So if you missed the US 1-0 vs Slovenia – don’t waste your time.  Not much happened – how did we lose? It was our C team – mostly U23s playing – a bunch of guys up front that even I don’t know.  Honestly this we was partly an interview to play in the Olympics with Miles Robinson and Shaq more as the only older players on the roster.  The goal was a bad giveaway at midfield by our 8 that broke past and beat Columbus keeper Schulte.  The US basically dominated the rest of the game with 70-30 possession and like 20 shots to 3 – 10 of them in the last 30 minutes when somehow we managed to miss wide open goals over and over again.  Up front Diego Luna was a beast on the right wing and was definitely the engine most of the game – kid has got game and should be on the Olympic team.  The most exciting guy was the 18 year old Esmir Bajraktarevic who came on in the 61^st minute and was the most exciting player on the field immediately.  Time to lock him up and add him to the Olympic U23 team right now!!  Stories Below.

Huge news that Klopp is stepping down from Liverpool at the end of the season. He has his team in first place however -and they are still alive in Champions League and the FA cup – so perhaps he can grab another trophy on the way out. More on this next week. 

It was great to have former Carmel Dads Club and Carmel High/Butler Goalkeeper Eric Dick out at our Carmel FC GK practice last week at Atletto Field House. He helped in training and spoke to the kids about what it takes to make it to the next level. After playing at KC & Minn United along with Columbus in MLS – Dick is headed to Pittsburgh to join the Riverhounds in USL this season. CFC GK is 5-6:30 on Thurs at Atletto Fieldhouse @ Badger.

GAMES ON TV

Sat, Jan 27

7:30 am ESPN+           Ipwich Town vs Maidstone United FA Cup

10 am ESPN+               Sheffield United vs Brighton FA Cup  

12 noon Para+, Galazo Juventus (Mckinney) vs Empoli

2 pm ESPN_                Fulham (Robiinson) vs New Castle  

12:30 pm ESPN+          Bayer Leverkusen s MGladbach (Scally)

2:45 pm Para+            AC Milan (Pulisic) vs Bologna

Sun, Jan  

9;30 am ESPN+           Liverpool vs Norwich (Stewart) FA Cup     

11:30 am ESPN+          Watford vs Southampton       

12 noon  CBSSN           Lazio vs Napoli  

3 pm ESPN+                 Atletico Madrid vs Valencia  

Mon, Jan  29

2:30 pm ESPN+           Blackburn vs Wrexham vs FA Cup  

Tues, Jan  30

2:30 pm Peacock         Nottingham Forest (Turner) vs Arsenal  

2:30 pm Peacock         Fulham (Jedi) vs Everton

3 pm Peaocok             Crystal Palace (Richards) vs Sheffield United (Trusty)

WEds, Jan  31

2:30 pm Peacock         Tottenham vs Brentford

3:15 pm Peacock        Liverpool vs Chelsea

2024 W Gold Cup, Feb. 20 – March 10

Concacaf Nations League Finals, March 21 – 24

2024 Copa America, June 20 – July 10

2024 Summer Olympics – Men & Women, July 24 – August 10

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USMNT weekend viewing guide: A Plus weekend

FA Cup and Serie A action make this an excellent weekend to make use of the Plus networks

By jcksnftsn  Jan 26, 2024, 10:53am PST  

FA Cup action joins the ESPN+ parade this weekend that normally features Bundesliga and Eredivisie action. In addition, the USMNT quartet making their way in Serie A will feature on Paramount+ this weekend. If you’re without either streaming platform, it will be a rough weekend, though in the guide you’ll see that there are a couple of La Liga matches being simulcast on ESPN Deportes as well. Here’s where you can catch those matches as well as the rest of this weekend’s slate:

Saturday

Hoffenheim v Heidenheim – 9:30a on ESPN+

John Brooks was on the bench for a second straight week as Hoffenheim fell 3-2 at the hands of Freiburg last weekend. Meanwhile, Lennard Maloney has started every match this season for Heidenheim and is coming off a 1-1 draw with Wolfsburg. The club remains in ninth place in the league.

Wolfsburg v Koln – 9:30a on ESPN+

Kevin Paredes played 30 minutes for Wolfsburg last weekend in the team’s 1-1 draw with Heidenheim. It was the seventh straight match for Wolfsburg in which they have scored one or fewer goals this season. They remain in 11th place and will need to figure out how to score more consistently if they are to move into the top 10.

Sheffield United v Brighton & Hove Albion – 10a on ESPN+

Auston Trusty has been starting Premier League matches for Sheffield United since late September, but was not included in the squad for their last FA Cup match, a 4-0 drubbing of League Two side Gillingham FC. Things will be considerably tougher for the team this weekend as they take on Brighton, who are seventh in the Premier League standings.

Juventus v Empoli – Noon on Paramount+

Weston McKennie, Tim Weah and Juventus continue to keep pace with Inter Milan near the top of the Serie A table, currently leading by one point but with Inter having a game in hand advantage. Juventus take on relegation-threatened Empoli this weekend and will have to avoid looking past them to next weekend’s top of the table clash with Inter.

Bayer Leverkusen v Borussia Mönchengladbach – 12:30p on ESPN+

Jordan Pefok scored in his second straight match since returning from injury, but Borussia Mönchengladbach’s fell last weekend 2-1 to Augsburg. Joe Scally also started and played 90’ as ‘Gladbach stayed on 20 points in 12th place on the season. They face league-leading Bayer Leverkusen this weekend, who are leading the league by four points and have yet to suffer their first loss of the season.

PSV v Almere City – 12:45p on ESPN+

PSV were eliminated from the KNVB Cup on Wednesday as they suffered just their second loss across all competitions this season, falling to Feyenoord 1-0. It was the second time in a week that PSV dropped points as they also drew with Utrecht last weekend. They will look to bounce back immediately and keep their undefeated Eredivisie season rolling as they face Almere City on Saturday afternoon.

Fulham v Newcastle United – 2p on ESPN+

Antonee Robinson continues to start but Tim Ream has yet to regain his role after coming back from injury as the club heads into an FA Cup match against Newcastle United. Newcastle are having a disappointing follow up season to their fourth place finish last year and currently sit in 10th place in the EPL, three spots ahead of Fulham.

AC Milan v Bologna – 2:45p on ESPN+

Christian Pulisic, Yunus Musah and AC Milan have won four straight matches and currently sit seven points back of league-leading Juventus. They face a Bologna side this weekend who currently sit in seventh place but trail Milan by 13 points, as there is a sharp drop from Milan in third to a cluster of teams separated by just three points in positions 4-9.

Olympique Marseille v Monaco – 3p on beIN Sports

Folarin Balogun is still looking to break his scoreless streak as fourth place Monaco take on seventh place Marseille on Saturday afternoon. It’s been over two months since Balogun last scored for his club, and he has just four goals in twenty matches this season.

Mallorca v Real Betis – 3p on ESPN Deportes and ESPN+

Johnny Cardoso stepped right into the starting lineup and didn’t look out of place in his 73 minutes against Barcelona. Real Betis were tied 2-2 when Johnny left the match, but ended up falling 2-4. Betis remain just inside the top ten of La Liga and within four points of sixth place Real Sociedad and qualification for European competitions next season.

Sunday

Celta Vigo v Girona – 8a on ESPN Deportes and ESPN+

Luca de la Torre was back in the starting lineup for Celta Vigo last weekend, but the team fell 1-0 to Real Sociedad to remain just two points out of the relegation positions in La Liga. They face a shocking Girona side this weekend who currently have a one point lead for the league title, though they also have played one additional match compared to the other top four teams.

Liverpool v Norwich City – 9:30a on ESPN+

Josh Sargent will get a chance to play against top flight competition as Norwich City take on Liverpool and their outgoing coach Jurgen Klopp in FA Cup action on Sunday morning.

Union Berlin v Darmstadt – 9:30a on ESPN+

Brenden Aaronson and Union Berlin continue to scuffle dangerously close to the relegation zone, falling again last weekend 1-0 to Bayern Munich. Berlin are just three points ahead of a cluster of teams that are tied for last place in the league, a group which includes their opponent this weekend.

Borussia Dortmund v Bochum – 11:30a on ESPN+

Rumors continue to swirl that Gio Reyna will be headed to England or France this transfer window. However, as of the writing of this article, he remains with Dortmund and continues to come off the bench, most recently in their 4-0 win over Köln last weekend. Dortmund currently sit in fifth place, just out of Champions League qualification, though tied on 33 points with RB Leipzig.

Jurgen Klopp to leave Liverpool at end of season

By James Pearce Jan 26, 2024 THe Athletic

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Jurgen Klopp will leave Liverpool at the end of the season.Klopp, 56, made his announcement in a video on Liverpool’s social media channels on Friday morning. In an interview with club media, he says he told the club of his decision in November.“I will not manage a club or a country at least for a year, that’s not possible, I cannot do that and I don’t want to,” Klopp added.The German head coach joined Liverpool in 2015 and has won the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup with the Merseyside club. He last signed a contract extension at Liverpool in 2022, a deal that was due to run until June 2026.

“I can understand that it’s a shock for a lot of people in this moment, when you hear it for the first time, but obviously I can explain it – or at least try to explain it,” Klopp said.

“I love absolutely everything about this club, I love everything about the city, I love everything about our supporters, I love the team, I love the staff. I love everything. But that I still take this decision shows you that I am convinced it is the one I have to take.“It is that I am, how can I say it, running out of energy. I have no problem now, obviously, I knew it already for longer that I will have to announce it at one point, but I am absolutely fine now. I know that I cannot do the job again and again and again and again.“After the years we had together and after all the time we spent together and after all the things we went through together, the respect grew for you, the love grew for you and the least I owe you is the truth – and that is the truth.”

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• Klopp turned doubters into believers – but now the day Liverpool dreaded has come
• Understanding Klopp – it’s never about him
• How Klopp won Liverpool their first Premier League title
• Ranking all 43 of Klopp’s Liverpool signings

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‘Huge boots to fill’

Liverpool fans knew this day would come eventually, but not now, not like this.

Klopp announcing he will step down at the end of the season is an absolute bombshell, especially in the context of the club being such a resurgent force – top of the Premier League, in the Carabao Cup final, the last 16 of the Europa League and still in the FA Cup.Klopp’s contract runs until 2026 and the belief was that he would walk away after his current deal expired. Instead, two years earlier than planned, he’s decided he no longer has the energy to keep going beyond May.It will be the end of an era as Liverpool wave goodbye to one of the most inspirational figures in the club’s history. Klopp has vowed to take a year off to recharge and he has promised he will never manage another English club.The search for a successor starts now. There are some huge boots to fill.

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Liverpool announced later on Friday that sporting director Jorg Schmadtke will leave at the end of the January transfer window. Meanwhile, Klopp’s assistant managers Pepijn Lijnders and Peter Krawietz, as well as development coach Vitor Matos, will also depart at the end of the season. Liverpool said in a statement that Lijnders is “keen to pursue his own career in management”.“I told the club already in November,” Klopp said. “I have to explain a little bit that maybe the job I do people see from the outside, I’m on the touchline and in training sessions and stuff like this, but the majority of all the things happen around these kind of things. That means a season starts and you plan pretty much the next season already.“When we sat there together talking about potential signings, the next summer camp and can we go wherever the thought came up, ‘I am not sure I am here then anymore’ and I was surprised myself by that.“I am OK. I am healthy, as much as you can (be) at my age. Little bits and bobs, stuff like that, but nothing anybody has to be concerned about, so that’s absolutely fine.”

GO DEEPER Liverpool next manager contenders: Xabi Alonso, Roberto De Zerbi, Julian Nagelsmann in frame

Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders will also leave the club at the end of the season (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

Klopp plans to continue on the sideline, whether that be domestically or at international level, but says he will not do so in England.“If you ask me, ‘Will you ever work as a manager again?’ I would say now no,” he said. “But I don’t know obviously how that will feel because I never had the situation. What I know definitely – I will never, ever manage a different club in England than Liverpool, 100 per cent. That’s not possible.“My love for this club, my respect for the people is too big. I couldn’t. I couldn’t for a second think about it. There’s no chance. This is part of my life, we are part of the family, we feel home here.“There’s no chance to do that. But all the rest, will I ever work again? Of course, I know myself, I cannot just sit around. I will find something else maybe to do. But I will not manage a club or a country at least for a year, that’s not possible, I cannot do that and I don’t want to.”

Jurgen Klopp – Liverpool’s managerial genius who turned dreams into reality

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‘It probably inspires players to give him a great send-off’

Analysis from Premier League legend and The Athletic columnist Alan Shearer

It is very surprising, absolutely. No one was expecting it. It’s done in the right and professional way. Liverpool fans and their football club deserve that, without it getting out.t probably inspires the players to give him a great send-off between now and the end of the season. They’re still in all of their competitions — they could give him a great send-off.ig news and a big, big surprise.

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Klopp was appointed to replace Brendan Rodgers in October 2015. Liverpool finished eighth in the 2015-16 Premier League season, losing 3-1 to Sevilla in the Europa League final.

Klopp then guided Liverpool to back-to-back fourth-placed finishes, reaching the Champions League final in 2017-18 only to be defeated by Real Madrid. The following campaign saw Liverpool finish second in the Premier League and go one better in the Champions League, beating Tottenham Hotspur 2-0.Liverpool then won their first-ever Premier League title in the 2019-20 season — their first league win since the 1989-90 First Division.Klopp coached Borussia Dortmund from 2008-2015, where he won consecutive Bundesliga titles in the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons. His Dortmund side also reached the Champions League final the following year, where they lost to rivals Bayern Munich.Liverpool’s first game following Klopp’s announcement comes at Anfield in an FA Cup fourth-round tie against Norwich City on Sunday. Their final game of the Premier League season — potentially Klopp’s last game as Liverpool manager if they do not reach the FA Cup or Europa League finals — is also at home, against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

(Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

James Pearce joins the Athletic after 14 years working for the Liverpool Echo. The dad-of-two has spent the past decade covering the fortunes of Liverpool FC across the globe to give fans the inside track on the Reds from the dressing room to the boardroom. Follow James on Twitter @JamesPearceLFC

USMNT loses to Slovenia: Takeaways from the first friendly of 2024

By Tom BogertJan 20, 2024

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The U.S. men’s national team endured a disappointing start to 2024, with a 1-0 loss to Slovenia in San Antonio, Texas.

Slovenia’s Nejc Gradišar scored the lone goal, with the U.S. shutout despite holding 69% possession and outshooting Slovenia 15-9.

What did we learn?

Well, with a roster filled with players who have minimal realistic chance of becoming regulars in the first-choice pool facing a similarly watered down Slovenian side on a less-than-ideal pitch in January, how much could we really learn?

Structurally, the U.S. played as Berhalter has prefered during his reign as head coach (for better and worse). 

The U.S. controlled play but didn’t create a ton through plodding possession ,and conceded a goal in transition. One interesting note is that they didn’t play with a more defined No. 10, as the first team has in recent times with Gio Reyna in the role, instead opting for three traditional central midfielders in a 4-3-3. Diego Luna played as an inverted left winger with license to drift inside to create, but wasn’t an out-and-out No. 10.

Another disappointment is the starting XI wasn’t as heavy with Olympic-eligible players as it could have been. Five starters (Patrick Schulte, Diego Luna, Josh Atencio, Bernard Kamungo and Aidan Morris) were age-eligible, while the likes of Duncan McGuire, John Tolkin, Jack McGlynn and more were left on the bench to start. All in all, 11 players made their senior USMNT debut on Saturday. The performance was disappointing, but there was minimal overlap with the first (and even second) group for the USMNT here. 

Which players helped their case for future tournaments

DeJuan Jones started the game at left back, constantly getting forward to overlap Luna, and finished it at right back — getting forward to overlap Esmir Bajraktarevic. He was steady and consistent, with the work rate, stamina and athleticism necessary to fill the endline-to-endline duties asked of a fullback in Berhalter’s system. Being able to play both right and left back is very useful to building a tournament roster. 

Unfortunately for him, the Olympic squad seems set at fullback with Tolkin and Wiley on the left then potentially Bryan Reynolds and Joe Scally on the right. It wouldn’t make a ton of sense to use one of the three overage exceptions on another fullback.

Esmir Bajraktarevic provided an immediate spark after entering the match in the second half. His first involvement of his senior national team debut was nutmegging a Slovenia defender. He was one of the few attackers for Berhalter’s side who was unafraid to take chances and take players on. Bajraktarevic boosted his chances to make the Olympic squad.

Bernard Kamungo was a positive influence for the USMNT before he was replaced by Bajraktarevic. He was lively, dynamic and made an impact, though it didn’t result in creating a goal and made one fatal mistake that sparked the counterattack for Slovenia’s goal. Still, he could be a valuable addition to the Olympic squad even if he doesn’t win a starting spot, because those qualities lend well to an impact substitute. 

Which players may have hurt their case for future tournaments

Shaq Moore hasn’t been in his best form since joining Nashville SC and didn’t do himself any favors in limited minutes at the World Cup. He didn’t impress again on Saturday. With so many options at right back — Sergiño Dest, Scally, DeAndre Yedlin, Reynolds plus if any players from the current U-20/U-23 cycles reveal themselves — Moore is likely to be on the outside looking in for the near future.

Tim Tillman, making his USMNT debut, did little to warrant another call-up anytime soon. He filed a one-time switch from Germany last year and became eligible for the USMNT, but at 25-years-old, he isn’t age-eligible for the Olympics and doesn’t seem likely to be within the conversation for Copa America.

Brian White is another overage player who always had an uphill battle of becoming a regular, didn’t get much of any service to work with and thus was restricted in the impact he could deliver. (Photo: Omar Vega/Getty Images)

USA vs. Slovenia, 2024 Friendly: Man of the Match

Not a great outing for the team, but one guy’s debut stood out among the rest.

By Donald Wine II@blazindw  Jan 22, 2024, 7:46am PST  

The United States Men’s National Team fell in their January Camp match over the weekend to Slovenia by a 1-0 score. Nejc Gradišar’s goal in the 26th minute proved to be the difference as a very young USMNT squad struggled to put anything together and failed to grab the equalizer.

With so many young players in their first camp, it was the first time for the SSFC community to rate many of these players, and with a listless performance from the team, the ratings were quite low for the most part. However, one player’s debut stood out as a good one. Esmir Bajraktarevic came on as a substitute in the 61st minute and did well in his debut, despite not being able to score. The community gave him an average rating of 7.15, which was enough to give him SSFC Man of the Match. Only Esmir and Diego Luna (6.55) had average ratings over 6 from the match, while 7 players and head coach Gregg Berhalter had an average rating below 5.

Here are the full SSFC ratings:

Esmir Bajraktarevic – 7.15

Diego Luna – 6.55

Jack McGlynn – 5.73

Miles Robinson – 5.54

DeJuan Jones – 5.53

Timmy Tillman – 5.44

Josh Atencio – 5.20

Aidan Morris – 5.14

Duncan McGuire – 5.04

Caleb Wiley – 4.91

Patrick Schulte – 4.81

Brian White – 4.60

Bernard Kamungo – 4.58

John Tolkin – 4.55

Sean Zawadzki – 4.48

Shaq Moore – 4.48

—Gregg Berhalter – 3.90

Referee Pierre Luc Lauziere (CAN) – 5.63

Do January camps still benefit the USMNT?

• Kyle Bonagura, ESPN Staff WriterJan 20, 2024, 06:50 PM ET

Someday, with the benefit of hindsight, Saturday’s United States men’s national team game against Slovenia could turn out to be the day several mainstays got their first chance.There are enough examples from January camp games the past two decades to allow for as much, and 11 players received their debut in San Antonio — the most in a single game since 1988.If that does end up being the case, though, it will be a major surprise considering the team’s mostly dull performance in a 1-0 loss against a Slovenian side also made up of players predominantly from its domestic league.”It wasn’t always perfect, but the will was there, the desire was there, the competitiveness was there, and we kept going to the last whistle trying to get the equalizer,” U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter said after the match.

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Times have changed for the United States. The path from January camp to the A-squad isn’t the straightforward promotion it has been at times. Now, with the team’s best players in their early-to-mid-20s playing at some of Europe’s biggest clubs, none of the players who featured against Slovenia are being counted on to play any role — let alone a significant one — when Berhalter has his full complement of players to choose from.With so few national team games in any given year, it’s tempting to read into each one, but what took place before 9,191 fans in San Antonio is worth an exception. It’s hard to imagine much that transpired will do anything to inform the future of the program. The entire exercise boiled down to nothing more than a glorified scrimmage, even though it represented a record-tying fourth straight loss against a European opponent.In a roundabout way, that signifies progress.With only months before the U.S. hosts the Copa America, and just over two years before the World Cup comes to North America, it wouldn’t bode well for the team if there were holes that needed to be filled by unproven MLS players. But that’s not the state of the U.S. talent pool.This game was more geared toward prepping the age-eligible players for this summer’s under-23 Olympic tournament.

Who is the USMNT player to watch from the January roster?

Herculez Gomez explains who he is most interested to watch from the USMNT’s January roster.”I think this is a great opportunity to learn and if you think about 11 guys got their debut tonight, five of the guys who started are Olympic-age eligible,” Berhalter said. “So this is going to be a great learning experience for this group, and I’m really happy with the opportunity to do this camp and think we definitely got something out of it looking forward.”Berhalter highlighted the play of New England Revolution midfielder Esmir Bajraktarevic and Real Salt Lake forward Diego Luna, as two who left an impression.”Looking at some individual performances, specifically with the Olympic guys, we knew they were playing senior international, and we wanted to give them that experience and also see how they would do,” Berhalter said. “And I think when you look at guys like Esmir and Diego, they certainly came in and showed that they have a lot of individual ability, but they’re also hardworking.”Berhalter can now shift his attention to March, when the team tries to win the Nations League for the third straight time, before the Copa America.”It’s competition time,” Berhalter said. “We have trophies on the line this summer with [the] Copa America in this spring with [the] Nations League, and we’re looking forward to getting the entire group together and trying to win our third consecutive Nations League and then have a great showing at the Copa America.”So it’s an exciting six months of soccer coming up for the USMNT.”

Nottingham Forest in Gio Reyna loan talks with Borussia Dortmund

By David Ornstein Jan 23, 2024

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Nottingham Forest are in talks with Borussia Dortmund to sign USMNT international Gio Reyna on loan until the end of the season, according to sources with knowledge of the deal.Forest are aiming to include a purchase option and are pushing hard to get the deal done. An agreement is not far off but there are still elements that need to be sorted.Reyna’s Dortmund contract expires in June 2025 and the versatile attacker signed with super agent Jorge Mendes in December, shortly before the transfer window opened.

Reyna has started just twice for the German club this season, making 11 further appearances as a substitute.The 21-year-old missed the opening month of the season through injury and has featured just 13 times in all competitions since his return in September.Reyna returned to the USMNT set-up during October’s international break following his run of injuries and falling out with head coach Gregg Berhalter. The U.S. has two major tournaments on the horizon in the next three years, with 2024 Copa America taking place this summer before the U.S. co-hosts the 2026 World Cup.Reyna moved to Dortmund’s academy from New York City in 2019 and broke into the senior side the following year. He was part of the Dortmund side that won the 2020-21 DFB-Pokal.Forest are 16th in the Premier League but earlier this month were referred to an independent commission over a breach of the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability regulations (PSR). That is the start of the process to decide what punishment the club will face, which could include a points deduction and/or fines.

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Why Reyna needs a move away

Analysis by Paul Tenorio, USMNT correspondent

A move to Forest will be a welcome one for Reyna, who is in desperate need of more playing time. Through much of his young career, injuries have been what has limited Reyna’s time on the field and his impact at Dortmund. He has long been considered a rising star, otherwise.But after fracturing his leg during the CONCACAF Nations League semi-final against Canada last June and returning to training in late August, Reyna has struggled to carve out much of a role with Dortmund. He has made just 10 appearances this season in the Bundesliga with one start, one appearance in the DFB-Pokal and two in the Champions League. This comes after playing in 22 Bundesliga games last year, with seven goals and two assists.Reyna moved on from his agency, Wasserman, and made it clear he was open to a move away from Dortmund in this window. He hired Mendes as he looked to find more consistent time on the field as he looks to grow in his career — and into a bigger role with the national team.

What can Forest expect from him?

Analysis by Paul Tenorio, USMNT correspondent

Reyna’s role on the field has been changing, at least with the U.S., over the last year.

In the previous World Cup qualifying cycle, Reyna played exclusively as a winger, albeit one who came into the pockets to find the ball and try to create opportunities in and around the box. After the World Cup controversy in 2022 in Qatar, Reyna has found a new role with this U.S. team, playing as a No 10 in more of a 4-2-3-1 formation.Reyna has long said he feels most comfortable in a central role, and from that attacking midfield spot he’s more able to play to his strengths, which is playmaking and making dangerous passes in the final third. He has shown he’s a strong finisher, as well, but often seems as if he prefers to be a facilitator looking to make the final pass.Reyna has been asked to work more defensively, and he’s seemed eager to prove he can do just that when with the U.S. The biggest challenge has been finding consistent playing time, and the hope is that he can shake the injury issues and now find a team where he can feature.

Why are Forest going for Reyna?

Analysis by Paul Taylor, Nottingham Forest correspondent

The signing of Reyna would make perfect sense, as he would strengthen in two areas of the pitch where Forest have been short of options.

Anthony Elanga has made a hugely positive impact since joining from Manchester United and Callum Hudson-Odoi, a summer arrival from Chelsea, has also had plenty of promising moments. But Forest do lack cover for the duo in wide positions.

But, as well as being able to operate as a winger, Reyna can also operate in a central attacking role. Morgan Gibbs-White has established himself as one of Forest’s most influential players in that No 10 role. But the Englishman’s absence has also been keenly felt during times when he has been sidelined with injury.

If a deal can be agreed to make Reyna’s loan move permanent further down the line, at 21 years old  — and armed with a reputation as one of the most promising players to play for the USMNT in some time — he would also fit into Forest’s desire to sign young players who will only improve, with the benefit of game time with them in the Premier League.

The numbers that show Sam Mewis’ sometimes overlooked greatness on the pitch

By Jeff Rueter Jan 20, 2024 The Atheltic 

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So often when we think of an era’s greatest players, we’re fixated on the spectacle of their game. Ada Hegerberg’s other-worldly reading of space, Sam Kerr’s unconsciously clinical finishing, Marta’s mazing weaves up the field, Wendie Renard’s unparalleled aerial prowess, Katie McCabe’s tenacity across every blade of grass. The panache with which these artists carry themselves also shapes legacies, from Megan Rapinoe’s transcendent 2019 World Cup to Linda Caicedo’s goal against Germany last summer, which was her statement of arrival on the world’s stage.

As a result, true two-way midfielders don’t always get the plaudits their play deserves. Their position on the field — that is, in the part of the pitch without a goalmouth in proximity — can keep them out of year-end highlight reels, while the thankless tasks they execute to progress the ball in their favor or stifle opponents the other way at times look more procedural than anything else. Compared to goal-obsessed strikers, tireless wingers and wing backs, chance-creating playmakers and towering center backs, the hard yards between the boxes are the moments that viewers feel free to run to their fridge or check their phones before the next “big” happening near goal.

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So while Rapinoe’s clutch penalties, crosses and The Pose helped her win the Golden Ball in 2019 while Lucy Bronze and Rose Lavelle’s work in the final third landed them Silver and Bronze, there’s a very viable case that none were the best player at that World Cup. 

Further afield from the tea-time celebrations was Sam Mewis, a do-everything midfielder who put in a nearly faultless 467 minutes as the United States left France with its fourth Women’s World Cup title. She didn’t make the “Players who Dared to Shine,” FIFA’s needlessly garish term for that event’s 10 best players that took the place of most tournaments’ best XI. That wasn’t for a lack of statline contributions: her two goals were as many as Eugénie Le Sommer, Marta, Sofia Jakobsson or Lieke Martens tallied, for example. 

Nevertheless, anybody who watched the U.S. that summer was inevitably wowed by Mewis’ midfield work. The number of things she did at a world-class level made it impossible for viewers not to notice.

Simply, she was at the heart of nearly every good thing that the U.S. did. Mewis started in five of their seven games, being rotated out for the second group-stage match against Chile and coming off the bench in the semifinal as Jill Ellis opted to start Lindsey Horan (talk about champagne selection issues). 

In that famous (or infamous, depending who you ask) 13-0 drubbing of Thailand in the opener, Mewis had two goals and two assists. She later assisted Horan on the opener in a gut-check group-stage win against Sweden. Then came the final, where a Rapinoe penalty opened the scoring before an incisive run from midfield by Lavelle led to the tournament’s iconic goal that finished off the USWNT’s quest for a repeat.

The highlights seldom show it, but Lavelle’s goal was not unassisted. It started with a pass from Mewis, who collected the ball just inside the U.S.’s attacking half after a tackle by Crystal Dunn.

At this stage, we’re a mere seven minutes removed from Rapinoe’s penalty kick. The Dutch know they need to equalize in a hurry and have committed more players to the attack, leaving Sherida Spitse as the only defensive midfielder while Jackie Groenen took a more advanced role. 

Mewis’ first touch is one to redirect the ball’s lateral progress and redirect its roll in the U.S.’s favor. Lavelle has already noticed the colossal plot of AirFibr hybrid grass made available by the Netherlands’ change in approach and is charging into it. With Spitse’s determined sprint to get the ball, her body position leaves her able to simultaneously close the angle on Mewis while being well-oriented to follow any possible pass and obstruct Lavelle’s run into the final third. 

Mewis needs to ensure this golden opportunity doesn’t escape, so she does something that separates the truly great midfielders from their incredibly talented peers. Rather than reacting to the game she’s playing in, she takes control over it. 

Even with a potentially glorious ball available to her, she eliminates one of the sequence’s final remaining obstacles. It’s a simple touch with the outside of her right boot to kill the ball’s momentum a bit, which accomplishes two things. First, she’s able to better control the weight of a pass into Lavelle’s path. Second, and more critically (since, let’s be honest, Mewis probably would’ve gotten the weight of the pass right on the fly): she’s forced Spitse to stop in her tracks in hopes of winning the ball further up the pitch to spring a Dutch fast break. 

It’s nice to want things, but that won’t jive with Mewis’ plans. Now that Spitse has fully committed to the ball, the time is right to reward Lavelle’s run.

With just two seconds of possession, Mewis is able to take the final defensive midfielder off of Lavelle’s radar. Whether or not Spitse would have been able to leg back and impede Lavelle’s progress isn’t the point — it’s the fact that she no longer could attempt to do so.

You may not have realized it, but you’ve likely had a favorite Sam Mewis highlight for over four years. Here’s the rest of the sequence, since it’s always a delight to take in if you’re a USWNT fan.

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“But lo,” I hear some of you thinking as you read this. “Mewis had a great World Cup, but that tournament is notorious for eliciting overreactions to small sample sizes of soccer that’s more emotional than almost any other game. It’s easy for a midfielder to play that well when they’re on an all-time great team at the apex of its authority over the competition. Surely, she’d look more like her peers across a full club season.” 

But lo, I retort while wondering if your internal narrative is always so Shakespearean. After five NWSL seasons in which she won four regular season titles and three NWSL Championships, Mewis moved to Manchester City on August 10, 2020. She spent just one season in the Women’s Super League, as City finished second in the table behind Emma Hayes’ Chelsea. She made 32 appearances in all competitions, scoring 16 goals. Among those strikes were the game-winner in the FA Cup semifinal against Arsenal and in extra-time of their 3-1 triumph over Everton in the final.

It was the one chance to assess Mewis away from her nation’s domestic league — and, on the whole, it reinforced what many stateside had believed: she was one of the best midfielders in the world, if not one of the game’s very best players of any role.

Using the exact same statistics as above, the only that saw any notable regression from her World Cup performance was in terms of clearances, which speaks to the role she played for City as well as her team’s status as a league heavyweight. Still, her ball progression, ability to get on the ball in the mixer and her shooting volume were all at the top of the pops in the FA WSL. A full season of work still proved her to be elite in all the same ways that stood out in the summer of 2019, deservedly earning a place on the league’s team of the year. 

Of course, her time in England was brief. Mewis returned to the North Carolina Courage in May of 2021, making five appearances in the league before joining her national team in the Tokyo Olympics. She never fully recovered from the associated arthroscopic procedure, playing just 90 minutes for the KC Current in the 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup and 45 minutes in a single international friendly that year. 

Unfortunately, Mewis’ career is now being revisited in light of its abrupt end. However, the years immediately before that knee injury saw her playing at a level that every player in the world envies but few ever achieve. She wasn’t the most famous player on her national team, an understandable plight as part of one of the sport’s greatest juggernauts. 

Nevertheless, for at least two years, Sam Mewis was arguably the best player in the world at any position. Although we’re all left wishing we could have watched her play for longer, her legacy in the game is unquestionable. 

(Photo: VI Images via Getty Images)

Sorry folks having computer issues this week – so abbreviated version of the Ole BallCoach on this cold Friday. Of course the US C team with take the field this Saturday 3 pm on TNT vs Slovenia in a friendly. It will be good to see Miles Robinson on the backline as he looks to make a statement he belongs on the squad this summer for Copa. With Ream having lost his starting gig at Fulham the door is open to join probably Chris Richards or Celtic’s Carter Vickers in the middle but we will see. Sands will probably get the nod at the Dmid 6 slot with Tillman and Morris along side. I would be happy to see Miami’s Callender in between the pipes with Moore and Jones on the outside back slots. No idea who starts up front from this mostly MLS squad. I will be interesting to see if our C team can hang with a European squad at home in San Antonio. (see stories below)

Pulisic ties Donovan with his 4th U.S. male POTY award at just 25 years old. This week Pulisic was given his award as Series A’s player of the month for Dec after he scored six goals and recorded five assists to help AC Milan (13-3-4) to third in the standings. Cool stories below about Pulisic, and American keepers Matt Turner & Zach Steffan below along with the story on USWNT star Sam Mewis retiring from soccer. Also interesting to see Reyna is trying to get out of Dortmund in the Jan window – he needs to get playing time somewhere new. 

USMNT ROSTER for SAT Game 3 pm on TNT
GOALKEEPERS (3): Drake Callender (Inter Miami), Roman Celentano (FC Cincinnati), Patrick Schulte (Columbus Crew)

DEFENDERS (10): Nathan Harriel (Philadelphia Union), DeJuan Jones (New England Revolution), Shaq Moore (Nashville SC), Ian Murphy (FC Cincinnati), Jackson Ragen (Seattle Sounders), Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati), James Sands (New York City FC), Nkosi Tafari (FC Dallas), John Tolkin (New York Red Bulls), Caleb Wiley (Atlanta United)

MIDFIELDERS (6): Joshua Atencio (Seattle Sounders), Aziel Jackson (St. Louis City), Jack McGlynn (Philadelphia Union), Aidan Morris (Columbus Crew), Timmy Tillman (LAFC), Sean Zawadzki (Columbus Crew)

FORWARDS (6): Esmir Bajraktarevic (New England Revolution), Cade Cowell (San Jose Earthquakes), Bernard Kamungo (FC Dallas), Diego Luna (Real Salt Lake), Duncan McGuire (Orlando City), Brian White (Vancouver Whitecaps/CAN)

I will attempt to add the weekly viewing calendar thru next weekend — sometime tomorrow or Sun. Most of the big games this weekend involve American’s and are below. Also this reminder Carmel FC Goalkeepers we are back to training indoors on Thursdays 5 to 6:30 pm at Atletto Fieldhouse at Badger Field come join Coach Carla Baker and I in some training. 

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USMNT weekend viewing guide: Appreciate the view

Folarin Balogun and Matt Turner lead the way on network television this weekend.

By jcksnftsn  Jan 19, 2024, 10:32am PST  

Unique opportunity sounds like a bad sales pitch or the start to some spam emails, but there really is another rare chance to watch Folarin Balogun in action on network television this weekend. You can also catch Matt Turner over the air, as well as a plethora of the usual streaming options to see some of your favorite USMNT players. Here’s what we are watching this weekend:

Friday

Mainz v Union Berlin – 2:30p on ESPN+

Brenden Aaronson received his first start in over two months last weekend as Union Berlin visited seventh place SC Freiburg and held them to a scoreless draw. The result leaves Union Berlin in fifteenth place heading into this weekends match against sixteenth place Mainz, again on the road. Mainz is just three points behind Berlin so this is a vital six point match in the race to avoid relegation.

Saturday

Arsenal v Crystal Palace – 7:30a on USA Network

Chris Richards and Crystal Palace will have their hands full with Arsenal this weekend. Richards played 90 minutes again last weekend in Palace’s 3-1 win over Brentford to snap an eight match winless streak but midweek the team fell 1-0 to Everton in FA Cup action. They’ll now face an Arsenal side that are in fourth place, just five points back of league leading Liverpool.

Freiburg v Hoffenheim – 9:30a on ESPN+

John Brooks did not appear for Hoffenheim last weekend in the teams 3-0 loss to Bayern Munich. Brooks had started three straight matches for his club heading into the Winter break but was unused in their return. The team is now in eighth place and face a Freiburg side just one points ahead of them in the table.

Koln v Borussia Dortmund – 9:30a on ESPN+

Giovanni Reyna saw just two minutes off the bench last weekend in Borussia Dortmund’s 3-0 win over Darmstadt, though it was enough time to pick up a yellow card. Amidst growing rumors that Reyna will be departing Dortmund, perhaps as soon as this January, it seems like Reyna’s minutes will continue to be limited while he remains with the club.

Heidenheim v Wolfsburg – 9:30a on ESPN+

Lennard Maloney has started every match this season for a Heidenheim side that has ten points from their last four matches and have played themselves into ninth place in the Bundesliga table. Meanwhile, Kevin Paredes is struggling with a thigh injury that kept him out of the squad last weekend for eleventh place Wolfsburg.

Darmstadt v Eintracht Frankfurt – 9:30a on ESPN+

Paxten Aaronson was an unused substitute last weekend and has not appeared in Eintracht Frankfurt’s last four matches. The team currently sits in sixth place heading into their matchup against last place Darmstadt.

Rodez v Monaco – 11:30a on FS2

Folarin Balogun and Monaco will take on second tier Rodez AF on Saturday morning in a rare opportunity for most fans to watch the American forward. The match will be aired on FS2 in America as Balogun looks to break a scoreless drought dating back to late November.

Brentford v Nottingham Forest – 12:30p on NBC

Fans will also have a potential opportunity to watch Matt Turner on broadcast television as Nottingham Forest’s match with Brentford will be aired on NBC. Turner was an unused substitute in Forest’s midweek 3-2 win over Blackpool but he has started his teams last five league matches including two straight wins over Newcastle and Manchester United. The six points have pulled Forest out of the relegation zone and into fifteenth place but a pending Financial Fair Play investigation could see them docked points that will drop them right back into the relegation zone. They face a Brentford side this weekend that currently sit one point behind them in the table.

Udinese v AC Milan – 2:45p on Paramount+

Christian Pulisic, Yunus Musah and AC Milan handled AS Roma 3-1 last weekend as Pulisic started the match and went eighty minutes while Musah came on late and helped his side see out the victory. Milan remain in third place, nine points back of league leading Inter Milan, heading into this weekends matchup with 16th place Udinese.

Celta Vigo v Real Sociedad – 3p on ESPN+

Luca de la Torre was a substitute again last weekend as Celta Vigo drew 1-1 with Mallorca but he got the start midweek in Copa del Ray round of sixteen play and picked up an assist and a stunning backheel goal in the clubs 3-1 win over Valencia. It was Luca’s first goal across all competitions this season and his fourth assist. Perhaps the result will get him a boost of confidence or eyed for additional playing time as Celta Vigo look to separate themselves from the relegation pack. Currently the team are just two points out of the relegation zone and they face sixth place Real Sociedad this weekend.

Sunday

Utrecht v PSV – 6:15a on ESPN+

Sergino Dest, Malik Tillman and Ricardo Pepi look to continue PSV’s perfect run through the Eredivisie as they visit Utrecht early Sunday. Dest picked up an assist last weekend in the team’s 3-1 win over Excelsior, Tillman also started and played the first 76’, while Pepi came on for the final 14’ in relief of hat-trick scoring Luuk de Jong to help his side see out the win.

Sheffield United v West Ham United – 9a on USA Network

Auston Trusty hast started 13 straight matches for Sheffield United though the team has just eight points over that period and currently sit bottom of the table with nine points total. They face sixth place West Ham this weekend.

Borussia Monchengladbach v Augsburg – 11:30a on ESPN+

Jordan Pefok returned from injury to see 24 minutes off the bench and pick up a goal in Borussia Monchengladbach’s 3-1 win over third place Stuttgart last weekend. Joe Scally started the match for Gladbach and went the full 90 at right back. Gladbach currently sit in tenth place and face an Augsburg side just two points below them in the table.

Real Betis v Barcelona – 12:30p on ESPN Deportes and ESPN+

Johnny Cardoso is apparently dealing with an ankle injury but did make the bench for Real Betis for the first time last weekend in the teams 1-0 win over Granada though he didn’t see the field. Seventh place Betis will now face Barcelona who are currently in fourth place, eight points behind league leading Girona, and seven back of Real Madrid.

Lecce v Juventus – 2:45p on Paramount+

Weston McKennie missed Juventus’ 3-0 win over Sassuolo on Tuesday as he was serving a yellow card suspension but Timothy Weah came on and played 33 minutes in the second half for the club as they maintained their second place position, two points back of Inter Milan. They will face thirteenth place Lecce this weekend who have just 21 points on the season and though they are currently in thirteenth place they are just four points ahead of Hellas Verona in eighteenth, the final relegation position.

USA vs. Slovenia, 2024 Friendly: What to watch for

We’re back!

By Donald Wine II@blazindw  Jan 19, 2024, 7:00am PST  Stars and Stripes 

The United States Men’s National Team begin their 2024 slate when they take on Slovenia tomorrow afternoon in San Antonio. The USMNT enter this year with the Concacaf Nations League Finals and 2024 Copa América, while the U-23s will compete in the 2024 Olympics. As this January Camp is comprised of several Olympic-eligible players, the theme has been getting them integrated into the national team system while they compete for a chance to be on the squad that heads to Paris.

January Camp also marks the start of a new year, a fresh reboot for the program as they get ready for another busy 12 months. They take on Slovenia, the 54th ranked team in the world that is bringing squad mostly based in their domestic league. However, Slovenia has been a formidable opponent for the USMNT the other times they have played. The USMNT hope to earn a win to set the tone for the year.

Latest Form

USA

L (1-2) – Trinidad & Tobago – Concacaf Nations League Quarterfinals

W (3-0) – Trinidad & Tobago – Concacaf Nations League Quarterfinals

W (4-0) – Ghana – Friendly

L (1-3) – Germany – Friendly

W (4-0) – Oman – Friendly

Slovenia

W (2-1) – Kazakhstan – Euro 2024 Qualifying

L (1-2) – Denmark – Euro 2024 Qualifying

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W (1-0) – Northern Ireland – Euro 2024 Qualifying

W (3-0) – Finland – Euro 2024 Qualifying

W (4-0) – San Marino – Euro 2024 Qualifying

What To Watch For

Set the tone. The team doesn’t need to do everything right, and there will be some nerves. But, they have the task of setting the tone for the year. They should come out with fight and bring the game to Slovenia instead of playing on their heels.

Lead by example. There are some veterans in this camp that have seen action before, like Miles Robinson and Shaq Moore. They both have experience in major tournaments, with Shaq Moore playing in a couple of World Cup matches. They need to lead by example in a match with a group that largely is in their first national team camp.

Don’t try to do too much. For much of this roster, it’s the first chance to leave a lasting impression upon Gregg Berhalter and the rest of the coaching staff. However, while it’s important to stand out, they need to do that while not trying to do too much. They should remember what got them to this point and lean on that training and get into the flow of the match.

Lineup Prediction

The USMNT have a ton of new faces, but we’ll see some familiar ones in the starting XI:

Drake Callender gets the start in goal, while the back line is DeJuan Jones, Miles Robinson, Ian Murphy, and Shaq Moore. James Sands slots in at defensive midfielder, with Aidan Morris and Timmy Tillman in central midfield.

Diego Luna will operate as an attacking midfielder, with Duncan McGuire and Esmir Bajraktarević starting as the forwards.

Prediction

The USMNT get a late goal to win their first match of 2024 by a 1-0 score.

Revs teenager Bajraktarevic pushing for USMNT debut and Olympic spot

Esmir Bajraktarevic is the youngest player in the current USMNT camp and has featured in the first two U-23 camps in the lead up to the Olympics. ASN’s Brian Sciaretta has spoken with the Wisconsin-born teenager about his camp, the New England Revolution changes, and his future goals. 

BY BRIAN SCIARETTAPOSTED
JANUARY 19, 2024 1:05 PM

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THE USMNT January camp is often a time to give young players an opportunity and for the program to build depth. But 2024 is an Olympic year and getting young players involved becomes especially important. On the current roster, Esmir Bajraktarevic stands out because he is the team’s youngest player who is not only eligible for the Olympics this summer, but he’s also eligible for the U-20 World Cup in 2025, and the U.S. U-23 Olympic team in 2028 as well.

Bajraktarevic, 18, has been rated highly by U.S. youth coaches for several years. While he did not make the U-20 World Cup team last summer, he was involved with the team throughout the cycle while playing up an age group. He would then go on to thrive with the U.S. U-19 team. In October and November, Bajraktarevic was involved with the first two U-23 Olympic camps playing up a cycle. In the U.S. U-23 team’s first friendly, Bajraktarevic scored a wonderful goal in a 2-1 victory over Mexico.

With U.S. U-23 head coach Marko Mitrovic on Gregg Berhalter’s staff for January camp, it wasn’t surprising to see Bajraktarevic get call-up.

“Everybody kind of looks at that – being the youngest guy,” Bajraktarevic told American Soccer Now from January camp. “But talking to Gregg and Marko, they’ve been telling me this – if you’re good enough, you’re old enough. I try not to really think about my age that much. I still have a lot of growing to do, but I think that I can compete no matter what. It doesn’t matter how young I am.”

But just like the U-23 team, Bajraktarevic is making the most of his chances this camp and last weekend he was one of the goal scorers in a 2-2 friendly draw with River Plate. Naturally a left footer, Bajraktarevic has been playing on the right wing where he can effectively cut centrally. In the goal against River Plate, he got behind the backline with a through-ball and beat the keeper with his right foot.

“Obviously, River plate is a very big club,” Bajraktarevic said. “A lot of great players have come from River Plate. So, I think it was good. And they’re obviously a very physical team. The Argentinian league is like that. I think it was a good test for us. I think it was a really good experience.”

Camp will conclude on Saturday with a friendly against Slovenia and Bajraktarevic will hope to earn his first cap in the game. But overall, the experience has been a positive one for Bajraktarevic.

“It’s been going really well so far,” Bajraktarevic said. “The group is really coming together well. The coaching staff have been doing a really good job guiding me and giving me feedback. It’s been good so far. It’s been good playing around players who are at a high level and everything. It’s been making me better. Obviously, we’re all here, they’re all very good players and they’re all really nice guys.”

But Bajraktarevic has also made a positive impression on his USMNT teammates as well.

“This is the first time I got to meet him and play with him,” said veteran USMNT defender Miles Robinson. “He’s a great player, very dynamic. He likes to get forward. He’s also mature and seems wise beyond his years.”

“I’ve really enjoyed seeing Esmir play up close,” added forward Brian White. “His dribbling is actually really fun to watch. I can see he’s got a really bright future. It’s been awesome watching him up close and personal.”

Following this tournament, Bajraktarevic will join the New England Revolution for preseason. Last season was a tumultuous period for the organization which saw the team never regain its footing after parting ways with head coach Bruce Arena. Last season, Bajraktarevic made 13 appearances and five starts for the Revolution with his highlight coming in a goal against Queretaro in the Leagues Cup. He also made nine appearances for the Revolution II in MLS Next Pro and scored eight goals.

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Earlier this month, the Revolution announced Caleb Porter as the new head coach and Porter arrives having won MLS Cup with the Portland Timbers and the Columbus Crew. For Bajraktarevic, he knows that much of his future is predicated on him succeeding in New England.

“I’ve heard a lot of good things about him,” Bajraktarevic said. “He gave me a call a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to meet him in person yet because obviously I went straight to camp from off season. But I’m really looking forward to getting back to the club and preseason and I’ve heard a lot of good things about him, especially from players that played at the clubs he used to be at. I’m excited for the next season.”

Of course, internationally, the short-term goal for Bajraktarevic is his push to make the Olympic team this summer. Even with him being eligible for the U-20 World Cup and the following Olympics, Bajraktarevic says he is focused on the short term to “avoid being so overwhelmed.” But the 2024 Olympics remain a distinct possibility given his involvement the first two camps and now January camp.

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“Obviously the Olympics are a huge thing,” Bajraktarevic said. “So many people watch it. It’s a big platform. I was very I’m very happy to be a part of that group for the last two camps… I think we can go very far. I think we have a really good group. Obviously, the style, as we can see from the games against Mexico and Japan, Iraq and Morocco, I think it was the four friendlies that we had. You can tell that we like to play a very, very attacking style. We like to play forward. Marko encourages, especially players like me, to be creative and to let loose and play our game.”

“Marko’s a great coach. I like the style that he likes to play with. With the U-23s. I, I really enjoy it. Obviously, kind of coming from the same background – he’s Serbian, I’m Bosnian and so I can kind of understand the mindset and everything that he has. I enjoy playing under him a lot. He’s a great coach, great person.”

For Bajraktarevic, another big question for his international future is whether he will represent the United States or Bosnia and he does have options. In addition to playing for the U.S. U-23, U.S. U-20, and even possibly the USMNT this weekend, he is also on the radar for Bosnia’s U-21 team. Bajraktarevic was born in Appleton, Wisconsin and his parents moved there during amid the Bosnian war and the breakup of Yugoslavia. But his and his family’s ties to Bosnia are strong and he is still uncertain where his future will be.

“I haven’t made my final decision yet on who I want to play for,” Bajraktarevic said. “I’m obviously still young. I want to keep my options open. But right now, I’m just focused on this camp and focused on playing with the U.S right now. But no final decision has been made for who I want to play for.”

For now, Bajraktarevic is playing for the United States and his experiences with the USMNT at this camp and the U.S. U-23 team have been positive. Ahead of Saturday’s game against Slovenia, Berhalter acknowledged that Bajraktarevic has had a very good first camp and was not lost in the moment despite being the youngest player in camp.

“In terms of Esmir, the coaching staff has been really impressed with him,” Berhalter said. “We’re impressed with his skillset. He’s 18 years old, but he’s got a strong mentality, very competitive, very aggressive on the ball, willing to do the work defensively, and had just really coped well with the environment. You would think that a young player, 18 years old, comes in shy and is afraid to impose himself on the field. But it is the exact opposite with Esmir. He’s got a great future ahead of him.”

Christian Pulisic interview: ‘I want to show the world what the U.S. can do’

James Horncastle The Athletic

Jan 15, 2024

Christian Pulisic is perched on a bar stool in the old clubhouse overlooking the first-team training pitch at Milanello, AC Milan’s training ground.

He makes a hand gesture, one he didn’t need the past six months living in Italy to learn. Pulisic is talking about himself as one of the “older guys” on the USMNT and, as he does so, he is sure to put air quotes around it.Nearby is a portrait of Milan legend Paolo Maldini lifting a trophy, a player who retired in his forties. Pulisic isn’t that age yet. He turned 25 shortly after joining Milan from Chelsea in August. But as the United States get ready to host the Copa America as a guest competing nation this summer, the first newly-expanded 32-team Club World Cup the following year and then the biggest men’s World Cup finals yet, with 48 countries taking part, in 2026, he is already beginning to think about his legacy.

“I remember watching World Cups as a kid and watching (Clint) Dempsey scoring goals in the World Cup,” he says, “(Landon) Donovan scoring the winning goal (against Algeria in South Africa in 2010). It’s moments like that, that stick in kids’ minds and can really inspire a generation, which is what those moments did for me.”

Pulisic, though, is hoping to provide some of his own.

There’s a monotone zeal when he speaks. For all the curiosity about his hobbies outside of football, notably golf and chess — the board game with which Italy’s top-flight Serie A, a league renowned for its tactics and strategy, often gets compared — his focus on his own game is unflinching; his self-awareness of his influence acute.

“Watching someone that’s from where you’re from and playing at the highest level and showing the world we can compete and be the best; you know, compete with the best,” he explains. “For me, that’s what it’s all about. If I can inspire kids, especially back home in the U.S. but hopefully all over the world. There’s nothing… there’s no greater prize for me.”

Pulisic recognises he has a platform. He is the most expensive American player of all time. He captained his country for the first time at 20 and was the first American to play in the Champions League final. A decade since he moved to Europe, he has only played for big clubs — Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea and now Milan. This is what, relatively speaking, makes him a veteran in football terms. Through the experience he has accumulated he hopes to emerge as a leader who is authentic to himself.

Pulisic celebrates winning the Champions League with Chelsea, alongside father Mark and mother Kelley in 2021 (Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)

Publicly, he lacks the loquaciousness and affability of current national-team skipper Tyler Adams — “I’m not the most vocal person,” Pulisic concedes — but there are other ways to affect a group and a country.

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To Pulisic, that means action as much as words and being an example “in just doing what I do every day”. It means “when I’m with the (national) team, when I’m at club level, I’m just continuing to show people, like, ‘OK, he’s pushing the boundaries. He’s performing to a high level.’ Hopefully, I can lead that way as well.”

The player who, in a meme, was framed as the LeBron James of soccer, is quite the introvert. He is the polar opposite, for instance, of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the transcendent Milan icon, who has returned to Milanello very quickly after his retirement as a player to take up a new role created by Milan’s owners RedBird Capital Partners as an operating partner for the group’s media and entertainment portfolio and as a senior adviser to Milan’s ownership and senior management. How then does Pulisic square his self-effacing character with the expectation his profile and ability generates?

“I’ve had my difficulties with it,” he accepts. “It’s not something that affects my day-to-day life. I think I’m quite a simple guy. I’m not out in public all the time, so it doesn’t affect me. I’m in training every day. I come home and I can relax and speak to the people close to me and the people that I love, so it’s not something that bothers me in any way. It’s just some getting used to and I’m really grateful I have the platform to do what I want to do.”

(Sportinfoto/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)

Our interview takes place by the exit of the clubhouse at Milanello, where a member of Milan’s backroom team sits at a desk waiting to catch the players as they leave training to sign jerseys for one of the club’s commercial partners. Pulisic’s shirt instantly became the best seller following his move from Chelsea for €20million (now $21.9m, £17.2m).

There was a 75 per cent increase in the number of Milan jerseys sold compared to a standard equivalent period. In the U.S. the sales uplift was 713 per cent, and Milan shirt sales in the U.S. increased from nine per cent of the total sold to 43 per cent. Personalised Pulisic jerseys represented 45 per cent of all match jerseys sold in his first month with them, according to the club.

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Americans are flocking to San Siro, the iconic stadium Milan share with city rivals Inter, like never before. The number is up 148 per cent on this stage last season.

Pulisic is performing well in Milan (Alessandro Belussi and Pietro Vai)

A commercial phenomenon, Pulisic is helping Milan, and Serie A, build their profiles in North America. The club made sure to sign him in time to participate to make full use of his pull and draw fans to games against Real Madrid at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena and Juventus at MLS side LA Galaxy’s Dignity Health Sports Park.

“I think that’s just a win-win. That’s an extra thing,” Pulisic says of his impact off the pitch. “That’s not what I focus on. I focus on the sporting aspect, performing and winning games.”

The old clubhouse at Milanello, arguably the most bucolic training facility in European football, was, in harder financial times, rented out as a wedding venue. Pulisic and his new team are still in the honeymoon stage. “I’m enjoying it a lot,” he smiles. “I’ve been given a great opportunity here.” That’s all he was looking for after Chelsea, where he became surplus to requirements: “A fair opportunity.”

Did he feel he was no longer getting one at the London club? “I’m not here to talk about whether it was fair or not back then. I’m just happy to be where I am now, for sure. The first couple of years (at Chelsea) were fantastic,” he reflects. Pulisic was a member of their Champions League-winning squad in May 2021. “The last couple of years… I think a lot of things in the club changed. A lot of people also left this summer, got new opportunities and have done well.”

Some of them are now at Milan, too. Pulisic followed Ruben Loftus-Cheek to San Siro and the pair of them have reconnected with former Chelsea team-mates Fikayo Tomori and Olivier Giroud, who had already made the move. “That made it a lot easier,” Pulisic says.

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His debut goal against Bologna in August, a screamer from outside of the box, came from a neat one-two with striker Giroud. “I know a lot of his tendencies, he knows mine. It’s been great to play off him. Things like that are only going to help with the chemistry within the team and get me accustomed to a new team, a new league.”

The same goes for Yunus Musah, the USMNT midfielder, whom Milan signed from Spain’s Valencia in the same transfer window they acquired Pulisic.

Pulisic and Musah at the 2022 World Cup (Marvin Ibo Guengoer – GES Sportfoto/Getty Images)

Musah was born in New York City but raised in Castelfranco Veneto near Venice and speaks fluent Italian. “He’s an incredible kid,” Pulisic beams. “I love playing with him in the national team. It’s great now to see him day-to-day. If I don’t understand something, he’s there to help me out. He’s teaching me a bit of everything. Mostly the footballing stuff I need to know.”

GO DEEPER

Why Christian Pulisic’s dream move to Chelsea took a turn for the worse

Pulisic’s debut away to Bologna could not have gone better. In addition to scoring himself, he was instrumental to the other goal in a 2-0 Milan win, picking out Tijjani Reijnders at the far post to cut the ball back for a Giroud tap-in. A week later, in his first appearance at San Siro, he scored again. Milan won seven of their first eight games in the league.

Playing in a different position from the one he tends to occupy for the USMNT, Pulisic believes the experience of playing on the right rather than the left has made him a better player.

“I’ve learned a lot, especially playing off the right side. I’ve learned a lot about finding the right times to come inside. I’ve improved with my weaker foot as well and in finding the right solutions, the right times to run in behind, when to show to feet. I’ve really improved tactically about the game in that sense.

“From a defensive point of view as well, I think I’ve improved and I feel good about helping the team defensively whether it’s pressing or covering the right spaces. Some things I’ve definitely seen a change in in coming to Italy.”

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It gives Gregg Berhalter, the USMNT coach and a frequent visitor to Italy this season, a more complete player ahead of the Copa America, where the hosts face group games against Bolivia, Panama and Uruguay.

Pulisic finished 2023 strongly. He is already in double figures for combined goals and assists and is set to have the most prolific campaign of his career.

Before Sunday’s 3-1 home win against Roma, Pulisic was presented with the Serie A Player of the Month award for December. A quiet confidence simmers within.

Celebrating a goal for Milan against Sassuolo last month (Piero Cruciatti/AFP via Getty Images)

Milan are out of this season’s Champions League, finishing third in their group to drop down into the second-tier Europa League’s straight-knockout phase, and were eliminated from the Coppa Italia by Atalanta last week. They are third in Serie A, nine points behind first-placed rivals Inter who beat them four times in 2023, including in both legs of last season’s Champions League semi-final and, infamously, 5-1 in September in Pulisic’s first Derby della Madonnina in the league. But he does not accept Milan are out of the title race. That’s not in his mentality.

“There’s still half a season to go, so that doesn’t seem fair,” he bites back. “We’re still going to push on and do our best. We still have lots to play for. We’re still in the Europa League (they have a two-leg play-off next month against French club Rennes over a place in that competition’s last 16). There are many games left in the league this season, so we’re not at all discouraged by what’s going on. We’re going to continue to push and win games and hopefully make our fans proud.”

Injury-resistant at a club mired in an injury crisis and consistently decisive on the pitch, he has proved some of the Puli-sceptics wrong and hopes to take his form into the Copa America.

Pulisic was still a teenager when he played in the centenary edition of that tournament eight years ago. The U.S., playing then as they will this year as hosts and invited guests in what is the South American championship, made the semi-finals on that occasion before losing to Argentina. Can they do even better this time?

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“There’s no measure to say exactly, ‘If we get this far, that’s success’,” Pulisic muses. “We’re going in with the mentality (of) taking it game by game and, of course, the goal is to win the tournament — always when you go into a tournament — so that’s how we look at things. We have a good young team and this is a great opportunity for us to play against the world’s best and hopefully show the world what we can do.”

To win it, the USMNT will have to get past reigning World Cup and Copa America champions Argentina and their captain Lionel Messi, whose impact since joining MLS club Inter Miami last summer has been electric.

“I can’t say it’s not expected,” Pulisic says. “He (Messi) is, of course, the best to really ever do it. After having the (2022) World Cup he did and then obviously being back in MLS, it’s been fantastic for the league. The buzz around the league, around Miami whenever they play… it seems like a big televised game. Players like that are going to bring in fans, new fans to watch the league, and for me it’s only a positive thing.”

Would it bring Pulisic back to the U.S. in the future? An old head on a 25-year-old’s body still feels he has much more to give Milan before then.

“Obviously, I’m not an old player,” he says. “I hopefully have some great years in Europe ahead of me. I’m loving my time here, so of course MLS is not in my head at the moment. But, yeah. At the end of my career? Absolutely.

“I will say, it’s come a long, long way from when I first started even… almost, what, 10 years (ago) when I moved to Europe. Where the game has come in the US from then, even MLS to where it is now, I’ve seen a massive change just as far as the support in the US; you know, getting behind the national team and even the clubs now seeing Messi in Miami, things like that.

“There’s just so much buzz around the sport and I think it’s only going to get better in the next few years.”

Analysing the USMNT’s Matt Turner: ‘Useless with his feet’ or unfairly maligned?

By Greg O’Keeffe and Jeff Rueter

Jan 9, 2024

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Matt Turner put his gloved hands on his head, grimaced and, for a moment, stood stock-still as if in a daze.

In the previous six seconds, his underhit pass towards team-mate Danilo had been intercepted by Alejandro Garnacho and then tucked into the corner of the Nottingham Forest net with one swish of Marcus Rashford’s right foot.

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It had not been Turner’s first unconvincing moment when it came to his passing in that game against Manchester United, or the preceding fixtures; something UK broadcaster Sky Sports’ commentary team, the world of social media and perhaps his new head coach noted in different ways.

“Useless with his feet,” was former United and England defender Gary Neville’s brutal assessment on Sky.

Turner, though, is nothing if not resilient. While his error saw United score to make it 1-1 just over a week ago, a subsequent strong save he made was the catalyst for an attack that helped Forest recapture their lead. Like the USMNT international in their goal, Forest did not wilt from there and saw out a 2-1 win in Nuno Espirito Santo’s third game in charge.

It meant they finished a tumultuous 2023 on a high and five points clear of the Premier League’s three relegation places, but the happy ending did not completely dim the noise about Turner’s suitability for a move towards the possession football both his previous and new manager at the club want them to play.

It also ensured the contest between Turner and fellow summer signing Odysseas Vlachodimos to retain Forest’s goalkeeper jersey continues.

Turner and Vlachodimos are competing to be Forest’s first-choice goalkeeper (Nick Potts/PA Images via Getty Images)

But how do the pair match up when it comes to those key metrics? And how has Turner — who has started 15 of Forest’s Premier League games this season, to five for the Greece international — performed in comparison to the rest of the top flight’s goalkeepers?

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The first thing to note is that, despite the attention and strong criticism of his recent errors, Turner is not among the worst Premier League goalkeepers this season when ranked on failed passes in their own half per 90 minutes. Indeed, among the players to have appeared in goal for the 20 top-flight sides so far in 2023-24, he is as close to first place as to last — 12th of 24, with his rate of 1.93 matching the league average.

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His fiercest critics may imagine him among the worst offenders, but the top three on that failed pass metric are Chelsea’s Robert Sanchez, Guglielmo Vicario of Tottenham Hotspur and Burnley’s James Trafford. Instead, Turner is nestled around many mid-table teams’ distributive goalkeepers. Vlachodimos, albeit based on a much smaller sample size of only five games, fares better in 24th — playing fewer failed passes in his own half than any other top-flight keeper.

On a separate note, Turner has made four mistakes in possession that have led to opposition shots in the next 12 seconds of play, with those attempts worth 0.62 xG — the eighth-highest among Premier League goalkeepers this season.

It has not helped Turner that his errors have happened in quick succession, drawing more attention to the issue.

While that mistake against United did not ultimately prove too costly, three matches earlier, in the home game against Tottenham, he had also been left looking to the heavens with frustration following his own mishap. In what proved the final game before Steve Cooper was sacked and replaced with Nuno, the American cost his side a goal with another rushed, sloppy pass.

First, Neco Williams over-elaborates in possession and, under pressure, passes back to Turner. The goalkeeper’s hurried clearance is a) short and b) straight to Dejan Kulusevski.

The Spurs forward bears down on goal and, to compound his initial mistake, Turner is then beaten at his near post by the resulting shot.

Vlachodimos certainly fares better in any comparison with the ball at his feet.

But it is Turner’s superior shot-stopping that presumably prompted Cooper and Nuno to select him ahead of the Greek in recent weeks despite those passing errors.

Against Bournemouth on December 23, in Nuno’s first game in charge, Forest — having been reduced to 10 men after defender Willy Boly’s first-half red card — suffered a 3-2 home defeat but none of the goals were the result of a glaring howler from Turner. Nuno then stuck with him for the next game against Newcastle United, and was rewarded with an improved performance that saw Turner complete five of seven attempted saves and record an 80 per cent passing completion in Forest’s 3-1 away win.

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As detailed above, his copybook was mixed in the next victory, over Manchester United, but, unless Forest move to sign another goalkeeper in the currently open winter transfer window, they may look to alter the way they build play from the back to limit the requirement for Turner to do something he is not adept at.

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Whether he can improve his passing remains to be seen but it is not a new problem, according to The Athletic’s goalkeeping analyst, and former professional keeper, Matt Pyzdrowski.

“I recall wondering if his (Turner’s) issues with distribution with his feet were affecting his chances of overhauling Zack Steffen to become No 1 with the national team,” Pyzdrowski says. “But then, Zach had his own period of low form and Matt got in.

“At Arsenal (Turner’s club last season, before his summer move to Forest), if you look at the games he played, they tended to be when the opponents didn’t press high. Dealing with the ball at his feet when under pressure is definitely an area he can improve. When he has time, he can actually play a nice range of short and long passes.”

Pyzdrowski believes there are various stressors that might be undermining his compatriot’s recent form, stretching back to the summer signing of Vlachodimos for £7.7million ($9.8m) three weeks after Turner had arrived in Nottingham hoping finally to secure regular Premier League football following his season as second-string to Aaron Ramsdale at Arsenal.

“With Forest bringing in another goalkeeper who is also seen as a number one, it has added a psychological element to it as well,” Pyzdrowski says. “The team has been up and down, which doesn’t help.

“I think Gary Neville was harsh in commentary (during the United match). Matt is certainly not ‘awful’ with the ball at his feet, but clearly he can be better. One thing that might help is being more proactive and knowing what he is going to do with the ball before he gets it. The longer he gets to work with the new manager, that could improve.

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“It will be interesting to see how both of them (Turner and Vlachodimos) adapt to the demand to pass it more, because it’s probably not a strength for either of them.

“With a new demand like that, you can overthink it and try too much to impress, which can lead to mistakes. As a former keeper, Nuno may have more sympathy to the pressures of being the goalie, but he will be under pressure himself to get results, and that often leads to scrutiny on key positions like goalkeeper.

“I can imagine there are some people at Forest who value Matt, and others who value Vlachodimos.”

On the international front, the 37-cap Turner has more job security than at club level. He has become coach Gregg Berhalter’s obvious No 1, playing in all four games in the World Cup finals just over a year ago, and being selected for all the USMNT’s important fixtures.

“In some of the national team’s fixtures, like the CONCACAF Nations League and World Cup qualifiers, the opposition are probably not going to press them high and aggressively, so he won’t be under as much pressure,” says Pyzdrowski. “It is usually only Mexico or Canada who will challenge them consistently and press.

“Against traditionally better national teams, Berhalter tends to simplify it, and that’s suited Matt. They will adapt and mix it from playing short or long, or just go direct.

“Matt also seems to have more confidence with the USMNT because he is the clear first choice.”

Turner is the established first choice for the USA (Howard Smith/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images for USSF)

The resilience which saw Turner rise from being the third keeper at New England Revolution in MLS to playing for one of the Premier League’s top clubs will stand him in good stead to respond to his latest setbacks.“He has had a lot going on lately,” Pyzdrowski says. “Matt’s been adapting to a new club, living in a new area, and has just become a father. If you’re at a stable club that may be easier, but Forest have sacked the manager who signed him. I understand fans mainly think about results and, after the mistake against United looked like it may cost them, there was a lot of social-media criticism. But he actually responded well, made some strong saves and was confident in the air.

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“One thing you can’t deny is the odds he has overcome to get where he is. He started late in football (at age 14) and has always had people who doubted whether he was good enough to play at the highest level. I had my own concerns. But every time he has had his back against the wall, he has built himself back.”

That may be the 29-year-old New Jersey native’s mindset now, and his New Year social media message suggests Turner is ready for the challenge.https://www.instagram.com/p/C1hMmXqIstI/embed/captioned/?

“Learning so much week in and week out about life on and off the pitch,” he wrote on Instagram. “New city, new team, new member of the family all at once! Looking forward to more memories in 2024, maybe a bit less chaotic eh?”till finding his feet then, in every sense.

Additional reporting: John Muller

(Top photo: Ami Ford/NFFC via Getty Images)

Downingtown’s Zack Steffen opens up about why he returned to MLS

Steffen recently signed to be the starting goalkeeper for the Colorado Rapids.

As he began the fourth year of his second stint in Europe, Zack Steffen decided that he’d had enough of the instability that defined his time abroad.

The goalkeeper from Downingtown still hadn’t made it with Manchester City, the English powerhouse that paid $7 million to buy him from the Columbus Crew in 2019. Though Steffen won two Premier League titles and a League Cup with City, he played just 21 games for the club, mostly in domestic cups. His actual playing time overseas came during loans to the German Bundesliga’s Fortuna Düsseldorf and the English second division’s Middlesbrough.

Steffen dealt with a series of brutal injuries along the way, the latest being a major knee issue that’s had him out of action since May. He also became a father, welcoming a daughter in October.

» READ MORE: Downingtown’s Zack Steffen returns to MLS, joining the Colorado Rapids

So it was time to return, he decided. When the Colorado Rapids offered him a cornerstone place with a team under new management, he said yes.

“Just to be back in the States, closer to family, closer to friends, have them part of my career, just gives me a lot of energy and passion and motivation to come back here,” Steffen said at a news conference Monday.

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“And now I’m 28, getting up there a little bit, so I want some stability. … And to win some games, lift some trophies, and just bring this club to a winning culture, a winning mentality. And I think we can do that.”

Steffen said he liked the Rapids’ sales pitch, especially from goalkeeper coach Chris Sharpe and new manager Chris Armas.

“The situation, the city, the people, the club, the new coaches, and then Chris Sharpe,” Steffen said. The conversations that we’ve had really excited me and gave me motivation, gave me confidence that we’re all on the same page on where we want to go individually and then collectively.”

» READ MORE: Union trade Andrés Perea to NYCFC, ending his short and disappointing tenure in Philly

Familiar faces at work and home

He made it clear that being a new father matters, too, not surprising for a player who has long been close with his family.

“Fatherhood is amazing,” he said. “Wanting to be closer to family and be part of her life as well, and her journey. Yeah, man, fatherhood is the best thing ever.”

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Steffen found some familiar faces when he arrived in Denver, especially veteran Rapids right back Keegan Rosenberry. The Ronks, Pa., native played with Steffen on Union-run youth teams in the club’s early years, before the academy was fully built out.

Rosenberry played his first three years as a pro with the Union. He could have been teammates with Steffen in MLS back then, had the Union signed Steffen to a homegrown player contract while he was at the University of Maryland. But when Germany’s Freiburg offered Steffen his first chance to go to Europe, he took it, with the Union unable to match the money involved. (Whether they tried to has been lost to history.)

Nine years later, they will line up together again.

» READ MORE: Julián Carranza is still a Union player, but might not be for much longer

“We’ve always gotten along really well, kind of stayed in touch through all the moves in our career,” Rosenberry said. “There’s always a little bit more of a close relationship with defenders and goalkeepers, so I’m hoping we can build each other up and help each other succeed.”

Armas might be the happiest of anyone outside the Steffen family. His hiring wasn’t entirely well-received, because previous jobs were underwhelming spells with the New York Red Bulls and Toronto FC, and disastrously short times as an assistant at England’s Manchester United and Leeds United. (His bosses there were close friends, Red Bull global veteran Ralf Rangnick in Manchester and American Jesse Marsch in Leeds.)

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Armas has now started his Rapids tenure with the arrivals of Steffen and Djordje Mihailovic, a 25-year-old playmaker who not long ago was a U.S. national team prospect. They reportedly will soon add left back Sam Vines, a former Rapids player who’s been at Belgium’s Royal Antwerp for 2½ years.

That’s a good helping of talent and stability, with Steffen at the root of it all in net.

“He’s been part of major success, big experiences … but most importantly has been part of good, strong cultures, winning cultures,” Armas said. “We expect him to be one of the leaders, one of the driving forces behind our push, and we’re delighted to have Zack.”

» READ MORE: Apple is still keeping secret how many — or few — people watch its MLS telecasts

Sam Mewis, World Cup winner with USWNT and NWSL champion, retires from professional soccer

By Meg Linehan

5h ago

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Former U.S. women’s national team midfielder Sam Mewis — a key fixture on the team that won the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup — is retiring from professional soccer, she announced Friday.

Through her eight years with the USWNT, she earned 83 caps and scored 24 goals. During the 2019 World Cup win, Mewis played in six of the seven matches, starting in five, en route to the U.S.’s fourth victory in the tournament. She scored two goals in the team’s opening win against Thailand, including her debut World Cup goal.“Unfortunately, my knee can no longer tolerate the impact that elite soccer requires,” Mewis, 31, said in a statement. “Though this isn’t what I wanted, this is the only path forward for me.“I want to thank everyone who has been on my team throughout this journey. Soccer has put so many wonderful things in my life, but the most wonderful thing has been the people. To all my family, friends, teammates, and fans, I truly feel that we did this together and I’m extremely grateful.” Twelve of her caps came alongside her sister, Kristie, and they were the first sisters to feature on an Olympic USWNT together. Sam’s USWNT debut in 2014 at the Algarve Cup was alongside Kristie, when they both entered a match against Sweden as substitutes. Before going pro, she helped guide the UCLA Bruins to their first NCAA championship in 2013, and was part of the U-20 youth national team that won gold at the 2012 World Cup as well.

With Mewis’ lengthy battle with injuries keeping her off the field for months before Friday’s retirement announcement, it’s easy to forget how much of a role she played in the team’s success in 2019 — but also how she could dominate the field at her peak. Nicknamed “The Tower of Power” for her height, she was an obvious target for set pieces for club and country, but her skills went far beyond being in the right place at the right time for a goal.

B.J. Snow, formerly the talent identification director of U.S. Soccer, said in 2018 that Sam Mewis had taken a written soccer intelligence test, taken by thousands of pro players, men and women. Of all that had taken it, Mewis placed in the top one percent when she got her results. That IQ showed in craftiness and awareness on the field, both offensively and defensively. In 2019, it was Mewis’ two goals and four assists that helped the USWNT reach the podium; she was second on the team in defensive recoveries too (outside back Crystal Dunn was first, having played 74 more minutes than Mewis in the tournament).

Mewis’ NWSL accomplishments cannot be overlooked either. She won three NWSL championships, first with the Western New York Flash as underdogs in 2016, before the team relocated to North Carolina and the Courage became one of the league’s most dominant teams. The Courage won the NWSL Shield for three straight years in 2017, 2018 and 2019, and added championships in 2018 and 2019. Mewis made the NWSL Best XI in 2017.

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In 2020, she headed to Manchester City — and had a stellar run there too, scoring goals in league play, helping the team win the FA Cup, and netting a Champions League goal as well. Before the start of the pandemic, she had also proved a pivotal factor in CONCACAF Olympic qualifiers, and her performances throughout the year earned her the Player of the Year award for U.S. Soccer.

Mewis featured in the delayed Olympics for the USWNT, playing in all six matches and starting four. She also returned to the Courage in 2021, but the bronze medal match with the U.S. was her final one with the national team — as this is where her ongoing knee and ankle injuries took a much worse turn. Over the past couple of years, Mewis had multiple surgeries and posted clips from her rehab attempts

On Friday, she made her decision to retire public. She also announced her next step: serving as editor-in-chief for a new women’s soccer vertical at Men in Blazers.

“My goal started being: I want to walk my dog and not limp for a while,” she told the Wall Street Journal. “I recognized that I had other things to live for besides being good at soccer.”

FIFA Club World Cup 2025 set for U.S. east coast with Gold Cup on west

By Felipe Cardenas and Dan Sheldon Jan 18, 2024

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The expanded 2025 FIFA Club World Cup in the U.S. will be played primarily on the country’s east coast, multiple sources briefed on the tournament’s planning told The Athletic.

Putting Club World Cup games in the eastern time zone will benefit television audiences in Europe, home to many of the clubs that stand a good chance of winning the trophy.

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Organizers’ reasoning for limiting the tournament’s matches to the east coast was also influenced by the CONCACAF Gold Cup, which will take place simultaneously in the U.S. To avoid stadium and logistical issues between the two competitions, sources said that FIFA and CONCACAF have agreed to stage the Gold Cup on the U.S.’s west coast.

The Gold Cup, North America and the Caribbean’s biannual continental competition, will overlap with the Club World Cup from June 14 to July 6, 2025. One source said that CONCACAF and FIFA are collaborating to create “smart schedules” so that fans can easily enjoy both tournaments. The Club World Cup, meanwhile, will begin on June 15, and finish on July 13.

In July, CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani told reporters that the two tournaments could overlap, but that Club World Cup and Gold Cup matches would not share kick-off times.

“You might have some overlaps in the group stage,” Montagliani said. “(We have to) make sure our kickoff times are coordinated. If you do it right, it’ll work. It’s up to us and FIFA to make sure it works and our teams work well together and I have no issues. We’re in those discussions already.”

With regard to the Club World Cup, some exceptions could be made. For example, it would make sense for MLS side Seattle Sounders, winners of the CONCACAF Champions Cup in 2022, to play at least one match at home. Additionally, cities in Texas, which is located in the U.S.’ central time zone, could be named Gold Cup host cities.

As of now, 19 of 32 teams have already qualified for the 2025 Club World Cup, which will feature eight four-team groups. Each club will play each other once and the top two teams will advance to the knockout stages, which will be single-legged. In a December announcement, FIFA stated that the revamped Club World Cup will be held every four years.

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