USWNT Plays Italy Friday Night 7 pm/Tues TNT
The US women return to play Friday night with a mix of youngsters and veterans as the team will play for the last time this year. In the last three matches the team opened with a shocking loss to Portugal, bounced back with a determined win in a rematch, and then trounced New Zealand 6-0 in a vintage performance. Naomi Girma is back and her presence will anchor the backline while in the midfield Lilly Yohannes will join Lindsey Heaps and Rose Lavelle to give options in creating the engine for the team and on the forward line Cat Macario, Emma Sears, Olivia Moultrie, Alyssa Thompson, and Jaedyn Shaw will provide options to create and score. The question is can they start to build some chemistry?
US Women’s Roster – Friendly’s Next Friday Nov 28, Dec 1 vs Italy
GOALKEEPERS (3): Claudia Dickey (Seattle Reign FC), Mandy McGlynn (Utah Royals), Jordan Silkowitz (Bay FC) DEFENDERS (10): Jordyn Bugg (Seattle Reign FC), Emily Fox (Arsenal FC), Naomi Girma (Chelsea FC), Avery Patterson (Houston Dash), Lilly Reale (Gotham FC), Izzy Rodriguez (Kansas City Current), Emily Sams (Orlando Pride), Emily Sonnett (Gotham FC), Kennedy Wesley (San Diego Wave), Kate Wiesner (Washington Spirit) MIDFIELDERS (7): Croix Bethune (Washington Spirit), Sam Coffey (Portland Thorns FC), Lindsey Heaps (OL Lyonnes), Jaelin Howell (Gotham FC), Claire Hutton (Kansas City Current), Rose Lavelle (Gotham FC), Lily Yohannes (OL Lyonnes, FRA) FORWARDS (6): Jameese Joseph (Chicago Stars), Catarina Macario (Chelsea FC), Olivia Moultrie (Portland Thorns FC), Emma Sears (Racing Louisville), Jaedyn Shaw (Gotham FC), Alyssa Thompson (Chelsea FC)
Former Carmel GK Eric Dick Wins USL Championship for Pittsburgh in Shootout
Awesome to see former Carmel Dad’s Club/Carmel High/Butler GK Eric Dick win the USL title this past weekend with Pittsburgh as he pitched the shutout then won the Shootout (5-3) – to win their first championship. The 26-year wait is over as the @RiverhoundsSC take down Tulsa to win the 2025 @USLChampionship final! (full Highlights). Dick was Man of the Match. Dick’s Impact.
Most Watched NWSL Championship Gothem Wins & Lavelle is MVP
The NWSL championship match between Gotham FC and the Washington Spirit on Saturday averaged 1,184,000 viewers on CBS and Paramount+ (More) marking the match as the most-viewed NWSL game of all time. The average viewership marks a 22% increase from Orlando’s win in 2024, which held the previous viewership record, and a 45% gain from 2023.
American’s Shine in Champions League & Pulisic wins Derby
The CONCACAF capital of the world was in the Arctic Circle, where Juventus won 3-2 against Norwegian kings Bodø/Glimt with the USMNT’s somewhat forgotten man, Weston McKennie, heading home Juve’s second score, before Canada’s Jonathan David sealed the win in stoppage time with his first goal since August. Then, 2,255 miles away in the south of France, Tim Weah assisted 36-year-old Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for Marseille’s winner over visiting Newcastle. Last weekend Christian Pulisic scored the winning Goal to win the Milan Derby vs Inter Milan.
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GAMES ON TV
Thurs, 11/27 Europa
12:45 pm Feynord vs Celtic (Trusty)
Fri, Nov 28
2:30 pm B MGladbach (Reyna, Scally) vs RB Leipzig
7 pm TNT, Max USWNT vs Italy
Sat, Nov 29
9:30 am ESPN+ Union Berlin vs Heidneheim
10 am USA Brentford vs Burnley (Adams)
12 noon Para+ Juventus (McKinney) vs Calgari
12:30 pm ESPN+ Bayer Leverkusen (Tilman) vs Dortmund
2:45 pm Para+ AC Milan (Pulisic) vs Lazio
3 pm USA Tottenham vs Fulham
6 pm Apple TV Inter Miami (Messi) vs NYCFC MLS East Conf Finals
9 pm Apple TV San Diego, Vancouver MLS West Conf Finals
10 pm Telemundo Tigres vs Tijuana
Sun, Nov 30
7 am USA Crystal Palace (Richards) vs Man United
9 am Para+ Pisa vs Inter Milan
9 am USA Aston Villa vs Wolverhampton
9 am PEacock Nottingham Forest vs Brighton
9 am Pea West Ham vs Liverpool
11:30 am USA Chelsea vs Arsenal
3 pm ABC Girona vs Real Madrid
Mon, Dec 1st
7 pm TBS, Max USWNT vs Italy
USWNT
2025 USWNT November Friendlies: USA vs. Italy preview – the penultimate game approaches
2025 USWNT Friendly: Scouting Italy
Lavelle: USWNT can’t be unprepared ‘ever again’
2025 NWSL Champions Join USWNT Training Camp Ahead of Italy Friendlies
USWNT to face Paraguay in January Camp friendly
USMNT
USMNT gets better idea of who it could draw in 2026 World Cup
USMNT jumps to 14th in November 2025 FIFA rankings
With qualifying mostly over, United States, Mexico, and Canada can see the World Cup’s horizon
Week in American soccer: Pulisic,Tillman, Weah, Berhalter stand out, others struggle
USMNT closes 2025 with 5-1 blowout of Uruguay, competition for roster spots is now wide open
NWSL Champions
NWSL faces litmus test to retain Trinity Rodman’s star power
2025 NWSL Championship Shatters Records with Viewership Topping 1 Million
2025 NWSL Champions Join USWNT Training Camp Ahead of Italy Friendlies
NWSL Makes Gains in 2025 Regular-Season & Playoffs Viewership
NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman Says She’ll “Fight” to Keep Spirit Star Trinity Rodman
Champions League
Chaos for Barcelona and Liverpool, Arsenal No.1: Reranking Champions League after MD5
UCL talking points: Pep’s tinkering costs City, Arsenal look unstoppable
Bayern’s Joshua Kimmich unimpressed by Arsenal: ‘Set pieces, long balls’
Kylian Mbappé: We need to ‘protect’ Real Madrid boss Xabi Alonso
Liverpool nightmare continues: Statistics behind worst run in 70 years
Mikel Arteta: Arsenal beat ‘best side in Europe’ in Bayern Munich
MLS
How San Diego’s risk taking took it from from expansion afterthought to MLS Cup contender
MLS Cup conference semis talking points: All roads lead to Miami, Messi
In 1st MLS season, SD advances to Western final
Source: Columbus’ Nancy near deal with Celtic
Mascherano: ‘Not easy’ dropping Suárez for Miami
Messi tracker: All goals, assists, key moments for Inter Miami in 2025
Messi scores, sets up 3 as Inter Miami advances
GK
Former Carmel GK Eric Dick shootout Win
Champions League Matchday 5: Great saves from Tuesday
Champions League Matchday 5 saves: Great Wednesday stops
INCREDIBLE Saves! | Women’s Champions League MD3
Ann-Katrin Berger’s Unbelievable Save Sends Gotham FC to …
Reffing
USMNT gets better idea of who it could draw in 2026 World Cup
The World Cup Draw procedures are out. by Donald Wine II Nov 25, 2025, 1:01 PM EST Stars & Stripes
Photo by John Dorton/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images
The United States Men’s National Team now knows who it could potentially face in each match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup group stage. Today, FIFA released its World Cup Draw procedures, which will take place on December 5th. While it’s complicated, the USMNT’s matches get a bit clearer.
First, FIFA has divided each of the remaining teams into Pots, including the various playoff pathways. The USMNT, as a co-host, will be in in Pot 1 and pre-drawn into Group D. Mexico and Canada will also be pre-drawn into Groups A and B, respectively. They will be placed in the 1 position for those groups.
The pots for the 2026 FIFA World Cup Draw (FIFA ranking in parentheses):
Pot 1 – United States (14), Mexico (15), Canada (27), Spain (1), Argentina (2), France (3), England (4), Brazil (5), Portugal (6), Netherlands (7), Belgium (8), Germany (9)
Pot 2 – Croatia (10), Morocco (11), Colombia (13), Uruguay (16), Switzerland (17), Japan (18), Senegal (19), Iran (20), South Korea (22), Ecuador (23), Austria (24), Australia (26)
Pot 3 – Norway (29), Panama (30), Egypt (34), Algeria (35), Scotland (36), Paraguay (39), Tunisia (40), Ivory Coast (42), Uzbekistan (50), Qatar (51), Saudi Arabia (60), South Africa (61)
Pot 4 – Jordan (66), Cape Verde (68), Ghana (72), Curaçao (82), Haiti (84), New Zealand (86), UEFA Playoff A winner, UEFA Playoff B winner, UEFA Playoff C winner, UEFA Playoff D winner, Inter-confederation Playoff Path 1 winner, Inter-confederation Playoff Path 2 winner
The USMNT learned that they will face a team from Pot 3 in their World Cup opener on June 12th at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. They will face a Pot 2 team at Lumen Field in Seattle on June 19th, and they will close against a Pot 4 team on June 25th back at SoFi Stadium. The United States, Canada, and Mexico will be identified by different colored ping pong balls for the draw of Pot 1: Mexico in green, Canada in red, and the U.S. with a blue ping pong ball. The rest of Pot 1 will be the same color and then automatically assigned to position 1 of the group into which they are drawn.
Pots for the 2026 World Cup DrawSource: FIFA
FIFA has also created pathways to ensure the best teams avoid each other before the semifinals and final. Spain – ranked 1 in the FIFA world rankings – will be randomly drawn into the opposite pathway as #2 Argentina. This will ensure those teams, should they win their groups, will not meet before the World Cup Final on July 19th. The same will be done for #3 France and #4 England to ensure they would be on opposite sides of the bracket.
2026 World Cup PathwaySource: FIFA
No group can have more than one team from the same confederation with the exception of UEFA, which has 16 teams. Each group will have 1, but no more than 2 UEFA teams drawn into it on December 5th. This would include the placeholders for the UEFA Playoff winners as well as the 2 inter-confederation playoff winners in Pot 4. For the USMNT, it would mean that since each inter-confederation playoff team contains a team from Concacaf, the USMNT will not see an inter-confederation winner in Group D. Likewise, if they draw a team from UEFA in Pots 2 and 3, they would not see any team from the UEFA playoff out of Pot 4.
The full match schedule for the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be confirmed on December 6th after the draw has taken place. This will allow fans to set their calendars and know where each of the 104 games will be taking place. It sets up some complicated drama for everyone at the FIFA World Cup Draw, but at least for the USMNT, they are a few days away from knowing who they will face in the group stage.
| Champions League Projections |
| Arsenal, the only side left in the Champions League with a 100% win record, have a 23% chance of winning the tournament, according to Opta’s latest prediction. This comes after Mikel Arteta’s side beat Bayern Munich 3-1 at the Emirates, with the German side now projected to have a 19% chance of winning the tournament. |
| Holders Paris Saint-Germain, who have overtaken Bayern in second place on goal difference (see standings), have been given an 11.2% chance of winning the tournament following their 5-3 win over Tottenham. Inter Milan (4th) and Real Madrid (5th), who are also on 12 points, are given just 4.1% and 6.2% chances of taking glory, respectively. Kylian Mbappe is now the tournament’s top scorer with nine goals, helped by his four goals in Real’s 4-3 victory over Olympiakos, including a seven-minute hat-trick. |
| Despite losing 2-0 at home to Leverkusen on Tuesday, Manchester City are given the fourth-best odds at 8.3%, while Chelsea are given a 6.0% chance. Liverpool, who sit 13th in the league phase table following a 4-1 loss to PSV, are projected to have a 5.7% chance. Barcelona make up the rest of the top 10 with a 4.5% chance, even though they’re currently 18th. |
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