuring lesser Concacaf teams finishes this month. Though the quarterfinal losers get a second chance in subsequent playoffs, the Americans won’t want to suffer that embarrassment.
Defenders (8): Cameron Carter-Vickers (Celtic, Scotland),Sergiño Dest (PSV Eindhoven, Netherlands), DeJuan Jones (New England Revolution), Kristoffer Lund (Palermo, Italy), Tim Ream (Fulham, England), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace, England), Miles Robinson (Atlanta United), Joe Scally (Borussia Mönchengladbach, Germany)
Midfielders (7): Johnny Cardoso (Internacional, Brazil), Luca de la Torre (Celta Vigo, Spain), Lennard Maloney (Heidenheim, Germany), Weston McKennie (Juventus, Italy), Yunus Musah (AC Milan, Italy), Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund, Germany), Malik Tillman (PSV Eindhoven, Netherlads)
FORWARDS (6): Brenden Aaronson (Union Berlin, Germany), Folarin Balogun (AS Monaco, France), Kevin Paredes (Wolfsburg, Germany), Ricardo Pepi (PSV Eindhoven, Netherlands), Christian Pulisic (AC Milan, Italy), Tim Weah (Juventus, Italy)
United States have ‘most respect’ for struggling Germany
Jeff Carlisle, U.S. soccer correspondentOct 9, 2023, 04:56 PM ET
Crystal Palace and United States defender Chris Richards said that the Americans retain the utmost respect for Germany ahead of Saturday’s friendly, despite the Euro 2024 hosts’ recent struggles.Germany has a record of 2-4-1 so far in 2023, with a recent 2-1 friendly victory over France ending a run of three straight losses — including a 4-1 humbling at the hands of Japan. That last defeat cost manager Hansi Flick his job, with Julian Nagelsmann taking his place.ichards, who spent parts of four seasons with Bayern Munich and on loan at TSG Hoffenheim said Germany’s talent requires the U.S. to believe that the four-time World Cup champions will bring their best on Saturday.I think regardless of recent results, we have the most respect for Germany and I don’t think anybody looks at the schedule and sees Germany and thinks it’s going to be an easy win,” Richards said on a conference call with reporters. “I think regardless of what team Germany puts out there, regardless of what’s going on in the background, we know they’re going to field a strong team.”And having played in Germany for four-ish years, you kind of tend to learn the German mentality and they’re all work, no play. So we expect a game like that this weekend and really looking forward to winning.”The match amounts to a rare test for the U.S. against European opposition. The last time the U.S. played a European side with at least most of its first-choice roster was in May of 2021, when the Americans lost 2-1 to Switzerland.With the U.S. co-hosting the 2026 World Cup with Canada and Mexico, there will be no qualification process to go through. Therefore, it will be important for Gregg Berhalter’s team to get the most out Saturday’s match, as well as a second friendly three days later against Ghana in Nashville, Tennessee.”I think us as a national team, we try not to focus too much on the opponents, but focus on ourselves and getting better leading up to the World Cup,” Richards said. “So we’re really going to use this game to just continue to grow and to continue to push forward.”U.S. assistant coach B.J. Callaghan confirmed that PSV Eindhoven attacker Malik Tillman will miss both matches due to an unspecified injury he picked up in last weekend’s 4-0 win over Sparta Rotterdam, a match in which he scored PSV’s opener.”It’s an unfortunate injury for Malik,” Callaghan said. “He’s been in really good form somebody that we’re looking forward to having in and we certainly wish him a speedy recovery.”
Gio Reyna’s USMNT return raises questions for Berhalter
Jeff Carlisle, U.S. soccer correspondentOct 5, 2023, 03:07 PM ET
Reyna is included in the latest U.S. roster, which was announced on Thursday for games against Germany on Oct. 14 and Ghana three days later. The matches will mark Reyna’s first action with the USMNT since fracturing his right leg in the Concacaf Nations League final against Canada last June.More critically, Reyna and Berhalter will be working together for the first time since the 2022 World Cup, when tensions between the pair led to the families of both men being engulfed by a very public feud.There are still plenty of questions about what the future holds for Reyna at international level. Foremost among these is the extent to which Reyna and Berhalter’s relationship is really mended.There was a roughly eight-month period in which the two didn’t talk following a maelstrom of incidents that stemmed from Reyna’s limited playing time at the 2022 World Cup. Berhalter afterward contributed to the subsequent outing of Reyna’s poor attitude, and in response Reyna’s family told U.S. Soccer officials about a decades-old domestic violence incident involving Berhalter.
On a conference call with reporters after Thursday’s roster announcement, Berhalter confirmed that the first step took place “weeks ago” with the two conversing over a Zoom call. He didn’t provide much in the way of details beyond that, except for saying that he and Reyna are in a “good spot” and that it was a “positive conversation.”
Berhalter did acknowledge that the process of mending the relationship is ongoing.
“I think it will take time,” Berhalter said. “It is a difference between a Zoom call and being in person. But I think that both intentions are positive, and the idea is that we work together for the team to be successful, and I think we’re both prepared to do that.”
Time will reveal the extent to which that actually happens. There are ups and downs in any coach-player relationship, and what took place over those eight months isn’t just going to wash away.
But the two have to begin somewhere, and the upcoming camp is the place to start. Reyna’s return to the national team camp raises its own set of on-field questions, though.
Reyna hasn’t played for club or country since sustaining the aforementioned right leg fracture. He has been healthy enough to be on the bench for Borussia Dortmund of late, so how much could he see the field for the U.S. team?
Berhalter indicated his approach to using Reyna in the upcoming games will be similar to his handling of Folarin Balogun during the September window. On that occasion, with Balogun working his way back to full fitness following his move to AS Monaco, Berhalter limited the forward to 45-minute stints against Uzbekistan and Oman.
Does Gio Reyna have a USMNT future after Berhalter talks?
Herc Gomez reacts to U.S. soccer sporting director Matt Crocker saying there’s “a way forward” for Gio Reyna and Gregg Berhalter.
Berhalter said on Thursday that his goal is to build up Reyna’s fitness “in a safe way” and send him back to Dortmund in a position to make a greater impact for his club.
“We’re going to be creative with the minutes,” Berhalter said in relation to Reyna. “We want to certainly get him on the field and work through both the Germany game, and seeing what position he plays. And then in the Ghana game, same thing, seeing how we can get him in different positions throughout the camp on the field.”
Where Reyna is deployed may just be the biggest question of all. During the 2022 cycle, Reyna played almost exclusively on the wing. But against better teams, the U.S. has struggled to create chances on a consistent basis and, in response, Berhalter could look at putting the creative Reyna in a position to get on the ball more.
At the 2022 World Cup — in which Reyna played a mere 52 minutes due in part to disciplinary issues — the USMNT’s xG, or expected goals, per 90 minutes of actual playing time (which includes stoppage time) was 0.91. That xG, which measures chance creation, ranked 22nd in the tournament among all 32 teams, and 12th out of the 16 teams that reached the knockout stages. Yes, that’s a small sample size, but it still points to how the U.S. could use more creativity.
One possible solution was on display last June, when the USMNT, under interim manager B.J. Callaghan, trotted out a 4-2-3-1 with Reyna in a central attacking role. Against World Cup qualifiers Mexico and Canada, the U.S. attack looked much more fluid and the attack also benefited from Reyna handling set piece duties.
STREAM FUTBOL AMERICAS ON ESPN+
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)Berhalter didn’t rule out Reyna reprising that central attacking role, but he didn’t completely commit to it either.”In terms of Gio, we see him being able to play three positions: center midfielder, attacking midfielder and winger,” Berhalter said. “And we use wingers in different ways. Sometimes the wingers are wide against the line, and sometimes they’re in between the lines, and we see him as more of an in-between-the-lines winger.”The continued absence of defensive midfielder Tyler Adams due to a hamstring injury means the U.S. manager has some other questions about his midfield to solve. Does he play with a single holding midfielder or resort to a double pivot? But in the past, Berhalter has lauded how the midfield trio of Adams, Yunus Musah and Weston McKennie played togeter, hinting that he would continue with that group if all were healthy.During the Nations League, Callaghan noted that Reyna’s ability to defend is an area where the U.S. coaching staff have asked for improvement, and the 20-year-old responded well to that challenge. If that continues to be the case, the benefits of playing Reyna centrally seem to outweigh his defensive shortcomings, especially if he has two out of Musah, McKennie and (hopefully) Adams playing behind him. It seems the time has arrived to gather more data about Reyna’s ability to operate in that midfield role.Either way, the games against Germany and Ghana will certainly provide a stern test to see if the U.S. attack — as well as Berhalter and Reyna — can move forward.
Gregg Berhalter reveals ‘positive conversation’ with Gio Reyna ahead of USMNT reunion
U.S. men’s national team coach Gregg Berhalter said he and Gio Reyna spoke over Zoom “weeks ago” and called it a “positive conversation” ahead of Reyna’s return to the U.S. team from injury — and his first camp since Berhalter was re-hired.
It will be the first time the manager and player have been together since controversy unfolded after the World Cup. The issues began with Reyna’s behavior at the tournament in Qatar and Berhalter alluding to those problems during comments at a leadership conference, albeit without mentioning Reyna by name. That eventually led to Reyna’s parents, U.S. Soccer veterans Claudio and Danielle Reyna, providing information to then-U.S. Soccer sporting director Earnie Stewart about an incident 30 years ago in which Berhalter kicked his then-girlfriend, now-wife when they were freshmen at the University of North Carolina. That prompted an investigation into Berhalter that stretched for months. Berhalter was cleared for employment at U.S. Soccer in March and eventually re-hired as manager of the national team in June.
“First of all, the conversation was a positive conversation,” Berhalter said. “Appreciative of him taking time and being able to connect and really, for us, it’s about aligning on how we’re moving forward. And I think we did that. The exact contents of the conversation I’m gonna leave private, but we’re in a good spot to prepare for this camp and to really, in my opinion, treating this very similar to how we did with (Folarin Balogun) in last camp, is build him up, build his minutes up so that he goes back to Dortmund in a better place and using him on the field in a way that he can return to Dortmund ready to go. So that’s going to be important for this camp.”
Berhalter coached his first camp back in the job last month in friendlies against Uzbekistan and Oman, but Reyna was out with a hairline fracture in his right leg that he suffered in the CONCACAF Nations League final on June 18. Reyna still has not played for club or country since suffering that injury, however he has been on the bench for Borussia Dortmund.
While he reiterated multiple times that the conversation was positive, Berhalter acknowledged that it “will take time” to mend the relationship.
“There’s a difference between a Zoom call and being in person, but I think that both intentions are positive,” Berhalter said. “And the idea is that we work together for the team to be successful. And I think we’re both prepared to do that. So I think that although it may take some time, we’re both aligned with what we want to accomplish.”
Considering the fact that Reyna has not played any minutes since June, Berhalter reiterated that this camp will be used to find him minutes and “build up in a safe way (so that he can) go back to Dortmund and really propel him to make a big impact for his club.”
The question is what position Reyna plays, though the roster announcement may have hinted at the plans. In the previous cycle, Reyna played as a winger in Berhalter’s 4-3-3 system. He slid inside to a No. 10 role under interim managers Anthony Hudson and B.J. Callaghan, and looked comfortable in that spot. He was listed as a midfielder in this latest roster announcement.
Berhalter said Reyna is capable of playing as, “a midfielder, attacking midfield and winger” and that he can be used in any of those spots with the U.S.
“We’re going to be creative with the minutes we want to certainly get him on the field and work through both the Germany game and seeing what position he plays and then in the Ghana game, same thing, seeing how we can get him in different positions throughout the camp on the field.”
(Photo: ANP via Getty Images)Paul Tenorio is a senior writer for The Athletic who covers soccer. He has previously written for the Washington Post, the Orlando Sentinel, FourFourTwo, ESPN and MLSsoccer.com. Follow Paul on Twitter @PaulTenorio
Tim Ream, the USMNT defender who is relatable, resilient and a rock for Fulham
In their Premier League years, Fulham have welcomed American representation. From the first in Marcus Hahnemann in 1999 to the exploits of Brian McBride and Clint Dempsey in the Mohamed Al Fayed years, there has been a USMNT connection.Tim Ream stands among the modern greats. The Missouri nativemade his 300th appearance for the club on Saturday, a milestone nine seasons in the making. After taking time to at last celebrate his birthday — he was 36 last week — he will link up with the USMNT for international fixtures, having left the door open for the home World Cup in 2026.You would not bet against him, after becoming a cult hero at Craven Cottage. Ream is the first player to make 300 appearances for the club since Simon Morgan 26 years ago. Morgan played for the club in the 1990s, adapting and thriving to play for the club across difficult years and then kept his place as the team rose through the leagues.Ream typically plays the numbers down. “It’s a great personal achievement but it’s all for nothing if you don’t come away with a good result,” he said after the 3-1 win over Sheffield United. “It just tells me that I’ve been here for a very long time. And still able to play at a good level.”
Ream represented the U.S. at last year’s World Cup (Brad Smith/ISI Photos/Getty Images)
This is a milestone that reflects his journey, and the connection he has with Fulham.Ream has spoken about how a player wants to make a mark when they sign for a new club, without necessarily thinking about time or accumulating appearances. The central defender has not always been a first choice but that has not changed his character and that sticks with supporters. He has enjoyed standout moments — the two play-off finals, a Championship title under Marco Silva and then his Premier League rejuvenation.But other things resonate, too. Like his time spent with then 13-year-old Rhys Porter, the supporter with cerebral palsy who raised more than £10,000 ($12,200) for the charity Scope after suffering online abuse. Or moments like on Saturday afternoon when, as opponent Chris Basham lay on the pitch in pain and most looked away from his leg injury, it was Ream who went over to him, held his hand and, in his own words, just told him it will be OK. “My first thought was to go over there and grab his hand so he didn’t try to get up, didn’t try to look at anything,” he says.There was a perfect symmetry to Ream’s 300th appearance. He made his debut for Fulham against Sheffield United in the EFL Cup in 2015. Fulham were coached by Kit Symons and were in the middle of their rudderless Championship years. Ream struggled to retain his place. Yet, eight years on, only he and club captain Tom Cairney remain on the books.
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“A lot has changed, I’ve changed, he’s changed,” says Ream. “There are guys that come and go and somehow Tom and I are still here. It says a lot that we could adapt to different styles and coaches.”
There is something relatable about Ream’s resilience over his time at Fulham too, a story of proving people wrong. It conveys respect and he has done it repeatedly. After the appointment of Slavisa Jokanovic in December 2015, the new coach told him that he had no future. “You can take it one of two ways,” Ream told the Fulham Fix podcast.
“You can move on and run away, or you can face up and make it a challenge. Jokanovic made it a challenge for me. To his credit, after that next pre-season, he stopped me in the airport after the tour and told me that I’m not going anywhere, that I’ll have an impact.”
The same mentality has applied on the international stage. He earned 26 caps between 2010 to 2017, before spending time outside of the squad after the failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. He returned in 2019 but then, during World Cup qualifying, he was omitted once more. Last year, his relentless consistency meant that USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter was left with no choice but to select him for Qatar.
Ream has needed to adapt. For his club, he has served five different managers and partnered more than 20 central defenders. Now, he is admired and respected as a Premier League centre-back, one whose virtues in possession were not properly sung before. With Fulham, he has ridden the waves of Symons and Jokanovic, of Claudio Ranieri and Scott Parker, and has found his best form under Silva. There have been ups and downs but the reality of a footballer is that some coaches and styles fit better.“That’s exactly it,” he says. “There are managers where you think, ‘I’m playing but not enjoying it’, or, ‘I’m playing but not being put in positions of strength’. When you have the flip side of the coin and you get to play for a manager, in Marco, who wants to play a certain style and you fit that style, you want to keep it.”
At 36, he is still fighting to evolve and that leaves an imprint.
“I overanalyse the mistakes more than I would have in the past,” he says. “Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing, I’ll let everyone else be the judge. It bugs the hell out of me when I make mistakes. That would be the one thing that has changed — before I could just go, ‘There’s tomorrow’. Now, it is, ‘OK, there is tomorrow, but you still have to learn, to adapt, to do well to continue to play’.”Ream comes across as unassuming and polite. His manager says that he is not a vocal leader, but one who leads by example. But you cannot survive at the top level without drive, an inner steel that sits behind his manager’s praise concerning his professionalism and commitment.Regardless of the path he has ahead, Ream has 300 appearances under his belt, and deserves the love he receives at Fulham. He does not need to prove anything to anyone now.
Lennard Maloney’s USMNT call-up inspired by FC Heidenheim’s unlikely success
What a 2023 it has been for Lennard Maloney. On Thursday, the 23-year-old midfield received his first call-up to Gregg Berhalter’s U.S. men’s national team.“Playing for the United States is one of my biggest dreams,” he told AmericanSoccerNow in 2018. “If Germany is possible, I will play for Germany. But somewhere in my heart, I want to play for the United States. I don’t know what it is. It’s just there.”So, an ambition has been realised, but this is just the latest highpoint in a six months full of peaks.Back in June, he was part of FC Heidenheim’s miracle promotion to the German Bundesliga. Since this season began, he has also been ever-present in a team manfully punching above its weight.Heidenheim is just a speck on the map. It is a town deep in south Germany, just north of Munich, that is home to 50,000 people. Its football team is no bigger. They play in a stadium that holds 15,000 and were playing at the fourth level of German football just 15 years ago. To emphasise just how far out of their weight class they currently are, Maloney is actually the first player in club history to be called up to a senior international squad.But this has been a season of firsts. They have never played in the Bundesliga before, but have taken to it well and have begun to bruise some egos. At the beginning of September, Maloney and Heidenheim mounted a stirring comeback against Borussia Dortmund, retrieving a 2-2 draw in the Westfalenstadion. Victory over Werder Bremen followed two weeks later and, most recently, FCH beat Union Berlin 1-0, in a defiant performance against a team who are playing in this season’s Champions League. Union had the better of the chances at Voith Arena, but Maloney was arguably Heidenheim’s best player, as they survived heavy pressure and a siege of crosses.
Maloney’s part in that characterised both who he is as a player and the spirit with which he plays. Nominally a midfielder, he has the build, temperament and awareness to play deeper. As Union attacked the penalty box, he operated as an extra centre-back, dropping into Heidenheim’s defensive line to win header upon header, and help to block up whatever space appeared. The victory was their second of the season and it took them above Werder Bremen, above Borussia Monchengladbach and level on points with Eintracht Frankfurt. It is territory that Heidenheim should not even be in.Maloney has had a circuitous journey to reach this point. He was born in Berlin, to a German mother and a U.S. Air Force veteran father, and joined Union Berlin’s academy when he was 13. He moved to Borussia Dortmund in 2020 but, despite making a Bundesliga appearance — as a substitute for Mats Hummels in the late autumn of 2021 — he would spend those two years with the club’s u23 side, who play in the 3.Liga, Germany’s third tier. Then, in 2022, he joined Heidenheim on a free transfer.Promotion would follow immediately and in scarcely believable fashion. Heidenheim scored a 100th-minute goal in their final game of the 2022-23 season to leapfrog Hamburg and win the 2.Bundesliga. At full time, goalkeeper Kevin Muller held his infant son in his arms and wept. Frank Schmidt, who has coached the team since 2007 and is the longest serving manager in German football history, led a wild and uninhibited celebration as the rest of Germany looked on, rubbing its eyes in disbelief. Almost immediately — universally and not without good cause — they were written off. They would enjoy their time in the top flight, everyone wrote and predicted, but would be no match for the teams within it.That has so far not been the case – and that is the context in which to place Maloney. As a younger player, he was described in progressive terms — as a defensive player who could carry the ball forward and use it well. But he is no artisan at Heidenheim. He is an underdog and a fighter — a fortifying player for whatever needs to be toughened. He does not provide much of an attacking contribution, but that is not his job. Nor will it be why Berhalter has selected him. Instead, he will have watched Maloney function as part of a deep-lying side who defend in numbers, who play quickly and directly up the pitch, and who are developing a reputation for being far harder to beat than they logically should be.Berhalter is seeking players who may be able to fill the shoes of the injured Tyler Adams, who is known for his world-class defensive actions if not for his attacking contributions. Adams, who captained the U.S. in Qatar, did not miss a qualifier in the last World Cup cycle and was considered maybe the most irreplaceable player in the squad, but a hamstring has sidelined him for some time now and a recent setback looks set to keep him out longer.“It gives us an opportunity to have a Plan B when and if Tyler isn’t available,” Berhalter said Thursday.The depth chart behind Adams is hardly set in stone. The only natural No. 6 is 22-year-old Johnny Cardoso, who starts for Internacional in Brazil. Berhalter has deputized Celta de Vigo midfielder Luca de la Torre in the role, but he is more comfortable further up the field. On Thursday, Berhalter acknowledged he may drop Yunus Musah into the deeper No. 6 spot, a role he has played recently at AC Milan, and insert an attacking midfielder like Gio Reyna or Malik Tillman as a more traditional No. 10. But Maloney now gives him another option. Berhalter mentioned that Maloney has the most distance covered in the Bundesliga as a central midfielder, but its the way he embodies Heidenheim’s fight that stuck out.Distilling Maloney’s individual virtues from that team identity is difficult. But that is precisely the point. He is what they need him to be, regardless of what his broader capabilities are. He is a ball-winner and stealer, and a formidable opponent in the air. A brick in their wall.“What really attracted the staff to him is how he plays the game with really a lot of emotion, with a lot of passion,” Berhalter said. “You see him clapping for his teammates, you see him going into tackles, a really committed player, really team-orientated player, and we’re excited to have him into camp and see what he can do.”
USMNT captain Tyler Adams could face surgery on hamstring injury
Bournemouth and USMNT midfielder Tyler Adams could be set for surgery on a hamstring injury.The 24-year-old only made his debut for the Premier League side late last month following his summer move from Leeds United.A hamstring injury had kept him sidelined since March before he came on for his first appearance from the bench against Stoke City in the Carabao Cup on September 27.However, he missed the Premier League game with Arsenal on Saturday with the fear he will now be absent for an extended period with surgery a possibility.The USMNT are next in action against Germany and Ghana later this month and also have a two-legged CONCACAF Nations League quarter-final in November.“Tyler, we don’t expect him soon again with us,” Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola said on Friday. “I think the medical staff are analysing the situation. They are asking different specialists to take the best route we have.“We still haven’t decided. But whatever the solution he takes or we take, we don’t expect him soon on the pitch. It’s the same hamstring.“He’s not feeling well. He played some minutes because he wanted to give it a try, but he didn’t have good sensations. Now, we stop because something is not going well.“Because you’ve done all the previous things, so you should be ready to perform now and things are not going well. We have to think of another solution yet. I think even surgery is not out of the question.“It’s a possibility because we have to make sure that once we have him, we have him without any issue. 100 per cent. And I think they are analysing everything now. We have to take a decision.”Bournemouth return to action on Saturday when they face Everton in the Premier League.
U.S. will need to start considering long-term plans without Adams
Analysis from senior soccer writer Paul Tenorio
Losing Tyler Adams is obviously a huge blow for the U.S., which does not have a natural No. 6 behind him on the depth chart capable of anywhere near the sort of contributions that the Bournemouth midfielder brings.U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter prefers the trio of Adams, Weston McKennie and Yunus Musah in midfield, but this now opens up the potential for more change in midfield.Berhalter could start Musah as a deeper midfielder and slide Gio Reyna into the starting lineup as a No. 10, but Reyna has also been out for an extended period of time and has yet to play in the Bundesliga this season for Dortmund. Tanner Tessmann and Luca de la Torre are also options to start in midfield, or Malik Tillman could start in an advanced role.Either way, the U.S. will have to start thinking of long-term plans without Adams as they prepare for the 2024 Copa America and 2026 World Cup.(Photo: Robin Jones – AFC Bournemouth/AFC Bournemouth via Getty Images)
Leon Goretzka and Thomas Tuchel question Germany friendlies against USMNT and Mexico
Germany midfielder Leon Goretzka and his Bayern Munich head coach Thomas Tuchel have criticised the decision for their national side to play international friendlies in North America just days before returning to Bundesliga action.Julian Nagelsmann will take charge of his first games as the Germany men’s national team coach during the upcoming international break and while his appointment promises an upswing in form, the scheduling is controversial in light of concerns about football’s schedule and the risks of player burnout.
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The game against the USMNT will take place in Connecticut on Saturday at 9pm European time (8pm BST, 3pm ET). Nagelsmann’s Germany will then face Mexico in Philadelphia the following Wednesday at 2am European time (1am BST, Tuesday 8pm ET) two days before the Bundesliga is set to resume when Borussia Dortmund play Werder Bremen on Friday evening.Dortmund trio Mats Hummels, Niklas Sule, and Niclas Fullkrug have all been selected by Nagelsmann and all three will likely be involved in that fixture, less than 48 hours after Germany’s return home.The heaviest criticism, though, has come from Bayern, with Tuchel questioning the Deutscher Fussball Bund’s (DFB, German FA) wisdom in scheduling a trip, with Germany preparing for a home European Championship next summer.“I don’t know if I’d be interested in playing against Mexico in America before a (tournament) in Germany,” Tuchel said. “I don’t know if anyone can explain this in a way that I can understand. I don’t know who decided it, but it has been decided.
“There is a difference between a busy schedule and everything away from home and in different time zones. This is at the end of the endurance. No coach in the world at this level will say otherwise.”
Plans for the trip were first reported on in January 2023, in the aftermath of Germany’s group stage elimination from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The two games were then confirmed in July 2023. During that time, Germany have won just two of their seven games, a run which led to the dismissal of Hansi Flick, who was the first manager to be sacked in the DFB’s history.
While Nagelsmann’s arrival marks the beginning of a new era, however, the negativity surrounding these upcoming games has continued. Following his head coach’s lead, Bayern midfielder Goretzka was similarly critical.
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“It’s not optimal in terms of travel and, above all, I personally find it extremely unfortunate that the second game is at 2 a.m. German time. I can’t really understand that,” he told DAZN.
“As players, we are in a situation where we do what we are told. Of course, we can be critical, but at the end of the day, we are there to perform and accept it in the best possible way.”
Germany head coach Julian Nagelsmann admitted he would likely have been similarly critical of the tour if he was still in club management, but called on his team to “deal with it in a positive way”.
“From the club coaches’ point of view, since we don’t need to lie around, it’s normal to be critical of the tour,” Nagelsmann said. “I would probably have the same opinion if I was still at the club. It’s a longer flight, but the boys know the stress. Our staff will be determined to ensure that the players come back as fit and healthy as possible. All of us are responsible for the team playing the best football for Germany. So we should use the time we have and deal with it in a positive way.”
It was a curious pairing that raised some eyebrows: FIFA president Gianni Infantino rubbing shoulders with Jerry Jones, the powerful owner of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, on a Sunday afternoon inside AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.Infantino had been invited by the Texas billionaire to watch his team take on the New York Jets, and it resulted in a rare sighting of the FIFA head in the United States, where 11 cities are preparing to host the World Cup in 2026.It was also a precursor to something more widespread: an operational planning tour to those host cities. The tour was split over two periods, with the first kicking off on Sept. 20 and lasting nine days, during which time a FIFA delegation of “operational experts” visited Miami, Houston, Kansas City, Boston, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia and Toronto. The second leg will begin next month in Dallas, reaching the remaining host cities, and conclude in Vancouver, Canada, by early November, FIFA has said.After initially communicating to local organizers that they should anticipate a September reveal for the sites of the opening match, the final, and other key dates, sources now expect an announcement by FIFA no later than year’s end.The schedule is likely a necessary first step for local organizers, who currently face an impossible task: preparing for the largest World Cup ever, while not knowing how many or which games they’ll be hosting.The 2026 final, which will be played on July 19, remains up for grabs, with several reports alluding to Dallas and New York/New Jersey as favorites to secure the coveted match. Meanwhile in Los Angeles, once a top contender for the final, is apparently at risk of its entire hosting agreement going up in flames.In the interim, here’s a summary on the 11 U.S. host cities and where things may stand with each.Capacity and stadium notes from FIFA.
New York / New Jersey
Stadium: MetLife Stadium
Capacity: 82,500
Previous World Cups: 1994, 1999
New Jersey is no stranger to hosting World Cups.
The small town of East Rutherford, N.J., where MetLife Stadium sits, has welcomed football greats like Pele and Diego Maradona, and was once the home of the New York Cosmos. It hosted games in 1994 and 1999 at the old Giants Stadium, which was demolished in 2010. MetLife was built on an adjacent lot that same year and has since been the site of some major games, like the Copa America Centenario final in 2016, when Lionel Messi infamously quit his national team after falling to Chile in penalties for a second year in a row.
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This past summer, the stadium broke its attendance record for a soccer match with 82,262 fans at a Manchester United vs. Arsenal friendly in July. There’s support for soccer at the state government level: New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and his wife Tammy are longtime part-owners of the NWSL’s Gotham FC.The region has long been expected to be a top contender to host the final given its proximity to New York City and its stadium, which has the third-largest capacity of all 16 venues bookmarked for 2026.
AT&T Stadium is reportedly a candidate to host the final (Omar Vega/Getty Images)
Dallas
Stadium: AT&T Stadium
Capacity: 94,000
Previous World Cups: 1994
Dallas has one thing that no other host city can offer – the largest capacity for games.
AT&T Stadium has a capacity of 80,000, but can expand to host an estimated 105,000 spectators. This has set the stage for record-setting crowds since it opened in 2009. That year, the stadium set an NFL attendance record with 105,121 fans. In 2010, the venue set an NBA record for the largest All-Star Game attendance with a crowd of 108,713.
Jerry Jones and the Cowboys are planning an estimated $350 million in upgrades over the next several years – a price tag that includes, among other things, converting the world’s largest center-hung HDTV video board to 4K.
Dallas hosted six World Cup games in 1994, but that was at the Cotton Bowl in Fair Park. AT&T Stadium has hosted soccer, though, including some Gold Cup games this past summer.
SoFi Stadium’s status could be in jeopardy (Ric Tapia/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Los Angeles
Stadium: So-Fi Stadium
Capacity: 70,000
Previous World Cups: 1994, 1999, 2003
Los Angeles has long been the popular choice for FIFA when it comes to marquee World Cup games in the United States. The iconic Rose Bowl stadium, which seats upwards of 92,000 fans, was the site of the 1994 and 1999 World Cup finals.
In 2026, matches will be played at SoFi Stadium, which opened in September 2020, making it the newest of all the World Cup venues. However, tensions have risen between FIFA and the Kroenke family (the stadium’s owners), over terms of the agreement to be a host venue as recently as September.
Multiple sources familiar with the discussions have told The Athletic KSE is unhappy with the terms of the deal with respect to how revenue will be shared between FIFA, the cities and the stadiums. Meanwhile, Los Angeles has already been a key fixture of 2026, with FIFA using the City of Angels as the backdrop for the brand reveal for host cities this past May.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium draws big crowds for Atlanta United and other soccer events (Alex Slitz/Getty Images for Premier League)
Atlanta
Stadium: Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Capacity: 75,000
Previous World Cups: 0
He may be biased, but Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens calls his city “the capital of soccer in this nation.” That was after U.S. Soccer announced last month plans to build a national training facility and HQ in the Atlanta area funded in part by a $50 million donation from Atlanta United owner Arthur Blank.
The city’s downtown has several major development projects underway as the 2026 World Cup approaches, with local news organizations describing the boom as the largest concentrated investment in Atlanta’s history. The largest project in that wave is closest to Mercedes-Benz Stadium, called Centennial Yards, and will feature a “mini-city” of hotels, offices, retail and apartments across 50 acres, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has reported.
NRG Stadium hosting Manchester United (Matthew Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images)
Houston
Stadium: NRG Stadium
Capacity: 72,220
Previous World Cups: 0
Houston has become a regular site for international soccer matches, including a friendly between Real Madrid and Manchester United in July and three CONCACAF Gold Cup matches just weeks before that. NRG Stadium was also host to Copa America Centenario games in 2016 and has hosted two Super Bowls in 2004 and 2017.
In December, Houston’s host city committee sent representatives to the World Cup in Qatar, where they took part in an observation program. The goal was to learn more about the operational demands of organizing a World Cup.
Houston is one of the largest cities in America by population – larger than nearby Dallas by about one million. That population is also a diverse one with an appetite for soccer. Census data as of July 1, 2022, estimates the Houston area is 22.6% Black, 6.8% Asian, 44.5% Hispanic or Latino and 24.1% White (alone, not Hispanic or Latino). About 10.8% of the population identified as two or more races. The city’s diverse population has prompted the city to invest in international games, fueling a vibrant soccer culture, organizers said. It’s also why their focus now is on what happens after the World Cup is over.
Seattle Sounders have called Lumen Field home since joining MLS (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
Seattle welcomed fans to a Copa America Centenario match in 2016 and has long had one of the most well-attended and vibrant games in MLS when the Seattle Sounders play at Lumen Field.
The city has been particularly transparent about its actions in preparing for the 2026 World Cup. City officials have posted their agreement with FIFA online, shedding a small light onto the usually obscure negotiations between the governing body and host cities. The city’s organizing committee this week also appointed Lisa Chin as its Chief Legacy Officer –a position that, so far, no other host city has invested in.
When the hire was announced, Chin compared the World Cup’s arrival in Seattle to the historic World’s Fair in 1962. The iconic Space Needle was built in the Seattle Center for the fair and has since become a symbol synonymous with the city. Seattle hopes to replicate a similar impact in 2026 – partly by investing in programs like the RAVE Foundation’s “26 by 2026” initiative, which aims to build 26 fields by 2026 in areas where access to free play may be limited.
Hard Rock Stadium has hosted many soccer events (Angel Martinez/Real Madrid via Getty Images)
Miami
Stadium: Hard Rock Stadium
Capacity: 65,000
Previous World Cups: 0
Lionel Messi sent shock waves through the international soccer world when he announced plans to play for Inter Miami in MLS, but it was just the latest in a trend that has seen Miami become a hotbed for global soccer.
The Argentine Football Federation (AFA) is preparing to build its own Miami training facility as it targets a major U.S. expansion. FIFA also has its eyes set on South Florida; the sport’s global governing body had already begun filling its newest U.S. outpost in Coral Gables, near Miami, in preparations for World Cup 2026. Jobs have been posted on LinkedIn at the new location. Then, news broke that FIFA would be relocating more than 100 jobs to Florida from Zurich, mostly its legal department.
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It’s clear that Miami will be a significant stop for FIFA operations in 2026, despite not having the stadium capacity for a final match. The city has bid for the World Cup International Broadcast Center, Media Center and FanFest, according to the Miami Herald.
“The Linc” hosted the Premier League Summer Series in 2023 (Scott Taetsch/Getty Images for Premier League)
Philadelphia
Stadium: Lincoln Financial Field
Capacity: 69,000
Previous World Cups: 2003
Philadelphia only hosted World Cup games in 2003, when the women’s tournament was relocated to the United States from China at the eleventh hour following a SARS outbreak in the original host nation. Philadelphia hosted that year’s opening game between North Korea and Nigeria, as well as several other matches.
The greater Pennsylvania region lays claim to some big soccer names, like Christian Pulisic of the U.S. men’s national team. Hailing from southern New Jersey, Carli Lloyd played her farewell match as a local inside Subaru Park, where the Philadelphia Union plays.
Local organizers say they are aware their infrastructure is limited compared to larger cities like New Jersey and New York or even Dallas. That’s why, they said, they’ve been working closely with their host city neighbors along the East Coast corridor to ensure a seamless transition of fans between games.
Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Ca. (Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
San Francisco / Bay Area
Stadium: Levi’s Stadium
Capacity: 71,000
Previous World Cups: 1994, 1999
The Bay Area will have a very busy 2026 as Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara will host World Cup games and a Super Bowl that same year. The San Francisco 49ers, who call that venue home, are planning to borrow $120 million from the NFL’s stadium fund to upgrade seating and scoreboards ahead of the World Cup games.
The Bay Area has a rich soccer culture and is currently preparing the launch of Bay FC, an NWSL expansion team slated to begin play in 2024. During the World Cups in 2023 and 2024, city officials organized a World Cup Village in San Francisco’s downtown to host public screenings of tournament matches. The event, according to officials, drew more than 12,000 spectators for the men’s tournament in 2022.
Watch parties and activities, like fan festivals, are common in host cities while games are going on. During the 2023 women’s tournament, watch parties in Australia and New Zealand attracted standing-room-only crowds inside FIFA-designated spaces.
Gillette Stadium was built adjacent to old Foxboro Stadium (Paul Rutherford-USA TODAY Sports)
Boston
Stadium: Gillette Stadium
Capacity: 65,000
Previous World Cups: 1994, 1999, 2003
Boston is one of two cities – Los Angeles being the other – that has hosted World Cup games each time the tournament has been played on U.S. soil. The now-demolished Foxboro Stadium was the last place Diego Maradona scored a World Cup goal, and the venue where he was infamously walked off the pitch hand-in-hand with a nurse before failing a drug test.
Though most of the focus has been on 2026, there remains an active bid by U.S. Soccer to host the 2027 women’s tournament jointly with Mexico. A successful run-up to 2026 could be enough to convince FIFA to continue investing in the North American game in places like Boston.
Arrowhead last hosted international soccer in a 2015 Mexico vs. Paraguay friendly (Omar Vega/LatinContent via Getty Images)
Kansas City
Stadium: Arrowhead Stadium
Capacity: 73,000
Previous World Cups: 0
The foundation for soccer in Kansas City is solid. Sporting Kansas City was one of the founding clubs of Major League Soccer and has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into the local soccer scene since. On the women’s side, the Kansas City Current has pushed the envelope on what a professional women’s club can do. Last year, the franchise opened an $18 million training facility. Next year, they plan to open a $120 million riverfront stadium where the team will play – calling it the first sports stadium in the world dedicated solely to a women’s professional sports team.
The city is also known for its loyal – and loud – fandom. Arrowhead Stadium, where World Cup games will be played, is believed to be one of the loudest stadiums in the entire world.
NWSL seeking new media rights deal: What the league should expect
The NWSL is at a crossroads. The league’s three-year media rights deal with CBS wraps up at the end of the year, and commissioner Jessica Berman expects a new deal to be in place by the end of 2023 season.
The stakes of that next deal are significant. Get it right, and the league gets a cash influx, greater connection with fans, and a resulting boost in team valuations and expansion fees. Get it wrong, and not only could games be more inaccessible than they are now, but the NWSL will continue to lag behind other leagues in building a solid financial foundation.
There are lots of questions to address. What’s a fair valuation for the NWSL to expect, especially when we’ve seen MLS and U.S. Soccer command large fees? Should the league prioritize the financials over exposure, or the other way around? What’s the long-term play here?
With the clock winding down on the league’s self-imposed deadline, here’s what we know so far about the decisions the NWSL and its board of governors will have to make in selecting the right media partner (or partners), and what the league’s history of media deals and the overall landscape could indicate.
What we know
Potential rightsholders
CBS, the NWSL’s current English-language partner in the U.S., had an exclusive negotiation period with the league that ended in January, according to NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman. The NWSL has not shared any other rights-holders they may be engaged with.
Sportico reported on Wednesday that ESPN is in the mix for the next deal for the “bulk” of games, with the network’s linear channels and ESPN+ streaming platform as options for distribution, plus the potential of carve-outs for another streaming or linear partner. Sportico didn’t have an estimate of a potential valuation for ESPN or the combination with another broadcast partner, but expected that “the league will likely secure at least 10x its CBS deal,” which would mean at least $15 million a season.
A deal by the end of the season
Earlier this month Berman said the goal was to “be in a position to finalize our media deal in conjunction with the playoffs and the conclusion of our season.” The hope is that viewership numbers spike again for the NWSL Championship — maybe cracking one million for the first time — which would be the league’s best shot to advertise how to watch next season’s games.
Endeavor is involved
Berman and the NWSL front office are working with Endeavor (and subsidiary IMG), which distributes the league’s global media rights. Endeavor is a major player in the sports world — the company has partnerships with the NFL and NHL, owns the professional bullriding league and is the majority owner of WWE and UFC under TKO Group Holdings.
Endeavor also signed a deal earlier this year to become the NWSL’s data and streaming provider, which includes running the streaming platform for the league’s international viewers on the NWSL website.
Media industry issues impacting talks
Before the Challenge Cup final, Berman answered a question about how the current state of the media industry could impact the deal
“It is a tough time for the media industry, it’s extremely fragmented, and there’s cost-cutting measures happening in almost every media property,” Berman said. “That being said, although that dynamic exists and we’re certainly aware of it, we feel really proud of how far we’ve come in the negotiations and we expect to have a great deal that isn’t really inhibited by those external factors.”
Players could benefit
The league’s collective bargaining agreement with the NWSL Players Association says that, if the league becomes profitable for the final three years of the CBA’s term, 10% of any media rights deals will go to player compensation (detailed more thoroughly in section 8.13). That’s a big “if” right now, but it remains a solid win for the PA from a long-term perspective.
Current numbers
The league has shared some viewership metrics updates throughout the year with the public, but they don’t reveal anything about the actual quantity of regular viewership. The latest one of these came in June, stating that “regular season viewers on CBS have increased 21 percent, total unique viewers on Paramount+ has increased more than 50 percent.”
Without the full context, it’s hard to know if this will be enough to truly vault the NWSL into a more financially lucrative media rights deal moving forward.
There’s no true standard for a men’s or women’s sports media rights deal — each is structured differently. The split between linear and streaming broadcasts, which entity covers production costs, editorial support, ad sales…all these and more are up for negotiation.
John Kosner, president of Kosner Media, and Ed Desser, president of Desser Media, are two industry veterans — both worked on the review of the NCAA’s media and sponsorship rights as part of the overall gender equity review of women’s college basketball. They spoke with The Athletic about what, in their view, the NWSL can expect from its next deal.
“You have to be a property that can generate, on average, a million people watching a broadcast if you want to be a true rights-fee sport,” Kosner said. “The traditional big-time deal that everybody wants would be a rights fee, with the (media) entity paying for production. For a variety of reasons having nothing to do with the NWSL, there are fewer and fewer of those to go around now.”
Right now, he said, there’s likely no network that considers the NWSL a “need to have,” but closer to a “nice to have,” and that’s entirely related to its audience size.
There is the reality, too, of a media ecosystem that has historically undervalued women’s sports.
“This traditional model relies on spreadsheets, and there’s circular logic in these spreadsheets right now,” said Colie Edison, the WNBA’s chief growth officer. She presented a hypothetical: a potential TV partner says they won’t give a women’s sports league broadcast windows because the league lacks advertisers. The advertisers won’t partner with the league without broadcast windows. Buyers tell the league that without the advertisers, they don’t get the windows. The cycle can be hard to escape (the good news here for the NWSL is that Ally has been a brand partner willing to step in on the league’s behalf with networks).
“We have to break the mold and introduce a new way to value women’s sports,” Edison continued. “That means pulling on levers around non-traditional aspects, such as who our audiences are, the diversity of our women who are playing, the strong stances they take on social justice, the community activism within our diverse audience spaces. That’s just a little bit of how we need to flip this narrative.”
In addition to the potential path the WNBA offers, there’s another sports property that could offer the NWSL a growth model according to Kosner: Formula 1.
When Liberty Media purchased F1 in 2017, the sport wasn’t pulling in a ton of U.S. viewers on a regular basis, and ESPN showed races without a traditional rights fee in their deal in 2018. However, Liberty was able to leverage the success of Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” series to increase viewership. When ESPN re-upped last year, they signed a three-year term that is worth $75-90 million annually.
F1 and the NWSL aren’t a one-to-one comparison by any stretch, but there is certainly a lesson there — namely, that building an audience in creative ways might mean a bigger payday the next time the NWSL shops around.
“I would argue that the dollar number is less important,” Desser said. “I mean, it’s easy for me to say that getting money isn’t important to your business — of course it is.”
For Desser though, the NWSL is still in its infancy, and just putting games on TV doesn’t guarantee viewers.
“It’s a multi-pronged effort,” he said. “Just getting the shelf space alone doesn’t get it done.”
A cameraperson at an OL Reign game in 2019 (Joseph Weiser/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The history of NWSL media rights deals
The NWSL’s current $4.5 million deal with CBS was signed ahead of the pandemic (and extended an extra year after COVID-19 upended the season). The league has lost money on this deal because it bears the costs of production for matches.
The league simultaneously signed an agreement with Twitch for their international rights, though that deal ended as originally scheduled following the 2022 season. Both deals were negotiated with the help of sports marketing behemoth Octagon, via a partnership agreement that included media rights consulting and marketing strategy before the league started working with Endeavor.
The CBS deal calls for six games to air on the main linear channel, including the Challenge Cup final and the championship game in primetime. CBS Sports Network airs another 23, including the playoffs, but CBSSN isn’t Nielsen-rated. By 2019, it was available in about 50 million households, but that number has likely decreased since then following a greater trend of cord-cutting. The rest of the matches are on the CBS-owned Paramount+ streaming service, though some also air on CBS’s Golazo network, which is free to watch online.
With the conclusion of the Twitch deal, the league put together some smaller deals with Tigo Sports for free-to-watch Spanish language broadcasts, TSN for distribution of the league in Canada, and DAZN for “non-exclusive broadcasting rights” for some international markets including the UK, Brazil and Spain. In 2023, Endeavor has run free streams for international viewers on the league’s website.
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History will likely judge the Twitch partnership to be a bust, especially when the platform stopped promoting the league on its homepage.
CBS has had its pros and cons, but overall has felt underwhelming. If not for league sponsor Ally stepping in to force the issue, the NWSL never would have swung a primetime slot for the Championship. CBS has collected plenty of soccer rights, and they have built out some programming around the league (such as Attacking Third), but the NWSL has never been its marquee property by any stretch.
Before CBS, the NWSL had only managed a short-term deal with ESPN for the back half of its 2019 season. The league needed that short-term deal after ending its partnership with A+E, which included an equity stake, a year early (disclosure: I worked for A&E and the NWSL’s joint media venture during this partnership).
Before that partnership, which ran from 2017 to 2019, the NWSL had one-year agreements since the inaugural season of the league in 2013, either with FOX Sports or ESPN.
ESPN’s deal for the WNBA comes in addition to a deal with Ion Network (David Becker/NBAE via Getty Images)
The sports landscape
The MLS deal with Apple is huge ($2.5 billion, for 10 years), but it should not set expectations for the NWSL.
“It gave (MLS) an opportunity to leapfrog on revenues,” Desser said. “But they had to trade off exposure in the process.” Both experts said the NWSL still has to do the opposite in the interest of its long-term trajectory.
The NWSL could look to the WNBA as a benchmark, though Desser notes that “it’s been a long, hard road” for that league. Only after over 25 years has it reached a level where it’s “accepted in the pantheon of significant properties,” as Desser said.
Earlier this year, the WNBA signed a multi-year deal to air games on Ion Network for $13 million a year. Ratings have been up for the WNBA across the ESPN/ABC platforms, but Ion Network allows the league to build appointment viewership with its fans — and it will help the WNBA be in a stronger position to negotiate with ESPN when their current deal ends after the 2025 season.
“We understand that cable models are breaking down from declining subscribers,” Edison said about the Ion deal. “We took a bold move to go back to an over-the-air model with Ion. We’re in over 110 million homes on the fifth-largest network in the country. We’re seeing those numbers in viewership prove the point that you must reach your audience and your fans where they are.”
There are other women’s sports properties currently looking to upgrade or start their media rights deals, too, from the LPGA to the PWHL, the new women’s hockey league. Across the board though, the theme is that women’s sports viewers can be left frustrated by cost-cutting measures.
And above all of this? The NFL still rules all.
“Budgets are shrinking,” Desser said. “You’re trying to get a bigger drink of water out of a slowing flow. This is the reality, and this is at a time when the NFL just got a 40% raise. So talk about taking the water out of the pond.”
The NWSL will have to earn it
Viewership of women’s sports is on the rise across the board. According to Nielsen, the demand is there — the larger challenges are still access and lack of information. “To satisfy this demand, broadcasters need to prioritize women’s sports, make them more discoverable and promote them enthusiastically,” a 2023 report concludes.
“People look at the growth of women’s soccer, the excitement about the World Cup, and say, ‘Okay, it’s just gonna happen now for us.’ Our experience is that’s not the case,” Kosner said. “It doesn’t mean that it can’t be built, that it can’t be successful, but there’s a ton of hard work to do.”
That 915,000 viewer mark for last year’s Championship — up against the World Series and college football, to boot — is a strong data point for the NWSL, but it’s only a single data point. The NWSL does have to make some sort of financial jump in their rights fee, while hopefully keeping the term fairly short so they can go back out to the marketplace again in the next few years with an even stronger audience.
The NWSL is going to have to break through existing biases around women’s sports to show potential partners that there is a waiting, untapped market to watch the NWSL — and that they can be a part of growing that audience.
Man I missed Champions League – So excited to have it back this week. Huge upsets yesterday at Arsenal and Man United lose on Tuesday. Here are the Standings as we head to the Wednesday games. Of course Wed it’s the ALL-AMERICAN game as Dortmund and Gio Reyna host AC Milan and Christian Pulisic and Musah at 3 pm on Paramount plus. Unimas has Atletico Madrid vs Feyenoord at 12:45 pm Wed while Porto vs Barcelona will be on Univision at 3 pm. The biggest game is probably New Castle United hosting PSG as the 2 Oil Money teams go head to head at 3 pm on Paramount plus. CBS Sports Network has the Pregame at 2 pm and post game shows at 5 pm – while they will have Celtic hosting Lazio at 3 pm.
MLS
Miami plays at Chicago tonight with 60K on hand – but no one knows if Messi will play or not – as he has been out basically since he got injured with Argentina 2 weeks ago. Miami needs wins tonight and Saturday if they hope to slip in as the last place team in the Eastern Conference for the playoffs.
Indy 11
Indy Eleven scored three goals at The Mike to defeat Detroit City FC 3-0, and clinched a USL Championship Playoff spot. This will be the third appearance in the USL Championship Playoffs and the first since 2019 for the Boys in Blue. Indy Eleven now sits at 12-11-9 Next up, The Boys in Blue will travel to FC Tulsa on Saturday, October 7, 2023. Kickoff is primed for 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+ before wrapping up the season at San Antonio and former GK Jordan Farr next Saturday 8:30 pm on MyIndyTV 23 & ESPN+.
High School Playoffs
At 13-1-2 the Carmel High School Boys are still #1 in the Nation on Max Preps and tops in the state with defending champs Noblesville just behind in 3rd. The Boys are in regional play this week in as they face Zionsville 12-4-1 at Zionsville this afternoon at 5:30 pm. The Carmel ladies are #1 in the state at 13-0-3 with Fishers and Noblesville right behind as Carmel is hosting sectionals this week at Murray Stadium. They beat Attucks 9-0. Carmel plays Westfield Thurs night at 5:30 pm before possibly facing Zionsville for the Championship on Sat night at 7 pm. Get out and catch some high school soccer playoffs this week – we have two of the very best teams in the country right here in Carmel.
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Expanded MLS playoff format puts the league at risk of complacency: MLS Weekly
The Athletic Soccer staffct 2, 2023
Welcome to Week 27 of our staff column collecting news, insights, and highlights from around Major League Soccer.
With just a few weeks left in the regular season, all but two teams remain in the hunt for a playoff spot. By choosing to expand its postseason this year so that 18 of 29 teams make the playoffs — 62% of the league — MLS hoped to engage more of its fan bases for longer. Never mind that the majority of teams were in the playoff picture late into last season, too. The hope was that maybe they could squeeze a few more teams into the picture and, more importantly, a few more games into the playoffs.
Is this really what a league should want, though?Playoffs are supposed to be a reward. It’s validation that a team is headed in the right direction, or that it put together a solid roster. The idea is that you earn a chance to win a championship. That is not what MLS is giving us. More importantly, failing to make the playoffs is crucial to increasing competitiveness on the field. It increases the intensity of games and pushes owners to invest more in their teams to ensure they have a playoff-worthy squad.If you went to fans of teams fighting for the eighth and ninth playoff spots, I wonder how many of them would want their teams to sneak into the playoffs rather than face the consequences of poor seasons? How many owners are going to use back-dooring into the eighth or ninth seed as a reason for not changing their investment approach, or for not making needed changes to a front office? How many sporting directors or coaches are going to use finishing in 18th place — or even 19th or 20th place — in a 29-team league as justification for a “satisfactory” approach to the season?“We made the playoffs. We were right there in the end.”The Chicago Fire lost five of seven games since returning from the Leagues Cup break. It is a reflection of the roster it built. The Fire beat a similarly bad New York Red Bulls team, 1-0, on Saturday night and suddenly it’s one point out of a playoff spot.New York City FC went from late April until mid-August winning just one MLS game. A record of 1-8-8 in that stretch. They are seven points out of what would have been the playoffs last season, a reflection of that horrid run of form. But right now they’re the eighth seed and we’re being asked to get excited to watch them in the postseason later this month.Minnesota United has won one of its last eight games. In last season’s format, Minnesota would be five points out of a playoff spot, evidence of an already-forgiving format that would have given the club plenty to play for into the final weeks, even if it still missed the postseason. This year? Minnesota is just one win away from a playoff spot.
The silver lining for MLS is that Inter Miami and Lionel Messi are alive because of the expanded format. But even that spotlights how easy it is to get into the postseason. Inter Miami was in last place before Messi arrived. He played in four MLS games and Miami went 3-0-1 in those games. Now, with its star out due to injury, Miami has been able to stay alive in the race with two draws in its last two games. They are four points out of the playoffs with four games remaining.
There is no doubt that the play-in game will be competitive and fun to watch. Knockout games bring a different sort of energy, as was evidenced at MLS is Back and the Leagues Cup. And we know the knockout games in the MLS playoffs are almost always entertaining. But it seems MLS keeps inventing ways to create do-or-die games without giving enough consideration to how a smaller playoff pool might up the intensity of the bulk of its product: the MLS regular season.ADVERTISEMENT
Are the two knockout games worth decreasing the value of the regular season so much that the 26th and 27th-ranked teams in MLS are still alive for the playoffs with just a couple of games left on the schedule?
MLS execs claim that when you look back on a season, every game matters. Sure. That’s fine. But we don’t watch sports in hindsight. Sporting Kansas City failed to win in its first 10 games of the season. Anywhere else in the world, that form is fatal. In MLS, it’s shrug-worthy. If a fan knows their team can fail to register its first win until May, like SKC, or can win one game from July 8 through Oct. 1, like D.C. United, and still have a playoff shot, why should they bother tuning in or showing up until those final weeks?
Yes, paring back the postseason means you would be forced to sacrifice inventory from the playoffs. But the hope is that in doing so you increase the importance of the entire regular season.The league wants to increase national interest in the product. It needs to find a way to get Portland fans to care about Austin-Real Salt Lake games, or Red Bulls fans to tune in to Orlando City–Charlotte FC games. It has to entice sports fans in Chicago to watch a Fire game in the summer, or New York fans to skip a Mets game to watch NYCFC. Exactly what kind of narrative are they selling that compels those fans to care? The on-field product is behind the top leagues in the world and the stakes don’t feel real until the final few weeks of the regular season.Instead of putting so much focus into developing the Leagues Cup, MLS would be smart to study whether slimming the playoffs down would help the competitiveness of its product by increasing the value of every win and thus enticing owners to invest more in the product to give their teams a better chance of making the cut. —Paul Tenorio
On Saturday, FC Cincinnati completed a remarkable turnaround that seemed unfathomable two seasons ago. Upon entering the league as an expansion side in 2019, Cincinnati quickly became an MLS laughing stock. In its first three years in MLS, Cincinnati managed just 14 wins from 91 matches. There was consistent turnover within the front office and on the touchline. Instability and a lack of vision left the club languishing in last place.But Cincinnati is now the best team in MLS. They’ve claimed their first Supporters’ Shield and first-ever MLS trophy (that isn’t wooden) after defeating Toronto FC 3-2. Under head coach Pat Noonan and general manager Chris Albright, Cincinnati has erased its previous losing mentality and replaced it with a championship culture. Even with a postseason spot locked up, the team is still chasing records. Cincinnati could overtake New England Revolution’s 2021 points record by winning its final three games and reaching 74 points. In February during the MLS preseason, Noonan spoke with The Athletic and explained why he took the job in the first place.“If you can look past (the previous seasons) you see the infrastructure, and after meeting with ownership you see the ambition,” he said. “You have a great training facility, a world-class stadium and you have the resources. At that point, it’s just a matter of getting the right people in the building to move it in the right direction.”Cincinnati is now headed toward the playoffs as the number one overall seed. They have a league MVP candidate in Lucho Acosta, a reliable center forward in Brandon Vazquez and a balanced style of play that’s perfectly suited for success in MLS. After the win in Toronto, Noonan referred to the Supporters’ Shield conquest as “a special moment for the club.” Asked if he thought it was possible when he took over last season, Noonan flashed a rare smile and revealed what is perhaps the secret to Cincinnati’s change in fortune: confidence.“You think it’s possible,” said Noonan. “Your ego, the belief always has you thinking big. Our entire technical staff, the front office, everybody. Over the two years, we’ve become so strong as a group that this was a possibility. Hopefully, it’s the beginning of more success and more trophies for this club.” — Felipe Cardenas
Sorry, St. Louis. We were wrong.
With a 4-1 win over rival Sporting KC on Saturday, St. Louis City SC broke LAFC’s record for most wins in an expansion season and became the first expansion team to win a conference crown.
With 56 points, St. Louis is just two points away from surpassing the 2018 LAFC team for most points in an expansion season. It’s a remarkable achievement for a team many picked to finish last in MLS in its first year in the league.
“You can check these boxes now, you can check a few things off the list,” head coach Bradley Carnell told reporters after Saturday’s win. “But we wanna keep on going now. We need a couple of more points to make 58 points, I believe, to make our own.”St. Louis started off the year with five wins in its first five games, and that success proved to not be an anomaly. They’ve continued to find ways to win despite having a roster that lacks a bonafide star. João Klauss and Nico Gioacchini have 10 goals apiece, while Eduard Lowen has 14 assists. A huge amount of credit goes to Carnell, who had success as an interim manager with the New York Red Bulls and has shown his high-pressing system translates to St. Louis, as well.It will be interesting to see how St. Louis can continue to push through in the playoffs. Since the midway point of the season, They are 0-4-2 against teams in the top-7 in their respective conference, with wins over San Jose (8th), Colorado (14th), Toronto (14th), Miami (13th), Austin (12th), Dallas (9th), Minnesota (11th) and Sporting KC (10th). In fact, just five of their 17 wins have come against top-7 teams this year — none since June 4. They have taken care of business against other teams, though, at a better pace than any other rival in the West, and they will enjoy home-field advantage in the playoffs. St. Louis is 11-3-2 at home.
History shows that even the best expansion teams haven’t been guaranteed anything once the playoffs start. LAFC went in as a No. 3 seed in the playoffs in that 2018 expansion season but lost to sixth-seeded RSL in the knockout round. Atlanta United was also eliminated in the knockout rounds of its successful expansion season in penalties to Columbus. Will St. Louis City be able to surpass those teams as the most successful expansion team of the modern era? — Tenorio
The newly bloated playoff picture has kept several teams in the hunt during the season’s final weeks, as Paul has already mentioned, whether they look like a team deserving of playing into November or not.
This weekend had a few high-stakes games featuring flawed playoff contenders, but LA Galaxy’s match against the Portland Timbers sums the state of the homestretch up nicely. You could forgive the home support congregated in Carson, California if they were surprised to still have a chance at a postseason berth given the team’s maddening form, the number of injuries to key players (including, at present, Riqui Puig) and the summer transfer ban. You could also forgive supporters of visiting Portland for a similar level of shock after a woeful summer swoon led to Giovanni Savarese’s dismissal.
And yet, the fact that Portland entered Saturday ranked sixth in the West while the Galaxy was only seven points out of the final play-in spot led to a wildly entertaining affair. LA center back Eriq Zavaleta was at the heart of an exciting 3-3 draw. Despite last scoring an MLS goal on April 21, 2017, the El Salvador international managed to net a brace for his team while gifting the Timbers with an own goal in between his intentional tallies. The matchup between Dairon Asprilla and Raheem Edwards featured plenty of technical tricks and back-and-forth springs, with each man netting an assist for their efforts.A tie was ultimately a fair result as neither team looked demonstrably better than the other. The point will be worth far more for Portland’s playoff hopes than the Galaxy’s, who may now need to win three of its last four games to have a hope of surpassing Dallas for ninth place. It also extended the Timbers’ strong response since Savarese’s departure, having won five and drawn two in eight games under interim coach Miles Joseph. In the end, it was another worthy installment of #MLSAfterDark. — Jeff Rueter
Trouble in Austin?
When Rodolfo Borrell left Manchester City to become Austin FC’s sporting director over the summer, head coach Josh Wolff was a big reason why. Speaking to The Athletic’s Pablo Maurer in July, Borrell, who most recently was an assistant under Pep Guardiola, believed Wolff and the positional style of play he has tried to incorporate at the club were ideal fits with his own sporting background.
“If Josh wouldn’t have been the head coach right now I would not be joining Austin FC,” Borrell said. “If I thought the style of play at Austin was too far from what I believe in, I would not have joined. That’s the reality. I am not just trying to play nice with Josh.”
Wolff on the sideline during a game between FC Dallas and Austin FC. (Photo by John Rivera/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
There’s a new reality, however. Austin has not won a match since July 15th. Last week, the hashtag “Wolff Out” was circulating on social media platform X (formally Twitter). Austin’s current winless streak stretched to 10 games after Saturday’s loss to the Colorado Rapids. Their football has become uninspiring after expectations skyrocketed with last season’s success.
Austin was poor in its inaugural season in 2021 but improved radically in 2022. They finished second in the Western Conference and battled for the Supporters’ Shield. Star attacker Sebastián Driussi finished second in the MVP race after scoring 22 goals. Driussi’s output in 2023 exemplifies Austin’s struggles. The Argentine has had a quiet season, scoring 10 goals and adding just three assists.
From the outside, one would assume that Borrell’s confidence in Wolff has been shaken. Borrell comes from Barcelona’s school of football, so anyone who coaches in Austin will have to be a very specific fit. On the other hand, Borrell may view Austin’s talent on the pitch as a bigger problem, and continue to have faith in Wolff. How Borrell chooses to fix Austin will be one of the bigger stories of the MLS offseason. – Cardenas
MLS music to your ears
In September, we ran a survey to see how viewers are consuming MLS Season Pass’ debut campaign. Over 4,000 people took time to answer questions about the new platform, spanning topics from the glossy new visuals to how Messi’s arrival has impacted coverage of their favorite teams. While the full results are still to come, here’s a preview of who viewers’ favorite play-by-play announcers and color commentators were.
Provided a list of the 19 most commonly deployed play-by-play voices, fans deemed Adrian Healey to be their favorite in a fairly balanced contest. Healey was the main voice of ESPN’s MLS coverage from 2011 to 2018 before becoming the voice of Austin FC for the club’s first two seasons. The other seven commentators to garner at least 5% of the vote mainly worked on local, club-specific broadcasts before the Apple deal: Kevin Egan (Atlanta), Callum Williams (Kansas City and Minnesota), Max Bretos (LAFC), Jake Zivin (Portland), Keith Costigan (Seattle), Steve Cangialosi (New York Red Bulls) and Chris Wittyngham (Miami).
The competition was less balanced when it came to color commentators, with the platform’s lead analyst Taylor Twellman commanding 28.6% of the vote. Fellow former United States international Maurice Edu was next, while a quartet of former team-specific analysts rounded out the pack with at least 5% of votes: Danny Higginbotham (Philadelphia), Kyndra de St. Aubin (Minnesota), Brian Dunseth (Real Salt Lake) and Lloyd Sam (Charlotte).
For all the fresh faces and innovation on offer, it turns out that fans may just want to run back ESPN’s main MLS partnership from 2012 through 2018. — Rueter
Once again, Messi watched Inter Miami from the sideline. The international superstar has sat four of the Florida team’s last five matches. It begs the question: As Miami’s MLS season hangs in the balance, when will Messi play again?
Miami has managed two draws without Messi in MLS, but fell to the Houston Dynamo midweek in the U.S Open Cup final. Pablo shared a behind-the-scenes look at the Dynamo’s triumphant U.S. Open Cup campaign. (Ed. Note: His next assignment is finding out if Héctor Herrera successfully pressured Houston owner Ted Segal into buying each player a Rolex.)
One weird thing
Fans of teams in England’s pyramid system have been adjusting to a new rule this season which bans the use of towels before a player executes a throw-in. The idea is simple: full minutes were wasted as teams prepared their heaves, and fans seldom buy tickets to check on which linens each team prefers. However, Seattle Sounders midfielder Nicolás Lodeiro showed off the entertainment potential that the FA has cast aside.The Uruguayan was allowed to retake his attempt instead of being charged with a foul throw. His redo’s eventual target? The side netting of Nashville’s goal. — Rueter
(Top photos: Nick Turchiaro and Ron Chenoy, USA Today Sports)
When will Messi play again? Inter Miami’s MLS season hangs in the balance
As the Inter Miami players filtered off the team bus and out to the field at DRV PNK Stadium on Wednesday night and Lionel Messi was not among those to disembark, the reality started to hit: If Miami wanted to win its second trophy of the year, it would have to do so without its biggest star.
Messi, wearing a black, short-sleeved button-down shirt and black jeans, arrived with his family 20 minutes later. But even with the star in the building, Inter Miami fans were left to wonder: Just how long will his absence continue, and exactly how much will the Herons have to accomplish without the transcendent player that turned around the season?
Inter Miami clearly missed Messi on the field in the U.S. Open Cup final against the Houston Dynamo. They lacked bite in the final third for much of the game, and without having to worry about Messi — or left back Jordi Alba, who sat near Messi in a pitchside suite — the Dynamo controlled much of the first hour of the game before surviving Miami’s late push and taking the Open Cup trophy with a 2-1 win.
“It was not prudent for him to play,” Inter Miami coach Tata Martino said of Messi after the loss. “Too risky, even for a few minutes. He will play in league games going forward, but will go game-by-game based on what the medical team tells us.”
That Miami played for two trophies this season and won one — the club’s first in its short history — most definitely is a huge accomplishment and speaks to Messi’s impact. But now, the final and most difficult task lies ahead. Inter Miami must continue its climb from the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings if it wants to make the playoffs. Inter Miami currently sits in 14th place in MLS’ Eastern Conference, 10 points ahead of woeful Toronto FC, but still five points shy of ninth place and a spot in the postseason play-in game, albeit with games in hand on most of the teams ahead of them.
For now, there’s not much information to go off of when it comes to Messi’s health. The team has repeatedly referred to the issue as “muscle fatigue” without ever calling it an injury or indicating the specific muscle that is giving Messi trouble. But Martino said earlier this week that the team was very much focused on fighting its way to the postseason.
“Obviously the league objective was the most difficult one,” Martino said on Tuesday ahead of the Open Cup final. “But where we are right now, we’re going to keep trying (to make the playoffs).”
Inter Miami has five games remaining in the regular season, including three over the next 10 days, all against Eastern Conference foes. They host NYCFC on Sept. 30, travel to Chicago to play in front of a massive crowd at Soldier Field on Oct. 4 and then host first-place FC Cincinnati on Oct. 7.
The team will then get a welcome break for the October international window, though as the September break showed, multiple Inter Miami players could be away with their respective national teams. Argentina plays Paraguay and Peru in its qualifiers, though it would be unlikely that they would call Messi if he is unable to play for Inter in those three league games leading into the window.
Miami then closes the season with what is essentially a home-and-home with Charlotte FC: a rescheduled game on Oct. 18 in Fort Lauderdale followed by the season-ending game in Charlotte on Decision Day, the last day of MLS’ regular season, on Oct. 21.
Notably, Miami sits just one point behind Charlotte in the Eastern Conference standings, which means those final two games could determine whether or not Miami makes the playoffs. Adding another layer of intrigue is the fact that Charlotte plays on artificial turf, which means Messi might be forced to play on that surface if Miami needs the points to get into the postseason. (Messi said last month that he would have no issues playing on an artificial surface, but did not play in Atlanta due to the aforementioned muscle fatigue.)
When Messi returns to the field will hold huge sway over the playoff picture.
On Tuesday, Messi’s longtime teammate Sergio Busquets said that every day ahead of the final gave more of a chance for Messi to recover and play a role. That, like Martino’s comments post-match, seemed to indicate that Messi’s injury is not severe enough to limit him long-term. But with the October international break two weeks away, Inter Miami may be tempted to shut Messi down until those final two games of the season to see if they can get a full-strength Messi back for the two Charlotte games, and then potentially a playoff run.
At the bare minimum, Martino said on both Tuesday and Wednesday that the team wasn’t yet contemplating shutting Messi down for the season.
“In reality, it doesn’t occur to us that he wouldn’t play the rest of the year,” Martino said on Tuesday. “If we’re here evaluating whether he can play tomorrow or not, in no way are we thinking that he might miss the rest of the league’s games. Of course, the possibility exists that the medical department tells us that we’d be running a risk, we’d eventually decide not to run those risks. But as of today, we don’t consider that possibility of him missing those games.”
That decision becomes a bit more complicated, though, depending on Miami’s results over the next 10 days. If Miami does opt to shut Messi down until after the October international window, Miami could find itself out of the playoff picture by the time those final two games of the season roll around. And if the playoffs are out of the question, it might not be worth it to risk Messi playing in two meaningless games.
It’s worth noting that Argentina plays two crucial World Cup qualifiers in the November international window, however, visiting Brazil on Nov. 20 and then hosting Chile on Nov. 24. Messi will likely be motivated to get fit and return to the field for those games.
The start of Messi’s time in MLS was a dream: 10 goals in his first seven games to win the inaugural Leagues Cup trophy. That run of so many games in a short amount of time, however, caught up to the 36-year-old.
The hope, now, is that the end doesn’t feel more like a nightmare: the loss in the Open Cup final, Messi potentially missing the majority of the remainder of the season and Inter Miami falling short of the playoffs.
Yes, it was a big weekend for a number of American players including Christian Pulisic, Folarin Balogun, Lennard Maloney, Malik Tillman, and Kevin Paredes. But the latest news on Tyler Adams set a negative tone around everything. ASN’s Brian Sciaretta digs deep for all the news & games involving Americans abroad this weekend and breaks it all down for you.
BY BRIAN SCIARETTAPOSTED OCTOBER 01, 2023 10:05 PM
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THE WEEKEND FOR Americans abroad had a lot of ups and downs. Yes, the big games from Christian Pulisic, Folarin Balogun, and a few others were very good. But there is no getting past the reinjury to Tyler Adams, which left a cloud over everything this weekend. Even as he beings rehabbing, there are now lingering questions moving forward why he can’t stay healthy.
Overall, there are more positive stories to start this season. Pulisic is finally doing well and at a place where he is appreciated. The same is the case for Sergino Dest (who is getting over an illness). But if you go through many of the key players, there is still a lack of playing time. Players like Ricardo Pepi, Brenden Aaronson, Tim Weah, Joe Scally, Tyler Adams, Gio Reyna, and Josh Sargent are either injured or struggling to see the field.
Unfortunately, that was a big theme this weekend.
Here are my thoughts on it all.
ADAMS SUFFERS REINJURY
Big story this weekend was the unfortunate news that Tyler Adams has suffered a reinjury following his 20-minute midweek shift for AFC Bournemouth in a 2-0 win over Stoke City in the Carabao Cup. That was his club debut for Bournemouth and his first performance since his initial hamstring injury in March.
Following Bournemouth’s 4-0 defeat to Arsenal on Saturday, manager
Andoni Iraola spoke to theBournemouth Echo about Adams, who was not on the matchday roster.
“I don’t know what to call it, a setback, but he is not feeling well,” Iraola said. “He has been out for a lot of time, so we have to reassess, to reset, to take the good decisions, thinking in everything. It is true that he is going to be out for some time, for sure. I think it’s the same area. I couldn’t tell you if it’s exactly the same point, but it’s true that it’s his hamstring that he is not feeling well.”
This is terrible news as Adams had been rehabbing his hamstring for months and there were reports of a setback earlier the summer. Now, following just 20 minutes, he is back on the sidelines for another extended period.
For Bournemouth, this is terrible news because the club could very easily find itself in a relegation battle and Adams is the type of player they need to push towards midtable. His absence at Leeds was a huge reason for the club’s downfall in the final months. But with a reinjury, how cautious will Bournemouth be with him once he is ready?
For the U.S. national team, it is not quite as bad. Yes, the club has Nations League games in November, but the next time the team truly needs Adams will be next summer for the Copa America. There is plenty of time for him to return for that. He is also so familiar with his team that he can walk back into the team after an absence of over a year.
Now the U.S. will be forced to address the always lingering question over who is the backup for Adams? Last cycle it was Kellyn Acosta with Johnny Cardoso in consideration. Recently it has been shifting Yunus Musah deeper. Likely for the remainder of 2023, Gregg Berhalter will need to explore this.
But the long-term worry over Adams is very real. When he first moved to Leipzig, he missed several months with an injury. Then there have been other minor absences. Now there is a hamstring pull and an immediate reinjury. It does hurt his reputation as being unreliable. The worst news would be if Bournemouth goes down after this season. Adams might have to go down with them.
PULISIC ENJOYS BIG OUTING
On Saturday in Serie A, AC Milan cruised to a 2-0 win over Lazio to move to 18 points from seven games (six wins and a loss). Christian Pulisic started and played 82 minutes while Yunus Musah came off the bench in the 29th minute to replace an injured Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
Pulisic scored the opening goal in the 60th minute on a play that was an excellent finish but also an even better reading of the defense.
Especially, look at the moment when Pulisic is just outside the penalty area. Lazio left back Elseid Hysaj (#23) clearly thought he had Pulisic figured out. He assumed Pulisic was going to make a direct run to the far post and Hysaj was content he could win that race to the back post and cut off a cross. But that thinking turned into ball watching and Hysaj didn’t bother to pick up Pulisic’s other option to the middle. Pulisic rand towards the middle of the box, behind the defense, near the penalty spot and was wide open for a shot.
It was an excellent read by Pulisic and another big impact game for him at Milan. He started the season very strong in the first three games, was quiet for a few games, and now has had two more big games in a row. In his first two months at the club, AC Milan are surely happy with their purchase.
AC Milan are likely very happy with the purchase of Musah as well. He’s a bit more raw than Pulisic and it is a process getting him towards extended minutes, but he’s getting there. His minutes are gradually increasing and the team is playing better when he’s on the field. His dribble is particularly useful in opening up the games for others as he draws defenders towards him to create space which he can either exploit or it gives him more room to find teammates in more dangerous areas.
BALOGUN’S BIG REBOUND
I said last week that we were going to learn a lot about Folarin Balogun in the weeks ahead. Last weekend in Monaco’s 1-0 loss to Nice, Balogun missed two penalties and was visibly frustrated. It was the worst game of his young professional career, and we hadn’t seen him tested like this mentally.
On Saturday at home against Marseille, he responded with one of his best performances, so far. The New York-born Balogun, 21, ended up scoring a goal and adding an assist in a big 3-2 win. He was the best player on the field this day.
With Monaco trailing 2-1 in the 23rd minute, Balogun found an equalizer on a fantastic run, move, and finish where he beat three Marseille defenders.
Overall, the talent and the skill Balogun showed in this game was extremely impressive. But the mentality to quickly move beyond a terrible game and then play at your best was even more important. It is a skill that the best forwards have. They don’t let a bad game put them into a funk.
BROOKS STRUGGLES, GIO UNUSED ON FRIDAY
On Friday in the Bundesliga, Hoffenheim dropped a 3-1 decision at home to Borussia Dortmund. Both teams were high in the table entering the day with Hoffenheim in sixth and Dortmund in fifth. In the end, this turned out to be a tough day at the office for three Americans.
First for Hoffenheim’s American manager Pellegrino Matarazzo, this was a winnable game. After starting the season so well, there were hopes Hoffenheim could prevail against a top Bundesliga team at tome.
Second, for John Brooks, he was completely at fault for the opening goal in the 18th minute. The second Dortmund goal was due to confusion among Hoffenheim defenders and Brooks was in position to make a clearance but may have been called off by a goalkeeper. In the end, he went 84 minutes in the loss. Brooks is on the outside of the national team and this won’t help him.
Then there is Gio Reyna who was an unused substitute again for the third straight game and he is yet to play for Dortmund this season. Dortmund wasn’t great in this game, but thanks to Hoffenheim mistakes, it was a great result and that makes it harder for Reyna to play. Manager Edin Terzic seems unlikely to change a winning formula.
TILLMAN’S NICE DAY AT THE OFFICE
It was expected that Eredivisie-leading PSV Eindhoven would have an easy time on Saturday against last-place and winless Volendam. In the end, that happened as PSV won 3-1 to remain perfect with 21 points from seven games, while Volendam now has just one point from seven games.
What was a bit surprising was that American Malik Tillman was the man of the match in this game for PSV with an impressive goal and an assist. It was even more surprising because just last week, he was dropped from the matchday roster due to oversleeping. But Peter Bosz decided not for an extended punishment for Tillman and gave him a surprising start.
In the 47th minute, Tillman delivered a fantastic assist to Guus Til with a lovely chip over the defense for a 2-0 PSV lead.
Then in the last minute of stoppage time with Volendam down to 10 players, Tillman added a goal when he moved into the box and fired a shot past a frozen goalkeeper.
But this was a great outing for Tillman to establish a role at PSV that will include more playing time. Yes, Volendam is bad, but this was a starting point and Tillman showed up.
Sergino Dest returned from missing a midweek game due to illness to make the bench but he did not play. Ricardo Pepi played the final 20 minutes for PSV and it was uneventful for him. Eventually he will play more, but that will only come when Bosz realizes there is a need to rotate Luuk de Jong. That point will eventually come and Pepi has done enough to at least start building positive trust with Bosz.
Another bit of good news on the American front in this game is that Zach Booth was strong for Volendam when he played the final 18 months off the bench. He only had two completed passes ( but was 2/2) but he was also 2/2 in his dribbles, 2/2 in his tackles, and was 6/7 in his ground duels.
With Volendam struggling so badly, it’s only a matter of time before they give Booth a shot to try something different. He’s at the club on loan from Leicester but if the club wants to make a battle to avoid relegation, they need to mix things up.
Booth, along with his older brother Zach, are eligible for the U.S. Olympic team. Zach is injured at the moment but it will be interesting to see if Zach gets a look with the team in the upcoming camps.
PAREDES SHARP OFF THE BENCH
On Saturday, Wolfsburg defeated Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 and two members of the 2003-born American class came off the bench.
With the score 1-0, Kevin Paredes came off the bench for Wolfsburg in the 79th minute and Paxten Aaronson came off the bench in the 82nd minute.
In the 84th minute, Paredes made a move into the box and drew a penalty which was converted by Jonas Wind for his second of the game and a 2-0 lead.
Paredes has had some very good moments off the bench over the past year and a half but has been unable to earn many starting opportunities. What is going to get him to that point? Will it take a loan, will it just take reps? At what point, what is the plan for Wolfsburg to help Paredes with the next step?
For Aaronson, his eight minutes off the bench were relatively uneventful but he has at least been earning the occasional start. Again, is a loan in the cards for him?
Internationally, both of these players have the talent to be on the U.S. national team but both would benefit tremendously from leading the Olympic team. But the big question is whether their clubs would entertain a release.
MALONEY & HEIDENHEIM STUN UNION BERLIN
On Saturday in the Bundesliga, FC Heidenheim stunned Union Berlin 1-0 to move to ninth place with seven points from six games. Entering into this season, few gave Heidenheim a chance to survive in its first ever season in the top flight (and was an amateur club into the mid 90’s). While in some games, the club struggles, it is also managing to pick off some big wins here and there. Saturday against Union Berlin was one of those days.
In the 1-0 win over Union Berlin, American defensive midfielder Lennard Maloney, 23, went a full 90. It turned out to be one of the best performances of his career because he played to his strengths of winning duels, aerials, and shielding the backline.
Maloney was 37/45 in passing over 64 touches with 4/7 in long balls and 2 hots. But his biggest contributions were defensive. He had 13 clearances, covered a ton of ground, and was 7/12 in his aerial duels.
Maloney is getting close to his first USMNT call-up and his first appearance for the United States since a U-20 call-up in 2018. It would make sense to give a look to him given the continued Tyler Adams absence and the lack of options at No. 6.
But it is another question of how he would fit into the team? His runs a lot, he isn’t that fast, it remains to be seen if he has the passing range Gregg Berhalter would want. But Maloney works extremely hard, fights for everything, and is a great teammate by all reports. He is a great fit for Heidenheim, but the U.S. team has a very different approach.
On another note, Brenden Aaronson did not get off the bench for Union Berlin. Union outshot Heidenheim 20-10 but couldn’t hit the back of the net. The team had its most disappointing result of the season without Aaronson, which probably helps his case.
WINGO GOALAZO
There isn’t much to add about Ferencvaros and its 6-1 away win over MTK Budapest other than this spectacular 63rd minute goal from Seattle’s own Henry Wingo to make it 4-1.
Wingo is back to starting at right back for the perennial Hungarian champions and is doing his part. This goal was unreal.
I am curious to see if an team in MLS tries to make a move for Wingo this winter. The former Seattle Sounder turns 28 this week.
YANKS IN ITALY
On Sunday in Serie A, Juventus visited Atalanta and played to a 0-0 draw. As has been the norm, Weston McKennie started at right wingback and was replaced late, this time in the 84th minute, by Tim Weah who helped see out the result. At the end, Juventus seemed happy with a draw after being outshot 15-5 (while Juve had the edge in shots on target, 3-2). That is something that you would not have seen with the older Juve teams that won the scudetto nine straight times. Those teams had a mindset to win every game.
This game was very boring. McKennie got on the ball plenty, 54 touches in 84 minutes but had no shots, two passes into the final third, and really wasn’t part of anything dangerous.
There are a lot of questions about Juve’s plans for their American players.
First, when will McKennie get a chance in the middle of the field. McKennie is not perfect, but he is very energetic and the team needs that.
Second, what does the team see in Tim Weah? If McKennie is what the team wants from a right wingback, why did they purchase Tim Weah? Weah is very, very different from McKennie at that position. What were they expecting of Weah?
It’s good that McKennie is a regular starter for such a legendary club. But the entire situation is different for him and for Weah.
In Serie B, Palermo defeated Sudtirol 2-1 thanks to a late winner from Giuseppe Aurelio. U.S. national team left back Kristoffer Lund, 21, started for the City Football Group owned Palermo and played a 60-minute shift. Despite the limited minutes, Lund had a good outing with 36 touches and 17/19 passing. He was 2/2 in his dribbles and was 2/3 with his crosses – one of which created a dangerous chance. He was 5/6 in his ground duels and won his only aerial duel. He also drew three fouls and did not commit a single foul.
Gradually, Lund has been taking on a bigger role at Palermo. It was always going to take some time given that he missed preseason, but he is getting closer. The next step will be longer outings as Palermo looks for promotion with its CFG backing.
Also in Serie B, Venezia defeated Modena 3-1 away on Saturday to move into third place of Serie B. Tanner Tessmann had a big game where he had 62 touches, was 38/46 in passing, created two chances with 10 passes played into the final third. He was 2/2 on the dribble, was 2/3 on his crosses, was 6/9 in his long balls, was successful in 3/3 of his tackles, won 6/9 of his ground duels, and won 1/3 of his aerials. He also did not commit a single foul.
Gianluca Busio also started and played 80 minutes in central midfield.
It’s a good experience for both Americans to be part of a promotional race in a tricky Serie B. Internationally, both have spent time with the U.S. national team but are probably strong candidates for the Olympic team where they can start and be difference makers. For Busio, however, the competition to make the Olympic team will be very challenging.
Finally in Serie B, Andrija Novakovich started for Lecco and was effective in his hold-up play during a 66-minute shift away at Cittadella. He left with his team winning 1-0. Unfortunately, he watched his team collapse late, squandering goals in the 87th minute and 89th minute to fall 2-1. Lecco sits last in Serie B with just one point from five games.
YANKS IN ENGLAND
On Sunday, Nottingham Forest played to a 1-1 draw with Brentford at home. Matt Turner made three saves on the day and afterward said he felt like the team squandered two points. A win would have pushed them inside the top 10 but now they sit 11th with eight points from seven games.
For Turner, he is on constant pressure to continue to play at a high level given that sitting behind him is Odisseas Vlachodimos, the Greek national team’s starter who was acquired from Benfica just before the deadline. This effort probably still keeps him in the starting lineup. The goal he conceded was probably savable, but it would have been a huge save.
On Saturday, Crystal Palace travelled to Old Trafford and came away with a big 1-0 upset win against a struggling Manchester United team that is now in 10th place. Chris Richards came into the game in the 88th minute to see out the win, which he did. He only had two touches but managed to make a nice clearance. He didn’t have to complete a single pass. Overall, this is going to be the norm for him unless there are injuries at the club. He needs to make a move in the winter.
Sheffield United are still without a win following a 2-0 away loss to West Ham on Sunday. Auston Trusty played the final 11 minutes for Sheffield United but didn’t have to do much. At some point, he will probably get chances to start as he has now been with the club for two months and is integrated (after he missed preseason). With the club sitting on just one point, they’ll probably want to try something different.
On Monday, Tim Ream, Antonee Robinson, and 15th place Fulham host their closest geographic rival in Chelsea, which sits in 15th place.
It was an especially tough weekend for Americans in the Championship.
Stoke City rallied for a 3-2 away win over Bristol City. Lynden Gooch started at right back for Stoke but was pulled at halftime when they were trailing 3-2.
Preston North End fell from first to third following a brutal 4-0 loss at home West Bromwich Albian (with Daryl Dike likely out until December or January. Duane Holmes, who has been having a solid start to the season, started for Preston North End and was subbed out in the 64th minute with PNE trialing 3-0.
Coventry defeated Queens Park Rangers 3-1 away in London on Saturday. Reggie Cannon is still not on the roster year for QPR. U.S. national team forward Haji Wright has been seeing his minutes decrease at Coventry recently and he only played the final 11 minutes in this game (he entered with Coventry up 3-0). He is under a lot of pressure as the club’s record signing. For QPR, American forward Charlie Kelman went as an unused substitute.
Norwich City, managed by former U.S. international David Wagner, defeated Birmingham City 2-0 to end a two-game skid. They moved into seventh place with the result. Josh Sargent remains out for Norwich.
YANKS IN GERMANY
Borussia Monchengladbach won their first Bundesliga game this season on Saturday with a 3-1 road win over winless Bochum. Joe Scally was dropped from the starting lineup after a tough start to the season. He came on in the 72nd minute with all the scoring finished. He ended up with 16 touches and was just 2/5 in passing.
Jordan Pefok started and played 64 minutes in the win. He picked up a generous assist on the team’s third and final goal but was a workhorse up top in his hold up play. He won 5/8 of his ground duels and won 3/10 of his aerials. He connected on 14/16 of his passes. He is slowly getting better after a tough season. But to get back into the national team picture, he needs goals. The forward position on the national team is improving and he needs to score to stand out.
Also in the Bundesliga, FC Koln dropped a 2-0 decision at home to VfB Stuttgart to remain with just one point from five games. One week after making his professional debut, Damion Downs made another appearance for Koln – this time playing the final 14 minutes in the loss. Unlike last game, Downs wasn’t dangerous in this one, as Stuttgart held him in check.
Still, Downs is 19 and is slowly getting integrated into a Bundesliga team, albeit a bad one. He should continue to get chances. If they get relegated, he should figure into their plans to get promoted. A German-American, Downs has played for U.S. youth national teams in the past. It will be interesting if he can sneak into a U.S. U-23 team cam to compete for a spot against players like Duncan McGuire or Matthew Hoppe.
In the 2.Bundesliga, it was mostly struggles for Americans.
Hansa Rostock defeated Eintracht Braunschweig 1-0 on Saturday. Johan Gomez started as second striker and went 82 in the loss. Overall, he wasn’t able to generate much offense and Braunschweig has fallen to 17th in the 18-team league to me.
St. Pauli defeated Hertha BSC 2-1 away on Saturday and moved to the top of the table of the 2.Bundesliga. Houston-born head coach Fabian Hurzeler has been a revelation since taking the job last December at the age of 29. Last year, he took them from the brink of the relegation zone and almost had them qualify for the promotional playoffs. Now they are leading the way in the 2.Bundesliga.
On Sunday, Greuther Furth played Elversberg to a 1-1 draw away. Julian Green was suspended for this game for Furth while fellow German-American Maximillian Dietz was subbed into the game in the 82nd minute for Furth – which sits in 13th place.
Also on Sunday, Terrence Boyd was subbed into Kaiserslautern’s 2-2 away draw with Osnabruck in the 76th minute. With Kaiserslautern trailing 2-1, Boyd missed a penalty in the sixth minute of stoppage time but saw his team equalize two minutes later.
YANKS IN SPAIN
In La Liga, Celta Vigo visit Las Palmas on Monday but Luca de la Torre will not play as he is suspended for being sent off (for his second yellow card) last Thursday in Celta’s 1-1 draw with Deportivo Alaves. Celta Vigo sits on the edge of the relegation zone with just five points from seven games.
On Saturday in the Segunda, Eibar defeated Tenerife 3-0 but American winger Konrad de la Fuente missed out on the win as he remains out injured with a muscle injury.
On Sunday in the Segunda, Mirandes defeated Real Zaragoza 1-0 on the road, aided by the fact Zaragoza had to play the second half down a man. Jonathan Gomez played the final 23 minutes for Mirandes and was on the field for his team’s winning goal, an own goal.
YANKS IN THE NETHERLANDS
On Sunday Agustin Anello, 21, made his first start for Sparta Rotterdam after his first four appearances were all coming off the bench. The winger from Florida ended up going 74 minutes in a 2-1 loss to Excelsior and left shortly after Excelsior equalized the game 1-1. It was a quiet day for him as he only had 33 touches and 11 completed passes in the defeat. Sparta remained in sixth place after the loss.
Still, Anello is eligible for the U.S. Olympic team and might be seen as a potential option for an upcoming camp to give him a chance to compete for a spot on the U-23 team next summer.
Also in the Eredivisie, Anthony Fontana as an unused substitute for PEC Zwolle in a 2-1 loss to Heracles and he is still looking for his club debut. Taylor Booth remained out injured for Utrecht and missed the club’s ugly 2-0 loss at home to Almere City. Utrecht sits 17th in the 18-team Eredivisie.
On Sunday, AZ Alkmaar defeated Fortuna Sittard 4-0 on Sunday and Djordje Mihailovic played the final seven minutes in the win and he was the fifth and final substitution. Mihailovic was decent in his limited minutes, creating a decent chance, going 6/7 in passing, and being on the field for the final goal. It’s been tough for him, but AZ has been flying with 19 points from seven games. They’re in second, just two points behind a perfect AZ.
In the second tier Eerste Divisie, John Hilton went 90 minutes for Dordrecht in a 1-1 draw with FC Eindhoven. Justin Che played the final two minutes for second-place ADO Den Haag to see out a 3-0 win over MVV Maastricht. Gedion Zelalem played 90 minutes for Den Bosch in a 3-0 away win over Groningen.
YANKS IN BELGIUM
On Saturday, Gaga Slonina started for Eupen on Saturday in a 3-1 loss at home to Anderlecht. After a strong start to the season, this was the fourth loss in a row for Eupen as they fell to 11th place in the 16 team First Division A. One of the goals he conceded was an own goal from his right back.
Slonina is doing okay. He occasionally lets in goals he should save, but he’s also letting in some bad goals too. But things are going to get more serious for him soon as the second half of the season will likely be a relegation battle and Slonina will be under pressure to keep his team up.
On Sunday, Genk hosted Westerlo and the two teams played to a wild 3-3 draw. Regarding Americans, Mark McKenzie’s toe injury continues to keep him out of action, and he again had to sit a game out. Griffin Yow also is yet to make his season debut he was out for Westerlo. The one American to play was Bryan Reynolds who played the complete game for Westerlo.
Reynolds has been playing very well defensively in recent games and in this game, he was again very important on that side of the ball. He won 5/7 of his ground duels and was 2/2 in his aerials. He had 10 recoveries and was 3/4 in his tackles. He also created one very dangerous chance for Westerlo in the first half.
Things are not great for Westerlo. They are dead last with three points from nine games. But if they can put forth an effort like this game, they should be able to make a climb soon. As for Reynolds, he’s also improving after a very slow start to the season. He should be in with the U.S. U-23 team in October to begin to make a case to be the team’s starting right back heading into Paris.
Marlon Fossey started and went 70 minutes for Standard Liege in a 2-1 win away at OH Leuven. He left the game when the score was 1-1. Standard Liege is slowly getting their act together with two wins over the last three games. Fossey hasn’t been the explosive contributor that he was last season but with Standard’s gradual improvement, Fossey seems likely to improve as well.
Sam Vines was still injured and did not play for Royal Antwerp in their 0-0 draw at Mechelen. Antwerp remained in fifth place with the result.
Alex Mighten remained injured and did not suit up for Kortrijk in a 2-1 win over Cercle Brugge on Friday. Kortrijk moved out of last place with their first win of the year.
YANKS ELSEWHERE
In France’s Ligue 1, Le Havre fell to Lille at home 2-0. Emmanuel Sabbi, 25, came into the game in the 70th minute with his team trailing by two. He made a limited impact with only nine touches over his 20 minutes and was 2/3 in passing.
In Scotland, there was a huge upset as Aberdeen defeated Rangers 3-1 at Ibrox. American midfielder Dante Polvara, 23, started and went 80 minutes for Aberdeen. He left with the score 2-1. Rangers had a 71/29 possession edge and Polvara was chasing the game, along with his teammates. But he still was good enough on both sides of the ball to lift Aberdeen in to seventh place while sinking Rangers into third, seven points from leaders Celtic. Polvara is having a good month as he also scored two weeks ago in the Conference League in an away trip against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Meanwhile in the Premiership, Scott Pittman played the last 21 minutes for Livingston in a 1-1 away draw against St. Johnstone. Pittman is Livingston’s all-time leader in appearances. Finally, Cameron Carter-Vickers remained out for Celtic and missed the 2-1 win over Motherwell.
In the Austrian Bundesliga, George Bello started for LASK against Wolfsberger, but the former Atlanta United left back was pulled at halftime. Overall, that is not a good sign for Bello who is fighting for minutes and is not considered a first-choice starter. LASK remain in third place in the league but are six points behind second place Sturm Graz.
Meanwhile, Sebastian Soto remains out following back surgery and he was not part of Austria Klagenfurt’s 0-0 draw away at BW Linz.
In the Portuguese top tier, Vizela dropped a 3-2 loss at home to Portimonense. Last week, Alex Mendez came off the bench for his season debut and delivered a late equalizing assist off a corner. In this game, he was the fifth and final sub for Vizela in the 69th minute when his team trailed 2-1. With Mendez on the field, Vizela equalized in the 85th via an own goal but squandered the winning goal two minutes later.
Mendez was busy in this game, going 21/24 in passing in his 24 minutes. He had 27 touches and was good in possession, but only managed to create a half-chance for Vizela towards the end. Still, he should continue to get rotational minutes moving forward. Vizela sits 14th in the 18-team league with five points from seven games.
In Norway’s Eliteserien, Bob Bradley and Stabaek dropped a painful 1-0 loss at home to remain four points deep in the relegation battle. This team needs a win – badly. On Wednesday, they host HamKam and it is almost a must-win.
Also in Norway, Sam Rogers was subbed out just the 34th minute for Lillestrom in a 2-0 loss at home to Brann. Given it was a double substitution, it was likely a major tactical adjustment after Lillestrom fell behind 1-0 and Rogers was already on a yellow card.
Finally in Norway, Christian Cappis made his club debut for Molde on Sunday when he played the final 10 minutes in a 4-0 win over Viking. Cappis is at Molde, on loan from Brondby, for the remainder of the Norwegian season. Molde sit fifth in the Elitserien.
In Sweden, Joe Gyau did not play for Degerfors in its 3-2 loss to Sirius. It’s a good thing he didn’t as Degerfors had a 2-0 lead into stoppage time when the conceded three goals to lose and sink four points deep into the relegation hole.
In the Greek Super League, Caleb Stanko came off the bench in the 70th minute to help preserve a 1-0 lead over Panaitolikos. The American defensive midfielder idd his job and the club held on for a 1-0 win. Lamia sits midtable in seventh place in the 14-team league.
Joe Efford recently joined PAS Giannina after his contract with Motherwell was terminated by mutual consent. On Sunday, the 27-year-old from Georgia made his debut in Greece’s top tier when he played the final 29 minutes in Giannina’s 3-0 loss at home to leaders Olympiakos. PAS Giannina have lost three in a row and are in 11th place.
Finally, Erik Palmer-Brown was injured and missed Panathinaikos’ 2-2 draw with PAOK. Midweek, he was forced out of his club’s 4-1 win over Asteras Tripolis at halftime.
In Croatia, Rokas Pukstas remains injured, and he missed out on Hajduk Split’s huge 1-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb in the Eternal Derby. Hajduk remains in first with 21 points through nine games.
In Iceland’s top tier Besta Deild Karla, second place Valur defeated FH Hafnarfjordur 4-1. Former USMNT forward Aron Johannsson, who plays as a midfielder now, scored Valur’s third goal in the 66th minute. He was subbed out in the 76th minute.
In Argentina’s Copa de la Liga Profesional, Huracan played San Lorenzo to a 1-1 away draw. Alan Sonora played 89 minutes for Huracan and was not on the field for San Lorenzo’s late equalizer. Sonora nearly scored on a 55th minute shot that went just wide. But he has found footing with his career back with Huracan after a very difficult move to Club Juarez. His younger brother, Joel Sonora, did not get off the bench for Huracan.
In Mexico’s Liga MX, Club America defeated Pumas 1-0 on Saturday night. Alex Zendejas came into the game in the 65th minute but didn’t contribute much in the win. Through 10 games, Club America sits atop the table with 21 points, one point ahead of Tigres.
After a strong start to the season, Club Juarez is starting to fade and has lost two in a row. On Friday, they dropped a particularly ugly 5-1 loss away to Tijuana. Sebastian Saucedo was subbed into the game for Juarez in the 58th minute with his team down 3-1.
In Brazil, Johnny Cardoso did not suit up for Internacional in a 2-0 loss at home to Atletico MG.
Fan of a Premier League club? Stop laughing at Arsenal and Manchester United…
The result means Manchester United have opened a Champions League campaign with consecutive defeats for the first time in the history of the tournament, after their earlier loss to Bayern Munich.
The key words in that above paragraph are this season — previous triumphs of Premier League sides, such as Manchester City’s Champions League win last season and Chelsea’s in 2021, count for nothing.
That means rival Premier League supporters would do well to put down their PSG and Leipzig scarves and pull out a St. George’s flag for Wednesday night’s games. Here’s what you need to know.
What’s this new rule I need to know about?
We’ve covered this previously but there was so much mickey-taking in our discussion tabs and on social media on Tuesday night that we thought it was worth recapping.
The Champions League is expanding from 32 to 36 teams next season and one of those additional spots could potentially go to the Premier League side that finishes fifth.
Two of those additional four extra places will be awarded to the two best-performing countries in European competitions, with ranking points are awarded for every match — group-stage and knockout — in UEFA’s three club competitions. The collective performance of all competing nations in this season’s tournaments will be determined by the total number of ranking points obtained by their clubs, divided by the number of participating clubs.
UEFA calls these places the ‘European Performance Spots’. Catchy, we know.
Had the change been made at the start of last season, Liverpool (who finished fifth in the Premier League) and Atalanta (who finished fifth in Serie A) would have made it into the Champions League as teams from England and Italy performed best in European competition.
But the fact that there are eight English clubs playing in Europe this season already makes things more difficult for Premier League clubs — and that was before Manchester United shot themselves in the foot against Galatasaray.
Manchester United have lost both their European games this season (Getty Images)
Liverpool and West Ham United both won their opening Europa League fixtures. But Brighton & Hove Albion fell to a surprise 3-2 defeat at home to AEK Athens, and in the Conference League, Aston Villa — who beat Brighton 6-1 last time out — lost 3-2 at Legia Warsaw.
It means England is currently sat, wait for it, 16th in UEFA’s seasonal rankings, behind member associations including Greece, Iceland and Israel.
UEFA season country coefficients 2022/23
POSITION
COUNTRY
CLUBS
TOTAL POINTS
AVERAGE
1
Turkey
3/4
31
7.75
2
Belgium
5/5
24
4.8
3
Netherlands
4/5
23
4.6
4
Poland
2/4
17.5
4.375
5
Italy
7/7
30
4.285
6
Denmark
2/4
17
4.25
7
Germany
7/7
29.5
4.214
8
Greece
4/5
21
4.2
9
Portugal
4/6
24
4
10
Czechia
3/4
16
4
11
Spain
7/8
31.5
3.937
12
Iceland
1/3
11.5
3.833
13
Israel
2/4
15
3.75
14
France
6/6
21.5
3.583
15
Croatia
1/4
13.5
3.375
16
England
8/8
27
3.375
Yes, there is a ridiculously long way to go. It’s only the start of October. And member associations are rewarded with a large number of bonus points if a club from their country goes on to win one of UEFA’s three club tournaments.
But English clubs are already up against it due to the large number of Premier League sides in Europe this season, and clubs crashing out in the group stages will make it far more unlikely that the fifth-place club will be rewarded with a spot in the Champions League come May.
So, if you support a Premier League club who might well finish fifth this season, you’d be wise to stop your sniggering. We’re looking at you, Tottenham fans.
Where can I find out more?
If that put you in the mood for some more UEFA rules and regulations, click here for a far more detailed look at how the Champions League is changing forever at the end of this season.And if you think this article is a load of nonsense and you want to revel in the hilarity of it all, click below.
Newcastle v PSG and the Saudi-Qatar feud that won’t go away
Matt Slater Oct 4, 2023 Press officers normally have to drag the stars of the show to the media waiting for them in the mixed zone and getting them there does not mean they will actually stop and talk.There was no dragging required, though, for Newcastle United’s ambassadors at the Champions League draw in Monaco at the end of August: sporting director Dan Ashworth and chief executive Darren Eales were delighted to be there and, apparently, even happier with the set of fixtures they had just been given.“It’s amazing,” said Ashworth. “It’s been a 20-year wait to play against the top teams in Europe and we’ve certainly got that in our pot, haven’t we? So, it’s very exciting. Brilliant for the fans, brilliant for the players, brilliant for the staff — it’s what the Champions League is all about.”Group F: Ligue 1 winners Paris Saint-Germain, Bundesliga runners-up Borussia Dortmund, seven-time European champions AC Milan, and 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup winner Newcastle United.
“It’s the supergroup of death,” said Eales, with a huge grin on his face, while Ashworth, bouncing with adrenalin, added: “We’ll embrace the challenge.”And so they have. A highly professional 0-0 draw at the San Siro a fortnight ago was a good start, but it will be the nights under the lights at St James’ Park where we will really see the tightness of that embrace. First up, on Wednesday, PSG.When asked by reporters after the draw if the games against PSG would carry a little more weight than the others, Ashworth was momentarily lost for words. He genuinely did not appear to understand the question.
Mohammed bin Salman (far right) at the World Cup talking to FIFA president Gianni Infantino (Amin Mohammad Jamali/Getty Images)
“Qatar versus Saudi Arabia,” we prompted, reminding him that this contest is between two clubs bankrolled by neighbouring Gulf states.“Oh, I hadn’t thought about that,” he said. “I was just thinking about it in a football context.”And that is the only context, isn’t it? Qatar and Saudi Arabia have buried the hatchet after that nasty business with the blockade and are best friends again, right? Weren’t their heads of state (de facto in Saudi Arabia’s case) wearing each other’s football scarves at the World Cup in Qatar last year?“Relations between Qatar and Saudi Arabia have repaired further and faster with the Saudis than with the other states that moved against Qatar,” explains Dr Kristian Ulrichsen, the author of Qatar and the Gulf Crisis, the definitive account of the colossal falling-out that erupted in 2017 between Qatar on one side and Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on the other.“The image of (Saudi crown prince) Mohammed bin Salman draped in a Qatari scarf during the World Cup sent a powerful visual signal that the bad blood of the blockade era was over, at least at the highest political and diplomatic levels.“The World Cup really brought Qataris and Saudis together at a people-to-people level after the strains of the previous few years and the celebrations after Saudi Arabia defeated Argentina showed that most people have moved on from that period.”
This writer visited Qatar during the crisis, when “the quartet” had cut all diplomatic and economic ties with the country and the small but very wealthy peninsula in the Persian Gulf felt like a place under siege. Everyone talked about how empty the hotels, malls and restaurants were and there was a heavy security presence outside every public building.But there was also a flourishing of Qatari national pride. There were flags and large pictures of Sheikh Tamim, Qatar’s emir, everywhere and everyone seemed confident the country would keep coming up with solutions to the everyday problems thrown up by the dispute.There was a lot of pride on display during the World Cup, too, but it was different. The tournament was a triumph the majority of Arabs could enjoy.“If this match was being played in 2018, then the nature and tone of it would be very different,” says ProfessorSimon Chadwick, an expert on sport and geopolitics at the SKEMA Business School.“Then, Saudi Arabia and Qatar were amid a fractious diplomatic feud, which was being fuelled by the petulance of an inexperienced, though increasingly powerful, Mohammed Bin Salman, a provocative (U.S. president) Donald Trump and his unpredictable interventions in the Gulf region, and a country focused on projecting itself through football, most notably the 2022 World Cup.
Saudi fans enjoy themselves at the World Cup (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
“Since then, things have changed dramatically and the temperature between the two nations has considerably subsided. Trump is gone, MBS (as Mohammed bin Salman is more commonly known) feels more secure and assured, Qatar has enjoyed its big moment in the spotlight, and diplomatic relations have been re-established.“Nowadays, the two nations are, in general, peacefully co-existing.”James M Dorsey, a senior fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute, agrees with Ulrichsen and Chadwick.“(Qatari-Saudi relations) have gone back to being a friendly rivalry — sport is just another part of the infrastructure of that rivalry,” says Dorsey.Great, we all agree, then: there is no added needle to this contest. All of Newcastle’s new fans in Saudi Arabia — and PSG’s fans there, too — can sit back and enjoy the game on the device of their choice, at home or in a more public space. Just like everybody else.r can they?While Qatar and Saudi Arabia seem to be on the same page with each other when it comes to relations with regional bogeymen Iran, Israel and Turkey, the need to resolve the bitter civil war in Yemen, and keeping tabs on more extreme versions of Islam, there is one area where the Arab brothers are still at loggerheads: who gets to televise or stream elite sport.A full commentary of this dispute would last longer than Wednesday’s game, so here is the edited version.When Saudi Arabia and co declared war on Qatar’s economy in 2017, one of the fronts they opened up was a sophisticated digital piracy operation aimed at beIN Media Group. Based in Qatar’s capital Doha and owned by the state, beIN dominates the sports and entertainment landscape across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, as well as having a significant presence in France, Turkey and a dozen other major markets.The name of this piracy operation was beoutQ and, for more than three years, it stole beIN’s satellite feed and repackaged it, at a fraction of the price, for Saudi customers. Furthermore, beIN was banned in the kingdom, with its staff booted out and equipment pinched.Qatar responded by making a complaint to the World Trade Organisation and also starting arbitration proceedings in London against the Saudi government. In the meantime, beIN’s bosses asked the leagues and governing bodies, to whom they had written large cheques for their media rights, to use their influence in their own countries to force Saudi Arabia to shut down beoutQ.While this was big news in Qatar, as beIN was forced to shed staff and give up some rights, it did not make waves in the United Kingdom until Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) decided it wanted to buy Newcastle United in early 2020. This presented a problem for the Premier League as PIF is the piggy bank MBS is using to modernise Saudi Arabia and diversify its economy, which is fine but not while another arm of the Saudi state is stealing the league’s intellectual property in a proxy battle with Qatar.What followed was months of confusion while beIN stood up for its rights, the Premier League fought its corner, Newcastle United’s past and present owners furiously lobbied the UK government to force the sale of the club through, and the club’s fans wondered what on earth was going on.The Saudis, offended by the suggestion that pirating Premier League content was not very collegiate, stormed off and it looked like the takeover was off.
But, as 2020 ticked over into 2021, the plates were shifting in the Gulf. The blockade had clearly not worked, tempers had cooled, and the problems had subsided. It was time to make up. So the leaders of the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE — met in the desert city of Al-Ula in January 2021 and agreed to call it all off, including Qatar’s arbitration cases (there were more than just beIN’s).Ten months later, beIN was unbanned in Saudi Arabia and — in a remarkable coincidence — PIF’s takeover of Newcastle United was approved.Now, we have already told you that this was not the start of a beautiful friendship for beIN and Saudi Arabia, so we have ruined that surprise, but quite how bad things remain between beIN, one of Qatar’s most famous and successful companies, and its largest potential market is really quite remarkable.
Mohammed bin Salman (left) greets Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, ahead of the Arab League Summit in May (Bandar Aljaloud / Royal Court of Saudi Arabia / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
First, there was a long lag between the Al-Ula agreement and beIN being allowed to operate again in Saudi Arabia. Then, in July 2021, The Athletic reported that beIN staff, including its founder and president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, faced “daily cyberattacks”, “malicious hacks” and “commercial sabotage”. BeIN did not point the finger at Saudi Arabia, but it did not need to.Still, things did seem to settle down for a year or so in the run-up to the World Cup, which beIN and Qatar had been building up to for a decade.However, one hour before the opening ceremony on November 20, the same opening ceremony that most experts on the region thought was the clearest signal yet for a return to the natural order in the Gulf, beIN’s new streaming platform, TOD, was blocked in Saudi Arabia.Anyone trying to log on to the service was met with a message that said: “Sorry, the requested page is violating the regulations of the Ministry of Media.
“To unblock the page, you may send an official request to: Ministry of Media — Electronic Publishing. Email: emedia@moci.gov.sa”.
The error message Saudi users receive when trying to log on to TOD
If anyone has received an answer from the ministry, can they forward it to beIN, please? Eleven months on, TOD is still blocked, nobody has explained why, and beIN has given up complaining about it, publicly anyway.
When asked for comment about the impasse, which effectively means the only way for anyone in Saudi Arabia to watch the Champions League, Premier League, La Liga, Wimbledon, the NBA and more is through a now very old beIN set-top box or an illegal stream. In fact, after more than six years of watching illegal streams of sport, an entire generation of Saudi sports fans no longer know the difference.
It is hardly surprising, then, that beIN has very quietly resumed its arbitration case against the Saudi government. It was asking for $1billion in damages last time, as that was the claimed cost of beoutQ’s piracy for the first six months of the blockade. At that rate, we are talking about a claim north of $5billion now.
“The Al-Ula agreement was supposed to end all ongoing legal cases initiated during the blockade, but it can be read as referring to state parties rather than private companies,” says Ulrichsen.
“BeIN probably straddles the two, but it may feel the Saudis have broken the spirit of the 2021 agreement to restore beIN by banning the streaming service.”
The obvious question here is what is Saudi Arabia playing at?
On the one hand, we have MBS justifying the country’s extravagant spending on sport as part of a strategic vision to make Saudi Arabia’s economy less dependent on fossil fuels by massively boosting tourism and attracting foreign investment, while also encouraging Saudi Arabia’s young population to be more healthy.
But, on the other hand, we have a nation that still seems to think all intellectual property is theft… and they’re nicking it. This seems like an incredibly counter-productive approach to a country that is desperate to host more major events and build better links with international broadcasters.
Of course, it did appear to have a plan for resolving this in the run-up to the 2022 World Cup. The plan for Saudi Arabia to buy a stake in beIN, thereby avoiding the high cost of trying to build a rival to beIN, was one of the worst-kept secrets in the media industry.
But that secret has been replaced by one of the best-kept secrets in the media industry: why that deal broke down.
Some believe it was a simple disagreement over price. Others say it was more of an age-old dispute between these two parties about control, as in Saudi Arabia finding it very hard to believe that Saudi Arabia should not be in charge of every pan-regional venture.
Either way, everyone agrees that there are really only two ways out of this embarrassing and potentially expensive situation for Saudi Arabia: take on beIN or buy it.
Dorsey believes it will be the former.
“I would expect the Saudis to launch their own thing,” he says.
“Absolutely. And that goes for every sector. As a matter of principle, Saudi Arabia has to be the regional leader in everything. Why would sports broadcasting be any different?”
Chadwick, however, sees a compromise.
“Qatari strategy has moved on from the first-mover advantages it has built after nearly two decades of spending heavily on sport,” he says. “It now faces the challenges of utilising the assets it has created.
“Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has become the archetypal fast follower, spending even more widely and lavishly than its smaller next-door neighbour. In effect, the two countries are playing different games to each other and have therefore found a way to co-exist.
“Saudi Arabia has always been the bigger, bolder, more bellicose of the two, which MBS is learning to filter through soft power strategy and reputation management. Yet its recent sport investments continue to carry the DNA of a nation that believes it plays a crucial role in regional and international affairs.
“Qatar, on the other hand — much smaller, less secure — plays the junior partner who seeks consensus through partnership and diplomacy. This is clearly evident in the activities of Nasser Al-Khelaifi, who is a Qatari strategic archetype.”
Nasser Al-Khelaifi, president of Paris Saint-Germain, is Qatari (Gualter Fatia – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
He is also the president of PSG and the chairman of the rich clubs’ club, the European Club Association, so you cannot help thinking that Newcastle United’s owners are going to have to come to some sort of accommodation with him and his company at some point.
Wednesday’s big game takes place two days after the fifth anniversary of the grisly assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident and journalist. Intelligence agencies in several countries, including the United States, believe MBS ordered Khashoggi’s death. He denies that but has taken responsibility “because it happened under my watch”.
If MBS truly wants the world to think that buying Newcastle United, men’s golf, Cristiano Ronaldo and Tyson Fury is about putting another one per cent on Saudi’s gross domestic product and not sportswashing, he should probably try to stop his subjects from illegally streaming the world’s best sport and entertainment.
(Top photo: Bertrand Guay/AFP; Evelyn Hockstein/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
American soccer was against artificial turf long before it became a big problem in the NFL
“Hopefully they can eliminate turf, especially for the pros, just because of the injury risk,” said Jim Curtin, whose Union squad will play on artificial turf on Wednesday at Charlotte FC.
Andre Blake (left), Jakob Glesnes, and the Union will visit Charlotte FC and its artificial turf surface on Wednesday night.Philadelphia Union
The debate over artificial turf fields in the NFL has certainly gotten attention in American soccer circles. But across MLS and the NWSL, there’s no debate. No one likes turf, no one wants it, and there had better be a serious reason why a stadium in either league has it.
Alas, there are serious reasons. The biggest is NFL money at four of the six turf venues. Atlanta, Charlotte (where the Union will play Wednesday), New England, and Seattle host America’s and the world’s football. The NFL and MLS teams share ownership in the first three of those cities, and used to in the fourth.
In the other two turf venues, the stadiums are owned by outside entities. Vancouver’s stadium also hosts a Canadian Football League team (and a slew of non-sports events), while Portland’s has some old infrastructure issues and used to host a college football team.
Every other stadium in MLS and the NWSL uses natural grass.
Charlotte won a MLS expansion team despite playing in a stadium with artificial turf because the owner, multi-billionaire David Tepper, also owns the NFL’s Carolina Panthers.Jacob Kupferman / AP
While there’s only so much the leagues and teams can do about it, there’s been no need for a new opinion for years. Remember when a group of star women’s soccer players took FIFA to court in Canada over using artificial turf at the 2015 women’s World Cup? It has been nine years since the suit started and a decade since FIFA first said Vancouver would host the final on fake grass.
And it has been just about as long since anyone with common sense could see through FIFA’s ploy: Surely they’d never force a men’s World Cup to be played on artificial turf.
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It would be a while before FIFA proved that right, but the time came last year. When FIFA picked the U.S., Canada, and Mexico as cohosts of the 2026 men’s World Cup, it quickly made clear that like in 1994, real grass would be installed in any stadium that currently lacks it.
Vancouver’s BC Place and every other venue at the 2015 women’s World Cup hosted games on artificial turf instead of grass.Elaine Thompson / AP
Nor will they be the kind of short-term grass installations that get used for summer soccer events these days, from Concacaf’s Gold Cup this summer in Charlotte to the many big European clubs that visit the U.S. for friendlies. Most players don’t like those setups, either, because the grass tears up and the ball bounces oddly on seams.
Big soccer cities impacted
It’s no coincidence that U.S. Soccer has deliberately chosen for years now to not play its home games on turf or temporary grass, even if it means staying out of some of the nation’s top soccer hotbeds.
Portland and Seattle have long been deprived of seeing their clubs’ stars play for their country. The men and women have stayed away from Atlanta, even though either could sell out Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The men used to visit New England almost annually but have not since 2015.
Atlanta United regularly draws huge crowds for games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, one of six MLS stadiums and eight 2026 men’s World Cup venues that currently have artificial turf.Michael Zarrilli / Getty Images
Also, some big stars who’ve come to MLS have refused to play on artificial turf, including Thierry Henry and Zlatan Ibrahimović. Newly arrived Lionel Messi has said he will, but Inter Miami manager Tata Martino rested him from Saturday’s visit to Atlanta because of a packed schedule.
Could football and soccer now find common cause over ditching turf? Though the NFL Players Association’s desire to get turf out of the league isn’t new, it got a lot louder after Aaron Rodgers’ Achilles tendon tear last week sent chills through the Jets’ locker room and TV executives’ offices.
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Coincidentally, MetLife Stadium is one of the two leading candidates to host the 2026 World Cup final. The other is the Dallas Cowboys’ home — which FIFA president Gianni Infantino visited this past Sunday. He took in the Jets’ first game since Rodgers’ season ended with Concacaf president Victor Montagliani, Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks, and former U.S. Soccer president Carlos Cordeiro.
“I have to say in America you are light years ahead compared to the rest of the world.” FIFA President Gianni Infantino at AT&T Stadium with Jerry Jones before today’s Jets-Cowboys game. @NBCDFWpic.twitter.com/5GfKexoEFK— Noah Bullard (@noah_bullard) September 18, 2023
Both venues, and six others that will host in 2026, currently have artificial turf that will have to be removed. If they’re going to do it anyway, might the NFLPA’s campaign help it happen sooner?
One veteran source with connections in both sports said some quiet talks have already started.
The Union’s turn
“Hopefully they can eliminate turf, especially for the pros, just because of the injury risk — and obviously, if there are health risks as well with the ground-up tires [in the turf], that’s a bad thing,” said Union manager Jim Curtin, who played on turf plenty during his nine years in MLS.
“I think everybody would be in agreement that natural grass is the best way to go across all sports,” he added. “Always easy for me to say because I don’t buy the stadiums or do the maintenance or that type of thing. But certainly the sport of soccer, I believe the sport of football as well, is safest played on natural grass.”
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For now, Curtin and players across MLS and the NWSL can only hope. And in the shortest term, the Union have to get ready to play on Charlotte’s turf at Bank of America Stadium on Wednesday (7:30 p.m., Apple TV, free), in their first visit since last year’s disastrous 4-0 loss that cost the Union a shot at the Supporters’ Shield.
“I think the U.S. has enough money to fix the fields and make everything grass or substitute grass for turf,” said veteran Union centerback Damion Lowe, who likely will start Wednesday with Jack Elliott suspended. “I don’t like playing on turf. I’ve had a lot of injuries from playing on turf.”
But he will soldier on, he said, with much at stake in the playoff race.
“We get paid to play regardless of the conditions — rain, snow, hail, whatever,” Lowe said. “So we just have to prepare ourselves for whatever obstacles come our way, try to beat adversity, stick together as a team. We’ll go down to Charlotte, be focused, and be ready for anything.”
For the record, there are no storms in the forecast Wednesday night. At least that will take one burden off a night that will have enough of them.
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Yunus Musah takes on Adrien Rabiot (Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
Allegri loses his cool (Marco Bertorello/AFP via Getty Images)
Reyna, left, continued his good form (Lars Baron/Getty Images)
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Kyle Bonagura, ESPN Staff WriterOct 18, 2023, 12:36 AM ET
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Gio Reyna went 45 minutes in a central position (Andrew Katsampes/ISI Photos/Getty Images)
Jeff Carlisle, U.S. soccer correspondentOct 15, 2023, 07:11 AM ET
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Ryan O’Hanlon, ESPN.com writerOct 17, 2023, 08:09 AM ET
SAT Soccer trainers Sergio Perdoma (left) and Ethan Sonis (right) with Christian Pulisic. (SAT)
Pulisic takes a shot during a finishing drill in South Florida (SAT)
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Ream represented the U.S. at last year’s World Cup (Brad Smith/ISI Photos/Getty Images)
AT&T Stadium is reportedly a candidate to host the final (Omar Vega/Getty Images)
SoFi Stadium’s status could be in jeopardy (Ric Tapia/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Mercedes-Benz Stadium draws big crowds for Atlanta United and other soccer events (Alex Slitz/Getty Images for Premier League)
NRG Stadium hosting Manchester United (Matthew Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images)
Seattle Sounders have called Lumen Field home since joining MLS (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
Hard Rock Stadium has hosted many soccer events (Angel Martinez/Real Madrid via Getty Images)
“The Linc” hosted the Premier League Summer Series in 2023 (Scott Taetsch/Getty Images for Premier League)
Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Ca. (Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
Gillette Stadium was built adjacent to old Foxboro Stadium (Paul Rutherford-USA TODAY Sports)
Arrowhead last hosted international soccer in a 2015 Mexico vs. Paraguay friendly (Omar Vega/LatinContent via Getty Images)
NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman (Kyle Ross-USA TODAY Sports)
A cameraperson at an OL Reign game in 2019 (Joseph Weiser/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
ESPN’s deal for the WNBA comes in addition to a deal with Ion Network (David Becker/NBAE via Getty Images)
Wolff on the sideline during a game between FC Dallas and Austin FC. (Photo by John Rivera/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Manchester United have lost both their European games this season (Getty Images)
Mohammed bin Salman (far right) at the World Cup talking to FIFA president Gianni Infantino (Amin Mohammad Jamali/Getty Images)
Saudi fans enjoy themselves at the World Cup (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Mohammed bin Salman (left) greets Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, ahead of the Arab League Summit in May (Bandar Aljaloud / Royal Court of Saudi Arabia / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The error message Saudi users receive when trying to log on to TOD
Nasser Al-Khelaifi, president of Paris Saint-Germain, is Qatari (Gualter Fatia – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/pmn/WXHKXMIDTRCLVN7WSJQBF6YZIM.jpg)
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The Ole BallCoach 