So the Superbowl Commercials are starting to leak out and of course Messi is in them here he is with Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) & Dan Marino for Michelob.  Oh and speaking of Messi – people are freaking out that Miami is losing in pre-season – its preseason and Messi is barely playing.  The whole Messi vs Renaldo was hilarious as neither of them played basically – so yes Miami loss 6-0 but none of the Barca guys played.  Not sure that counts. 

Some big moves by US Players in Transfer Window

Of course the biggest news is US Mid Gio Reyna going on loan to Nottingham Forest joining fellow US player Matt Turner.  Unfortunately for Turner they also brought in a keeper who presumably will take the #1 slot after Turner has struggled of late.  Fellow American backstop Ethan Horvath – one of my favorites – did get his release to go to Coventry City where he should become the Championship team’s starting goalie.  Horvath has helped 2 straight teams advance from the Championship to the EPL- Nottingham Forest & then Luton Town last season.  Not sure he’s EPL material – but game-time should help him.  Stories about all the American Transfers and where all the American’s abroad play this weekend below along with some great saves and questionable calls in the GK and Ref sections. 

World Cup Tournament Schedule Announcement 3 pm Fox & Telemundo

The journey to the 2026 FIFA World Cup will see some long-awaited major progress on Sunday, when FIFA announces a framework of the tournament schedule. FIFA has also said we’ll learn where the U.S. and fellow home teams Canada and Mexico will play their group games, and where the final will be. The U.S. is expected to start out west and move east, while the final is expected to go to either East Rutherford, N.J., or Arlington, Texas. But all we really know right now is that the announcement will be made on a TV show at 3 p.m., with a national broadcast on Fox and Telemundo.

Huge Games this Weekend – Sunday

Some huge games on the docket this weekend – especially Sunday as Arsenal will host league leader Liverpool at 11:30 am on Peacock in a top 3 battle and the first big game since Liverpool’s Manager Klopp announced he would step down at season’s end.   12:45 has Juventus and American’s Mckinney & Weah headed to league leader Inter Milan on Paramount plus in a 1 vs 2 battle for Italian Supremacy.  3 pm gives us the Madrid Derby as Real Madrid host Atletico Madrid on ESPN+.  Earlier on Sunday – Nottingham Forest will face Bournemouth at 9 am on Peacock with Reyna’s first chance to play and will Turner be between the pipes in Goal or do they start their new signing? Oh Chelsea will host Wolverhampton on USA 9 am too while Man U hosts West Ham at 9 on Peacock.  (I can honestly say I am watching much less EPL now that all the good games are Peacock Streaming only – if I can watch I watch – but I used to tape the games and go back and watch many more games – now not really – stupid NBC!)

GAMES ON TV

Sat, Feb 3

6:30 am Para+            Iran vs Japan Asian Cup

7:30 am USA               Everton vs Tottenham  

9:30 am ESPN+            Bayern Munich vs. M’gladbach (Scally)

10 am USA                  Brighton vs Crystal Palace (  ) 

10 am Peacock_          Fulham (Robinson) vs Burnley

12 noon Para+,            Frosinone vs AC Milan (Pulisic)

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

12:30 pm Peacock       Sheffield United (Trusty) vs Aston Villa

12:50 pm ESPN+          Alavez vs Barcelona

1:55 pm ESPN+            Ajax vs PSV

Sun, Feb 4

9 am USA                    Chelsea vs Woverhampton

9 am peacock             Bournemouth vs Nottingham Forest (Turner, Reyna) EAr

9 am peacock              Man United vs West Ham United

11:30 am Peacock      Arsenal vs Liverpool

12:45 pm Para+          Inter Milan vs Juventus (Mckinney)

3 pm ESPN+                Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid

3 pm Fox      2026 World Cup Schedule Announcement

Mon, Feb 5

3 pm USA                    Brentford vs Man City           

Tues, Feb 6

2:45 pm ESPN+                  Plymouth Arglyle vs Leeds United FA Cup

2:45 pm ESPN+                  Coventry City vs Sheffield Wed  FA Cup

3 pm ESPN2                 Bayer Leverkusen vs Stuttgart German Cup

WEds, Feb 7

10 am Para +              Asian cup         Semi Final 2

2:30 pmESPN+             Nottingham Forest (Turner, Reyna) vs Bristol City FA Cup  

3 pm ESPN+                 Aston Villa vs Chelsea FA Cup 

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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US MEN & Women

Men’s January transfer grades: Forest get a B+ for Reyna loan Jon Molyneux-Carter
USMNT’s Reyna completes loan move to Forest

Gio Reyna is on the move, but the fit isn’t ideal – yahoo soccer  

USWNT captain has a gripe with American soccer fans

World

‘Devastated’ Australia failed to take chances in Asian Cup loss – coach
Jurgen Klopp insists Liverpool exit is not extra motivation to win Premier League
Jurgen Klopp is irreplaceable, but here’s who Liverpool should hire to take over Ryan O’Hanlon
Why Xavi stepped down as Barca coach, and who’s on the short list of replacements  hSam Marsden
Simeone: Easy to reach ‘breaking point’ as coach Alex Kirkland and Martin Ainstein
Marcus Rashford at a crossroads with Man United: Can England star get back on track? Rob Dawson
Why the secrecy around Man City’s FFP case with Premier League is so damaging Gabriele Marcotti

Inter Miami gets embarrassed in Saudi Arabia: Panic time?

Reffing

Why the VAR was powerless on Toney’s goal and Kluivert escaped a red vs. Liverpool Dale Johnson

Become a Licensed High School Ref

Become a Licensed Ref with Indiana Soccer – must be over 13

GK

US Goalkeeper Situation – Questions on the Top Choices Now

Ethan Horvath Transfers to Cardiff City in the Championship from Nottingham Forest

US GK – ESPN FC – video

US Keeper Matt Turner Great Save 2 weeks ago

This was Ivan Toney Cheating to score vs Turner and Nottingham Forest 2  weeks back

PK Tips  

Ballwork GK  

USMNT weekend viewing guide: Comings and goings

There are players on the move and titles to contend for this weekend.

By jcksnftsn  Feb 2, 2024, 9:12am PST  Stars & Stripes

There have been some significant shifts in the USMNT landscape leading into what could be a big weekend for club matchups as well. Paxten Aaronson has departed Eintracht Frankfurt and Gio Reyna is leaving behind the Bundesliga as well (at least for now). Meanwhile, Weston McKennie and Tim Weah need a result against league leading Inter Milan this weekend for Juventus to keep pace atop Serie A. Here’s where you can watch it all this weekend.

Saturday

Bayern Munich v Borussia Mönchengladbach – 9:30a on ESPN+

Joe Scally, Jordan Pefok and Borussia Mönchengladbach will take on second place Bayern Munich, who trail Beyer Levekusen by two points in the Bundesliga standings and are coming off a 3-2 win over Augsburg. ‘Gladbach held Leverkusen to a scoreless draw last weekend, allowing Bayern to close ground. They will now look for a result in their second straight match against a title contender.

Brighton & Hove Albion v Crystal Palace – 10a on USA Network

Chris Richards started at right back on Tuesday in Crystal Palace’s 3-2 win over Sheffield United and Auston Trusty, who started left back in a battle of American centerbacks playing out of position. With the result, Palace are in 14th place heading into their matchup with Brighton this weekend, who sit in 9th place, eight points ahead of Palace in the table.

Burnley v Fulham – 10a on Peacock

Just a point ahead of Crystal Palace sit Fulham, who have just one win and one draw in their past six matches. Antonee Robinson continues to go the full 90 minutes in nearly every match for Fulham, while Tim Ream started for the first time in nearly two months in last weekend’s FA Cup loss to Newcastle United and then came on for the final 15 minutes of Fulham’s midweek scoreless draw with Everton. Fulham’s opponent this weekend are relegation-threatened Burnley, who have just 12 points through 22 matches and sit 7 points back of safety.

Frosinone v AC Milan – Noon on Paramount+

Christian Pulisic, Yunus Musah and AC Milan drew 2-2 with Bologna to fall back to eight points behind league-leading Inter Milan who also have a game in hand. Pulisic is on a three match stretch where he hasn’t recorded a goal scoring contribution. That’s notable because it’s tied for his longest period of the season, as he has six goals and five assists on the year. Yunus Musah has seen a dip in his playing time, as he’s yet to start a match since returning from injury at the start of the year. He has appeared in four straight, with his 31 minutes last weekend against Bologna being his longest outing since his return. Milan are safely in the Champions League positions as they have a 10 point lead on 4th place Atalanta, but the league title is also looking out of the picture as they would need both Inter and Juventus to suffer significant setbacks through the final three months of the season.

Sheffield United v Aston Villa – 12:30p on Peacock

Auston Trusty has started the last two matches, and three of the last four, at left back for Sheffield United as the last place team looks to find something positive from a season that will certainly end in relegation. Their opponent this weekend is fifth place Aston Villa, who are tied with Spurs on 43 points. They are coming off a 3-1 home loss to Newcastle United.

Ajax v PSV Eindhoven – 2p on ESPN+

Sergiño Dest and PSV Eindhoven bounced back from their Dutch Cup loss to pick up a 2-0 win over Almere City last weekend to keep their undefeated run in the Eredivisie alive. Dest picked up an assist on the opening goal in the match, while Malik Tillman was not in the squad due to illness and Ricardo Pepi came in for the final seven minutes to see out the victory. PSV’s opponent this weekend is league rival Ajax, who stumbled early in the season, losing five of their first ten matches in league play, culminating in a 5-2 loss to PSV the first time the teams played. Since then, Ajax have gone on a nine match undefeated streak of their own, including winning seven of the matches to pull themselves back up to fifth place. However, they are still 21 points behind PSV. Still, Ajax would love to put PSV’s run to an end to ensure that they remain the only team to win the Eredivisie in undefeated fashion.

Bournemouth v Nottingham Forest – 9a on Peacock

Nottingham Forest were quite busy during the winter transfer window in what looks likely to have mixed effects on USMNT players. The club signed a third keeper, which seems to indicate that Matt Turner’s days of starting are numbered if not over already. On the flip side, the club also made a move to bring in Gio Reyna from Borussia Dortmund. It’s going to be a big shift moving from a club that generally plays on the front foot in the Bundesliga to one which is more reactionary and a bottom quarter of the table in EPL, but if it means more consistent playing time for Reyna it should be a positive step. Forest are just two points clear of the relegation zone, with a looming Financial Fair Play ruling that could see them docked significant points. They face a Bournemouth team that are six points ahead of them in 12th place.

Wolfsburg v Hoffenheim – 9:30a on ESPN+

Kevin Paredes received his first start in over two months and rewarded his manager with a goal in Wolfsburg’s 1-1 draw with Köln last weekend. It was Paredes’s second goal of the season and the first time all year he has played the full 90. John Brooks also went the full 90 minutes last weekend for Hoffenheim, who played Heidenheim to a 1-1 draw as well.

Osasuna v Celta Vigo – 10:15a on ESPN+

Luca de la Torre has started two straight for Celta Vigo as they’ve lost a pair of tight matches 1-0 and now sit just a point out of the relegation zone. The team will face 12th place Osasuna on Saturday morning looking to pick up some vital points.

RB Leipzig v Union Berlin – 11:30a on ESPN+

Brenden Aaronson saw just seven minutes off the bench last weekend as Union Berlin defeated Darmstadt 1-0 to pick up their third win in six matches. The points pulled Union five clear of relegation as they look to continue to crawl out of the ridiculous hole they dug for themselves through the first half of the season.

Real Betis v Getafe – 12:30p on EPSN+

Johnny Cardoso has started two straight for Real Betis since settling in after joining the club in January. He played the full 90 minutes last weekend as Betis defeated Mallorca 1-0, a week after coming off with his team tied against Barcelona only to see them give up two more goals to fall 4-2. Betis are just two points behind Sociedad for Europa League Conference qualifying and this weekend they will face a Getafe side five points back in tenth place.

Inter Milan v Juventus – 2:45p on Paramount+

Weston McKennie, Tim Weah and Juventus dropped two crucial points last weekend to relegation-threatened Empoli in a 1-1 draw when they were forced to play three quarters of the match down a man after Arkadiusz Milik was shown a straight red 16 minutes into the match. McKennie started and went the full 90 minutes while Weah came on in the 60th minute. The dropped points saw Juventus fall a point behind this weekend’s opponent, Inter Milan, in the Serie A table with Milan also having the advantage of a game in hand. The teams played to a 1-1 draw in their first meeting this season and Juventus need to do no worse than that on the road to stay within striking distance of the league leaders.

Why Reyna chose Forest, whether he has a future in Dortmund

• ESPN Feb 1, 2024, 11:16 AM ET

Once a promising prospect at a club known for developing diamonds of footballers, Giovanni Reyna‘s time with Borussia Dortmund is up — for right now, anyway. The 21-year-old United States international joined Nottingham Forest on loan for the remainder of the season, the Premier League club announced on Wednesday.

There’s no option to make the move permanent, and in fact, Dortmund have extended Reyna’s contract through the end of the 2025-26 season in the process, so there’s every chance he could return to the Westfalenstadion. But there’s no doubting that his past six months in Germany have been underwhelming, and a change in scenery might be just the tonic Reyna needs to jump-start his career.

How, and why, Reyna ended up at Nottingham Forest

Heading into the January transfer window amid the uncertainty of which clubs would lead the race for Reyna, there was one constant thread: Reyna wanted and needed to leave Dortmund for first-team football. Agent Jorge Mendes and father Claudio Reyna — the ex-USMNT captain and Premier League midfielder — took the lead in these discussions and looked at multiple options for Gio including, according to sources: Marseille, AS Monaco and Lyon in France; Real Sociedad, Sevilla and Villarreal in Spain; as well as Portugal’s Benfica and then Wolverhampton Wanderers and Nottingham Forest in the Premier League. Of those, Forest, Marseille and Sevilla were the most eager.

Heading into the final days of the window, there was also interest from Italy’s Fiorentina, but it ended up either Marseille or Forest as the places Reyna would go. Marseille were in a strong position: Reyna could learn from the demanding Gennaro Gattuso and the French league suited his game, but Reyna had his heart set on a move to the Premier League. His father Claudio watched Forest’s matches to see how Gio would fit in, while Mendes’ good relationship with the club also helped. (He is also the agent for Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo.) The lack of a language barrier also contributed to the decision, and late on Jan. 31, Forest announced the loan agreement move through to the end of the 2023-24 season.

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At the same time as they confirmed the move, Dortmund announced they had extended Reyna’s contract through to 2026. They emphasised there wasn’t an option to make the move permanent, but also that it was Reyna’s wish to move on loan and try to get some more minutes, with Forest his chosen destination.

“We are happy that we have been able to extend the contract with Gio for a further year,” said Borussia Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl. “He is a player who has enormous skill and in whom we still see a lot of potential.”It won’t be an easy ride for Reyna at his new club. Nottingham Forest have a lot to juggle: they are 16th in the Premier League and Nuno has been there eight matches after being parachuted in to help stave off relegation. Then there are the potential sanctions hovering above their heads, with the Premier League charging the club — alongside Everton — for breaching the Profit and Sustainability rules (PSR).

It’s hardly a soft landing, but Reyna is committed and feels this is where he can get some much-needed game time.How and where will Reyna fit into Forest’s team? His versatility across the forward line will be a huge asset to Forest, but as Dortmund boss Edin Terzic said last month, Reyna wants to be regarded long term as a No. 10 or No. 8 option, which could be a problem if Nuno sticks with the current 4-2-3-1 formation. Forest’s typical front three (Chris Wood, Anthony Elanga, Nicolás Domínguez) are largely interchangeable, but getting the starting No. 10 spot at Forest will be tricky. It’s a position held down by the club’s record signing and outstanding player Morgan Gibbs-White, who captained the team against Arsenal last time out in the Premier League.

Gibbs-White has featured in every league match this term except their 3-2 defeat to Brentford on Jan. 20, which he missed through an abdominal injury. If they stick with this 4-2-3-1, then Reyna will likely start on the flanks. A switch in formation could work in Reyna’s favour. Forest have had a host of players on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations — Ibrahim Sangaré (Ivory Coast), Willy Boly (Ivory Coast), Ola Aina (Nigeria), Sèrge Aurier (Ivory Coast), Cheikhou Kouyaté (Senegal) and Moussa Niakhaté (Senegal) — while the impressive Elanga has been out injured. Once they return, it could see Nuno switch to formations he favoured during his Wolves tenure, where he preferred the 3-4-3, which switched to a 4-5-1, or the 3-4-2-1. Both could see Reyna deployed as one of a pair of No. 10s alongside Gibbs-White, the two working in tandem running off and with striker Taiwo Awoniyi.If Nuno opts for a midfield three, then Reyna could be their new No. 8. His versatility is king here, but the hope is he’ll get his time in his preferred No. 10 spot.If Reyna’s loan spell goes well, it could turn into a permanent move, but this is where things could get tricky. With no option in the deal, Reyna’s prospects of a long-term stay at Forest are already somewhat out of his hands. Failing to survive the drop would mean a summer of overhaul in order to reduce their wage bill. Even if they stay in the Premier League, and given their dalliances with PSR this season, signing Reyna to a full-time deal will not be cheap. Equally, Dortmund are under no pressure to move on from the player given they have that extra year’s buffer with his contract.If Reyna impresses, it’s a win-win for all involved. Dortmund would have a player back in form, and with Marco Reus‘s contract expiring in Germany in the summer, the U.S. international could yet be their next long-term No. 10. If he’s kept on the periphery, Reyna would be on the market, and aged just 21, he’d be viewed as a safe investment, with clubs knowing they could recruit a player whose value could skyrocket in coming years.Reyna’s debut could come as soon as Sunday at AFC Bournemouth. He’ll wear the No. 20 shirt, and judging by the message he sent to the Forest fans upon signing, he already feels at home in the Premier League.”I’m ready to work hard, I’m really for the challenge and I can’t wait to attack the Premier League with this amazing club. I’m Gio Reyna, and I’m a Red.” — Tom Hamilton

The Dortmund view: They’re not giving up on U.S. star

Late last year, Reyna, father Claudio, his new agency Gestifute and Dortmund’s sporting director Kehl met to discuss the 21-year-old American’s once-bright future at Borussia Dortmund. Not long before that meeting, Reyna had departed American agency Wasserman to join the Jorge Mendes-led Gestifute, believing that new representation was needed to bolster his options on the market.

After a disappointing spell in early 2023-24, Reyna wanted Dortmund’s opinion of him and his immediate future. Terzic wasn’t happy with Reyna’s defensive work rate; the manager expected his attacking midfielders to track back and aggressively block passing lanes in order to improve Dortmund’s questionable defensive stability. What also hurt Reyna’s standing in the team was that in their mind, he was showing limited improvement. All the while, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, an emerging 19-year-old English talent, took the spotlight with his one-on-one skills and entertaining style of play on the wing.Kehl assured Reyna that Dortmund wouldn’t prevent him from going elsewhere for more game time, while at the same time working to bring Jadon Sancho back from Manchester United for a six-month loan spell. Sources have confirmed that Reyna was then offered to Premier League clubs, but interest in England was initially lacking.As Dortmund toyed with the idea of parting ways with Reyna — either through a permanent transfer or a loan with an obligation to make the deal permanent — they made a pivotal decision. Rather than severing ties, ending a chapter that commenced in 2019 when the teenage prodigy made the transatlantic leap from the New York City FC academy to the Bundesliga powerhouse at the age of 16, BVB opted for an alternate course of action: extending Reyna’s contract until 2026 and orchestrating a loan arrangement with Nottingham Forest.

This January transfer is not a farewell from Dortmund. The club seemingly refuse to relinquish the hope that Reyna could blossom into the next American soccer star and develop substantial value in the years to come. It’s a vision reminiscent of Christian Pulisic, whose talents garnered a €64 million transfer to Chelsea in January 2019. Even though Terzic was to an extent dissatisfied with Reyna’s performances last term and early on this season, he praised Reyna’s showing in Dortmund’s 3-1 win over VfL Bochum last Saturday. “You could see that Gio is capable of influencing the game from the bench,” Terzic said after bringing him on for Youssoufa Moukoko after 66 minutes. “He was very confident on the ball, managed to create a few dangerous situations, but was a bit unlucky with his finishing in one or two situations.” After Reyna had established himself in Dortmund’s Bundesliga team, he carried himself like someone who was capable of leading the team at some point in the future. One of his best friends in that team was Jude Bellingham, who did exactly that at a young age. Injuries and lacklustre performances have derailed Reyna’s career to a degree, though, and trying to prove himself in a new environment while still staying connected to Dortmund might be the best move possible. — Constantin Eckner

Gio Reyna to Nottingham Forest isn’t an ideal transfer — it’s a superagent’s stopgap

Henry Bushnell

Senior soccer reporter Wed, Jan 31, 2024, 11:35 AM EST·5 min read

Gio Reyna has signed with Nottingham Forest on loan through the end of the English Premier League season. It’s the first step toward a potential transfer away from Borussia Dortmund, a transfer that Reyna has been angling for as his playing time waned at the German club. And it’s a necessary change, one that could reboot Reyna’s still-promising career.

But it’s not an ideal fit.

It is, rather, a stopgap solution engineered by a superagent, Jorge Mendes.

Reyna, 21 and long viewed as perhaps the most talented player the United States has ever produced, hired Mendes in December for this very reason. He’d previously been represented by a U.S.-based agency, Wasserman. But with his future at Dortmund increasingly dim, Reyna knew he’d soon need a new home — and Mendes, arguably European soccer’s most well-connected agent, was the perfect person to find him one.

Mendes doesn’t just field calls from potential suitors. He reportedly offered Reyna, proactively, to a variety of clubs in Spain, France and elsewhere. The middle-tier Spanish clubs — such as Real Sociedad, Villarreal and Sevilla — seemed like excellent options in a league where Reyna’s smooth playmaking style could thrive.

But some of those clubs reportedly weren’t interested. Some were, but never agreed to terms of a potential deal with Dortmund. Reyna, once valued well over $40 million at the height of his teenage stardom, is apparently no longer viewed as a can’t-miss prospect. Dortmund reportedly wanted around $15-20 million for a permanent transfer. None materialized.

So Mendes turned to an old reliable, Nottingham Forest, a volatile English club that currently sits two points above the Premier League’s relegation zone.

Mendes has used his connections and power to establish significant sway at Forest. The club’s Greek owner, Evangelos Marinakis, reportedly sought out Mendes around the time he bought Forest in 2016, and they’ve maintained an on-and-off working relationship ever since. And they are currently “on.” In December, Forest fired their coach and hired a Mendes client, Nuno Espirito Santo. The Athletic reported at the time that Mendes and Marinakis “are working closer together than ever before, practically as business partners.”

It’s unclear how, exactly, this relationship influenced Reyna’s impending move to Forest. The key questions, of course, are whether Espirito Santo truly wants Reyna and how much he’ll play.

Morgan Gibbs-White, a ball-carrying central midfielder, has established himself as Forest’s No. 10 — in Reyna’s preferred position. A rotating cast of wingers have completed the line of three in Forest’s 4-2-3-1, so perhaps Reyna could seize a role out wide. But he will have to compete for it, just as he had to at Dortmund. He will also have to prove that he can withstand the pace and physical brutality of the Premier League. Health and competition are what ultimately derailed Reyna’s burgeoning career at Dortmund. He was rising, rapidly, until a 2021 hamstring injury interrupted his ascent. As a 17- and 18-year-old in 2020-21, he played 46 games (30 starts) in the Bundesliga, Champions League and German cups. He has only started 17 games since.

He re-injured the hamstring shortly after returning in 2022. He reestablished himself in a substitute role throughout the following season. But in June 2023, while starring for the U.S. men’s national team in the CONCACAF Nations League final, a fluky tackle fractured his fibula. That latest injury kept him out until October. In his absence, at least four attacking midfielders or wingers solidified themselves on Dortmund’s depth chart ahead of him. Earlier this month, Dortmund brought in a fifth, Jadon Sancho — the very player Reyna was supposed to replace three years ago, when Dortmund sold Sancho to Manchester United. Sancho’s return was the clearest indicator yet that Reyna had to leave.

He remained a key figure for the USMNT even as he rode the bench, goalless and frustrated, at Dortmund. But he is still remarkably young, just two months past his 21st birthday. To grow, and to resume his rise to the top of the U.S. player pool, he has to play.He may or may not play extensively at Forest. He may or may not succeed in the heat of a high-stakes relegation battle. He may or may not adapt to the speed of the Premier League. All of those are reasons that this move is something less than optimal. But it’s better than a few spare minutes per week at Dortmund. And it isn’t permanent. After rumors and reports that the deal would include an option for Forest to buy Reyna outright, the latest reports from England and Germany suggest that there is not a purchase clause. Forest will simply pay his salary and a small loan fee. Reyna will extend his Dortmund contract through June 2026. So he will get a chance to prove his worth. Then he’ll either go back into Dortmund’s long-term plans or, more likely, back onto the market this summer. That will be the time to find a new home, a new hub to jumpstart his career.

Gio Reyna: What kind of player can he become? It’s time to find out

By John Muller Feb 1, 2024

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Gio Reyna’s story wasn’t supposed to go like this.The kid was American soccer royalty, the son of USMNT great Claudio Reyna, born with a ball duct-taped to his feet and top clubs’ scouts peeking over the backyard fence. Against all odds, he didn’t turn out to be as good as everyone expected — he was better.

While his friends were studying for the SAT, a teenage Reyna was snaking through Bundesliga defenders and curling home his first worldie for Borussia Dortmund. Some 18-year-olds are voted most likely to succeed in their high school’s yearbook; at the same age, in his first full professional season, Reyna made the Golden Boy shortlist — the award for the best young footballer in the world.You probably know how it’s gone wrong for him since: injuries, more injuries, then that whole World Cup melodrama between his parents and the USMNT coach, followed by — no points for guessing this one — another injury. For the past three seasons, Reyna has never been a consistent starter for club or country.

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This week’s loan move to Nottingham Forest of the Premier League from Dortmund, where he once ranked among football’s best prospects, is a chance to get the fairytale back on track.But before he can write his next chapter, Reyna has to grapple with a question he still hasn’t played regularly enough to answer: what kind of great player could he become?

Reyna in the early days with Dortmund in February 2020 (Max Maiwald/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)

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“I love him,” are the first words Rene Maric texts me when I ask about Reyna. Maric, now the head of coaching and playing style for Thomas Tuchel at Bayern Munich, was an assistant coach at Dortmund under Marco Rose in 2021-22, the season Reyna turned 19. He spent his days working with the player we’ve only gotten to see in glimpses. “He was considered our biggest talent besides Jude (Bellingham),” Maric says, “and ‘a taller version of (Andres) Iniesta’.”

(Edith Geuppert – GES Sportfoto/Getty Images)

Comparing a young player to Iniesta, even in scare quotes, is like comparing an art school student to Michelangelo. It’s just not done. That’s how far you have to reach sometimes, though, to describe the kind of things Reyna is capable of on the ball. Consider the dribble he pulled off for the U.S. against Mexico two years ago — 15 seconds of controlled demolition, one of the most preposterous runs you’ll ever see.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=L7VjqyQh1PE%3Fautoplay%3D0%26start%3D0%26null

For a lot of young attackers, dribbling is destiny: if you can tie defenders in cherry-stem knots like that, chances are you’ll wind up playing on the wing, where there’s more room to go one-v-one.

That’s how Christian Pulisic blazed a path from American youth leagues to Dortmund’s first team and beyond, and for a while it looked like Reyna might follow in his countryman’s footsteps, right down to the position. By the spring of Edin Terzic’s first stint as Dortmund manager, in 2020-21, Reyna was the team’s starting right-winger — the same job Pulisic had held two years earlier.

Stylistically, though, they aren’t very similar. Reyna isn’t fast. He doesn’t knock the ball up the sideline to skip past a defender or stretch the game with off-ball runs into the box. He can put in a good cross when called upon but he’d rather not play that wide, nor is he really the inverted cut-and-shoot type, even when he lines up on the left. Long story short: your dad would absolutely refuse to recognise this guy as a winger.Reyna’s talent is more about weaving the attack together, or what one Dortmund scout called his ability to “play with many contacts”. His awareness of space and movement can sometimes verge on the uncanny.One of his favourite tricks is to receive a pass with one barely perceptible touch, almost but not quite a dummy, that redirects the ball past pressure and into the path of a team-mate behind him. No ordinary winger has eyes in the back of his head like that.

(Christof Koepsel/Getty Images)

Even Terzic, who for the last couple of seasons has persisted in playing Reyna on both wings as well as in midfield, knows he’s a winger in name only. “Like (Bundesliga team-mate Julian) Brandt, Gio is rarely found on the wings when he plays there,” the Dortmund coach explained in October last year. “They open the wings and always move into the half-spaces. Gio is definitely the most dangerous and can pose the most goal threat (inside).”On the rare occasions Reyna was fit enough to play for the USMNT in the last World Cup cycle, that’s how coach Gregg Berhalter used him, starting on the right wing but tucking inside when Sergino Dest pushed up from right-back to join the attack. The idea was to get Reyna on the ball between the lines, somewhere around the corner of the box, where he can create like very few players in the world his age.“He has quality,” Berhalter told The Athletic a few months before the 2022 World Cup finals. “The timing of his passing is very good, the weight of his passing is very good and he can receive the ball in any type of conditions. He can get it with his back to the goal, he can get it on the run, he can get it under tight pressure. That’s not a problem for him because of his quality. And then, when he gets faced up, he’s really good at making a final pass.”Most of these strengths — receiving in tight spaces, playing back-to-goal, combining with team-mates and facing goal to unlock the final pass — are things attacking midfielders do. Reyna ultimately proved to be an awkward fit on the wings, where he found himself slipping down the depth chart for club and country behind more conventional wide, vertical attackers.“I would deem his position on the wing as his worst,” says Maric. In his view, Reyna has the potential to become world-class in the “pocket position” — an attacking midfielder in the half-spaces, along the lines of Martin Odegaard of Arsenal or Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne.Like Odegaard, Reyna has the shiftiness and close control to turn in the pocket and slip a ball into the box, but he’s got De Bruyne’s restless sense of adventure, rarely staying in one place for long.A typical Reyna sequence starts with him dropping down the half-space in the build-up, then pulling wide to receive so he can face the defence and look to play a team-mate in behind with a through ball. He’ll often finish the move by returning to the top of the box to hunt for cutbacks or loose balls, arriving in space rather than holding his position.Not every system allows him that much freedom, though.“Tactically, there’s so much more structure here,” Reyna told The Athletic shortly after he got to Dortmund from New York City FC’s academy. “In New York, I was playing as a No 10 and could go wherever I wanted, but here in Germany, I learned how to cut down the (passing) angles here, see the link-up there.”

(John Dorton/USSF/Getty Images for USSF)

He still says his best position is “kind of a free-roaming No 10,” and he shone in that role for the USMNT when he finally got a chance towards the end of 2023. Berhalter appreciated Reyna’s attacking creativity but also made a point to praise his effort “off the ball, the relentless work rate defensively.”If he’s going to earn a licence to roam instead of being stuck on the wing, Reyna will have to keep showing coaches that he’s attentive to team structure, especially out of possession. He’s not a lazy defender — his ball-winning stats are better than you might expect and Maric is upbeat about his willingness to go into duels — but his timing and angles can be lax, opening holes in midfield that Germany gleefully exploited in their 3-1 friendly win in October.Terzic, who has rarely trusted Reyna in his preferred role, put it bluntly in December: “Gio still has many aspects to work on to become a more complete player.”

(Alexandre Simoes/Borussia Dortmund via Getty Images)

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A four-month loan to the Premier League isn’t much time for Reyna to prove himself. It’s not even clear where he’ll get on the pitch in Forest’s crowded squad. Coach Nuno Spirito Santos’s 4-2-3-1 offers a chance for him to earn playing time as a No 10 but that spot currently belongs to Forest’s best player, Morgan Gibbs-White. The good news for Reyna, maybe, is that he and Gibbs-White have very different profiles. In Forest’s counter-attacking game, Gibbs-White likes to run ahead of the play, often pulling wide to receive on the right wing. Reyna, who doesn’t have that kind of pace, would rather drop to the ball in transition and turn to look for runners. If you squint a little, you can see them complementing each other: Reyna pulling the strings from midfield, Gibbs-White leading the attack from the right. It’s a far cry from the possession game Reyna was used to at Dortmund, true, but his dribbling and vision can be lethal in transition.It’s also possible, though, that Reyna just won’t fit: not quick enough to play in Forest’s front line, not defensive or tactically disciplined enough for their midfield. It would be a shame if he finally managed to stay healthy only to see his enormous potential wasted out on loan, especially with the USMNT’s high-profile Copa America on home turf coming up in the summer.“He is so young and so talented in the right role,” Maric says, “that I hope his body and his choice of club won’t stop him from reaching what he could.”For a player who once looked like a prince, the long road back to a happy ending starts with figuring out who he is now.(Top photo: Howard Smith/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images for USSF)

Making sense of Pulisic’s stellar stats at AC Milan, USMNT

• Ryan O’Hanlon, ESPN.com writerFeb 2, 2024, 09:21 AM ET

There are only three players in Serie A this season who have scored at least five non-penalty goals and created at least five assists. The first two: Inter Milan’s Marcus Thuram and Roma’s Paulo Dybala.You know the third player because he is the most famous American soccer player of all time, and he’s playing for the club with the second-most Champions League titles of all time.Everyone is talking about Christian Pulisic. You can’t walk down the street without a random stranger bursting out of a door, grabbing you by the arm, and forcing you to watch grainy video of Pulisic’s assist to Ruben Loftus-Cheek against Bologna, or his goal against Sassuolo.Delis are naming sandwiches after him. Tattoo artists across the United States are quitting in protest over having to spend their days iterating on some version of a “CP10” design. Your grandmother figured out how to not only use her television, but how to download, sign up for and then navigate the Paramount+ app in order to watch Christian Pulisic play in Serie A.I kid, so as not to cry. Somehow, Pulisic is in the midst of the best season of his professional career, for one of the biggest clubs in the world, and it feels like it’s going under the radar. So, what has driven Pulisic’s reinvigoration? And, more importantly for Milan and U.S. men’s national team fans alike, will he be able to keep it up?Pulisic, the most productive winger in ItalyPut simply, Pulisic has been one of the most productive, ever-present attackers in Serie A so far this season. Among players to appear in at least 1,200 minutes of game time, he ranks fifth in the league in per-90-minute attacking contribution (non-penalty goals and assists):

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1) Lautaro Martínez, Inter Milan: 1.07
2) Dusan Vlahovic, Juventus: 0.95
3) Marcus Thuram, Inter Milan: 0.84
4) Olivier Giroud, AC Milan: 0.82
5) Christian Pulisic, AC Milan: 0.68

For context, here are some players outside of Italy who Pulisic has outperformed by this same metric so far this season: Real Madrid’s Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo, Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski, Manchester City’s Phil Foden, Julián Álvarez, and Bernardo Silva, Arsenal’s Gabriel Jesus, Bukayo Saka, and Gabriel Martinelli.

Inside of Italy, he’s been more productive than the both of star duo — Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia — that drove Napoli to a Serie A title just a year ago. Plus, unlike the four players ahead of him on the Serie A list, Pulisic is not a striker. Given that he’s starting deeper on the field and theoretically required to do more than just assist and score goals, those numbers look even more impressive.If we take a step back in the possession chain, Pulisic’s impact doesn’t dissipate, either. The site FBref created a stat called “goal-creating actions” that they define as such as the two offensive actions that lead to a goal, and “this includes live-ball passes, dead-ball passes, successful dribbles, shots which lead to another shot, and being fouled.” In other words, it’s a way of awarding players who were involved in a goal but might not have played the pass that led directly to the goal. The only Serie A players with more goal-creating actions than Pulisic’s 12 this season are Thuram (15) and his Inter Milan teammate Henrikh Mkhitaryan (13).To tie it all together, there are only 10 players across Europe’s “Big Five” top leagues so far this season who’ve scored at least six non-penalty goals and generated at least 12 goal-creating actions.In the Premier League, it’s Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah and Darwin Núñez, Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins, and Newcastle’s Anthony Gordon. There’s no one in Ligue 1, and just one in LaLiga: Villarreal’s Alexander Sorloth. In Germany, there are three: Bayern Munch’s Leroy Sané and the Bayer Leverkusen duo of Alex Grimaldo and Victor Boniface. In Serie A, there are only two: Thuram and Pulisic.

Pulisic’s goals and assists are up, but everything else is down

In soccer today, the modern winger needs to do two things: score goals and help his team generate the capacity to score goals. Each specific winger is tilted toward one pole or the other. Kylian Mbappé is on one end — mostly goals, goals, and more goals — while Bukayo Saka sits at the other. The best version of Pulisic is right around the middle: roughly equal parts goal-scoring and helping his teammates score goals. We’ve seen that version of Pulisic so far this season, but it’s unlikely to continue in this same form.

On the goal-scoring side, Pulisic has scored six goals from 3.7 expected goals, or xG. Despite his efficiency in front of goal this season, he’s scored 1.7 goals fewer than expected since the start of the 2017-18 season. He’s never been a standout finisher, and there’s little reason to believe he’s suddenly become one. This year, he’s attempted seven shots with an xG value of 0.14 or better, and he’s scored four of them.ere is a map of all of his shots this season — the larger the circle, the higher the xG the shot generated:

Not only has Pulisic turned his own shots into goals at a super high rate, but his teammates have converted his passes into goals just as efficiently. He’s generated 3.0 expected goals assisted, but his teammates have turned them into five goals.

As you can see, just two of his assists came from passes completed inside the penalty area:

The same thinking applies to his goal-creating actions. If we look at all shot-creating actions, Pulisic has helped generate 50 attempts for his teammates. That’s tied for 34th-most in the league despite those actions leading to 12 goals, third-most in the league. Pulisic’s involvement in play, then, has led to an unusually high number of goals this season. Otherwise, his general involvement in the game is down in just about every major way.

Here’s a selection of some of his top-line metrics at Chelsea, per 90 minutes, compared to his first season in Milan:

• Non-penalty xG+xA: 0.48 at Chelsea, 0.41 at Milan
• Shots: 2.5 at Chelsea, 1.9 at Milan
• Progressive passes: 3.5 at Chelsea, 2.8 at Milan
• Shot-creating actions: 3.5 at Chelsea, 3.1 at Milan
• Touches in the penalty area: 5.7 at Chelsea, 3.6 at Milan
• Successful take-ons: 3.3 at Chelsea, 2.7 at Milan

If Pulisic had one elite skill before coming to Milan, it was his off-ball movement. That showed up in all of his touches inside the box with Chelsea, and we all saw it on his winning goal against Iran at the World Cup, too:https://www.youtube.com/embed/PgqQSJMAfPU?wmode=transparent

His overall number of touches is about the same as they were at Chelsea — just slightly down from 50-per-90 minutes to 48.3-per-90 at Milan — but he just hasn’t been as involved in the most dangerous area of the field as often. He’s not pushing the ball forward as much, he’s not taking as many players on, and he’s not shooting as much as he used to.

In a backward way, Pulisic’s season has gone under the radar because all of the shots are going in. If his chances and his teammates’ chances were being converted at a normal rate, USMNT fans would be able to have their favorite kind of conversation: Do we need to worry about this American soccer star?

So, do we need to worry about Pulisic?

Normally, I’d say “yes.” Pulisic’s underlying production — the 0.41 non-penalty xG+xA per 90 — ranks tied for 198th among all players in Europe’s “Big Five” leagues who have appeared in at least one-third of their team’s minutes. In Serie A, he’s tied for 25th.

That’s… fine? But when you consider that he’s an attacker on one of the best teams in Italy, 25th feels like the bare minimum for a starter in his position.

Plus, it’s not like he’s seen a ton of touches around the goal that haven’t turned into shots or chances created. Twenty-six other players in Serie A have registered more touches inside the penalty area. And on top of all that, he’s 24. He’s supposed to be entering his prime, and he’s moved to a less competitive league — both factors that should theoretically boost his performance. Instead, it’s mostly gone in the opposite direction.

And yet, I don’t think it’s time to freak out. At Milan, he is receiving more progressive passes than he did at Chelsea (9.3 per 90 minutes, up from 8.6). That’s a signal that he’s still able to find dangerous space — windows for players to pass him the ball — even if it hasn’t been inside the penalty area as often as in the past.

On top of that, his general contribution to Milan’s possession play is being undersold by some of these more basic numbers. Back in December, I wrote about a statistic called “Expected Possession Value” or EPV. Essentially, it looks at every on-ball action over the course of a match and calculates how much it increases or decreases a team’s chances of scoring a goal within the next 10 seconds.

For Milan, Rafael Leão leads the way in EPV at 0.21 per 90 minutes. In other words, his actions are adding 21% goal probability across a 90-minute match. Pulisic isn’t far behind, ranking second on the team at 0.18 EPV per 90.

These are all of Pulisic’s open-play passes that have increased Milan’s goal probability by at least 5%:

Along with Leao and midfielder Tijjani Reijnders, Pulisic is one of Milan’s three most-important players in terms of generating dangerous possession. And this is for a team that’s second in the league in both non-penalty goals and expected goals. Plus, playing time was more important for Pulisic this season than performance. He hasn’t played more than 1,800 minutes in a league season since he was an 18-year-old with Borussia Dortmund in the 2017-18 season. He played 75% of the minutes that year, and he’s at 74% for Milan this season. In the five years in between, though, he never got beyond 51% of the minutes. Pulisic simply hasn’t been a full-time starter in European soccer in six years. For now, re-establishing himself as such matters more than his underlying output. And then, for USMNT fans in particular, Pulisic’s performances with the national team don’t really seem to have any kind of connection with his club form. In an up-and-mostly-down 2023 with his club situation, Pulisic scored six goals and added three assists in eight caps for his country. The year before that, 2022, was probably the worst single year of his professional career — and yet, at the World Cup, he was fantastic.

Based on a handful of advanced and basic stats, FBref calculates the 10 most similar players within a competition for every player. For Pulisic, at the World Cup, the third-most-similar player was Germany’s uber-prospect Jamal Musiala. Second was Brazil’s Vinicius Junior, perhaps the best left-winger in the world. And first? Kylian Mbappe, perhaps the best player in the world.After that, well… I guess I wouldn’t get too excited about a few goals and a few assists in Serie A, either.

USWNT captain Lindsey Horan says most American fans ‘aren’t smart’ about soccer

Steve Gardner, USA TODAY Thu, February 1, 2024 at 1:43 PM EST·2 min read

he U.S. Women’s National Soccer team is accustomed to being in the spotlight. And its players are no strangers to controversy.So it should come as no surprise that team captain Lindsey Horan could be in line for some criticism after her comments to The Athletic in a recent interview about American soccer fans.”Most of them aren’t smart,” Horan said. “They don’t know the game. They don’t understand. (But) it’s getting better and better.”The point she was trying to make was that soccer commentators on TV tend to shape public perception, especially of the USWNT.”We’re always in the magnifying glass on every single thing we do or anything we say,” Horan said.The U.S. team took plenty of heat for its poor showing at the 2023 Women’s World Cup − where Horan and Co. were bounced in the Round of 16 in a penalty-kick shootout against Sweden. The loss cost coach Vlatko Andonovski his job and put the USWNT into scramble mode in the run-up to the 2024 Olympics in Paris this summer.”We need to get back to the football. The football is the most important thing,” Horan said in the December interview. “We need to focus on the game. We need to focus on being the absolute best we can be.”

New coach Emma Hayes won’t take over officially until the European season ends in May, though she did meet with the team in December to help ease the transition.With the Olympics getting underway in late July, Horan, 29, will have a lot of responsibility on her shoulders in the meantime.”We need to change every bit of culture that we had prior to the last World Cup and going into this Olympics,” she said, “because we need to win.”This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: USWNT’s Lindsey Horan: Most American fans ‘aren’t smart’ about soccer

2026 World Cup final: The pros and cons of Texas’ AT&T and New Jersey’s MetLife

Melanie AnzideiFeb 2, 2024

On Sunday from 3pm EST (8pm GMT, 1pm PT), the world will finally know the location of the 2026 World Cup final.Will it be played in Texas or New Jersey? Or will Los Angeles’ So-Fi Stadium be the dark horse that tops both favorites?The decision has been fiercely guarded. Officials in Texas and New Jersey declined to comment on reports last month that Dallas had secured the grand finale on Sunday, July 19, 2026. On Thursday, sources in host cities said FIFA, world soccer’s governing body, had yet to relay any information regarding venue selections. It seems they will find out with the rest of the world.The AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, offer very different experiences for the showpiece event in men’s global soccer and the location of the final will dictate so much about where the group and knockout matches are held, too.

World Cup venues — as with the Olympics — are not allowed to use branded names as it is viewed as a type of ambush marketing, but we will use MetLife and AT&T for now as these are the names with which fans are most familiar.With so much riding on landing the coveted fixture, here’s a closer look at the pros and cons of each venue…

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Open-air or covered?

MetLife Stadium and AT&T Stadium offer two very different stadium experiences.

The New Jersey venue opened in 2009. Though World Cup games have been played in the Meadowlands, those matches were hosted at Giants Stadium, which was torn down to make way for MetLife next door. MetLife successfully hosted the Copa America final between Chile and Argentina in 2016, a precursor to Messi Mania when tickets for a match were far more attainable than they likely will be this summer.

Messi’s Argentina were beaten 4-2 on penalties by Chile in 2016 (Xinhua/Qin Lang via Getty Images)

MetLife has a capacity of 82,500 and is an open-air stadium. It usually has a turf pitch for NFL matches but will be converted to grass for World Cup games to meet FIFA’s standards. For this summer’s Copa America games, the stadium will utilize $400,000 (£313,000) in funds from the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA), which holds the land lease where MetLife stands, to turn the field over to grass, an agency spokesperson told The Athletic.

Complete Copa America schedule

In September, the venue hit the headlines when Aaron Rodgers tore an Achilles tendon in his debut for the Jets just moments into their opening game, reigniting a debate on player safety.AT&T Stadium also has a similar base capacity of 80,000 but can be expanded to host up to 105,000 with standing room. Final capacity for a World Cup game is likely to sit somewhere between those figures, according to Dan Hunt, chairman of Dallas’ World Cup bid and FC Dallas president.“We’ll lose some seats at AT&T Stadium, but I envision it still being in the 90,000-seat range for World Cup matches there,” Hunt said in January. AT&T Stadium also features one of the largest video displays in the world, weighing 1.2 million pounds and measuring roughly 72 feet high and 160 feet wide.

The stadium’s retractable roof, though, is probably its most important accessory – especially when considering a final in Texas means players and supporters will face intense heat. The average temperature on July 19, 2023, in the Dallas Fort Worth region was 94F (34.4C), according to the National Weather Service. In September, England’s Rachel Daly, who played for the Houston Dash, said the heat and humidity could make it “unsafe” for players in the summer.

The LED scoreboard hanging from the stadium’s roof during the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup quarterfinal (Matthew Ashton – AMA/Getty Images)

If you ask The Athletic’s NFL writers, AT&T Stadium offers a far better stadium experience than MetLife, which has far fewer bells and whistles and offers less to do in the immediate surrounding area — unless you consider the American Dream mega-mall next door. AT&T is only likely to get better in Arlington, with $350 million in renovations expected at the stadium in time for the World Cup, as reported by the Dallas Morning News.

All stadiums will likely have to undergo renovations before the tournament, especially to meet FIFA’s pitch requirements, which call for a wider field than NFL-regulated fields and essentially require that any turf pitches be converted to grass. But few may have access to the resources the Dallas Cowboys’ venue has with an owner like Jerry Jones, whose estimated net worth is $12.4 billion, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.

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The World Cup epicenter or the center of the western world?

Both stadiums are just a short drive from their Big City neighbors, Dallas and New York City. Supporters of the New York/New Jersey bid have long argued New York City is the obvious choice because of the city’s global heritage, with landmarks like Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty nearby, as well as the city’s relative importance in the global market. New York City, which to some is still considered the financial capital of the world, offers fans a built-in tourist attraction and the final will take place just a few weeks after the country’s 250th celebration of July 4.

(Elsa/Getty Images)

Dallas is much smaller than New York City, with a population of 1.3 million versus 8.5 million. With Dallas, though, fans also have other Texan cities to travel to in the Mid-Cities region from Fort Worth to Dallas, which Arlington sits between. It’s also near Houston, which hopes to host several World Cup matches, although Jerry World, what some call AT&T Stadium, can be considered its own attraction in the heart of Arlington’s entertainment district. If you look at a map of the 16 host cities for 2026, Dallas is at the center of them all. New York is one of the cities furthest east – although it is arguably in the most important media market in the world. Both cities are also a roughly three-hour flight from Miami, where FIFA’s headquarters in 2026 will be.

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Getting there… and getting away

One of the biggest priorities for organizers has been preparing for avoidable transportation woes. Shuffling millions of people in and out of a region is no easy feat and local authorities have already started planning for ways to be best prepared.

If the assumption is that most fans will stay in Dallas or New York City and travel to games, like millions do every week for work in those areas, that means both cities need to set up a system that allows them to travel seamlessly. Though FIFA is tightlipped about what its agreements with host cities require, at past men’s World Cups, ticketed fans were offered free public transport to games. It’s safe to assume FIFA expects the same in 2026.Both Dallas and New York City are accustomed to temporarily increasing transport options at AT&T and MetLife stadiums for major events. Officials in both regions have also publicly backed plans for more buses, with other major infrastructure projects ongoing at various levels. (Though, if you’ve ever followed along with a major transportation initiative, they can be expensive and delays are common.)

In Dallas, some basic transit plans include increasing the Trinity Railway Express rail service during the tournament at an improved CentrePort Station, which is eight miles from AT&T Stadium, and adding dedicated bus lanes on area highways, as reported by Fort Worth Report. That hinges on pending funding and transit needs may increase depending on what FIFA announces this weekend. In July, Globe Life Field will host the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, providing a test run for some of these World Cup-related plans.In New Jersey, there are also calls for increased bus routes to the region, with officials in New Jersey racing to build a Transitway in time for the 2026 tournament. In July, the board of NJ Transit, the state’s public transportation system, approved $35million in spending to fully design a new corridor from Secaucus, where there is a regional transit hub called Secaucus Junction, to MetLife Stadium.During large events at MetLife, a special train service connects Secaucus Junction with the Meadowlands Rail Station at the stadium. Though easy to use, the service hasn’t always been perfect. Locals may remember some high-profile transit flops: during the 2014 Super Bowl, for instance, thousands of fans were stranded for hours trying to get home from the big game. A similar mess happened in 2019 with WrestleMania.

(Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

More recently, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour went off without a hitch for three performances over one holiday weekend. That may have been because the tour took place on a weekend in the summer, when most people in the New York metro area flock either to Long Island or the Jersey Shore to avoid the city heat – and, potentially, the expected traffic.

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Who is paying for it?

Hosting a World Cup is not cheap and tensions usually rise when it comes down to who will cover that bill. Organizers can tap into public funding, set up sponsorships, or rely on fundraising to get by. In the case of New Jersey and New York, this becomes even more complicated when deciphering whether one state is on the hook for more than the other.In Texas, organizers have what’s called the Major Events Reimbursement Program, or MERP — a resource likened to a Texas Trust Fund that provides reimbursement for major events brought to the state. It’s an incentive program, its supporters say, that uses taxpayers’ dollars to cover the costs of hosting major events. In 2017, the fund covered $25.4million in costs associated with holding the Super Bowl in Houston. Chris Canetti, who is leading World Cup 2026 planning in Houston, said the fund is a “huge advantage” for cities in Texas.“We all have significant financial risks that we’re taking in hosting these events and need to have a pathway for funding it,” Canetti told The Athletic. “To be able to say that we have this mechanism in place to be able to do it, I think was positive (in the bid process). We have huge costs that we have to cover through our contracts with FIFA and to know that we have this fund in place through this legislation that’s going to help us cover some of these costs is very helpful.”

(Matthew Ashton – AMA/Getty Images)

For MetLife Stadium, organizers can request funding distributed by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority. The money is allocated from $7.5million in funding appropriated from the state budget “for international events, improvements and sporting attractions,” according to a resolution approving the spending. The agency also recently approved $1.65million in funding for hosting the NHL Stadium Series, an outdoor hockey tournament, at MetLife.One potential benefit for New Jersey could also be the ability to work closely with other host cities along the East Coast. Meg Kane, the host city executive for Philadelphia 2026, told The Athletic that Philadelphia, New Jersey/New York, Boston and even Toronto have aligned to explore options around transportation, security and even cost sharing.“We view ourselves as a working group because there are such similarities in terms of location, as well as some of the additional events that each of the cities is managing and balancing,” Kane said in January.

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Opposite ends of the political spectrum

One topic that can’t be ignored is the varying political climates in New Jersey, New York and Texas. In short, two sides could not be more ideologically different or on opposite ends of the political spectrum.

In recent months, one of the biggest political tensions between New York and Texas has been the ongoing migrant crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. Political tensions hit a high when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, began bussing migrants to cities like New York, angering Democratic officials. By December and early January, about 1,000 migrants passed through New Jersey on their way to New York City to circumvent new city rules, as reported by New Jersey Monitor, prompting calls last week from Gov. Phil Murphy and other Democratic governors urging President Joe Biden to solve this “humanitarian crisis.”There are also differences when it comes to gun reform, reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ rights. New Jersey has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation. Texas is the largest state to ban nearly all abortions after the 2022 overturn of Roe v. Wade. There’s also the question of LGBTQ+ rights, with the Human Rights Campaign saying Texas is responsible for more than 20 percent of the more than 500 anti-LGTBQ+ bills last year across the country.

These issues may seem far removed from soccer, but human rights issues were widely debated and reported on during the 2022 men’s World Cup in Qatar and continue to be contentious topics as global investment in soccer continues to grow.Will these issues be a deal breaker for FIFA? Most likely not, but they surely will become topics for debate if Dallas does secure the final – and with it, the eyes of the world.(Top photos: Getty Images; design: John Bradford)

Champions League, Premier League, more: February viewing guide

• Bill Connelly, ESPN Staff WriterJan 31, 2024, 09:11 AM ET

Now is when the rubber meets the road. After a January loaded with (often delightful) cup ties, endless transfer rumors (most of which went nowhere), and lots of cold rain, February raises the stakes pretty significantly in Europe. The UEFA competitions return — the respective first legs of the Champions League round of 16 come in the middle of the month — and from England (first-place Liverpool at third-place Arsenal) to Germany (second-place Bayern Munich at first-place Bayer Leverkusen) to Spain (first-place Girona at second-place Real Madrid) to Italy (second-place Juventus at first-place Inter), we’ve got a lot of enormous league matches popping up in a short amount of time. And if that’s not enough, the chaotic-as-ever Africa Cup of Nations is reaching the final rounds as well.

It’s a lot, so let’s walk through five(ish) matches to track in each major country/competition.

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UEFA competitions

• Feb. 13: Real Madrid at RB Leipzig (Champions League)
• Feb. 14: Bayern Munich at Lazio (Champions League)
• Feb. 20: Atletico Madrid at Inter (Champions League)
• Feb. 21: Arsenal at Porto (Champions League)
• Feb. 21: Barcelona at Napoli (Champions League)

The Champions League indeed returns, and the round of 24 for the Europa League and the Europa Conference League get underway on Feb. 15 as well. Obviously, you should pay attention to all eight UCL round-of-16 matches, but some might be more interesting than others.

EDITOR’S PICKS

• In dramatic fashion, South Korea are somehow still alive in the Asian Cup — and headed for a duel with Australia3dJoey Lynch
• Jurgen Klopp is irreplaceable, but here’s who Liverpool should hire to take over1dRyan O’Hanlon
• Xavi, Klopp, Eriksson and the hypocritical treatment of managers5dGraham Hunter

Manchester City are the overall tournament favorites and should handle Copenhagen with relative ease, but two secondary favorites — Real Madrid and Bayern — could find things awkward with road tests. RB Leipzig have been all over the map in 2023-24 and need to recover from some dismal recent form but boast plenty of upside; Lazio, meanwhile, have taken 13 points from their past five league matches to rise to within two points of a top-four spot. Bayern haven’t really seen fifth gear in a while either.

The second set of Champions League matches, on Feb. 20 and 21, features maybe the most fascinating R16 ties — Atletico-Inter and Barca-Napoli — plus, in Porto, another chance for an underdog to make an early home statement. There’s plenty to track here, but you probably didn’t need me to tell you that.

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England

• Feb. 4: Liverpool at Arsenal
• Feb. 11: Manchester United at Aston Villa
• Feb. 24: Newcastle United at Arsenal
• Feb. 25: Liverpool vs. Chelsea (EFL Cup final, live on ESPN+)
• Feb. 28: Maidstone United at Sheffield Wednesday/Coventry City (FA Cup)

This coming Sunday comes one of the biggest remaining matches of the Premier League campaign. The computers and oddsmakers consider the EPL title race a two-teamer between Manchester City and Liverpool — Opta’s power ratings give the former a 59% chance at the title, the latter a 37% chance, and the other 18 teams in the league a combined 5% chance. Arsenal’s odds took a major nosedive with the Gunners’ back-to-back December losses to West Ham and Fulham, but they still trail Liverpool by only five points and have time to either insert themselves back into the race or, with matches against Liverpool and City (Mar. 30) remaining, decide who gets to win.

Liverpool enter February with a shot at lifting four trophies in Jürgen Klopp’s final four months as manager, but the picture could change significantly by March. The Feb. 4 trip to the Emirates Stadium will have a huge impact on the Reds’ EPL title odds, and in four days late in the month they’ll play in the EFL Cup final against Chelsea and in the FA Cup fifth round against Watford or Southampton. They’ll be favored in both matches, but this will be a pretty defining month in the final chapter of the Klopp-Liverpool story.

– O’Hanlon: Here’s who Liverpool should hire after Klopp (E+)

And of course, let’s not forget everyone’s new favorite club, Maidstone United. The Stones took down second-division Ipswich Town last weekend to become the first sixth-division club to reach the fifth round since the 1970s, and they’ll face another second-division side, either Wednesday or Coventry, at the end of the month.

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Germany

• Feb. 6: VfB Stuttgart at Bayer Leverkusen (DFB Pokal, live on ESPN+)
• Feb. 7: Borussia Monchengladbach at Saarbrucken (DFB Pokal, live on ESPN+)
• Feb. 9: Freiburg at Borussia Dortmund (Live on ESPN+)
• Feb. 10: Bayern Munich at Bayer Leverkusen (Live on ESPN+)
• Feb. 24: RB Leipzig at Bayern Munich (Live on ESPN+)

The first 10 days of the month are enormous in Deutschland. First, we’ve got the last two quarterfinals of what has been a truly chaotic DFB-Pokal. Two second-division teams – Fortuna Dusseldorf (which defeated St. Pauli via penalties on Tuesday) and either Kaiserslautern or Hertha Berlin (they play Wednesday, live on ESPN+) — are already guaranteed semifinal bids, and the only two top-of-the-first-division teams left in the field, first-place Leverkusen and third-place Stuttgart, play each other next week.

FRIDAY, FEB. 2 (all times ET)
• Heidenheim vs. Dortmund (2:30 p.m.)
• Athletic Club vs. Mallorca (3 p.m.)

SATURDAY, FEB. 3 (all times ET)
• Bayern Munich vs. M’gladbach (9:20 a.m.)
• Darmstadt vs. Leverkusen (9:20 a.m.)
• Alavés vs. FC Barcelona (12:50 p.m.)
• Ajax vs. PSV (1:55 p.m.)
• Girona vs. Real Sociedad (2:50 p.m.)

SUNDAY, FEB. 4 (all times ET)
• RB Leipzig vs. Union Berlin (11:20 a.m.)
• Real Madrid vs. Atletico Madrid (2:50 p.m.)

Meanwhile, third-division Saarbrucken, who have already taken down Bayern Munich and Eintracht Frankfurt, try to keep their miraculous run going against a Gladbach team that is worse than Bayern and Eintracht. Major “magic of the cup” vibes in Germany.

Just four days after hosting Stuttgart, Bayer Leverkusen will play an even bigger match, and it honestly might be the biggest remaining match of the Bundesliga campaign. Bayern come to town currently trailing the Werkself by just two points, and although the German giants do have to face bogey team Gladbach this coming weekend, it’s fair to say that if Leverkusen want to remain on the front foot in the title race, they need a result in this one pretty badly.

– Stream the Bundesliga on ESPN+ all season long

That means they’ll have to play better than they have since the league’s restart — they needed late magic to secure tight wins over Augsburg and RB Leipzig, and they came up empty in the magic department in a 0-0 draw with Gladbach last weekend. They’ve been just scraping by with several key players participating in the Africa Cup of Nations, and although that’s wrapping up, star scorer Victor Boniface is out for a few more weeks with injury. They missed him greatly last weekend.

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Spain

• Feb. 4: Atletico Madrid at Real Madrid (Live on ESPN+)
• Feb. 6 and 27: Mallorca vs. Real Sociedad (Copa del Rey) (Live on ESPN+)
• Feb. 7 and 29: Atletico Madrid vs. Athletic Club (Copa del Rey) (Live on ESPN+)
• Feb. 10: Girona at Real Madrid (Live on ESPN+)
• Feb. 19: Girona at Athletic Club (Live on ESPN+)

Granted, Barcelona and Real Madrid are always the primary focuses of attention in Spain, but February belongs to Girona and Atletico Madrid. Including a Feb. 3 match against Real Sociedad, Girona will face three of the top six teams in the LaLiga table this month. They are currently in first, a point ahead of Real Madrid (who have a game in hand), but Opta’s power ratings aren’t yet buying what the Gironistes are selling. They give Real Madrid a 93% chance of taking the title. But if Girona come up big this month, the odds will have no choice but to shift a decent amount toward the underdogs.

– Stream LaLiga all season long on ESPN+

Atleti, meanwhile, are in an interesting spot. They have lost to Barcelona, Athletic Club and Girona over the past two months, which has left them in a precarious position, clinging to a top-four position by just two points over Athletic (and tied with a flailing Barca). But a Copa del Rey win over Real Madrid has positioned them as the favorites in that competition — they have lifted that trophy just once since 1996, taking down Real Madrid in extra time in the 2013 final — and while they’re the underdogs in the Champions League round of 16 against Inter, it’s not the least manageable draw imaginable.

By the end of February, this season could be putting off either precarious or triumphant vibes.

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Italy

• Feb. 4: Juventus at Inter
• Feb. 4: Lazio at Atalanta
• Feb. 10: Inter at Roma
• Feb. 11: Napoli at AC Milan
• Feb. 28: Atalanta at Inter

Liverpool vs. Arsenal is huge, but it might not even be the biggest match this coming Sunday. Juventus, unbeaten since September and unburdened by European play, have climbed to within one point of Inter in the Serie A race, even though Inter also haven’t lost in league play since September. The Nerazzurri do have a game in hand, but a loss on Sunday could significantly change the calculus.

Meanwhile, the race for fourth place is almost equally gripping. Granted, Italy has solid odds of claiming a fifth bid in next year’s Champions League, but it’s still only four for now, and the gap between fourth-place Atalanta and 10th-place Torino is just five points. Lazio and Roma are both rebounding from poor starts; Fiorentina and Bologna still have time to bounce back after a poor January for both; and somehow Napoli, stuck in hangover mode for months, remain only five points outside the top four.

Look at it this way: Serie A might have more plot twists remaining than any other major European league.

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Elsewhere in Europe

• Feb. 3: PSV Eindhoven at Ajax (Eredivisie) (Live on ESPN+)
• Feb. 4: Marseille at Lyon (Ligue 1)
• Feb. 4: Gent at Anderlecht (Belgian Pro League)
• Feb. 9: Sturm Graz at RB Salzburg (Austrian Bundesliga)
• Feb. 11: Lille at PSG (Ligue 1)

We’re lacking for gripping title races outside of Europe’s four biggest leagues. PSG lead Nice by six points in France; PSV lead Feyenoord by 12 in the Netherlands; and, although they’ve failed to seal the deal before, Union Saint-Gilloise currently boast an eight-point lead over Anderlecht in Belgium.

Granted, PSG’s form remains an interesting topic because of how it might translate to Champions League play — a test against fifth-place Lille could be telling ahead of the round of 16 — but the most interesting February match in France might be between seventh-place Marseille and 16th-place Lyon. It’s one of the most heated derbies in Europe (too heated, actually), and it means even more than usual for both teams. Lyon are still struggling to get their head above water in their relegation scrap; after winning three straight in league play, they allowed three goals in losses to Le Havre and to Rennes. Marseille, meanwhile, sit five points outside of the top four after three consecutive league draws.

PSV play their own always-heated rivalry match this Saturday, visiting the Johan Cruyff Arena to face an Ajax team that finally has its act together. After a dreadful start, they’ve taken 29 points from their past 11 league matches to rise back to fifth in the Eredivisie, just four points behind third-place Twente. PSV’s league lead is safe, but they could hand Ajax a huge setback on Saturday.

We do have a couple of interesting league races to follow. Sporting CP lead Benfica by just one point in Portugal (and Porto by four), although none of the top three play each other in February. And in Austria, three-time defending champion RB Salzburg lead Sturm Graz by only two points. A loss on Feb. 9 would make things awfully interesting.

USMNT analysis

A look at the USMNT goalkeeping situation as questions surround the top choices

As everyone knows, the USMNT goalkeeping situation isn’t great as we approach two major tournaments in the Nations League final stages and the Copa America. ASN’s Brian Sciaretta looks at all the options and how things could shape up 

BY BRIAN SCIARETTAPOSTED EBRUARY 01, 2024 2:05 PM

IT’S THE TOUGHEST position right now to analyze on the U.S. national team because there are no easy answers, but goalkeeping is of critical importance as the depth chart is unstable at a point when the Nations League finals and Copa America are quickly approaching. Things can, and often do, change quickly but right now none of the options inspire a lot of confidence.

On thing we are seeing is that there is a lot of player movement and that always brings uncertainty about playing time and the ability to adjust into a new setting. We also have a time where others haven’t played in a long time while other options are very young. Both of these issues also create uncertainty about the immediate future.

Long term, it will probably sort itself out, but there are pressing demands in the short term and there are no good answers. Goalkeeping is important not simply for the demands of stopping shots, but goalkeeping also affects the confidence level of the entire team. When a team lacks confidence in its goalkeeper, it throws everything and everyone else off.

But let’s look at where things stand.

 THE CURRENT GROUP

Matt Turner: Things have not gone well for Turner since he arrived in England in the summer of 2022. It was expected he would be Arsenal’s backup but also that he would be given cup games. But eventually he lost his starting cup game role and then was glued to the bench. After a move to Nottingham Forest, he continued to struggle. The team initially brought in Odysseas Vlachodimos from Benfica and the Greek No. 1 replaced Turner. But after Vlachodimos had a terrible run, Turner regained the job. In January, Turner continued to not play well and on deadline day, the club acquired Matz Sels from Strasbourg.

What this means is that Turner is now either the No. 2 or No. 3 (which carries the risk of not being registered) depending on how Forest sees him compared with Vlachodimos. How long will Turner remain at the club if he is the backup?

For the U.S. national team, Turner will not be in a position to regain confidence heading into any of the upcoming tournaments.

Ethan Horvath: After leading Luton Town to promotion last season while on loan from Nottingham Forest, Horvath was given a raw deal. He was told he was in Luton Town’s plans but the club changed its mind late in the game and declined the option to buy on his loan. Upon returning to Forest, he fell to the No. 3 keeper and wasn’t even registered for the first half of the season.

At the end of the January window, Horvath sealed a move to Cardiff City which sits midtable at 14^th place in the Championship. There he should be able to push Jak Alnwick for the starting job as Alnwick has not been great this season. But how long will it take Horvath to compete? That remains to be seen.

The good news is that he’s done well in the Championship before – with Luton. But it’s hard to be completely optimistic as Horvath has seen all his recent clubs pass on him to be their No. 1. Club Brugge felt the need to spend a fortune on Mignolet. Then he lost his starting job at Forest to Brice Samba. Then at Luton, the club eventually passed on him after promotion. After returning to Forest, he lost his No. 2 job.

Will this be the time a club decides that Horvath is the No. 1 for good? Maybe, but that won’t be an immediate decision. Horvath will have to play well and it is unclear how rusty he will be after not even suiting up for a game since August.

This makes him an uncertain bet for the USMNT too. It’s clear that Gregg Berhalter likes Horvath as he was called-up throughout the fall despite not playing. Berhalter was clearly betting that Horvath’s problems were short term. But Horvath’s leash is not infinite either and if Horvath doesn’t fix his career at Cardiff, he’s in trouble.  

Zack Steffen: The former USMNT No. 1 moved to Colorado and this needed to happen after Middlesbrough passed on Steffen after his loan from Manchester City. But Steffen has been injured in his return to Manchester City and has not played. He now returns to Colorado as the team’s number one. But there are two issues for Steffen. He is coming off a very long layoff and it’s unclear how he’ll respond. The second is that injuries (mostly his knee) have been bothering him for years. Will that continue to be an issue?

If Steffen returns to top form, plays well in Colorado, and if has no problems with his injury, then he is in a good position. But those are big “ifs.”

Sean Johnson:  Is mostly an afterthought, and that is fair. But he did go to the World Cup after Steffen was dropped and he has the benefit of being healthy, having a starting job, having familiarity with the team, and being a known commodity. But Toronto is a bad team and Johnson wasn’t solid in 2023, but to be fair, it’s hard to play well on a dysfunctional team.

THE YOUNG/EMERGING OPTIONS

Gaga Slonina: Still just 19, Gaga Slonina is starting for Eupen in a relegation battle in Belgium. At times he has looked very good. At times, he looks very shaky and mistake prone. This is to be expected for a teenage goalkeeper. Between Chicago and now Eupen, he’s made nearly 60 first-team appearances. For the USMNT, it’s hard to see him as a current option to start no matter how high his ceiling is. He’s still a teenager and needs time to refine his skills and his consistency. For 2024, the Olympics should be his priority internationally.

Drake Callender: The Sacramento native has emerged as a good MLS goalkeeper with Inter Miami. With his size and athleticism, he can make tough game-changing saves. He’s been around the national team in 2023 but has yet to make his debut. He’s not perfect, but with his age, athleticism, and the uncertainty of the pool, he should stay around the program in 2024.

Patrick Schulte: While more mature at 22, Schulte has still only had a first team starting job for one season. It was a very good season and he won MLS Cup with Columbus. He’s an Olympic option and another player who needs time to develop without the rush.

Roman Celentano: A bit under the radar internationally, Celentano has the starting job for a good Cincinnati team and has steadily improved. He has been part of the last two January camps where the staff have had the chance to evaluate him. He’s not flashy, but he is generally consistent and steady. He should have a long career ahead of him at just age 23.

Chris Brady: has the benefit of having the starting job at Chicago at just 19 years old. For now, he’s probably behind Schulte and Slonina for an Olympic spot, but things can change very quickly for young goalkeepers. He’s probably not close to the USMNT right now, but Brady could have a high ceiling and is in a good position to develop.

Diego Kochen: at just 17, he has a long way to go. But he’s making the bench for Barcelona and should be one of the U.S. U-20 goalkeepers this cycle. He’s one for the long-term future, but certainly worth keeping an eye on for the U-20 cycle and the following Olympic cycle.

NATIONS LEAGUE/COPA AMERICA

But how about the team’s more pressing needs for the big tournaments inside the next five-six months? That is going to be a big challenge for Berhalter.

My guess is that it will be Turner, Steffen, Horvath for the Nations League. If the tournament were starting today, Turner would still be the No. 1, but there are so many moving parts that things will change quickly. Turner is still the incumbent.

If Steffen and Horvath play well out of the gate, Turner’s leash could be very short. It’s not inconceivable that Turner might not start the Nations League games depending on the other players.

If Horvath or Steffen don’t play well inside of the next month, it’s possible that Berhalter then dips into other options after Turner. But that will also likely be dictated by form.

Berhalter might feel the need to have a more stable backup option around the team in Callender or Celentano who are always healthy and who always start. He also might let Schulte and Slonina work with the Olympic team through the summer.

There are so many moving parts and the next six weeks will tell us a lot. Then with the Copa America, there will be a lot more known about each of the options by that point.

MOVING FORWARD

Over the long-term beyond the Copa America, things will probably be okay. There are enough options where some players will rise, others will fall, others will sort of stagnate. Most importantly, there will be clarity.

One thing that the team misses desperately from its goalkeeping pool is a No. 3 option who is older, better than average, a lock starter for years with his club, and is known/trusted by the entire pool. Nick Rimando was perfect for this role.

There are different philosophies on how to handle the third goalkeeping spot. One is to have the third best goalkeeper in the pool. The second is to have a young and experimental keeper to prepare for the future. The third is to have an older veteran who might not be the third best goalkeeper in the pool, but who is known and trusted by the entire pool of players, always has a starting job at his club, is competent, is a regular call-up to the USMNT, can be a calming presence in a tough situation if he is forced to play, and who is not a malcontent if he sits the bench for long stretches.

A keeper like that sets the floor of how bad things can get with a goalkeeping pool. It is good to have a several young and prime age goalkeepers pushing themselves, but behind them, it is reassuring to have a reliable and familiar hand in case of tough times. These players can then start for stretches as the rest of the pool works itself out.

We will see how the goalkeeper pool sorts itself out, but if the No. 3 goalkeeper was viewed this way, it would prevent a situation like now when every option has more questions than answers.

Apple is still keeping secret how many — or few — people watch its MLS telecasts

No matter how often fans and media complain, the league and its big-money broadcast partner still won’t reveal specific numbers. And unlike with traditional TV, there’s no independent way to get them.

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — The people in power at Major League Soccer and Apple will try to tell you that all was sunshine and roses in the TV partnership’s first year. “Every metric that we’ve had, we exceeded,” Seth Bacon, MLS’s executive vice president of media, said at the league’s media day festival on Thursday. “From a subscription standpoint, we blew by, more than doubled, what we thought would happen. And we met a lot of those goals even before [Lionel] Messi got here.”But ask how many roses there are in the garden, and the tune changes. MLS and Apple remain as stingy as ever about revealing any specifics about how many people watched games on their platform last year.“It’s something that we continue to work with Apple and all our partners [on], to make sure we understand them,” Bacon said. “But it’s a different language that we have to speak now than when you’re dealing with linear [TV] and Nielsen.”

Behind the scenes at Apple and MLS’ studios, where every Saturday is ‘like the Olympics’

That last sentence actually did reveal something, even if the language was industry-speak. Nielsen is the longstanding measurer of TV viewership, collecting data independently of the networks. But there’s no independent measurer of streaming viewership. Some platforms publish audience data themes, as NBC and ESPN long have. Amazon hired Nielsen to measure its Thursday night NFL audiences on Prime Video. Apple has kept silent.So it’s not possible for an outsider to prove Bacon’s assertions that “we got way younger as an audience,” and “we had people watching longer than they did on linear television.”The only thing resembling data that anyone had given out before Thursday came from Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services. Cue said at last November’s Soccerex business conference that “we’ve had more than a million viewers to watch the biggest games this season.” Cue also notably said “nobody expected that,” which raised some eyebrows. The last MLS Cup final before Apple’s deal started, 2022′s Union-LAFC epic, drew 2.155 million viewers just in the United States. So one million viewers seems like a low bar for a global telecast on a big brand’s platform, even if it’s a subscription streaming package.

» READ MORE: In 2022, Philadelphia helped MLS Cup draw its biggest U.S. TV audience in 25 years

Bacon said something related to that Thursday that was accurate, even if it still came without any numbers attached.“It’s actual people that we know are watching, and have taken actions to be very deliberate with the way that they engage with our sport,” he said. “d that’s encouraging.”Now if someone would just say how many of those people there are.

TV updates

MLS hired a new executive producer, Ignacio Garcia, a former general manager of ESPN Deportes’ studio shows. Multiple sources also said that Shaw Brown, whom production giant IMG hired to be the Apple/MLS coordinating producer last year, is out of that job.Brown has long been one of the top soccer broadcast producers in the United States, with many years of experience at ESPN, NBC, Fox, and Telemundo. He’s the lead producer of U.S. men’s and women’s national team games on TNT and its sibling channels.Garcia is not a direct replacement for Brown, and IMG is still involved with much of the on-site production work for MLS games. But Brown’s absence will be noticed in the soccer media world.

» READ MORE: Former Union broadcaster Danny Higginbotham remains a familiar voice with Apple TV

As for on-camera matters, expect this year’s roster of telecasters to be announced in a few weeks. Bacon offered good news that all the English and Spanish crews will call games from stadiums this year, after rumors last year that some would work off monitors in studios.

“We have a huge production infrastructure and strategy that we put together, and we are not looking at how we scale back on that plan or investment,” he said. “We’re looking at how we make things better and build upon what we had in 2023.”There might be a scaling-back of French telecasts, though. Last year, MLS offered them for all three Canadian teams, and this year it might be for just CF Montréal. That was first reported Tuesday by Montreal-based outlet Dans Les Coulisses, and Bacon didn’t deny it.“We’re working through all the plans, we’re going to give you guys updates on all that, but Montreal for sure is going to have no change to the way that they’re covered,” he said.

New behind-the-scenes series

There was one other piece of concrete Apple news Thursday, and it was well-received. Box to Box, the production company that created Netflix’s big hit Drive to Survive series on Formula 1 racing, will spend this year doing an eight-part, behind-the-scenes series on MLS.

Even better, it won’t just be about Lionel Messi.“I think people really want to know more of the stories, and get to know the coaches, the players, the crop of young American players that’s coming through and going on to the world stage,” Box to Box co-founder Paul Martin said. “I think that there’s a real curiosity about the league and the sport here from the rest of the world. And I think our show can help take people on the inside, into the dressing rooms, into the airplanes as they go and travel around the country.”With the number of young Americans coming through the Union’s ranks, fans should hope the series visits Chester for a while.Fans should also hope Box to Box can keep up its track record of not shying away from tough coverage. Though MLS has editorial oversight of Apple’s game telecasts and studio shows, Bacon hinted — though he didn’t say outright — that Box to Box will have free reign.“Box to Box has had some of the most successful sports docuseries in the world, and our intention is not to mess with the formula that’s made those shows successful,” he said.

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

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

by Jonathan Tannenwald Published Jan. 15, 2024, 3:15 p.m. ET

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.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.“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.”

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.)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.”

Jonathan Tannenwald

I’m the Inquirer’s soccer reporter, covering the Union, MLS, the NWSL, the U.S. men’s and women’s national teams, and Philadelphia’s place in the world’s game. I also pitch in with coverage of college basketball and the WNBA.

Copa America 2024 tickets to go on sale by end of February through stadium partners

By Felipe CardenasJan 30, 2024

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Tickets for this summer’s men’s Copa América in the United States should be available to the public by the end of February, a CONMEBOL spokesperson told The Athletic on Tuesday. An exact date for when tickets for the tournament will be on sale is yet to be determined, but it could also extend into early March.

CONMEBOL has also been finalizing how tickets will be sold. Two sources briefed on the tournament’s plans said that each Copa América venue will sell match tickets via their preferred ticket partners, rather than all tickets for the tournament going up for sale through a single system, as they do for FIFA World Cups. In effect, tickets for games would be available for purchase via either Ticketmaster or SeatGeek, depending on where the game is being held.

Where to buy Copa America 2024 tickets

CITY	STADIUM	TICKETING PARTNER
Arlington	AT&T Stadium	SeatGeek
Atlanta	Mercedes-Benz Stadium	Ticketmaster
Austin	Q2 Stadium	SeatGeek
Charlotte	Bank of America Stadium	Ticketmaster
NY/NJ area	MetLife Stadium	Ticketmaster
Houston	NRG Stadium	Ticketmaster
LA area	SoFi Stadium	Ticketmaster
Bay Area	Levi’s Stadium	Ticketmaster
Phoenix	State Farm Stadium	SeatGeek
Las Vegas	Allegiant Stadium	Ticketmaster
Kansas City, Mo.	Arrowhead Stadium	Ticketmaster
Kansas City, Kan.	Children’s Mercy Park	SeatGeek
Miami	Hard Rock Stadium	Ticketmaster
Orlando	Exploria Stadium	Ticketmaster

An official statement from CONMEBOL regarding ticket access is expected in the coming weeks.

Even though tickets are not yet available for purchase, they have already appeared on the secondary market. A search on StubHub for tickets to the Copa América opener in Atlanta between Argentina and either Canada or Trinidad & Tobago ranged from $563 to $66,537 at time of writing. On its checkout page, Stubhub lists the demand for Copa América tickets as “high.” With no official tickets available to anyone yet, these listings have been posted by third-party brokers, at prices that are likely to be significantly elevated from face value. These brokers do not have any match tickets in hand. After a consumer purchases tickets, the brokers would have to then acquire match tickets once they officially go on sale.

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More from The Athletic…

• Full Copa America schedule
• Analyzing the Copa America groups
• Argentina to play pre-Copa friendlies in Chicago, Maryland

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That said, securing tickets to see Copa America games this summer will likely be expensive no matter what, and a relatively short runway for fans to book hotels and make travel arrangements will only increase those costs. If tickets go on sale the day after the Super Bowl, for example, there will be just 130 days between then and the opening game.

A source briefed on CONMEBOL’s plans said the federation is in the process of evaluating its own market research and purchasing behaviors in order to target the U.S. consumer better, given that most of its operations have been in South America up to this point.

The 48th edition of the Copa América begins on June 20 and will feature all 10 CONMEBOL countries and six nations from CONCACAF. The tournament will be played in 14 U.S. cities, with the final coming on July 14 at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium. 2022 World Cup winner Argentina, led by Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi, is the defending champion.

The Copa América Centenario in 2016 was also held in the U.S. That tournament was a rousing success on the pitch and commercially. A total of 1.5 million people attended matches in 2016, with average attendance hovering around 46,000, per reports. The competition was televised in more than 160 countries, with television viewership for the Centenario in the U.S. surpassing 100 million.

(Photo: CARL DE SOUZA/AFP via Getty Images)

USMNT ambitions, learning from Vieira, and downtime with Reyna – Joe Scally exclusive

Greg O’Keeffe Feb 2, 2024

It is a good thing Joe Scally is used to dealing with high expectations.The defender became the second-youngest professional ever in Major League Soccer when he signed with NYCFC at age 15. Ever since, he has been no stranger to being flung in at the deep end – even after his transfer to Borussia Monchengladbach, where the right-footer’s full debut came against Bayern Munich as a left-back.This season, he is adjusting to the dual demands of being an attacking fullback capable of keeping up with international teammates like Sergino Dest — who has contributed five assists and counting so far for PSV Eindhoven — while helping his club keep clean sheets as a right-sided center back.

Football can be complicated, so when it all comes together, as it did for Scally in one moment in October, you can forgive him for his reaction.

Benched for two games after a defeat against RB Leipzig the previous month, he came on against Mainz with Monchengladbach trailing 2-1 to the Bundesliga’s bottom club. The club looked destined for its fourth consecutive loss, with disquiet mounting among the vast majority of the 51,000 fans present at Stadion Borussia-Park.

That was until Scally pushed forward and hit a thunderous strike to save the day.

Scally pummels his equaliser in from distance against Mainz (Christian Verheyen/Borussia Moenchengladbach via Getty Images)

“It was a special goal,” recalls Scally, who celebrated by putting his fingers to his lips as the home fans went wild. “I had been starting every game and then there’d been a few beforehand when I hadn’t. I read some things with people saying all this stuff about me not having a good season.“So just to score this goal to show them I still have this attacking spirit was important. I have tried to do it in training since and I’m like: ‘How did I get it to dip perfectly?’.“It was one of those moments when you’re not thinking.”The 21-year-old has remained a first-team regular in the period since, getting an assist in a 4-0 win against Wolfsburg as well. Scally is adjusting to life under Gerardo Seoane, his fourth manager in three seasons at Monchengladbach.The days of filling in as an emergency left back are behind him, but Scally learned a lot from his Bundesliga baptism of fire in that 1-1 draw with Bayern back in August 2021.“I had actually played left back the game before in the cup against Kaiserslautern when we were expected to win,” he explains. “But the next week our normal starting left back was still injured, so I knew (it was coming). I was nervous the whole week.“But when the whistle goes and you’re not thinking of anything, it is easier. That game was crazy. I had a moment when (Robert) Lewandowski was dribbling at me. I got the ball and he stepped on my foot and I was thinking: ‘S—, this is Lewandowski’. You never think you’ll be playing against him.

Scally, on Bundesliga debut, challenges Lewandowski (Federico Gambarini/picture alliance via Getty Images)

“It’s weird because sometimes playing on the wrong side isn’t too bad: you can go inside on your right foot and you see the whole field a bit easier. The pitch can open up. With the ball, you can be quite confident.

“The defending is the main difference because you’re used to your feet always facing one way. Then, suddenly, you’re facing the other. It’s that positioning that takes a bit of getting used to.”

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Scally is thoughtful and relaxed company — very different from the combative, fiery presence on the field; a youngster who has been toughened up by playing against men since his mid-teens.

He is also relishing the challenge of his differing responsibilities under Seoane.

“I only started playing (at right-sided center back in a defensive three) this season,” he says. “It’s different because the shaping is different and you’re not that last man in the back line on the right side, always checking your shoulder. You have more people around you and more help.

“But it’s something I need to get used to. I like bombing forward and that’s limited when you’re playing center back, even if it opens up different sides to my game.

“When you can play multiple positions, more teams like you and you get more playing time.”

Scally takes instruction from Seoane (Christian Verheyen/Borussia Moenchengladbach via Getty Images)

Game time is something he is looking forward to with the USMNT, too, even if he admits the competition at right-back, where Dest has become first choice, is tough.

Does the feeling that he needs to showcase similar flair to the PSV player, who is on loan from Barcelona, explain his desire to score and assist more?

“He’s probably the most attacking full-back we have,” he says. “The modern-day full-back has to do both — attack and defense — and I’m still young, so I have things to learn. If you look at my first season (at Monchengladbach) I was playing right wing-back and it was very attacking.

“Then, second year, it was more defensive and now it’s both; trying to recognize the right moment to get forward because it’s not every time. It’s about knowing when you might get caught out and have to sit and save your energy for the next time you bomb forward.

“That’s something I’m trying this year — picking my moments. It’s reading the situation before it happens, so if the ball is on the left side, I have to hold because you can’t have both full-backs bombing on. But when you see that ball is switching, it’s about that feeling: ‘OK, now I can go and catch them out of position.’”

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Scally said he enjoyed the ultimate experience in international football when he was part of the USMNT squad at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Although he did not get on to the pitch during the tournament, it left him desperate for more involvement at this summer’s Copa America before the focus turns to a World Cup on home soil.

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“I still remember when I got the call (about his Qatar 2022 selection),” he says. “I was alone in my apartment. My mom and dad had been over to Germany visiting, but they’d flown back that day so they were in the air and I couldn’t call them. My brother and sister were at home, though, so I had someone to share it with.

“Being over there was special and a different type of feeling. It’s hard to explain, but going to the stadium and seeing the American flags, singing the national anthem… Then, even on your off days, watching every single game from the game room in our hotel.

Scally, No 26, joins Tim Weah, Shaq Moore and Josh Sargent ahead of the group game against Wales (Maja Hitij – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

“If you can hold your own against teams like England, then you know one day you can do something special. With the group of guys we have — we were one of the youngest teams in Qatar — that experience will be really helpful. Given the next one is actually in the U.S., the team will have a lot of confidence.

“We had a really good half against Germany (in a friendly) two months ago. We were tied 1-1 and then made some changes and it didn’t work for us in the end, but we showed up.

“We’re all excited about the Copa America this summer. We have such a big opportunity before the World Cup to send a statement to the fans.”

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Scally has learned plenty over the past couple of years but, even from his formative spell at New York City FC, he has had top mentors: none more so than former manager Patrick Vieira.

The Arsenal and France legend was a big influence on Scally’s early career, signing him as a teenager before handing him his MLS debut. “I like his engine going forward and I like his strong personality,” Vieira said in a club statement announcing Scally’s signing.

The admiration was mutual.

“I’ve had seven different coaches in my career and, every year I’ve been in Europe, I’ve had a different coach,” Scally says. “But Vieira had a different respect from the players because he was the best. Every player in our team, even our best, was still not better than him.

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“He knew the feeling of being a player. In training, if someone was having a bad session, he would know if there was something else behind it just because he’d been there. He intuitively knew our feelings and he was a good tactician, too.

“When he came, we all watched YouTube clips in pre-season and were like: ‘We could never do the things he did’. He would join in training sometimes and he was still the best.”

Scally, in New York City colours, tracks Gustavo Bou of New England Revolution in September 2020 (Omar Rawlings/Getty Images)

Scally grew up enjoying basketball and soccer, but his talent was quickly recognized in the latter. An early growth spurt helped his progress into the NYCFC senior ranks.

“At 15, you’re still a kid but I was ready. Physically I was grown up already. I was tall. That definitely helped and was a big reason why I was ready to play. You’re still learning at that age, but I was able to train and keep up with them.

“At the time it wasn’t normal to be that young (he was second youngest only to Freddy Adu in breaking into MLS), but now it’s becoming more normal. I’m not even in the top 10 youngest anymore. They might sign now and then play in the academy for two more years but, for me, it was signing at 15 and straight into the first team.”

He was spotted by Monchengladbach scouts playing for U.S. youth sides at a Nike Friendlies tournament in Florida, alongside players who have gone on to become close friends, particularly Giovanni Reyna.

The pair have a special bond and Scally will miss him following the Borussia Dortmund midfielder as he heads on loan to Nottingham Forest.

“He lives 45 minutes away from my apartment in Dusseldorf,” he says. “We talk every day. I’ve started streaming on Twitch and, last night, it was me, Gio, Brendan and Paxten (the Aaronson brothers who play for Union Berlin and Eintracht Frankfurt respectively) playing Xbox.

“We were playing Fortnite. That’s mainly what the viewers like to watch, so we have a two versus two. It’s always me and Paxten versus Gio and Brenden, whether it’s Mario Kart or Fortnite.”

Scally and Brenden Aaronson ahead of Gladbach’s game against Union in December (Christian Verheyen/Borussia Moenchengladbach via Getty Images)

Does he feel frustrated on Reyna’s behalf at his lack of game time this season? “He’s my friend, so of course I think he should play,” he says. “I don’t want to get into any complex things, but when he plays for the national team he does good.

“Even when you see him get on as sub he shows his ability, so I agree, the more game time the better.”

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The only area he does not necessarily want Reyna to thrive is on the golf course, where their rivalry has occupied another major part of his downtime.

“We hope we’re playing for our clubs on Saturdays, so then on Sunday or Monday we can play together,” he says. “At the moment I’m playing off an 18 (handicap), but when I’m playing every day in the off-season, it’s between eight and 12.

“We’re both pretty even. It’s a fun match-up as I win one time and him the next, or we’ll even play a scramble and try to see what we can shoot together.”

Reyna and Scally confront each other on the pitch, as well as on the golf course (Christian Verheyen/Borussia Moenchengladbach via Getty Images)

Scally is loving life at Monchengladbach, especially playing at their impressive home stadium. “In warm-ups, you glance up and it’s like: ‘Holy crap, this is awesome’,” he says. “But then when the game starts, you switch off until maybe a goal happens and the place erupts.

“Even when the coach is talking, most of the time you can’t hear him.”

Eventually, though, he would like to follow Reyna’s path to the Premier League. “From a language and cultural side it’s probably most similar to the U.S.,” he says. “Right now it’s a level above every other league, so it’s the place I’d like to play one day at the right time.”

As a sports fan, Scally is not a glory hunter. In the NBA, he’s a Brooklyn Nets fan — “They’re not doing too well and my NFL team is the Giants, who have been bad this year, too” — but, in English football, the team he watches most closely, in part owing to his NYCFC roots, is their parent club Manchester City.

But for now, as he prepares to face Bayern Munich once again on Saturday, his sights are firmly on contributing in every way for Monchengladbach.

“My aim this season is to keep being stable defensively,” he says. “I’d also like maybe two more assists and another goal to beat my record from the first season.

“I think I can achieve it.”

(Top photo: Christian Verheyen/Borussia Moenchengladbach via Getty Images)

Greg O’Keeffe is a senior writer for The Athletic covering US soccer players in the UK & Europe. Previously he spent a decade at the Liverpool Echo covering news and features before an eight-year stint as the paper’s Everton correspondent; giving readers the inside track on Goodison Park, a remit he later reprised at The Athletic. He has also worked as a news and sport journalist for the BBC and hosts a podcast in his spare time.

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