USMNT Roster is Announced for the Oct 10 & Oct 14 games on TNT, HB0 Max
Nice to see Botchitino finally pick the a decent roster for the our games coming next week. Nice to CCV and Antonee Robinson (back from injury) back on the backline along with Mark McKenzie. Sands, Tessman and Aidan Morris in at the 6 to replace Tyler Adams who is out while his wife gives birth in the next 10 days. Also Matt Turner is back on the Goalkeeper line – hopefully he will get at least 1 start. More on this next week. The USMNT roster:
Goalkeepers(4): Chris Brady (Chicago Fire), Matt Freese (New York City FC), Patrick Schulte (Columbus Crew), Matt Turner (New England Revolution). Defenders(8): Max Arfsten (Columbus Crew), Cameron Carter-Vickers (Celtic), Alex Freeman (Orlando City), Mark McKenzie (Toulouse), Tim Ream (Charlotte FC), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace), Antonee Robinson (Fulham), Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati). Midfielders (8): Brenden Aaronson (Leeds United), Diego Luna (Real Salt Lake), Weston McKennie (Juventus), Aidan Morris (Middlesbrough), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders), James Sands (St. Pauli), Tanner Tessmann (Olympique Lyonnais), Malik Tillman (Bayer Leverkusen). Forwards(6): Patrick Agyemang (Derby County), Folarin Balogun (Monaco), Christian Pulisic (AC Milan), Tim Weah (Olympique Marseille), Haji Wright (Coventry City), Alex Zendejas (Club América).
The USMNT take on Ecuador on October 10th at Q2 Stadium in Austin. They then complete the October international window with a friendly against Australia on October 14th against Australia at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in suburban Denver. Both Ecuador and Australia are teams that have qualified for the 2026 World Cup and will serve as tests for the United States. In U20 News – the US U20s shocked France 3-0 in game 2 of the U20s for the US – they will definitely advance to the next round where they face Italy on Thursday at 3:30 pm on FS2 and may well be a favorite to get to the Final 4. Also US refs will run Sats Spain vs Brazil game 4 pm on FS2.
High School Soccer Playoffs Start Monday this week
Indy 11 Win Again – @ Louisville on WNDY 23 7:30 pm Sat
Indy Eleven midfielder Jack Blake scored his USL Championship era (2018-) franchise record 25th Boys in Blue goal for the game-winner in a huge 2-1 victory over Western Conference leader FC Tulsa at Carroll Stadium. The win moves Indy Eleven into a playoff position one point ahead of Rhode Island FC with four games left in the regular season. Indy Eleven will take their two-game winning streak to USL Championship Eastern Conference leader Louisville City FC next Saturday at 7:30 p.m. on WNDY 23 and CBS Sports Golazo Network. The Boys in Blue have their final regular season home game with Fan Appreciation Night on Saturday, October 18 at 7 p.m. at Carroll Stadium vs. Loudoun United FC.
man look at this motley crew Wednesday night for Boys games at Guerin Catholic Robert H & Josh M for Girls JV & V at Guerin Catholic – last regular season High School games for me
====RackZ BAR BQ ====Save 20% ===
Coming home from Practice or Games at Badger Field? Try out the Best BarBQ in Town right across the street (131st) from Northview Church on the corner of Hazelldell & 131st. RackZ BBQ
Save 20% on your order
(mention the ole ballcoach)
Check out the BarBQ Ribs, pulled Pork and Chicken, Brisket and more. Sweet, Tangy or Spicy sauce. Mention you heard about it from the Ole Ballcoach — and Ryan will give you 20% off your next meal. https://www.rackzbbqindy.com/Call ahead at 317-688-7290 M-Th 11-8 pm, 11-9 Fri/Sat, 12-8 pm on Sunday. Pick some up after practice – Its good eatin! You won’t be disappointed and tell ’em the Ole Ballcoach Sent You!
Save 20% on these Succulent Ribs at Rackz BarBQ when you mention the Ole Ballcoach – Corner of 131 & Hazelldell. – Call 317-688-7290.
======================RackZ BAR BQ ====Save 20% ======================
FULL TV GAME SCHEDULE
Sat, Oct 4 7:30 am USA Leeds United (Aaronson) vs Tottenham 9:30 am ESPN+ Bayer Leverkusen (Tillman) vs Union Berlin 9:30 am ESPN+ Dortmund vs RB Leipzig 10 am USA Man United vs Sunderland 10 am Peacock Arsenal vs West Ham 12:30 pm NBC Chelsea vs Liverpool 4 pm Tele Mexico U20 vs Morocco U20 4 pm Univision Spain U20 vs Brazil U20 7 pm FS2 Argentina U20 vs Italy U20 10:30 pm Apple Seattle Sounders vs Portland Timbers Sun, Oct 6 10:15 am ESPN+ Sevilla vs Barcelona 11:30 USA Brentford vs Man City 1 pm CBS Washington Spirit (Rodman) vs San Diego NWSL 1:30 pm ESPN+ Gladbach (Scally + Reyna) vs Frieberg 2:45 pm Para+ Juventus (McKinney) vs AC Milan (Pulisic) 3 pm ESPN+ Atletico Madrid (Cardosa) vs Celta 4 pm FS2 USA U20 vs South Africa U20 4 pm Prime, Para+ Chicago Stars vs Utah Royals NWSL 7 pm FS2 Nigeria U20 vs Colombia U20 9 pm Apple LAFC vs Atlanta United MLS Mon, Oct 6 10:30 pm CBSSN Angel City 0 vs KC Current 1 NWSL Tues, Oct 7 3:30 pm FS 2 U20 World Cup Chile 1 vs Mexico 4 7 pm FS2 U20 World Cup Spain 1 vs Ukraine 0 Weds, Oct 8 3:30 pm FS 2 U20 WC Argentina 4 vs Nigeria 0 7 pm FS2 U20 World Cup Japan vs France 7 pm Univision u20 WC Paraguay vs Norway Thurs, Oct 9 2:45 pm Prime Malta vs Netherlands WCQ 2:45 pm Prime Czech Rep vs Croatia WCQ 3:30 pm FS2 U20 WC USA vs Italy 7 pm FS2 U20 WC Morocco vs South Korea 10 pm Para+ Honduras vs Costa Rica Fri, Oct 10 2:45 pm FS2 France vs Azerbaijan 2:45 pm Prime Germany vs Luxenberg 8:30 pm TNT, Max USA Men vs Ecuador 10:45 pm Seattle Reign vs Bay FC NWSL Sat, Oct 11 9 am FS2 Latvia vs Andorra WCQ 12 noon Prime Norway vs Israel WCQ 2:45 pm FS2 Spain vs Georgia WCQ 2:45 pm Prime Portugal vs Ireland WCQ 4 pm FS2, Tele U20 World Cup Quarterfinal 7 pm FS2 U20 World Cup Quarterfinal 7 pm ESPN+ Indy 11 @ Pittsburgh (Carmel’s -Eric Dick) 7:30 pm Para+ North Carolina vs Washington Spirit NWSL 10 pm CBSSN Utah Royals vs San Diego Wave NWSL Sun, Oct 12 9 am FS2 San Marino vs Cypress 12N FS2 Netherland vs Finland WCQ 2:45 pm Lithuania vs Poland WCQ 4 pm FS2, Tele U20 World Cup Quarterfinal 5 pm ESPN Angel City vs Houston NWSL 7 pm FS2 U20 World Cup Quarterfinal Mon, Oct 13 2:45pm FS2 Northern Ireland vs Germany WCQ 2:45 pm Prime Iceland vs France WCQ 8 pm PAra+ Honduras vs Haiti WCQ Tues, Oct 14 2:45pm FS2 Latvia vs England WCQ 2:45pm Prime Spain vs Bulgaria WCQ 2:45pm Prime Portugal vs Hungary WCQ 9 pm TNT, Max USA Men vs Australia 10:30 pm Prime Mexico vs Ecuador
Thurs, Oct 23 9 pm TNT, Max USA Women vs Portugal Chester PA Sun, Oct 26 4 pm TNT, Max USA Women vs Portugal Hartford CT Sat, Nov 15 5 pm TNT, Max USA Men vs Paraguay Chester PA Tues, Nov 18 7 pmTNT, Max USA Men vs Uruguay Tampa, FL
In what was true until somewhat recently, a dependable strength of the USMNT has been goalkeeper. Somewhat recently is turning into a stretch now as it’s been nearly 10 years since a netminder has locked down the no. 1 shirt for the USA. It could be said that there have been three eras where a starter nailed down the role helping the national team to some impressive victories along the way.
The Tony Meola era could be characterized as a gritty group of players who found playing time with clubs when they could but came together for the national team to achieve some impressive results. Meola nailed down the starting role and the USMNT surprised the world by qualifying for the 1990 World Cup, beat Colombia in 1994, and kept Brazil scoreless for 74 minutes while hosting the tournament.
Brad Fridel and Kasey Keller kicked off an era marked by American keepers emerging as starters in Europe, and especially the Premier League. Fridel’s time abroad paid off for the national team when he became the second ever keeper to save two penalties given in open play in a single game while helping to secure wins against Portugal and Mexico in 2002. He is the only American keeper with two wins in a single World Cup. For his part, Keller made 10 saves against Brazil as the USA upset the multi-World Cup winners 1-0. The 2006 World Cup was not as it was hoped, or hyped, but Keller kept five clean sheets in qualification helping the USA climb to no. 5 in the FIFA rankings ahead of the tournament.
Tim Howard and Brad Guzan were the last of the American keepers to have been able to help the USA punch above its weight against top international competition. Throughout their era the players were stalwarts for their clubs in the Premier League and brought that experience to the national team. Howard kept a clean sheet against Spain in the 2009 Confederations Cup and his performance in 2014 against Belgium is legendary. For his part, Guzan provided stiff competition and was in the net as the USA reached the semi-finals of the 2016 Copa America Centenario. These two would be the last keepers to feature in goal for the USA in upsets against top 10 teams.
After the USA failed to reach the 2018 World Cup a consistent starting keeper has failed to emerge. In this era, Matt Turner, Zach Steffen, Ethan Horvath, Bill Hamid, Sean Johnson, Matt Freese, David Bingham, William Yarborough, and Patrick Schulte have been in the mix for the wearing the gloves game in and game out. Turner and Steffen have been the most promising of this group but neither reached the same level of their predecessors.
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Between 1990 and 2016 the USA enjoyed the reputation of a team that had its flaws but needed to be respected as it could take down a giant on its day. That time was marked by stellar goalkeeping where a strong performance against top teams kept the Americans within striking distance of top teams. The USMNT achieved impressive upsets thanks to those performances.
Looking at the growth of the national team in that time, the team features a roster of players showcasing their talents in the Champions League and in top leagues abroad. Major League Soccer has also grown more competitive as talented players look to the domestic league as a viable option to progress, or end, their careers. That rise in talent has not translated to success for the national team in the era when goalkeeper has not kept up with the rising talent across the pitch.
Chris Brady, Matt Freese, Patrick Schulte, and Matt Turner have a chance to stake the claim on what might be the most important position historically for the national team. The friendlies against Australia and Ecuador will give them a chance to do just that and it can’t happen soon enough with the World Cup approaching in less than a year.
In the wake of Christian Pulisic’s decision to skip this summer’s Gold Cup, and especially after coach Mauricio Pochettino’s tournament eve declaration: “I am not a mannequin” — there was a real concern about how the relationship between coach and star player was frayed.
More importantly, it fostered a fear of what that might mean for this U.S. team as it tried to get back on track ahead of next summer’s World Cup.
Less than four months later, the tone has shifted completely. Pochettino made clear the way he feels about the in-form Pulisic on Thursday after unveiling his 26-man roster for friendlies this month against Ecuador and Australia.
“I think we can say that he is the most important player now for the national team,” he said.
Pulisic has been, without a doubt, the most important player and best big-game player in the U.S. pool for years now. He has proved it time and again in the high-pressure moments, scoring in Nations League finals, World Cup qualifying games and, of course, the winner against Iran to send the U.S. through to the knockout stage at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Christian Pulisic shined in the USMNT’s crucial 2022 World Cup clash against Iran.Brad Smith / ISI Photos / Getty Images
If the Americans are going to be successful in the World Cup next summer, it is critical they find a way to maximize Pulisic’s skillset. Amidst the debate this summer about Pulisic’s decision to skip the Gold Cup and Pochettino’s justified declaration that he was the coach in charge of picking the team, it felt like that basic point might be lost.
Everyone can now take a deep breath. Pulisic’s form with AC Milan has ensured the attention shifts back to where it should be. The U.S. star needed to back up his decision to rest this summer, and so far he has — and then some.
“This is the right decision for myself, and for the team, at the end of the day,” Pulisic said on a CBS podcast this summer. “And people will see that. You guys will see, man. I’m hungrier than ever — truly. I’m really looking forward for big things to come.”
Stay in the know by selecting your interests on The Athletic:
It’s tough to argue Pulisic wasn’t right. (And I’ll put my hand up and admit I was wrong.)
He has four goals and two assists in five Serie A games this season for a Milan team that sits atop the table. He scored another two goals in the Coppa Italia. Pulisic has been one of the best performers in Italy so far this season. His darting run and assist against Napoli, later followed by a goal, speak to that impact.
La Gazzetta dello Sport ran a full spread of Pulisic — dressed, of course, as Captain America with a “Super Pulisic headline — running through just how good he’s been in Serie A this season and comparing him to other strikers in the league.
On Sunday, he will lead Milan into a massive top-5 clash against his U.S. teammate Weston McKennie and Juventus, which sit just one point behind the Rossoneri in the table. It’s a massively important game for Milan, which missed out on European competition this season. If Pulisic can continue his sparkling form it would be yet another boost to his value at the club.
For the U.S., the task is to translate that over to the international stage.
“We are so happy when he’s scoring goals, giving assists and performing,” Pochettino said. “That is what we want. And now it is to help him to arrive to the World Cup in the best place.”
During a press conference in which the coach hammered the idea that no player’s spot was ensured, Pochettino had to crack a smile when he slipped up by talking about Pulisic arriving at next summer’s tournament in the same form.
“You say, ‘OK but Christian, you are talking about (it) is sure that (he) is going to be in the roster,” Pochettino said. “We all know that he is a player that is performing, and is a player that is really important for us. We cannot lie.”
Pulisic will meet his national team colleague Weston McKennie when Milan faces Juventus this weekend.Isabella Bonotto / AFP via Getty Images
As Pochettino’s U.S. team figures out exactly how it wants to play — whether it opts for the four-man or five-man back line — it will be vital that they find a way to put Pulisic in a place where he can thrive. Pulisic has said he prefers to play as a central playmaker, but he has not always been his most effective playing in that spot for the U.S.
To get Pulisic at his best, it’s important to find ways to get him in space, where he can use his pace and skill to run at defenders and create off the dribble. Pulisic has been effective playing on the left wing, where he can drift inside to his right foot to create goals. Pochettino has moved Pulisic to the right wing at times, preferring to play Tim Weah on the left.
When the U.S. shifted to five in the back against Japan, Pulisic came underneath the striker into the pocket in what was essentially a 3-4-2-1. It risks taking him out of his most dangerous spot, but it’s a tradeoff that might work if Antonee Robinson and Sergiño Dest provide enough of an attacking threat on either side to open space up for Pulisic to exploit.
The next three windows in October, November and March will be about figuring out the ideal squad to compete in the World Cup. A big part of that is becoming more dangerous and efficient in the final third. Pulisic is the biggest piece to that equation.
If they can get it right, Pulisic will have been proved right about more than one thing this past summer.
“Once I’m back with the national team— I hope — once I’m back with the national team and can play again, score a goal and win a game, people will forget all about this quickly,” he said.
Goals with Milan have already been enough to mostly make people forget. If he can carry over his club form in his country’s colors, the panic of this past summer will fade away completely as the outlook for next summer’s World Cup grows brighter.
Powered by three late goals, the U.S. under-20 national team pulled off a stunning 3-0 win over France at the 2025 U-20 World Cup on Thursday.
Zavier Gozo, Brooklyn Raines and Marcos Zambrano scored goals after the 85th minute to lead the Americans to the top of their group at the tournament in Chile. The U.S. won its opening match 9-1 over New Caledonia on Monday.
U.S. U-20 coach Marko Mitrovic summoned Gozo, Zambrano and Atlanta United’s Luke Brennan off the bench in the second half, and all three helped to change the match.
The U.S. and France had battled for much of the game and looked likely to settle for a scoreless draw, but the Americans broke through in the 85th minute when Real Salt Lake’s Gozo scored on a cross from Brennan to provide a 1-0 lead.
Three minutes later, Raines (Houston Dynamo) created a turnover with a press just over midfield, found Gozo and then continued his run, splitting France’s center backs and getting on to the Gozo pass to finish to the far post and double the lead. Four minutes after that, it was Zambrano (Real Salt Lake) who settled the outcome by putting home a rebound after Gozo rattled the crossbar with an attempted finish.
France had just two shots on goal on the night, a credit to the defensive effort from the U.S. that eventually allowed the Americans to break through in the late stages and get the win.
Nine different players have scored for the U.S. through two matches, setting a new team record for most at the tournament. The previous record was eight, achieved at the 2023 U-20 World Cup in Argentina.
With the win, the U.S. improved to 2-0-1 in three meetings with France at the U-20 World Cup.
The U.S. will close out the group stage against South Africa on Sunday at 4 p.m. ET and can guarantee the top spot in the group with a win or draw. The game will air on FS2 and Telemundo.
Kind of gives me chill-bumps when you hear an American being cheered like this in Italy – Pulisic in Milan. Wonder why the EPL is so popular Worldwide – games like this – Arsenal wins in Extra Time. When you are at the fields this weekend – think about this before you yell at the ref.
Champions League & Europa League this Week
Champions League Action is back today and Wednesday with some big games like Barcelona hosting PSG & Villareal vs Juventus & American McKinney, and the battle of American’s Pepe & Dest for PSV traveling to Bayer Leverkusen and Tillman on Wednesday at 3 pm. Tuesday we get the return of Jose Mourino to Chelsea as he brings Portugal’s Benefica into town at 3 pm on Para+. (Full schedule & coverage below)
US U20 Boys in World Cup – Sun 4 pm FS2
The US U20’s got over to great start with a 9-0 win (US Goals) in game 1 of their World Cup start. Games continue on Fox Sports 1, 2 and Desportes all week and weekend long. Spain vs Mexico Wed at 4 pm on FS2, Spain vs Brazil Sat 4 pm on Univision & USA vs South Africa on Sunday at 4 pm on Fox Sports 2. (Full schedule & Stories below)
US Open Cup Wed Night CBS Sports Network, Para+
The US Open Cup finals are Wed night with Austin City hosting BJ Callahan and Nashville SC at 8 pm on CBSSN. This is a historic moment for both teams, as it’s the first time Austin FC has hosted a major tournament final and the first Open Cup final appearance for Nashville SC. (Stories below)
Indy 11 Win Again – @ Louisville on WNDY 23 7:30 pm Sat
Indy Eleven midfielder Jack Blake scored his USL Championship era (2018-) franchise record 25th Boys in Blue goal for the game-winner in a huge 2-1 victory over Western Conference leader FC Tulsa at Carroll Stadium. The win moves Indy Eleven into a playoff position one point ahead of Rhode Island FC with four games left in the regular season. Indy Eleven will take their two-game winning streak to USL Championship Eastern Conference leader Louisville City FC next Saturday at 7:30 p.m. on WNDY 23 and CBS Sports Golazo Network. The Boys in Blue have their final regular season home game with Fan Appreciation Night on Saturday, October 18 at 7 p.m. at Carroll Stadium vs. Loudoun United FC.
Brett Y, Will F and me reffing at Purdue Polytech High in Broadripple Monday.
====RackZ BAR BQ ====Save 20% ===
Coming home from Practice or Games at Badger Field? Try out the Best BarBQ in Town right across the street (131st) from Northview Church on the corner of Hazelldell & 131st. RackZ BBQ
Save 20% on your order
(mention the ole ballcoach)
Check out the BarBQ Ribs, pulled Pork and Chicken, Brisket and more. Sweet, Tangy or Spicy sauce. Mention you heard about it from the Ole Ballcoach — and Ryan will give you 20% off your next meal. https://www.rackzbbqindy.com/Call ahead at 317-688-7290 M-Th 11-8 pm, 11-9 Fri/Sat, 12-8 pm on Sunday. Pick some up after practice – Its good eatin! You won’t be disappointed and tell ’em the Ole Ballcoach Sent You!
Save 20% on these Succulent Ribs at Rackz BarBQ when you mention the Ole Ballcoach – Corner of 131 & Hazelldell. – Call 317-688-7290.
======================RackZ BAR BQ ====Save 20% ======================
FULL TV GAME SCHEDULE
Tues, Sept 30 Champions League 12:45 pm Para+, Uni Kairat vs Real Madrid 3 pm CBSSN Paphos vs Bayern Munich 3 pm Para+ Galatasaray vs Liverpool 3 pm Para+ Atletico Madrid vs Frankfurt 3 pm Para+ Marseille (_) vs Ajax 3 pm Para+ Chelsea vs Benefica 3 pm Para+ Inter vs Slavia Praha 3 pm Para+ Boda vs Tottenham 4 pm FS2 Panama U20 vs Ukraine U20 WC 7 pm FS1 Chile U20 vs Japan U20 7 pm FS2 Korea U20 vs Paraguay U20 Wed, Oct 1 Champs League 12:45 pm Para, Uni Union Saint Gilloise vs Newcastle United 3 pm CBSSN Dortmund vs Athletic Club 3 pm Para+ Barcelona vs PSG 3 pm para+ Arsenal vs Olympiakos Piraues 3 pm Para+ Napoli vs Sporting CP 3 pm Para+ Bayer Leverkusen vs PSV (Pepe) 3 pm Para+ Villareal vs Juventus (McKinney) 4 pm FS2 Spain U20 vs Mexico U20 7 pm FS1 Brazil U20 vs Morocco U20 7 pm FS2 Argentina U20 vs Australia U20 8 pm CBSSN Austin City vs Nashville SC US Open Cup Thurs, Oct 2 Europa 12:45 pm CBSSN Roma vs Lille 12:45 pm Celtic (Carter Vickers) cs Sporting Braga 12:45 pm Dynamo Kyiv vs Crystal Palace (Chris Richards) 3 pm CBSSN Feyenoord vs Aston Villa 3 pm Para_ Sturm Graz vs Rangers 3 pm Para+ Nottingham Forest vs Middtylland 3 pm Para+ Olympique Lyonnais vs Salzburg Fri, Oct 3 3 pm USA Bournemouth (Adams) vs Fulham (Robinson) 7 pm FS1 Egypt U20 vs Chile U20 WC 7 pm FS2 New Zealand U20 vs Japan U20 Sat, Oct 4 7:30 am USA Leeds United (Aaronson) vs Tottenham 9:30 am ESPN+ Bayer Leverkusen (Tillman) vs Union Berlin 9:30 am ESPN+ Dortmund vs RB Leipzig 10 am USA Man United vs Sunderland 10 am Peacock Arsenal vs West Ham 12:30 pm NBC Chelsea vs Liverpool 4 pm Tele Mexico U20 vs Morocco U20 4 pm Univision Spain U20 vs Brazil U20 7 pm FS2 Argentina U20 vs Italy U20 10:30 pm Apple Seattle Sounders vs Portland Timbers Sun, Oct 6 4 pm FS2 USA U20 vs South Africa U20 7 pm FS2 Nigeria U20 vs Colombia U20 9 pm Apple LAFC vs Atlanta United MLS
Fri, Oct 10 8:30 pm TNT, Max USA Men vs Ecuador Tues, Oct 14 9 pm TNT, Max USA Men vs Australia Thurs, Oct 23 9 pm TNT, Max USA Women vs Portugal Chester PA Sun, Oct 26 4 pm TNT, Max USA Women vs Portugal Hartford CT Sat, Nov 15 5 pm TNT, Max USA Men vs Paraguay Chester PA Tues, Nov 18 7 pmTNT, Max USA Men vs Uruguay Tampa, FL
USMNT midweek viewing guide: Champions League, Championship
Follow along with all the USMNT action this week. by Justin Moran Stars & Stripes
Midweek USMNT action is here. All kickoff times are in EST. All MLS games are available on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV and EA Sports FC, as well as any other networks listed. Let’s get into it!
Tuesday
Atalanta vs Club Brugge, 12:45p on Paramount+, Prime Video, ViX: Yunus Musah and Atalanta host Brugge in Champions League.
Atlético Madrid vs Frankfurt, 3p on Paramount+, Prime Video, ViX: Johnny Cardoso and Atléti host Nathaniel Brown and Frankfurt in Champions League.
Marseille vs Ajax, 3p on Paramount+, Prime Video, ViX: Tim Weah and OM welcome Ajax into town for this Champions League match.
Also in action:
Frosinone vs Cesena, 2:30p on Onefootball: Jonathan Klinsmann and Cesena visit Frosinone in Serie B.
Palermo vs Venezia, 2:30p on Onefootball, DCTV: Gianluca Busio and Venezia visit Palermo in Serie B.
Birmingham vs Sheffield Wednesday, 2:45p: Ethan Horvath and Sheffield United visit Birmingham City in the Championship.
Middlesbrough vs Stoke, 2:45p on Paramount+, Prime Video: Aidan Morris and Boro host Stoke City in the Championship.
Sheffield United vs Southampton, 2:45p: Damion Downs and Southampton visit Sheffield United in the Championship.
Derby vs Charlton, 3p on Paramount+, Prime Video: Charlie Kelman and Charlton Athletic visit Derby County in the Championship.
Inter Miami vs Chicago Fire, 7:30p: Chris Brady, Brian Gutiérrez, and the Fire visit Inter Miami in MLS action.
Wednesday
Leverkusen vs PSV, 3p on Paramount+, Prime Video, ViX: Malik Tillman will face his former team as he and Leverkusen host, Sergiño Dest, Ricardo Pepi and PSV in Champions League.
Monaco vs Manchester City, 3p on Paramount+, Prime Video, TUDN USA, UniMás, Univision NOW, FuboTV (free trial), ViX: Folarin Balogun and Monaco host Man City in Champions League.
Villarreal vs Juventus, 3p on Paramount+, Prime Video, DAZN USA, CBS Sports Golazo: Weston McKennie and Juve visit Villarreal in Champions League.
Also in action:
Millwall vs Coventry, 2:45p on Paramount+, Prime Video: Haji Wright and Coventry City visit Millwall in the Championship.
Norwich vs West Brom, 2:45p on Paramount+, Prime Video: Josh Sargent and Norwich City welcome George Campbell and West Brom for this Championship match.
Portsmouth vs Watford, 2:45p: Caleb Wiley and Watford visit Portsmouth in the Championship.
Austin FC vs Nashville SC, 8p on Paramount+, Prime Video, CBS Sports Network, FuboTV: Walker Zimmerman and Nashville visit Owen Wolff and Austin for a chance to hoist a trophy in the US Open Cup final.
Vancouver Whitecaps vs Vancouver FC, 10p: Sebastian Berhalter, Brian White, and the Whitecaps meet Vancouver FC in the Canadian Championship final.
Thursday
Celtic vs Braga, 12:45p on Paramount+, Prime Video, ViX: Cameron Carter-Vickers and Celtic host Braga in Europa League.
Dynamo Kyiv vs Crystal Palace, 12:45p on Paramount+, Prime Video, ViX: Chris Richards and Palace visit Dynamo Kyiv in Conference League.
Lyon vs RB Salzburg, 3p on Paramount+, Prime Video, DAZN USA: Tanner Tessmann and Lyon host Anrie Chase and Salzbug in Europa League.
USA U20 vs France U20, 4p on FS2, UNIVERSO, Prime Video, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo, FuboTV, Sling TV: Benja Cremaschi, Niko Tsakiris, Frankie Westfield, Nolan Norris, Taha Habroune, and Cole Campbell were the scorers in the USA U20’s 9-1 win over New Caledonia to open the U20 World Cup. France will be a much tougher test.
Also in action:
Panathinaikos vs Go Ahead Eagles, 12:45p on Paramount+, Prime Video, ViX: Erik Palmer-Brown and Panathinaikos face Go Ahead Eagles in this Europa League battle to see which club can have the longest name.
Lausanne vs Breidablik, 12:45p on Paramount+, Prime Video, ViX: Bryan Okoh and Lausanne host Breidablik in Conference League.
Omonio Nicosia vs Mainz, 12:45p on Paramount+, Prime Video, ViX: Lennard Maloney and Mainz visit Mix Diskerud’s old club Omonio Nicosia in Conference League.
Friday
Bournemouth vs Fulham, 3p on USA, UNIVERSO, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo, FuboTV, Sling TV, TeleXitos: Antonee Robinson and the Cottagers visit Tyler Adams and Bournemouth in Premier League action.
US U20 ROSTER GOALKEEPERS (3): 1-Gavin Beavers* (Brøndby), 12-Adam Beaudry (Colorado Rapids), 21-Duran Ferree (San Diego FC) DEFENDERS (7): 2-Reed Baker-Whiting (Seattle Sounders), 18-Luca Bombino (San Diego FC), 5-Noah Cobb (Colorado Rapids), 16-Ethan Kohler (SC Verl), 3-Nolan Norris (FC Dallas), 17-Francis Westfield (Philadelphia Union), 4-Joshua Wynder (Benfica) MIDFIELDERS (6): 19-Matthew Corcoran (Nashville SC), 8-Benjamin Cremaschi (Parma), 14-Taha Habroune (Columbus Crew), 6-Brooklyn Raines (Houston Dynamo), 15-Pedro Soma (San Diego FC), 10-Niko Tsakiris (San Jose Earthquakes) FORWARDS (5): 11-Luke Brennan (Atlanta United), 7-Cole Campbell (Borussia Dortmund), 20-Zavier Gozo (Real Salt Lake City), 13-Peyton Miller (New England Revolution), 9-Marcos Zambrano (Real Salt Lake) *Diego Kochen was initially called in, but FC Barcelona recalled him on Saturday.
Until 2:45 p.m. ET on Sunday, the last weekend of September was a quiet one for U.S. men’s national team players in Europe. Several USMNT regulars had been relegated to the bench for their clubs. None had scored. Then, in the third minute of a showdown with the reigning Serie A champions, Christian Pulisic changed everything. He burst down San Siro’s left wing for a world-class assist. Later, he scored his league-leading fourth goal, and sixth in all competitions this season.He propelled Milan to a 2-1 win against Napoli, and to the top of Serie A. So, of course, that’s where we’ll begin our weekly roundup of USMNT players.
Pulisic’s red-hot form and vindication
Pulisic opting out of the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup left him facing weeks of criticism and questions. But when he finally explained himself, on a CBS Sports podcast in June, his reasoning was clear: He needed a break. He needed a proper offseason to rest and recharge, so that he could be at his best for Milan and the USMNT throughout the 2025-26 season and 2026 World Cup.“This is the right decision for myself, and for the team, at the end of the day,” Pulisic said at the time. “And people will see that. You guys will see, man. I’m hungrier than ever — truly. I’m really looking forward for big things to come.”And over the past few weeks in Italy, with four goals and two assists in three games, he has proven his point.He is playing with a lethal combination of explosiveness and calm. Despite a preseason ankle knock, and despite a not-quite-defined place in manager Massimiliano Allegri’s lineup, he is averaging more than two goal contributions per 90 minutes. He is skipping past defenders, and threading through balls. He is looking focused and fit. He is making lots of critics look silly.
Injuries, playing time concerns
Among U.S. players in Europe, Pulisic is something of an outlier.Before his man-of-the-match performance on Sunday, the stories of the weekend were starting lineup absences and injury concerns.In the Netherlands, Ricardo Pepi left PSV’s 2-1 win against Excelsior in the 32nd minute with apparent discomfort. PSV coach Peter Bosz indicated the injury was “minor,” and said he simply didn’t want to “take a risk” at this stage of the season. But Pepi’s status for the USMNT’s October camp is now in doubt.Stay in the know by selecting your interests on The Athletic:In Spain, Johnny Cardoso has not played at all in the month of September due to an ankle injury suffered in training.
In Germany, Gio Reyna, after one start and one substitute appearance for Borussia Mönchengladbach, missed Saturday’s game against Eintracht Frankfurt with a thigh injury. (Joe Scally, who has been playing as an attack-minded right wingback, registered two assists in Gladbach’s 6-4 loss.)In England, Antonee Robinson got his first start of the season midweek in a Carabao Cup win over Cambridge United, but he played those 90 minutes alongside a mixture of regulars and reserves. On Sunday, he was back on the Fulham bench, and played only 11 minutes in a 3-1 Premier League loss at Aston Villa. After offseason knee surgery, he is healthy enough to play, but nowhere near his 2024-25 best. And it’s not quite clear what he’ll have to do to reclaim his starting spot ahead of Ryan Sessegnon.In New Jersey, meanwhile, Matt Freese, who’s been the USMNT’s No. 1 goalkeeper since June, left Saturday’s 3-2 win over the New York Red Bulls with a head injury. “He’s being checked by the doctors, and we’ll wait and see,” NYCFC coach Pascal Jansen said after the match.And elsewhere, there are non-injury concerns. In Italy, Weston McKennie was back on the Juventus bench for a 1-1 draw with Atalanta, playing 32 minutes as a sub. Yunus Musah, after one start for Atalanta (in a 4-0 Champions League defeat against Paris Saint-Germain), has been a sparsely used reserve. He played 14 minutes off the bench against Juve.In France, Folarin Balogun — who seemed to cement himself as the U.S. No. 9 this month — was out of Monaco’s starting 11 for a second consecutive Ligue 1 game.Like in 2024 before the Copa América, club playing time could be developing into a broad worry for the national team. In September, it isn’t cause for alarm. In April, it would be.
Zendejas, Tessmann, others make statements
On the fringe of the U.S. roster, a few players have stated their case.Alex Zendejas has followed up his volley for the national team against Japan with four goals in four games for Club América. The third of four, on Saturday against Pumas, was an audacious, confidence-oozing chip over legendary goalkeeper Keylor Navas.Tanner Tessmann, who has been on the outside looking in at the USMNT since the March Nations League debacle, also scored a worldie Thursday for Lyon to beat Utrecht in the Europa League. He followed it up with a strong 90-minute shift in a 1-0 win at Lille on Sunday.Tessmann, perhaps more so than any other American player, has made a statement over the first two months of the 2025-26 season. He has been one of the best and most consistent players for a team that’s now won five of six Ligue 1 games, and currently sits tied atop the table with PSG.Aidan Morris, at a slightly lower level, has also been making noise at Middlesbrough. After three consecutive man of the match awards in August, he has continued apace in September and helped lead Boro to the top of the English Championship. They remain unbeaten after Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Southampton.Haji Wright and Coventry City are also unbeaten, having trounced Birmingham City 3-0 this weekend.Especially with Johnny and Pepi likely sidelined, Morris and Wright seem like strong candidates for the USMNT’s October roster, which will be released early this week. Tessmann, meanwhile, seems like a no-brainer inclusion.
How did other USMNT players perform?
Brenden Aaronson is battling at Leeds United. Amid relentless criticism from fans, and despite his lack of production in the final third, he has played in all six Premier League games for Leeds this season, including starts in the past three. He received a standing ovation from the home crowd when substituted late in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Bournemouth. During the Gold Cup, he seemed to be drifting out of the USMNT picture, but with his work rate and fortitude, he is keeping himself in World Cup contention.In that same Leeds-Bournemouth game, Tyler Adams — who was booed by the Leeds fans throughout — was his usual pugnacious self for 81 minutes.Also in the Prem, Chris Richards was arguably culpable on Liverpool’s late equalizer, but was then spared by Eddie Nketiah’s dramatic 97th-minute winner. Richards took to social media afterward to amplify claims that the Liverpool goal should have been disallowed for a Mohamed Salah handball, which might have put Richards off as he tried to clear a cross with his head.Elsewhere in England, down in the Championship, Patrick Agyemang notched an assist for Derby County. Josh Sargent has cooled down for Norwich City. Damion Downs is struggling badly at Southampton.Agyemang and Sargent are right on the World Cup roster bubble. Their inclusions or omissions in October could say a lot about U.S. head coach Mauricio Pochettino’s preferences.(Top photos: Matt Freese, left; Christian Pulisic; Getty Images)
Champions League Standings after 1 game
Five talking points ahead of the Champions League action
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Five talking points ahead of the Champions League action
The Football Faithful
Tue, September 30, 2025 at 6:56 AM EDT·
4 min read
The Champions League returns for matchday two this week, as Liverpool, Barcelona, PSG, and Spurs all face key clashes on the European stage.
Five talking points ahead of the Champions League action:
Jose Mourinho returns to Chelsea
Chelsea welcome a familiar figure back to Stamford Bridge as Jose Mourinho’s Benfica take on Enzo Maresca’s side on Tuesday night.
The Special One’s shadow looms large over the club this week amid a run of poor form. The Blues are looking for their first win this month, against the manager who guided them to three Premier League titles across two stints.
The days when Chelsea played like true world beaters feels a long time ago now. They may be world champions, for whatever that is worth, but after losing consecutive league games it looks like this will be another year in which they don’t challenge for the title, despite their massive spending in recent years.
Chelsea came out 4-1 winners from their meeting Benfica in the Club World Cup this past summer, although the Portuguese giants did take them to extra time. They are favoured to win this tie, but could the Mourinho factor give the visitors an edge?
The west London outfit hope not; Maresca can’t really afford to lose this one after falling to a 3-1 defeat to Bayern Munich on the opening week of this year’s competition.
On Wednesday we will finally get the matchup that we should have seen in last season’s final as Barcelona host PSG at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys.
Barça’s defensive frailties ultimately cost them in the semi-final defeat to Inter Milan, and given how the Italians fared in the decider, Hansi Flick’s men may have avoided a drubbing of their own in Munich.
They could be facing Paris at a good time, though. The reigning champions recently lost to Marseille and have not been their typically dominant selves against Ligue 1 opposition, despite topping the table.
Barcelona, meanwhile, are in scorching hot form; unbeaten in all competitions, they have scored 23 goals in eight matches. This will be a very early test for Flick’s side and a measure of their credentials for the ultimate glory.
All eyes will be on that titanic clash, but elsewhere two giants of the European game will travel to face the tournament’s supposed whipping boys.
Real Madrid make the arduous trip to Kazakhstan to take on Kairat Almaty, while Bayern Munich head to Cyprus for a meeting with Pafos FC.
Real and Bayern have 21 Champions League titles between them, while Kairat and Pafos are competing at this level for the first time ever.
These matches are expected to only go one way, but it has only been four years since Real were shocked by Moldovan outfit FC Sheriff Tiraspol in the group stage. Bayern are only two years removed from an embarrassing defeat to third-tier Saarbrucken in the German Cup, so neither club is a stranger to unlikely upsets.
Liverpool make the trip to Galatasaray for just the third time in Champions League history this Tuesday as they look to bounce back from defeat to Crystal Palace at the weekend.
The Turkish outfit’s fans have become known for creating a febrile atmosphere on these European nights ever since their famous win over Manchester United in 1993.
The Gala fans welcomed the United players at the airport with banners reading “Welcome to Hell”, and they certainly delivered on that front.
A win here would be another shock on that scale. Liverpool are prohibitive favourites, despite their unconvincing performances this season. Galatasaray may be dominating the Super Lig after signing Leroy Sane and Victor Osimhen, but they were trounced 5-1 by Eintracht Frankfurt on the opening week.
The Champions League might quickly become a hellscape for Okan Buruk’s team if Liverpool find their scoring touch.
On their way to Europa League glory last season, Tottenham Hotspur had to go through Bodo/Glimt. It was a tricky tie against the Norwegian upstarts who have taken many scalps in Europe in recent years.
Spurs won the quarter-final clash 5-1 on aggregate, ensuring Glimt have never beaten an English side, losing all five of their encounters.
Thomas Frank should guide his side to another victory here, although he would probably prefer not to have to travel to the Arctic Circle this week. His squad will make a 6,200km round trip, before heading to Leeds this Saturday.
Jose Mourinho: He meant everything to Chelsea fans in his heyday, but what about now?
On Tuesday night, Jose Mourinho will get to discover if he is still seen as special among Chelsea fans.You would think the answer would be a categorical ‘yes’, right? This is the man who ended the club’s 50-year wait for a league title in 2005. The Portuguese won seven major trophies (three Premier Leagues, an FA Cup and three League Cups) during two spells at Stamford Bridge (2004-7, 2013-15) and boasted extraordinary statistics like not losing any of his first 77 home Premier League games (a run finally ended by Sunderland in 2014). Pictures of him posing with the Premier League trophy are still on the walls inside the Drake Suite at the ground.He returns this week as Benfica’s head coach but this will not be the first occasion Chelsea fans have had a chance to show what they think of him. Mourinho was booed following one game as Manchester United manager after Chelsea beat them in an FA Cup quarter-final. His popularity sank to a deeper low after taking charge of bitter rivals Tottenham (2019-21).So how is he viewed now? “Time is a healer,” veteran season ticket holder Tim Rolls tells The Athletic. “If you look at what Chelsea are now and where the club were under him 20 years ago, people will look back so much more fondly to what we had. We had an air of invincibility. You knew if Chelsea went 1-0 up, that was it. That does not happen now. People appreciate Mourinho’s record even more.”
Mourinho in November 2004, his first season at ChelseaRichard Heathcote/Getty Images
Another season ticket holder Rafael Alleyne, who has supported the club for over 40 years, agrees. “I know there can be mixed feelings. There was a funny spell in terms of how he was perceived during his time at Manchester United. But he will always be top for me.
“Why did his popularity dip? Going to a rival like Manchester United was one thing. There were also some digs he made at Chelsea. I didn’t have a problem with it because that’s just Jose but others did.”Claudia Coulter was just a young child during Mourinho’s first tenure and only really got to appreciate what he brought to Chelsea between 2013-15. But that is what made seeing him then take charge of two Premier League sides tougher to bear.“I found it particularly hard to see him in the Tottenham dugout, it just felt so wrong,” she says. “My dad (also a Chelsea fan) felt the same, we could not believe it. Seeing him at another Premier League team was always going to be weird and we had that first with Manchester United. But seeing him at Tottenham was a real kick in the gut because we obviously hate them. It was a real shock.d“He knew what the Chelsea fans thought about Spurs so it was not great at that moment. But you kind of have to move on. It is not a case of forgetting it, it is still a sore point, but you have to concentrate on all the good things that he did.“I will be there at the game and I can’t wait to see him back. I think he is going to get a good reception. There will always be some people who are not happy but I will give him a good reception. I just hope we beat him!”
Mourinho prepares to manage Tottenham against Chelsea in 2019Michael Regan/Getty Images
Since being fired by Tottenham four years ago, Mourinho has gone on to coach Roma and Fenerbahce before taking over at Benfica two weeks ago. In terms of his standing at Chelsea, Mourinho once said, “Until the moment they have a manager that wins four Premier Leagues for them, I’m the No 1.”
No one has got close. Antonio Conte is the only other coach to guide Chelsea to top spot (in 2016-17) following Mourinho’s last triumph in 2014-15. Under the Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium, who bought the club three years ago, Chelsea have not even challenged, although they did claim a unique double of the FIFA Club World Cup and UEFA Conference League last season.
Stay in the know by selecting your interests on The Athletic:
Graham Potter, Mauricio Pochettino and incumbent Enzo Maresca are the three managers hired by the current regime. None of them forged a bond akin to the one Mourinho enjoyed. The latter goes into the game under increasing scrutiny from many in the stands because Chelsea have lost three of their last four games.Another season ticket holder Dave Chidgey says: “Chelsea were a top club under Mourinho, not this state we are in at the moment. I go back to the recent hires. We have had Potter, Pochettino and Maresca. They are not at his level.“Would I have him back for a third time? I don’t know, to be honest. It is a head-vs-heart situation. I know deep down it will never work under this ownership. He would see holes in the squad and want world-class guys to fill them, not caring how old they are or how much they cost. That mantra is a thing of the past at Chelsea and will never happen as long as these guys are in charge.”
Mourinho’s commitment to the cause made him very popular with the Chelsea faithfulClive Brunskill/Getty ImagesDan Silver believes the 3-1 loss to Brighton three days ago has improved Mourinho’s chances of being greeted warmly. The season ticket holder explained: “There could be a lot more vocal support for Mourinho because of the Brighton result. Maresca is still very much a Marmite figure.”There were other factors that made Chelsea fans lose a bit of their admiration for Mourinho while he was at the helm. For example, he criticised fans for the atmosphere at Stamford Bridge in 2014, saying that it was like playing in an empty stadium. Opposition fans have been chanting, “Mourinho’s right, your fans are sh*te,” ever since.Chidgey says: “I didn’t like it when he dug the fans out. It was just unfair because, if you have an understanding of what’s been going on at Premier League clubs for the last 20 years, the way people have been priced out, the sport being gentrified, that all plays a part. It felt like kicking a dog when they’re down. That’s what ground my gears. That, for me, is deliberately not understanding what supporters have to go through.”Mourinho was often on the back pages of newspapers and leading sports broadcast bulletins for things he did and said. Former head of UEFA’s referees committee Volker Roth labelled Mourinho an “enemy of football” after he had wrongly accused then Barcelona head coach Frank Rijkaard of visiting referee Anders Frisk at half-time during a 2-1 Champions League defeat in 2005.
Mourinho called much-respected Arsenal head coach Arsene Wenger a “voyeur” and “a specialist in failure”. In June 2005, he was fined £75,000 (then $135,000) for meeting then Arsenal player Ashley Cole, without the north London club’s consent. Cole joined Chelsea the following year.
ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images
Perhaps the most damning incident was reaching a discrimination settlement with former Chelsea doctor Eva Carneiro in 2016. Carneiro was demoted soon after a game against Swansea in August 2015. Mourinho was furious that she and first-team physio Jon Fearn ran on to the pitch late on to treat Eden Hazard. Carneiro accused Mourinho of shouting “filha da puta” at her, which means ‘daughter of a whore’. Carneiro brought a case against Chelsea too for constructive dismissal after leaving in September 2015 and both the club and Mourinho ended up paying an undisclosed sum to resolve the case.Speaking generally about Mourinho’s antics, Silver says: “Some of his behaviour was not a good look for him or the club. It left a bad taste. But no one acts perfectly. Wenger was seen in a different, positive light and yet he pushed Mourinho in a game and kicked water bottles in another. You think of Sir Alex Ferguson shouting in referees’ faces. It felt like Mourinho was singled out for criticism. Mourinho fought the club’s corner. He was the master of the siege mentality, us against the world.”
Alleyne continues: “At the time, I may have been more like, ‘Did we have to do this, do we have to be public enemy No 1?’ There were times when I would think, ‘Jose, don’t do that,’ because he was either putting himself in a negative light or the club. But it was never to the degree of not wanting to have him, this is the kind of heat that comes with a guy like Mourinho. We had a target on our back.“I know people had a problem with his playing style too, that the result was king. But I was always about that. Perhaps he brainwashed me completely but it was all about the result and not being there to just mess around.”
Phil Cole/Getty Images
Chidgey is another who felt living with Mourinho’s flaws was a price worth paying: “He is not a saint and that is the brilliant and beautiful thing about him,” he explains. “Mourinho says and does stupid things, he annoys people. We have all done that. But at the same time, he won loads of trophies and put Chelsea on the top table of Europe. You cannot airbrush that from history just because he has done a few daft things over time.”Another possible criticism is that he did not win a Champions League with Chelsea despite having one of the best squads in Europe to work with. He lost two semi-finals against Liverpool (2005, 2007) and Atletico Madrid in 2014. It was Roberto Di Matteo (2012) and Thomas Tuchel (2021) who wrote their names into Chelsea folklore by winning Europe’s most prestigious competition. Mourinho did lift the trophy with Porto in 2004 and, six years later, with Inter Milan, having beaten Chelsea at the last-16 stage.
“I do not see it as a mark against him,” Alleyne insists. “It’s knockout football, it happens. He got to three semi-finals in the five full seasons he had, that’s still very good. He proved himself by winning three league titles. I would say it just highlights the bit of luck you need, which we clearly had in 2012.“I don’t think Mourinho is given enough credit for the winning DNA that was instilled in the club. The way that we talk about winning silverware now, the expectation, has come from him. It wasn’t there before he turned up.”Mourinho is 62 now and the grey hair betrays the reality he has aged quite a bit since walking into Chelsea for the first time 21 years ago.“The reality is you have to say he is a fading force,” Rolls concludes. “He is no longer in the conversation for a job at the top clubs and that says it all. But I go into the Benfica match with a lot more trepidation than I had before. That says a lot about him. He is so astute tactically, you never lose that.”(Top photo: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
Atletico dominated the derby by exposing Real Madrid in the channels
It is rare to see such a basic approach working in a high-level football match, but Atletico Madrid’s style in their 5-2 thrashing of Real Madrid felt like old-school Atleti: 4-4-2, and lots of balls into the channels.
Diego Simeone’s approach has evolved across his 14-year spell as head coach, introducing more attacking flair. For the ‘derbi’, though, Atletico often go back to basics. And it worked on Saturday, with Atleti putting five goals past their city rivals for the first time in nearly 75 years.
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“We knew where we could do damage, with breaks on the outside with Nicolas Gonzalez, Pablo Barrios, Julian Alvarez and Giuliano Simeone,” said Simeone after the game. “Taking the centre-backs out and leaving Alexander Sorloth inside to get chances. Beyond their two goals, the team did well. I liked everything. The team always knew what they had to do.”
That summarised it neatly. Atletico were particularly good at attacking down the flanks, most decisively with crosses — but their approach was about running the channels and dragging out the centre-backs.
This was how Real Madrid lined up. Xabi Alonso’s system was roughly 4-2-3-1, but with Arda Guler playing very narrow from the right, and Vinicius Junior offering little support to Alvaro Carreras at left-back.
It left Carreras badly exposed, with and without possession. Here, despite being in a decent position to track the run of Simeone Jr, a simple ball behind him causes all sorts of problems, with centre-back Dean Huijsen having to sprint across in an attempt to close down. This left central defensive partner Eder Militao isolated against Sorloth for the cross, although Militao dealt with this well.
Carreras was also caught out on the ball here, taking too long and allowing Barrios to pounce and slide a pass for Sorloth to go through on goal, although the Norway striker lacked the acceleration to get there before goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.
Down the other flank, Madrid had slightly different problems. Because Guler was playing so narrow, Dani Carvajal was tasked with providing right-sided width, and he also pressed high.
Here, three minutes in, the right-back is dragged out from defence to close down Gonzalez, and Clement Lenglet has the fairly simple task of knocking the ball in behind for Sorloth’s run. Again, Sorloth lacked the speed to ensure this was a clear goalscoring chance, and Militao recovered to make an excellent tackle.
Here is a more extreme example, when a pass is lobbed out to David Hancko at left-back. Carvajal is never going to get this ball, but he presses anyway, which makes it easy for Hancko to knock the ball past him. This time, it is Alvarez working the left channel, although the pass forces him wide and Militao shadows him well.
The problems continued after the break, particularly as Militao was forced off injured and replaced by Raul Asencio.
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The below example was unfortunate, as Carvajal went in for a tackle and the ball deflected straight to Alvarez. But again, centre-back Asencio was forced out wide into an uncomfortable position, and ended up hacking down Alvarez just outside the box.
Carvajal was then replaced, which initially seemed a mere tactical change considering how badly Madrid were struggling down that side, although it later emerged the captain had picked up a calf injury. This meant Asencio going to right-back, with midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni dropping to centre-back.
This first frame shows the tactical battle perfectly: Real Madrid’s full-backs are always significantly ahead of the centre-backs, and Atletico’s two strikers in the channels are waiting for a forward pass. Here, another simple pass from Hancko finds Alvarez, and Tchouamani decides to hold his position, allowing Alvarez to assess his options.
The strange thing is that none of these situations actually led to a goal.
Atletico’s first four goals came from set pieces, in different ways: a Robin Le Normand header in the aftermath of a free kick, a Sorloth header after a throw-in, an Alvarez penalty after Guler was penalised for a high boot at a corner, and then a whipped Alvarez direct free kick. In stoppage time, Antoine Griezmann rounded things off with a goal on the break, his first in La Liga since February. The highlights alone would suggest that Real Madrid’s problem was defending dead-ball situations.
With just 260 days to the World Cup and the 1st round of ticket ordering done (4.5 million entries were submitted -we put in like 15) it will be interesting to see if we get selected this week to buy tix and how much they are – cute World Cup Mascots announced this week. The US should announce our squad for the Oct friendlies sometime this week as well. US players rocked this past weekend and week as Pulisic became the all-time leading goal scorer overseas for an American and led the way with 3 goals and an assist, Chris Richards helped Crystal Palace stay unbeaten in the EPL, while Tanner Tessman scored this banger for Lyon in Europa League. In other news legendary EPL announcer Jon Champion shares his game notes, gotta love the EPL, Inter Miami midfielder Sergio Busquets announced his retirement at the end of the season, and of course Ousmane Dembélé Won the 2025 Ballon d’Or. Enjoy the Madrid Derby Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid Sat at 10:15 am on ESPN Desportes or ESPN+, & undefeated’s Liverpool vs American Chris Richard & Crystal Palace (Preview) at 10 am on Peacock and a battle of 2 American’s Juventus’ Mckennie vs Atalanta’s Musah as Juve vs Atalanta plays at noon on CBS.
INDY 11 Indy Eleven scored two second-half goals in a six-minute span to rally to a key 2-1 victory over USL Championship Eastern Conference opponent Birmingham Legion FC in front of 10,375 at Carroll Stadium. The win moves the Boys in Blue to one point out of playoff position behind Rhode Island FC with five games remaining in the regular season. Indy Eleven hosts Western Conference leader FC Tulsa on Saturday at 7 pm on Oktoberfest ($11 tix, Special Indy 11 Beer Stein, Guest Brewers in fun zone starts at 5:30) at Carroll Stadium. Single-game tickets for all matches are available via Ticketmaster.
Beer’s, Brat’s, & Bangers at the Mike for Octoberfest Sat nightGot the Distinct pleasure of reffing with Edwin Schowe who at 80 years old we think is the oldest active ref – reffing high school or middle school games in Indiana. A rainy afternoon at Northview Middle – solid teams. Working with Jakob from Gainesville, FL at Kuntz on a Tues Night. Fellow Gainesville High Soccer player and University of Florida Grad. Beautiful Sat morning at North Central Boys Varsity game with Omar & Alex
First Time reffing at Tipton High Varsity Boys with Jacob and Zach. Beautiful night of soccer.
When you Ref in Broadripple you have to go to La Piedad after right? Here with my longtime buddy Mike Arrington grabbing a bite after our Purdue Polytech Varsity Boys game. Another beautiful night reffing.
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FULL TV GAME SCHEDULE
Fri, Sept 26 2:30 pm ESPN2 Bayern Munich vs Werder Bremen 8 pm Prime KC Current vs Chicago Stars NWSL 10:30 pm Para+/Golazo San Diego Wave vs Orlando Pride NWSL Sat, Sept 27 7:30 am USA Brentford vs Man United 10 am USA Man City vs Burnley 10 am Peacock Crystal Palace (Richards) vs Liverpool 10 am Peacock Leeds United (Aaronson) vs Bournemouth (Adams) 10:15 am ESPND, ESPN+ Atletico Madrid vs Real Madrid 12 pm CBS, Para+ Juventus (Mckinnie) vs Atalanta 12:30 pm ESPN+ B Mglabach (Reyna, Scally) vs Frankfurt (Chandler) 12:30 pm USA Nottingham Forest vs Sunderland 3 pm USA Tottenham vs Wolverhampton 7:30 pm Tubi Racing Louisville vs Angel City FC NWSL 10 pm Tubi Bay FC vs Utah Royals NWSL Sun, Sept 28 9 am USA Aston Villa vs Fulham (Robinson) 11:30 am USA Newcastle United vs Arsenal 2:45 pm Para+ AC Milan (Pulisic) vs Napoli (Musah) 3 pm ESPNd, ESPN+ Barcelona vs Real Sociedad 7 pm Apple TV Cincy vs Orlando City 7 pm FS1 Brazil U20 vs Mexico U20 World Cup 7 pm FS2 Cuba U20 vs Argentina U20 Mon Sep 29 3 pm USA Everton vs West Ham 4 pm FS2 France U20 vs South Africa U20 7 pm FS1 USA U20 vs New Caledonia U20 World Cup 7 pm FS2 Colombia U20 vs Saudi Arabia U20 Tues, Sept 30 Champions League 12:45 pm Para+, Uni Kairat vs Real Madrid 3 pm CBSSN Paphos vs Bayern Munich 3 pm Para+ Galatasaray vs Liverpool 3 pm Para+ Atletico Madrid vs Frankfurt 3 pm Para+ Marseille (_) vs Ajax 3 pm Para+ Chelsea vs Benefica 3 pm Para+ Inter vs Slavia Praha 3 pm Para+ Boda vs Tottenham 4 pm FS2 Panama U20 vs Ukraine U20 WC 7 pm FS1 Chile U20 vs Japan U20 7 pm FS2 Korea U20 vs Paraguay U20 Wed, Oct 1 Champs League 12:45 pm Para, Uni Union Saint Gilloise vs Newcastle United 3 pm CBSSN Dortmund vs Athletic Club 3 pm Para+ Barcelona vs PSG 3 pm para+ Arsenal vs Olympiakos Piraues 3 pm Para+ Napoli vs Sporting CP 3 pm Para+ Bayer Leverkusen vs PSV 3 pm Para+ Villareal vs Juventus (McKinney) 4 pm FS2 Spain U20 vs Mexico U20 7 pm FS1 Brazil U20 vs Morocco U20 7 pm FS2 Argentina U20 vs Australia U20 8 pm CBSSN Austin City vs Nashville SC US Open Cup Thurs, Oct 2 Europa 12:45 pm CBSSN Roma vs Lille 12:45 pm Celtic (Carter Vickers) cs Sporting Braga 12:45 pm Dynamo Kyiv vs Crystal Palace (Chris Richards) 3 pm CBSSN Feyenoord vs Aston Villa 3 pm Para_ Sturm Graz vs Rangers 3 pm Para+ Nottingham Forest vs Middtylland 3 pm Para+ Olympique Lyonnais vs Salzburg Fri, Oct 3 3 pm USA Bournemouth (Adams) vs Fulham (Robinson) 7 pm FS1 Egypt U20 vs Chile U20 WC 7 pm FS2 New Zealand U20 vs Japan U20 Sat, Oct 4 7:30 am USA Leeds United vs Totteham 9:30 am ESPN+ Bayer Leverkusen (Tillman) vs Union Berlin 9:30 am ESPN+ Dortmund vs RB Leipzig 10 am USA Man United vs Sunderland 10 am Peacock Arsenal vs West Ham 12:30 pm NBC Chelsea vs Liverpool 4 pm Tele Mexico U20 vs Morocco U20 4 pm Univision Spain U20 vs Brazil U20 7 pm FS2 Argentina U20 vs Italy U20 10:30 pm Apple Seattle Sounders vs Portland Timbers Sun, Oct 6 4 pm FS2 USA U20 vs South Africa U20 7 pm FS2 Nigeria U20 vs Colombia U20 9 pm Apple LAFC vs Atlanta United MLS Fri, Oct 10 8:30 pm TNT, Max USA Men vs Ecuador Tues, Oct 14 9 pm TNT, Max USA Men vs Australia Thurs, Oct 23 9 pm TNT, Max USA Women vs Portugal Chester PA Sun, Oct 26 4 pm TNT, Max USA Women vs Portugal Hartford CT Sat, Nov 15 5 pm TNT, Max USA Men vs Paraguay Chester PA Tues, Nov 18 7 pmTNT, Max USA Men vs Uruguay Tampa, FL
USMNT weekend viewing guide: Important impressions
World Cup selections are getting closer every window by jcksnftsn Sep 26, 2025, 1:42 PM EDT
Getty Images
With rumors that Mauricio Pochettino intends to use the October USMNT roster to begin to lock in his intended World Cup call ups, and the announcement for the October roster likely to be made late next week, this weekend likely represents a last chance for players to make their statement about why they should be considered for a callup. To add to it there are head-to-head matchups in the EPL, Bundesliga, and Serie A to watch this weekend. It’s a full weekend of action so let’s get to the matches that we’ll be keeping an eye on:
Friday
Strasbourg v Olympique Marseille – 2:45p on beIN Sports
Tim Weah followed up his Bernabeu Banger with a solid shift against PSG last weekend as Marseille handed the French giants their first loss on the season, dropping them into a four-way tie atop Ligue 1. Marseille are three points back of the league leaders, a group which also includes this weekend’s opponent, Strasbourg, who’s lone loss on the season was a 3-2 defeat to Monaco who are also a part of the four at the top of the table.
Saturday
Coventry City v Birmingham City – 7:30a on Paramount+: Haji Wright and Coventry City tied their third straight game last Saturday, 0-0 with Leicester. Coventry have yet to suffer a loss this season but they have drawn four of their six matches and currently sit in sixth place.
Heidenheim v Augsburg – 9:30a on ESPN Select: Noahkai Banks has appeared in one of Augsburgs four matches to start the season, seeing just one minute. You probably don’t need to work your schedule around this match and we’re going to drop Augsburg from the guide until it looks like he may start getting regular action.
St. Pauli v Bayer Leverkusen – 9:30a on ESPN Select: James Sands and Malik Tillman will go head-to-head in the midfield on Saturday morning as St. Pauli face Bayer Leverkusen. Sands and St. Pauli suffered their first loss of the weekend last Friday, falling to Stuttgart 2-0 with Sands playing the full 90’ and picking up a yellow card in the 40th minute. Meanwhile on Sunday, Tillman scored a goal against Borussia Monchengladbach but his team would end up settling for a draw after giving up a tying goal in stoppage time.
Crystal Palace v Liverpool – 10a on Peacock: Chris Richards and Crystal Palace have yet to suffer a loss to start the 2025-26 season though they have drawn three times and sit in fifth place. Their opponent for this weekend is a Liverpool side that has won every match in league play. However, Palace did defeat Liverpool to start the year in the Community Shield match.
Leeds United v AFC Bournemouth – 10a on Peacock: Our EPL head-to-head matchup of the weekend sees Brenden Aaronson’s Leeds side take on Tyler Adams and Bournemouth. Adams has started every match for a Bournemouth side that haven’t lost since their opening match against Liverpool and currently sit in fourth place, they are coming off a scoreless draw with Newcastle. In Leeds, Aaronson has started the last two matches after coming off the bench in the first three, and Leeds’ 3-1 win over Wolverhampton last weekend gave them seven points through five matches this season as they move into 12th place and look to snap the streak of newly promoted sides heading straight back to the English Championship.
Stoke City v Norwich City – 10a on Paramount+: Josh Sargent has cooled off a bit in the Championship, failing to score in his past two matches after starting the season with five goals in his first four. Norwich lost to Wrexham 3-2 last weekend, their third loss early in the season and they currently sit in 15th place in the Championship table.
Southampton v Middlesbrough – 10a on Paramount+: Meanwhile, also in the Championship, Aidan Morris has played every minute for a Middlesbrough side that have five wins and a draw through their first six matches and currently sit atop the Championship standings, four points ahead of Stoke. This weekend Middlesbrough face a Southampton side that were playing in the EPL last season but have only one win in the Championship to start this campaign and currently sit in 19th place, just a point out of a second straight relegation.
Atletico Madrid v Real Madrid – 10:15a on ESPN Deportes and ESPN Select: Johnny Cardoso will miss his first chance at a Madrid derby as he suffered a sprained ankle in training that held him out of Atletico’s Champions League match with Liverpool and has already ruled him out for this weekends match as well.
Lorient v Monaco – 11a on beIN Sports: Folarin Balogun was an unused substitute last weekend in Monaco’s 5-2 win over FC Metz. Balogun had started the past three league matches for Monaco as well as the Champions League match just three days prior so it is unsurprising there was some rotation. He’ll hopefully be back in the lineup this weekend as Monaco look to continue their hot form in league play that has them tied for the league lead.
Juventus v Atalanta – Noon on Paramount+: Yunus Musah will face off against his old team including fellow USMNT member Weston McKennie as Atalanta travel to Turin to face Juventus on Saturday. Musah has come off the bench in his first two league matches since joining Atalanta but he did start the teams Champions League class with PSG (albeit an embarrassing 4-0 loss). Weston McKennie did not make it off the bench last weekend as Juventus settled for a 1-1 draw with Hellas Verona who were tied for last place in the league standings. It was Juventus’ first hiccup of the season and they are now two points back of Napoli, and two points ahead of this weekends opponent.
Borussia Monchengladbach v Eintracht Frankfurt – 12:30p on ESPN Select: Joe Scally, Gio Reyna, and Borussia Monchengladbach notched a late goal last weekend to steal a draw with Bayer Leverkusen. It was Gladbach’s first goal of the season and just their second point through four matches. This weekend they will face a Frankfurt side that has a pair of wins to go with a pair of losses.
Toulouse v Nantes – 1p on beIN Sports: Mark McKenzie has played every minute of the season for Toulouse thus far. Unfortunately the club have lost three straight and currently sit in ninth place. If you set aside the embarrassing 6-3 loss Toulouse have given up just three goals in their other four matches this year which would be a solid defensive record. This weekend Toulouse host a Nantes side that sit near the bottom of the table with just one win and one draw, but they have been close in every match this season, never loosing by more than a goal, and only once conceding more than one.
Excelsior v PSV – 2p on ESPN Select: Sergino Dest, Ricardo Pepi, and PSV settled for a draw with Ajax last weekend and are now three points back of league leading Feyenoord. PSV now face an Excelsior side that are coming off their second win of the season, a 2-1 win over Volendam.
Club America v Pumas UNAM – 11:05p on CBSSN: Alex Zendejas scored for Club America last weekend after coming on as an injury substitute just before the end of the first half. Zendejas’ late goal was the match winner for America as they defeated San Luis to move within three points of league leading Cruz Azul. America now face a Pumas side who are coming off a 3-1 win over FC Juarez.
Saturday MLS Matches with USMNT flavor – here is when the September MLS call ups are kicking off their matches this weekend, all matches on MLS Season Pass:
Charlotte v Montreal – 7:30p: Tim Ream
DC United v Philadelphia Union – 7:30p: Nathan Harriel
New York Red Bulls v NYCFC – 7:30p: Matt Friese
Nashville SC v Houston Dynamo – 8:30p: Jack McGlynn
Real Salt Lake v Austin FC – 9:30p: Diego Luna
Seattle Sounders v Vancouver Whitecaps – 10:30p: Cristian Roldan
San Diego FC v San Jose Earthquakes – 10:30p: Luca de la Torre
LA Galaxy v Cincinnati – 10:30p: Roman Celetano
Sunday
Aston Villa v Fulham – 9a on USA Network: Antonee Robinson played 90’ minutes midweek in Fulham’s 1-0 EFL Cup win over Cambridge United. Robinson was back on the field after missing Fulham’s past two league matches. On Sunday Fulham will take on Aston Villa who are still looking for their first win of the Premier League season though they did defeat Bologna in Europa League action on Thursday.
Lille v Olympique Lyon – 11:15a on beIN Sports: Tanner Tessmann is doing everything he can to catch the eye of Mauricio Pochettino. Tessmann scored in his second straight match on Thursday, coming off the bench to lift Lyon to a 1-0 win over FC Utrecht in Europa League action. Tessmann also scored the lone goal last weekend as Lyon defeated Angers 1-0 in league play. Lyon are 4-0-1 to start the season and part of the group at the top of the Ligue 1 table, a group that are two points ahead of this weekend’s opponent, Lille.
AC Milan v Napoli – 2:45p on Paramount+: Perhaps the only USMNT player hotter than Tessmann right now is Christian Pulisic who came off the bench and scored on Tuesday in a Coppa Italia match on Tuesday after starting and contributing to all three goals Milan scored against Udinese last weekend, scoring two and assisting on the third. If Pulisic can keep that form heading into this weekends match against league leading Napoli it would be a huge boost to Milan’s title hopes this season. Napoli are currently three points ahead of Milan and have won every league match that they’ve played.
Sunday MLS Activity:
Cincinnati v Orlando City – 7on MLS Season Pass: Alex Freeman
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Yanks Abroad
Malik Tillman faced off against fellow countrymen, Gio Reyna and Joe Scally, on Sunday as Leverkusen tied Monchengladbach 1-1. Tillman scored the goal, making that 2 goals in his first 3 Bundesliga matches. Good to see the trio linking up after their game as well.
Tanner Tessman scored a game-winner for Lyon in their 1-0 win over Angers on Friday. Chris Richards put together another stellar outing against West Ham. Full highlight clip. He has solidified himself as one of the top defenders in the world’s top league. Crystal Palace and Liverpool are the only remaining undefeated teams in the Premier League. They’ll face off on Saturday.
It’s been a MASSIVE week for Christian Pulisic. He had a brace andan assist in Milan’s 3-0 win over Udinese. It’s early, but he’s tied for first in Serie A for goals and goals per 90. After the game head coach, Massimiliano Allegri, called him the “Michael Jordan of soccer”. While that’s a stretch, his form is elite. With the goals, he passed Clint Dempsey (57) for the most ever by an American in the top 5 European leagues (59). He scored again yesterday in the Coppa Italia after coming on as a sub, making that 5 goals in his last 6 games.
USL Investment for Pro/Rel
The United Soccer League (USL) has attracted a major investor to help develop its football league pyramid system, aiming to rival Major League Soccer (MLS). The investment comes from BellTower Partners, a firm run by former Carlyle Group CEO Kewsong Lee. Earlier this year, the USL announced plans to launch a new US men’s league with first-division sanctioning in 2027, thus becoming the second such league in the country, alongside MLS. The USL already operates three men’s leagues, and the addition of a tier-one league will enable the organisation to become the first sports league of any type in the United States to implement a promotion and relegation system. Dive deeper into how this move will compete against the MLS here. The USL is not disclosing the size of the investment, the size of the equity stake, or the current valuation of the USL used for the purposes of the investment.
Expanded World Cup Considered
FIFA is reportedly open to expanding the men’s World Cup to a 64-team tournament in 2030. It follows a formal pitch made to Fifa by football executives from CONMEBOL, South America’s governing body, to celebrate the centenary of the competition. One source, unverified, claims that Fifa is sceptical about whether expanding the tournament again is a viable proposition. Expansion would represent an increase from the 48 teams competing in next year’s tournament, which is already a rise from the 38-nation format that has been in place since 1998. CONMEBOL is lobbying to further enlarge the tournament in a move that would likely guarantee a qualification spot for all 10 of the continent’s member nations. The proposal has drawn opposition. Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin believes that expansion would be damaging to the tournament and would reduce jeopardy in the qualification stage. If Fifa approves the move, it would create a tournament of 128 matches, double the number that was played from 1998 through 2022. The 2030 edition of the World Cup will be played across six host nations and spread across three continents—read more here.
NUTMEG SOCCER MLS Match Day 34 Recap
Max Palmer & Mason Palmer Read Online Decision day is looming. Here’s what went down over the weekend… Orlando City SC beat Nashville 3-2 behind a brace from Martin Ojeda and a goal from Duncan McGuire. Nashville’s recent league form has been abysmal; they’ve lost 6 out of their last 7 league games and are close to falling into the play-in round. They’ll play Austin FC in the US Open Cup final for maybe their only chance at hardware this season.
FC Dallas beat Colorado 3-1 and have now gone 6 straight unbeaten, all since selling Lucho Acosta. Logan Farrington and Petar Musa linked up once again for the game’s first goal. For the first time since early May, Dallas is back in a playoff position, one point ahead of Houston with a game in hand.
Austin FC beat the Seattle Sounders 2-1 behind Myrto Uzuni’s last-second goal. Brad Stuver was phenomenal in this one, preventing 1.81 expected goals. It’s Austin’s 3rd win in their last 4 league games. Meanwhile, Seattle is winless in their last three games and now gets Vancouver.
The Chicago Fire blanked Minnesota 3-0 on the road for one of their best performances of the season. Their 8th road win ties their club record in a season. The last wild card spot in the East is between them and the NY Red Bulls. The Fire are two points ahead and have a game in hand. They’ll try to end the Red Bulls historic 15-year playoff streak and join the dance for the first time since 2017. Inter Miami beat DC United 3-2 on Saturday. Messi had two goals and an assist to become the fastest player in league history to reach 70 goal contributions, doing so in just 46 games. His second goal was spectacular. That’s 22 goals and 12 assists in 22 games played, utterly insane stuff. Miami has three more consecutive weeks of two games per week. If they win out, they’ll win the Shield and he’ll win MVP again. But that’s far from a sure thing.
The Best Attacking Duo in MLS
What a week for LAFC. They beat Real Salt Lake twice in the span of four days by the same score of 4-1 each time. They now have three straight league wins, scoring 12 goals in that span. Led by the best attacking duo in MLS, they can score in bunches and are peaking at the right time.Denis Bouanga (8) and Son Heung-min (6) have scored all 14 of their goals in the last 5 games. It didn’t take the two stars long to start clicking. Bouanga has two hat-tricks in the last three games to put him even in the Golden Boot race with Messi at 22 goals. He became the first player in league history to score 20+ goals in three straight seasons. He’s quickly becoming one of the best players in league history. As for Son, he scored a hat trick mid-week in their first match-up against Salt Lake. He now has 6 goals and 2 assists in just 550 minutes played. His presence has taken much of the opposing defense’s attention away from Bouanga, who has 9 goals in the 7 games since Son made his debut. They complement each other perfectly. Per Tom Bogert, before Son’s debut, LAFC ranked 12th in goals, 10th in expected goals, and 20th in chances. Since his debut, they’re 1st in goals, 4th in expected goals, and 4th in chances. This attack is scary good. If I were a betting man, my money would be on LAFC coming out of the Western Conference.
Will Tessmann leapfrog McKennie, Musah to start World Cup for U.S.?
Jeff CarlisleSep 25, 2025, 10:05 AM ET ESPNFC
The European club season has been in full swing for over a month now, giving those U.S. men’s national team players plying their trade overseas the chance to establish themselves. Some have gotten off to uneven starts, with the opening round of UEFA Champions League fixtures proving to be especially difficult. Others have hit the ground running. Those in MLS have been in rhythm for a while now.Then there’s Christian Pulisic, who has been leading the U.S. charge in Europe for nine years now and already has five goals in all competitions this season. Fortunately for the USMNT, Pulisic is one of several players who have been hitting their stride in recent weeks.Throughout the season, ESPN will be monitoring the progress of the U.S. player pool, delivering insights into those whose form or fitness has made them particularly intriguing. We call it the USMNT’s countdown to the World Cup.ESPN will count down to June 11 every week so that way, when the U.S. team is announced for this highly anticipated World Cup on home soil, no names on that 26-man roster will come as a surprise. Only 260 days to go.
Tessmann had already enjoyed a solid start to the season, but last weekend he kicked his campaign into overdrive, scoring the lone goal in Lyon’s 1-0 victory over Angers, a result that put the club in a tie atop the Ligue 1 table, behind AS Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain on goal differential. Not bad for a team that was threatened with relegation due to financial irregularities before the start of the season.
As for Tessmann, the question remains: Will these performances be enough to get him back in the U.S. squad? He hasn’t been called up since the Concacaf Nations League in March. To be clear, they should be, but the mind of U.S. manager Mauricio Pochettino works in mysterious ways. At minimum, Tessmann should be in contention to provide cover for Tyler Adams, or even crack the starting lineup.
USMNT could do with a dose of Tillman’s perseverance
Credit Tillman for showing a strong mentality, bouncing back from a dreadful match in midweek against F.C. København in the Champions League to deliver a man of the match performance against Borussia Mönchengladbach in which he scored his second league goal of the season. A tactical tweak from manager Kasper Hjulmand might have helped.
Against Copenhagen, Tillman was operating as one of the dual No. 10s and struggled mightily to get on the ball. Against Gladbach, he was deployed deeper in midfield and had a much stronger impact on the game, even beyond his 70th-minute goal. Hjulmand afterward continued to preach patience, as Tillman is one of many new arrivals to the squad, but the player’s ability to shake off a poor performance will serve him well for both club and country.
This was an impressive week for Pulisic, even by his lofty standards. After scoring two goals and helping set the table for a third in last weekend’s 3-0 win over Udinese, Pulisic maintained his fine form by scoring the final goal — on the half-volley, no less — in a 3-0 Coppa Italia win over Lecce.There’s not much more to be said about Pulisic that hasn’t been already. He remains the USMNT’s most important attacking player, and he now holds the mark for most goals by an American in Europe’s top five leagues with 59. As long as he can stay healthy, he’s a lock to be in the U.S. lineup.He’ll try to keep the momentum going in this weekend’s momentous clash with top-of-the table Napoli.
The in-form XI
When Pochettino switched to a three-man back line during the September international window, it was a move that didn’t appear to benefit Gladbach’s Joe Scally. The wing back position favors the mobility and attacking instincts demonstrated by the likes of Sergiño Dest and Alex Freeman over the defending of Scally, but then Gladbach interim manager Eugen Polanski trotted out a 3-4-3 with Scally as the right wing back, and the American delivered an impressive performance. Scally showed an ability to get forward that was unexpected given that he recorded no goals and no assists this past season — his xG of 0.26 is already on its way to eclipsing last year’s 0.38. Granted, who knows what formation the permanent Gladbach coach will prefer once he’s hired, but the performance should help keep Scally in the lineup. Given his performance last weekend, why isn’t he in this week’s in-form XI? It’s a fair question, especially when you consider Dest conceded a penalty that was converted in PSV Eindhoven‘s 2-2 draw with Ajax. Combined with some defensively shaky moments during the September international window, it’s worth weighing whether Dest is enough of a defensive liability that he loses his spot in the starting lineup. That said, Dest’s value in attack is still high enough given his ability to deliver the unexpected, though Scally has given Pochettino something to think about in terms of who his starting wing backs should be. Meanwhile, the relative stock of the U.S. corps of forwards continues to go through some wild swings in form. Folarin Balogun looked to have gained some separation from the chasing pack after a great performance against Japan, but that was before his tepid effort in a 4-1 Champions League defeat to Club Brugge landed him on the bench for last week’s league encounter against Metz. Even worse for Balogun, his replacement, Mika Biereth, scored the opener in a 5-2 win, while Ansu Fati scored two off the bench and George Ilenikhena also got on the score sheet.
The silver lining for Balogun is that no other U.S. center forwards scored last weekend, although Ricardo Pepi‘s selfless run to the near post allowed Ismael Saibari to score PSV’s first, so he’ll remain the starter in this week’s lineup. Also, Balogun’s skill set is unique within the USMNT player pool, given his ability to make runs in behind the opposition defense, and this should mean his spot in the U.S. squad is still secure. He’ll need to work his way back into the Monaco lineup, though, and this week’s match at Lorient will reveal the extent to which his spot in the club hierarchy has fallen.
Big Board 2.0 update
ESPN’s USMNT Big Board 2.0 went live earlier this month, and each Big Board will provide the foundation for weekly player updates. Below are the minutes and player ratings for each of those 37 players.
Robinson’s recovery from offseason knee surgery took way longer than expected, but he finally played a full 90 minutes for the Cottagers in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup victory over fourth-tier side Cambridge United. Now let’s see if he can reclaim his spot in league play.
Joe Scally, fullback, Borussia Mönchengladbach: 355 minutes in 2025-26; 7.2 FotMob rating in 2025-26.
Weah has been Marseille’s Mr. Fixit, lining up as a right wing back in OM’s 1-0 win over previously unbeaten PSG. Will that help him or hurt him when the next USMNT camp opens? Either way, his versatility remains impressive.
Malik Tillman, attacker, Bayer Leverkusen: 264 minutes in 2025-26; 7.1 FotMob rating in 2025-26.
Inter Miami star Lionel Messi took a comfortable lead for this year’s Golden Boot by scoring two goals in Miami’s dramatic win over New York City FC on Wednesday night.Beneath the Citi Field lights and in the pouring rain, Lionel Messi and Inter Miami clinched a spot in the MLS playoffs. The South Florida club downed New York 4-0, carried by the Argentine striker’s late-game heroics and fueled by a pro-Miami crowd in New York. Messi opened the night with an assist to Baltasar Rodríguez in the 43rd minute, giving Inter Miami its first lead of the night.The team later rallied in the second half, scoring three goals in 12 minutes. Messi scored a brace, first in the 74th minute off a stunning pass from Sergio Busquets, and then again in the 86th. In between both goals, Luis Suárez scored off a penalty Messi’s pair of goals brings his tally to 24 scored this season, while LAFC’s Denis Bouanga trails with 22. Inter Miami sits third in the MLS Eastern Conference standings with 55 points, behind the Philadelphia Union (60 points) and FC Cincinnati (58 points). Miami heads to BMO Field, where they will face Toronto FC on Saturday. Inter Miami has its eyes set on reclaiming the Supporters’ Shield, which the club won in 2024. “We know how difficult Saturday will be because we have less than 72 hours to play, but we will try to play our best and try to win the game and try to qualify as high as possible,” Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano said. “If we can win the next five games, we’ll be great and we’ll have (a) chance to fight for the Supporters’ Shield.” While Inter Miami were more than 1,000 miles from home, the near sellout crowd in Queens was unmistakably there for Messi. The crowd of 40,085 cheered after every play made by the striker and roared whenever the 38-year-old appeared on the Jumbotron. After each goal, the stadium filled with chants of “Messi, Messi!” Still, NYCFC tried its best to take advantage of the unusually large crowd that came out to Queens on Wednesday night, with messaging throughout the night reminding fans of their future stadium slowly taking shape next door. (Photo: Mark Smith / Imagn Images)
As Atlanta United flounders, would a Tata Martino reunion be the right play?
It has been a difficult summer for Atlanta United. In July, president and CEO Garth Lagerwey stepped away from his role after a cancer diagnosis. Well-liked around the building and highly respected across MLS, Lagerwey had publicly lauded the current squad entering the 2025 season. Ronny Deila, Atlanta’s first-year head coach, was the candidate that he fought for internally. Deila has led Atlanta to just five wins in 29 matches, though, and Lagerwey’s continued absence heading into the fall could alter the direction of the club.Deila may not be working out as Lagerwey hoped, but he did also hire Chris Henderson, Atlanta’s chief soccer officer and sporting director, last December. Talks with Deila were already at an advanced stage when Henderson joined the club from Inter Miami. He replaced Carlos Bocanegra and is now a leading decision maker on Atlanta’s future, which is under great focus considering the ongoing struggles. And that’s where the avenues the club can take in an effort to return to MLS’s elite could get interesting.Henderson came to Atlanta after helping Tata Martino build a Miami squad that broke MLS’s regular-season points record and won the Supporters’ Shield in 2024. Having Lionel Messi certainly helped, too. For his part, Martino led Atlanta to an MLS Cup victory in 2018 and he remains a well-regarded figure inside the club. His title-winning team and a near-perfect club launch unexpectedly brought the eyes of the football world to the city. Seven years later, Martino is available again, and it’s only natural to consider whether a reunion might make sense.Speaking exclusively to The Athletic last week, Martino touched on the emotional attachment some managers have after they depart a job. Inter Miami, he said, remains unfinished business. However, there’s nothing pending for Martino in Atlanta. He won a final then accepted the Mexico national team job in 2019 after two seasons.“I think at that time, the Atlanta project, for various reasons, had more room to grow, but not with me in charge,” Martino said. “The Miami project, yes, because I compare it to the Argentina national team project. There was more ahead, more to do. It wasn’t something already finished. Today I understand that some projects start and finish, and that’s that.”Asked if he maintains contact with Henderson, Martino smiled.“Yes, I care about him a lot,” he said. “Honestly, he’s someone I’ve had a really good working relationship with. First, because he’s a great professional, and second, because he’s an extraordinary person. I’ve really enjoyed working with him. Every now and then we exchange messages and say hello. I have a lot of affection for him.”The 62-year-old Argentine is among the top available coaches for MLS teams that are looking for a new manager. New England, St. Louis City, and Sporting Kansas City all have vacancies, and Steve Cherundolo will depart LAFC at the end of this season.
Atlanta United has struggled in Ronny Deila’s first season at the helm (Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
Atlanta could potentially become an option, too, although Lagerwey has made a concerted effort to turn the page on the club’s successful past. Deila, whom Lagerwey touted as a serial winner, was supposed to end the club’s crisis with a firm European hand. Despite his best efforts and the millions of dollars spent on players, though, few improvements – if any – materialized.
On the other side, if Martino were to consider a highly-publicized reunion in Atlanta, he would put his legacy at the club at stake. The squad has not been well built, with high-priced players failing to deliver, while the shortcomings of long-standing members of the team have held the club back. Secondly, Atlanta’s player profiles don’t align with what Martino would prefer. There is no discernible identity under Deila, so another major evaluation of the roster would be necessary. Even so, Martino offered his thoughts on the state of his former team.
“I try to be careful because I don’t see the day-to-day,” he said. “From the outside, you look at the squad and think, ‘It’s strange to see them in that position in the standings,’ but there are different circumstances, so maybe a season doesn’t turn out the way you expect. In MLS, this happens a lot: players come from different places, and you have to see how the ideas come together, how the players click with each other, with the coaching staff, with the club and with the city.“Sometimes everything clicks perfectly, and it works spectacularly,” Martino continued. “Other times, just as you can’t always explain why everything went so well, you can’t always explain why nothing worked out as expected. Looking at the squad from a distance, you might’ve expected a different outcome for the season.”The same can be said about Miguel Almirón. The Paraguayan international was widely considered the best player in MLS when he wore Atlanta’s black and red kit under Martino. Now 31, Almirón rejoined Atlanta in January after six seasons in the Premier League with Newcastle United. He was celebrated by Atlanta’s fans upon his return, but that euphoria has since subsided. Like Atlanta as a whole, Almirón has struggled to have the same impact as he once had in MLS. He has four goals and seven assists on the year, and at times has either been misused as a traditional winger by Deila, or hasn’t been decisive enough in the middle of the field to make a difference.
Josef Martínez was prolific under Tata Martino in Atlanta (Mark J. Rebilas / USA TODAY Sports)
In his final year in Atlanta, prior to becoming MLS’s highest outgoing transfer at the time, Almirón teamed with 2018 MLS MVP Josef Martínez to the tune of 12 goals and 14 assists in the regular season. Martino may be watching from afar, but his assessment of Almirón 2.0, an experiment that hasn’t been an immediate success, rings true.“The main difference for Miguel is that the (2018) team had a solid base,” Martino said. “We kept a strong American core through Brad (Guzan), Parky (Michael Parkhurst), (Jeff) Larentowicz and even Greg Garza, who was Mexican-American but very connected to American soccer. At the same time, the team had a very strong Latin side. So obviously, Miguel felt much more supported.“On top of that, Miguel had that partnership with Josef. That’s how all the pieces come together for a season to go well. Today’s team, the nationalities and customs are very different, and Miguel arrived at a tricky moment. When the tournament is already underway, it can be hard to achieve that same unity of ideas.”After Atlanta’s 5-4 loss to the Columbus Crew on Saturday, a game in which Atlanta was down 5-0 at home after 39 minutes, Deila defiantly fought for his job. The defeat was Atlanta’s 13th of the regular season, which eliminated the club from the MLS playoffs.Deila, 49, insisted afterwards that Atlanta is in good hands. The Norwegian’s first year in Atlanta has been mired in uncertain tactics and a glaring lack of pride from Atlanta’s players week-to-week. Deila admitted on Saturday to relaying inconsistent messages to his players after trying different formations throughout the year. Still, the former Celtic manager believes he’s the right man to turn this into something positive in 2026.“We’re going to be competitive next season. I’m 100 percent sure,” Deila said. “If not I wouldn’t sit here. I’ve done this for 20 years. I’ve had success with almost every team I’ve had. I’ve made improvements everywhere. I won almost everywhere I’ve been.”Perhaps Deila hasn’t completely thrown his players under the bus, but he has questioned their professional character and mentality. It was evident on Saturday that he has lost faith in some of his players, despite stating adamantly that he hasn’t lost the locker room.“I want to improve things, but we have to change a lot of the personnel this season because some (players) didn’t have the opportunity to get better and some of them aren’t interested in getting better,” Deila said. “I believe and I feel I have the boys with me. And I feel that I have the staff with me, and I feel that we’re on the start of something.”Whatever Deila believes hasn’t been up to standard. Atlanta invested over $50 million in new player acquisitions last season. The objective was to provide Deila with a squad capable of challenging for the top four in the Eastern Conference. Instead, the club was struggling through its worst start in franchise history in May. The momentum that Atlanta garnered at the end of the 2024 season under interim manager Rob Valentino sputtered almost immediately in 2025. Atlanta’s shocking first-round defeat of Martino’s heavily-favored Inter Miami during the 2024 playoffs was supposed to inspire a now-apathetic fanbase and position Atlanta with the right building blocks moving forward.
Atlanta has just five wins through 29 games, tied for second-fewest in MLS (Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
But there is nothing inspirational about this Atlanta side. It has conceded 54 goals and scored just 36 times in 29 matches. There are 11 teams in the East that have scored more goals than Atlanta this season. Deila, who won an MLS Cup final with New York City FC in 2021, has been unable to manufacture solutions both in-game and mid-week to improve the team.On Saturday, Columbus was surgical in how it attacked Atlanta’s woeful midfield and backline, while Deila’s men delivered another display of football malpractice. Deila called it the “the strangest game I’ve seen in my life,” but in reality, it was a representation of his tenure in Atlanta. The four-goal comeback did not mask his team’s permanent flaws, which go far beyond a tactics board.Deila and his staff have succumbed to the culture of defeat in Atlanta rather than turn it around. Losing has become normalized within Atlanta’s training facility in Marietta, Ga., which later this month will be newly unveiled following a $23 million investment from owner Arthur Blank. Yet, Deila stressed on Saturday that a coaching change wasn’t necessary.“I’m the guy who can make this team successful,” he said. “I cannot handle what the board is thinking. If peopl don’t believe in me, then of course we have a challenge.”“Right now we’re struggling,” he continued. “We’re eating a lot of s***, but that creates unbelievable power and energy to go forward and prove everybody wrong. It’s easy to sit on the outside and have opinions now, but get in the ring and we’ll see how it is and who ends up on the right side. That’s going to be us.”
It very well could be – unless Atlanta believes that revisiting its past can finally awaken the club’s future.
Wow the world’s best competition is back with a vengance – we had a 4-4 thriller at Juventus as Juve and American Weston McKinney came back from 0-2, then 2-4 down to tie it in extra time. Marcus Rashford returned to London in Barca colors and helped Barcelona win 2-0 with a Brace vs Tottenham. Awesome as Tim Weah Becomes 1st American to Score at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu as Mareille took a 1-0 lead on Real before the Galictico’s got a questionable PK late to secure the 2-1 win. Matchday 1 ScoresMatchday 1 great saves | Best Saves | UEFA Champions … (see GK section below). Games return Sept 30th with Matchday 2.
INDY 11 hosts Birmingham Sun 5 pm Hispanic Heritage Night The two teams battling for the final playoff position in the USL Championship Eastern Conference faced off Saturday night, with host Rhode Island FC scoring a second-half goal and surviving a frantic finish for a 1-0 win. With six games left in the regular season, Indy Eleven trails Rhode Island by one point. Indy Eleven hosts Birmingham Legion FC this Sunday, September 21 at 5 pm on Hispanic Heritage Night at Carroll Stadium with $11 tickets & an $11 scarf special.
Shane, Nick H and Ted Howlet enjoying Gene’s Rootbeer in Anderson after an Indiana Christian game. Fried Cheeseburger baby!! Rachel and Jason M at Covenant Christian High Thursday night – this D1 team is really good.
Jorge, Nick & The Ole Ballcoach at University High Monday Night Doing a little 2 man with Scott Baker at Zionsville vs Noblesville Girls. Got to do some MAL games U12 at Grand Park with these young Refs
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FULL TV GAME SCHEDULE
Fri, Sept 19 8 pm Prime Houston Dash vs Chicago Red Stars NWSL 10 pm CBSSN, Prime Utah Royals vs Racing Louisville NWSL Sat, Sept 20 7:30 am USA Liverpool vs Everton 7:30 am CBSSN Leicester City vs Coventry City (Wright) 9:30 am ESPN+ Hoffenhiem vs Bayern Munich 10 am USA West Ham vs Crystal Palace (Richards) 10 am Peacock Burnley (Adams) vs Nottingham Forest 10 am Peacock Wolverhampton vs Leeds (Aaronson) 10 am Para, Prime Norwich City (Sargent) vs Wrexham 10:15 am ESPN+ Real Madrid vs Espanyol 12 noon Para+ Hellas Verona vs Juventus (McKennie) 2:45 pm Para+ Udinese vs AC Milan (Pulisic) 12:30 pm NBC Man United vs Chelsea 3 pm USA Fulham (Robinson) vs Brentford 7:30 pm Prime Columbus Crew vs Toronto FC 7:30 pm Prime, Apple Miami vs DC United 7:30 pm TUBI KC Current vs Seattle Reign NWSL 10 pm TUBI Portland Thorns vs San Diego Wave NWSL 10:30 pm Prime LA Galaxy vs Cincy Sun, Sept 21 9 am USA Bournmouth vs New Castle 10:15 am ESPN+ Mallorca vs Atletico Madrid (Cardosa) 11:30 am ESPN+ Bayer Leverkusen (Tillman) vs B Mgladbach (Scally, Reyna) 11:30 am USA Arsenal vs Man City 2:45 pm Para+ Inter Milan vs Sassuolo 2:45 pm beIN Sport Olympique Marseille (Weah) vs PSG 3 pm ESPN+ Barcelona vs Getafe 8:30 pm ESPN2 Bay FC vs NY/NJ Gotham FC NWSL 9 pm FS 1 LAFC (Son) vs Real Salt Lake (Luna) Tues, Sept 23 2:45 pm Para+ Fulham (Jedi) vs Cambridge 2:45 pm Para+ Wrexham vs Reading League Cup 3 pm Para+ AC Milan (Pulisic) vs Lecce Copa 3:30 pm ESPN2 Levante vs Real Madrid Wed, Sept 24 Europa League 3 pm Para+ Crvena Z vs Celtic (CVB) 3 pm Para+ Real Betis vs Nottingham Forest thur, Sept 25 Europa League 3 pm Para+ Rangers vs Genk 3 pm Para+ Aston Villa vs Bologna Fri, Sept 26 2:30 pm ESPN2 Bayern Munich vs Werder Bremen 8 pm Prime KC Current vs Chicago Stars NWSL 10:30 pm Para+/Golazo San Diego Wave vs Orlando Pride NWSL Sat, Sept 27 10 am USA ? Crystal Palace (Richards) vs Liverpool 10 am Peacock Leeds United (Aaronson) vs Bournemouth (Adams) 10:15 am ESPND, ESPN+ Atletico Madrid vs Real Madrid 12 pm Para+ Juventus (Mckinnie) vs Atalanta 12:30 pm ESPN+ B Mglabach (Reyna, Scally) vs Frankfurt (Chandler) 12:30 pm USA Nottingham Forest vs Sunderland 3 pm USA Tottenham vs Wolverhampton 7:30 pm Tubi Racing Louisville vs Angel City FC NWSL 10 pm Tubi Bay FC vs Utah Royals NWSL Sun, Sept 28 11:30 am USA Newcastle United vs Arsenal 3 pm ESPNd, ESPN+ Barcelona vs Real Sociedad 7 pm Apple TV Cincy vs Orlando City Sept 30, Oct 1/2 Champions League Fri, Oct 10 8:30 pm TNT, Max USA Men vs Ecuador Tues, Oct 14 9 pm TNT, Max USA Men vs Australia Thurs, Oct 23 9 pm TNT, Max USA Women vs Portugal Chester PA Sun, Oct 26 4 pm TNT, Max USA Women vs Portugal Hartford CT Sat, Nov 15 5 pm TNT, Max USA Men vs Paraguay Chester PA Tues, Nov 18 7 pmTNT, Max USA Men vs Uruguay Tampa, FL
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USMNT weekend viewing guide: Ides of September
Some of our most watched leagues embark on a new season.
Getty Images
It was a full week of soccer with Champions League rounds kicking off midweek but things aren’t slowing down over the weekend and we have a slew of matches including some head-to-head action in Germany. Here’s what we have our eyes on this weekend:
Saturday
Augsburg v Mainz – 9:30a on ESPN Select: Noahkai Banks did not appear last weekend in Augsburg’s 2-1 loss to St. Pauli, a week after getting his first minute off the bench in a 3-2 loss to Bayern Munich. Augsburg have lost their last two and look to get back on track as they play host to a Mainz side that are still looking for their first win of the season.
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Leeds United – 10a on Peacock: Brenden Aaronson received his first start of the season last weekend in Leeds’ 1-0 loss to Fulham. Leeds have one point from their past three matches, after opening the season with a win over Everton, and are in 16th place early in the season. This weekend they face a Wolverhampton side that have lost all four matches this season, though three of the four have been decided by a single goal.
West Ham United v Crystal Palace – 10a on USA Network: Chris Richards came off the bench to score a goal and convert his penalty midweek as Crystal Palace defeated Millwall in a penalty shoot-out to advance in the third round of the EFL Cup. Palace are undefeated though they have just one win in four matches early in the EPL season. They take on a West Ham side that have been involved in some lopsided affairs, winning 3-0 over Nottingham Forest for their lone points of the season while giving up three or more goals in each of their losses.
Norwich City v Wrexham – 10a on Paramount+: Josh Sargent was held scoreless for the first time this season as Norwich City drew with Coventry 1-1 last weekend. Sargent will look to return to his scoring ways against Wrexham this weekend as Norwich look for their third win against a newly promoted side that have just one win on the season.
Hellas Verona v Juventus – Noon on Paramount+: Weston McKennie was back in the lineup for Juventus because of course he is. McKennie, who had appeared as a late sub in Juve’s first two matches started as a left wing-back as Juventus defeated Inter Milan 4-3 last weekend, and started again midweek as Juve drew with Burussia Dortmund 4-4 in Champions League action. Despite speculation that McKennie was on the outside looking in to start the season he has once again shown himself to be a part of the picture in Turin. Juventus have won their first three league matches and are tied with Napoli atop the Serie A table. On Saturday they face a Hellas Verona side that are looking for their first win of the 2025-26 campaign.
Udinese v AC Milan – 2:45p on Paramount+: Christian Pulisic has come off the bench in AC Milan’s past two matches, wins over Lecce and Bologna. The team doesn’t have European competition to worry about though they do have a Coppa Italia match with Lecce coming up on Tuesday. Their slip up to start the season, a 2-1 loss to Cremonese, has Milan in fifth place, a point behind this weekend’s opponent Udinese.
Fulham v Brentford – 3p on USA Network: Antonee Robinson was an unused substitute last weekend in Fulham’s 1-0 win over Leeds United, and he has appeared twice for just over fifty minutes combined this season. Fulham’s win over Leeds was their first victory of the season and they are currently a point ahead of Brentford who drew with Chelsea last weekend in league play and defeated Aston Villa midweek on penalties in the Carabao Cup.
Saturday MLS Matches with USMNT flavor – here is when the September MLS call ups are kicking off their matches this weekend, all matches on MLS Season Pass:
NYCFC v Charlotte – Noon: Matt Freese v Tim Ream
Philadelphia Union v New England – 2:30p: Nathan Harriel
Atlanta United v San Diego – 4:30p: Luca de la Torre
Columbus Crew v Toronto FC – 7:30p: Max Arfsten and Sean Zawadski
Orlando City SC v Nashville SC – 7:30p: Alex Freeman
Sporting Kansas City v Vancouver Whitecaps – 8:30p: Tristian Blackmon
Houston Dymano v Portland Timbers – 8:30p: Jack McGlynn
LA Galaxy v Cincinnati – 10:30p: Roman Celetano
Sunday
PSV v Ajax – 8:30a on ESPN Select: Sergino Dest and Ricardo Pepi had a rough midweek falling to Union Saint-Gilloise 3-1 in Champions League group stage play with Pepi having a bit of a howler on the defensive end (don’t ask me what he’s doing down there). They return to Eredivisie action which is normally safer, Pepi scored two last weekend and Dest had an assist in PSV’s 5-3 win over NEC Nijmegen, but they will be facing rivals Ajax, who are just a point back of them in the league standings.
Bournemouth v Newcastle – 9a on USA Network: Tyler Adams and Bournemouth have won three straight and currently sit tied with Arsenal and Tottenham for second place with nine points. On Sunday they face Newcastle who picked up their first league win 1-0 over Wolverhampton last weekend and fell 2-1 to Barcelona in Champions League play on Thursday.
Torino v Atalanta – 9a on Paramount+: Yunus Musah got his first start for Atalanta on Wednesday in Champions League play. Unfortunately, his side fell to last seasons champions PSG 4-0. Musah had also come off the bench last weekend to make his first appearance for his new club in a 4-1 win over Lecce.
Mallorca v Atletico Madrid – 10:15a on ESPN Deportes and ESPN Select: Johnny Cardoso was not included in the squad for Atletico Madrid midweek as the team fell to Liverpool 3-2 and he was an unused substitute last weekend in his teams 2-0 win over Villarreal. Cardoso apparently picked up a bit of an injury though it’s unclear at this time how much action he will miss.
Monaco v Metz – 11:15a on beIN Sports: Add Folarin Balogun to the list of USMNT players who had a rough start to the Champions League midweek. Balogun’s Monaco side fell to Club Brugge 4-1 on Thursday. In League play Monaco have won three of four, including a 2-1 win over Auxerre last weekend with Balogun picking up an assist, and the team sits in third place heading into their match with Metz who have just one point in four matches.
Bayer Leverkusen v Borussia Monchengladbach – 11:30a on ESPN Select: Mallik Tillman and Gio Reyna will face off on Sunday as Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Monchengladbach meet up in league play. Tillman started on Thursday but went just 51’ in Leverkusen’s 2-2 draw with Copenhagen. Meanwhile Reyna made his first appearance for Gladbach, getting the start and going 74’ in the team’s 4-0 loss to Werder Bremen. Interestingly, Joe Scally who has been such a consistent feature for Gladbach was an unused substitute in the loss that cost manager Gerardo Seoane his position.
Olympique Marseille v PSG – 2:45p on beIN Sports: Tim Weah was one of the few American’s to have a positive match midweek in the Champions League group stage. Weah opened the scoring at the Bernabeu to put Marseille up 1-0 on hosts Real Madrid. Unfortunately, Marseille were unable to hold on to the lead as Madrid took advantage of a questionable handball call late in the match to pull out the 2-1 victory. Marseille have alternated wins and losses to start the Ligue 1 season, most recently defeating Lorient 4-0, and will now host league leading PSG on Sunday.
Sunday MLS Activity:
Austin v Seattle Sounders – 7p on MLS Season Pass: Cristian Roldan
LAFC v Real Salt Lake – 9p on FS1: Diego Luna
Champions League overreactions: Arsenal only PL team to have deep run
Bill ConnellySep 19, 2025, 07:00 AM ET ESPNFC
One of the lessons we learned in last season’s Champions League league phase was that there’s little sense in playing for draws. Twenty-six teams won at least three of their eight matches, and 24 advanced. Feyenoord lost by scores of 4-0 and 6-1, but advanced with three wins. Club Brugge lost by scores of 3-0, 3-1 and 3-1 and advanced. Hell, three wins for Dinamo Zagreb damn near overcame a 9-2 first-matchday loss to Bayern Munich.If Matchday 1 of this year’s competition is any indication, teams figured this out, too, because teams were going for it. Sixteen of 18 matches featured at least two goals, and 11 featured at least four. We saw 18 goals after the 80th minute, and it only felt like all those were in the epic 4-4 between Juventus and Borussia Dortmund. We know that one matchday won’t teach us everything we need to know about a given competition; in last year’s Champions League, after all, eventual champion Paris Saint-Germain barely salvaged a meek 1-0 win over a bad Girona team, and eventual semifinalist Barcelona lost to Monaco. Reserved reactions are smart, but they’re also no fun whatsoever. So as we do at the start of the club season, we’re going to take the regulator off a bit and overreact.Here are five things I’m far more confident in than I was when matches began on Tuesday. – Champions League talking points: Is Rashford back to his best? Who shone? – Women’s Champions League: Arsenal draw Lyonnes, Chelsea get Barça –
Arsenal will win the Champions League
The only surprise about Arsenal‘s 2-0 win at Athletic Club on Tuesday was that they didn’t score from a set piece. Otherwise, it was just about as Arsenal as an Arsenal match could be in that a) very little happened over a long period of time and b) Arsenal won. They have long been happy to default to “war of attrition” mode (total goals in their first four Champions League league phase matches last season: 4), and following a summer of ambitious spending — eight new acquisitions, nearly €300 million in transfer fees — they now have the depth to really lean on opponents.That depth earned them three points in Bilbao. Through 70 minutes, the two teams had combined for just 0.9 xG from 17 shots. But in the 72nd minute, substitute Gabriel Martinelli scored on a breakaway assisted by substitute Leandro Trossard, and then Trossard put the match away with a goal (assisted by Martinelli) at the end of another vertical attack in the 87th minute.Arsenal’s subs were difference-makers while in a combined 82 minutes, Athletic’s five subs combined for two shots (combined xG: 0.05) and no chances created. In fact, after a decent run of attacking to start the second half, Athletic managed only those two shot attempts in the final 33 minutes.Arsenal already have the best defensive setup in Europe at a time when many top clubs, including Premier League rivals Liverpool and Manchester City, are struggling at times with transition defense and tactical balance. Now coach Mikel Arteta knows he can eventually find attacking answers, too, even if he has to wait for opponents to wear down first. That means he has even less reason to take major tactical risks. Athletic had kept wingers Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke mostly quiet on the night, and they’d gotten away with allowing a couple of decent opportunities to Viktor Gyökeres. But even without injured stars Bukayo Saka, Martin Ødegaard and Kai Havertz, Arsenal still landed a knockout blow.You can make an easy case that the Gunners overpaid for both Eze and Gyökeres — both are 27 years old, neither are heavily involved in link-up play or intricate passing sequences, and both could become albatrosses by the end of their respective contracts. But Arsenal can afford them, they’re clearly in win-now mode, and it’s hard not to like their chances of making a run even deeper than last year’s semifinal trip. (I said something similar about their chances in their other primary competition recently.)
Arsenal threw body blows, bided their time and then put the match away. Thrilling? No. Effective in a way that could remain effective through May? Yes.
No other Premier League team will make a major run
Arsenal obviously weren’t the only English club to spend absurd amounts to build roster war chests this summer. In fact, among the Premier League’s Champions League teams alone, their outlay of transfer fees (€293.5 million) was dwarfed by that of Liverpool (€484.7 million) and Chelsea (€339.2 million) and nearly matched by Newcastle’s (€278.9 million). The league threw its financial weight around in an almost unprecedented way.
However, spending power has not bought loads of Champions League runs in recent seasons. After producing all-Premier League finals in 2019 and 2021, the league has averaged only one semifinalist per year since. And aside from Arsenal, the other English teams in this competition are in odd places at the moment.
Liverpool is less a team and more a collection of adrenaline junkies at the moment. They’ve already blown five leads in six matches, including three two-goal leads. Now, they’ve still won five of those six, including all four Premier League matches and Tuesday’s raucous affair against Atlético Madrid. They’ve scored five game-winners after the 82nd minute, too, three in stoppage time. This is an absolute thrill-ride, and with their suddenly epic spending, they’re almost developing a Real Madrid-like inevitability. But Real Madrid’s most clutch squads weren’t blowing leads at this rate, and relying on late heroics is a good way to eventually fall in a knockout competition.
That said, from a stats perspective, their match against Atletico was probably their best of the season. They attempted 20 shots to Atleti’s 10 despite leading most of the way, and their plus-2.1 xG advantage was far greater than in early Premier League wins over Bournemouth, Newcastle and Arsenal (combined: plus-0.3). Yes, it was another blown lead, but it required a couple of miraculous Marcos Llorente goals — the kind he particularly enjoys delivering at Anfield (and Anfield only) — and it was otherwise a one-sided affair. Maybe that’s a good sign.
Manchester City also handled its business just fine this week, eventually easing to a 2-0 win over 10-man Napoli. Napoli were enjoying their only particularly threatening spell at the time of Giovanni Di Lorenzo‘s red card in the 21st minute, and it was one-way traffic from there. It looked for a while that Napoli might be able to will themselves to a 0-0 draw, but Erling Haaland put an end to that in the 56th minute.
Napoli finished with one shot attempt and 26% possession, but that one shot was a close-range effort on a set piece and required a pretty good save from Gianluigi Donnarumma. It was worth 0.17, which just about mirrored the average xG per shot City are allowing in Premier League play. Going back to the 4-3 Club World Cup loss against Al-Hilal, there’s a level of defensive fragility here that makes it hard to trust this team just yet.Tottenham Hotspur also won their opener, but they did the bare minimum against Villarreal, scoring on a dreadful error from keeper Luiz Júnior in the fourth minute and closing up shop. They attempted just nine shots (0.5 xG) and allowed 10 (0.5). They got the job done, but did nothing to assuage my concerns about their ability to create quality shots — they’re currently 17th in the Premier League in xG per shot — and I’m guessing this is a round-of-16 or quarterfinal team this year.
On paper, Chelsea certainly have the pieces to make a run, but their dramatic Champions League inexperience was laid bare in Munich on Wednesday. Against a sharp Bayern Munich, they were outshot and outrun, 3-1. Cole Palmer scored on a counterattack and had a second goal disallowed, but Chelsea ceded control to their hosts in a way that a genuine contender rarely does. They looked like an inexperienced underdog. Not a great start.
Newcastle United probably deserved a better outcome on Thursday against Barcelona; they generated more xG in 10 shots (1.4) than Barça did in 19 (1.3), but they were bested by Barça’s high defensive line, possession-hungry play and two goals — one good, one unbelievable — from Marcus Rashford.The concerns I have for Newcastle in the Premier League — depth and scoring capabilities, basically — certainly apply in the Champions League, and their chances of securing a top-eight finish in the league phase took a hit here.
A Belgian team is making the quarterfinals
Don’t ask me which one, though, because two have a shot.
Since a Super Cup loss to Club Brugge, Belgian champion Union St.-Gilloise — one of the most enjoyable teams to follow in recent years as they leapt from the second division to immediate top-division contention and landed exciting young player after exciting young player — has laid down a path of destruction. They’ve outscored seven Belgian opponents by a combined 15-3 margin this season, and in their first-ever Champions League match on Tuesday, they traded haymakers with PSV for most of an hour, then shut things down and won easily, 3-1.PSV finally scored in the 90th minute, and they perhaps deserved more after creating shots worth 2.2 xG, but USG generated 3.4 xG from 18 shots. They out-PSV’d PSV.Club Brugge, meanwhile, out-everything’d Monaco in a 4-1 home win on Thursday. They’ve dropped some points in domestic play, but they could be forgiven since, including qualification ties, they’ve outscored five Champions League opponents by a combined 17-3 thus far. Veteran Hans Vanaken and the left-sided duo of Christos Tzolis and Joaquin Seys have combined for seven goals and eight assists; Vanaken had one of each as four different FCB players scored.Going back to last year’s round-of-16 run, Club Brugge have now won nine of their last 14 UEFA matches. Via the Opta Supercomputer, they now have the 12th-highest projected point total for the league phase now; USG is 11th. Both are ahead of Borussia Dortmund, Napoli, Newcastle, Juventus and Atlético Madrid, among many others.Dutch teams have the far greater history in this competition, but their neighbors to the south are looking great, and they’ve positioned themselves well.
The price tag for Eintracht’s Can Uzun keeps going up
One of the most ruthless aspects of European competitions is that even if an upstart emerges and threatens to upend the status quo, the sport’s powers can pluck that upstart apart in the transfer window before the competition is even over.
Benfica had one of the most impressive teams in the group stage of the Champions League in 2022-23, winning a group with both PSG and Juventus while going unbeaten against both. But Chelsea offered eleventy million Euros (okay, €121 million) for star midfielder Enzo Fernández — who had himself only arrived from River Plate that previous summer — in the January transfer window, and that was that. Benfica still walloped Club Brugge in the round of 16 in February, but they fell with little resistance against Inter Milan in the next round. (Chelsea grabbed another breakout star, Shakhtar Donetsk’s Mykhailo Mudryk for €70 million in that same window. That one hasn’t worked out quite as well.)
For players on teams that aren’t mega-clubs, European competitions are almost like auditions. Eintracht Frankfurt know this as well as anyone. Omar Marmoush‘s four goals and two assists in 406 Europa League minutes last season helped to provide proof of concept for a €75m January transfer to Manchester City.
For good measure, Hugo Ekitike (four goals and three assists in 809 minutes) then left for Liverpool for €95 million over the summer and even though they aimed for more of a veteran presence with their own summer acquisitions, another young star has quickly emerged. Nineteen-year-old Can Uzun has three goals and two assists in three Bundesliga matches this season, and he made an immediate Champions League impact with a go-ahead goal against Galatasaray on Thursday.Eintracht have made a lot of money due to their recent run of great talent identification and development, and it seems they’ll probably be rewarded for Uzun’s star turn, too. But it would be awesome to see what they might be capable of if they could keep some of this talent in-house for a bit longer at some point. They scored five goals against Galatasaray even without Marmoush and Ekitike, after all.If we’re doing some proper scouting for future big moves, here are eight other players who probably saw their respective stock prices rise quite a bit this week under the floodlights.
Ismael Saibari, PSV Eindhoven (24). He’s a central midfielder who plays so advanced that he was second in the Eredivisie in assists last season (11) and ninth in goals (11), and for all the nice words I paid to Union Saint-Gilloise above, Saibari created a couple of spectacular chances to redefine the game, missing opportunities in the sixth (0.54 xG) and 55th (0.80 xG) minutes.
Camilo Durán, Qarabag (23). Qarabag have come to rule Azerbaijan’s Premier League with a veteran-heavy squad, but Durán, acquired this summer from Portugal‘s Portimonense, took full advantage of a shot at Portuguese giants Benfica. He assisted Qarabag’s first goal, then scored its second as the Atlilar (the Horsemen, a pretty fantastic nickname) came back to secure their first-ever group stage victory in the Champions League.
Lamine Camara, Monaco (21). Monaco got absolutely wrecked by Club Brugge, but Camara still filled the box score. He had 20 combined progressive passes and carries and 10 ball recoveries, most of anyone in Matchday 1. He also suffered two fouls and won seven ground duels. He enjoyed a breakout season last year, with seven league assists, and if Monaco did anything right on Thursday, Camara was probably behind it.
Daniel Bassi, Bodo/Glimt (20). He has only just begun to work his way into the rotation for the Arctic Circle club, but in just 45 minutes on Wednesday, he won a penalty, scored to cut Bodo/Glimt’s deficit to 2-1, then played a key role in the sequence that made it 2-2.
Youssoupha Mbodji, Slavia Prague (21). Why was Bodo/Glimt down two goals to begin with? Because Mbodji scored twice, appearing out of nowhere from his left back position to finish two great opportunities.
Georgiy Sudakov, Benfica (23). A Benfica player recently acquired from Shakhtar? He was destined to become a Champions League star! And while his team played poorly enough against Qarabag to get its manager fired, Sudakov was fantastic, creating one assist from two chances and completing 12 progressive passes.
Nicolo Tresoldi, Club Brugge (21). After a couple of solid seasons in the 2. Bundesliga, the 6’0 Tresoldi joined a Champions League team, and including qualification he has two goals and an assist in 226 minutes. He scored Brugge’s first against Monaco, and I’m guessing that’s not his last in the league phase.
Marcus Rashford, Barcelona (27). Have you heard of this up-and-comer? Okay, no, this list was neither meant for known onetime stars or Barcelona players, but I had to squeeze him in here somewhere. I mean, did you see this strike?This is what life looks like when you escape Manchester United, I guess.
My off-the-cuff 1-to-36 rankings after one matchday
• 1. Arsenal • 2. PSG • 3. Liverpool • 4. Real Madrid • 5. Bayern Munich • 6. Barcelona • 7. Manchester City • 8. Inter Milan
Real Madrid are a perfect 5-for-5 since the Xabi Alonso era began in earnest last month, and while they needed a pair of penalties to survive Marseille at home, 2-1, the score was misleading — Real Madrid generated far more quality chances (even while playing down a man for about 20 minutes because of Dani Carvajal‘s foolish red card) and got away with both the red card and an early-game injury to Trent Alexander-Arnold.
• 9. Chelsea • 10. Tottenham • 11. Napoli • 12. Newcastle • 13. Borussia Dortmund • 14. Juventus • 15. Eintracht Frankfurt • 16. Sporting CP
• 17. Atlético Madrid • 18. Bayer Leverkusen • 19. Villarreal • 20. Union Saint-Gilloise • 21. Club Brugge • 22. Atalanta • 23. Athletic Club • 24. Bodo/Glimt
The fightin’ Glimts of Bodo, semifinalists in last year’s Europa League, erased a 2-0 deficit at Slavia Prague to salvage a point, and now they’ll get a shot at revenge with a semifinal rematch at home against Tottenham Hotspur in two weeks. (Monaco, Juventus and Manchester City must also visit the Arctic circle. Love it.)
I got to know this Qarabag team watching them nearly take down Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League two years ago, and with the dose of energy Durán has given them, they look awfully fun. Their comeback win over Benfica was a stunner, and they might need to spring only one more surprise to advance to the knockout rounds.
Juventus 4-4 Borussia Dortmund: Breaking down an instant Champions League classic
“I’ve already had enough of this type of match,” grumbled Juventus manager Igor Tudor in his post-match interview with Sky Sports Italia after their 4-4 draw with Borussia Dortmund. He certainly wasn’t speaking for the majority.For those fortunate enough to watch on, the Champions League laid out an opening-night banquet in Turin: eight goals from seven scorers, the latest two-goal-deficit fightback in the competition’s history, refereeing controversy and a glimpse of the game’s next star. Now, with breath just about regained, it’s time to unpack how last night’s madness unfolded.
Borussia Dortmund go 4-2 up in the 86th minute. Job done, surely… (Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images)
“We are conceding too many. At least we’re scoring a lot too, but we cannot carry on like this,” said Tudor, his fatigue betraying the whirlwind week his side has endured. A few days after a last-gasp 4-3 Serie A victory against perennial rivals Inter, here he was again embroiled in another chaotic thriller.While Italian football has shed much of its traditional defensive skin, Serie A still averaged fewer goals per game last season than Europe’s other ‘big five’ leagues, and its coaches bristle when games descend into disorder.The opening half was far more restrained, feeling like a subdued comedown from Juventus’ weekend exploits. It was tame and tentative, with neither side especially eager to force the issue. A speculative long-range effort from defensive midfielder Khephren Thuram after just three minutes drew a sharp save from Gregor Kobel, but action was scarce thereafter.The expected goals (xG) step chart below shows that while Juventus created more chances in the first half (0.67 xG), they didn’t exactly overwhelm Dortmund. Most of their threat came from corners and Weston McKennie’s long throws rather than incisive attacking play.
Juventus’ blunt approach still carried more impetus than Dortmund could muster, with the visitors failing to register a shot on target in the first half. Their first sign of attacking life arrived five minutes into the second period, when right centre-back Julian Ryerson picked out the darting run of Maximilian Beier. The attacking midfielder stretched to meet it and almost squeezed in his extremely acute effort, only to rattle the base of the post.
At last, a spark, and moments later, Adeyemi’s wonderful opener ignited the night. The 23-year-old German is blessed with quick feet, and only Jamie Gittens, now at Chelsea, completed more take-ons per 90 minutes for Dortmund last season. That elusiveness proved decisive, as Adeyemi skipped by three closely attendant markers before arrowing his shot into the corner.
As good as Adeyemi’s goal was, Kenan Yildiz’s wonder strike leveller 10 minutes later was the standout effort in a game packed with goal-of-the-round contenders. The move began with excellent work from substitute Joao Mario, the summer signing from Porto, who carried the ball across the width of the pitch before laying it off to Yildiz on the right edge of the box. From there, he curled a stunning effort into the top-right corner, a finish he later described as “a bit instinctive”. Those innate instincts for the spectacular are among the reasons that the 20-year-old Turkish winger is fast emerging as one of the most precious young gems in European football.
Yildiz was at his effervescent best all evening. As his player dashboard shows, no player was more involved in Juventus’ attacking sequences. Ryerson endured a tough evening, struggling to contain him.
Seemingly still spellbound by Yildiz’s strike, Juventus forgot they still had a match to play, falling behind again less than a minute after the restart. Below, Felix Nmecha can be seen screaming for the ball, arms outstretched, as Juventus left vast space at the edge of the area. The warning went unheeded when the ball was finally poked out to him, Nmecha punished them with yet another curling finish into the top corner.
This madcap spell was far from finished, and Juventus equalised again moments later, completing a remarkable flurry of three goals in four minutes. This time it was Dusan Vlahovic’s turn. Having only just come on, he could scarcely believe the space afforded to him as Yildiz slipped a clever through ball into his path. Vlahovic’s finish was relatively routine — the first goal of the night to come from inside the box.
Compared to the manic tempo that had preceded it, the ensuing seven-minute goalless lull felt like a marathon, broken when wing-back Yan Couto fired Dortmund back in front in the 74th minute. His low, driven effort from just inside the box skidded past Michele Di Gregorio at his near post, one the goalkeeper will feel he ought to have saved.
No thriller is truly complete without a dash of controversy, and this one duly obliged in the 86th minute when Dortmund were awarded a penalty. After squandering a golden counter-attack, the visitors worked the ball to Guirassy, whose shot struck a falling Lloyd Kelly’s hand, which he was using to break his fall. Centre-back Ramy Bensebaini calmly converted from the spot, and with a two-goal lead, it seemed Dortmund had settled the contest.Six minutes of stoppage time offered Juventus only a sliver of hope, and after three of them, it seemed to have fully evaporated. But Dortmund, a side with a reputation for late implosions, were architects of their own downfall. Penalty-scorer Bensebaini, instead of taking the sensible option of clearing long or conceding a throw, played the ball straight to the feet of Juventus’ Pierre Kalulu. From there, Kalulu flashed a cross across the face of goal for Vlahovic to turn in.
The dramatic equaliser came from the unlikeliest of sources, as Vlahovic then laid on an assist to Kelly, playing now as an auxiliary centre-forward, who powered home a headed effort. Few would have imagined Kelly delivering the decisive touch in a rip-roaring Champions League contest when he arrived from Newcastle United in February. Yet in some ways it was fitting: an unconventional goalscorer for a thrillingly unconventional game.Kelly’s goal is the latest scored by a Juventus player in the Champions League, which, for a club as storied as the Turin side, is quite something.Igor Tudor might be tired of chaotic games like this, but for everyone else, this was Champions League football at its very best, whetting our appetites for the campaign ahead.
Champions League post-MD1 projections: Liverpool early favourites but are Inter flying under the radar?
There were 67 goals scored across a thrilling Matchday 1 of the 2025-26 Champions League.Most of the big-hitters began with wins, some doing so in hostile territory and difficult circumstances. There were a few surprises along the way too, adding to the intrigue of this second season in the competition’s expanded 36-team format.Throughout the tournament, The Athletic will use its projections — powered by Opta data — to understand each club’s probability of league-phase elimination, direct qualification to the last 16 via a top-eight finish, entry into the play-off round by placing ninth to 24th and of winning the whole thing at the final in Budapest, Hungary on May 30.Despite being just one week into the eight-round league phase, our projections have already seen plenty of movement. The link to them is below.What You Should Read NextChampions League 2025-26 Projections: Who will lift the trophy in Budapest on May 30?Our Opta-powered Champions League projections update after each matchday
Here, we break down the key risers, fallers and more from Matchday 1.
Match of the week
Juventus’ stunning comeback to draw 4-4 with visitors Borussia Dortmund was the pick of the games. A fixture that was goalless for the first 51 minutes sprang to life in true “under the lights on a Tuesday night” fashion.
The result in Turin did not move the needle too much in terms of our projections for either team. Dortmund are still projected to pick up 12 points and have a 63 per cent chance of making the play-off round, the same as Juventus, who our calculations have finishing with 11 points.
Real Madrid are the only truly tough team among Juventus’ remaining seven opponents, while Dortmund must still play Manchester City and Inter.
How did the contenders do?
Despite wins for champions Paris Saint-Germain, Inter, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Arsenal and Barcelona, Liverpool lead the pack with a 20 per cent chance of being crowned champions of Europe for the seventh time.
Arne Slot’s side scored twice in the opening six minutes against Atletico Madrid but, typical of their start to the season, needed a stoppage-time goal from Virgil van Dijk (celebrating in the top image) to take all three points at Anfield. That improved their chances of qualifying directly for the round of 16 from 77 per cent to 84.
They trail only Arsenal, who beat Athletic Club 2-0 in Bilbao, on that front — Mikel Arteta’s side now have an 86 per cent chance of reaching the last 16 without having to go through February’s play-offs. This is largely due to the fact the north London club face, according to Opta’s fixture difficulty rankings, the third-easiest set of league-phase fixtures (Liverpool’s schedule ranks seventh). Arsenal currently have the second-highest chance of winning the competition at 17 per cent.
Barcelona are the only other team, alongside Liverpool and Arsenal, to have a less-than-one-per-cent chance of league-phase elimination after an impressive 2-1 away win against Newcastle United thanks to Marcus Rashford’s double. The manner in which Pedri and Frenkie de Jong dealt with Newcastle’s physical, ground-consuming midfield was also a joy to behold.
Barcelona’s projected points tally has improved to 17 (from an initial 15), while their chances of directly reaching the round of 16 have increased to 71 per cent (from 56).
Bayern, who have the hardest fixtures of all, were dominant in a 3-1 home win against Club World Cup champions Chelsea, courtesy of a Harry Kane brace and some self-enforced errors by the west London club. Though the Germans look a much more complete team now than last season, they have to play both Arsenal and PSG away, as well as a couple of potentially tricky games against Belgian pair Club Brugge and Union Saint-Gilloise. Bayern’s chances of league-phase elimination have fallen substantially, from 11 per cent to three, and beating Chelsea also boosted their odds of a top-eight finish to 50 per cent from 35.
City saw Napoli off 2-0, with Kevin De Bruyne’s swift return to the Etihad Stadium following his summer transfer cut short after 26 minutes as he was substituted following team-mate Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s dismissal. The win reduced City’s odds of finishing outside the top 24 to one per cent, while they have a 70 per cent chance of directly qualifying for the round of 16 in March. Barring a visit to Real Madrid in early December, Pep Guardiola’s side do not have a particularly tricky set of league-phase fixtures left.
Speaking of Madrid, they huffed and puffed to a 2-1 home win against Marseille to overcome losing Trent Alexander-Arnold to injury and Dani Carvajal to a red card either side of Timothy Weah’s 22nd-minute goal for the visitors.While not the most convincing victory, it means Madrid’s chances of league-phase elimination fell from six per cent to two, while their top-eight-finish probability rose from 48 per cent to 57. A 4,000-mile (over 6,000km) journey to play Kairat in Almaty, Kazakhstan, isnext for them, before facing Juventus, Liverpool and City all before Christmas. Phew.Inter’s 2-0 win against Ajax in Amsterdam went under the radar slightly, but the Italian side will once again be expected to go a long way in the competition. Champions League runners-up in two of the past three seasons, they have a three per cent chance of lifting the trophy this time and a 42 per cent chance of finishing in the top eight of the league phase. Inter host Liverpool and Arsenal and go to Atletico Madrid, but will be the favourites in their other four matches.
Biggest movers
Union Saint-Gilloise have increased their chances of qualification due to a surprise 3-1 win at PSV, courtesy of goals from rising stars Promise David and Anouar Ait El Hadj and centre-back Kevin Mac Allister (brother of Liverpool’s Alexis).Having begun the projections in 24th spot, the Belgian champions have soared to 13th with a 62 per cent chance of making the play-off round and 24 per cent odds of a top-eight finish. Newcastle, Inter and Atletico are USG’s next three opponents, so this may be short-lived, but for now, optimism in Brussels is through the roof.
PSV’s defeat at home, combined with Ajax never really threatening visitors Inter, poses some early questions for the competition’s Dutch contingent. Ajax were already ranked 32nd in our projections and are now down to second-last with a 71 per cent chance of league-phase elimination. This despite the fact John Heitinga’s side have the sixth-easiest schedule overall.
Eredivisie champions PSV have dropped from 22nd to 32nd, with their projected points falling from 10 to seven. They have the same odds as Ajax of finishing outside the top 24 in January and face the third-hardest schedule with visits to Anfield and St James’ Park, as well as home matches against Napoli, Atletico and Bayern. Yikes.
Alongside USG, Qarabag enjoyed an unexpectedly positive start in what is just the second time in the Champions League proper in club history. The side from Baku in Azerbaijan beat Benfica 3-2 away, courtesy of 25-year-old winger Oleksiy Kashchuk’s 86th-minute winner after the hosts had gone two up in 16 minuteQarabag ranked 35th out of 36 in our initial projections, having come through three rounds of qualifying to reach the league phase, and were estimated to pick up just six points, with elimination considered an overwhelming possibility (87 per cent). Wednesday’s result has added three points to their projected total and moved them up to 29th with a 41 per cent chance of making the play-offs and a two per cent probability of finishing in the top eight. They have the 12th-hardest schedule, with matches against Chelsea, Liverpool and Napoli to come, the latter two away, but this is the time to dream.
Benfica, meanwhile, could not have gotten off to a worse start, dropping from 13th to 23rd in our rankings following Tuesday night’s defeat in Lisbon. Their projected points tally has fallen from 12 to nine.
The “us against them” mentality Mourinho brings with him could yet have another say in Europe, so don’t count them out just yet. Benfica have a virtually equal probability of finishing within the top 24 (48 per cent) and outside it (47).
The chasing pack
Chelsea began the tournament with a seven per cent chance of winning it, but that has now dropped to five following defeat in Munich. Their odds of a top-eight finish fell from 51 to 37 per cent. Though it may not be time to panic just yet: last season’s UEFA Conference League winners have the fifth-easiest schedule, with matches against Ajax, Pafos of Cyprus and Qarabag, though the visit of Barcelona and a finale at Napoli will pose challenges.
Their fellow English sides Newcastle and Tottenham, the latter beat Villarreal 1-0 at home, are in a similar boat. Both have a greater chance of needing the play-offs to get to the round of 16 than of finishing in the top eight and neither of them are considered likely tournament winners. But don’t let that fool you: these two can cause plenty of difficulties, as Barcelona found in the opening 30 minutes against Eddie Howe’s side.
Spurs have the fourth-easiest schedule, with PSG away in late November their toughest remaining fixture. Games against Bodo/Glimt, Copenhagen and Slavia Prague will provide opportunities to rack up points. It will not be as straightforward on paper for Newcastle, who have the fifth-toughest schedule. Before a final-game visit to Paris in January, they face Benfica, Athletic Club, Marseille and Bayer Leverkusen.
Atletico, who struggled early in the league phase last season too, losing two of their first three matches, have it all to do after being handed a very tough fixture list. Games against Inter and Arsenal, the latter away, will need them to both play superbly and have their full squad fit, with neither being the case for that opening defeat at Liverpool. Diego Simeone and company now have just a 10 per cent chance of finishing in the top eight, but do have a less than one-third probability of league-phase elimination (31 per cent).
Napoli shot themselves in the foot early on Thursday night against City at the Etihad but can take some solace from getting their toughest league-phase fixture out of the way early.
The Italian champions’ projected final points tally is 12, while they still have a 17 per cent chance of finishing in the top eight. Their next two games are home against Lisbon’s Sporting CP (who beat Kairat 4-1 on Thursday) and at PSV. Antonio Conte’s side don’t play what looks the second-toughest tie of their opening eight — a visit from his former employers Chelsea — until the final matchday in late January.
(Photo: Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
Little-known World Cup ticket rule sparked confusion. FIFA has (some) answers
When the first 2026 World Cup ticket lottery opened last week, Nick, a longtime soccer fan in Colorado, had a plan. Like many others across North America, to double his family’s chances in the random draw, he and his wife both signed up for FIFA IDs and entered. Then, via social media, they learned of a little-known rule that has sparked confusion as the Sept. 19 application deadline nears: “entries are limited to only one (1) entry per household.”
The restriction exists on Page 3 of the lottery’s “official rules,” and within the answer to Question 7 of a general ticketing FAQ on FIFA’s website. It was not, however, communicated to media or fans prior to the opening of this first sales phase, the “Visa Presale Draw,” last Wednesday.
So it startled some fans whose spouses, parents, children or roommates had applied.
Some were especially spooked by a portion of the FAQ that reads: “If FIFA identifies multiple registrations originating from the same household, it reserves the right to disqualify those entries and prevent the associated individuals from being selected in the draw.”
The revelation triggered flurries of questions on Reddit, TikTok, Instagram and elsewhere. As millions of applications rolled in — FIFA said there were over 1.5 million in the first 24 hours, and demand was “extraordinary!” — fans worried that their attempts to increase their lottery odds might backfire.
Ticket limits have become commonplace at major sporting events. (Carl De Souza / Getty Images)
“Everybody wants to maximize their opportunities,” said Jason Daley, a longtime fan who runs The World Cup Guide, “but nobody wants to risk their entire application being ignored.”
Nick — who spoke on the condition that The Athletic only publish his first name, so that the interview wouldn’t impact him professionally — said that he and his wife decided to delete one of their two entries.
Zara Pira, a fan in Toronto, told her apartment roommate to withdraw an entry because she was worried they’d both be disqualified. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” she said. “I don’t want to get stuck in this limbo and lose my chances.”
None of them, though, had seen any guidance from FIFA. A FIFA spokesman, when asked last week by The Athletic whether a husband and wife who applied would both be disqualified, did not provide a definitive answer.
Another FIFA spokesperson eventually told Travel Futbol Fan, a content creator who’s been explaining World Cup ticket intricacies to his TikTok followers, that households who’d submitted multiple applications didn’t need to take any action, but FIFA would only consider the first application.
On Tuesday, a third spokesman then told The Athletic that, in the days after the application window closes on Sept. 19, FIFA employees and other humans will manually check entries tied to the same home address as another entry. If they determine the two entrants are spouses or partners, the second application will be scrubbed, and the first will remain valid.
In other cases, specific details — such as credit cards, names and contact information — will be “taken into consideration,” the spokesman said, “and fans should not be concerned.”
When asked whether unrelated roommates, such as Pira and her friend, were allowed to apply separately, the spokesman confirmed that they can.
When asked about multigenerational households, though, and the precise line between permissible and impermissible, he could not give a conclusive answer. Much of this, he admitted, is “complex,” with many “different nuances.”
The reason for household limits
Ticket limits have become commonplace at major sporting events as a means to shut out scalpers and broaden access. The 2024 Paris Olympics, for example, capped purchases at four tickets per person for high-demand events and six per person for other events. At the 2018 men’s World Cup, according to FIFA, a given household could buy up to four tickets per match and 28 across the entire tournament. At the 2022 World Cup, the household caps were six per match and 60 overall.
“Household limits have been introduced to ensure fair and equitable ticket access for all fans,” the FIFA spokesman said.
For the 2026 World Cup, an expanded 48-team tournament set to be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico next summer, FIFA lowered the cap back to four per household per match, and 40 tickets per household across all 104 games.
The spokesman said that data from the 2018 and 2022 tournaments — where the average number of tickets purchased per order (per match) was 2.2 and 2.8, respectively — “came into play as they were determining the specific rules and conditions for this tournament.”
The cap, though, has become a hurdle for families of five or more, and for larger groups hoping to attend games together. (There are 11.7 million households of five or more in the U.S. alone, according to the Census Bureau’s 2024 Current Population Survey.)
When asked about options for large families or groups, the FIFA spokesman mentioned hospitality packages. (The cheapest package for the cheapest group-stage game costs $1,400 per person.)
Separately, in theory, families could buy additional tickets, beyond the four-per-match limit, on unauthorized resale sites like StubHub. But it’s unclear if they’d be able to sit together, and FIFA, in the past, has warned fans to “be wary of unofficial ticketing sites claiming to be already selling tickets.”
On FIFA’s official resale platform, household limits will apply, though it’s unclear how they’ll be enforced in later phases.
It’s also unclear how, exactly, FIFA will distinguish between roommates and spouses who have different last names and different credit cards.
‘Annoyed with the lack of clarity’
Amid the uncertainty, Daley said he got many questions from friends, readers and others about what, exactly, was permissible as the presale draw opened. There were people wondering if they could apply twice with the same card. There were people wondering whether sons, daughters and parents could apply, essentially on their behalf. “There’s definitely high interest in trying to maximize opportunities,” he said.
Initially, he didn’t have clear answers to those questions. He scrutinized the information available and didn’t see any reason two spouses couldn’t both apply. FIFA’s “Visa Presale Draw Explainer” video on YouTube noted that “households can purchase up to four tickets per a match,” but said nothing about a limit on applications. FIFA officials had not mentioned the application limit during an hour-long Zoom call with reporters the week prior. There was nothing in the “Visa Presale Draw” section or “Sales Restrictions” section of a World Cup customer support website.
It wasn’t until the following day that a significant number of applicants began to discover the one-per-household limit and question FIFA.
“I think most people are fine with one entry per household,” Daley said. “But — just tell them. I think that’s where the frustration came from.”
Nick, who was feeling pessimistic about his chances of being selected for a ticket-buying opportunity in this first phase, agreed. “I’m not really stressed out about it,” he said. “I’m just kind of annoyed with the lack of clarity.”
Next steps in the 2026 World Cup ticket process
After the Sept. 19 deadline for applications, FIFA will complete its “data cleansing” or “data scrubbing” process. With the help of technology, it will weed out bots and other improper entries. It will then select applicants at random and begin notifying some on Sept. 29 that they have an opportunity to purchase tickets on specific dates, in specific time slots, starting Oct. 1.
It’s unclear how many people will be chosen in this first lottery phase. Soon after it concludes on Oct. 21, there will be a second lottery phase similar to the first — but with no stipulation that entrants must have a Visa credit card, debit card or reloadable prepaid card.
The second phase will be open to people who entered this first lottery, whether or not they were chosen and purchased tickets, FIFA has said. The official rules state: “A person entering the Presale Draw also may enter any other random selection draw separately offered by FIFA subsequent to this Presale Draw.”
After the second phase, and after the Dec. 5 World Cup draw places teams into groups and host cities, there will be a third lottery phase, during which ticket buyers can select specific matchups. There will then be a “first-come, first-served” phase or “last-minute sales” phase in the spring. FIFA will also operate a resale platform where fans can buy tickets on the secondary market at uncapped prices.
The four-per-household-per-match and 40-per-household limits will apply across all phases — meaning, for example, that if someone purchases four tickets to a given group-stage match next month, they cannot purchase four more tickets to that same match next spring.
US Finally Wins a Game 2-0 in the Fortress that is Columbus, Ohio The USMNT has finally beaten a Top 25 team under Pochitino as he lined up in the same 3-4-2-1 formation he ended with against Korea that yielded so many good shots. The US dominated from the start with 65% possession and a wonder goal from Man of the Match Alex Zendejas. The America’s man hit this spectacular volley (Zendejas Volley) to give the US the 1-0 lead. Zendajas Golazo in Spanish. Later the US would add an insurance goal from Flo Balogen (Balogan Goal) on a beautiful slip pass from Pulisic. (US Highlights). All in all a nice performance as I was in attendance of course. Now this was Japan’s C team mind you. So Bochitino poking his chest out like they had accomplished something was hiliarious. It beats losing – but Japan played their stars vs Mexico and their CHUMPs vs the USA. Let that sink in a second as you realize the depths that Bochitino has taken this team to in his 1 Full year on the job and the lowest ranking in 2 decades. Yes he’s been here 1 year now and still had 5 experimental MLS players in camp against 2 top 20 teams with 8 games until the World Cup. Its like he has never watched us play or watched tape (because he hasn’t) It seems the US Soccer press is beginning to Call BS just like I have for over a month now. Anyway it sure was nice to see the US actually win a game in person – albeit against Japan’s C team. I can tell you there were less than 1000 Japanese in the stadium – if the US wants to play a home game in front of a US only crowd – the ONLY places that is guaranteed to happen is in the Midwest – Columbus or Cincy.
INDY 11 Indy Eleven concludes its season-long three-game USL Championship road trip at Eastern Conference opponent Rhode Island FC on Saturday at 7:00 pm on ESPN+. Midfielder Jack Blake and goalkeeper Hunter Sulte have earned USL Championship “Team of the Week” honors after helping the Boys in Blue to a key road victory at Hartford Athletic last week. For Blake, it is the fourth time in 2025 and the 12th time in the past two seasons that he has gotten this recognition. Sulte is a two-time “Team of the Week” selection this year and a four-time pick in his two-year Indy Eleven career.
Champions League Returns Tues/Wed/Thur next week on Paramount+, CBSSN, Prime Video Group play starts Tuesday with 12:45 and 3 pm time slots all 3 days and constant coverage starting at 12 noon everyday and lasting thru the wrap up shows after the games.
All Youth Players who wear their Jersey to the Game will get FREE ADMISSION vs #19 Columbus North
Got a chance to ref with the Vets Sat at North Central with Joe and Alex got to see HSE Girls – good team Got to run center w/Alex and Jessica on hand on a beautiful night at Lawrence Central vs Brebeuf A blast catching the US vs Japan in Columbus with my Soccer Buddy Bart Scoble – Dos a Cero Baby!
TV GAME SCHEDULE
Sat, Sept 13 7:30 am USA Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest 10 am USA Fulham (Robinson) vs Leeds United (Aaronson) 10 am Peacock Crystal Palace (Richards) vs Sunderland 12 noon Para+ Juventus vs Inter 12:30 pm NBC Westham United vs Tottenham 12:30 pm CBS NC Courage vs Angel City NWSL 12:30 pm ESPN+ Bayern Munich vs Hamburger 3 pm USA Brentford vs Chelsea 3 pm ESPN+ Atletico Madrid (Cardosa) vs Villareal 5 pm Tubi Orlando Pride vs Bay FC NWSL 7:30 pm Tubi KC City vs Washington Spirit NWSL 7:30 pm Apple DC United vs Orlando City 8:30 pm Apple Seattle Sounders vs LA Galaxy 8:30 pm Apple Dallas vs Austin Sun, Sept 14 9 am USA Burnley (Adams) vs Liverpool 11:30 am USA Man City vs Man United 11:30 am ESPN+ M’Gladbach (Reyna, Scally) vs Werder Bremen 2:45 pm Para+ AC Milan (Pulisic) vs Bologna 3 pm ESPN+ Barcelona vs Valencia 3 pm ESPN Chicago Red Stars vs Portland Thorns NWSL 6 pm Golazo, Para Utah Royals vs Houston Dash NWSL 8 pm Golazo, Para Seattle Reign vs Racing Louisville NWSL Tues, Sept 16 – Champions League 12:45 pm CBSSN PSV (Dest) vs Union SG 12:45 pm PAra+ Athletic Club vs Arsenal 3 pm Para+ Juve vs Dortmund 3 pm Para+ Real Madrid vs Olympique Marseille 3 pm Para+ Tottenham vs Villareal 3 pm Para+ Crystal Palace (Richards) vs Millwall League Cup 8 pm CBSSN Nashville SC vs Philly Union US Open Cup Semi Final Weds, Sept 17- Champions League 3 pm CBSSN Ajax vs Inter Milan 3 pm Para+ Bayern Munich vs Chelsea 3 pm PAra+ Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid (Cardoso) 3 pm Para+ PSG vs Atalanta 8 pm CBSSN Minn vs Austin US Open Cup Semi Thurs, Sept 18 – Champions League 12:45 pm CBSSN Kabenhavn vs Bayer Leverkusen (Tilman) 12;45 pm Para, Prime Club Brugge vs Monaco 3 pm CBSSN Frankfort vs Galatasaray 3 pm Para+, Uni New Castle vs Barcelona 3 pm Para, Prime Man City vs Napoli 10:30 pm CBSSN Angel City vs Washington Spirit (Rodman) Fri, Sept 19 8 pm Prime Houston Dash vs Chicago Red Stars NWSL 10 pm CBSSN, Prime Utah Royals vs Racing Louisville NWSL Sat, Sept 20 7:30 am USA Liverpool vs Everton 7:30 am CBSSN Leicester City vs Coventry City (Wright) 9:30 am ESPN+ Hoffenhiem vs Bayern Munich 10 am USA Burnley (Adams) vs Nottingham Forest 10 am Peacock West Ham vs Crystal Palace (Richards) 10 am Peacock Wolverhampton vs Leeds (Aaronson) 10 am Para, Prime Norwich City (Sargent) vs Wrexham 10:15 am ESPN+ Real Madrid vs Espanyol 12 noon Para+ Hellas Verona vs Juventus 2:45 pm Para+ Udinese vs AC Milan (Pulisic) 12:30 pm NBC Man United vs Chelsea 3 pm USA Fulham (Robinson) vs Brentford 7:30 pm TUBI KC Current vs Seattle Reign NWSL 10 pm TUBI Portland Thorns vs San Diego Wave NWSL Sun, Sept 21 9 am USA Bournmouth vs New Castle 10:15 am ESPN+ Mallorca vs Atletico Madrid (Cardosa) 11:30 am ESPN+ Bayer Leverkusen (Tillman) vs B Mgladbach (Scally, Reyna) 11:30 am USA Arsenal vs Man City 2:45 pm Para+ Inter Milan vs Sassuolo 2:45 pm beIN Sport Olympique Marseille (Weah) vs PSG 3 pm ESPN+ Barcelona vs Getafe 8:30 pm ESPN2 Bay FC vs NY/NJ Gotham FC NWSL 9 pm FS 1 LAFC (Son) vs Real Salt Lake (Luna) Fri, Oct 10 8:30 pm TNT, Max USA Men vs Ecuador Tues, Oct 14 9 pm TNT, Max USA Men vs Australia Thurs, Oct 23 9 pm TNT, Max USA Women vs Portugal Chester PA Sun, Oct 26 4 pm TNT, Max USA Women vs Portugal Hartford CT Sat, Nov 15 5 pm TNT, Max USA Men vs Paraguay Chester PA Tues, Nov 18 7 pmTNT, Max USA Men vs Uruguay Tampa, FL
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Lovely night for Soccer reffing with veteran Thomas Kelley at Noblesville. Love those grass fields.
USMNT weekend viewing guide: Back again
Some of our most watched leagues embark on a new season.
Saturday
Fulham v Leeds United – 10a on USA Network: Antonee Robinson and Fulham will face Brenden Aaronson and Leeds United on Saturday morning. Robinson came off the bench in Fulham’s two most recent matches to play 20-30 minutes, and remained with his club over the break as he continues his recovery. Aaronson has also been coming off the bench for Leeds and getting roughly the same number of minutes though it seems clear that it is in a designed role and not an effort to get his minutes up over time. Fullham fell to Chelsea 2-0 ahead of the break and are still looking for their first win on the season while Leeds have thoroughly mixed results, opening the season with a win before being thrashed 5-0 by Arsenal and then rebounding with a draw against Newcastle.
Crystal Palace v Sunderland – 10a on Peacock: Chris Richards has played every minute of the first three matches for Crystal Palace and the club picked up their first win of the season, 3-0 over Aston Villa, heading into the break. They now face a newly promoted Sunderland side that have won two of their first three matches, defeating both West Ham and Brentford in the opening weeks of the season.
Bournemouth v Brighton & Hove Albion – 10a on Peacock: Tyler Adams and Bournemouth have won their past two matches 1-0 defeating Wolverhampton and Tottenham with Adams playing nearly every minute of the match though he also received a yellow card in each match. Bournemouth bounced back well after their season opening 4-2 loss to Liverpool and currently sit in seventh place, three points back of the league leaders.
Coventry City v Norwich City – 10a on Paramount+: Haji Wright and Josh Sargent will face off in English Championship action this weekend. Wright and Coventry have won twice and drawn twice in their first four matches of the season and currently sit in fifth place with Wright scoring in each of the team’s last three matches. Meanwhile Sargent, who may be running out of chances with the USMNT, was named the Championship player of the month after scoring five goals in the teams first four matches, including both goals of Norwich’s 2-0 win over Blackburn heading into the break two weeks ago.
Juventus v Inter Milan – Noon on Paramount+: Weston McKennie has seen just a minute in each of Juventus’s first two matches of the season, wins over Parma and Genoa. It seems that he has work to do to once again work his way back into the squad, a position he is very familiar with and has been very successful at. Juve have a huge matchup this weekend with last seasons runners up, Inter Milan.
NEC v PSV – 12:45p on ESPN Select: Sergnio Dest, Ricardo Pepi, and PSV will look to bounce back from a shocking 2-0 loss to Telstar heading into the International break. Dest started the match, as he has each of PSV’s first four matches, while Pepi came on at the half for his first extended appearance of the season.
Club America v Guadalajara – 11:15p on Paramount+: Alejandro Zendejas and Club America are undefeated in their first seven matches of the Liga MX Apertura with just two draws though they are still in second place, a point back of Monterrey who have won six matches and lost once. Zendejas has appeared in every match and started all but one.
Saturday MLS Matches with USMNT flavor – the below MLS players were called into the September camp and with the exception of the backup keeper, Roman Celentano, each made at least a brief appearance in the friendlies against South Korea and Japan:
Atlanta United v Columbus Crew – 7:30p on MLS Season Pass (Apple TV): Max Arfsten and Sean Zawadski
Charlotte v Inter Miami – 7:30p on MLS Season Pass: Tim Ream
DC United v Orlando City SC – 7:30p on MLS Season Pass: Alex Freeman
Cincinnati v Nashville SC – 7:30p on MLS Season Pass: Roman Celentano
Seattle Sounders v LA Galaxy – 8:30p on MLS Season Pass: Cristian Roldan
Chicago Fire v NYCFC – 8:30p on MLS Season Pass: Matt Freese
Vancouver Whitecaps v Philadelphia Union – 9:30p on MLS Season Pass: Tristan Blackmon and Sebastian Berhalter v Nathan Harriel
Real Salt Lake v Sporting Kansas City – 9:30p on MLS Season Pass: Diego Luna
Colorado Rapids v Houston Dynamo – 9:30p on MLS Season Pass: Jack McGlynn
San Diego v Minnesota United – 9:30p on MLS Season Pass: Luca de la Torre
Sunday
Southampton v Portsmouth – 7a on CBSSN: Damion Downs did not appear against South Korea and saw just a handful of minutes off the bench in the match against Japan, a role which matches what he’s seen thus far this season with his club in the English Championship. Downs has appeared in three of four matches as a substitute for Southampton, missing one due to illness.
Atalanta v Lecce – 9a on CBSSN: Yunus Musah spent the international break joining his new club, Atalanta who finished last season in third place in Serie A though they are still looking for their first win this season. Musah’s role with his new club remains to be seen, he had started in the midfield for AC Milan just ahead of his transfer, playing the full 90’ in the teams 2-0 win.
Lille v Toulouse – 9a on beIN Sports: Mark McKenzie and Toulouse suffered a 6-3 loss to PSG heading into the international break and will look to wipe the slate clean as they face Lille on Sunday. McKenzie has played every minute thus far for Toulouse who won their first two matches, without surrendering a goal, before being crushed by PSG in their most recent match.
St. Pauli v Augsburg – 9:30a on ESPN Select: James Sands started St Pauli’s first two matches of the season, a draw with Borussia Dortmund and a win over Hamburger, playing almost every minute early for a club that is picking up points early in the season and looking to put some ground between themselves and the threat of relegation. St. Pauli face Augsburg this weekend. Augsburg is coming off a 2-3 loss to Bayern Munich, a loss in which Noahkai banks saw 1’ minute off the bench, which was one more minute than he received while on international break with the USMNT.
Borussia Monchengladbach v Werder Bremen – 11:30a on ESPN Select: Joe Scally, Gio Reyna, and Borussia Monchengladbach are looking for their first win, and first goal, of the season as they face Werder Bremen on Sunday. Gladbach opened the season with a scoreless draw against newly promoted Hamburger and fell 1-0 to Stuttgart in week two. Scally started both matches at rightback while Reyna has yet to appear for his new club. Werder Bremen also have one loss and one draw in their first two matches though they have given up seven goals in the two matches.
Rennes v Olympique Lyon – 2:45p on beIN Sports: Tanner Tessmann has started the season playing every minute for a Lyon side that have won their first three matches. Lyon are tied with PSG for the league lead with both teams also having a +5 goal differential. This weekend Lyon will face a Rennes side that are 1-1-1 to start the season and sitting in ninth place. Interestingly Rennes have played down a man in two of their three matches, the season opening win over Marseille as well as a 4-0 loss to Lorient in the second week of the season.
AC Milan v Bologna – 2:45p on Paramount+: Christian Pulisic scored his first goal of the season after coming on as a substitute late in AC Milan’s 2-0 win over Lecce just ahead of the break. Milan face a Bologna side who opened the season with a 1-0 loss to Roma before bouncing back and defeating Como 1-0. Milan will be looking to make a move up the table this season, relative to their disappointing eighth place finish last season, and a home win over a team that finished a point back of them would be the type of result they will need.
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World Cup Onside/Offside: Good win for USMNT, Messi’s last dance?
Luis Miguel Echegaray
Sep 10, 2025, 01:10 PM ETareside! This week, Luis Miguel Echegaray recaps some of the most notable highlights from the international break. From jubilation in west Africa and the heights of El Alto in South America to a spark of encouragement in Columbus, Ohio, here is LME’s point of view as World Cup qualifiers took center stage.
ONSIDE: Finally, a spark for the U.S.
After Saturday’s uninspiring 2-0 loss to South Korea in Harrison, New Jersey, with another disjointed performance, the United States men’s national team finally gave its fans a reason to believe in Mauricio Pochettino’s project, beating Japan 2-0 at Columbus, Ohio’s Lower.com Field on Tuesday night.
Pochettino reacted to the South Korea loss by tinkering both in strategy and lineup (five changes from Saturday) so his side could better the agile, high-possession mentality of Hajime Moriyasu’s Japan, a team I think will do very well next summer. And so he went back to the playbook from his Southampton and Tottenham days, when he often employed a 3-4-3 (or 3-4-2-1) formation in order to play the role of contrarian against teams who enjoy buildup play. That’s exactly what happened Tuesday night as the U.S. pressed, attacked and exploited the massive holes that were available due to their high-press mentality.
It was classic, old-school Pochettino, and it worked.
Christian Pulisic — who was not part of the squad during the summer, which yielded plenty of criticism — was magnificent Tuesday night, finding so much freedom in possession as he constantly recovered the ball, made chances and notched an assist for Falorin Balogun. Club América’s Alex Zendejas was also excellent, capping a great performance with a lovely goal.
I also think that if there is meant to be any success in the future, it must unequivocally involve Chris Richards because I cannot overstate enough the importance of the center back from Crystal Palace. He is vital to everything the U.S. does.
Now, the actual result against Japan is neither here nor there — this was a friendly, after all, and the U.S. opponents rotated heavily after their draw with México, meaning key starters such as Liverpool‘s Wataru Endo, Takefusa Kubo from Real Sociedad didn’t play while others (Brighton’s Kaoru Mitoma, Monaco’s Takumi Minamino) entered only as substitutes. This also wasn’t the U.S. team’s “strongest” XI either, but let’s not focus on this point; instead, let’s remember the bigger takeaway. On Tuesday night in Columbus, they players — and Pochettino — were able to see the personality of a cohesive, resilient and creative side and in my opinion, it was their best performance since the Argentinian took over.
I do think, however, that playing every single friendly on American soil is not necessarily a good thing for this team because tougher challenges will come their way. Instead, I wish they tested themselves more often in hostile environments against a legitimate World Cup contender.
Now, some have argued to me that in a nation with massive support for Mexico and other nations, playing in the U.S., from the Americans’ perspective, can already seem like playing in an away environment. But that’s not the same. I am talking about a U.S. side that, for the sake of hypothetical argument, should travel to Monumental stadium and face Argentina, or head to north Africa and test itself against Moroccoin Rabat. Heck: forget major teams. Go and play a team such as Scotland or Indonesia, it doesn’t matter. The point is to face them at their house, in front of their fans, their culture and their support.
Canada, for example, did exactly that in the September window, with Jesse Marsch’s men winning 3-0 away at Romania and 1-0 against Wales in Swansea. The result is quite honestly secondary to the lessons you can learn when you play in alien territory, because this is how you learn how to get comfortable with the uncomfortable and if you want to make history at next summer’s World Cup, you have to be ready for everything. Being a host nation won’t save you.
The Americans’ remaining matches for the year are against Ecuador, Australia, Paraguay and Uruguay — all good testers for 2026, but they’re all happening in the USA. After that, there are reports of games in March against European giants such as Belgium and Cristiano Ronaldo‘s Portugal, depending on their own qualification routes. These are all very strong opponents to warm up against, but I think playing in this kind of proverbial bubble, always at home, helps no one, most notably the United States men’s national team. Being a host nation means very little once the whistle is blown and the game kicks off.
But let me finish with a positive because on Tuesday night, Pochettino’s U.S. team played a tremendous game, which is hopefully a sign of continued progress and ultimate confidence that can build toward something very special by the time June comes around.
ONSIDE: The underdogs rise up in South America and Africa
South America’s automatic places for next summer’s competition were already cemented as Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia, Uruguay, Brazil and Paraguay had booked their tickets before the final matchday. So all eyes centered on Venezuela and Bolivia, who were looking to earn that seventh spot, which would put them in the intercontinental playoff spot.
Venezuela had the upper hand heading into the evening, but a heartbreaking 6-3 defeat at the hands of Colombia meant that Bolivia had an opportunity to do something they hadn’t done since 2009 — win against Brazil, and leapfrog Venezuela for seventh place. Just like 16 years ago, La Verde had the altitude to rely on as their Municipal stadium in El Alto stands at an overwhelming 13,600 feet above sea level — 1,800 feet more than their previous stadium in La Paz. Bolivia used this to their fullest advantage, not losing a single qualifier at home. In fact, in this campaign, they broke a World Cup qualifying record for most points earned with 20 points, and their singular victory away from home was against Chile last year, which ended up being incredibly important.
Against Brazil, they grabbed a 1-0 win thanks to a questionable penalty decision — what’s CONMEBOL without a little drama, eh? — but it must also be said that this has been a campaign in which Óscar Villegas’ team has played its heart out. In the end, Bolivia earned the playoff spot and are now closer to returning to the World Cup for the first time since 1994, which was funnily enough also hosted by the United States. This would also be the second time in Bolivia’s history where they have actually qualified for the tournament: their two other previous World Cup appearances (1930 and 1950) were done through invitation.Meanwhile, in Africa, Cape Verde — with a population equivalent to the city of Atlanta — won a historic game over Cameroon 1-0, meaning that the Blue Sharks have a lead at the top of their qualification group by five points. One more victory from their final two matches and they’ll be heading to their first-ever World Cup. After the final whistle, Cape Verde fans stormed the pitch, celebrating what could be an incredible conclusion to their campaign.Now, it must be said that if you’re an avid African football fan, this is not a complete surprise as this beautiful country, which consists of 10 islands and multiple islets, have done very well in recent years, including a quarterfinal appearance at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, but let’s not undermine this achievement. When you’re topping your group, one that includes a powerhouse like Cameroon, it is a testament to their work.
OFFSIDE: The end is nigh as the final chapters of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are about to be written
Last Thursday night in Buenos Aires, Lionel Messi played his final World Cup qualifier with Argentina. The evening — a 3-0 win for the defending World Cup champions over Venezuela — also yielded a brace from Messi to make it 36 goals from 72 games in CONMEBOL qualifying, which convincingly leads the history books on the continent. On Tuesday night, La Albiceleste lost 1-0 against Ecuador, but regardless, it comfortably concluded their 2026 qualifying campaign at the top of the table.
Messi, who sealed this campaign as the top scorer in South American qualifiers with eight goals, didn’t play in Guayaquil as he returned to the U.S. in order to get ready for Inter Miami’s final run towards MLS playoff, so this essentially means that Messi’s career in World Cup qualifiers is done. His presence at next summer’s tournament is also, at this moment, not guaranteed.
“Given my age, the most logical thing is that it won’t happen,” the 38-year-old star said last week, also holding the record for most appearances at the World Cup. “I’m excited, eager, but I’m taking it day by day, match by match. … I’ll continue as I have been, taking it day by day, trying to feel good, and above all, being honest with myself. When I feel good, I enjoy it. And if I’m not good, I have a bad time and I’d rather not be there. I’ll see. … I haven’t made a decision about the World Cup.”Why is Lionel Messi not committing to the 2026 World Cup with Argentina?Kasey Keller and Alejandro Moreno discuss Lionel Messi’s future with Argentina ahead of the 2026 World Cup. Meanwhile in Europe, where UEFA qualifiers don’t finish until November, Cristiano Ronaldo also had a joyous international window. His pair of goals against Armenia in Portugal’s 5-0 rout meant that his 38 goals in World Cup qualifiers surpassed Messi and put him just one behind the recordholder, the legendary Carlos Ruíz from Guatemala. On Tuesday against Hungary, Ronaldo tied Ruíz with a penalty as Portugal won 3-2 against Hungary.Ronaldo, 40, also extended his international scoring record to 141 goals in 223 games. He will be 41 in February and his aim — just like Messi — is to play in a record sixth World Cup.So will we see a “Last Dance” next summer? Will the 2026 men’s World Cup be Messi and Ronaldo’s curtain call on the international stage?Even contemplating this feels surreal because after two decades of astonishing success and jaw-dropping memories, it’s almost unbelievable to believe that in the very near future, we will not see them play ever again, whether it’s for club or country.Years and years from now, younger generations will ask us about their incredible rivalry. They will ask about the most remarkable, inspiring and breathtaking time in the history of the sport when two superstars controlled the game in the palm of their hands and in turn, as we tell them all about it, we will als
Pulisic rates 9/10 as Japan win gets USMNT back on track
Following Saturday’s 2-0 loss to South Korea, the USMNT quickly bounced back with a more proactive attack through an experimental 3-4-3 formation. In a first half that included 63% possession, the home side created danger through high-pressing fullbacks Max Arfsten and Alex Freeman. After a clever dribble from Arfsten in the 30th minute, the 24-year-old launched a cross that found Zendejas, who impressively volleyed the ball into the back of the net.The U.S. continued its attacking influence in the second half.In 64th minute, the Americans doubled their lead after a pacey run from Christian Pulisic led to an assist for Balogun’s goal. Despite Japan shaking things up with second-half subs that wrestled back some of the momentum, the 2-0 result was cemented by the final whistle for the home team that had a late second wind in the dying minutes of the match.Looking ahead in their ongoing World Cup preparation, coach Mauricio Pochettino and his U.S. roster will take part in friendlies next month against Ecuador on Oct. 10 and Australia on Oct. 14.
Manager rating (scale of 1-10)
Mauricio Pochettino, 8 — Credit where credit is due. Pochettino took a tactical gamble after not only ringing in five different changes from his previous XI but also testing out a 3-4-3 formation. Sure, it wasn’t perfect, there were some questionable defensive moments in the new setup and goalkeeper Matt Freese was kept fairly busy by Japan’s opportunities. Nonetheless, the overall performance is a step forward after the loss to South Korea.
USMNT Player ratings (0-10; 10 = best; 5 = average)
GK Matt Freese, 9 — USA’s starting spot in net appears to be his to lose after earning a clean sheet thanks to his six saves. He fumbled the ball during one of those interventions, but it didn’t end up hurting the scoreline.
DF Tim Ream, 6 — An inconsistent but decent evening for the captain. While he was a vital distributor that was able to get forward, Ream also found himself losing aerial deals and occasionally chasing attacking players.
DF Chris Richards, 7 — Not bad from the Premier League player who added more confidence to the backline. Provided crucial interventions but also had some imprecise passes going forward.
DF Tristan Blackmon, 6 — An improvement after his shaky debut last week. Although his decision-making may not be at an elite national team level, Blackmon still dished out some important clearances.
MF Max Arfsten, 8 — Looked much more comfortable in an advanced role. Wasn’t the strongest during defensive moments, but that may not matter much when you consider his attacking presence that created the assist for the first goal.
MF Cristian Roldan, 6 — A mixed bag from the central midfielder that was able to win back possession, but also didn’t regularly win his duels in the heart of the XI.
MF Tyler Adams, 7 — It wasn’t a vintage Adams performance, but it was still a big improvement from last week. Some crucial interventions in the midfield and plenty of accurate passing.
MF Alex Freeman, 7 — Granted, Freeman wasn’t superb defensively and could have done a better job with his distribution, but he should hold his head high with the ground he covered on the right flank and his overall involvement in the attack. A promising 90+ minutes.
FW Christian Pulisic, 9 — Roamed around, created his own opportunities with recoveries, dropped deep and then clinched the well-earned assist for Balogun’s goal.
FW Folarin Balogun, 8 — A clear upgrade over Josh Sargent. Balogun linked well with the frontline and created plenty of danger with his attacking presence. Briefly went quiet before scoring the second goal of the match.
FW Alex Zendejas, 9 — Zendejas dove into a tackle that earned a yellow card early on but quickly bounced back with his goal and clever movement in the final third. A statement performance from the highly involved Club America winger.
Substitutes (players introduced after 70 minutes get no rating)
FW Diego Luna, 8 — An energetic cameo from the young player that was a focal point in the buildup and almost earned an assist in the final minutes.
MF Jack McGlynn, 8 — Nearly scored twice, with the second shot rocketing off the crossbar.
MF Sergiño Dest, 7 — Provided the pass that led to McGlynn’s shot that hit the crossbar. Another player that could benefit from Pochettino’s change in formation.
MF Luca de la Torre, 7 — Accurate with his distribution and almost secured an assist from McGlynn’s first short-range opportunity.
FW Damion Downs, N/A — Subbed on in the 79th minute.
So Bochitino want’s us to fill the stadiums but he doesn’t want us to question the players effort or his horrific tactics and player decisions. Ok Poch. Sure!!
Pochettino’s back three worked for the USMNT. What might that mean for the World Cup?
Mauricio Pochettino wasn’t hired to help the U.S. men’s national team win games against regional opponents or friendlies. Those were two areas in which predecessor Gregg Berhalter was still excelling up until the end of his tenure as coach. The perceived value of investing $6 million annually in the Argentine manager was his history of success in the club game. With his pedigree, the theory went, his fresh eyes could find diamonds in the rough of his new player pool and configure a system that would give the USMNT a better chance of making a deep run at the 2026 World Cup.A year isn’t a long time in a job, but it’s over halfway from when Pochettino assumed the role and when his ultimate performance review will commence after the World Cup comes to North America. At a certain point along the way, it’s expected there would be signs of progress.On Tuesday night, we finally saw some evidence of evolution. Pochettino seemed to adapt based on persistent issues with his base 4-2-3-1 — which he had used in all 11 games to date in 2025 — to a 3-4-2-1. By dropping a player from the attacking line beneath his striker and introducing a third center back, his team was able to play with more decisiveness in transition and more downhill intentionality.“I think we have players that play in this new formation,” Pochettino said after his team’s 2-0 win over Japan on Tuesday, listing a few defenders whose clubs play a similar system. “I think it’s good to have different plans, approach to the games, use different formations.”
It was successful, albeit in a win over a fully rotated side that qualified for the World Cup this spring. But it also led to a more entertaining performance from the USMNT than we’ve seen in some time. That latter point seems more dependably replicable in this shape, too.Throughout his first year, the U.S. player pool has been thoroughly examined as Pochettino familiarizes himself with dozens of previously unknown options. Some recurring issues were understandable consequences of his continued chopping and changing. Others suggested he just didn’t have the players available to make his ideal system sing.Often, a team that’s struggling to generate chances or results will flock to the wing for refuge. The wide areas are less congested than the central third, offering more open room for carries and give-and-go sequences that can quickly move upfield. It rewards players’ athleticism and instinct while helping advance in spite of a system that isn’t quite a well-oiled machine.One finding from the Gold Cup was that Max Arfsten was not a natural answer at left back in a 4-2-3-1. Arfsten plays as an attacking wingback with the Columbus Crew, and he didn’t have the awareness or defensive composure as the ball neared the box. The same zone was repeatedly targeted at the 2025 Concacaf Nations League, when Joe Scally started in defeats against Panama and Canada. Thus far, there’s no proven alternative to Antonee Robinson on the left in a back four.In this 3-4-2-1, Arfsten was playing a far more similar role to the one he occupies at the club level. His opposite number, Alex Freeman, plays his club soccer on the right edge of a back four. However, the 21-year-old has the mobility and positional awareness to play a more advanced role, as he often factors into the Orlando City attack.
For the first 15 minutes Tuesday, it was Freeman who was pinning Japan back with dribbles upfield. The opponent began to catch on, shifting its center a bit to its left to slow him down. Perhaps fueled by playing at the Crew’s home stadium, Arfsten had confidence and space to operate on the left, providing the game’s breakthrough with a well-looped cross.
Even at his defensive shakiest, Arfsten remained in Pochettino’s first team thanks to his attacking dynamism. He’s good value to win his attempted take-ons when dribbling, an invaluable trait to progress upfield while creating space for himself to cross. Asking him to lean into his bag of tricks is a less risky idea when there’s an extra center back to cover the defensive duties he was already struggling to handle. It also gets him into spots to make more actions like these, dribbling until he finds his crossing angle.
The use of a wingback helps solve for one of the player pool’s biggest deficiencies. While Christian Pulisic is the current generation’s greatest success and Tim Weah has forged a steady career in Europe, the U.S. pool is concerningly thin on the wings. Rather than forcing the issue, this tweak to a base 3-4-3 operates with two attackers beneath the striker in the channel — more like attacking midfielders than touchline-hugging wingers.
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That’s great news for Pulisic, Weah and Alex Zendejas, who are each more natural goalscorer than chance-creating crosser. It’s also good news for Malik Tillman, Diego Luna and, potentially, Gio Reyna, who would still have an obvious home in the half-spaces. Pochettino could find his favored combination based on the matchup, offering simple tweaks to the format for each match.
The formation shift might also be a welcome change for his star pupil. As a left winger playing out wide, Pulisic can struggle with his decision-making in possession sequences and transition alike, needing to cut in-field and survey passing options while acknowledging his instinct to set up his own shot. In the seam, he has a bit less to mull over as he’s already at a shooting angle…
…or able to slip a ball between the marking defender and a center back being pulled out of position away from his striker, as he did here to set up Folarin Balogun for the clincher vs. Japan. Don’t underestimate the value of Arfsten’s comfort in this role, offering a needed off-ball run to put the right half of the backline in two minds and thus giving Pulisic a little more space with which to operate. That has a trickle-down effect on the striker, who could get a little extra room with two more scoring threats or creators in close proximity.
As Pulisic exited following the assist, he gave Pochettino an affirmative nod while his coach gave a wink and a nod. Seemingly, they won’t see a need to swap barbs about this change on podcasts.
Mauricio Pochettino’s changes paid off vs. Japan (Koji Watanabe / Getty Images)
After halftime, Pochettino told the TNT broadcast that he was happy to see his team getting used to “another system.” Given how it performed, we haven’t seen the last of it. So what does that change about the squad permutations heading into the 2026 World Cup?
The biggest question about how viable this 3-4-2-1 will be has to do with the position group most directly impacted: the midfield. No area of the field has been rotated more heavily and consistently under Pochettino, with the previous cycle’s set-in-stone baseline of Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie and Yunus Musah fully deconstructed to examine new options.
It goes without saying that two midfielders will have to cover more ground without a third teammate in the engine room. Sometimes, that’ll slow upfield progression until the ball sprays wide. Other times, it’ll allow opponents to take shots if they get behind the midfield and the backline is holding its ground, as Kōki Ogawa attempted in the 70th minute before seeing his chipped shot clang off the crossbar.
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While line-breaking with dribbles and passes alike is still a major benefit, tirelessness and agility to follow a play as the ball leaves your proximity are even more mandatory in a double-pivot. It may mean more coordinated in-game rotation to keep legs fresh, or more trust in players who are used to playing in a two-man midfield (like Cristian Roldan, this camp’s late inclusion).
Playing with two midfielders is also a risk sheerly in terms of Pochettino’s personnel. The pool is pretty deep in central midfield; beyond the incumbent ‘MMA’ trio, Tanner Tessman and Aidan Morris continue to thrive since moving to Europe, while Johnny Cardoso, Sebastian Berhalter and Luca De La Torre have continued to warrant looks with the national team.
Almost certainly, two of the players named above will miss the World Cup squad; it might be three if Pochettino needs more center back depth. Considering the lack of surefire center backs who can be starters at an international level, he might want the safety of choice.
USMNT center backs Chris Richards (3) and Tim Ream (13) with goal-scoring winger Alex Zendejas (Joseph Maiorana / Imagn Images)
If the midfield represents the pool’s deep end, then center back may be its wading area. Chris Richards and Tim Ream are the only options who have continued to make the majority of Pochettino’s camps, with Ream a month shy of his 38th birthday. Mark McKenzie starts for Toulouse in Ligue 1, but was bypassed in both September friendlies for the previously uncapped Tristan Blackmon. Miles Robinson and Walker Zimmerman are holdovers from Berhalter’s core. Celtic duo Cameron Carter-Vickers and Auston Trusty both missed this camp, and with the Scottish side missing out on the Champions League, they may not get the big-game tests needed to work back into Pochettino’s plans.
Of the program’s fullbacks, most — from Arfsten and Freeman to Sergiño Dest, Scally and John Tolkin — are more comfortable going forward than doing defensive work. The only exceptions are Robinson and Freeman; both could serve as makeshift wide center backs to offer further wide options and variety in possession, or play more naturally out wide.
The story of the September window, narratively, was one of impatience: discouragement that the team didn’t look more ready for next summer’s close-up, and confusion about the continued vetting of fresh faces so close to a World Cup. To Pochettino, a career club manager, friendlies may as well be his preseason. A string of bad results will harsh the vibe, but the losses can be spun into positive if lessons were learned.
“It’s hard to be more consistent,” Pochettino said. “(This) formation is more simple to understand, for the players, than the formation that we started in (against) South Korea.” From there, he emphasized the change as a chance to “simplify things” and lean into his players’ strengths. “We have a squad that can fit very well in that formation.”
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In that sense, the change in shape against Japan may have provided valuable validation of his trust in players like Arfsten and evidence that this new formation could fit his player pool best. There’s still a lot of work to be done, especially in midfield. But for now, the U.S. fanbase can see a sign of evolution under Pochettino — and, after such a tense aftermath to Saturday’s defeat against South Korea, that sure looks like some measure of progress.
(Top photo: Koji Watanabe/Getty Images)Your Next Read
Jeff Rueter is a senior soccer writer for The Athletic who covers the game in North America, Europe, and beyond. No matter how often he hears the Number 10 role is “dying,” he’ll always leave a light on for the next great playmaker. Follow Jeff on Twitter @jeffrueter
No doubt in my mind that Balogun is the leader for the #9 with Pepi at this point. I wish Sargent had more luck for the US but he just doesn’t score with the stars & stripes on. .
Pochettino shows signs of pointing USMNT in a positive direction
It has taken exactly one year, but at long last we have witnessed some signs of progress from Mauricio Pochettino’s U.S. men’s national team.
It’s nothing dramatic or radical, but after slumping to what has felt like the lowest levels possible, Pochettino and his players have given us a glimmer of hope. Tuesday’s 2-0 win over Japan was much-needed, but it wasn’t so much the result that pleased me, welcome as a win was after Saturday’s miserable performance against South Korea.It was the performance that cheered me the most; the ‘look and feel’ of a team that many, including me, had begun to fear was drifting aimlessly toward an inevitable disappointment in June’s World Cup. They suggested that maybe the die is not cast. That perhaps, we can still dream a little. Maybe.Collectively, Pochettino’s group, at last, looked something like a team rather than just a gathering of hopefuls thrown together for a tryout. And individually, there were some performances that reminded us that, as much as we may have despaired at recent displays, there is some talent with which the Argentine coach can work.Of course, we can’t get carried away. This was a Japan side missing many of its first-choice players, a ‘B team’ at best. But this wasn’t a full-strength USMNT either, and ultimately you can only beat what is in front of you.Crucially, for the first time in Pochettino’s tenure, there was a system change that made sense, a formation that fit the players and a collective comfort that has been sorely lacking. The manager may not overly concern himself with tactics, but he made a change and rolled out a back three with wingbacks — a shape that clearly played to the strengths of this squad. It made a real difference and allowed the U.S. to rely on the athleticism of its wide players, with Max Arfsten and Alex Freeman given license to attack.Arfsten, in particular, looked liberated, surging forward with the confidence he shows weekly for the Columbus Crew. Freeman, raw but with real potential, was less tidy on the ball but showed flashes of what he could become. Questions remain about the defensive side of his game, however. Early on he looked vulnerable, as Japan’s 23-year-old right wingback Henry Mochizuki targeted him. But he grew into the game as the U.S. took more control of possession, which allowed him to focus on his strengths going forward. That progression is encouraging.
USMNT had plenty to celebrate during its performance vs. Japan (Adam Cairns / Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY Network / Imagn Images)
Antonee Robinson is the first choice at left back, but it is reassuring to see that Arfsten, who provided a pinpoint cross for Alex Zendejas’ opener, might have the potential to be a credible backup in a position where there is little depth, which would allow Pochettino to avoid shoehorning Tim Weah or Sergiño Dest into a left wingback role.Freeman is at an earlier stage of his development and the World Cup might come too soon for him, but he also looked more confident in a system where he didn’t have the sole responsibility of defending.The back line itself, felt settled for the first time in ages. Chris Richards is now the undisputed leader at center back, and apart from one badly misplaced pass, he exuded calm and intelligence. He plays in a back three at Crystal Palace and looked very much at home in that system.Tim Ream also looked better in a back three and at the moment he, too, looks to have a spot in the first-choice starting XI. Ream is more at ease when the defensive line is a little lower and with his experience and reading of the game, there doesn’t appear to yet be a real challenger to him on the left of the back three.Tristan Blackmon was better vs. Japan than he was against South Korea, but he is still untested at the top level, and there remains a place up for grabs. Pochettino did not get a true look at Noahkai Banks, the 18-year-old who has broken into the first team at Augsburg in the German Bundesliga. Perhaps his chance comes in the October friendlies against Ecuador and Australia.Matt Freese in goal has been solid, and at the moment the No. 1 jersey is his to lose. He may not yet look like the heir to the long list of top goalkeepers that this country has produced, but he is currently ahead of his rivals for that role.If left back has been a perennial headache, midfield is suddenly a source of abundance. The inclusion of 30-year-old MLS stalwart Cristian Roldan raised eyebrows — he’s had his chances and never quite convinced at international level — but his attitude and professionalism are beyond reproach. Roldan is the kind of player every squad needs: a glue guy, a leader in the locker room, someone who raises the standard without ever becoming a distraction. In a tournament setting, when you’re picking your final 26 and know some players might not see the field, you want a Roldan, not a malcontent, in the team camp.His performance against Japan was quietly effective, and with the likes of Weston McKennie, Johnny Cardoso, Malik Tillman, and Yunus Musah all absent, he took his chance to justify his late call-up.There is a debate over whether a solid performance against a weakened Japan justifies another call, but as Pochettino continues to learn about his squad, Roldan’s reliability and attitude may keep him in the mix, especially if injuries or club form keep others out.The formation used puts a lot of responsibility on the two central midfielders, and alongside Roldan, Tyler Adams looked to relish the responsibility and the knowledge that he had so much ground to cover, so much to take control of. It was good to see Adams looking hungry and determined to make that swath of the field his own. There is no doubt about Adams’s quality and leadership; he sets the tone for the midfield and looks ready to reclaim that role fully.
Mauricio Pochettino and Folarin Balogun share a hug after a successful showing vs. Japan (Joseph Maiorana / Imagn Images)
Up front, the most encouraging development was the chemistry between Christian Pulisic and Folarin Balogun. Pulisic, so often burdened by expectation, looked loose and liberated in this new system. Freed from the rigid demands of being “the guy,” he roamed, found space and played with a joy that’s been missing. His second half was his best in a U.S. shirt for some time, capped by an assist for Balogun.Balogun, for his part, showed why he’s now the undisputed starter at striker. His movement, hold-up play and ability to link with Pulisic were a cut above. He’s not just a poacher; he’s comfortable dropping deep, drifting wide and creating as well as finishing.His main rival for that spot is probably still Ricardo Pepi, but the two are very different kinds of strikers. Pepi is more direct, more of a pure No. 9 who plays off the shoulder and looks to get in behind. Balogun, with his Arsenal academy upbringing, is more unpredictable, more versatile and, crucially, a better passer. Having both in the squad gives Pochettino options.Zendejas not only showed his outstanding technique with the volley for his goal, but he looked much more at home in this formation as well, operating behind Balogun and in the inside channels rather than working a narrow strip out wide.Even during the slower passages of play, there was a sense of purpose and understanding. The wingbacks knew their roles. The midfield duo covered ground and protected the back three. Pulisic and Zendejas, no longer forced to play as traditional wingers, thrived in more central, creative roles. Across the team, the formation brought out better things from the players.
However Pochettino came to the conclusion that this change was worth a try, the fact is that he has uncovered something that worked. Yes, it worked against a second-choice Japan in a friendly setting, but it worked, period. Very little up until then had gone Pochettino’s way as pressure continued to build.It’s easy to forget that Pochettino had almost no time to drill this formation. There were no tactical sessions, no practice games — just a leap of faith.Sometimes, international football is about keeping it simple: give the best players a system they know, and let them play. Sometimes, progress comes not from grand plans or ideological purity, but from circumstance and necessity. Coaches stumble upon solutions, forced by injuries or form to try something new. The key is to recognize when something works and to have the humility to stick with it.This was not the finished article. Far from it. But for the first time in a long time, there’s a feeling that the USMNT has taken a step in the right direction.October presents fresh challenges: Ecuador is fresh off a World Cup qualifying win over Argentina, and Australia interestingly also plays the back-three system. Ecuador should present a bigger challenge than either South Korea or Japan, and with roster experimentation ideally behind the USMNT, improvement and consistency now become the priority.But we can now look forward to those games with anticipation. Finally – finally – there are signs of progress. And for now, that’s enough.(Top photo: Adam Cairns / Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY Network / Imagn Images)
Former US men’s national team forward Charlie Davies is a contributor at The Athletic delivering hard-hitting opinion columns, straight-talking podcast appearances, and insightful explainer videos. Charlie made 17 appearances for the USMNT between 2007-09 and was pivotal in helping the team qualify for the 2010 World Cup, before his career was impacted by a serious car accident. He has remained firmly in the soccer spotlight with his TV contributions for CBS Sports and is one of the most prominent former USMNT voices in the country. Follow Charlie on Twitter @CharlieDavies9
USMNT after one year of Pochettino: Shake-ups, process and an unclear World Cup outlook
COLUMBUS, Ohio — One year ago, Mauricio Pochettino sat on a stage in lower Manhattan with a smile on his face, filled with optimism about the job he was taking on.“Everyone thinks that there is no time to prepare and to arrive in our best condition to the World Cup,” Pochettino said that day. “What I wanted to tell you is I am on the opposite side. I believe there is time enough. … Fútbol is like this: to touch the right buttons and we start to perform. For sure I think we have time. We have time. And we need to really believe in big things.”That time has slipped through Pochettino’s fingers faster than he might have expected.Exactly one year since Pochettino was named as head coach, the Argentine is still trying to find out exactly which buttons to press — and with whom. Tuesday night’s 2-0 win over Japan marked his only marquee win since taking the job, and it came against a heavily-rotated side in a friendly. Even so, it felt like a massive relief for a coach in need of some sort of positivity to reinforce what he insists is a carefully considered process centered around one finish line: next summer’s World Cup.Amid what has been a sometimes stormy tenure, including ugly losses at March’s Concacaf Nations League final four, poor results against World Cup-caliber opponents in pre-Gold Cup friendlies (making for the program’s first four-game losing streak in 18 years) and two defeats to rival Mexico, Pochettino has insisted that fans need only to be patient. The results would come, he said.His hope has to be that the win over Japan was the turning point in a rebuild he was paid handsomely to undertake.“Always when we talk about that sport, soccer, it is about (winning),” Pochettino said on Tuesday. “I am so pleased because I think the players deserved that result. … When you are strong in your ideas and your belief, it’s about to keep going and never give up. So (I’m) happy for that, yes.”But, he reiterated, the most important thing right now isn’t the results.“It’s the process,” he said.
It’s one that started at his introductory press conference last September 10, when the former Tottenham, Chelsea and PSG manager called his staff “winners” and talked about how they would “create the platform for (the U.S.) to perform.” A defiant Pochettino earlier this week reiterated the same idea: that his staff has a plan.“We know what we are doing,” he said. “We have experience.”Without the results, however, Pochettino was asking fans to blindly trust that his process would wind up in the right place when it counted most. U.S. Soccer sought a coach with Pochettino’s profile in part so that fans might have exactly that kind of confidence in how he built a team after taking over a side that was eliminated in the group stage of the 2024 Copa América – on home soil, no less.Pochettino was a hard pivot from Gregg Berhalter, a coach who spent almost his entire playing career in Europe but was still seen by some fans as an “MLS coach” supposedly holding back a mostly-European-based player pool. Pochettino came with a pedigree of success in European clubs — and a price tag to match. He is making a reported $6 million per year, the highest salary in the federation’s history.U.S. Soccer was willing to bet that Pochettino’s success at the club level would translate to the international stage. That hasn’t happened immediately.Still, despite some poor results, including Saturday’s 2-0 loss to South Korea, the players have been doing their best to buy in. The win over Japan was at least some validation of that faith.“(The coaches) have a plan in place, and they’re very well-versed in what they want to do,” U.S. veteran Tim Ream said on Saturday night after the Korea loss. “So for us as players, it’s all about coming in and adapting to what they want, what their instruction is, what their game plan is. … And that’s what we have to have to focus on as players. You can’t worry about, ‘Oh, we’re getting down to the wire. Oh, it’s going to be this.’ You just have to come in and adapt and adjust and do exactly what they’re asking you to do and go out and play the game.”
USMNT core figures Christian Pulisic and Tyler Adams during Tuesday’s win over Japan (Adam Cairns / Columbus Dispatch / USA Today Network / Imagn Images)
Flipping the power dynamic
Pochettino’s tenure with the national team has, so far, been defined by his willingness to mix things up, especially after the March Nations League failures, when the U.S. lost to both Panama and Canada.“You remember March?” the coach asked, sarcastically and pointedly, during his press conference on Monday. “It was a wake-up call. Because we need to start a different process and (a) different approach.”
Pochettino challenged regulars in the team to prove they belong. He leaned heavily into the MLS player pool and insisted the domestic league is every bit as strong as some of its European counterparts. (An ironic turn for a fan base who insisted it was Berhalter who would favor MLS players even as he heavily leaned on the European core.) Pochettino also didn’t back down from a public back-and-forth with star Christian Pulisic this summer.The winger asked to skip the Gold Cup so that he could get much-needed rest. But in an interview with CBS Sports defending the decision amid criticism from alumni like Landon Donovan, Pulisic mentioned that Pochettino wouldn’t allow him to play just in pre-tournament friendlies.The manager responded forcefully on the eve of the Gold Cup.“I think when I signed my contract [with] the federation [it said] I am the head coach,” Pochettino said. “I’m not a mannequin.”The interaction was a microcosm of how Pochettino has tried to alter the power dynamics within the program. His goal has been to create more competition, mine the pool for depth and solve for any complacency that crept in. But without the results to reinforce those efforts, it left the strategy wide open for criticism.Pochettino insists the payoff is coming. And he’s been fairly open that the next step in the process will start in October. Upon revealing his September camp roster, he called this month’s gathering a “last opportunity to bring some new faces that we didn’t have the possibility to bring in the past.” In theory, that should mean we should have a better idea of Pochettino’s full-strength squad next month.For now, the players who make up that group remain somewhat of a question mark.
Malik Tillman and Diego Luna helped guide the USMNT to the Gold Cup final (Jed Jacobsohn / Getty Images)
Building out depth
ochettino’s roster decisions over the last six months haven’t always been up to him. He couldn’t bring Weston McKennie, Tim Weah or Gio Reyna to the Gold Cup due to Club World Cup commitments. Sergiño Dest, Antonee Robinson, Ricardo Pepi, Folarin Balogun and Zack Steffen were out injured and couldn’t go either. Pulisic and Yunus Musah asked for time off.For these September friendlies, Pochettino said he took club form and fitness into consideration when leaving players like McKennie, Musah, Johnny Cardoso, Malik Tillman, Robinson and Matt Turner at home. Others, like Tanner Tessmann, Joe Scally and Aidan Morris seem on the outside looking in.Pochettino this week used Tillman as an example for how the roster churn shouldn’t be seen as an assessment of the best players in the pool. Tillman was a player he clearly would have called in if the U.S. was playing World Cup qualifiers. The Leverkusen midfielder was the breakout player of the Gold Cup. But with the U.S. playing two friendlies, Pochettino saw more value in letting the attacking midfielder stay at his club and work back into full fitness after missing all of preseason with an injury following the summer tournament.“You can call (him),” Pochettino said. “But if you call and you take a risk and it’s a setback and issue, and maybe it’s one, two, three months that (he doesn’t) play, it is a big risk for the World Cup.”Instead, Pochettino saw more value in bringing in other players to test them. That way, if the U.S. has to reach further into the pool for the World Cup, they know which players they can trust. So while fans (and media) groaned at some of the players called into camp, questioning whether there is an opportunity cost when minutes are spent on Tristan Blackmon or Nathan Harriel, Pochettino saw it as a necessary step in his process.“Of course I want to win,” he said. “But also we need to think in the process.”For Pochettino, the win over Japan was a level of validation. He pointed to Alejandro Zendejas’ performance as one that pushed a player into a better position for “the race for the roster for the World Cup.” Max Arfsten and others improved their standing, too.October should be an even more important gauge for this program.
It won’t be clear if Pochettino’s message and motivation have taken with this group until we see some of the players who have been at home since March’s Nations League disaster.
How can we judge whether he’s motivated the likes of Tessmann and Scally — and whether they are better options than Sean Zawadski or Harriel — unless he brings them back in October and gives them a chance? How will we know what this U.S. midfield looks like with Tyler Adams, McKennie and Tillman starting, rather than Adams, Sebastian Berhalter and Diego Luna, if we don’t see them together?
Mauricio Pochettino enjoyed a win over Japan, but successes haven’t been frequent in his time as U.S. manager (Koji Watanabe / Getty Images)
When winning matters
One year ago, Pochettino said “we are here because we want to win.” This week, he said the team didn’t have to start winning until the World Cup.
A national team coach operates on a different timeline than most any other type of coach. He’s not wrong that national teams are ultimately judged on their World Cup performances — not anything else. Gregg Berhalter used to say all the time that friendlies were times to experiment and try things, that sacrificing results in exhibitions in the name of success when the games counted made all the sense in the world. But that approach is fundamentally at odds with human nature.
Fans want to see wins. They want to see progress. Ahead of a home World Cup, that takes on even more importance. It’s part of the reason so many stadiums have been filled with fans of the opposition. It’s why a home World Cup feels so monumental. This is about building support around the national team, and in doing so to build up the sport in the country itself.
And it goes beyond just the fans. If the U.S. is going to find success at the World Cup, the players need to start to feel some level of confidence, too. So while wins won’t really matter until the World Cup, Pochettino’s process does need to account for wins before that.
“I love the feeling of winning, so I would like to win games before the World Cup,” Adams said this weekend. “I understand his thought process, and we talked about it in (the locker room). You could still have good performances and not necessarily get the result. But, yeah, I think at a certain time it’s important to have some results.”A result came Tuesday. Pochettino smiled at the end of his post-match press conference and said, “I’m looking forward to October.” It was a hugely different vibe than just a few days ago.The question will continue to come down to what Pochettino asked for: belief. Belief that there’s a plan behind some of what has felt, at times, like chaos. And belief that the plan will lead this U.S. team to something better than it was before he arrived. That, after all, is what U.S. Soccer is paying for.“It’s our responsibility to create the platform for them to perform,” Pochettino said that first day in New York last year.He will argue that the past year has been spent building that platform. Now the fruits of that work must start to yield results.he Japan win was, at least, a start.
(Illustration: Kelsea Petersen/The Athletic; Michael Owens/Getty, Catherine Ivill/Getty)
Folarin Balogun just reminded USMNT why he’s the answer to its striker problem
COLUMBUS, Ohio — In the 64th minute of a still-tight game Tuesday night in America’s heartland, Christian Pulisic skated past a Japanese midfielder, glanced up, and saw a somewhat novel sight.Over his nine-plus years with the U.S. men’s national team, Pulisic has turned and ran at countless defenders. He has spun into space countless times. He has skipped into dangerous positions game after game, and far too often, he has lacked options.But here at Lower.com Field, finally, Pulisic had the USMNT’s best option.
For the first time under head coach Mauricio Pochettino, he had Folarin Balogun.Spotting Balogun darting behind the Japanese back line, Pulisic stabbed a pass into space. Balogun surged onto it, nudged away a defender, finished with his left foot to the far post and gave the U.S. a 2-0 lead.
It was a “perfect example” of his movement, U.S. defender Tim Ream said, movement that made several teammates rave. “Even before that,” Ream continued, “he made a lot of good runs, a lot of [well]-timed runs, being able to get in behind when the pressure’s coming onto the midfielders, and onto the defenders, when we have the ball.”Balogun seemed to unlock the U.S. attack in a way that no other American striker has in years. Since Gregg Berhalter, the previous coach, took charge in 2019, 16 men have started up top for the USMNT; none has seized the position with two hands, two feet and consistent goals.Balogun, if healthy, is capable of doing that.
USMNT fans hope Christian Pulisic and Folarin Balogun can form a powerful combination. (Stephen Nadler / ISI Photos / ISI Photos via Getty Images)
“Balo is so good,” midfielder Cristian Roldan said.The Monaco forward is the most dynamic and well-rounded No. 9 that the USMNT has had this decade. And he could be a game-changer for Pochettino.He has been that, at times, since committing his international career to the U.S. over England and Nigeria in 2023. He went straight into the starting lineup, scored and won a trophy in his second match, looking like the striker the U.S. had been missing.But under Berhalter, who had built his system around a hole at striker, Balogun sometimes struggled. He scored just twice in nine appearances in 2024. Then, he battled injuries. Until last week, he still hadn’t linked up with Pochettino. As he recovered from an ankle knock last month, he was initially left off this September roster. He got an admittedly “late” call only after Vancouver Whitecaps veteran Brian White withdrew from the squad due to injury.That call, it turns out, might have changed the trajectory of the USMNT under Pochettino. The Americans created almost nothing from open play in a Gold Cup final loss to Mexico, and throughout most of Saturday’s 2-0 loss to South Korea. On Tuesday, in came Balogun, and plenty improved.“He brings that know-how, and the timing of his runs,” Ream said. “To be able to put defenders on the back foot, running back towards their goal, helps us massively.”Added Pulisic: “He gives sort of an out a lot of the times. Whether it’s coming into pockets and laying the ball off, or it’s little runs in behind, he just kind of relieves the team when we’re under pressure.”
As a winger for much of his youth, Balogun is most comfortable running towards goal, stretching an opponent. But he has worked to round out his game, and on Tuesday, that work was evident.He checked to the ball with the U.S. under pressure in its defensive half. In the 21st minute, with a defender on his butt near midfield, he seemed to cushion a careening ball to wingback Alex Freeman, then spun in behind, and ultimately created a chance for Alex Zendejas.
“It’s definitely something that I’m practicing,” Balogun said of playing with his back to goal, as a target.
“I’m more comfortable facing the goal — I think anyone is, to be honest. It’s difficult when you’re not facing the goal. You have to kind of use your perception, and use spatial awareness to try and protect the ball. But it’s part of the job of a striker.” And it’s a facet he’s improving.It’s on the run, though, where he excels. Against Japan, he was on the run as much as he’s ever been in a U.S. jersey.“When I turn, I feel like I look, and he’s making short runs across the back line,” Pulisic said.“I felt I had good connections with the other players,” Balogun said. “And yeah, I felt comfortable.”It was only his second game, and first start, under Pochettino. But already, he said, “I felt like I knew my job, and that’s a credit to what the coaches are telling us.” He was significantly more effective than the teammate he replaced, Josh Sargent. He combined with Pulisic for an early chance. His diagonal run from center to left helped spring the USMNT toward its first goal. And his second-half finish capped the victory.He could still face competition from Ricardo Pepi or others for a starting spot at the World Cup next summer. But for now, after a dreary weekend, he has injected promise and reminded U.S. fans of potential.His return and instant impact are among the biggest developments of the Pochettino era to date.The win felt “really good,” Balogun said. “After the game against South Korea, we wanted a reaction, we wanted to give the fans some good news before we split up with this camp. So, I was really happy.”(Top photo: John Dorton / ISI Photos / USSF / Getty Images)
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Interesting week of soccer I’ll start with Sad to see Wrexham’s Ollie Palmer’s farewell for those who watch We are Wrexham on FX or Disney+ Ollie was a big part of their multiple promotions – but his time with the club has come to and end. Also in the Championship American forward Josh Sargent Can’t Keep from Scoringas he notched a brace last weekend on his way to league leading 5 goals so far. Cool to see Pochitino Take in Ohio State College Football last weekend on Fox’s Texas vs OSU pregame show. Messi’s last home WC Qualifier at Argentina was last night. Another record signing on the ladies side as American & Angel City star Alyssa Thompson goes to Chelsea for $1.3 million-sad for my daughter who has season tix for Angel City FC. World Cup Tix Go on Sale starting next week unfortunately our closest locations are Atlanta & Kansas City. If you haven’t seen the Pulisic special series on Paramount plus its 8 episodes and worth the watch.
USA faces Korea Sat 5 pm then Japan Tues at 7:30 pm in Columbus on TNT, HBO, Peacock
So lets put it out there – I said it last week that Men’s Coach Bochitino has no clue what he is doing after again seeing what a pathetic roster he called in for this one of the last 10 games we will play before the World Cup. Now the media is finally starting to agree with me –ESPNFC Agrees Poch is Clueless. How he could leave home our starting GKs, starting 8, backup 6s, and outside backs is just beyond me. He should be getting this squad ready for battle against top 20 competition and instead he brought questionable MLS players in for their first camps. At least Pulisic is back and Dest and Weah. But there is still a lot of the core of this squad missing. I may be the one holding up the Go Back Home BOCHITINO POSTER in Columbus on Tuesday night. Clueless is all I can say at this point. I honestly think this guy is mailing this $6 million a year job in and laughing in our US faces. So what do I see this weekend? 1 loss and 1 tie. We’ll lose the first one to Korea and Son as he’ll torch our backline and its lack of speed. While Japan will match us in possession but will not beat us in the fortress that is Columbus with the American Outlaws in Full Voice. I hope we have a good crowd – though US soccer and Boch have given us NOTHING to get excited about. I truly thought Poch was gonna bring our A team and we would win both of these games this weekend. I guarantee if Nashville Headman BJ Callaghan who won a nations league and Gold cup with this team was in charge that is what would happen. But with Boch calling the shots its a lost and tie and him saying we need to play em better with more hart. Since I would have NEVER picked this US Roster– I have no clue who might start this weekend but lets try this.
Seattle was truly spectacular last Sunday Full house in Seattle – as they destroyed Messi and Inter Miami 3-0 Hi-Lights on the night. After such a fantastic Leagues Cup that the MLS dominated – it was sad to see Miami players Suarez and Busquets just absolutely lose it after the game as the post game broke out into an all-out brawl. I am not sure MLS has punished Miami’s punks enough as Suarez (6 games) and (Busquets 2 games) were only kicked out of Leagues Cup games. Suarez spit on coach or security guard from Seattle he has to be suspended from MLS games too.
More USA Friendlies this Weekend and Tues in Columbus
USA v. South Korea (Saturday, 5 p.m. ET, TNT/Peacock) USA v. Japan (Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. ET, TNT/Peacock)
If the U.S. men’s national team World Cup squad was one of those reality cooking challenge shows, we are at the stage where the clock is running down but the raw ingredients are still spread out all over the prep table, and it remains to be seen if we can combine them into any kind of competitive recipe. South Korea and Japan will be testing mid-tier opponents. Win one game, get Pulisic firing, and we can all feel so much better. Lose both and it is going to feel very, very dark. Two very different paths lie ahead. Here are the headlines to prepare you for all that is to come: Christian Pulisic, Our Lord and Savior, Is Back When the roster for the upcoming friendlies was announced last week, Pochettino said he hadn’t spoken with Pulisic since the Gold Cup, adding, “I think everything is behind us, all that happened in summer, and I think now we need to look forward.” We will find out the truth of that the moment Christian takes the field for his first appearance since that Nations League disaster back in March. He has looked spritely for Milan with a goal in his first two games, but must now play for the U.S. with the same dominance as he did in the commercials which were omnipresent this summer. Knowing Christian, he will be highly motivated to score. He knows one electric moment of football can change everything in the blink of an eye. I would settle for another goal testicled over the line. When I spoke to Tyler Adams, he told me the difference between the U.S. with and without Pulisic is that Christian is the one American player who can make something out of nothing. I both pray and expect that to happen tomorrow.
The Focus is Going to Shift Immediately from the Big Names Who Are Not There, to the Glut of New Ones Who Are ️ So much focus over the past weeks has been spent on the vast number of big-name players who were not called up. Make no mistake: this is an MLS-heavy, raw squad with some mighty omissions—not just reputationally in terms of the more familiar names like Weston McKennie and Gio Reyna, but also from a footballing perspective. Aidan Morris, who has been balling out for top-of-the-Championship Middlesborough, is outside looking in.
There are honestly so many questions all over the field. Who is the No. 1 striker? Who is our goalkeeper, out of a very raw group? Who are our leaders? The midfield group looks very green aside from Tyler Adams. There is always a sense with our squad, that the big names—McKennie, Reyna, Brendan Aaronson, Yunus Musah—will come back and save us. We often tell ourselves this team is just a placeholder and that the cavalry is coming. What if it is not coming? And this is it? The U.S. are playing South Korea and Japan. Two teams who are well-drilled, intelligent collectives, primed to punish any mistake we make at high pace. They will be stern tests. The kind of quality we could expect to face if we make the knockout phase of the World Cup. This is a moment for the USMNT to prove themselves to themselves against teams at the level of Türkiye and Switzerland, the two sides who outclassed them in friendlies ahead of the Gold Cup.
One Thing Not to Worry About Finally, don’t stress the noise from outside pundits. Their voices and opinions and insights are actually what you want. I laughed with Tyler Adams that the volume of noise we currently have in the United States is a tiny squeak compared to the booming torrent of punditry in England or Italy. Think about how many former NFL or NBA stars have platforms to make their opinions known. A vast layer of pundits is ultimately a sign of a healthy football-sphere. Indeed, it will hopefully grow and grow as the profile of the game grows, and the U.S. men, please god, begin to capture the interest of the nation. That is the real story of the moment. This team needs to start winning. The empty seats at Gold Cup stadia spoke volumes about where this team is right now. Charlie Davies wrote this week: “There is already a worrying lack of enthusiasm bordering on apathy in the USMNT’s fan base at a time when positivity and optimism should be growing in anticipation of this huge moment in American soccer. I don’t even want to think about what the impact would be of another heavy loss at home.” It is hard to live out this team playing in the shadows like this. The truth is, we are in danger of becoming a club football country now. Liverpool-Arsenal felt like a massive rumble that captured the interest of American sports fans. The lack of casual chatter going into this U.S. game is deafening. This is the moment to change everything.
Got to Ref with Drew Emenhiser for the first time at Lawrence North Wed a little 2 man style. Nice night for soccer with Jonathan and Andrew at Heritage Christian with the Girls Thursday night. All Youth Players who wear their Jersey to the Game will get FREE ADMISSION vs #19 Columbus North
TV GAME SCHEDULE
Sat, Sept 6 9 am Fox Sport 2 Latvia vs Serbia WCQ 10 am CBSSN,Para+ Bolton vs AFC Wimbledon 12 noon FS2 England vs Andorra WCQ 2:45 pm FS2 Ireland vs Hungary WCQ 5 pm TNT, Tele, Max USA Men vs Korea 7:30 pm ESPN+ Charleston vs Indy 11 7:40 pm Tubi NC Courage vs Utah Royals NWSL 10 pm Tubi Bay FC vs KC Current NWSL Sun, Sept 7 9 am FS1 Georgia vs Bulgaria WCQ 12 noon FS1 Lithuania vs Netherlands WCQ 2:45 pm FS1 Germany vs Northern Ireland WCQ 2:45 pm FS2 Poland vs Finland WCQ 2:45 pm ?? Turkey vs Spain WCQ 3 pm Para+, Prime Chicago Red Stars vs Orlando Pride NWSL 4 pm CBSSN, Para, Prime, Washington Spirit (Rodman) vs Seattle Reign NWSL 5 pm ESPN NY/NJ Gotham vs Angel City NWSL 7 pm Apple free Sporting KC vs Austin MLS 8:30 pm ESPN San Diego Wave vs Houston Dash NWSL Mon, Sept 8 2:45 pm FS2 Israel vs Italy WCQ 8:30 pm Para+, Peacock El Salvador vs Suriname WCQ 9:30 pm CBSSN, Para Panama vs Guatamala WCQ Tues, Sept 9 12 noon ESPNDes South Africa vs Nigeria WCQ 2:45 pm FS2 France vs Iceland WCQ 2:45 pm ?? Serbia vs England WCQ 3 pm ?? Wales vs Canada 7:30 pm TNT, Tele, Max USA Men vs Japan in Columbus, Ohio 9 pm Uni, TUDN Mexico vs Korea Fri, Sept 12 2:30 pm ESPN2 Bayer Leverkusen (Tillman) vs Frankfurt Sat, Sept 13 7:30 am USA Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest 10 am USA? Fulham (Robinson) vs Leeds United (Aaronson) 12 noon Para+ Juventus vs Inter 12:30 pm CBS NC Courage vs Angel City NWSL 5 pm Tubi Orlando Pride vs Bay FC NWSL 7:30 pm Tubi KC City vs Washington Spirit NWSL 7:30 pm Apple Cincy vs Nashville 8:30 pm Apple Seattle Sounders vs LA Galaxy Sun, Sept 14 9 am USA Burnley vs Liverpool 11:30 am USA Man City vs Man United 11:30 am ESPN+ M’Gladbach (Reyna, Scally) vs Werder Bremen 2:45 pm Para+ AC Milan (Pulisic) vs Bologna 3 pm ESPN+ Barcelona vs Valencia 3 pm ESPN Chicago Red Stars vs Portland Thorns NWSL 6 pm Golazo, Para Utah Royals vs Houston Dash NWSL 8 pm Golazo, Para Seattle Reign vs Racing Louisville NWSL Fri, Oct 10 8:30 pm TNT, Max USA Men vs Ecuador Tues, Oct 14 9 pm TNT, Max USA Men vs Australia
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Just how “together” they are will be revealed over the next week and beyond, but make no mistake: they need to be on the same page if the U.S. is to reach its stated aim of making a deep run at next summer’s World Cup.This isn’t to say that the two have had a falling out, nor do they need to be best friends and have regular dinners together. But there has been a disconnect.
Pulisic waved off an attempt by Pochettino to sub him out of the third-place game at the Concacaf Nations League last March. He missed out on the recent Gold Cup two months later, and while USSF sporting director Matt Crocker said at the time, “We made the collective decision that this is the right moment for [Pulisic] to get the rest he needs,” the public backlash was intense, with former USMNT players, among them Landon Donovan, questioning the player’s commitment.
Pulisic’s response, in part, was to state in an interview with CBS Sports that he had offered to play in two pre-Gold Cup friendlies, but that Pochettino had turned him down. Pulisic later said in the interview that he didn’t understand the decision even as the manager explained he wanted just one roster for the entire Gold Cup program. While Pulisic’s impulse to defend himself is understandable, divulging some of the deliberations about his Gold Cup participation was a mistake and only served to annoy Pochettino. The U.S. manager responded, stating that he is “not a mannequin” and that he alone would decide who plays for the USMNT and when. When the roster for the upcoming friendlies was announced last week, Pochettino said he hadn’t spoken with Pulisic since the Gold Cup, adding, “I think everything is behind us, all that happened in summer, and I think now we need to look forward.”Left unsaid is how effective that approach will be if there hasn’t been any communication. To be clear, success at the World Cup doesn’t rest solely on Pulisic, as numerous moving parts need to align for a deep run to occur. The U.S. needs to sort out its goalkeeping situation. Right back Sergiño Dest has to be healthy, the better to augment the attack with his ability to deliver the unexpected. The same is true for Antonee Robinson on the opposite flank. Holding midfielder Tyler Adams needs to be at his ball-hawking best. One of the available strikers — be it Folarin Balogun, Ricardo Pepi, Josh Sargent, Haji Wright, etc. — needs to hit top form ahead of the tournament.But Pulisic’s combination of talent, creativity and experience remains a critical piece of the attack. When Pulisic plays well and is in full flow, the team usually follows suit. Scoring goals is the most difficult part of the game, and Pulisic remains a vital contributor to that aspect of the cause. Pochettino and Pulisic need each other for the team to succeed. Part of what’s at issue between Pulisic and Pochettino is that the U.S. manager is in the middle of attempting a cultural reset. That goes for everyone, from the biggest stars down to uncapped players who get called in. Pochettino is demanding total commitment, at least as he defines it. As fatigued as Pulisic was after playing over 50 games a season at AC Milan the last two years, his decision to sit out the Gold Cup, while offering to play in the two friendlies before the tournament, sent Pochettino a different kind of message.
“If you arrive to the camp and you want to spend a nice time, play golf, go for a dinner, visit my family, visit my friend, that is the culture that we want to create?” Pochettino said last May. “No, no, no, no, no. What we want to do is to go to the national team, arrive and be focused and spend all my focus and energy in the national team. If we want to be good in one year’s time, we need to think that today is the most important day.”The adjustment from the players — including Pulisic — to Pochettino’s approach has taken some time. Defender Tim Ream admitted after the Gold Cup that it had taken too long. At Tuesday’s media availability, Ream said that with players just arriving, there hadn’t been a team-wide meeting yet to discuss expectations, though coaches had been pulling players in for individual meetings.”We’ll sit down I’m sure [Tuesday] and have a discussion,” he said.”But for us, it is just the guys who were here during the Gold Cup … We kind of know what the standard needs to be and what it is going forward and just making sure that everybody’s being held accountable, pushing each other, helping each other, and making sure that we all know that we’re on the same page, we’re on the same team.”Pochettino was a top-flight manager for 15 years — with stops at Tottenham, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea — before taking up with the USMNT. If there is to be movement in any direction, that will fall on Pulisic, because Pochettino won’t be changing his ways. The U.S. manager has made it clear that no one’s spot is secure. Weston McKennie was left off the current roster, and while Pochettino blamed his absence on a lack of rest due to participation in the Club World Cup, Tim Weah had a similar workload, yet was included in this camp. Relationships between players and coaches can be fluid, going through difficulties. Pulisic’s rapport with former U.S. manager Gregg Berhalter experienced some rough patches before the two found alignment ahead of the 2022 World Cup, in which Pulisic played a critical role in the U.S. reaching the round of 16. That could very well be the case with Pochettino and Pulisic. However, Pulisic and the rest of the team will need to adapt to Pochettino’s ways.
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USMNT’s home crowd dilemma is US Soccer’s age-old problem
Since taking over as coach of the U.S. men’s national team last fall, Mauricio Pochettino has had a jarring introduction to some aspects of American soccer culture. He has felt it most acutely standing on the sideline and looking into the stands around him.Pochettino’s first competitive games in charge of the U.S. were opening acts in doubleheaders staged by Concacaf, meaning swathes of ticket holders for the late games, which featured Mexico, didn’t show up for the U.S. contests. Then, during the Gold Cup, Pochettino experienced the power of the immigrant communities in the U.S. as Guatemala fans far outnumbered Americans in St. Louis for the semifinal and Mexico supporters created a home-field advantage for El Tri in Houston in the final.Other games highlighted a lack of interest. Six games between September 2024 and July 2025 had 18,008 or fewer fans in attendance.For an Argentine used to diehard fans packing home stadiums, the huge numbers supporting visiting teams and the lack of U.S. fan support seemed to catch Pochettino off guard. After the final, he implored U.S. soccer fans to come out and support the team. “I would love to see my players playing with 70,000 people cheering,” Pochettino said in the postgame press conference in Houston. “We need the people. We need the fans. The fans have one year to realize how important are the fans in soccer.
“I think that today (against Mexico), like with Guatemala, it’s a scene in our country to see how important are the fans – to be in the stadium, to stay with the team, to support, not only through Instagram, social media or behind the TV. It’s (important) to be here and translate the energy.
“Football without fans? It’s impossible.
Mauricio Pochettino ha expressed his wish for packed home crowds – full of USMNT fans. (Robbie Jay Barratt / AMA/ Getty Images)
“Here, I think that it’s time to realize that we need the fans. … I think, I hope, and I wish, next time to play with full stadium, with our fans there cheering for the team and helping to achieve a good performance and good result.”The U.S. coach was wading into an attendance issue that has ensnared the program for more than a decade now. It traces back to a ticketing strategy built around revenue rather than accessibility, a team that has struggled on the field and the realities of playing a global sport in a country defined by its diversity.On Saturday, the U.S. will play South Korea in front of a 25,000 sold-out crowd at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey. Tuesday’s friendly against Japan at Columbus’ 20,000-capacity Lower.com Field is trending toward a sellout as well. Fewer than 600 tickets were available, including suites and premium options, as of Thursday night.The crowds are indicative of U.S. Soccer’s efforts to alter the equation and find the right mix of market, price point and opponent to balance sporting goals, fan engagement and revenue-driven realities. With what has long been expected to be a transformative home World Cup approaching, the efforts to reach new fans and bring them into the gates are as critical as ever to the short- and long-term growth of the sport. As the men’s team struggles to get results, making the games more accessible will be a vital part of any attempt to build excitement in the run-up to the tournament.
The slide is infamous in American soccer circles. As part of a presentation at a board meeting in 2017, U.S. Soccer executives presented how the federation’s ticketing strategy shifted from the 1998 World Cup cycle through to the 2018 cycle to emphasize smaller venues and higher ticket prices for U.S. games. Ticket prices in the 2002 cycle averaged $28.05. By the 2018 cycle, when the U.S. men missed the World Cup, the average price jumped to $97.06. Revenue more than doubled, from $7 million over eight games in the 2002 cycle to $17.6 million in the 2018 cycle. But it came at a cost of attendance and accessibility. In that same period, attendance dropped from 249,266 fans across eight games to 181,090.What You Should Read NextDoes USMNT have an attendance issue? The answer isn’t simpleThe USMNT’s friendlies against Canada and New Zealand were played with swathes of empty seats in the stadia – but is that cause for concern?
Undoubtedly, the socioeconomic makeup of those in the stadium shifted along with those fast-rising prices.U.S. Soccer chief commercial officer David Wright insists that the federation is “an organization that has evolved dramatically in the last three to five years.” But ticket prices for games can vary dramatically, based both on dynamic pricing and also on the business realities for U.S. Soccer.
“We’re a 501(c)(3), nonprofit, but as many people know, our ability to drive revenue is really important because it funds and candidly accelerates our ability in the sport,” Wright tells The Athletic. “Obviously, we’ve got our women’s and men’s senior national teams, but we have 25 other national teams that are really important to U.S. Soccer and our overall efforts throughout the game. We’re also thinking about coaching, we’re thinking about refereeing, thinking about participation, and have programming against all three to grow. So it takes resources. It’s always a balance between the business side, but then also providing access and accessibility.”
The USMNT takes on Japan, and Yuto Nagatomo, next week. (Koji Watanabe / Getty Images)
Tickets were available for the Japan friendly in Columbus for less than $50. The get-in price for friendlies in Austin and Colorado in October are currently $54 and $75, respectively. Tickets prices in New Jersey were not as friendly. The original get-in price for non-supporters in New Jersey was $50, but a month later that had jumped to $180.There have been at least some steps toward increasing that accessibility.U.S. Soccer recently reached a deal with the American Outlaws, its largest supporters group, in which all tickets for supporters in federation-hosted matches through October 2026 will be capped at $45 (plus fees), and will be sold directly by the Outlaws to members.The aim is not just to drive accessibility, but to bring new fans into the supporters’ culture.“Our supporter groups are the lifeline,” Wright said. “They provide incredible energy and atmosphere. I think it also speaks to our fan-first approach. We’re an evolving organization. We have great relationships with our supporter groups. And I think it’s just an acknowledgement that (they) are really important, and to be able to provide access in a really meaningful way is a win-win.”In a statement, Justin Brunken, co-founder of the American Outlaws said the partnership, “helps eliminate one of the biggest barriers — cost — and makes it possible for more passionate fans to stand, sing, and support together.”“This isn’t just about saving a few bucks,” the statement read. “It’s about keeping soccer grounded in community.”U.S. Soccer has also done more outreach toward college students to bring younger games into the stadium at discounted prices.The business side of U.S. Soccer has changed dramatically since 2017, which has also impacted the reliance on ticket revenue for the federation’s aims. U.S. Soccer brought all commercial work in-house in 2022, ending its longstanding relationship with Soccer United Marketing. Since the federation’s sponsorships have been moved in-house, commercial and event revenue has increased substantially, with projections above $200 million in total revenue.The federation also grew out its “advancement” team, which focuses on donations. Those efforts have brought in enormous donations from Arthur Blank for the new training facility and Michele Kang with a directive to grow women’s and girls’ soccer, as well as many other donations pointed toward everything from hiring Pochettino to growing youth programs or coaching and referee education. In prior years, U.S. Soccer raised between $4 to $6 million annually in contributions. That number jumped to around $70 million under the expanded advancement team.“As a percentage of revenue, (ticker revenue will) come down, but it doesn’t diminish the importance,” Wright said. “Not only is the revenue obviously important to fuel the business and to provide opportunities, but it’s obviously one of the most high-profile opportunities to engage with fans,” Wright said. “So the ability to have 20 to 25 marquee matches a year that provide access and leave an impact in a community, while also engaging millions of fans via social (media) and broadcast is really important. It’s something that we recognize, and obviously we’re leaning in on.”The strong expected crowds in New Jersey and Columbus show that the U.S. men can draw a crowd, but finding the right venue and the right opponent is an increasingly difficult dance.
It’s easy to point to some of the repeat visits to cities — Austin, Columbus, Cincinnati, St. Louis — and wonder how exactly U.S. Soccer makes decisions on where they play games. It’s not an easy process.
It starts with finding an opponent, which has been especially difficult in this cycle because the U.S. men are not playing qualifiers, but confederations are still going through their qualification process. That, combined with the Nations League, has decreased available opponents in every window.Once an opponent is found, John Terry, U.S. Soccer’s senior director of events, tries to narrow down markets based on a number of factors.Opponents often have preferences on how far they will travel based on their second opponent in the window and where that game is being staged. Brazil, for example, was willing to play the U.S. ahead of the Copa América, but only if the game was staged in Orlando. U.S. Soccer was willing to make that accommodation, and to play on a temporary surface at Camping World Stadium, in order to get a game against such a high-quality opponent.U.S. Soccer also has to find training facilities for both teams in markets — one reason why it hasn’t frequented the New York market as often, for example, and why Austin and St. Louis have been favorites for the team.The availability of venues in markets isn’t always simple either. In the fall, U.S. Soccer is contending with the NFL, college football, MLS and concerts. It has to think about the cost of playing on grass laid on top of turf — both in terms of dollars and in quality of play. It considers the size of the venue and the ticket demand in the market. And it isn’t picking a city based solely on what is happening in that window. It also has to consider future windows and look at where it can play games in future months. And, of course, it’s weighing those options simultaneously for both the men’s and women’s national teams.
Austin’s Q2 Stadium has become a popular site for the USMNT. (David Buono / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Even then, repeats can happen. U.S. Soccer had its October USMNT friendly scheduled in Austin against Ecuador for months when Concacaf put them in Austin for a Gold Cup group stage game this summer, for example. Meanwhile, travel for a team increasingly based in Europe has made it more difficult to schedule games on the West Coast. (Though the makeup of the roster under Pochettino has been swinging back toward a prominent mix of MLS players.) U.S. Soccer also tries to avoid traveling far distances between games in a window. There has been an effort in recent years to go to new markets, or to get back to cities for the first time in several years. That includes a friendly played in San Antonio, Saturday’s game in New Jersey — the first there since the U.S. lost to Costa Rica in World Cup qualifying in 2017 — and a reported friendly set for Tampa in November. “It’s not just because we’ve got a World Cup (coming), that’s a strategy that I think we’ve employed for a number of years now,” Wright said. “For us, it’s: How do you expose the sport to a variety of different markets, but also partner with local markets that really want you to be there?” In addition to all of those considerations, U.S. Soccer does think about trying to maximize home field advantage. But as the pro-Guatemala crowd in St. Louis showed, sometimes it doesn’t matter where the U.S. plays. The makeup of the country is such that it can lead to crowds that favor the visitors.That may not always be what the coach or team wants, of course. But for U.S. Soccer, there are still gains to be made in those crowds. “The amount of diversity in this country is a really, really powerful thing, and something that, as an organization, I think we’ve really leaned in and embraced,” Wright said. “If you’re a fan of the sport in this country, we believe we’ve got a real opportunity to engage with you. There’s about 130 million fans of the game. We expect that number to drastically increase coming out of the next summer. Not all those 130 million are passionate U.S. soccer fans, but they’re passionate about the game … And I think it is really powerful as we think about the future. It’s a huge area of opportunity.” Those points of connection will be the true measure of success of the World Cup, and that’s a process that has already started. The magnitude of the World Cup’s impact will depend on many things, including the results of the host team. But beyond what happens on the field, U.S. Soccer must find wins off of it, too. Getting the cities, venues and prices right to open the game up to fans can make just as lasting an impact. (Top photo: Joe Puetz / Imagn Images)
USMNT’s Balogun finally has his chance for a late first impression on Pochettino
U.S. striker Folarin Balogun, back with the national team for the first time in nearly a year, said Wednesday that the injuries that kept him away from the USMNT are “behind me.” “I’m in a good shape, and in a good way,” Balogun said via Zoom from U.S. camp in Morristown, N.J., ahead of Saturday’s game against South Korea. Those injuries cost him four consecutive U.S. camps, the team’s first four under head coach Mauricio Pochettino. Balogun, after starting or appearing in all nine A-team games for the USMNT in 2024 under former head coach Gregg Berhalter and interim Mikey Varas, missed camps in October, November and this past March due to injury. He was initially named in Pochettino’s pre-Gold Cup squad, but also withdrew from that camp due to an ankle ailment. “It was a tough period, but I think every athlete goes through that at some stage,” Balogun said. Another ankle issue in August cost him a preseason game and Monaco’s Ligue 1 opener. It was presumably part of the reason why the 24-year-old was not on the first version of the USMNT’s September roster, which was revealed last week. But when Brian White withdrew due to injury, U.S. Soccer contacted Balogun, who’d made his 2025-26 debut that past weekend, playing 90 minutes in a 1-0 loss to Lille. “I got the call — I can’t remember the date, exactly, but it was a bit late,” Balogun acknowledged Wednesday. “I was really happy,” he added. “It was important for me to be back with the team.” Several days later, he scored his first goal of the season in a 3-2 win over Strasbourg. Then he jetted across the Atlantic, to New Jersey, where he was one of the last to arrive at U.S. camp. Now, he will get his chance to make a delayed first impression. He is one of a few players who, at roughly the midway point of Pochettino’s tenure, are meeting and training under the new boss for the first time. “Everyone wants to make an impression,” Balogun said. “And I think that’s just natural, with such a big competition coming in 10 months, it’s important to leave your mark.” That “big competition,” of course, is the World Cup. The 2026 edition, slated for June and July in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, would be Balogun’s first. For roughly 11 months, the countdown to that milestone coincided with Balogun’s absence from the USMNT. Now, a first opportunity to impress the coach who’ll select the U.S. World Cup roster might lead some players to press, to over-exert, to try to be something other than themselves. “That’s part of the psychology, to not overdo it, because things will just become more complicated,” Balogun said. “The harder you try sometimes, the more difficult it is.” But Balogun is comfortable searching for and finding a middle ground, and pushing for a potential place in the U.S. starting lineup come next June. He’ll compete with EFL Championship leading scorer Josh Sargent and new Southampton signing Damion Downs for the prime minutes at striker in this camp, which also includes a friendly against Japan. “It’s something I’ve been doing all my career, fighting for my position and fighting to get in teams,” the former Arsenal academy product said. “I believe that’s a balance that comes naturally to me.” (Top photo: Sam Hodde/Getty Images)
Pochettino, ‘jealous’ of CFB atmospheres, wants Americans to share same passion with soccer
MORRISTOWN, N.J. — For Mauricio Pochettino, the 2025 Gold Cup doubled as a crash course in American soccer culture. First in half-empty stadiums, then in front of hostile crowds on home soil, the Argentine coach of the U.S. men’s national team seemed shocked by the lack of public passion for his team.After a Gold Cup semifinal against Guatemala and a final against Mexico, he spoke about the missing emotional connection between U.S. players and fans. “The fans,” he said, “have one year to realize how important fans are in soccer.”Ahead of his next USMNT camp, though, he learned that such passion exists in the United States — for the other type of football.Last Saturday, Pochettino visited Columbus, Ohio, for the Week 1 college football showdown between the universities of Ohio State and Texas. He stood among a crowd of 107,524 people, nearly all wearing red and silver for the Buckeyes. “It was amazing,” Pochettino said Friday ahead of the USMNT’s first of two September games (Saturday against South Korea).“For me, it was a massive surprise,” Pochettino continued. “I’m 53. It’s difficult to have this type of surprise. But to live the atmosphere that we lived there, three hours before, seeing the passion of the people, the atmosphere … the fans in the stadium, 100,000. I was so jealous.”
He was jealous, of course, because that type of passion often doesn’t follow the USMNT or any U.S. soccer team.“I was so jealous, I said, ‘I want to coach these teams. I want to be next,’” Pochettino said with a wide smile and a laugh.Throughout his three decades in soccer, he has played for and coached teams boosted by similar passion. He has seen it at Newell’s Old Boys and Espanyol, at Tottenham and Paris Saint-Germain.When he didn’t see it this summer — or when he saw it for Guatemala in St. Louis, and when he saw it for Mexico in Houston — he called it out.“The fans gave to you, to Guatemala, an unbelievable energy,” he said after the U.S. squeaked past Los Chapines in the semis. “That is football. That is football. When we say the connection between the fans and the team, that is the connection that we like to see in the World Cup. That connection that makes you fly. The energy that translates.”He said he saw Guatemala players crying after the loss and noted, “That is the way that we need to feel. And our fans need to feel the same. It’s not to come here to enjoy all the spectacle, and if you lose, nothing happens. … You play for your pride. … When we talk about culture, that is culture. … That is an important thing that we need to learn here in this country.”Pochettino saw an example of that kind of sports culture at 9 a.m. last Saturday, when he appeared on Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff pregame show in Columbus. He led an “O-H-I-O” chant. “We really feel the passion of the people here in this country,” he said Friday.And he knows that part of his job, as USMNT coach, is to try to create that passion for soccer. He talked Friday about being a “representative or ambassador” for the sport. “I think I feel a little bit of responsibility,” Pochettino said. “It’s our responsibility to translate to all these people that maybe are more focused on another sport like football, American football. It’s to try to convince them (to) share with soccer that passion. “If only a little bit we can translate to our sport, I think our players will appreciate a lot, and for sure (the fans) will help us to achieve or earn what we want.” (Photo: Stephen Maturen / Getty Images)
USMNT star Tim Weah doubles down on ‘evil’ comment about former players turned pundits
U.S. men’s national team forward Tim Weah said Thursday that he doesn’t regret calling former USMNT players turned pundits “evil” for their criticism of the current team.Weah made the comments earlier this summer in an interview for Christian Pulisic’s Paramount+ docuseries. The remarks aired in an episode released last month and reignited the public spat between active USMNT players and alumni.“I think those guys are chasing checks,” Weah said in the docuseries. “And for me, I just feel like they’re really evil. Honestly. Because they’ve been players, and they know what it’s like when you’re getting bashed. Those are the same guys that’ll turn around and shake your hand and try to be friendly with you at the end of the day.”“Don’t get me wrong,” he added, “I respect all of them. They were the players that I looked up to. But quite frankly, the guys before us didn’t win anything, either. Christian himself has had a better career than every single one of the guys who speak negative on us.”On a video call with reporters Thursday from U.S. camp in New Jersey, Weah was asked whether, in retrospect, he felt the term “evil” was accurate and appropriate.“One hundred percent — don’t regret anything I said,” he began. “But I’m fully focused on the positives now. I’m leaving all that negative energy out the window.”
Tim Weah, left, trains with USMNT teammate Folarin Balogun. (John Dorton / ISI Photos / USSF / Getty Images)
Weah continued: “I think right now it’s important to kind of shift the focus to what we’re doing as a group, and what this team is doing, and how we can execute performances and kinda take our game to the next level in order to be prepared for the World Cup. I’m 100 percent focused on that. And if that means blocking out all the noise, that’s what we’re gonna have to do. We’re just focused on what our main goal is. We’re, each camp, trying to build. I’m so happy to be back with the boys.”
Weah missed this summer’s Gold Cup while with Juventus at the Club World Cup. Then, last month, he completed a roughly $17 million transfer from Juve to Marseille — a club with whom his father, George, played for six months at the end of his career. The move begins as a loan deal but includes an obligation to buy after the current season. “The move to Marseille was a fun one, obviously, with my family history,” Weah said Thursday. “Joining the club, for me, was a no-brainer. I know the history of Marseille, how passionate that city is and how fans are and the team is. I knew it was the right place for me to be before the World Cup and building up to one of the biggest tournaments of our lives.” U.S. head coach Mauricio Pochettino left other regulars who’d recently moved to new clubs off his September roster. Pochettino said last week that the reason for omitting Johnny Cardoso, for example, was to allow Cardoso to settle at Atlético Madrid.Weah completed his transfer more recently and has played fewer games for Marseille than Cardoso has for Atleti. But when asked if missing this U.S. camp was ever a consideration, Weah said, “No, I never thought about not coming into camp.”“As Marseille’s a priority, the national team is also a priority to me as well,” he continued. “Coming here, and being with the group, and building on what we already have, and fine-tuning a lot of things, for me, is important. Because at the end of the day, the goal is nine months away. We have to perform and be on top of our game. So, any chance I get to come in and kinda build with these guys, I’m 100 percent for it. I’m always here.”He also spoke about Marseille — the city and club — as the ideal place for him as he and the USMNT build toward next summer.
“The club is everything to the city, everything to the fans. I mean, they eat, sleep, breathe football; eat, sleep, breathe Marseille,” Weah said. “You know what it means to them, it’s their heart and soul, so you have to give 100%. If we lose a game, they’re on us. It’s super intense. Just the group alone, we get into so [many] fights together, in trainings, in the locker rooms, that people think we’re crazy at times. But it’s just because everyone is so passionate, everyone has the same goal, everyone wants to win. “And I think being at a club like that before the World Cup, and before going into something so big, I think it’s super important for me. Because I get to build that mindset of being a warrior, I get to build on that. I think that’ll be super positive for me going into the World Cup — and also for the [national] team, because I get to bring that kind of vibe into camps when I come back.”(Top photo: Jeff Roberson / Associated Press)
US Men Roster Drop for Sept 6 & 9 Games – No McKennie, Musah, Wright, Turner, Scally
There are 12 players on the roster who competed in the Gold Cup this summer. However, there are some notable absences from players who were excluded due to recovering from injury, as Pochettino opted to have them remain with their teams to continue building up full fitness, even as some recently returned to the field. Those players include Antonee Robinson, Ricardo Pepi, Malik Tillman, and Patrick Agyemang.
Several regulars were not selected for the September roster, including Weston McKennie, Matt Turner, Yunus Musah, Haji Wright, Brenden Aaronson, Gio Reyna, Joe Scally, and Johnny Cardoso. Meanwhile, Alex Zendejas gets his first USMNT camp of 2025 after playing well for Club América. Making the roster is dual national Tristan Blackmon, whose call-up was accidentally leaked by new Vancouver Whitecaps teammate Thomas Müller during a press conference over the weekend. Blackmon was reportedly contacted by Canada head coach Jesse Marsch in the spring to gauge his interest in playing for Canada at the international level. He instead accepts the call-up to join the USMNT for this camp. Four other players are looking to earn their first cap for the USMNT. Dual national Noahkai Banks makes his USMNT camp debut, while Blackmon, Roman Celenatano, and Jonathan Klinsmann are in search of their first cap after returning to the national team. The USMNT take on South Korea on September 6th at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey. They then complete the international window with a friendly against Japan on September 9th at Lower.com Field in Columbus. USMNT ROSTER GOALKEEPERS (3): Roman Celentano (FC Cincinnati), Matt Freese (New York City FC), Jonathan Klinsmann (Cesena) DEFENDERS (8): Max Arfsten (Columbus Crew), Noahkai Banks (FC Augsburg), Tristan Blackmon (Vancouver Whitecaps), Sergiño Dest (PSV Eindhoven), Alex Freeman (Orlando City), Nathan Harriel (Philadelphia Union), Tim Ream (Charlotte FC), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace) MIDFIELDERS (6): Tyler Adams (Bournemouth/ENG; 50/2), Sebastian Berhalter (Vancouver Whitecaps), Luca de la Torre (San Diego FC), Diego Luna (Real Salt Lake), Jack McGlynn (Houston Dynamo), Sean Zawadzki (Columbus Crew) FORWARDS (5): Damion Downs (Southampton), Christian Pulisic (AC Milan) Josh Sargent (Norwich City), Tim Weah (Marseille), Alex Zendejas (Club América), Folarin Balogun
So I have NO IDEA what Bochitino is Doing here? Now is not the time to be testing new Goalkeepers – these are real teams we are playing! And why so many MLS players? Are you kidding me Boch! HE HAS NO IDEA WHAT HE IS DOING. At this rate we may not make it out of the Group stage. How the heck are McKennie, Haji Wright and Joe Scally not here at least. Aaronson is also a bit of a headscratcher. I am ok with Berhalter he showed well last time – lets see if he can play now that we have REAL competition. I am hope so because I do like his grit. We’ll see on all these others.
Leagues Cup Final Dream Match-Up Messi’s Miami vs Seattle Sounders this Sun 8 pm on Apple, Univision
Miami came from behind in dramatic fashion to beat Orlando in Miami as Messi and the Suarez spurred Miami on to victory. In the late game Seattle Dominated the first half then held on for the 2-0 win over the LA Galaxy setting up the Wednesday night Leagues Cup Final on their home field Sunday at 8 pm on TUDN, Univision & Apple TV free.
Indy 11 Host Louisville City Sat 7 pm @ The Mike
Indy Eleven midfielder Jack Blake recorded his sixth career brace to lead the Boys in Blue to a 3-2 victory over Miami FC at Carroll Stadium.The victory moved the Boys in Blue into a playoff position at the 2/3 point of the 30-game regular season schedule. The Boys in Blue host Eastern Conference leader Louisville City FC next Saturday at 7 pm at Carroll Stadium for “Mystery at the Mike”. Single-game tickets for all matches are available via Ticketmaster. Flex Plan, Group, and Hospitality tickets are available here. For questions, call (317) 685-1100 during business hours or email tickets@indyeleven.com.
Carmel FC Goalkeeper Coach Erin Baker
So excited to welcome former Carmel FC & All State Carmel High School Goalkeeper Erin Baker as Carmel FC Goalkeeper Coach this fall. The former Wright State College Goalkeeper, daughter of Carmel FC Coach Tom Baker and former CFC Coach and legendary Canadian Team Goalkeeper Carla Baker (now Carmel High Asst Coach). Erin will handle coaching duties on Mon nights at Shelbourne Fields and Wednesdays at Badger Fields. Your’s truly will be on hand when I can to help (around high school reffing duties).
Carmel FC GK Coach Erin Baker was a 2 time All-State Selection at Carmel High School and State Champion before playing college ball at Wright State in Ohio. Coaching now on Mon & Wed nights. Congrats to our Carmel FC squads on a jam-packed weekend across the Midwest and a special mention to our 3 teams that picked up silverware in their respective events. Huge thanks to our players, coaches, and the parents who make the miles and memories possible. • 2012 Girls Gold — Premier Cup (Bronze) Champions • 2013 Boys Blue — Puma Cup Finalists • 2014 Girls Gold — Chicago Development ShowcaseT Ray, Mike A and Shane reffing tourney at Grand Park Sunday with Coms — aren’t we cool looking! Apple TV & Univision & TUDN Sunday 8 pm
GAMES ON TV
Fri, Aug 29 2:45 pm Para+ Lecce vs AC Milan (Pulisic) 3 pm CBSSN Leicester City vs Birmingham City Championship 8 pm Prime Orlando Pride (Marta) vs NY/NJ Gothem NWSL 10:30 pm Para+, Prime Seattle Reign vs San Diego Wave NWSL 10:30 pm Para+, Prime, Golazo Portland Thorns vs Utah Sat, Aug 30 7:30 am USA Chelsea vs Fulham (Jedi) 9:30 am ESPN+ Werder Bremen vs Leverkusen (Tillman) 9:30 am ESPN+ Stuttgart vs B M’Gladbach (Scally, Reyna) 10 am USA Sunderland vs Brentford 10 am Peacock Tottenham vs Bournemouth (Adams) 12:30 pm NBC Leeds United (Aaronson) vs Newcastle United 12:30 pm ESPN+ Ausberg vs Bayern Munich 7 pm TV 6, ESPN+ Indy 11 vs Louisville 7:30 pm Tubi KC Current vs NC Courage NWSL Sun Aug 31 7:30 am USA Nottingham Forest vs West Ham 11:30 am USA Liverpool vs Arsenal 12:30 pm CBSSN Genoa vs Juventus (McKennie) 2 pm USA Aston Villa vs Crystal Palace (Richards) 3:30 pm ESPNd+, Rayo Vallencano vs Barcelona 4 pm CBS NWSL Washington Spirit vs Chicago Red Stars 8 pm Apple, Univision Seattle Sounders vs Inter Miami Leagues Cup Final 10:30 pm FS1?, Apple Free – LAFC vs San Diego Mon, Sept 1 9 pm CBSSN Angel City (Thompson) vs Bay FC NWSL Wed, Sept 3 7 pm CBSSN Washington Spirit vs Vancouver Rise W Concacaf Cup 7:30 pm ESPN+ Hartford vs Indy 11 Thurs, Aug 4 WCQ 2:45 pm Fox Sport 2 Bulgaria vs Spain 7:30 pm Peacock Argentina vs Venezuela 8:30 pm Peacock Brazil vs Chile Fri, Aug 5 WCQ 2:45 pm FS2 Ukraine vs France 8 pm Amazon Prime Racing Louisville vs Portland NWSL
Sat, Sept 6 5 pm TNT, Tele, Max USA Men vs Korea Tues, Sept 9 7:30 pm TNT, Tele, Max USA Men vs Japan in Columbus, Ohio Fri, Oct 10 8:30 pm TNT, Max USA Men vs Ecuador Tues, Oct 14 9 pm TNT, Max USA Men vs Australia
USMNT weekend viewing guide: Summer Olympiques
Some of our most watched leagues embark on a new season. The Transfer window is nearly closed as teams and players settle in to what their club’s will look like for at least the next several months. A US player or two could still be on the move this Fall (we’re keeping our eye on you Yunus Musah) but we’re pretty close to locked in. We’re also locked in on some great matches this weekend that could see more debut’s as well as some head to head action in France. It start’s on Friday with a couple of matches:
Friday
Lecce v Milan – 2:45p on Paramount+: AC Milan opened their season with a home loss to newly promoted Cremonese with Christian Pulisic starting the match and playing the full 90’ but Yunus Musah not making it off the bench amid ongoing rumors that he is being pursued by Napoli and Atalanta. Milan dominated possession and allowed just four shot attempts by Cremonese but were unable to convert more than one of their own twenty-four shot attempts. Milan will look to bounce back against Lecce who settled for a scoreless draw with Genoa last weekend.
Saturday
Chelsea v Fulham – 7:30a on USA Network: Antonne Robinson returned from injury and played 28’ minutes off the bench last weekend as Fulham drew with Manchester United 1-1. That makes a pair of 1-1 draws to open the season for Fulham who will now face a Chelsea side who are coming off a 5-1 thumping of West Ham last weekend after opening their season with a scoreless draw against Crystal Palace.
Werder Bremen v Bayer Leverkusen – 9:30a on ESPN+: Malik Tillman missed Bayer Leverkusen’s season opening loss to Hoffenheim last weekend but is reportedly available this weekend heading into their match with Werder Bremen who fell 4-1 to Eintracht Frankfurt. Tillman will be making his debut for his new club as they look to bounce back and get on track to challenge Bayern Munich for the league title.
Stuttgart v Borussia Monchengladbach – 9:30a on ESPN+: Gio Reyna has joined good friend Joe Scally at Borussia Monchengladbach and will look to get his career back on track. Reyna, Scally and Gladbach will face Stuttgart this weekend looking for Gladbach’s first win of the season, following a 0-0 draw last weekend with Hamburg.
Tottenham v AFC Bournemouth – 10a on Peacock: Tyler Adams and Bournemouth defeated Wolverhampton last weekend, bouncing back from a season opening loss to Liverpool, but then fell to Brentford 2-0 in Carabao Cup second round action midweek with Tyler getting the match off. This weekend Bournemouth will take on a Tottenham side that have won their first two matches to start the season, including a 2-0 win over Manchester City last weekend.
Blackburn Rovers v Norwich City – 10a on Paramount+: Josh Sargent has opened the season by scoring a goal in each of Norwich’s four matches that he has appeared in (he missed Norwich’s EFL Cup match against Southampton midweek) but Norwich have won just one of their three league matches, with all ending with an identical 2-1 score line. This weekend Norwich will face a Blackburn Rovers side that just missed out on the promotion playoffs last season but have also won just one of their opening three matches this year as well.
Deportivo Alaves v Atletico Madrid – 11a on ESPN Deportes and ESPN+: Johnny Cardoso might not be in the US squad but he’s made the starting 11 for Atletico Madrid the first two matches of their season. Atletico will be looking for their first win of the season this weekend as they take on Deportivo Alaves, who fell to Real Betis 1-0 last weekend.
Leeds United v Newcastle United – 12:30p on NBC and Peacock: Brenden Aaronson has come off the bench to play roughly 25’ in each of Leeds United’s first two matches of the season. Leeds won their opener but were thumped by Arsenal last weekend 5-0 with the team already down 4-0 when Aaronson came into the match.
Augsburg v Bayern Munich – 12:30p on ESPN+: Noakhai Banks has pulled the reverse Johnny Cardoso, the 18-year-old center back has made Mauricio Pochettino’s September callup list though he has not made it off the bench for Augsburg yet this season. Unfortunately, that might say as much about the differences in depth at the midfield and center back positions for the USMNT as it does about Pochettino’s puzzling decisions. Augsburg defeated Freiburg 3-1 in their opener last weekend and will now face Bayern Munich who opened their Bundesliga campaign with 6-0 drubbing of RB Leipzig.
PSV v Telstar – 2p on ESPN+: Ricardo Pepi saw his first minutes of the Eredivisie season last Saturday, coming off the bench for the final minutes of PSV’s 4-2 win over Groningen. Sergino Dest started the match at left back, played the full 90’, and picked up his second assist of the season. Dest has had a goal contribution in each of PSV’s first three matches. PSV will face a Telstar side that are looking for their first win of the season, they snapped a two match losing streak last weekend in drawing 2-2 with FC Volendam.
Toulouse v PSG – 3:05p on beIN Sports: Mark McKenzie and Toulouse will take on perennial league favorites PSG on Sunday. Both teams have won their first two matches of the season and are tied, along with Lyon and Strasbourg, at the top of the table early in the season. McKenzie has started and gone the full 90’ in each of Toulouse’s two matches.
Sunday
Rangers v Celtic – 7a on CBSSN and Paramount+: Rangers and Celtic were both dumped from Champions League qualifying midweek in embarrassing fashion and will now look to bounce back in the latest edition of the Old Firm derby. Cameron Carter-Vickers started and played the full match plus extra time midweek as Celtic eventually fell to Kazakhstan’s Kairat Almaty in penalties after playing a home and away series, including a full 120’ in the second match, without either team scoring a goal. Celtic have won each of their first three matches though CCV was rested last weekend. Auston Trusty had come off the bench in Celtic’s first three matches of the season but was not included in the squad last weekend or midweek. Celtic’s opponent this weekend is their arch-rival Rangers who have drawn each of their first three league matches and also fell midweek in Champions League qualifying 6-0 (and 9-1 on aggregate) to Club Brugge.
Monaco v Strasbourg – 11:15a on beIN Sports: Folarin Balogun returned from injury last weekend to get the start and go the full 90’ in Monaco’s 1-0 loss to Lille. Balogun and Monaco will now face Strasbourg who have won their first to Ligue 1 matches of the season.
Genoa v Juventus – 12:30p on CBSSN and Paramount+: Weston McKennie was used as a time wasting substitute last weekend as Juventus saw out a 2-0 win over Parma to open their Serie A season. McKennie appears to once again be at an interesting point in his career as the midfielder was left out of the September window and is looking to work his way back into the squad with his club as well. It’s a bit startling but it is not the first, or second, time that McKennie has found himself in a similar position and he has bounced back well each time prior.
Aston Villa v Crystal Palace – 2p on USA Network: Chris Richards and Crystal Palace have opened their Premier League season with a pair of draws against Chelsea and Nottingham Forest with Richards playing the full 90’ in both matches. Richards also went 90 on Thursday as Palace played Norwegian side Fredrikstad FK to a scoreless draw in see out their 1-0 aggregate win in UEFA Conference League qualifiers. Palace have allowed just four goals across five matches in all competitions to start the season, including two in their win over Liverpool in the Community Shield match, and Richards is a key figure in what appears to be a solid defense. Palace will face an Aston Villa side this weekend that are looking for their first win, and first goal of the season.
Olympique Lyon v Olympique Marseille – 2:45p on beIN Sports: Tanner Tessmann and Tim Weah will face off in Ligue 1 action on Sunday afternoon before Weah heads to the States for the September window while Tessmann remains in France as he missed out on a callup. Tessmann has started and gone the full 90’ in Lyon’s first two matches while Weah came off the bench in Marseille’s first match, a 1-0 loss to Stade Rennais, but started on the left-wing in the teams 5-2 drubbing of Paris FC last weekend.
Always fun to ref games @ Carmel High – Carmel Freshman boys then girls with Omar Mon night. Good crew Sat @ Park Tudor
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It’s time for Mauricio Pochettino to stop tinkering and build a World Cup team
I spent the earlier part of this week living under the stars, in a tent deep inside Yellowstone National Park, with only a patchy cellphone signal, no internet or television. It wasn’t quite an Aaron Rodgers retreat but it was an amazing experience.
Anyone who has ever ‘disconnected’ in that manner, understands the value that it brings. You have time to break free from the constant demands of everyday life, to refocus and renew before re-emerging with fresh energy.
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But when I came out of the retreat and saw Mauricio Pochettino’s roster for the upcoming games against South Korea and Japan, I wondered for half a second if I wasn’t now living in an alternative reality.
Almost half of Pochettino’s 23-man squad is made up of players from Major League Soccer ,as he continues to experiment with new players while the likes of Weston McKennie at Juventus, Johnny Cardoso of Atlético Madrid, Yunus Musah at AC Milan and Tanner Tessmann at Lyon have been left out.
Weston McKennie was among those left out of Mauricio Pochettino’s latest USMNT squad. (Marco Canoniero / LightRocket via Getty Images)
We are nine months away from the start of the World Cup on home soil and the coach is still experimenting, still familiarizing himself with the player pool and still ‘sending messages’ to players? Really?
At this stage, I would expect the national team coach to be focused on his core starting team and supporting cast, getting players familiar with their roles, the partnerships that are so vital across the field and the group dynamics that need to be fine tuned before competing with the world’s elite.
Of course, there is always room for bringing in a form player or two or trying out alternative options and testing the depth of his roster. And there is some validity in Pochettino’s likely goals here – broadening the pool, lighting a fire under those excluded and perhaps giving European-based players the chance to focus on their club situations for now.
But the benefits of a player being allowed to stay with a European club are limited when you remember that during the international break, large numbers of the first-team squad at clubs like Milan, Juve and Atlético, are away with their national teams anyway, weakening the significance of those training sessions, which are mainly for reserves and other non-internationals. Two things really concern me about this roster. Firstly, the U.S. is playing against Japan and South Korea, two teams with quality players and top-tier experience, who are exactly the kind of opponents that might be waiting in the World Cup itself, especially in the knockout phase.With no qualifying games, these friendlies should be treated as seriously as possible, to get the squad truly competitive encounters – to test them and help them grow. As we saw with the debacle of June’s 4-0 crushing by Switzerland in Nashville, if the opposition is high-level and comes in motivated, the outcome for an experimental team can be ugly.
There is already a worrying lack of enthusiasm bordering on apathy in the USMNT’s fan base at a time when positivity and optimism should be growing in anticipation of this huge moment in American soccer. I don’t even want to think about what the impact would be of another heavy loss at home.
Secondly, while the time for ‘sending messages’ should be over by now, I also worry about exactly what kind of message Pochettino is sending by his selection of MLS players who few people, if any, were clamoring for.
Under former USMNT coach Bob Bradley, players like Charlie Davies were incentivized to prove themselves overseas. (Chris Williams /Icon SMI / Corbis / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
When I played for the national team under Bob Bradley, there was an unwritten rule for emerging American MLS talent. If you want to be a national team player, you earn yourself a move abroad, you fight for your place at your club, you perform week-in, week-out and then you get your chance.
It was highly motivating. It led people like me to turn down, after college, a Generation Adidas contract with MLS and head to Europe. It was why I battled for a starting place at Hammarby in Sweden, moved to Sochaux in France and played for Randers in Denmark.Jurgen Klinsmann was another national team coach who was keen to see Americans move to Europe, pushing players to get as close to the highest level as possible. It’s why so many of our players over the last 25 years improved, became more professional and more steeled. It’s not easy as an American walking into a European locker-room, proving yourself, earning a starting place and keeping it. It’s a grind every single day. It meant the national team coach got players who had been forged by that experience, hardened and sharpened.
It also gave players in MLS something to aim for. You might be performing well enough for your club, but were you playing well enough to attract the attention of European scouts?
So what is the message the players receive when they see Pochettino’s roster?
With all due respect, have the likes of Roman Celentano, Tristan Blackmon, Nathan Harriel and Sean Zawadzki really been performing at such a consistently high-level in MLS that they simply could not be ignored? Have they really thrust themselves into contention for World Cup places?Even if you were looking to MLS-based players, it is surprising that some of these new faces are being picked ahead of the likes of Djordje Mihailovic (11 caps), DeJuan Jones (10 caps) and Chicago’s exciting talent Brian Gutierrez (two caps).But the message sent is even worse. When I see a player like Paxton Aaronson, who after trying to make it at Eintracht Frankfurt took on the challenge of a loan spell at Utrecht and earned a starting place at a top-four club in the Dutch league, take a move back to MLS, it leaves me thinking the players have understood that under Pochettino you’d actually be better off in MLS.
Paxten Aaronson made a recent return to Major League Soccer from Europe. (Seth Herald / AFP via Getty Images)That is a crazy situation. But what other conclusion could we draw from the fact that a promising player like Aidan Morris, who was rightly called up due to his excellent form with the Columbus Crew, is now ignored despite being a regular in the highly competitive Championship with Middlesbrough?
Morris won two MLS Cups with the Crew before, at the age of 22, going to play for then-Middlesbrough boss Michael Carrick, a great coach to learn from, given he played in Morris’s midfield role. That’s the kind of initiative that I would lean towards rewarding.Morris could now be forgiven for thinking that he would have been better off, from a national team perspective, staying with the Crew, never having to worry about losing his place, never having to push himself, under pressure, every week in the grind of that league. He’d probably be in this roster if he was playing in MLS – which is absurd.
There are contradictions in Pochettino’s approach, too. If the aim is to give players in new club environments space to settle, then why call up Tim Weah? He is in his first season with Marseille, adapting to a new system under Roberto De Zerbi and new teammates, and yet he is (deservedly) included in the roster.And he should be, because Weah is a vital piece of the U.S. puzzle. His speed, quickness, timing, 1-v-1 ability, two-way commitment and World Cup experience (including scoring against Wales in Qatar) make him unique in this group.The reality is that outside of him, the USMNT simply doesn’t have another wide player with that blend of qualities. His inclusion underscores just how inconsistent the logic is when other Europe-based players in similar or even stronger club situations are left behind.
At least Pochettino says this is the last window before the experimenting stops in October. That is a relief, but I think not going with a full-strength squad for these games is another missed opportunity for the coach and the team.
Hopefully the approach to the games will be less experimental than the roster call-ups suggests. If the U.S. wants to inspire belief heading into the home World Cup, now is the time to sharpen, not experiment.
The September friendlies will mark Christian Pulisic’s return to the squad. (Logan Riely / USSF / Getty Images for USSF)
Thankfully, Christian Pulisic is on the roster, and I really hope that he and everyone else can now put this summer’s unpleasant conflict behind them. The whole saga was the result of poor communication. No one blinked an eye when it was announced that Musah was missing the Gold Cup for ‘personal reasons,’ and few would have objected if Christian’s absence was put down to muscle fatigue or a minor injury.
I’ll never understand why it was instead described by U.S. Soccer sporting director Matt Crocker as the player asking to “step back” this summer due to the volume of games. The whole thing could have been avoided with different language.Christian had a new coach coming in at AC Milan and it was important for him to be at the Milanello training ground fresh and ready to go on day one of preseason and not coming in late or tired from the Gold Cup and playing catch-up ahead of the new season.The U.S. needs Pulisic to have a great season with Milan and to return in style to the national team. He’s central to World Cup hopes, and whatever people think of his decision this summer, it is time to put it behind us and get behind our best player. Just as it’s time for Pochettino to get behind his best players, period.(Top photo: Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
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Mauricio Pochettino wants trust in his process but his USMNT is short on time
The U.S. men’s national team has 10 games until the World Cup.
The journey to that point is going to be one hell of a ride. The question for U.S. fans is whether they believe in the process.
Mauricio Pochettino’s 22-man squad for the September window included Christian Pulisic — another player will be added at a later date — but was most certainly impacted by the start of the European season. The roster is missing players still working back from injury and others who aren’t in form at their clubs or were given time to integrate into new teams or fight for a place. Based on Pochettino’s answers at his press conference on Tuesday, we will likely see names like Ricardo Pepi, Weston McKennie, Yunus Musah, Antonee Robinson and Malik Tillman, if healthy, in October and November.
Even then, Pochettino’s search for his best U.S. team still feels very much like a work in progress.
Pochettino said he is using this September window as a judging ground for players he hasn’t seen, like Sean Zawadzki, Noahkai Banks, Jonathan Klinsmann and Tristan Blackmon.
“For us, this is the last camp that we are going to add some new faces,” he said.
Fulham’s Antonee Robinson was among the high-profile absentees from the USMNT squad. (Tim Nwachukwu / Getty Images)
It’s also one more chance for players he saw at the Gold Cup, but would like to test in a more competitive setting, like Sebastian Berhalter, Jack McGlynn, Nathan Harriel, Damion Downs and Max Arfsten.
“We really believe that is the right decision,” he said. “To bring the right balance to the squad.”
Whether those auditions should still be happening at this point is a fair question.
The former Tottenham, PSG and Chelsea manager was only hired last September. The last year was spent familiarizing himself with the entirety of the pool. That evaluation process has now run right up against the final months of World Cup prep. There isn’t much time to start to put a group together that can compete next summer on the sport’s biggest stage.
Pochettino clearly still wants to see a few more options before he moves into the next phase. I don’t agree with a good chunk of the decisions on this roster. Quality-wise, there are players left out of this squad that shouldn’t have been.
But it’s clear that Pochettino is doing so with intent.
He wants to send a message — for longtime starters like McKennie, Musah and Matt Turner, but also those who are trying to fight into the picture in Europe, like Aidan Morris and Tanner Tessmann. No one’s job is guaranteed.
“I think all (players) need to feel the possibility of fighting for a place,” Pochettino said. “If we want to be a really competitive team, we cannot nominate 13, 14, 15 players (and say): ‘These guys for sure are going to arrive to the World Cup. And the rest, they need a few places to fight.’ Come on, that is not the real sport…
“When you see different national teams, national teams that won World Cups, I think you really understand what (real competition) means. Players need to feel that threat from (their) teammate, and they need to defend the place in every single (camp) that you join the national team, but also when you perform in your (club) team.”
Pochettino (left) and captain Tim Ream (center) suffered summer disappointment with a Concacaf Gold Cup final defeat. (Chandan Khanna / AFP via Getty Images)
It’s a valid message from Pochettino. There was too much of a sense of comfort in this U.S. group when he took over after the 2024 Copa América failure. There was a subset of players who believed they were, essentially, untouchable. There was a need to fight back against that mentality within the group, not just to motivate those players to work harder, but to build belief throughout the pool that every player had a chance to make the team and to compete.
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But that task — building that competitiveness within the group, creating more of an edge — also has to be balanced against quality.
Building a team is not always about picking the best 23 or 26 players for a roster. It’s important to have the right chemistry and the right mentality top to bottom. You need glue guys. But you also need to remember that, at some point in the tournament, you might have to turn down the bench and summon the 21st or 23rd or 25th guy and put them in the game. And you better be sure that they can deliver better than the player you left at home.
Past U.S. coaches have learned that lesson the hard way before. (See: Landon Donovan in Brazil.)
It’s fine to disagree completely with the call-ups in this roster and also to give Pochettino some grace in this window. To let him try to foster a more competitive spirit within the team now in the name of a better team next summer. And to believe that the team that is summoned next June will have more than enough time to bond and build the right spirit ahead of the home tournament.
It’s fine as long as you trust that the process will land you with the best possible team in 10 months — and that Pochettino and his staff won’t get the mix of motivation, mentality and quality wrong. There has to be belief that, as Pochettino said, he’ll find the players that give the U.S. the best chance to win when the first game kicks off at SoFi Stadium.“It’s up to us to select the best players to play in the World Cup,” he said. “We have experience. We have the quality and the capacity to see and to detect and to analyze … and to create the best plan to arrive in the best condition. Now it’s up to the players. We want to have the best players to compete in the best way in the World Cup. And for sure we are going to arrive with the best roster to compete.” (Top photo: Robbie Jay Barratt / AMA / Getty Images)
Pochettino confirms no contact with Pulisic, addresses McKennie’s omission
Mauricio Pochettino said Tuesday that he “didn’t talk with” Christian Pulisic this summer, but said that the public back-and-forth between the two in June is “behind us.”Pochettino, speaking to reporters via Zoom after naming Pulisic to the U.S. men’s national team roster for September friendlies against South Korea and Japan, added: “We need to look forward. We have a plan for every single player, and the plan for Christian now is to call and to see him in this camp.”Pochettino said he hoped that Pulisic would “arrive in a good condition, fresh, [coming off a] good preseason with Milan, with his team, and ready to compete — that is the most important thing.”Pulisic will rejoin the team for the first time since March, when the U.S. lost to Panamaand Canada. In that Concacaf Nations League third-place match against Canada, Pulisic appeared to wave away a substitution, delaying Pochettino’s attempt to replace him midway through the second half.Then, in May, Pulisic chose to skip the summer’s Concacaf Gold Cup. When U.S. Soccer announced the roster, it released a statement from sporting director Matt Crocker making clear that Pulisic had initiated what was ultimately a “collective decision” after “thoughtful discussions and careful consideration.”
Pochettino, speaking to reporters that same day, called it “the best decision” for Pulisic and for the USMNT. But, in subsequent media appearances, he didn’t sound thrilled about it. Pulisic, meanwhile, drew fierce criticism from some fans and pundits, including former players. Landon Donovan said on a Fox Sports broadcast that USMNT players being “on vacation, not wanting to play in the Gold Cup,” was “pissing me off.”
That drew a response from Pulisic’s father, Mark, who implicitly told Donovan in an Instagram post to “look in the mirror + grow a pair.” A week later, Christian Pulisic went on a CBS Sports podcast to defend himself, and argued that questions about “my commitment, especially towards the national team,” were “way out of line.”
Pulisic also made the point that he “did want to be a part of at least the two friendlies” prior to the Gold Cup, against Turkey and Switzerland. “I did speak with the coaches, and I asked, and I wanted to be a part of the team in whatever capacity I could,” Pulisic said. “And they said no, they only wanted one roster [for the friendlies and the Gold Cup]. And that’s coach’s decision, I fully respect that. I didn’t understand it, but it is what it is.”
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Pochettino, speaking two days later at a press conference on the eve of the Gold Cup, responded. Players could not pick and choose when they play for the national team, he said. “I think when I signed my contract [with] the federation,” he added, “[it said] I am the head coach. I am not a mannequin.”Pulisic also revealed that he’d only had one conversation with Pochettino about the decision. On Tuesday, Pochettino seemed to confirm, as Fox Sports reported, that the two haven’t spoken since May. There was “nothing to talk [about],” Pochettino said.Later, when asked whether he considered not calling Pulisic into the September camp, Pochettino said: “Christian had the possibility to have a good rest in the summer, and then start the season. … He’s in a condition to come. … He can add his freshness, and, of course, his quality.”
USMNT midfielder Weston McKennie won’t take part in friendlies vs. South Korea and Japan (Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images)
Where’s Weston?
The rest of Pochettino’s September roster, though, was headlined by omissions. When asked why he left off midfielder Weston McKennie, Pochettino indicated that McKennie’s delayed offseason, and his precarious place in Juventus’ squad, were two factors.“We already know Weston,” Pochettino said. “It’s not necessary to call him to know.”McKennie’s involvement in the Club World Cup left him with a truncated preseason at the Italian club. And as the Serie A season started last weekend, he found himself on the outside looking in at the Juve starting lineup. He entered the team’s opener, a 2-0 win over Parma, in the 89th minute.“We wanted to give him the possibility to be more settled in his club,” Pochettino said of McKennie, “and the possibility to be in his best form.”Pochettino indicated that the reasoning for Johnny Cardoso’s omission was similar. Cardoso moved to Atlético Madrid last month from Real Betis. The thinking, Pochettino said, was to “give time to them to adapt in the new environment.”Pochettino also said, though, that “no one has their place sure.” That, he said, was his broader message: “everyone needs to fight.”But when asked if already had in mind the players who would return in October, he nodded his head and said, “Yes.” Later, when asked specifically about McKennie, he said that September will be “the last camp that we are going to bring some new faces.” And he hinted that McKennie will be back in October.“Weston [needs] time to prepare himself with [Juventus], and it’s important to be with his team fighting for a place,” Pochettino said. He added that he wants to give McKennie “all the tools to fight for a place to be every week, on the pitch, competing. Because that is going to put him in his best form. … We know his talent.” (Top photo: John Dorton/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images)
The Champions League draw’s impact on USMNT stars’ all-important season
Over the past decade, U.S. players have become increasingly relevant to the competition. Last year featured a new record for involvement, with USMNT-eligible players eclipsing 5,000 combined minutes in the 2024-25 Champions League. What looked to be a promising business end for a few of the teams with Americans involved quickly went south in the playoff round, though, with little presence in the final three rounds of the competition.
Will it be another year with many missing out on the tournament’s biggest games? Or is anyone, during this all-important season leading into a home World Cup, poised to become the second U.S. player to take the field in a Champions League final?
Let’s make sense of the draw, through an American lens:
Who are the headliners involved?
While the transfer window remains open in most of Europe’s top leagues for a few more days, there are currently seven members of the USMNT who project to prominently feature in this year’s tournament. It’s a healthy portion, enough to comprise over half of a starting XI, but down from 13 players who saw the field last season.
Four are entering the Champions League as returning members of qualifying teams. Folarin Balogun will hope the third year’s the charm, having struggled in his first two seasons since AS Monaco signed him from Arsenal for a lavish $43.4 million fee. Balogun now finds himself battling for starts with a player whom he rose through the Arsenal youth ranks, Mika Biereth, with each ex-Gunner starting one of Monaco’s first two Ligue 1 fixtures. It’s a pivotal season for the 24-year-old, who has struggled for consistency but whose commitment with the USMNT was supposed to solve the program’s striker headaches.
Ricardo Pepi and Sergiño Dest should play major roles for PSV, who fell in last year’s round of 16 in a 9-3 aggregate smashing by Arsenal. Dest is now fully recovered from his 2024 knee injury, while Pepi is recovering from his own season-ending operation. PSV has put a lot of trust in the 22-year-old striker, signing him to a fresh pact last winter amid transfer interest and handing him the No. 9 shirt following Luuk de Jong’s departure.
For now, at least, Weston McKennie remains with Juventus despite yet another window of speculation that the Serie A side is ready to let him leave if there’s credible interest. The club lists the midfielder as its vice-captain, and he donned the armband on a few occasions in last year’s Champions League. He’s the sole American on the squad, as Tim Weah joined fellow qualifier Marseille on a year-long loan this summer. Weah’s first league start came as an inverting left winger, and he could pop up with far more goals than he did as a wingback with Juventus.
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Two players who moved for some of the largest transfer fees spent on an American player will hope to back that investment with strong Champions League showings. Malik Tillman was vital as PSV shocked Holland by snatching the Eredivisie title on the final day, and he also putting in leading shifts for Mauricio Pochettino at this summer’s Gold Cup. He’s part of a radically transformed Bayer Leverkusen, helping make up for the recent exodus of talent from the since-dismantled 2023-24 Bundesliga champion.
Johnny Cardoso will also feature in Atlético Madrid’s midfield, having started for Real Betis in last year’s UEFA Europa Conference League final. While he’s been dependable in La Liga, his USMNT performances have left much to be desired. Perhaps Diego Simeone can help provide the right tutelage to help round out his game.
A few other Americans will hope to see the field as their teams’ schedules get congested or after their advancement fates have been determined. Three U.S. eligible players serve as backup goalkeepers or youthful netminding prospects: Brandon Austin (Tottenham), Gabriel Slonina (Chelsea) and Diego Kochen (FC Barcelona).
Eintracht Frankfurt has two players who may be far from Pochettino’s pool: veteran fullback Timothy Chandler and 18-year-old attacking midfielder Marvin Dills, a promising playmaker worth tracking for the future. Borussia Dortmund may have sold Giovanni Reyna, but Cole Campbell and Mathis Albert will hope to inherit some of his (and others’) late-game cameos to impress Niko Kovač.
Christian Pulisic and AC Milan will be sitting out European competition this season (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
Wait … where’s Christian Pulisic?
While several crucial options for Pochettino will play in the pinnacle of the club game, the program’s most important player is entirely absent.
Last season was difficult for AC Milan, which aspired to contend on all fronts despite Stefano Pioli’s departure in the summer. Poor form necessitated another midseason coaching change, and the team struggled for consistency as well as to reach its previous heights from recent memory. Milan slumped to an eighth-place finish in Serie A, below the positions necessary to reach any of the Champions League, Europa League or Conference League.
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Their other campaigns suffered dramatic faceplants after Sérgio Conceição took the helm in midwinter. Milan entered the final day of the UCL league phase in prime position to avoid the knockout playoff round, but a defeat against Dinamo Zagreb forced them into the extra set of games, where they were binned by Feyenoord and failed to reach the round of 16. The Rossoneri’s final hope was to reach the Europa League by winning the Coppa Italia, and they did well to overcome rival Inter in a two-leg semifinal. However, Bologna pipped them in the final 1-0, slamming the door to Europe shut.
It’s the first time since 2016 where Milan has failed to qualify for European competition. Max Allegri will hope to get the club back in short order. Barring an unexpected departure in this or the winter window, Pulisic (and fellow U.S. international Yunus Musah) will play all of his club matches this season against Italian opposition.
UCL draws for teams with USMNT players
PSV
Ricardo Pepi, Sergiño Dest
FC Bayern
Liverpool
Atlético Madrid
Bayer Leverkusen
napoli
Olympiacos
Union Saint-Gilloise
Newcastle
78.3
Bayer Leverkusen
Malik Tillman
PSG
Man City
Villarreal
Benfica
PSV
Olympiacos
Newcastle
Copenhagen
77.5
Marseille
Tim Weah
Liverpool
Real Madrid
Atlalanta
Club Brugge
Ajax
Sporting CP
Newcastle
Union Saint-Gilloise
76
Atlético Madrid
Johnny Cardoso
Inter Milan
Liverpool
Eintracht Frankfurt
Arsenal
Bodø/Glimt
PSV
Union Saint-Gilloise
Galatasaray
75.8
AS Monaco
Folarin Balogun
Man City
Real Madrid
Juventus
Club Brugge
Tottenham
Bodø/Glimt
Galatasaray
Pafos
74.5
Juventus
Weston McKennie
Borussia Dortmund
Real Madrid
Benfica
Villarreal
Sporting CP
Bodø/Glimt
Pafos
AS Monaco
72.5
So what did the draw yield?
Of the headlining U.S. lot, it’s McKennie’s Juventus that may have received the most favorable draw. The Italians managed to avoid all of the record-setting six qualifiers from the Premier League, although away days against Villarreal and Monaco could prove tricky.
According to the UEFA coefficient, which awards points based on club performances in the last five years of continental play, Pepi, Dest and PSV received the most difficult draw of any qualifier. The two-time reigning Dutch champion will have to run a difficult gauntlet, facing Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Napoli, Atlético Madrid, Leverkusen and Newcastle. That will provide the striker and fullback with some considerable challenges.
Leverkusen finds itself with a tough octet of fixtures, including perennial European powers PSG, Manchester City and Benfica, while Atlético Madrid will take on Inter, Liverpool and Arsenal as part of its league phase. Balogun will hope to spark wins for Monaco against City, Real Madrid, Juventus and Tottenham among others. Marseille has the projected toughest draw of the Ligue 1 entrants, with its list of opponents topped by Liverpool, Real Madrid and Atalanta.
While dates and times for each match won’t be sorted until Saturday, Aug. 30, we’re guaranteed a few matchups pitting two of the more marquee Americans against one another. Those matchups are (with the drawn hosts listed first):
PSV (Pepi, Dest) vs. Atlético Madrid (Cardoso)
AS Monaco (Balogun) vs. Juventus (McKennie)
Bayer Leverkusen (Tillman) vs. PSV (Pepi, Dest)
(Top photo: Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
Premier League Predictions: Liverpool vs Arsenal, Leeds vs Newcastle and the rest of Matchday 3
More than 3,000 miles away in the U.S. state of Rhode Island, Sunderland fan Derek was punching the air. As well as condemning Newcastle, Sunderland’s arch-rivals, to an agonising 3-2 home defeat, Ngumoha’s goal extended the subscribers’ lead at the top of our Premier League predictions table.
“When Liverpool were up 2-0 against 10 men, I thought it was a done deal,” Derek says. “How wrong I was — as was the case with my Sunderland pick.”
Wrong in the moment… and yet right when it mattered.
Each week, a different Athletic subscriber is chosen to join an algorithm, six-year-old Wilfred and me, Oli Kay, in predicting the Premier League results. We’re awarding three points for a correct scoreline and one point for getting the result right.
There’s also a bonus point for any correct “unique” prediction, so Derek got two points for being the only one to call Liverpool’s victory in Newcastle.
He got one scoreline right (Crystal Palace 1-1 Nottingham Forest) and called another five results correctly. That bonus point, thanks to Ngumoha’s stoppage-time winner, meant he equalled Vaageesh’s nine-point haul in week one, taking the subscribers three points clear at the top after two rounds.
There were two other bonus points awarded last weekend: one for me for calling Burnley’s victory over Sunderland (sorry, Derek) and one for the algorithm for being spot-on with Fulham 1-1 Manchester United.
Spare a thought for Wilf, who was on course for a massive four-pointer after 99 minutes with Newcastle and Liverpool locked at 2-2 — only to be denied by Ngumoha’s goal. A bit mean to pick on the younger kids like that, Rio.
“So close to glory,” Wilf’s dad tells us. “Gutted.”
This week’s subscriber is Katherine, a 43-year-old Chelsea fan from London, who, after Vaageesh’s and Derek’s efforts, has a lot to live up to.
Our subscriber’s match of the week
Chelsea vs Fulham, Saturday, 12.30pm UK/7.30am ET
Katherine says: “The feeling of optimism going into this season has been through the roof and scoring five goals without Cole Palmer last weekend only adds fuel to that fire. Fulham are a solid team and are difficult to beat (which we found out last season), but I’m confident we’ll have too much for them.”
Chelsea 3-1 Fulham
Oli says: Remarkably, Chelsea are starting their season with four consecutive London derbies. In fact, only one of their first eight Premier League games is outside the capital’s M25 orbital motorway. It must all feel rather parochial for the new world champions, but they seemed to enjoy themselves out east at West Ham last weekend. This might be more of a battle — like their opening game, a goalless draw at home to Crystal Palace — but although I never feel totally confident in backing this Chelsea team, I fancy a home win, even if they are again without the injured Palmer.
Chelsea 2-1 Fulham
Chelsea beat West Ham 5-1 away last week (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Oli’s other predictions
Manchester United vs Burnley
Oli says: For all the excitement surrounding their new additions, it’s only one point from two games for Manchester United this season, plus that shock Carabao Cup loss to fourth-tier Grimsby Town in midweek. More glaringly, it’s just 28 points from 29 games under Ruben Amorim since his appointment last November. That early-season optimism is going to give way to gloom if they can’t get some wins on the board very quickly. With Manchester City away and Chelsea at home straight after the international break that begins on Monday, victory in this game seems essential.
Oli says: As nice as it is to see Sunderland enjoying their return to the top flight after eight years away, wouldn’t it have been nicer still if Jordan Henderson was back at his hometown club rather than potentially lining up against them this weekend? His best years are behind him, but he would have been ideal for the Granit Xhaka role — as indeed is Granit Xhaka. Henderson made a real difference to Brentford’s midfield last weekend on his first start for them, so Keith Andrews’ team shouldn’t be the soft touch they looked like in week one away to Nottingham Forest.
Sunderland 1-1 Brentford
Tottenham Hotspur vs Bournemouth
Oli says: This is all feeling quite August 2023 for Tottenham, isn’t it? New manager, new optimism, strong start and a sudden sense of: “Hey, these players are actually pretty good, you know?” Those feelings quickly faded under predecessor Ange Postecoglou — unbeaten in his first 10 Premier League games, then 34 defeats in the next 66 — but I do feel an upturn could prove more sustainable this time under Thomas Frank.
Oli says: I’m struggling to find cause for optimism for Wolves at the moment. Vitor Pereira did such a good job when he came in midway through last season, but a difficult summer has left the squad looking well short, whereas Everton will be energised by last week’s lift-off at their new home and by the additions of Jack Grealish and Tyler Dibling.
Wolves 0-1 Everton
Leeds United vs Newcastle United
Oli says: My historic references last week led subscriber Sam K to accuse me of living in the 1950s. Come on, Sam. Let’s get this right: 1980s, 1990s, even early 2000s, but not 1950s. Anyway, for me, this fixture evokes the turn-of-the-century feeling that anything was possible. (Spoiler: it wasn’t, particularly for these two clubs.) It’s Lee Bowyer, it’s Jonathan Woodgate, it’s Mark Viduka, it’s James Milner, it’s Alan Smith. It’s a Kevin Keegan meltdown in front of the TV cameras at Elland Road and it’s chairman Peter Ridsdale living the dream while feeding his tropical fish in the executive suite. It’s two clubs who, after a miserable period, are now in a happier place again. And it’s… very hard to call actually, but I’m going to go for a depleted Newcastle battling to their first win of the season.
Oli says: We all overestimated City last week. If this transition to a new-look team is going to work, it needs more of a balance between freshness and familiarity. I expect a more recognisable line-up from Pep Guardiola at Brighton — and possibly a more recognisable performance.
Brighton 1-2 City
Nottingham Forest vs West Ham United
Oli says: I really like this Forest team. I don’t like this West Ham team. I’m not talking about the club, the fans, the manager or individual players, some of whom I like; I mean the team. It lacks speed, it lacks heart and it lacks identity. I’m not sure what it’s meant to be. Their first two performances of the season have been really poor. It might get worse before it gets better.
Forest 3-0 West Ham
Liverpool vs Arsenal
Oli says: Isn’t it a bit early to have the two title favourites facing each other? I don’t like it. The transfer window is still open and teams are still finding their rhythm. Having this match now also means the return fixture is in the first week of January, right at the end of the hectic festive programme when players are running on fumes. I don’t like that either. Anyway, if I’m filibustering, it’s because I have no idea which way this is going to go — and I’m determined not to say a draw, even though I want to.
(Deep breath)… I’m going for an Arsenal win. I just don’t think Liverpool have settled yet — two wins, but two shaky performances. And if they prove me wrong, as they did by winning at Newcastle, I will absolutely reinstate them as my title favourites.
Liverpool 1-2 Arsenal
Aston Villa vs Crystal Palace
Oli says: Villa have been surprisingly slow out of the blocks — no goals scored yet, and just one point from their first two games. Palace haven’t exactly hit the ground running either, but their two draws seem more justifiable given their European commitments and an ongoing sense of disruption in the transfer market. This is a chance for Villa to kick-start their season. If they don’t, manager Unai Emery will be concerned, with PSR calculations still a concern as Monday’s transfer deadline looms.
All 4 MLS teams won vs their Mexican counterparts on Wednesday night as MLS dominated this competition and will send all 4 teams to the Semi-Finals Wednesday night for the first time ever. Two of the games did go to shootouts however. I have to admit – I stayed up to 2 am to watch these games as I have been intrigued by this competition. Huge news that American Paxton Aaronson is returning to MLS with Colorado.
Italy & Germany Start European Seasons this Weekend
Exciting for Americans as Italy and Germany get underway with tons of American internationals on rosters with stars like Pulisic @ AC Milan, McKennie @ Juventus and Joe Scally at M’Gladbach & now Gio Reyna who has joined him from Dortmund on hand. Of course Inter Milan and Bayern Munich will be tough to knock of their perches as each league. Full previews for both leagues below.
Indy 11 loses in Jagermeister Cup – Hosts Miami FC Sat for All Things Indiana Night
Indianapolis – For the second time in the past three USL Jägermeister Cup matches, penalty kicks decided the outcome, but this time Indy Eleven fell to Greenville Triumph SC, 6-5, in the Quarterfinals at Carroll Stadium.The Boys in Blue scored first in the 55th minute when midfielder Bruno Rendon played a cross into that area that forward Romario Williams finished into the top right corner to give his team a 1-0 lead. Indy Eleven maintained that lead until the 90th minute when Greenville tied the match at 1-1 on an own goal. In penalty kicks, Greenville shot first, with both teams converting the first 11 tries. Greenville goalkeeper Gunther Rankeburg then made the deciding save on Oliver Brynéus’ attempt to send his team to the Jäger Cup semi-finals.The Boys in Blue resume USL Championship play vs. Miami FC on Saturday at 7 pm at Carroll Stadium on All Things Indiana Night. Single-game tickets for all matches are available via Ticketmaster.
Dan, Brent and Shane Reffing at Park Tudor Thursday night Josh, Mohamed & I at the Hamilton Heights Complex Tuesday night
TV GAME SCHEDULE
Fri, Aug 22 2:30 pm ESPN2 Bayern Munich vs RB Leipzig Germany 8 pm Amazon Prime Chicago Red Stars vs NC Courage NWSL Sat, Aug 23 7:20 am Para+ Wrexham vs West Brom 7:30 am USA Man City vs Tottenham 9:30 am ESPN+ Leverkusen (Tilman) vs Hoffenheim 9:30 am Para+ Wrexham vs Sheffield Wed 9:30 am Para+ Norwich City (Stewart) vs Middlesborough (Aidan Morris) 9:30 am Para+ Coventry City (Haji Wright) vs Queens Park Rangers (Juergan Sumners old team) 10 am USA Brentford vs Aston villa 10 am Peackcock Bournemouth (Adams) vs Wolverhampton 11 am 12:30 pm NBC Arsenal vs Leeds (Aaronson) 12:30 pm St Pauli (Sands) vs Dortmund (Reyna) 1:30 pm ESPND+ Atletico Madrid (Cardoso) vs Elche 2:45 pm Para+ AC Milan (Pulisic) vs Cremosnese 3:30 pm ESPND+ Levante vs Barcelona 4 pm CBS Bay FC vs Washington Spirit NWSL 7 pm TV6, ESPN+ Indy 11 vs Miami FC 7:30 pm Apple TV free Chicago vs Philly 7:30 pm Prime Cincy vs NYCFC 7:30 pm ION NY/NJ Gotham FC vs Utah Royals NWSL 10 pm ION Portland vs Kansas City Current NWSL Sun, Aug 24 9 am USA Everton vs Brighton (new stadium unviel) 9 am Peacock Crystal Palace (Richards) vs Nottingham Forest 11:30 am NBC Fulham (Jedi-hurt) vs Man United 11:30 pm ESPN+ M’Gladbach (Scally) vs Hamburger 2:45 pm CBSSN Juventus (McKennie) vs Parma 3:30 pm ESPNd+ Oviedo vs Real Madrid 7 pm Apple TV Charlotte vs NY Red Bulls 7 pm Para+ Houston Dash vs Seattle Reign NWSL 8 pm Para+, Prime, Golazo San Diego Wave vs Racing Louisville 9 pm FS1 Apple TV Seattle vs KC Mon, Aug, 25 1:30 pm ESPN+ Athletic Club vs Rayo Vallecano 2:45 pm CBSSN Inter Milan vs Torino 3 pm USA Newcastle vs Liverpool Tues, Aug 26 12:45 pm Para+ Kairat vs Celtic (CVB) 2:45 pm Para+ Preston North End vs Wrexham 2:45 pm Para+ Bournmouth (Adams) vs Brentford C Cup 2:45 pm Para+ Norwich (Sargent) vs Southampton C Cup Wed, Aug 30 2:$5 PM Para+ Fulham (Robinson) vs Bristol City C Cup 2:45 pm Para+ Grimbsy Town vs Man United C Cup 2:45 pm Para+ Millwall vs Coventry City (Wright) C Cup 2:50 pm Para+ Club Brugge vs Rangers Champs League Fri, Aug 29 2:45 pm Para+ Lecce vs AC Milan (Pulisic) 3 pm CBSSN Leicester City vs Birmingham City Championship 8 pm Prime Orlando Pride (Marta) vs NY/NJ Gothem NWSL 10:30 pm Para+, Prime Seattle Reign vs San Diego Wave NWSL 10:30 pm Para+, Prime, Golazo Portland Thorns vs Utah Sat, Aug 30 7:30 am USA Chelsea vs Fulham (Jedi) 12:30 pm NBC Leeds United (Aaronson) vs Newcastle United Sun Aug 31 7:30 am USA Nottingham Forest vs West Ham 11:30 am USA Liverpool vs Arsenal 12:30 pm CBSSN Genoa vs Juventus (McKennie) Sat, Sept 6 5 pm TNT, Tele, Max USA Men vs Korea Tues, Sept 9 7:30 pm TNT, Tele, Max USA Men vs Japan in Columbus, Ohio Fri, Oct 10 8:30 pm TNT, Max USA Men vs Ecuador Tues, Oct 14 9 pm TNT, Max USA Men vs Australia
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Italy and Germany join the regular season roundup this weekend for a full schedule of league action as we fully get the European calendar underway. Despite that, there is a slow start to the weekend with a lack of action on Friday. However, the combo of all leagues in play, and matches not starting up until Friday is out, gives us a load of action to follow starting Saturday morning. Let’s get to it:
Saturday
Eintracht Frankfurt v Werder Bremen – 9:30a on ESPN+: Paxten Aaronson is heading to Colorado and Timothy Chandler doesn’t actually play so Eintracht Frankfurt will be dropping off our watchlist for now, unless Nathaniel Brown decides to make a switch to the USMNT.
Bayer Leverkusen v TSG Hoffenheim – 9:30a on ESPN+: Malik Tillman missed Bayer Leverkusen’s 4-0 win over SG Sonnenhof in dfb Pokal action last weekend and will be unavailable this weekend as well as Leverkusen open their season against Hoffenheim though he has returned to training.
AFC Bournemouth v Wolverhampton Wanderers – 10a on Peacock: Tyler Adams and Bournemouth look to bounce back after their 4-2 loss to Liverpool in last weekends opener. Their opponent this weekend, the Wolverhampton Wanderers, also gave up four goals last weekend in a 4-0 loss to Manchester City.
Norwich City v Middlesbrough – 10a on Paramount+: Josh Sargent and Aidan Morris will face off in the Championship as Sargent looks to continue his hot start. The forward, who was left out of the Gold Cup squad, has scored in each of his first three matches to start the 2025 season. Meanwhile, Morris and Middlesborough haven’t conceded a goal in league play through their first two matches as they are off to a 2-0-0 start.
Coventry City v Queens Park Rangers – 10a on Paramount+: Haji Wright picked up his first goal of the season last weekend as he converted a penalty and Coventry City went on to defeat Derby 5-3 and pick up their first win of the season.
Olympique Marseille v Paris FC – 11a on beIN Sports: Tim Weah’s playing options look to be opening up as a post match dustup following last weekends opening loss between Adrien Rabiot and Jonathan Rowe that was described by the club as being “extremely violent” led to both players being transfer listed. Weah came on as a substitute at the start of the second half last weekend for centerback Geoffrey Kondogbia as the team looked to take advantage of a first half red card to Rennais. Marseille need to rebound quickly as they take on newly promoted Paris FC on Saturday.
Arsenal v Leeds United – 12:30p on NBC and Universo: Brenden Aaronson and Leeds United defeated Everton in their return to the Premier League with Aaronson seeing 23’ minutes off the bench. The difficulty level ratchets up a notch or twelve on Saturday as they face an Arsenal side coming off a 1-0 win over Manchester United and looking to make a title run this season.
St. Pauli v Borussia Dortmund – 12:30p on ESPN+: James Sands made his return from injury as St. Pauli needed penalties to defeat Eintracht Norderstedt in dfp Pokal first round action on Saturday. Sands went the full 90’ in his return playing as a center-mid. St. Pauli will now face Borussia Dortmund which also looks like they will be dropping off as a regular on the viewing guide with the likely exit of Giovanni Reyna and neither Cole Campbell nor Mathis Albert looking likely to break through in the short term.
PSV v Groningen – 12:45p on ESPN+: Sergino Dest created PSV’s opening goal with a fizzed cross that was redirected for an own goal last Sunday in PSV’s 2-0 win over Twente. Ricardo Pepi was again not included in the squad as his recovery is ongoing but Alassane Plea has picked up a long term injury so there are certainly minutes for the taking when Pepi is available. This weekend PSV face FC Groningen who are coming off a 2-1 win over Heerenveen.
Atletico Madrid v Elche – 1:30p on ESPN Deportes and ESPN+: Johnny Cardoso started Atletico Madrid’s La Liga opener and came off at the half with his club up 1-0 but the team would give up two second half goals to Espanyol to fall 2-1. Cardoso did not look out of place in the first half though he did pick up a yellow just minutes prior to the half ending. This weekends opponent, Elche, played to a 1-1 draw with Johnny’s former team, Real Betis, last weekend.
AC Milan v Cremonese – 2:45p on Paramount+: Christian Pulisic got his season started on the right foot, scoring a goal in AC Milan’s 2-0 Copa Italia win over Bari last weekend. Pulisic played the first 66’ minutes of the match before being subbed out for Club and Country teammate Yunus Musah. This weekend’s opponent Cremonese lost in penalties to Palermo after neither side was able to score a goal in regulation.
Olympique Lyon v Metz – 3p on beIN Sports: Tanner Tessmann went the full 90’ as Lyon defeated Lens 1-0 in their opener and will now face a Metz side that fell 0-1 to Strasbourg.
Sunday
Crystal Palace v Nottingham Forest – 9a on Peacock: Chris Richards and Crystal Palace played Chelsea to a scoreless draw last Sunday and will now face Nottingham Forest who finished last season just outside of the Champions League positions and started their 2025-26 campaign with a 3-1 win over Brentford.
Toulouse v Brest – 10:15a on beIN Sports: Mark McKenzie went the full 90’ last weekend as Toulouse defeated Nice 1-0 to open their season.
Fulham v Manchester United – 11:30a on USA Network: Antonee Robinson missed Fulham’s 1-1 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend but is nearing a return and may be available this weekend as Fulham face Manchester United. Manager Marco Silva said he would make a decision on Robinson’s availability for this weekend following Saturday’s training session.
Borussia Monchengladbach v Hamburg SV – 11:30a on ESPN+: Joe Scally started and went the full 90’ for Borussia Monchengladbach last weekend at RB in the team’s 3-2 win over Delmenhorst. Gladbach will face Hamburg this weekend in their Bundesliga opener. Gladbach may also be moving up the priority viewing list in the near future with rumors that Gio Reyna could be joining his BFF Joe Scally in Gladbach.
Lille v Monaco – 2:45p on beIN Sports: Folarin Balogun missed last weekend’s match as Monaco opened their season but is reportedly available this weekend as they face Lille this weekend. Monaco opened their season with a 3-1 win over Le Havre.
Juventus v Parma – 2:45p on CBSSN and Paramount+: Weston McKennie and Juventus will open their season against Parma on Sunday looking to bounce back from a dissapointing 2024-25 season that saw them finish well out of the title race though they did just sneak into fourth place and the final Champions League spot. They will face a Parma side that were just out of the relegation positions last year.
USMNT countdown to the World Cup: Does McKennie have Juve future?
Jeff CarlisleAug 21, 2025, 07:54 AM ET
The opening weeks of the European club season have seen some auspicious starts. Norwich City‘s Josh Sargent continues to bang in the goals, with his tally against Portsmouth already giving him three on the young season. Chris Richards and Crystal Palace secured an impressive road shutout at Chelsea, and Sergiño Dest continued his fine form for PSV Eindhoven.The most notable performances of the weekend came from players in Christian Pulisic and Johnny Cardoso who have had some attention around them — not all of it positive.Throughout the season, ESPN will be monitoring the progress of the U.S. men’s national team player pool, delivering insights into those whose form or fitness has made them particularly intriguing. We call it the USMNT’s Countdown to the men’s World Cup.ESPN will count down to June 11 every week so that way, when the U.S. team is announced for this highly anticipated World Cup on home soil, no names on that 26-man roster will come as a surprise.Welcome to the USMNT’s Countdown to the World Cup. Only 295 days to go.
The 66-minute performance reinforced a truism about Pulisic and his USMNT teammates: If he plays well, he’ll be praised. If he doesn’t, he’ll be criticized. Might some of that criticism be over the top? Possibly. But like it or not, this is what he signed up for, and using his docuseries as a platform to complain about said criticism won’t change that. With next summer’s World Cup now only 10 months away, the scrutiny on Pulisic and his play is only bound to increase. His start to the season is nonetheless encouraging.
There has been plenty of head-scratching when it comes to Cardoso and the USMNT. Namely, why doesn’t he replicate his club form at international level? Cardoso’s debut for Atléti on Sunday against Espanyol elicited a very different type of question. Why was he subbed out at halftime by manager Diego Simeone?
It’s a decision made all the more puzzling given how Cardoso performed. He completed 87.5% of his passes and won 71.4% of his duels. Atlético were up 1-0 when he departed, only to lose the match 3-2 when Espanyol rallied for two goals. Simeone even praised Cardoso for his play and acknowledged he needed to reexamine his decisions.
“I think I learned a lesson,” he told reporters afterward. “I’ll take something away from that. There’s a lesson for me.”
Given that Cardoso earned compliments, it’s a start that bodes well for continued playing time on a very competitive squad. Now the challenge for Pochettino is to find a way to get the best out of Cardoso when he dons a different red, white and blue jersey.
An annual tradition: Asking whether McKennie has a future at Juve
There’s always a danger in reading too much into preseason. There are youngsters to try out, fitness levels to manage, and in the case of Juventus, there’s recovery from a packed summer that included the FIFA Club World Cup. All of that said, when it comes to McKennie, how big of a role will he end up playing for Juve this season? It seems to be an annual query.
Last season, McKennie was ever-present, making a total of 48 league and cup appearances. But if the past three friendlies are anything to go by, the U.S. midfielder will be hard-pressed to repeat that level of activity. As the Serie A opener against Genoa nears this weekend, and with manager Igor Tudor opting for a 3-4-3 formation, McKennie has seen his playing time steadily decrease, with him entering last weekend’s friendly against Atalanta in second-half stoppage time. There have also been reports he might be headed to AS Roma.
If McKennie remains with Juve as a squad player, the team’s presence in the UEFA Champions League figures to result in plenty of player rotation, but it’s a less-than-ideal scenario for McKennie and the USMNT; it also might open the door for a fringe player or two. Middlesbrough‘s Aidan Morris has impressed in the opening weeks of the season.
The in-form XI
If the World Cup started tomorrow, who would make up Pochettino’s starting XI? Each week we take our best attempt to name a starting lineup based on form and fitness, which means there’s no room for injured players.
Even as Dest returns to health, a competition is brewing for the remaining outside back slots. Antonee Robinson, when healthy, is the presumed starter at left back, but he has yet to even make the gameday roster in recent weeks for Fulham as he continues to recover from offseason knee surgery. One possible option on the left side, Watford‘s Caleb Wiley, is in a similar situation with a back injury.
The hope is that both players return to the field soon, but in the meantime, Pochettino has plenty of options in an attempt to fill the void. Joe Scally has played on either flank for both club and country, and has been a steady presence on the backline for Borussia Mönchengladbach, making more than 30 appearances in each of the past four seasons. However, Pochettino has shown a clear preference for outside backs who can contribute to the attack, whereas Scally’s strengths lie more on the defensive end of the field. Last season, in 32 league appearances, he had no goals or assists, and created only 11 chances.
That has led Pochettino to look at other options. Both Max Arfsten of the Columbus Crew and Orlando City SC‘s Alex Freeman logged the majority of minutes available at outside back during the Gold Cup. Arfsten showed some vulnerabilities in his defending, but improved as the tournament progressed and chipped in with a goal in the quarterfinal win against Costa Rica. Holstein Kiel‘s John Tolkin got time in the Gold Cup as well, and started the club season in dream fashion, scoring Kiel’s opener in the 2-0 victory over Homburg in the DFB-Pokal. The sequence showed off Tolkin’s passing, mobility and finishing ability. His edge in defending means he cracks this week’s in-form XI.
That is by no means the extent of Pochettino’s options when it comes to outside backs. Tim Weah‘s debut for Marseille last weekend came as a wing back, and Yunus Musah‘s early days under new Milan manager Massimiliano Allegri have seen him play in a similar role. Weah has shown flexibility in the past at club level in terms of playing on either flank, although for the USMNT, his value lies farther upfield given his ability to stretch and get behind defenses. The September window should reveal plenty.
Big Board 1.0 update
ESPN’s USMNT Big Board 1.0 went live earlier this month, and each Big Board will provide the foundation for weekly player updates. Below are the minutes and player ratings for each of those 35 players.
Turner might get the nod in the in-form XI, but Steffen is doing all he can to push for more consideration from Pochettino. Steffen’s goals prevented mark of 6.33 is the third highest in MLS, showing a level of consistency that was absent last season. The big challenge for Steffen is simply staying healthy. If he does, he should get a chance to battle for the starting goalkeeping spot.
McKenzie remains the leading contender to push for Ream’s spot in the center of the USMNT defense, and he delivered a composed performance in Toulouse’s season-opening 1-0 win over Nice, completing 93% of his passes and winning 67% of his duels. Consistency with the USMNT has been an issue, but he’s off to the right kind of start with his club.
USMNT’s Chris Richards reacts to Community Shield win with Palace
Chris Richards speaks after Crystal Palace’s penalty shootout win over Liverpool in the Community Shield.
Luna sat out last weekend’s 1-0 defeat to Charlotte as he was suspended because of a red card he picked up against the New York Red Bulls. Luna now has seven yellow cards and two ejections on the season. He’s obviously getting more attention from opponents, but he’ll need to find a way to keep his composure as well as the edge with which he plays. Not at all easy, but a trait he’ll need to refine.
Zendejas looks to be cooling off a bit … or is he? During the two tournaments that comprised the 2024-25 Liga MX season, Zendejas had 11 goals from 7.07 xG across 40 matches. So far this season, Zendejas has one goal from 1.36 xG in five matches. So his goals/game are down, but his xG/game is up. Still early days yet, but if Zendejas continues to get chances, his goal scoring should round into form.
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Serie A season preview: Inter Milan favourites again, challenges for Juve, Conte being Conte
One normal season of Serie A. That’s all I ask for…
If normal means more unpredictability, more infrastructure-defying competitiveness, more “only in Italy, eh?”
As we’ll discover in this preview of the upcoming season, a coach has already rescued his sporting director from a burning building, Drake has bailed a club out of bankruptcy on the condition he can design their shirts, and Antonio Conte wants more signings, more, more, more.
Just when you thought you were out, this league pulls you back in…
Who do you think will win the title and why?
No one has retained the title since Juventus at the end of their nine-year streak in 2020, but Inter Milan have been stealthily dynastic.
Think about it. They ended Juventus’ dominance in 2021, took the title to the final day in 2022, and won the league in 2024. They’ve also been to Europa League and Champions League finals and pulled off the Coppa-Super Coppa double, twice.
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Unlike Napoli a year ago, Inter have continuity of coaching and the eviction of Suning brings stability at the ownership level.
For the first time in four summers, Inter have not sold a big name. They’ve added (Piotr Zielinski and Mehdi Taremi) without subtracting and, for that reason, appear primed to add a 21st Scudetto to their collection.
Inter celebrate their 2024 title — will they do the same in 2025? (Mattia Pistoia/Getty Images)
And who will make up the rest of the top four?
Top four is so passee. Isn’t this the league that earned five Champions League places through coefficient-leading performances in Europe? OK, I’m stalling and trying to buy myself an extra place here because, credit to Serie A, it is so tough to call.
One of the reasons for that is six of last year’s top 10 have changed their coach; seven if we include Daniele De Rossi, who is beginning his first full season at Roma. My instinct is to reward continuity and to back holders and favourites Inter, as well as Atalanta. Gian Piero Gasperini has made the top four on five occasions. If anyone slips up, Atalanta are there to take advantage.
Elsewhere, Antonio Conte is a guarantee and whether it’s Victor Osimhen or Romelu Lukaku up front, I expect Napoli to push hard. Conte’s teams in Italy always challenge for the title (unless they’re called Arezzo or Atalanta).
It’s the Bergamaschi who are the variables here.
By winning the Europa League, they showed the depth and resilience necessary to cope with eight Champions League games. But the injuries to Giorgio Scalvini and Gianluca Scamacca, and a stand-off between the club and Teun Koopmeiners, who wants to force a move to Juventus, throw a spanner in the works.
The test for Atalanta will be similar to what Napoli experienced last year: can they keep a group of players hungry, motivated and willing to stay at the club after finally winning a coveted trophy?
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AC Milan should be fine. More than fine. They’ve beaten Manchester City, Real Madrid and Barcelona in pre-season. They’ve won the Trofeo Berlusconi. Surely an eighth Champions League will follow? Am I right?
This summer’s strategy seems to have as its working title “Sceptics Busters”. New coach Paulo Fonseca and Milan’s incoming striker Alvaro Morata will always have their doubters. But the Portuguese raises the ceiling of this current group of players while the Spaniard has the European pedigree that goes straight to the very core of Milan’s DNA. Both know the league.
Juventus, meanwhile, showed in each of the last two seasons they can underperform and still contend for the title for four- or five-month stretches. They’ve appointed the hottest coaching mind in Serie A in Thiago Motta, whose style is, in many ways, countercultural to Juventus’ traditions. If it meshes — and that’s a big if — then my top four, in no particular order, are: Inter, Napoli, Milan and Juve.
Milan’s pre-season form has been promising (Kamil Krzaczynski/Getty Images)
Which team will surprise us most?
Try not to pay too much attention to their sweaty tussle with Modena in the Coppa Italia — which was ultimately decided by a penalty shootout — Napoli will experience the biggest upswing in points. That’s a consequence and a combination of the anticipated Conte effect and the worst title defence since Torino in 1950 without the mitigating circumstances of the Superga air disaster.
Como are a top-half team disguised as a newly promoted club a la Monza two years ago. Now Cesc Fabregas has his coaching badges, it’ll be interesting to see how he performs in the dugout, where he replaces Osian Roberts. This is no longer Osian’s XI.
The arrivals of Pepe Reina, Alberto Moreno, Raphael Varane and Andrea Belotti make Como glitter like the waters of the lake.
Question is: do Napoli and Como constitute surprises in the way Bologna did last season? Probably not. I think the surprise will be Bologna again on the basis they won’t fade as badly as people expect after losing Motta, Joshua Zirkzee and Riccardo Calafiori.
This is Motta’s first big job. It’s his first time coaching in four competitions. They’re making a lot of (overdue) changes, particularly in midfield, but the squad, for now, looks incomplete. The more seasoned Juventus fans can hear echoes of 1990 when the club spent lavishly on an up-and-coming new-wave coach from Bologna, Luigi Maifredi. Juventus then finished seventh.
I don’t foresee a repeat of that. Motta theoretically has a soft start against Como and Verona and has always got his teams punching above their weight. But they have a lot of work to do this month to optimise the team and move out players such as Federico Chiesa.
League-wise, Roma have been the biggest underperformers of the past six years. It’s a big ask for De Rossi, as a young coach, to get this team out of the rut of sixth place, which is where they’ve finished three seasons in a row.
Staying in Rome, Lazio’s new boss Marco Baroni staked a claim to be considered coach of the season at Verona, but he takes over a team that has now fully transitioned away from the Ciro Immobile/Sergej Milinkovic-Savic/Luis Alberto era.
Fiorentina should give us the measure of Raffaele Palladino, too. He kept Monza up comfortably but benefited from the biggest net spend in the league in his first year. His replacement at Monza, Alessandro Nesta, needs to show he can cut it at this level and that he didn’t get the job because of his past with Adriano Galliani, his chief executive from his playing days at Milan.
Keep an eye on 777-owned Genoa. It remains to be seen if their owners’ troubles destabilise the club. Alberto Gilardino lost Radu Dragusin in January and has since bid farewell to Mateo Retegui. If Albert Gudmundsson follows, they could be in a spot of bother.
Motta, while head coach of Bologna (Giuseppe Maffia/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
How do you expect the promoted clubs to do?
All the teams graduating from Serie B are foreign-owned and should, if run correctly, be able to capitalise on the dysfunctional (Verona) or stale (Udinese) teams that have been circling the drain of relegation for some time.
Parma have settled down since owner Kyle Krause did a mini-Chelsea upon taking the keys to the Tardini three years ago. Their manager, Fabio Pecchia, is a promotion specialist, but it remains to be seen if he can keep them there.
Venezia reportedly risked going out of business until Drake got involved and joined the ownership group. No doubt, this was all part of God’s Plan. The Lagooners will be hoping their return to Serie A lasts longer than One Dance.
Last year’s top scorer in Serie B, Finnish striker Joel Pohjanpalo (22 goals), should be the player whose jersey you buy this season. Why? Venezia are Italy’s most fashion-first football team and Pohjanpalo has been known to go straight to the sideline bar for a pint after sinking four goals.
Who will be the best young player this season?
Milan copped a lot of flak for not sending any Italian players to the Euros, but the core of the Under-17 team that won the same competition over the summer is founded in their academy. Let’s see if Fonseca finds time to blood youngsters Mattia Liberali and Francesco Camarda.
In Turin, there’s already a lot of hype surrounding Vasilije Adzic at Juventus but, as with the Milan boys, it’s probably too soon for him to make a sustained impact.
The pick that immediately comes to mind is Matias Soule, now of Roma. He was a contender to win this award last year (the league gave it to Zirkzee) while on loan at Frosinone from Juventus and the prospect of him duetting with Paulo Dybala at Roma this season is too much to handle. Motta wished to keep the Argentine playmaker at Juventus. Soule’s sale was a freak in the balance sheets — heaps of pure profit — but will Juventus come to regret it on the pitch?
Which under-the-radar player have big clubs been sleeping on?
For two years, it was Monza goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio. Then, this summer, Juventus ruthlessly demoted and released Wojciech Szczesny in order to sign him. Di Gregorio should be in the Italy setup at least as one of Gigio Donnarumma’s understudies after shining in analytics such as goals saved above average for the past two seasons.
If we rule out players who are expected to move, such as Fiorentina’s Nico Gonzalez, Udinese’s Lazar Samardzic or Genoa’s Gudmundsson, let’s settle on Morten Frendrup, a Pac-Man midfielder who gobbles up everything. Every team needs a player like the Dane.
Morten Frendrup of Genoa (Simone Arveda/Getty Images)
Which team has had the best transfer window?
At times, Italian coaches sound like accountants. You do the books at the end of the year. A fortnight of the transfer window remains, so judgements are premature. Let’s put it this way: Juventus and Bologna have been the best sellers, although Zirkzee’s buyout clause and the sell-on percentage Basel were due for Calafiori needs to be taken into consideration.
In terms of retention, for all the people who say Milan have diverged from Moneyball this summer, this disciplined approach has got the team in such a strong financial position that they can keep Mike Maignan, Theo Hernandez and Rafael Leao. In a vulnerable league where top talents tend to hang around for two years, it’s pretty cool that Hernandez and Leao are beginning their sixth seasons at San Siro.
Roma have been the most aggressive, investing almost €100million (£86m, $11om). Look out for their new centre-forward Artem Dovbyk. He was the Pichichi in Spain with Girona last season (24 goals). It’s the first time an Italian club has bought the holder of that award since Christian Vieri returned to Italy (Lazio) after one season at Atletico Madrid in 1997-98.
For all you romantics out there, Alexis Sanchez has returned to Udinese, swayed no doubt by the most random coaching appointment of the summer: Kosta Runjaic.
Which team has had the worst transfer window?
One swallow doesn’t make a summer. One bad signing doesn’t ruin a transfer window.
But Milan are paying Tottenham more for Emerson Royal than they paid Lille for Mike Maignan; €18million is a big price to keep captain Davide Calabria as first choice right-back. Milan fans must hope Royal suddenly transfigures into Cafu. He, on the other hand, has taken the No 22 jersey — a number that once belonged to Ballon d’Or winner Kaka. Whatever you make of Royal, you have to respect his confidence.
Lazio have let Ciro Immobile, Felipe Anderson and Luis Alberto go. Dainty playmaker Daichi Kamada, the replacement for Milinkovic-Savic last summer, left for Crystal Palace after a single season.
A strategy of signing players from Verona and Salernitana (who their president Claudio Lotito used to own) risks catching up with them. It’s a year since their sporting director Igli Tare departed. Angelo Fabiani has stepped into the breach, but it still doesn’t feel like Tare has been replaced.
Ciro Immobile, Felipe Anderson and Luis Alberto have all left Lazio (Elianton/Getty Images)
What did you miss most about Serie A?
Aside from Conte telling his new club they need to make more signings, it’s got to be Gottismo.
Lecce’s coach Luca Gotti already had a cult following. He looks like a matinee idol from the 1960s. He rides Ducatis, reads biographies of Ernest Shackleton and attended his daughter’s graduation in a Lecce polo. But then he saved his sporting director from a burning building. (I know, right?) Pantaleo Corvino had booked a hotel to talk about Gotti’s contract extension.
“It was owned by a friend of mine and at the time only used for weddings.”
Gotti bought Corvino dinner, but what sealed the deal was a knock on the door at 4:30 in the morning.
“It was Gotti. He’d come to warn me that a fire had broken out in the hotel.” Corvino had been fast asleep and would have slept through it. “I went outside but was hit by the fumes and smoke. In the meantime, I could no longer see Gotti, I tried to go down the stairs but was blocked by the flames.
“At that point, I returned to my room. I tore the curtain, went out onto the balcony and that’s when I found Gotti. I saw that the fire was heading in our direction and we started thinking about jumping from the first floor. Luckily, the fire brigade arrived and helped us down.
“After we got down, (and) when it was safe, I turned to Gotti and said: ‘Luca, how much did you want in your contract extension? That’s fine…’”
What’s the one match we should really look out for in the opening few weeks of the season?
Juventus-Roma on September 1. It’s an early chance for Soule (and Dybala) to show their old club what they’re missing.
Then the Milan derby on September 22. Inter have won a record six in a row. One of the criteria for judging Fonseca will be whether he can invert this trend.
Tell us one great storyline involving Serie A we might have missed over the summer…
Zlatan Ibrahimovic as Zoolander. Milan’s recruitment has been less Moneyball and more hair-brained, so to speak.
When announcing Fonseca, he said: “There’ll be a different energy on the sideline, a different face: one was bald (Stefano Pioli), the other has more hair. But still elegant.” At Morata’s unveiling, Zlatan commented on his striker’s looks. “We’re a good-looking team. Alvaro’s a handsome guy. We could do to make (Strahinja) Pavlovic (Milan’s new buzzcut centre-back) grow his hair.”
Napoli are a year removed from winning the league. Who have they lost in the meantime? Zielinski, Kim Min-jae and Hirving Lozano. They have hired Conte. Apart from Paris Saint-Germain, I don’t see anyone signing Osimhen — and if someone does cut Aurelio De Laurentiis a cheque, Napoli will buy Romelu Lukaku.
In a season in which Napoli only have Serie A and the Coppa Italia to focus on, it is not inconceivable that Conte does what Conte does and wins the league. Last of all, don’t be surprised if Vincenzo Italiano takes Bologna to the Coppa Italia final.
(Top photos: Getty Images)
Bundesliga 2022-23 season preview: Everything you need to know ahead of the new German football season
Constantin EcknerAug 3, 2022, 09:18 AM ET
On Friday, football fans around the world will hear the familiar hymn of the Bundesliga once again, when champions Bayern Munich meet Europa League winners Eintracht Frankfurt to start the 2022-23 season. Coaches have swapped dugouts, players have departed, others have arrived with much fanfare, and the question of whether Bayern can be challenged for the title this year remains controversial.
Before the action gets underway, though, let’s look back at what you might’ve missed since the 2021-22 campaign came to a close in May, and dissect some of the biggest storylines worth following as the 2022-23 season begins to unfold.
A disgruntled striker dominated the first few weeks of this summer, as Robert Lewandowski did not hide his intention to leave Bayern Munich. While Bayern and Barcelona negotiated a deal behind closed doors, fans were worried about the record champions’ prospects for the upcoming season. No glances at the history books are required to deduce how important Lewandowski had been to Bayern in recent years. He scored 98 goals in the past two seasons alone and was especially crucial as the team’s rescuing anchor if things didn’t go their way.
While Lewandowski eventually exited in July, Bayern’s hierarchy used that time to secure deals for the immediate future. With the signing of Sadio Mane, the German champions once again scored a real steal in the transfer market. Mane has been one of the Premier League‘s most exciting players for almost a decade. Without the Senegal international, Liverpool wouldn’t have been as successful as they were domestically and internationally.
While Mane is not a like-for-like replacement for Lewandowski, the 30-year-old offers Bayern boss Julian Nagelsmann the chance to execute some of the tactical ideas he has had in mind since his arrival in Munich in 2021. First glimpses of the new Bayern team were visible in the German Supercup match against RB Leipzig, which Bayern won 5-3. Mane and Serge Gnabry played together up front and were almost impossible for Leipzig’s defence to manage, considering neither acted as an obvious target player and were free to drift around the attacking third, pressing relentlessly whenever Bayern lost possession.
The Supercup game also saw Nagelsmann bring on €67 million signing Matthijs de Ligt as well as the two Ajax academy graduates in Ryan Gravenberch and Noussair Mazraoui. Oh, and 17-year-old striker Mathys Tel from Stade Rennais has also just arrived in Bavaria, with Nagelsmann predicting that the young Frenchman could one day score 40 goals in a season.
Whoever thought that Bayern might go into decline after Lewandowski’s departure will be in for a surprise, because Bayern look better than they did last season.
There’s no talent exodus this year
While Bayern are always expected to leave their mark on the transfer market due to their financial might, the other 17 Bundesliga clubs usually suffer a dip in quality during the summer transfer window. Coaches and sporting directors have become creative in finding replacements and discovering new talent to fill the voids, but the fact remains that they’re often largely powerless to keep hold of their best players.
This summer was different, though. Erling Haaland has been the only major player who left one of the 17 non-Bayern clubs, with others opting against moves to England or Spain. Surprisingly, Christopher Nkunku, the highly touted Paris Saint-Germain academy graduate who was elected the Bundesliga’s Player of the Season for 2021-22, decided to extend his contract with Leipzig until 2026. Reports suggest that no buyout clause was included in his new contract.
Florian Wirtz, the 19-year-old attacking wizard at Bayer Leverkusen, also extended his contract — his running until 2027. The Germany international is recovering from a cruciate ligament tear, which might have influenced his decision to commit to Bayer for longer than initially planned. Many expected Wirtz to follow in the footsteps of former Leverkusen wunderkindKai Havertz and go abroad rather quickly.
The extensions of Nkunku and Wirtz are a signal to the rest of the league and the continent: It’s no longer a foregone conclusion that every highly skilled player in Germany under the age of 25 has to go to Bayern, Borussia Dortmund or the biggest clubs elsewhere in Europe.
Still, some sides had to contend with the departures of key players. Union Berlin lost goal scorer Taiwo Awoniyi, and Mainz moved on from captain Moussa Niakhate. Both have joined Nottingham Forest, who seemingly have an appetite for Bundesliga players, considering the newly promoted Premier League side also signed Orel Mangala from VfB Stuttgart.
These three have been the exception rather than the rule in this summer’s transfer window, which is a welcome change for fans of German football.
The coaching carousel continues to spin
Coaches might start calling the day following the end of each Bundesliga season “Black Sunday,” because on that day (or the days immediately following), a few of them are usually shown the door. It was no different in 2022, with Markus Weinzierl (FC Augsburg), Adi Hutter (Borussia Monchengladbach) and Florian Kohfeldt (VfL Wolfsburg) being relieved of their duties soon after the campaign’s conclusion. A week later, Dortmund made it official that Marco Rose was no longer the head coach of the Black and Yellow.
Naturally, those clubs began their searches for new managers. Dortmund ended up reinstating Edin Terzic, the former assistant who acted as an interim coach before Rose was appointed in 2021. Gladbach appointed Daniel Farke, the former Norwich boss who had gone to Russian Premier League outfit Krasnodar in January and left shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began. Hertha Berlin also looked to the east and brought back Sandro Schwarz, who had stayed in Russia until the summer, reaching the national cup final with Dynamo Moscow. Wolfsburg replaced Kohfeldt with former Bayern and Frankfurt boss Niko Kovac. Augsburg chose Enrico Maassen, the former coach of Dortmund’s reserve team, to step in for Weinzierl. Schalke 04 appointed Frank Kramer following their promotion, which had been achieved under Mike Buskens, who was not too fond of the idea of remaining head coach.
This marks the second consecutive summer in which the clubs swapped coaches en masse. The year prior, practically everyone looked worse after installing their new hires. Dortmund fetched Rose away from Monchengladbach, who signed Hutter from Frankfurt, who signed Oliver Glasner from Wolfsburg, who signed Mark van Bommel. Only Frankfurt had any noticeable success with their new manager, winning the Europa League in May.
Despite it all, though, the coaching carousel keeps spinning.
Can anyone challenge Bayern?
When one club wins 10 consecutive championships, it raises the question of whether anyone will ever put an end to their dominance.
A few weeks ago, some would have comfortably picked Borussia Dortmund as a viable challenger to Bayern Munich, but their chances have dropped dramatically, though, since Haaland’s exit. Their replacement, Sebastien Haller, was signed from Ajax to fill that physical center-forward role, but he will be out for several months receiving ongoing treatment for a malignant testicular tumour. Without their Haaland successor, the Black and Yellow might struggle to generate the necessary offensive output in the early going, which could mean the gap between them and Bayern is too great to make up.
The sad truth is that the remaining teams are unlikely in a position to challenge Bayern throughout the course of 34 matchdays. RB Leipzig might have significant name value in their squad, but there are justifiably question marks behind manager Domenico Tedesco’s tactical approach, as he focuses greatly on Nkunku as his target player in the final third. Leipzig also lack stability at the back, particularly when the team are forced to track back.
Leverkusen, the other team among Germany’s top four, have caused some excitement during the summer in light of the signing of 20-year-old Czech prospect Adam Hlozek, as well as Wirtz’s contract extension. However, what Bayer 04 did not manage to do is sign a much-needed anchor player for their midfield. They have been lacking that one stabilising element between defence and attack: Robert Andrich, Charles Aranguiz and Kerem Demirbay are undoubtedly gifted, yet they are better suited as sidekicks to a dominant midfielder.
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It wouldn’t be surprising if one of these three teams could keep up with Bayern during stretches of the season, but in the end, Bayern will likely prevail given their quality and depth. The record champions simply do not face the same issues as Dortmund, Leipzig or Leverkusen.
Will we see another Cinderella story?
It has become a tradition of the Bundesliga that each season at least one underdog climbs into the top third of the table, usually qualifying for continental competition and then disappearing again the next year due to the stress of the extra games in their calendar. Mainz, Augsburg and FC Cologne all have had outstanding years in recent memory, and last season saw Union Berlin and SC Freiburg both play well beyond their market value, earning places in this season’s Europa League as a result.
This season marks Union’s second straight season in Europe, but the Cinderella story of the team from the eastern part of the capital city could come to an end soon, given the departures of Awoniyi and Grischa Promel and the fact that manager Urs Fischer might not be able to reinvent his team once again. How the Swiss coach was able to tweak things enough to prevent his side from becoming predictable for the first three years following Union’s promotion was commendable enough; to do so a fourth time is unlikely.
Moreover, Union and Freiburg’s performances might suffer from playing in three competitions simultaneously in a year with a particularly condensed schedule thanks to this winter’s World Cup in Qatar. The two sides likely won’t be in danger of relegation, but slipping back into mid-table is a realistic scenario.
This raises the question of whether any other team might be able to fit into Cinderella’s glass slippers this year. It could end up being one of the fallen giants that makes a surprising impact and returns to the sharp end of the table.
Schalke have just been promoted back to the Bundesliga. The 1997 UEFA Cup winners were part of the league’s elite for many years, but mounting debt and financial constraints caused the club’s hierarchy to offload most of the team’s best players until 2020. Coupled with a series of ill-advised managerial appointments, Schalke were doomed to experience the ultimate embarrassment: relegation to the 2. Bundesliga, where the Royal Blues spent one year.
This team is nowhere near as strong as past Schalke sides, which would make a run towards European places somewhat of a miracle, but perhaps now that there is so much less pressure on the club, they can suddenly become overachievers.
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How will everyone contend with the winter break?
Three decades ago, fans of Bundesliga clubs knew exactly what to do between the holiday season and the end of January. As the league had implemented a lengthy winter break to give everyone some rest — and to pay tribute to the fact that under-soil heating has not yet been installed in every stadium — supporters streamed into indoor arenas and watched indoor football. Later, the Bundesliga adjusted its schedule and shortened the winter break to two weeks.
As the World Cup in November will affect the schedule of practically every league in Europe, we will see another temporary alteration and Bundesliga teams in particular will have to deal with an incredibly condensed timetable. Those who are also competing in international competitions will not get any break until November. Once the World Cup is concluded on Dec. 18, the league won’t restart immediately, instead waiting until Jan. 20. This means a return to the old lengthy winter break, and traditionalists have called for the temporary reinstatement of the “Hallenmasters,” a tournament crowning Germany’s indoor champions. The German FA hosted the tournament in various iterations between 1987 and 2001, with Borussia Dortmund being the record winner with four titles. The final “Hallenmasters” was decided in a penalty shootout between SpVgg Unterhaching and Dortmund, as the small club from the Munich suburbs beat Dortmund 5-4.
If you’ve witnessed those tournaments, you probably remember them fondly. If you haven’t, let’s hope you’ll get an opportunity to watch something similar in 2023.
What are the Americans up to?
Finally, a look at the Bundesliga through the lens of the United States. This summer has seen Tyler Adams leave Leipzig and Chris Richards depart Bayern for Crystal Palace, but Germany remains home to plenty of intrigue for followers of the USMNT.
Giovanni Reyna has become something of a phantom in Dortmund. Everyone is aware of the gifted midfielder, but we have not seen him on the pitch in some time. After a promising start to the 2021-22 season, Reyna was sidelined by a muscle injury until February. He made his return, even played for the national team, but then was injured again in April. Even though Dortmund afforded him extra time to recover and return to full fitness, he still missed 34 games through injury last season, which has raised questions about Reyna’s resilience.
The 19-year-old is still not ready to be selected for the matchday squad for Dortmund’s season opener and will need more time before he can be a reliable option for Terzic. Regardless of Reyna’s injury woes, Dortmund remain convinced of his qualities. Once he returns to the pitch, he might collide with Marco Reus, as both are best suited for the No. 10 role. Reus possesses the bonus of being the team captain, but Reyna is a pillar of the future. In any case, we should see more of him at some point this season, but patience is needed.
The same can be said for Ricardo Pepi. The Texas native signed with Augsburg for a transfer fee of $20m in January, shortly before his 19th birthday. Most fans in Germany had not heard of the striker beforehand but were curious what this hyped American could bring to the table. Sadly for him, he was a non-factor during his first few months in-country. Pepi made four appearances in Augsburg’s starting XI and was brought on as a substitute seven times, scoring no goals in 475 minutes of total playing time.
Maassen, Augsburg’s new manager, also seems to view Pepi as an alternative from the bench. He brought him on after 74 minutes in the DFB-Pokal game against fourth-division side Lohne, replacing Andre Hahn. While Augsburg’s two-striker system offers Pepi the chance to earn more playing time, he has to prove he’s able to compete in Germany’s top flight.
Patience might be the key quality most American players in the Bundesliga have to show this year. Joe Scally, right-back for Borussia Monchengladbach, has found himself on the bench more often than on the pitch in preseason.
What could give him hope is that he was featured in Borussia’s starting XI against Oberachern in the Pokal. Gladbach have two right-backs in their squad: 19-year-old Scally and the much more experienced 29-year-old Stefan Lainer. Normally, Lainer should remain first choice, but if the Austrian slips, Scally should be there to take over the spot. Scally’s advantage is that there is no considerable pressure on the young American. Gladbach want to help him progress so that he becomes a long-term option.
Jordan Pefok‘s situation is quite different. When Awoniyi, who had scored 20 goals across competitions in the previous season, decided to leave Union Berlin, he left some rather large boots to fill. Union chose Washington, D.C.-born Pefoke (who’s going by Jordan Siebatcheu in Germany) as Awoniyi’s replacement.
The American, who grew up in France and possesses Cameroonian roots, had scored 22 goals for Young Boys in the Swiss league last season and put himself on the radar. Pefok and Awoniyi have similarities in stature and physicality, and it seems Union would like him to play an identical role. Pefok started the season by scoring his maiden goal for Union in their hard-fought win over Chemnitz in the first round of the DFB-Pokal. There is certainly more to come from the newcomer — who will be on the pitch Saturday, as the Bundesliga goes into its 60th season.
Three of Europe’s top five leagues return on Friday, with the Premier League, La Liga, and Ligue 1 kicking off for Matchday 1; the German Bundesliga and Italian Serie A will start a week later on Aug 22/23 they both have League cup games this weekend. See La Liga (Spain) games (More) and Ligue 1 (France) fixtures (More) – full season previews below for all 3 leagues. In the EPL my Final 4 are Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea – hoping Crystal Palace or Fulham can make a top 6 run. Premier League Fri 3 pm USA Network Liverpool vs. Bournemouth, Liverpool haven’t lost their opening league game in any of the last 12 seasons, winning nine of them. Meanwhile, Mohamed Salah is the Premier League’s top goal scorer and leading player for goal contributions on Matchday 1. Adding to this, Bournemouth and American midfielder Tyler Adams have just one point from their eight Premier League visits to Anfield. See the full list of Premier League fixtures here.
Notes
Chelsea players will give an equal portion of their $15.5M Club World Cup bonus to the family of Diogo Jota and Andre Silva, equating to around $500,000 (More). Cute look at new Everton Stadium. Funny Wrexham Fans left too early – I have to admit I am watching these games on Para+ now that they are in the Championship – Ollie with the brace.
US Players Abroad Begins Seasons this Week – Richards Palace Wins Community Shield What a thrill to see Chris Richards and Crystal Palace win the Community Shield 3-2 in PKs over Liverpool on Sunday (Palace Hi-lights), just months after winning the FA Cup at Wembley over Man City – Crystal Palace looked the better squad vs the defending EPL Champs. Palace plays at Chelsea at 9 am on Sunday on USA, while Fulham hosts – while Complete rundown on American’s Abroad below. Man I am not sure who is advising Christian Pulisic but I wish he would just leave well enough alone on the criticism from Landon Donovan & Tim Howard here’s what was said. Not sure if he’s doing it to get more people to watch his Series on Golazo Network (see Pulisic Docuseries Trailer) or what. Tim Weah, speaking on the CBS Sports series Pulisic about criticism by former USMNT stars now working as television and podcast commentators of Christian Pulisic‘s decision not to play in the 2025 Gold Cup. (Golazo Network). At this point lets just get to early September play our friendlies – Pulisic can come score a couple of goals and we can put this all behind us. Oh by the way the US men are coming to Columbus, Ohio Lower.com Field on Tuesday night Sept 9th for a 7:30 pm match up with #17 ranked Japan. The Ole Ballcoach is going along with some buddies to the game sitting in section 129 ($50) – close to the American Outlaws who will be in the Nordic Section 127. Visit http://ussoccer.spinzo.com/CarmelFC this special link to get discounted tickets. Let me know if you plan to join – feel free to send on to friends.
LEAGUES CUPfour MLS vs. LIGA MX quarterfinals Wed Aug 20.
Quarterfinal matchups
Inter Miami CF (MLS 2) vs. Tigres UANL (LIGA MX 3) 8 pm on FS1, Apple TV Free Seattle Sounders FC (MLS 1) vs. Club Puebla (LIGA MX 4) 11 pm FS1, Apple TV Free
LA Galaxy (MLS 3) vs. CF Pachuca (LIGA MX 2) 11:45 Apple TV Free
Orlando City (MLS 4) vs. Toluca FC (LIGA MX 1) 9 pm Apple TV Free
High School Soccer Season Kicks Off!
High school soccer officially starts this weekend across the state, and Carmel FC wants to send a huge congratulations and good luck to all our current players representing their schools this season. We’re proud to see you take the field, wear your school colors, and continue to showcase the skills, hard work, and sportsmanship you’ve developed here at Carmel FC. The Carmel High Girls Come in Ranked 3rd with new head coach John Simmons and Asst Coach and former Carmel FC Coach Carla Baker in charge replacing long time coach Frank Dixon at the helm. The CHS Boys are unranked after a 7-8-3 record but reached the Regional Semi’s last year.
ISCA Class 3A girls soccer poll
Hamilton Southeastern
Noblesville
Carmel
Crown Point
Evansville Memorial
Brownsburg
Cathedral
Castle
Center Grove
Homestead
Penn
East Central
Westfield
Zionsville
FW Carroll
Northridge
Fishers
Bloomington South
Lake Central
Mt. Vernon
ISCA Class 2A girls soccer poll
Lawrenceburg
Brebeuf Jesuit
Mishawaka Marian
FW Bishop Dwenger
SB Saint Joseph
Bishop Chatard
Guerin Catholic
Evansville Mater Dei
Bellmont
Hanover Central
Heritage Hills
Highland
Washington
FW Concordia Lutheran
West Lafayette
Hamilton Heights
Roncalli
Park Tudor
Gibson Southern
Madison
ISCA Class 3A boys soccer poll
Harrison (West Lafayette)
Hamilton Southeastern
Center Grove
FW Carroll
Zionsville
Fishers
Bloomington South
Noblesville
Concord
Evansville Memorial
Brownsburg
Cathedral
Columbus North
Goshen
Warsaw
Castle
Westfield
Chesterton
Crown Point
Penn
ISCA Class 2A boys soccer poll
FW Concordia Lutheran
Park Tudor
Hammond Bishop Noll
Bishop Chatard
Illiana Christian
Heritage Hills
FW Bishop Luers
Washington
South Bend St. Joseph
West Lafayette
Cascade
Hanover Central
Leo
Bethany Christian
FW Bishop Dwenger
Speedway
Culver Academy
Charleston
Heritage Christian
West Noble
Mike S, Shane & Scott F last preseason High School Scrimmage at Bishop Chatard Thurs Night. Excited to hit the fields Saturday at @ Heritage Christian & Guerin. Had a blast training new Carmel Dad’s Club Refs Ryleigh, Fred, & Noah last weekend at Badger Field.
TV GAME SCHEDULE
Fri, Aug 15 EPL Starts 12 noon ESPN+ Grobaspach vs Bayer Leverkusen German Cup 3 pm USA Liverpool vs Bournemouth (Adams) 8 pm Amazon Prime Washington Spirit (Rodman) vs Racing Louisville NWSL 10 pm CBS Golazo Utah Royals vs Angel City (Thompsons) NWSL Sat, Aug 16 7:20 am Para+ Wrexham vs West Brom 7:30 am USA Aston Villa vs New Castle United 10 am USA Brighton vs Fulham (Robinson is hurt) 12:30 pm NBC Wolverhampton vs Man City 1:30 pm ESPN2 Mallorca vs Barcelona 2:30 pm ESPN+ Stuttgart vs Bayern Munich 4 pm CBS KC Current vs Orlando Pride (Marta) NWSL 7 pm TV6, ESPN+ Loundoun United vs Indy 11 7:30 pm Apple TV free Inter Miami (Messi) vs LA Galaxy 7:30 pm ION NC Courage vs Portland Thorns NWSL 8:30 pm FS1 Minn vs Seattle Sounders 9 pm ESPN2 Tampa Bay Rowdies vs Phoenix Rising 10 pm ION Bay FC vs San Diego Wave NWSL Sun, Aug 17 6:50 am Para+ Ipwich Town vs Southampton 9 am USA Chelsea vs Crystal Palace (Richards) 11:30 am NBC Man United vs Arsenal 3 pm Para+ AC Milan (Pulisic) vs Bari Copa Italia 3:30 pm ESPN2 Espanyol vs Athletico Madrid (Cardoso) 4 pm Para+? NY Gothem vs Houston Dash NWSL 5 pm Apple TV NYCFC vs Nashville 7 pm Apple TV San Jose vs San Diego 9 pm Apple TV Vancouver (Mueller) vs Houston Mon, Aug, 18 3 pm USA Leeds United vs Everton 10 pm CBSSN Seattle Reign vs Chicago Red Stars NWSL Weds Aug 20 Leagues Cup MLS vs Liga MX Inter Miami CF (MLS 2) vs. Tigres UANL (LIGA MX 3) 8 pm on FS1, Apple TV Free Seattle Sounders FC (MLS 1) vs. Club Puebla (LIGA MX 4) 11 pm FS1, Apple TV Free LA Galaxy (MLS 3) vs. CF Pachuca (LIGA MX 2) 11:45 Apple TV Free Orlando City (MLS 4) vs. Toluca FC (LIGA MX 1) 9 pm Apple TV Free Sat, Sept 6 5 pm TNT, Tele, Max USA Men vs Korea Tues, Sept 9 7:30 pm TNT, Tele, Max USA Men vs Japan in Columbus, Ohio Fri, Oct 10 8:30 pm TNT, Max USA Men vs Ecuador Tues, Oct 14 9 pm TNT, Max USA Men vs Australia
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Premier League referees’ chief Howard Webb has suggested that VAR could be expanded to include reviews for yellow cards and corners. The technology is currently only used to review potentially match-changing decisions such as goals, straight red cards, penalties, and mistaken identity. The case in favour argues that second yellow cards, which result in red cards, can significantly influence a match. Webb revealed that the game’s law-making body, the International Football Association Board (Ifab), is considering changes to VAR’s scope, including discussions around possible extensions for the technology. This comes after Uefa recently opposed measures to widen VAR’s powers to intervene in corner kicks and yellow cards, arguing it would increase delays. In related news, Webb said it would be “tough” for David Coote to return to top-level refereeing after being sacked for making derogatory remarks about Liverpool and then manager Jurgen Klopp. “Under the circumstances, it’s difficult [for him to return],” said Webb. “We stay in contact and care about him, but it would be tough.”
Americans abroad
Dest, Morris, Corboz, Pittman stand out, Jedi shelved, & Much More
ASN’s Brian Sciaretta writes up his thoughts from the weeekend amongst Americans abroad. Sergino Dest looked terrific, while Scott Pittman, Aidan Morris, Marlon Fossey, and Mael Corboz are also standout performers. Plenty of good and bad to go through.
BY Brian SciarettaPosted August 11, 2025 9:00 AM
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IT WAS A BUSY weekend for Americans in Europe, despite the top divisions in Germany, England, France, and Italy still at the tail end of preseason. Many U.S. players, in including USMNT hopefuls, were in action in both regular season and preseason games.
For now, let’s just get right into it and we will start with the Eredivisie opening weekend.
Dest shines vs. PSV
One of the big stories this weekend for American in Europe was the big statement made by defending champion PSV, who sold a lot of talent this summer (including USMNT midfielder Malik Tillman) but also spent money on new players.
Despite playing well at times this preseason, Ricardo Pepi was not deemed fit enough to be in the squad for Saturday’s opener against Sparta Rotterdam. But Sergino Dest, who mist most games this calendar year, including the Gold Cup, did start.
The news could not have been any better for Dest, who played in top form and did not show any indication of his ACL tear or subsequent injury at the end of the season. He played like the high level player he is.
Dest scored the third goal in a 6-1 win over Sparta that featured PSV having five different goal scorers. That is what makes this team difficult to beat – numerous scoring options.
Overall, Dest played 82 minutes and had three shots. He was consistently dangerous. This bodes well for both PSV and the USMNT as it heads into the fall.
Rest of Eredivisie
In the rest of the Eredivisie outside of PSV, Taylor Booth started and played all 90 minutes for Twente in a 1-0 loss to PEC Zwolle. It was a disappointing result for Twente, who is expected to be in contention for a top five finish, because Zwolle is typically in relegation battles.
Booth, 24, wasn’t one of Twente’s problems on the day and he did create a few chances. He had his own shot in the box blocked in the first few minutes and then he set up two chances later in the game with crosses.
Booth is still likely a long way off from the USMNT but a good season could put him into the picture next year, likely after the World Cup.
The younger Booth brother, Zack Booth, had a tough game in Excelsior’s opener as he came off the bench in the 71st minute in a 5-0 loss to NEC Nijmegen. The game was 4-0 when he came on. The best news for Booth, 21, is that Excelsior will likely have to make changes after such a poor result.
Championship: Morris impresses for Boro
There are a lot of Americans in the Championship this season and we could see a few involved in the promotion races.
Aidan Morris, 23, was solid in central midfield for Middlesborough in a 1-0 win over Swansea to open the season. He was good at setting the pace and helping Boro win the possession battles.
It wasn’t a flashy performances, but he is very important to the Boro midfield moving forward.
After a big 2024/25 campaign, Josh Sargent scored his first goal of the new season in Norwich’s opening day win. The 55th minute goal was an equalizer in what eventually turned out to be a 2-1 loss at home to Millwall.
The goal was all hustle as Sargent blocked a goalkeeper clearance directly back into the goal. It was more seen as a goalkeeper error, but Sargent hustled on the play.
Sargent remains an interesting player for the rest of the month. Norwich is still hopeful of selling him, as they could use the money. But for Sargent to get interest, he needs to keep scoring in any way possible. But where does Sargent want to go? Turning down Wolfsburg two weeks ago shows signs of a limited options.
Damion Downs played the final 31 minutes for Southampton and was on the field as they scored two very late goals to turn a 1-0 loss into a 2-1 win over Wrexham in the season opener. It was a good shift for Downs as he was involved in the final goal where he slightly touched a pass to Jack Stephens, who smashed in the winner from close range.
Downs, 21, is in a good spot. He will continue to get chances and he will contribute to a team that should be in contention to bounce right back up.
George Campbell came on in the dying minutes for West Brom to help see out a 1-0 victory over Blackburn. It marked his debut for the club after moving from Montreal earlier in the transfer window.
Charlton defeated Watford 1-0 on Saturday. Charlie Kelman, 23, started and played 71 minutes for Charlton. He is coming off a season where he won the third-tier League One scoring title with Leyton Orient. Caleb Wiley was out with a back injury for Watford. Kelman had a good chance to score in the 59th minute but his close-range shot was saved. Charlton found a stoppage time winner to earn all three points.
Scotland: Pittman & CCV stand out
Scott Pittman, 33, has scored goals in Livingston FC’s first two games of the Scottish Premiership season. The latest in a 3-1 win over Falkirk on Saturday.
The all-time appearance leader for Livingston opened the scoring in the 18th minute with a shot from inside the box for a 1-0 lead.
After earning promotion last season, Livingston is looking to pull away from a relegation battle early.
Celtic dominated its way to a 2-0 win over Aberdeen on Saturday. Cameron Carter-Vickers completed 139 passes in the win. Auston Trusty completed 51 passes in just 24 minutes when he came on to see out the win.
Those passing numbers reflect Celtic’s domination in possession which typically began with the central defenders.
Coincidentally enough, Aberdeen’s best chance of the game came from American midfielder Dante Polvara in the 75th minute – two minutes after he subbed on. His right footed shot from close range was saved.
Belgium: Fossey scores in big Standard win
Standard Liege defeated Genk 2-1 on Sunday to move to seven points from three games to start the Belgium First Division season. Standard captain and USMNT hopeful Marlon Fossey scored in the 54th minute to give Standard a 2-1 lead – which he then celebrated with a back flip.
On the play, Fossey, 26, moved into the attack and was able to pounce on a ball from close range and beat the keeper with a shot into the top of the net.
Will Fossey make it back into the USMNT picture? It seems difficult. With Dest now back, Alex Freeman continuing to impress in Orlando, and Joe Scally continuing to be the starter for Borussia Monchengladbach, there is a crowded field. But performances like this don’t hurt.
Also in Belgium, Westerlo dropped a 1-0 loss at home to KV Mechelen at home after conceding a goal in the 84th minute. Griffin Yow started at right wing for Westerlo but was subbed out after the first half as part of a tactical change. Despite the loss, Bryan Reynolds had a strong 90-minute shift at right back. Both Yow and Reynolds could move before the end of the month as they have likely done all they can do for a small club like Westerlo. The club could also use the money but it comes down to offers.
2.Bundesliga: Corboz impresses again
It was the second matchday in the 2.Bundesliga season where several Americans play their trade. This week, there were two games that saw multiple players involved.
Holstein Kiel dropped a 2-0 decision to Arminia Bielefeld and it was a big setback for Holstein Kiel, which has no points from the first two games in a season where they are coming back down from the Bundesliga.
John Tolkin, 23, started for Holstein Kiel but was subbed out at halftime for tactical reasons as both wingbacks were removed. The tactical shift did not help at all. Tolkin was okay in his 45 minutes, but the team overall was very poor and does not want to have a poor start to the season. Such starts only create relegations battles.
On the flip side, Arminia Bielefeld was excellent and now has a perfect six points from two games – immediately coming off promotion last year. Led by American captain Mael Corboz, Arminia Bielefeld is off to a great start. Corboz has done well to add maturity to a team that looks ready for the 2.Bundesliga. Corboz, 30, is one of the best “under the radar” stories in American soccer.
Eintracht Braunschweig defeated Greuther Furth 3-2 and Johan Gomez enjoyed one of his best performances in years when he came off the bench in the 61st minute. He was dangerous, assisted on goal that was called back, won a lot of duels, and built a case to start for the club.
For Eintracht, the club has six points from two games. This is huge after narrowly avoiding relegation last season.
On the flip side, Furth sits on three points from two games after the loss. Both Julian Green and Max Dietz both started. Green was subbed out in the 86th minute while Dietz went the whole game. Neither stood out.
On Friday, Paderborn drew Preussen Munster 1-1. Santiago Castaneda, 20, started in defensive midfield for Paderborn but did not stand out in his 78 minutes. Both of the Tampa native’s first two games have been quiet.
Richards wins Community Shield
Chris Richards can now add a Community Shield to his trophy case as played the entire game at Wembley as his Crystal Palace defeated reigning Premier League champions Liverpool on penalties after a 2-2 draw.
Richards had a “hockey assist” on his team’s second goal and saw his header off a corner saved in the 61st minute.
Richards looks to be in great shape to start the Premier League season next week. His great calendar year of 2025.
Elsewhere abroad
In Poland’s Ekstraklassa, Jagiellonia Bialystok defeated Cracovia 5-2 with Aziel Jackson making his first start for Bialystok in the win. Leon Flach also played the final 12 minutes in the win. Kahveh Zahirolelam made his debut for Cracovia when he came on in the 79th minute.
In Croatia’s HNL, Hajduk Split defeated HNK Gorica 2-0. The win was helped by a Gorica red card in the 50th minute when the score was 0-0. Rokas Pukstas returned to the starting lineup after struggling to break in recently and he was helped by injuries that made him needed. He was active in the attack, despite no goal contributions. Was it enough for him to remain in in the starting lineup? That is an open question.
In the Austrian Bundesliga, George Bello scored in the 50th minute for LASK in a 3-1 loss to WSG Tirol. Sam Adeniran started for LASK but was ineffective. It was good news for Bello to have scored but LASK is winless after two games and has work to do in the weeks ahead.
Quincy Butley, 23, meanwhile started and played well for WSG on the right side of the midfield where he won duels and passed effectively. WSG has won its first two games of the season.
In the Swiss Super League, Lausanne dropped a 2-1 decision at home to FC Zurich. Konrad de la Fuente played the final 18 minutes in the loss.
In the Danish Superliga, Matthew Hoppe started for SonderjyskE but was held in check by Viborg in a 1-0 loss. Hoppe was subbed out in the 71st minute.
In Uruguay’s Primera, Agustin Anello played 82 minutes for Boston River in a 1-1 draw with Montevideo City Torque. Anello was subbed out with his team trailing 1-0 and down to 10 men. Boston River now has four points from two games.
Preseason & Transfer updates
Robinson on the shelf
Antonee Robinson has not played at all this preseason and will not be available for Fulham to start the season. Once figured to be the subject of transfer rumors this summer to big clubs, everything with Robinson has been quiet.
Every year, McKennie is on the brink of falling out of favor with Juventus and has always pulled himself back into the mix. But eventually this will end. Perhaps now is a good time for him to make a break and Roma is still a very high landing spot. McKennie knows Serie A well and likely wouldn’t need as much adjustment.
Also in this game was Cole Campbell, who played the last 15 minutes for Borussia Dortmund. This comes after interest from VfB Stuttgart was shelved – at least temporarily as Dortmund assess its winger situation. The speedy U.S. U-20 attacker has been on the edge of BVB’s first team and has made his debut. But works remains for him to be a consistent presence.
As expected, there was no Gio Reyna for BVB and there has been no breakthrough on the transfer front.
Captain McKenzie
Toulouse played Sevilla to a 1-1 draw in a preseason friendly and the big takeaway is that USMNT central defender Mark McKenzie wore the captain’s armband for Toulouse – a sign of his growing importance to the Ligue 1 club.
Chelsea smashed AC Milan 4-1 over the weekend with Yunus Musah starting and playing 73 minutes for Milan. It was 3-1 when Musah departed the game. Musah remains a player to watch in the weeks ahead as his preseason has not gone well. Milan might opt to drop their asking price and move on.
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Antonee Robinson’s injury timetable underscores his importance to USMNT
By Jeff RueterAug. 14, 2025Updated 12:47 pm EDT The Athletic
No doubt, Fulham will feel a bit up against it heading into the club’s Premier League opener, away at Brighton.The 2024-25 season saw Antonee Robinson cement his place as one of Marco Silva’s most vital charges, arguably the best pure left back in the Premier League. Nicknamed “Jedi,” he’s proven capable of containing Bukayo Saka and Mohamed Salah on one end before dependably squaring crosses right into his striker’s stride. He gutted out an injury to his right knee until season’s end, finishing third in the fan-voted Player of the Season pageant after a 10-assist campaign.On Thursday, 48 hours before a trip to the AmEx, Silva confirmed that Robinson would not be available for selection as he works back from an offseason surgery on that vital plant-leg knee. So, too, would Ryan Sessegnon, leaving the Portuguese manager without his two top options at left back.Mauricio Pochettino may still be envying Silva’s situation. At least the Fulham boss has a viable alternative in the role to Robinson.It’s hardly a new phenomenon that the U.S. men’s national team is dangerously thin at left back. In fact, the program went over a decade with makeshift solutions, forcing players like DaMarcus Beasley and Fabian Johnson to own the role despite spending their careers up until that point further afield. While U.S. Soccer can’t take credit for Robinson’s development, his commitment was a clear end to holding the left side of the back line together with duct tape and chewing gum.While Robinson has amassed a tidy 50 caps to date, he’s been absent for the last four camps under Pochettino, a 12-game sample from which the coach has learned plenty about his player pool. He’s had his initial trust in Diego Luna validated by a star-making turn at the Gold Cup. That same tournament gave reason to think Matt Freese could be a shot-stopping alternative to Matt Turner in goal.There have been frustrating realizations, too. Mexico is back on the ascent, although that’s a bit more of a subplot than usual as both nations will abstain from World Cup qualifying this cycle. His faith in the core that helped qualify for the 2022 installment has potentially been rocked by Christian Pulisic and others opting out or missing out on the Gold Cup. And, more relevant to today’s news via Silva: he doesn’t have a clear alternative to Robinson at left back.
USMNT manager Mauricio Pochettino doesn’t have many options behind Antonee Robinson at left back (Photo by Ronald Cortes/Getty Images)
Unlike other USMNT mainstays like Gio Reyna, Pochettino and Robinson have already logged a bit of collaboration. The left back was on Pochettino’s first squad last October, and started both legs of the Concacaf Nations Leg quarterfinal against Jamaica the following month. In the second, Robinson assisted on the second goal of a 4-2 win that sent the U.S. through to the final four. Since then, however, Pochettino has had to play alternatives to Robinson. When an ailment kept Robinson out for the Nations League’s business end in March, it became a calamity: Panama targeted out-of-position Max Arfsten and, later, Joe Scally, exploiting the latter’s lack of awareness to score a last gasp winner in a 1-0 semifinal upset. Scally went on to start the third-place game, putting in such a poor shift that he got a halftime hook.In the 12 games that have passed since Robinson’s last U.S. appearance, four players have been called upon in his absence. Arfsten has been Pochettino’s most relied-upon alternative, appearing in nine of that dozen, most often as starter. John Tolkin, of recently relegated Holstein Kiel in Germany, has made five appearances, while Scally and DeJuan Jones have each appeared twice in the role. None have made a terribly compelling case for further looks.Throughout the Gold Cup, Arfsten and Tolkin — as indicated by their higher utilization — were the two options on Pochettino’s squad.Arfsten, a winger with the possession-dominant Columbus Crew, has fared about as you’d expect for a player who usually sees the game from a vastly different perspective. His attacking contributions were that of an ideal wingback, logging assists and chipping in goals as an auxiliary threat from wide. His defensive performances were riddled with the kinds of mistakes coaches have to drill out of defenders in the youth ranks, taking the bait and making needless fouls (like one just inside the box against Costa Rica that resulted in a penalty).Tolkin, largely as a substitute, has at least spent his career in the role since debuting with his boyhood New York Red Bulls. His issues more closely mirror the struggles recently seen from young left backs George Bello, Kris Lund and Sam Vines: bona fide left backs, but unable to prove themselves at the international level.There’s a paucity of alternatives, too. Unlike other spots, there’s no alternative who hasn’t been tested and is flying under the radar. The closest to matching that mold is Caleb Wiley, the Chelsea prospect who earned three caps in 2023 and 2024 but hasn’t been in a national team camp since Pochettino took charge. While it’s impressive for a 20-year-old to have amassed 135 club appearances, mostly with Atlanta United before the club from London came calling, his first loan with Strasbourg was inconclusive. He’s at Watford now, and could very easily work into the fold in the months to come. The other alternatives to Scally are, in the program’s grand tradition, playing out of position. There’s Arfsten, still tapping into his winger’s instincts at the expense of his team’s defending. There’s Scally shifting over from right back (and Sergiño Dest before him, the first-choice option in that spot), who fancy themselves to put in a shift on the left. Even then, it weakens the right back contingent that is seemingly three players deep: Dest, Scally, Alex Freeman. If Robinson’s recovery timetable will keep him out of the next international camp spanning from Sept. 1-9 (the fifth-to-last camp before the 2026 World Cup), those speculative alternatives may get another chance to log starts and fortify their cases for inclusion. Pochettino and a fanbase starved for optimism will rightfully hope for a pleasant surprise. As it stands right now, it’s a bleak reality for the USMNT: against ideal operational standards, this is a Jedi without a worthy padawan. (Top photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images)
La Liga season preview: Our predictions on Barcelona, Real Madrid and much more
The new La Liga season gets started later on Friday, with defending champions Barcelona opening at Real Mallorca tomorrow and Real Madrid welcoming Osasuna on Tuesday.
As usual, there is no shortage of storylines, including Barca again struggling to register their new signings, Madrid once more battling against La Liga’s authorities and Atletico Madrid spending big to try to challenge the Clasico duo for the title. There’s also plenty of political intrigue, controversy, figures under pressure and the possibility for history to be made on and off the pitch.
The Athletic has taken its annual stab at predicting how things will go (which will hopefully turn out better than last year, when we predicted Barcelona would sack new manager Hansi Flick by Christmas)…
Who will win La Liga and why?
Flick had a phenomenal first season in charge at Barcelona, winning the domestic treble of La Liga, Copa del Rey and Supercopa.
His squad is arguably stronger this year. Defender Inigo Martinez has left, but on-loan Marcus Rashford brings another option in attack, and most importantly, the team’s young core should be even better — centre-back Pau Cubarsi, midfielders Pedri and Gavi, and especially emerging-superstar attacker Lamine Yamal.
Can Flick’s Barca build further on last season’s success? (Judit Cartiel/Getty Images)
Madrid also look to have significantly improved, with a rebuilt defence and fresh energy and impetus under new coach Xabi Alonso. Atletico have spent a lot again to try to mount a challenge, and Diego Simeone arguably now has the deepest squad of his 14 seasons in charge. But Alonso’s impact across the capital could be hampered by minimal pre-season preparation time after going to the final four of the Club World Cup last month, while Simeone’s new signings might take a while to settle in.
Barcelona, Madrid and Atletico have finished among the top four in Spain every year since 2012-13, and they will again this time. But the race for the fourth Champions League qualification spot looks wide open.
Athletic Bilbao and Villarreal are playing in that competition this season, so their domestic form could suffer as they juggle the extra eight games. That might open up an opportunity for Real Betis, who continue to make progress year on year under veteran coach Manuel Pellegrini. Betis’ top-four challenge will be especially strong if they can secure the return of Brazilian attacker Antony from Manchester United after his impressive loan spell in the second half of last season.
Mallorca could potentially challenge for a European spot, while Valencia improved tremendously after Carlos Corberan took over as coach in January.
Who will be the biggest underperformers?
One of the biggest questions is how Madrid’s Club World Cup exertions, tacked onto the end of last season, will affect how they start this new campaign.
Madrid’s players finally got to go on holiday on July 10, after losing 4-0 to Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals in the United States. They then returned for pre-season training on August 4, just 15 days before they welcome Osasuna to the Bernabeu for both sides’ opening La Liga fixture.
Managing that situation is a huge challenge for new coach Alonso, who also has to integrate three new defenders in Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dean Huijsen and Alvaro Carreras.
Alonso was appointed as Madrid coach back in May (Sara Gordon/Real Madrid via Getty Images)
Their games at the Club World Cup suggested that Alonso’s biggest issue will be how to fit both Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior into his XI while implementing a version of the high-energy, high-pressing style he used at previous club Bayer Leverkusen.
Midfielder Jude Bellingham will be missing until mid-October at least, following a summer operation to fix a long-running shoulder issue, and players could also still leave in the summer transfer window, including Brazilian attacker Rodrygo.
Alonso could well end up being a success at the Bernabeu – he has the experience and nous to deal with the challenge of the job – but there might be some bumps along the way, and Madrid could be playing catch-up in the 2025-26 title race from early on.
How do you expect the promoted clubs to do?
Levante, Elche and Real Oviedo would all see a 17th-place finish in the 20-club table, so avoiding an immediate return to the second tier, as success.
The three promoted clubs are working with limited finances, having spent around €10million (£8.6m; $11.7m) between them so far on new players (for comparison, the three teams promoted to the Premier League this summer have spent over €300m combined).
Levante’s players, coach and staff played a big role in providing crucial supplies and support when the team’s home city of Valencia was badly flooded last October. Elche owner Christian Bragarnik’s CV includes experience as a striker in fifth-tier Argentine football, time spent as a video-store assistant, and working as an agent to Diego Maradona.
Who will be the best young player this season?
Yamal only turned 18 in mid-July and could already be the best player in Spain, if not the world, so he’s a good candidate for this section.
Already a senior Argentina international, Mastantuono is used to dealing with pressure and expectation. He has already played 64 senior games for River, scoring 10 goals and providing seven assists. Some of those goals were spectacular, especially the tremendous free kick scored in a 2-1 derby victory against fierce local rivals Boca Juniors in April.
Many kids have arrived at Madrid with big hype and have taken a long time to settle, or just never made it at all. But people who know Mastantuono reckon he can hit the ground running and quickly rival Yamal as the hottest teenager in La Liga.
Which under-the-radar figure have the big clubs been sleeping on?
Athletic Club’s Mikel Jauregizar had a real breakout season in 2024-25 and is fast developing into one of the top defensive midfielders in La Liga. Only 18 months on from his senior debut, the super-combative and mobile 21-year-old has established himself as a key member of coach Ernesto Valverde’s team.
Jauregizar, pictured in pre-season for Athletic (Joris Verwijst/BSR Agency/Getty Images)
He is not the biggest at 177cm (5ft 10in), but Jauregizar ranked third-highest among all midfielders for tackles in La Liga last season. That ability to regain possession and then launch attackers such as brothers Inaki and Nico Williams was key to Valverde’s team’s success in finishing fourth.
Jauregizar did not help himself with his performance in Athletic Club’s biggest game of the season, being embarrassingly dribbled past by Manchester United centre-back Harry Maguire in the Europa League semi-final first leg at San Mames. But his career so far suggests he is a very quick learner, and playing in the Champions League this season should bring plenty more experience and exposure.
For much of last season, Atletico appeared set to seriously compete on all fronts, but their season shuddered to a stop in March with a series of disappointing defeats by Barcelona and Madrid across La Liga, Copa del Rey and the Champions League.
Atletico’s subsequent summer spending of around €150million looks directly aimed at fixing issues in the squad highlighted during that tough spell. Slovakia defender David Hancko and United States international midfielder Johnny Cardoso bring more physicality, while Italian Matteo Ruggeri and Spain’s Alex Baena form an all-new left flank.
United States international Cardoso in action for Atletico in pre-season against Newcastle (Andy Buchanan/AFP via Getty Images)
On paper, they all look like excellent acquisitions. The question now is how Simeone integrates all his new players and whether he can get them to buy quickly into his trademark super-intense style of play.
If it all clicks, Atletico’s challenge could go a lot further this season.
Which club have had the worst transfer window?
Villarreal supporters had known that Spain international Baena was set to leave, and the club banking €42million from Atletico and signing Las Palmas’ Alberto Moleiro as a replacement for €16m was not such bad business. Similarly, selling inconsistent forward Thierno Barry to Everton for €30m and getting Spain Under-21 international centre-back Rafa Marin on loan from Napoli look like smart moves.
Less easy to understand is bringing in former Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey on a free transfer.
Partey’s experience and ability could be useful on the pitch as Villarreal return to the Champions League this season, but for many, it is just unacceptable to sign a player who has been charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault in England. Partey denies the charges, and club president Fernando Roig said on Tuesday: “We respect the presumption of innocence and of course we condemn any kind of violence, inside or outside football.”
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Tell us one great storyline we might have missed…
Barcelona’s issues around registering their summer signings with La Liga are eye-catching due to the size of the club and the regular drama involved, but they are far from the only ones struggling in this area ahead of the new season.
Just days before the games kick off this weekend, more than 50 new arrivals had yet to be officially registered with La Liga. Clubs still looking to make room within their budget included the three promoted clubs, as well as Sevilla, Celta Vigo, Espanyol, Getafe, Real Sociedad, Betis and Alaves.
So some well-known names are likely to watch their new team’s opening game from the stands, while a frantic couple of weeks of wheeling and dealing are likely until the end of the transfer window.
What will be making headlines as the season progresses?
La Liga president Javier Tebas has been openly trying to stage official Spanish top-flight games in the United States since 2018, but until now has always been denied by a mix of political and practical factors.
Tebas is nothing if not dogged, however, and many of the big hurdles have now been removed — including the settlement of a U.S. legal case between world football’s governing body FIFA and promoters Relevent, and improved relations with the Spanish FA in the post-Luis Rubiales era.
The biggest opposition domestically comes from Madrid president Florentino Perez, while green lights are still required from the European game’s rulers UEFA, Concacaf (the regional federation that includes the U.S.) and the United States Soccer Federation.
Though it’s not yet fully sorted, sooner or later, Tebas’ signature project looks certain to happen.
(Top photos of Rashford, left, and Alexander-Arnold: Getty Images)
FourFourTwo Premier League Season Previews 2025-26
Our legendary previews on all 20 teams set to grace the Premier League this season is here, brought to you by expert journalists and hardcore fans at the heart of each club
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
Virgil van Dijk of Liverpool, lifts the Premier League trophy after his team’s victory in the 2024/25 Premier League (Image credit: Carl Recine/Getty Images)
We’re not far away from the start of the 2025/26 Premier League and all the twists, turns and drama that comes with it.
The transfer market has been going into overdrive as teams look to do battle once again, with some mouthwatering spectacles set to light up the pitch again from August to May.
Read on for FourFourTwo’s preview on all 20 Premier League teams in the 2025/26 season…You may like
Bukayo Saka celebrates with Gabriel Martinelli after scoring for Arsenal against Real Madrid (Image credit: Getty Images)
After finishing second for a third season in a row last year, Arsenal are looking to go one better and finally lift the Premier League title. Preseason has been strong, with several new signings through the door, and now, Mikel Arteta is ready to take his side over the line and lift silverware this season.
FourFourTwo has your complete season preview ahead of the new campaign, with the lowdown on star players, what to expect and predictions of what’s to come over the next few months, along with Arsenal’s full fixture list, too.
Aston Villa
Aston Villa celebrate (Image credit: Getty Images)
Unai Emery’s Aston Villa missed out on Champions League football on the final day of last season. After another impressive campaign, in which they qualified for European football, reached the quarter-final of the Champions League, and the semi-final of the FA Cup, they will be looking to continue finishing inside the top six and make a serious play for one of the cups.
FourFourTwo has everything you need for the new term with our season preview. Get the inside scoop on star players, what to look forward to, and our predictions for the coming months, along with Aston Villa’s fixtures.
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Brentford
Nathan Collins of Brentford (Image credit: Getty Images)
Brentford are entering uncharted waters. For the first time in the Premier League they will not be led by Thomas Frank, and Bryan Mbeumo will not be in the squad. They have attempted to negate too much disruption by appointing former set-piece coach Keith Andrews, while they’ve brought in Caoimhin Kelleher and Jordan Henderson as they look to solidify their mid-table status.
Your essential guide to the new season is here. FourFourTwo brings you the full preview, including key players, team expectations, our final predictions and Brentford’s fixtures.
This will be Brighton’s eighth season in the Premier League and they enter with significant expectations. 18-year-old Charalampos Kostoulas has become their third highest transfer of all-time as they look to push for European football for the second-time in their history.
Ahead of the new campaign, FourFourTwo offers your complete season preview. We’ve got the lowdown on the biggest stars, what to expect, and a glimpse into our predictions for the next few months – plus Brighton’s full fixture list.
Burnley
Josh Brownhill of Burnley (Image credit: Getty Images)
Burnley finished second in the Championship last season with 100 points, the most ever for a team in second place, only beaten to the title on goal difference. Across the 46 games, they conceded just 16 goals, but shot-stopper James Trafford has returned to Manchester City. Scott Parker will be hoping they can build on their strong defensive performance and stay up this season.
Fresh off the back of their record points tally, Bournemouth will be looking to go one further and reach European football for the first time. Adoni Iroala’s side however, will be without much of their defence from last season, including Kepa Arrizabalaga, Dean Huijsen and Milos Kerkez making their task slightly more difficult.
FourFourTwo’snew season preview is out now. Dive into our analysis of key players and our predictions for what’s to come over the next few months – and check out Bournemouth’s fixture list, too.
Chelsea
Chelsea star Cole Palmer (Image credit: David Ramos/Getty Images)
Club World Cup champions Chelsea head into the season with lofty expectations. Their impressive performance in America this summer shows their scatter-gun transfer approach has worked and after spending north of £250 million again this summer, the Blues fans will be hoping they can make a serious bid for the title.
And the new season is almost here: FourFourTwo has your complete preview, covering everything from top players to our final predictions, and even Chelsea’s fixtures.
The mood is mixed at Selhurst Park. On the one hand, Oliver Glasner has delivered nothing that any Eagles manager has ever done before and won a trophy: the good feeling isn’t going to disappear any time soon, and Crystal Palace fans are hoping to push on up the league – but on the other, the cloud of the European football debacle and what competition they’ll be dropped into still lingers.
We’ve got everything you need to know ahead of the start of a new campaign with our comprehensive season preview, delving into what to look forward to and where Palace will be in another year’s time – plus, see Crystal Palace’s fixture list.
Everton
Everton manager David Moyes (Image credit: Alamy)
David Moyes is back at the wheel at Everton and the Toffees are under new ownership, as they look to buck the recent trend of fighting the drop and push on up the league: it’s arguably the most exciting time to be on the blue side of Merseyside for quite some time – and that’s before you factor in the small matter of a new home.
Find out what to expect from the new campaign: FourFourTwo provides a full season preview, including insights on star players and our predictions for the months ahead, along with Everton’s fixture list.
Fulham
Alex Iwobi of Fulham battles with Yegor Yarmolyuk of Brentford (Image credit: Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
Fulham are looking up in the table. Marco Silva has been in charge since 2021 now and with the Cottagers having kept key stars over the summer, now could be the time to mount a serious charge up the Premier League.
Leeds United are back in the big time – but can they remain there? Things are going to be tough for the Championship winners but after strengthening this summer, they’re in a good position to give it a whirl.
Be prepared for what’s to come: FourFourTwo offers you a full preview with the lowdown on star players and our predictions for the months to come, plus Leeds’ complete fixtures.
Liverpool
Liverpool star Mohamed Salah (Image credit: Pic Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Liverpool have refused to stand still. After winning the title last term, big money has been spent on improving Arne Slot’s side, as Florian Wirtz joins for a British record fee and two new full-backs join the side.
Are the Reds set for the new season? FourFourTwo has you covered with our complete preview, featuring key players, what’s expected, and our predictions, along with Liverpool’s fixture list.
Manchester City
Pep Guardiola instructs his players (Image credit: David Ramos/Getty Images)
Manchester City failed to win the title last year for the first time in five seasons. Now, armed with new recruits across the pitch and newfound fire to get back on top, Pep Guardiola is looking to wrestle back his crown.
FourFourTwo’scomplete season preview is here to get you hyped for the new campaign. We break down the star players, what you can expect, and our predictions for the campaign, ahead of Manchester City’s full fixtures.
Manchester United
Bryan Mbeumo trains with Manchester United (Image credit: Getty Images)
Last season was a generational low for a Manchester United side that finished 15th and lost the Europa League final. There’s certainly hope, however, that complete with a new-look frontline, the Red Devils can go again and that boss Ruben Amorim can start to get this side clicking under his system.
Before the new campaign kicks off, check out our full season preview from FourFourTwo. You’ll get the inside scoop on top players, what to anticipate, and what we think will happen over the next few months – and check out Manchester United’s complete fixture list.
Newcastle United
Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe (Image credit: Getty Images)
Newcastle United may have had a tough summer but they go into the new season having lifted a trophy last term and with Champions League to look forward to. Despite the struggles in the transfer market, Eddie Howe has built a side to be feared on the pitch: and this is a club that will be looking to go even further in their ambitions.
Ready for the new season? FourFourTwo has you covered with our in-depth preview. We give you the lowdown on the players to watch and share our predictions for the coming months, ahead of Newcastle’s fixtures.
Nottingham Forest bucked all expectations last term with a finish in the European places – and after the unexpected bonus of Europa League football to look forward to, the Tricky Trees are welcoming European football back for the first time in a generation. There’s plenty to be excited by.
The new season is just around the corner, and our complete preview is finally here. FourFourTwo gives you the essential details on star players, a rundown of expectations, and a look at our predictions, plus Forest’s fixture list.
Sunderland
Sunderland fans (Image credit: Getty Images)
Sunderland’s dramatic promotion in the play-offs sees the Black Cats returning to the Premier League and wanting to do far more than make up the numbers: if summer business has anything to go by, they could be about to spring a few surprises, too.
What’s in store for the new season? Find out with our complete preview from FourFourTwo. We’ve got the scoop on key players, what to expect, and our predictions for the months to come – and we’ve even got Sunderland’s complete fixture schedule.
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham boss Thomas Frank (Image credit: Copyright (c) 2025 Shutterstock Editorial. No use without permission.)
Optimism at Tottenham Hotspur is unusually high for a team that only scraped 17th in the table last season: that will be because Thomas Frank has arrived, preseason has been positive and the Europa League triumph last season means that the trophy curse has finally been banished. Now, Spurs can start looking upwards again.
The wait is over: FourFourTwo presents our comprehensive season preview, complete with a close look at the most exciting players and our predictions for the next few months., along with Tottenham’s fixture lists.
West Ham United
West Ham man Tomas Soucek (Image credit: Getty Images)
West Ham United are quietly going about their business this summer and with a highly-rated coach in Graham Potter, they’ll be hoping to cause some upsets and return to battling for Europe.
Anticipation is building, and so is our new season preview: FourFourTwo brings you all the essential info on players to watch and our bold predictions for the season – plus, West Ham’s fixtures.
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolves boss Vitor Pereira (Image credit: Getty Images)
Wolverhampton Wanderers enjoyed a remarkable turnaround under Vitor Pereira last season – but having lost star players Rayan Ait-Nouri and Matheus Cunha, can the Old Gold expect another campaign like last, or can they push on up the Premier League?
Get a head start on the new campaign with the FourFourTwoseason preview: we’ll give you a full rundown on the top stars and offer our predictions for the season ahead, along with Wolves’ complete fixtures.
Premier League Predictions: Liverpool vs Bournemouth, Man Utd vs Arsenal and the rest of Matchday 1
Welcome to the first edition of The Athletic’s new Premier League Predictions game.
This is where you (our lovely subscribers) have the opportunity to join a data algorithm, a six-year-old boy, and me in putting our credibility on the line on a weekly basis.
Every week, we will give score predictions for each of the 10 Premier League games, with a correct scoreline gaining three points and a correct result gaining one point. To make things more interesting, there will be a bonus point if a player is the only one to get a scoreline or result correct. You’ll be able to see the standings from next week.
We will have a different subscriber each week, chosen from those who have replied with their interest (see here for how to get involved and for other general information), but I will be a constant throughout the season until May, along with the algorithm and, of course, six-year-old Wilfred.The more I talk about this, the more convinced I am that The Athletic are setting me up for a fall here, exposing not only my inability to predict the outcome of football matches but, even worse, my blatant bias against your team.Ah, let’s brush away these pangs of insecurity. Three hundred and eighty Premier League matches lie ahead of us from now to May 24, so let’s get cracking.For the opening weekend, the subscribers will be represented by Vaageesh, a Manchester United supporter who hails from Chennai, India. Will he tip his beloved team to hit the ground running against Arsenal? Will any of us? This is already causing me more stress than I thought it would…
Our subscriber’s match of the week
Manchester United vs Arsenal, Sunday 4.30pm BST/11.30am ET
Vaageesh says: “I don’t have much time; I’m writing this moments after entrapping my battling optimistic and pessimistic selves in a bunker. Here’s the rationale: Manchester United’s ability in transition will cancel out Arsenal’s confidence when in possession and neither will quite have the fluidity required to pull ahead despite the fact that both teams seem to have improved over the summer.”
Manchester United 1-1 Arsenal
Oli says: I’m old enough to remember Arsenal, as champions, being obliterated on the opening day in 1989-90 by a new-look Manchester United team, for whom it proved a classic false dawn. United’s prospective new owner, Michael Knighton, was on the pitch beforehand, ball-juggling and blowing kisses to the crowd, and Neil Webb smashed one in from 25 yards on his debut — wild stuff, honestly (yeah, get on with it, Grandad).If I close my eyes, I can imagine a scenario where something similar happens — this new United front line looks perfect for a balmy Sunday afternoon in August — but… no, not quite. This Arsenal team strike me as too serious to be rolled over on day one. I’ll try not to sit on the fence too often, but I’m going to have to go for a very lively draw here.
Manchester United 2-2 Arsenal
Bryan Mbeumo (left), Benjamin Sesko (middle) and Matheus Cunha (Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images)
Oli’s other predictions
Liverpool vs Bournemouth
Oli says: If I describe this as an awkward start for Liverpool, it’s in part because Bournemouth are unconventional opponents. Nobody seems to have it easy against them. I’ll go for a home win, but not a comfortable one. It might be a tight, nervous one, requiring a lively cameo from Rio Ngumoha and a late winner from Mohamed Salah, that kind of thing.
Liverpool 2-1 Bournemouth
Aston Villa vs Newcastle
Oli says: They have both had challenging summers, but stylistically this is one of my favourite match-ups in the league. The past six meetings have seen four wins for Newcastle (4-0, 5-1, 3-1, 3-0) and two for Villa (3-0 and 4-1), and I could see this one swinging violently one way or the other. Which way? I’ll say Villa this time.
Aston Villa 3-1 Newcastle
Brighton vs Fulham
Oli says: Another nice match-up, another that could certainly go either way. Why am I going with Fulham to hit the ground running against a Brighton team I rate? Not sure, but perhaps because of their quiet summer in the transfer market, rather than despite it.
Brighton 1-2 Fulham
Sunderland vs West Ham
Oli says: I’ve missed having Sunderland in the Premier League — or certainly the notion of what Sunderland should or could be. The place will be rocking on Saturday and even though I like the look of a couple of West Ham’s signings, it’s a winnable opening game for Sunderland.
Sunderland 1-0 West Ham
Tottenham vs Burnley
Oli says: I don’t know what to expect from Tottenham this season, but I will at least predict a winning start. Burnley had an outstanding defensive record last season, but facing Dominic Solanke, Mohammed Kudus, etc, represents a step up in class for Scott Parker’s team.
Tottenham 2-1 Burnley
Wolves vs Man City
Oli says: The Wolves fans I know are all worried after another summer dominated by departures. As opening games go, this looks more likely to intensify the gloom rather than lift it. Manchester City always seem to hit the ground running — Erling Haaland in particular — and I expect that to continue.
Wolves 0-2 Manchester City
Chelsea vs Crystal Palace
Oli says: I don’t know how Chelsea’s Club World Cup exertions will affect them in the long run, but I fancy them to start well. Palace, incidentally, have been slow starters and excellent finishers over the past few seasons. There’s no reason to expect that pattern to continue, but Chelsea away on the opening weekend is tough.
Chelsea 2-1 Crystal Palace
Nottingham Forest vs Brentford
Oli says: Looking at how the fixtures have fallen, Forest are another team I fancy to start well — at least until the European commitments kick in, which will test their squad depth — whereas I’m slightly concerned for Brentford. I’m expecting a home win and a Morgan Gibbs-White goal, followed by a flamboyant kiss of the badge.
Nottingham Forest 2-0 Brentford
Leeds vs Everton
Oli says: For Leeds and their fans, this is the perfect opening game, particularly under the floodlights on a Monday night. They didn’t get to enjoy an occasion like this after promotion during the Covid pandemic in 2020, so I’m predicting an utterly wild atmosphere, an exuberant performance, a refereeing controversy, and, ultimately, a Leeds win to round off a lively opening weekend.
How players force a transfer, Pulisic and Weah hit back at ‘evil’ ex-USMNT stars NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND – MAY 25: Alexander Isak of Newcastle United applauds the fans as he warms up prior to the Premier League match between Newcastle United FC and Everton FC at St James’ Park on May 25, 2025 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images) By Phil Hay Aug. 14, 2025 1
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Hello! Feigning injury, missing pre-season, downing tools. We’re covering the dark arts involved in convincing a club to sell you. Just don’t bother with an actual transfer request.
On the way:
How footballers force a move Pulisic beef intensifies Rooney fires back at Brady A stone-cold 50-metre lob Exit strategy: Isak wants to leave Newcastle… but how do players get their way?
Alexander Isak during pre-season training in July (Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images) I once asked a footballer (best left nameless) why, at one of his previous clubs, he upset all and sundry by submitting a transfer request. “It wasn’t a transfer request,” he replied. “It was a perceived transfer request.”
You can guess the follow-up question: what on earth is a perceived transfer request? “They took it to be an official request, when it wasn’t,” he explained, which sounded suspiciously like semantics to me; a player actively plotting to leave, without saying so formally or quite so explicitly.
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Written transfer requests — the unequivocal, black-and-white means by which restless pros can manipulate a move — are less common than you might think. For one thing, submitting a demand in writing risks forfeiting future bonuses or loyalty payments. For two, they’re regarded as small-time. As one agent tells The Athletic’s Stu James: “You’re handing in a letter saying you want to leave. What the hell does that do?”
Stu wrote about the art of manufacturing a transfer in 2021 but he updated his piece when trouble brewed between Newcastle United and Alexander Isak (above), and it’s relevant again in light of the sorry deterioration of that relationship. The Swedish striker has no intention of making another appearance for the Tyneside club. He would sooner sign for Liverpool. But how does he force his way out the door if Newcastle aren’t minded to trade him?
This isn’t new ground, or even close. Cerys Jones went back through the Premier League archives to analyse other high-profile names — Harry Kane, Luis Suarez and others — who effectively went on strike, hoping to be sold. Some who stamp their feet get their way. Others don’t. Stu’s feature is a window into Newcastle’s reality.
Top Stories The biggest issues facing youth sports? Greg Olsen has strong opinions NBA 2025-26 schedule release: 40 games I’m looking forward to next season The epicenter of stalking in sports? Why tennis stands apart Never get an owner angry Isak hasn’t done a bad job in employing the tactics suggested by different agents Stu talked to (all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity). Complain of minor injuries? Check. Refuse to travel on a pre-season tour? Check. Down tools, or cast doubt over your commitment to your existing employers? Check. Textbook stuff.
Here’s what those who know the drill had to say about facilitating a contentious exit from a club:
One agent warned: “What you must never do is get an owner angry. Once a billionaire says, ‘He’s not for sale’, you’re dead. You’re ain’t going nowhere because their credibility is on the line.” A manager with Premier League experience talked about trying to drop a wantaway star down to work with the club’s under-23s: “Then you’ll have the club push back on you and say, ‘He’s an asset, he needs to be involved’. You end up having friction with the club. It’s an absolute nightmare.” Another high-profile representative said, “Some agents try to force things through that are just ridiculous. And all that happens is that it causes a load of bad feeling, nobody wins. Try to find a solution for everybody.” But by far the most revealing quote came from David Sullivan, the co-owner of West Ham United. Generally speaking, Sullivan said, coaches want disruptive players out of the building because they “create a terrible atmosphere”. A sulking asset is essentially a bad apple. And in the case of Isak, it might be that fact that grants him his wish.
‘I feel like they’re evil’: Pulisic and Weah bite back on criticism of ex-USMNT players. Again. USMNT’s Tim Weah and Christian Pulisic Christian Pulisic and Tim Weah celebrate against Germany in 2023 (Alex Grimm/Getty Images) To say that current USMNT stars are at odds with certain retired U.S. internationals would be the understatement of the day. Tyler Adams tried to be diplomatic about criticism from Landon Donovan and others in an interview with The Athletic this week, but yesterday’s episode of the ‘Pulisic’ series on Paramount+ took the beef up a notch.
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One thing to point out first: by any objective measure, the USMNT have done nothing to shield themselves from ex-pro scrutiny. The past couple of years have been miserable, and Christian Pulisic and Tim Weah (above) choosing to miss this summer’s Gold Cup wasn’t going to pass without comment. But blimey, they’re taking it all to heart. Here’s what was said on ‘Pulisic’:
Weah: “Those guys are chasing cheques. And for me, I just feel like they’re really evil. Because they’ve been players, and they know what it’s like when you’re getting bashed. Those are the same guys that’ll turn around and shake your hand, and try to be friendly with you at the end of the day.” Pulisic: “The most annoying thing, and the biggest cop-out of all time, is when all pundits want to say, ‘They didn’t want it, they didn’t have the heart. Back in our day, we would fight and die on that field’. It’s frustrating.” Pulisic’s father, Mark: “These guys want clicks. It’s social media, it’s, ‘Subscribe to my channel, listen to my podcasts’, or whatever.” Quote three is a little ironic coming from someone talking in a docuseries, but here we are. The thing is, I don’t see the former USMNT corps backing down tamely, so where this goes from here is anybody’s guess. National unity with less than a year to a home World Cup? If only.
News Round-Up A tasty spat has broken out between Birmingham City shareholder Tom Brady and the club’s former head coach, Wayne Rooney. Brady was filmed raising doubts about Rooney’s work ethic in a recent documentary. Rooney hit back on his new podcast, saying the comments were “very unfair” and that Brady didn’t “really understand football that well”. Barcelona’s board are putting millions of their own money on the line in an effort to get Marcus Rashford and others registered with La Liga. Their salary-cap stress has reached crisis point, again. The Daily Liverpool: they’re closing in on the signing of 18-year-old defender Giovanni Leoni from Parma in Italy. He’ll set them back £26m ($35.2m). The Club World Cup was a nice little earner for the squad at Chelsea. After winning the tournament, their players will share bonuses worth more than £10m. But, bless them, a portion is to be donated to the family of Diogo Jota and his brother, Andre Silva. Gimnastic de Tarragona, a Catalan club who play in Spain’s third division, have cancelled the signing of Jose Manuel Calderon…after the defender was caught on camera saying: “I sh** on all dead Catalans.” Calderon apologised, albeit too little too late. An under-21s match involving Manchester United had to be abandoned after midfielder Sekou Kone suffered a bad head injury. The 19-year-old was taken to hospital but appears to be OK. Keeping it together: Chevalier and PSG come back from 2-0 down to beat Spurs in Super Cup
TNT Sports Well, colour us shocked. Paris Saint-Germain ostracise Gianluigi Donnarumma and the first thing the goalkeeper’s replacement, Lucas Chevalier, does is mark his debut in last night’s UEFA Super Cup match by throwing one in this goal, above. That’s football being football.
The evening got better for Chevalier, who saved a penalty in a shootout as PSG picked up their fourth trophy of 2025. They were on the ropes in normal time, trailing 2-0 to Tottenham Hotspur with five minutes to go, but something woke them from their slumber.
I’d caution against reading too much into Tottenham’s display because PSG were rusty, as if they were psychologically tearing themselves away from the beaches of Saint-Tropez. That said, for much of the game, there was decent structure to Spurs and their set pieces worked. It was only as they dropped deep in defence of their lead that PSG got a sniff. No early silverware for Thomas Frank, but green shoots all the same.
It didn’t stop Sheffield United sliding out of the Carabao Cup, but I wouldn’t have you missing Gustavo Hamer’s glorious 50-yard finish against Birmingham City last night. Nottingham Forest’s Murillo should sign him up for lessons.
ITV Sport Around TAFC On the eve of the Premier League season, I’ll point you towards a rundown of all the coverage you can expect from The Athletic. It’s here and it’s epic. I like the sound of the alternative league table. There can’t have been many summers in which top-flight English teams threw more money at attacking signings, including Viktor Gyokeres and Florian Wirtz. Mark Carey and Thom Harris have taken a closer look at an expensive trend. Gyokeres, in theory, should enhance Arsenal’s chances of winning the title. Amy Lawrence sat down for an exclusive chat with their manager, Mikel Arteta. James Milner is a machine: 39 years old and still at it in the Premier League. This interview with him by Oli Kay is ace. Fantasy Premier League: once more, the code to our TAFC league for any readers who wish to be part of it. Enter using 30j0f7. We’ve got a few more last-minute tips for you. Most clicked in Wednesday’s TAFC: the PSG-Donnarumma rift. And finally…
X / @sportsru How we chuckled a few weeks back at the footballer in Brazil who re-enacted the Cristiano Ronaldo ‘Siu’ celebration routine and gave himself a gammy leg in the process.
But that self-inflicted wound looks fairly pedestrian when set aside the post-goal backflip attempted by Dynamo Barnaul’s Kirill Mogel in a Russian lower-league match at the weekend. To cut him some slack, the striker hadn’t scored for months but if the crunch was as nasty as it looked, he might not be scoring again for a good while either.
“The acrobatic trick didn’t work out for him,” lamented Dynamo Barnaul’s official website. I’ll say.
(Top photo: George Wood/Getty Images)
How players force a transfer, Pulisic and Weah hit back at ‘evil’ ex-USMNT stars
Hello! Feigning injury, missing pre-season, downing tools. We’re covering the dark arts involved in convincing a club to sell you. Just don’t bother with an actual transfer request.
Exit strategy: Isak wants to leave Newcastle… but how do players get their way?
Alexander Isak during pre-season training in July (Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images)
I once asked a footballer (best left nameless) why, at one of his previous clubs, he upset all and sundry by submitting a transfer request. “It wasn’t a transfer request,” he replied. “It was a perceived transfer request.”
You can guess the follow-up question: what on earth is a perceived transfer request? “They took it to be an official request, when it wasn’t,” he explained, which sounded suspiciously like semantics to me; a player actively plotting to leave, without saying so formally or quite so explicitly.
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Written transfer requests — the unequivocal, black-and-white means by which restless pros can manipulate a move — are less common than you might think. For one thing, submitting a demand in writing risks forfeiting future bonuses or loyalty payments. For two, they’re regarded as small-time. As one agent tells The Athletic’s Stu James: “You’re handing in a letter saying you want to leave. What the hell does that do?”
Stu wrote about the art of manufacturing a transfer in 2021 but he updated his piece when trouble brewed between Newcastle United and Alexander Isak (above), and it’s relevant again in light of the sorry deterioration of that relationship. The Swedish striker has no intention of making another appearance for the Tyneside club. He would sooner sign for Liverpool. But how does he force his way out the door if Newcastle aren’t minded to trade him?
This isn’t new ground, or even close. Cerys Jones went back through the Premier League archives to analyse other high-profile names — Harry Kane, Luis Suarez and others — who effectively went on strike, hoping to be sold. Some who stamp their feet get their way. Others don’t. Stu’s feature is a window into Newcastle’s reality.
Never get an owner angry
Isak hasn’t done a bad job in employing the tactics suggested by different agents Stu talked to (all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity). Complain of minor injuries? Check. Refuse to travel on a pre-season tour? Check. Down tools, or cast doubt over your commitment to your existing employers? Check. Textbook stuff.
Here’s what those who know the drill had to say about facilitating a contentious exit from a club:
One agent warned: “What you must never do is get an owner angry. Once a billionaire says, ‘He’s not for sale’, you’re dead. You’re ain’t going nowhere because their credibility is on the line.”
A manager with Premier League experience talked about trying to drop a wantaway star down to work with the club’s under-23s: “Then you’ll have the club push back on you and say, ‘He’s an asset, he needs to be involved’. You end up having friction with the club. It’s an absolute nightmare.”
Another high-profile representative said, “Some agents try to force things through that are just ridiculous. And all that happens is that it causes a load of bad feeling, nobody wins. Try to find a solution for everybody.”
But by far the most revealing quote came from David Sullivan, the co-owner of West Ham United. Generally speaking, Sullivan said, coaches want disruptive players out of the building because they “create a terrible atmosphere”. A sulking asset is essentially a bad apple. And in the case of Isak, it might be that fact that grants him his wish.
‘I feel like they’re evil’: Pulisic and Weah bite back on criticism of ex-USMNT players. Again.
Christian Pulisic and Tim Weah celebrate against Germany in 2023 (Alex Grimm/Getty Images)
To say that current USMNT stars are at odds with certain retired U.S. internationals would be the understatement of the day. Tyler Adams tried to be diplomatic about criticism from Landon Donovan and others in an interview with The Athletic this week, but yesterday’s episode of the ‘Pulisic’ series on Paramount+ took the beef up a notch.
One thing to point out first: by any objective measure, the USMNT have done nothing to shield themselves from ex-pro scrutiny. The past couple of years have been miserable, and Christian Pulisic and Tim Weah (above) choosing to miss this summer’s Gold Cup wasn’t going to pass without comment. But blimey, they’re taking it all to heart. Here’s what was said on ‘Pulisic’:
Weah: “Those guys are chasing cheques. And for me, I just feel like they’re really evil. Because they’ve been players, and they know what it’s like when you’re getting bashed. Those are the same guys that’ll turn around and shake your hand, and try to be friendly with you at the end of the day.”
Pulisic: “The most annoying thing, and the biggest cop-out of all time, is when all pundits want to say, ‘They didn’t want it, they didn’t have the heart. Back in our day, we would fight and die on that field’. It’s frustrating.”
Pulisic’s father, Mark: “These guys want clicks. It’s social media, it’s, ‘Subscribe to my channel, listen to my podcasts’, or whatever.”
Quote three is a little ironic coming from someone talking in a docuseries, but here we are. The thing is, I don’t see the former USMNT corps backing down tamely, so where this goes from here is anybody’s guess. National unity with less than a year to a home World Cup? If only.
News Round-Up
A tasty spat has broken out between Birmingham City shareholder Tom Brady and the club’s former head coach, Wayne Rooney. Brady was filmed raising doubts about Rooney’s work ethic in a recent documentary. Rooney hit back on his new podcast, saying the comments were “very unfair” and that Brady didn’t “really understand football that well”.
Barcelona’s board are putting millions of their own money on the line in an effort to get Marcus Rashford and others registered with La Liga. Their salary-cap stress has reached crisis point, again.
The Daily Liverpool: they’re closing in on the signing of 18-year-old defender Giovanni Leoni from Parma in Italy. He’ll set them back £26m ($35.2m).
Gimnastic de Tarragona, a Catalan club who play in Spain’s third division, have cancelled the signing of Jose Manuel Calderon…after the defender was caught on camera saying: “I sh** on all dead Catalans.” Calderon apologised, albeit too little too late.
An under-21s match involving Manchester United had to be abandoned after midfielder Sekou Kone suffered a bad head injury. The 19-year-old was taken to hospital but appears to be OK.
Keeping it together: Chevalier and PSG come back from 2-0 down to beat Spurs in Super Cup
TNT Sports
Well, colour us shocked. Paris Saint-Germain ostracise Gianluigi Donnarumma and the first thing the goalkeeper’s replacement, Lucas Chevalier, does is mark his debut in last night’s UEFA Super Cup match by throwing one in this goal, above. That’s football being football.
The evening got better for Chevalier, who saved a penalty in a shootout as PSG picked up their fourth trophy of 2025. They were on the ropes in normal time, trailing 2-0 to Tottenham Hotspur with five minutes to go, but something woke them from their slumber.
I’d caution against reading too much into Tottenham’s display because PSG were rusty, as if they were psychologically tearing themselves away from the beaches of Saint-Tropez. That said, for much of the game, there was decent structure to Spurs and their set pieces worked. It was only as they dropped deep in defence of their lead that PSG got a sniff. No early silverware for Thomas Frank, but green shoots all the same.
On the eve of the Premier League season, I’ll point you towards a rundown of all the coverage you can expect from The Athletic. It’s here and it’s epic. I like the sound of the alternative league table.
There can’t have been many summers in which top-flight English teams threw more money at attacking signings, including Viktor Gyokeres and Florian Wirtz. Mark Carey and Thom Harris have taken a closer look at an expensive trend.
Gyokeres, in theory, should enhance Arsenal’s chances of winning the title. Amy Lawrence sat down for an exclusive chat with their manager, Mikel Arteta.
James Milner is a machine: 39 years old and still at it in the Premier League. This interview with him by Oli Kay is ace.
Fantasy Premier League: once more, the code to our TAFC league for any readers who wish to be part of it. Enter using 30j0f7. We’ve got a few more last-minute tips for you.
How we chuckled a few weeks back at the footballer in Brazil who re-enacted the Cristiano Ronaldo ‘Siu’ celebration routine and gave himself a gammy leg in the process.
But that self-inflicted wound looks fairly pedestrian when set aside the post-goal backflip attempted by Dynamo Barnaul’s Kirill Mogel in a Russian lower-league match at the weekend. To cut him some slack, the striker hadn’t scored for months but if the crunch was as nasty as it looked, he might not be scoring again for a good while either.
“The acrobatic trick didn’t work out for him,” lamented Dynamo Barnaul’s official website. I’ll say.
Probably not, because it never really stopped. But if you were struggling, fear not, because the Premier League is back.
Three hundred and eighty matches, 282 days, 20 teams, endless grumbling about VARs, and almost certainly a new officiating debate that none of us have dreamed up yet are waiting just around the corner, all starting when reigning champions Liverpool host Bournemouth on Friday at 8pm BST/3pm EST.Leeds United, Burnley, and Sunderland are up from the Championship, there are new faces on the pitch and in the technical areas, and, as always, there are a host of minor tweaks, too.his, then, is what you need to know for the new Premier League season.
New laws
The major change (and, whisper it, possibly even a popular one) is the introduction of the eight-second rule, which will already be familiar to those who watched the Club World Cup.If goalkeepers are in control of the ball with their arms/hands for more than eight seconds, they will concede a corner from the side closest to them. This replaces the old law, which was rarely enforced, where goalkeepers could concede an indirect free kick if they held onto the ball for more than six seconds.When the rule was announced by the International Football Association Board (IFAB), it said only four corners were awarded in its trial of the rule, which consisted of hundreds of matches.It is up to the referee to decide when the ’keeper has control of the ball and start the countdown. They will visually count down the last five seconds so it is clear to the goalkeeper what is happening.
There will be no disciplinary action unless the ’keeper repeatedly commits the offence, and they are not penalised if they are starting to or about to release the ball as the countdown ends.
The referee will also not start counting if the goalkeeper is being obstructed by an opposition attacker — if, during the countdown, an opponent pressures the ’keeper, they will concede an indirect free kick.
Teams will be awarded a corner if the opposition goalkeeper holds onto the ball for too long (Julian Finney/Getty Images)
There are also new ‘only the captain’ guidelines on approaching the referee. ‘Normal interactions’ between players and the referee will be allowed, but the guidance is aimed at preventing players from surrounding or mobbing them after big incidents or decisions. Team captains are responsible for helping direct team-mates away from the referee, and anyone who approaches without permission may be booked.The referee may invite the captain over to explain a decision. The hope is that players will know there is an avenue for them to receive engagement with the referee through their captain, but also know they can expect a booking if they approach when they should not.If the captain is the goalkeeper, they can nominate an outfield team-mate before the coin toss to approach the referee instead.Finally, the rules have been tweaked for accidental ‘double-touch’ penalties. If a player scores a penalty kick but accidentally touches the ball twice, they will be allowed to retake it. If they miss, they do not get another chance.
Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez was involved in a double-touch penalty in last season’s Champions League (Angel Martinez/Getty Images)
New refereeing tech: semi-automated offside technology (SAOT), announcements, and ‘Ref Cam’
Some might recall that SAOT was on our list last year and was expected to be introduced “from after one of the autumn international breaks”. It actually ended up being introduced to the Premier League in April, so we deem it new enough to make the list again, as this will be the first full season where it is used.
The technology aims to reduce the length of VAR checks by automating parts of the decision-making process. The technology won’t be used for clear offside decisions. However, the old method of ‘drawing lines’ might still be needed in some cases if the technology fails, or if players are blocking the view of the ball or the system’s cameras.
(Steve Bardens/Getty Images)
This happened in March, on the first weekend when the technology was trialled in English football. During Wolverhampton Wanderers’ FA Cup game against Bournemouth, a congested penalty area meant officials could not rely on the technology and there was an eight-minute delay.There will also be more information for fans in stadiums this season. Graphics showing the results of SAOT decisions will be shown on giant screens, and after a trial in the Carabao Cup, referees will make an announcement in the stadium explaining the outcome of all VAR reviews (except for factual offside or onside calls).The league also plans to trial referee-worn cameras, as seen at the Club World Cup. The trial is expected to begin this month and last for around six weeks.The footage can be used as an additional replay angle in broadcasts, allowing fans to see the game from the referee’s perspective. However, no confrontational or controversial moments should be shown.
A new, bigger, UK broadcast deal
More Premier League games will be shown on TV than ever before as the league’s new broadcast deal, agreed back in December 2023 and worth £6.7bn, takes effect.
All games outside the Saturday 3pm blackout will now be broadcast live in the UK. Previously, some Sunday 2pm games were not available to watch live in the UK if they had been moved to that slot due to teams competing in European competition in midweek.
At least 215 matches will be on Sky Sports, and TNT will show 52. Amazon Prime no longer shows any.
Sky will show games on a Saturday at 5:30pm, on a Sunday at 2pm and 4:30pm, Monday and Friday evening games, and the first three rounds of midweek fixtures. Sky’s coverage also includes a new ‘Multiview’ format, which will allow customers to watch up to four games at once on Sunday afternoons.
TNT will show the early kick-off games at 12:30pm on Saturdays, as well as the last two rounds of midweek fixtures.
BBC Sport has highlights rights for all 380 matches.
In the U.S., NBC will show all 380 games, with just under half of them streamed exclusively on Peacock. The remainder will be shown on a main NBC channel or USA Network.
(Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
New broadcast access — including in-game and half-time interviews
Clubs are now obligated to grant more access to broadcasters, including the potential for access to dressing rooms or interviews at half-time or during the match.
Each club will only have to agree to these extra obligations a limited number of times.
At least twice per season, each club must do one of the following:
Allow filming for at least 90 seconds in their dressing room. This could be between the end of the warm-up and start of the match, at half-time, or immediately after the match once the players are back in the dressing room. The club can request that this footage is without audio unless they approve it.
Make a player or manager available for an interview at half-time. This should be no more than three questions, all of which should be positive and related to the match. The interview must be timed so it will not delay the restart.
Make a substituted player, or the manager, available for an interview during the match. This must be by no later than the 85th minute and the interview should be no more than two questions, both of which must be related to the match and positive.
The broadcaster will request this extra access before the fixture and say which of the three options it would prefer, but the club chooses which it plans to provide.
If a club is losing when they were supposed to provide this extra access, they can choose to do it at another match instead.
(Stu Forster/Getty Images)
A new ball — and not a Nike one
Lastly, the official ball has changed. Nike’s 25-year partnership has come to an end and Puma will now supply the match ball.
The German company is already the ball supplier for Serie A, La Liga, the English Football League, and the Carabao Cup. It was in the latter competition that Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta referred to the match ball when dissecting his side’s 2-0 loss to eventual tournament winners Newcastle United in the first leg of their semi-final.
“(The Carabao Cup ball) is very different to a Premier League ball, and you have to adapt to that because it flies differently. When you touch it, the grip is also very different, so you adapt to that.”
(Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
Check back for Arteta’s review of Puma’s Orbita Ultimate ball when the season gets underway…
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Wrexham’s revamped home: A (longer) £1.7m pitch, heated dugout seats and goal-line technology
But he’s far from alone at Wrexham in experiencing a hectic close season. Aidan Miller, the club’s strategy and projects director, has overseen a revamp of the SToK Cae Ras designed to nudge the world’s oldest international football ground into the modern era.A new £1.7million ($2.3m) pitch, complete with undersoil heating and new drainage, has been the marquee addition. No one at Wrexham’s Carabao Cup first-round victory over Hull City could have failed to notice just how lush the new surface looked in the August sunshine. Nor how well it played.
The seeding and stitching operation to make Wrexham’s surface compliant with European football’s regulations was only part of an overhaul that included moving both dugouts to the opposite side of the pitch, building a new TV gantry, reconfiguring stands to squeeze in extra seats, erecting two new giant TV screens at one end and taking down the old scoreboard at the other.
Wrexham’s new pitch, as seen before their first home match of the season (Robbie Jay Barratt/Getty Images)
There was also the dismantling of a temporary stand, plus the all-important deactivation of a live electric cable underneath the old Kop, as preparatory work continues ahead of the new 7,500-capacity stand starting to go up, on schedule, in the autumn.To squeeze all this into exactly 100 days between Wrexham staging a promotion party after last season had ended and Tuesday’s cup tie against Hull is impressive. Even more so when you consider the club did not know until beating Charlton Athletic on April 26 when the 20224-25 season would finish — or when their 2025-26 league campaign would start.“We had to do a lot of planning,” explains Miller, who joined Wrexham early in 2025 after almost seven years at Everton, primarily working on the club’s new Hill Dickinson Stadium. “The key thing with the pitch is it would take six weeks to reconstruct it. But two months to grow it.
“If we’d finished third and then not gone up, the window would have been tight. In the end, the opposite happened, where we had an extra three weeks (due to Wrexham clinching automatic promotion). But we’d had to plan for the worst and hope we got the best.”In recent years, Wrexham’s historic home has struggled to keep pace with Parkinson’s upwardly mobile team. Facilities have been improved, such as the installation of new floodlights prior to returning to the EFL in 2023. But, really, it won’t be until the new Kop stand is finished that The Racecourse Ground will truly shine.The changes — which include the installation of goal-line technology — have brought a new sheen to a venue that first hosted a Wales international in 1877.
The newly-installed cameras (Richard Sutcliffe/The Athletic)
“We’ve always said with the sporting side being so successful, then the standards get raised in terms of what is expected,” says Rob Faulkner, Wrexham’s chief business and communications officer, when giving The Athletic a tour of all the changes, including upgraded concourses and hospitality areas.
“A lot of things will go into the new Kop, particularly for the fans and players with top-class facilities, new dressing rooms and so on. But until then, we are trying to catch up as much as we can.”
At one stage this summer, six different projects were being worked on inside The Racecourse at the same time by a small army of workers.
Contractors Cleveland Land Services (CLS) worked around the clock to get the pitch ready, with seeding taking place on June 1 and the stitching in July.
The dugouts were moved across the pitch to the Mold Road Stand, where coaching staff and substitutes will benefit from heated seats in what can be a cold part of the stadium. This has allowed the old dugouts to be converted into fan seating.
Two hundred and 24 seats have been added to the Tech End behind the goal, giving a full extra row at the front of the upper section. The old electronic scoreboard at that end has also gone, so the view of those who stand on the back row will no longer be impeded.
The pitch has been extended in length to allow for rugby matches to be played in the future and also shifted a couple of metres towards the Kop. This meant the new two-level TV gantry had to be situated slightly to the side of its predecessor, to ensure the main camera position remains on halfway.
The new two-level TV gantry (Richard Sutcliffe/The Athletic)
A second gantry has also been built on the opposite side of the ground on halfway, meaning Wrexham now comply with UEFA and Championship (and Premier League) standards regarding a reverse angle camera position.
“It’s a bit like building a house, in that the plumber has to come in before the joiner,” says Miller. “As part of the work, we’ve had all the steelwork in the Wrexham Lager Stand painted. This involved someone abseiling, which meant two blocks of seats had to be taken out each time.
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“It was the same with taking down the temporary stand. We removed one section (containing 558 seats) after the Stockport game last season (on March 22) to help with the pitch project.
“The fan zone also went at the same time, allowing us to create a pathway for the contractors to bring in mountains of gravel, soil and so on. We wanted these onsite, meaning we could start straight away the moment we got the green light.”
This also explains why the remaining blocks of the temporary stand were not taken down until late June, several weeks after the season had ended.
Miller adds: “We had work to do around the outside of the site, tidying up the drainage, laying tarmac and a few other things. Only then did we have the space to take down the temporary stand. Coordination was key, in terms of what is the priority — which for us was getting the pitch work going.”
The summer revamp is only the start. A new Kop stand will soon start to go up, with the intention to be ready for The Racecourse hosting the UEFA Under-19 Championship in June 2026.
Barriers obscure the building of the new Kop stand (Robbie Jay Barratt/Getty Images)
It will be the key building block of a stadium masterplan drawn up by Populous, the same firm that designed Arsenal and Tottenham’s new homes, as well as Dublin’s Aviva Stadium, Wembley and The Sphere in Las Vegas.
The initial plan was to house 5,500 fans with the design, then allow another 2,000 to be added. However, a new planning application went in last month for a 7,500 capacity structure and a decision will be made soon by Wrexham Borough Council.
A new electricity substation on University land adjacent to The Racecourse’s main entrance on Crispin Lane has also been constructed.
This will provide power to the three blocks of student flats that sit behind the main stand, replacing the previous substation located towards the back of The Turf pub on the footprint of where the new Kop will stand. As part of this switch, a live power cable running underneath the area was deactivated.
“Until that was done, you couldn’t even start digging,” says Miller. “So, from a big ticket perspective, that’s probably the biggest thing we did this summer.”
As Miller says proudly, this now feels like “a Championship ground”.
Can Wrexham Continue the Climb in the Championship? Starts Saturday
Another Championship season begins this weekend and there are plenty of storylines to keep an eye on. Will Wrexham make it four promotions in a row to give their Hollywood-celebrity owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney their Premier League dream? How about Tom Brady and Birmingham City? Can relegated trio Leicester City, Ipswich Town, and Southampton bounce back up to the top flight at the first time of asking? Full Championship Previews below including how American’s like this summer’s forwards Patrick Agyemang (Derby County), and Damion Downs (Southampton), along with more experienced US forwards Dike (West Brom), Haji Wright (Conventry City) and of course one of the leading scorers in the league last season Josh Sargent player of the year at Norwich will fare. The Addition of Wrexham should bring some well needed attention to the Championship and the American’s who play there.
Brazil Wins Copa America In Shoot-out over Colombia 5-4
Wow what a game between Brazil and Colombia in the Copa America Final – a 4-4 thriller that went to extra time and then PKs before Brazil pulled off the victory behind who else Marta. Marta scored in Extra time to knot it up and send it to over time. Copa Highlights
US Men vs #17 Japan in Columbus on Tues. Sept 9th – Discount Tix Available
The US men are coming to Columbus, Ohio Lower.com Field on Tuesday night Sept 9th for a 7:30 pm match up with #17 ranked Japan. The Ole Ballcoach is going along with some buddies to the game sitting in section 129 ($50) – close to the American Outlaws who will be in the Nordic Section 127. Visit http://ussoccer.spinzo.com/CarmelFC this special link to get discounted tickets. Let me know if you plan to join – feel free to send on to friends. I for one was sick of seeing US fans outnumbered all summer long in our own stadiums. Let’s prove Columbus and Cincy are the HOME STADIUMS of US Soccer – this is where US Fans will not be outnumbered! Join me in the trek to Columbus to fight for our Red, White and Blue! Reach out to the Ole Ballcoach at shanebestsoccer@gmail.com if you want to coordinate travel plans.
Congrats to all of our Carmel FC and former CFC players and everyone making High School teams this week. Superproud of everyone who tried out. Not easy to make a team with 4500 kids in a school.
LEAGUES CUPfour MLS vs. LIGA MX quarterfinals from August 19-20.
Quarterfinal matchups
Seattle Sounders FC (MLS 1) vs. Club Puebla (LIGA MX 4)
Inter Miami CF (MLS 2) vs. Tigres UANL (LIGA MX 3)
LA Galaxy (MLS 3) vs. CF Pachuca (LIGA MX 2)
Orlando City (MLS 4) vs. Toluca FC (LIGA MX 1)
TV GAME SCHEDULE
Fri Aug 8 2 pm ESPN+ Chelsea vs Bayer Leverkusen 3 pm CBSSN Birmingham City (Tom Brady) vs Ipswich Town 8 pm Golazo, Para+ Houston Dash vs NC Courage NWSL 10 pm Amazon Prime Utah Royals vs KC Current Sat Aug 9 7:30 am CBSSN Coventry City vs Hull City 7:30 am CBS Golazo, Para+ Southampton vs Wrexham 10 am Para+ Norwich City (Stewart) vs Millwall 12 ESPN NY/NJ Gotham vs Washington Spirit NWSL 12:30 pm CBS Golazo Sheffield United vs Bristol City 7 pm ESPN+ Detroit City vs Indy 11 7:30 PM Ion Orlando Pride vs Racing Louisville 7:30 pm Apple Free Montreal vs Atlanta 10 pm Ion San Diego Wave vs Angel City 8:45 pm FS1 Kansas City vs San Diego MLS Sun, Aug 10 10 am ESPN+? Crystal Palace (Richards) vs Liverpool Community Shield 2 pm CBS Chicago Red Stars vs Bay FC NWSL 4 pm CBS Portland Thorns vs Seattle Reign 6 pm Apple Free Cincy vs Charlotte 8 pm Apple Free Orlando vs Inter Miami 10 pm FS1, Apple LA Galaxy vs Seattle Sounders MLS Tues, Aug 12 2 pm Para+ Wrexham vs Hull City 2 pm Para+ Watford vs Norwich City (Sargent) Wed, Aug 13 2:30 pm Para+ PSG vs Tottenham EUFA Super Cup 2:50 pm Para+ Birmingham City (Tom Brady) vs Sheffield United 7:30 pm Para+ Philly vs NY Red Bulls US Open Cup QF Fri, Aug 15 EPL Starts 12 noon ESPN+ Grobaspach vs Bayer Leverkusen German Cup 3 pm USA Liverpool vs Bournemouth (Adams) 8 pm Amazon Prime Washington Spirit (Rodman) vs Racing Louisville NWSL 10 pm CBS Golazo Utah Royals vs Angel City (Thompsons) NWSL Sat, Aug 16 7:20 am Para+ Wrexham vs West Brom 7:30 am USA Aston Villa vs New Castle United 10 am USA Brighton vs Fulham (Robinson) 12:30 pm NBC Wolverhampton vs Man City 1:30 pm ESPN2 Mallorca vs Barcelona 2:30 pm ESPN+ Stuttgart vs Bayern Munich 4 pm CBS KC Current vs Orlando Pride (Marta) NWSL 7 pm ESPN+ Loundon vs Indy 11 7:30 pm ION NC Courage vs Portland Thorns NWSL 8 pm FS1 Minn vs Seattle Sounders 9 pm ESPN2 Tampa Bay Rowdies vs Phoenix Rising 10 pm ION Bay FC vs San Diego Wave NWSL Sun, Aug 17 6:50 am Para+ Ipwich Town vs Southampton 9 am USA Chelsea vs Crystal Palace (Richards) 11:30 am NBC Man United vs Arsenal 3 pm Para+ AC Milan (Pulisic) vs Bari Copa Italia 3:30 pm ESPN2 Espanyol vs Athletico Madrid (Cardoso) 4 pm Para+? NY Gothem vs Houston Dash NWSL Mon, Aug, 18 3 pm USA Leeds United vs Everton ?? FS1 Leagues Cup MLS vs Liga MX 10 pm CBSSN Seattle Reign vs Chicago Red Stars NWSL Tues Aug 19 ?? FS1 Leagues Cup MLS vs Liga MX
Sat, Sept 6 ?? 5 pm TNT, Tele, Max USA Men vs Korea Tues, Sept 9 7:30 pm TNT, Tele, Max USA Men vs Japan in Columbus, Ohio Fri, Oct 10 8:30 pm TNT, Max USA Men vs Ecuador Tues, Oct 14 9 pm TNT, Max USA Men vs Australia
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Carmel FC Goalkeeping Training Should Kick Back off Next Monday at Shelbourne Fields @ 6 pm with former CHS and College Goalkeeper Erin Baker along with me.
Tim Weah has officially joined Marseille after terms were finally agreed with Juventus. The deal is a €1 million dollar loan for the coming season followed by a €14 million obligation to buy and €3 million in bonuses. There is also a sell-on clause.George Weah has accompanied his son to Marseille for the announcement (Weah’s medical is on Wednesday). The elder Weah made the final stop of his European career at Marseille.Overall, it’s a great move for Weah because Marseille is spending money on him that reflects an intent to play him. Hopefully he returns to the wing, where he is better, but he should be ready to help on several levels.
Minimal movement with Reyna
Gio Reyna is still in limbo as Borussia Dortmund are insisting on €11 million and Parma raised their last offer to €8 million but are reluctant to go higher. Reyna is seen as a nice piece for Parma but is not critical.
Chances are the deal still gets completed but time jeopardizes everything. There is always the risk that Parma moves on and finds another player. The fact that no other offers are knocking suggests that Reyna really needs to get this deal done or else he is in the abyss.
Musah struggling with form amid Napoli rumors
Thus far in Milan’s preseason, Yunus Musah’s form has simply not been good. He’s struggled with bad turnovers and his final product continues to lag. A goal in a 9-0 romp over Perth Glory doesn’t change that. Now there are reports that Napoli is back in play for Musah. Napoli was in the hunt for Musah earlier in the summer but later walked away from the high price tag.Why would Napoli get back into the market if Musah isn’t playing well? The likely reason is that Napoli believes they can get him at a lower price. If Musah appears to be falling out of favor at Milan, Milan can’t ask a lot for him and might simply want to take what they can get and move on. If Musah stays and hardly plays, his value will be very low in January.
There is also interest from Nottingham Forest, but Musah might not be seen as a starter at Forest. He might prefer staying in Italy.
Lund loaned to Koln
Kristoffer Lund, 23, has moved to FC Koln on a season-long loan from Palermo that includes an option to buy. The left back will now join the newly promoted Bundesliga club and finally get his taste of being in a top five league.
Lund is coming off a Serie B season with Palermo where his playing time became more sporadic in the second half of the season. This is a good move because it gets him out of a stagnating situation.For the national team, he’s been out of favor under Pochettino who didn’t even include him on the preliminary roster for the Nations League. At this point, getting into the picture for the World Cup seems unlikely.But it’s a good move. The big question is whether Koln will play in a way that allows him to get forward into the attack. Newly promoted teams can struggle.
2.Bundesliga gets underway
In the 2.Bundesliga opening weekend, the biggest game from an American perspective was Paderborn’s 2-1 win over Holstein Kiel. What was peculiar about this game is that John Tolkin played well at left back in the loss while Santiago Castaneda didn’t play well in the win. lot is on the line for both American players as Tolkin is on the bubble of the USMNT and needs to play well to move inside. Despite the loss, he should thrive in the 2.Bundesliga and be among the best left backs in the league.
Castaneda, 20, is hoping to build off a season where he moved from a fringe player on the border of the professional level to a solid 2.Bundesliga player for a good team. The defensive midfielder from Tampa is still mostly unknown but another good season could put him into a place where he starts to gain a lot attention.
Also in the 2.Bundesliga, Greuther Furth defeated Dynamo Dresden 3-2. Max Dietz went the full 90 minutes in the win while Julan Green was subbed out in the 90th minute. The former USMNT attacker created a number of chances in the win.
Newly promoted Arminia Bielefeld defeated Fortuna Dusseldorf 5-1 after Fortuna was reduced to 10 players in the first half. Arminia’s American captain Mael Corboz assisted on the team’s first goal. New Jersey-born forward Isaiah Young subbed into the game in the 86th minute for Arminia.
Johann Gomez played the last 31 minutes for Eintracht Braunschweig in a 1-0 away win over Magdeburg.
Belgium: Yow & Reynolds stand out
In Belgium, Westerlo defeated Zulte Waregem 3-1 with both right back Bryan Reynolds and right wing Griffin Yow both impressing after an ugly 5-2 loss to Anderlecht in the season opener.
The two combined nicely on the opening goal in the first minute when Reynolds won the initial ball and Yow showed fantastic skill in a direct play forward before scoring. Yow was just 3/10 in passing in his 60 minutes but had three shots and a goal.
Both players are potentially on the move but time is getting short. Westerlo would love to cash in as both players have reached their top value at a small club such as Westerlo.
Eintracht wraps up USA tour
Eintracht Frankfurt wrapped up its preseason tour and the club featured four American players.
Marvin Dills scored in the team’s 5-2 win over Louisville and impressed. But as a 2007-born player, he is still in the youth system but don’t rule out a loan or maybe even a Bundesliga debut later in the year.
Timmy Chandler is wrapping up his career and is on a one-year deal. He almost seems like an player/coach at this point.
Nene Brown dumped cold water on any potential USA call-up in the near future. He is focused on life with Germany’s U-21 team and their full national team after that.
Paxten Aaronson is coming off a great loan from FC Utrecht – who would love to have him back for another year. At one point Dino Toppmöller seemed to indicate Aaronson was in his plans, but the preseason rotation doesn’t make that clear.
Other game notes
James Sands went 90 minutes for St. Pauli in a 2-2 draw with Coventry. He’s a player who has a better chance of making the USMNT World Cup team that many are overlooking. Sands spoke about this after the game.
“The World Cup is a big dream of mine, especially because it’s taking place in the US,” Sands told St. Pauli’s website. “It would be great to be a part of it, but there’s a long way to go. I’m focusing on making a good start to the season. I want to grow as a player, it’s the reason I moved to the Bundesliga. The standard is higher here and I’ll have a better chance of being called up to the national team if I get a lot of playing time. There are lots of good players in the States, but I think I have a good chance.”
Johnny Cardoso made his first appearance for Atletico on Sunday when he played the second half of a 1-0 loss to Porto (with the goal coming at the end of the first half).
The reviews from the local media were very positive for Cardoso who played the pivot very well as he won possession and got the ball into the attack. All of this bodes very well for Cardoso having a starting role at the beginning of the La Liga season.
Tanner Tessmann played 81 minutes for Lyon in a 2-1 preseason loss to Bayern. Now wearing the No. 6 for the club, it was a good shift for Tessmann who looks like a starter heading into the Ligue 1 season.
Rokas Pukstas played the final 11 minutes for Hajduk Split in its 2-1 win over Istra 1961 in the HNL opener. The club as a new coach, but Pukstas is still not playing much and it is a concern for the once highly rated USYNT player.
Cameron Carter-Vickers wore the captain’s armband for Celtic in its Premiership opening 1-0 win over St. Mirren. Nothing too much to take away other than Celtic controlled the game. Auston Trusty, meanwhile, only was subbed into the game in the second half and came in as a left back.
Matthew Hoppe scored for SonderjyskE in a 3-2 win over Nordsjaelland – coming off the bench in the 60th minute and breaking a 1-1 draw in the 69th minute. Ever since his breakout for Schalke as a teenager, his career has been adrift – with unsuccessful stops in Spain, the USA, Middlesbrough – before trying to reboot himself in Denmark with a small Superliga team in SonderjyskE.
For Wrexham to reach Premier League, they must survive tough Championship first
Ryan O’HanlonAug 8, 2025, 04:30 AM ET ESPN
After Wrexham won their third successive promotion — the first-ever team in the history of organized English soccer to do so — their billionaire, superhero co-owner had a message for the haters.
“I remember the first time I did a press conference there,” Ryan Reynolds said, “and one of the media people asked me, ‘How far do you think this dream goes?’ And I said, ‘Well, we’re going to take this team to the Premier League,’ and they laughed and even the players laughed. But they’re not laughing now. We’re in the Championship.”
Ever since the “Deadpool” star paired with Rob Mac — formerly Rob McElhenney of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” — to buy the club in 2021 and turned the experience into a docuseries, they’ve been talking about the Premier League.
“We say this all the time, but we want to be in the Premier League, as crazy as that sounds to some people,” Reynolds told ESPN in 2023. “If it is theoretically possible to go from the fifth tier in professional football to the Premier League, why wouldn’t we do that? Why wouldn’t we use our last drop of blood to get there? We’re in it for the ride. This is a multi-decade project.”
They’re not the only ones talking about it, either. Earlier this year, NPR’s “Morning Edition” ran a segment that not only suggested Wrexham will one day make the Premier League, but that they’ll eventually host Real Madrid for a Champions League match.
Now, I’m guilty, too. Back when they earned promotion from the National League to League Two, I wrote a piece with the following headline: “Could Ryan Reynolds’ Wrexham honestly ever reach Premier League?” And, well, they are one season away from promotion to the Premier League, as they will make their Championship debut on Saturday against Southampton. But they’re also one season away from relegation to League One.
While they’ve mostly been able to overpower their lower-league opponents with brute-force spending, the club now face an altogether different kind of challenge in England’s second tier. For the first time since Reynolds and Mac took over, Wrexham are going to be serious underdogs on and off the field.
What happens when you’re promoted to the Championship?
Over the past 12 seasons, 36 clubs have been promoted from League One up to the Championship. Here’s what happened to each one after a season:
If we go off the base rates, then it’s nine times more likely that a promoted club to the Championship gets relegated back down to League One than it gets promoted to the Premier League. Except, if you squint hard enough, you can see some similarities between Wrexham and the only team that made the leap in one season.
Under first-time manager Kieran McKenna, Ipswich Town were promoted from League One in 2022-23 after finishing second with 98 points and a plus-66 goal differential. The following season, they were then promoted from the Championship after finishing second with 96 points and a plus-35 goal differential.
Wrexham, of course, were promoted from League One in 2023-24 after finishing second with 88 points and a plus-37 goal differential. And then this past season, they won promotion again with 92 points and a plus-33 goal differential.
Except, Wrexham don’t want to pull an Ipswich. They said as much to ESPN’s Joey Lynch during their tour of Australia this past month.
“I have no doubt we can arrive at Premier League at some point,” Wrexham CEO Michael Williamson said, “but what I want to make sure is that we’re future-proofing so that when we arrive there, we’re able to stay there and that we don’t just come falling crashing back down like you’ve seen other clubs do.”
In the Premier League this past season, Ipswich won four games, ended the season with a minus-46 goal differential and finished 19th.
Why is the Championship so different?
Since the league itself is relatively popular and one good-to-great season puts you in the Premier League, Championship clubs both have way more money to spend than League One clubs and they spend a higher proportion of their money than any other league in the world.
For the 2023-24 season, per data from Kieron O’Connor’s Swiss Ramble, Premier League clubs made £317.5 million on average, while Championship clubs took in £39.9 million and League One teams reported revenues of £9.4 million. For the same season, Premier League clubs spent £289.5 million on transfer fees and wages, Championship clubs clocked in at £48 million and League One clubs spent £9.8 million.
What that means is that Premier League teams spent 95% of what they made and League One teams were essentially putting all their revenue (101%) back into wages. With a handful of Premier League teams not really at risk of relegation but also not in contention for a title, it makes some financial sense that not everyone is maxing out their competitive spending. In League One, everyone is trying to avoid relegation and eventually get promoted, so a little more money gets poured back into player costs.
Well, in the Championship, spending on wages and transfer fees made up a whopping 121% of revenue. With an average revenue increase of nearly £280 million between the top-flight and second-tier teams, clubs are not trying to make year-on-year profits in the Championship. They’re doing whatever it takes to get promoted, season after season. And the promotion structure — with two clubs automatically going up and the next four in the table fighting it out in a playoff — makes it so more than half of the clubs in the league can convince themselves that they’re just a season away from the Premier League.
On top of all that, the finances in the Championship are way more unequal than they are in League One. Since teams relegated from the Premier League get a succession of parachute payments in the years following their demotion, the teams at the top of the Championship can carry way more expensive rosters than the just-promoted clubs down at the bottom.
In 2023-24, the highest revenue recorded by a Championship club was £127.6 million and the lowest was £16.6 million. In League One, the difference was between £21.3 million and £5.8 million. It’s a similar story with wage spending. In the Championship, the high was £107 million and the low was £12.9 million. In League One, the difference was between £22 million and £4 million.
In the Championship, then, the biggest payroll is more than eight times more expensive than the smallest wage bill. In League One, it’s an increase of about five and a half.
So, what does it mean for Wrexham and the Premier League?
It will be a while until we have access to Wrexham’s true finances for this upcoming season, but multiple studies have found that the crowd-sourced transfer valuations at Transfermarkt serve as a very accurate proxy for a team’s wage bill. And that, in turn, is a rough proxy for a team’s talent level.
So far this summer, Wrexham have signed eight players for fees totaling to an estimated €12.8 million. Among them: former England international Conor Coady, former Premier League striker Kieffer Moore, former Liverpool goalkeeper Danny Ward and former Premier League midfielder Lewis O’Brien.
Since June 1 — when the transfer window briefly opened for two weeks — the transfer value for Wrexham’s squad has increased by 110.3%, the second-highest mark in the league.
The result of more than doubling the value of their squad in just two months? Wrexham currently have the 21st-most valuable roster in a league with 24 teams.
Their team is worth €28.7 million. The Championship average club has a roster valued at €70.8 million. The most valuable roster, Leicester City, is worth €208.1 million, while the other two clubs just relegated from the Premier League, Southampton and Ipswich Town, have rosters valued at more than €180 million.
The reality is that Wrexham’s roster isn’t close to seriously competing for promotion. Of course, this is soccer, and weird stuff happens every season. It’s a lot easier to bounce up to sixth than first, and once you’re in the promotion playoff, anything can happen. But we just haven’t seen this club outsmart its opponents and be efficient with its spending yet. Wrexham have been one of the richest teams with one of the most expensive rosters in every other league in which they’ve competed.
In fact, the only team we’ve seen them be at a significant financial disadvantage to was Birmingham City in League One this past season. Wrexham finished 19 points and 20 goals behind Birmingham this past season. They were closer to not getting promoted than they were to catching Birmingham and based on Transfermarkt’s estimates, summer spending by Birmingham has increased their roster value by €40 million. Even with that, five other Championship teams still have more valuable squads than Birmingham and two others have similarly valuable rosters.
There’s also just not a ton of room for internal improvement at Wrexham, either. Very few players are likely to get better. The average age of their current roster is 27.7 — almost at the tail end of a soccer player’s peak years from 24 to 28. They currently represent the second-oldest team in the Championship, after Derby County who finished this past season in 19th.
So, what might it all mean for this season?
Based on projections from the consultancy Twenty First Group, its simulations expect Wrexham to score 44.9 goals — 22nd-most in the league, 9.6 fewer than league-average — and concede 53.9 goals, good for 11th-fewest in the league and 0.6 fewer than league-average. That’s what Wrexham’s makeup was this past season, too: only Birmingham conceded fewer goals in League One, but seven sides scored more.
And for now, it probably is the right balance. This is an old team that’s still way-too-reliant on a British and Irish player pool. To maximize its chances in the future and find a way to score more goals, the team are going to have to eventually extend their scouting search beyond a couple islands in the Atlantic Ocean.
As currently constituted, though, Wrexham are way more likely to have a successful season by leaning on the defense, rather than risking being too aggressive and ending up with the deadly combination of a bad attack and a bad defense. The latter could raise their ceiling, but the former will raise their floor.
Eliminating as much downside as possible is what they need to do. According to Twenty First Group, Wrexham have a 3.6% chance of being promoted — and a 19% chance of being relegated.
After three successive promotions since Reynolds and Mac took over, success won’t be continued upward movement. No, a successful season for Wrexham is anything that doesn’t send them back down.
MLS vs LIGA MX – Leagues Cup rolls on
Some people love this tournament, others hate it. I like it. Ultimately, it is good that MLS creates an opportunity for its teams to play opponents from outside its own borders. It doesn’t mean there aren’t drawbacks. Going to the well of the USA vs. Mexico rivalry (apologies to Canadian teams) has its limits – and this pushes it.
Also, the new format is a letdown. It was started because Liga MX teams bombed out of the 2024 edition leaving an all-MLS semifinal and final. The 2023 edition was an all-MLS final. The new format ensures four MLS teams and four Liga MX teams are in the quarterfinals.
That is waste. The best teams from the group stages should qualify, regardless of league. I agree that MLS should be capped at 18 teams to match it with Liga MX’s 18 total teams. But the handicapping of standings to ensure as much Liga MX vs. MLS hurts the overall competitiveness.
Anyway, here are some thoughts about 2025 Leagues Cup
Seattle is the class, so far
The Seattle Sounders have been the best team in the tournament through two games. The almost completely unbelievable 7-0 win over Cruz Azul followed by a 2-1 win over Santos Laguna.By now, you’ve seen the Pedro de la Vega goal against Cruz Azul – but I can’t take the chance you haven’t. It’s one of the greatest ever MLS-related goals ever. Fans want a Puskás Award nomination and they might get their wish.But apart from the brilliant strike, what has been most striking about Seattle has been its variety of scoring. They’ve scored nine goals and only one player, de la Vega, has scored twice. The entire team is playing well and the Sounders have a lot of ways that can beat you. This is the team we were predicting them to be in preseason and they’re now hitting that form – despite no Jordan Morris or Paul Arriola.
The question is whether this will translate over to the regular season.
Messi injured as Miami near advancement
Inter Miami has one regulation – a 2-1 win over Atlas – win and one shootout win – after a 2-2 draw with Necaxa- for a total of five points out of a possible six. That’s pretty good even if their defense has been shaky.
But in the Necaxa draw, Lionel Messi was hurt with what is now listed as a “minor muscle injury in his right leg. His medical clearance will depend on his clinical progress and response to treatment.”
The good news for Inter Miami is that the early returns for Rodrigo De Paul are strong.
Still, Miami have a great chance to advance if they can defeat Pumas in regulation by multiple goals.
Standings: Crew & Toluca: In, Big Liga MX: Out
Tuesday saw a few teams play their third game and right now, Columbus ( 7 points) Seattle (6 points), Portland (6 points), and LAFC (6 points) would advance. But the following teams have one game remaining: Miami (5 points), Minnesota (4 points), LA Galaxy (4 points), New York Red Bulls (4 points), Orlando (4 points), Cincinnati (4 points). Theoretically, Real Salt Lake and Colorado are alive at 3 points, but it is unlikely.
Overall, MLS execs are probably going to like their final four – especially if Miami advances.
The Liga MX standings are seeing a wipeout of top teams. Club America, Monterrey, Cruz Azul, and Chivas are already eliminated. Toluca is through and likely Pachuca as well. Tigres is done playing at 6 points. That makes them vulnerable to Juarez, Pumas, and Necaxa.
Arfsten raising game for Crew
Max Arfsten has been playing very well lately for the Crew and on Tuesday night he scored his second goal of the Leagues Cup tournament in a 1-0 win over Leon. Columbus became the first MLS team to secure a quarterfinal spot.
Arfsten has been the subject of transfer rumors and Middlesbrough and Toulouse have both submitted bids. But Columbus does not want to sell Arfsten midseason. But will teams still be interesting in January?
Moving forward it will be important to observe if Arfsten plays more as a winger or as a left back. He is much more effective as a left winger and it also allows him to not be in as many critical defensive positions.
American youth doing well
We’ve seen a lot young American players in MLS take advantage of opportunities at Leagues Cup – which has been promising to see.
Taha Habroune had two assists for Columbus in the 3-1 win over Puebla. Always considered a top prospect, Habroune is finally getting on the field lately and he is making the most of his opportunities over the past six weeks. He is surging into the U-20 World Cup (if Columbus releases him).
Gerardo Valenzuela continues to be an important player for a Cincinnati team that is among the best in the league. The 20 year old from Florida picked up an assist in the 3-2 win over Monterrey and then started in the 2-2 draw with Juarez (which ended in a shootout loss). He’s never been highly rated nor a U.S. youth international, but he’s increasing his stock with good play.
Benja Cremaschi: it was good to see the U.S. U-20 midfielder wear the captain’s armband in the second half of the 2-2 draw (later a shootout win) over Necaxa. On a team full of veteran stars, he is a respected as a youngster. He’s likely the U.S. U-20 captain.
David Vazquez: While San Diego is eliminated, David Vazquez impressed in his first two games for the club. Specifically in the 2-0 win over Mazatlan on Tuesday where he picked up an assist.
Pedro Soma: Also made his debut for San Diego in the win over Mazatlan and he played the final 28 minutes, completing 37/37 passes.
Alex Freeman: the new USMNT right back might be young and adjusting to his first season as a first-team starter, but his athleticism is impressive an makes people believe in his upside. This was a great run out of the back and into the attack for an assist in a 3-1 win over Atlas.
Muller joins Vancouver
Thomas Müller needs no introduction. A World Cup winner with Germany, Müller has 150 Bundesliga goals in 503 appearances all with Bayern Munich. He’s scored 45 goals for Germany in 130 caps. Müller, 35, has now decided to leave Germany and Europe all together and join Vancouver – after all the nonsense such as having to buy his “discovery rights” from Cincinnati for $400,000 in GAM.
Vancouver has been a good team and will now look a lot different with Müller as well as the looming return of Ryan Gauld. Head coach Jesper Sørensen as a lot of pieces, and it won’t be easy to get them to work tougher.But the potential upside is that Vancouver can win MLS Cup with its talent. The downside is that they could just as easily fall on their face.
LAFC signs Son Heung-min
As has been rumored for a long time, Son Heung-min finally signed with LAFC from Tottenham, where he spent the last 10 years.t is a massive move that makes Son one of the most expensive players in the history of MLS.”I’m incredibly proud to be joining LAFC, a club with big ambitions in one of the most iconic sports cities in the world,” Son said. “Los Angeles has such a rich history of champions, and I am here to help write the next chapter.”I’m excited for this new challenge in MLS. I have come to L.A. to lift trophies and give everything for this club, this city, and its fans. I cannot wait to get started.”At first glance, the move seems well worth the investment. On jersey sales and endorsements alone, LAFC will come out a financial winner.On the field, LAFC should only be expected to continue to dominate even after Steve Cherundolo’s final year as the head coach. LAFC is ambitious and this shows that.Meanwhile, LAFC defeated Tigres 2-1 behind a great game from David Martinez. After a win over Club America in the Club World Cup play-in game, LAFC has posted some big wins over Liga MX. But unfortunately, LAFC needs many Liga MX teams to win tonight in order to advance.
But the introduction of Son is the top story of the day, by far.
Championship season preview: Can Wrexham reach the Premier League? Will relegated clubs bounce back?
By The Athletic UK Staff Aug. 8, 2025 12:12 am EDT
Another Championship season begins this weekend and there are plenty of storylines to keep an eye on. Will Wrexham make it four promotions in a row to give their Hollywood-celebrity owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney their Premier League dream? Can relegated trio Leicester City, Ipswich Town, and Southampton bounce back up to the top flight at the first time of asking? Are Sheffield Wednesday already doomed to League One after a summer of chaos off the pitch? And how many managers will Watford get through between now and May?Here, our EFL experts answer all the key questions before the campaign kicks off with Tom Brady’s promoted Birmingham City hosting Ipswich tonight (Friday).
Who will win the Championship title?
Gregg Evans: Ipswich. They look too strong, even with the departure of Liam Delap to Chelsea, and will dominate, most likely from start to finish. Manager Kieran McKenna knows exactly what he’s doing, too.
Richard Sutcliffe: Ipswich have the attacking armoury to bounce straight back up as champions.
Philip Buckingham: I can’t see past Ipswich either. Their ploy of signing the Championship’s best players 12 months ago backfired in the Premier League, but it means they’ve got a squad as strong as any in the second division now. They’ll take some stopping.
Chris Weatherspoon: Ipswich. Last season was pretty much a free hit for them and they’ll bounce back immediately.
Andrew Pigott: Southampton. They have a nice spine to their team, but also the best firepower in the division in Adam Armstrong, Ross Stewart, Ben Brereton Diaz, Cameron Archer and Damion Downs, even if they end up selling Tyler Dibling.
Who will go up automatically in second, and via the play-offs?
Evans: Leicester were dreadful in the Premier League last season but have a squad packed with quality in terms of the second tier. As long as they don’t lose too many more — players or points — they’ll be tough to beat and should go up in second. And I’ve got Wrexham as play-off final winners — they’ve recruited well and will carry momentum from previous seasons into this one. They won’t be strong enough to challenge for automatic promotion, but will be fired up to make a real impact.
Sutcliffe: Birmingham City feel like a good bet to snaffle second place in a division that looks pretty open. As mentioned, Leicester have a possible points deduction hanging over their heads, meaning the play-offs are their most likely route back to the Premier League.
A Birmingham City mural at St Andrew’s featuring minority owner Tom Brady (Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)
Weatherspoon: Sheffield United became only the third second-division team ever to amass 90 points — even after a two-point deduction — and not go up automatically last season. Ruben Selles is a better manager than he showed at his last two clubs and will guide them to second. I fancy Coventry City as play-offs winners — they have a nice start, fixtures-wise, and pushed on impressively under Frank Lampard in the second half of last season after Mark Robins’ departure.
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Buckingham: I’ll go with Southampton in second under new coach Will Still. Coventry get the nod to finally go up through the play-offs if they’re able to replicate the form shown after Lampard came in last November.
Pigott: Ipswich will go up in second — they’ve kept together a good core of the team that won promotion two years ago. I see Birmingham as play-off winners. With momentum on their side, plenty of goals and some big signings, it’s hard not to see them passing straight through the Championship.
Who will be relegated?
Pigott: Things look very bleak for Sheffield Wednesday before a ball has even been kicked. Hull City were fortunate not to go down last year, and despite impressing in their first year up after promotion, Oxford United will find it harder this time around.
Evans: Norwich City, Wednesday, Oxford. It’s a very poor second-tier this season and I reckon as many as 10 teams will be nervously looking over their shoulder at various stages. West Bromwich Albion also look like a club heading for trouble.
Buckingham: It’s sad to say, but it already looks as if Wednesday are doomed after a summer that means they’re turning up for a gunfight armed with a water pistol. I’ve also got concerns for Hull, who narrowly avoided the drop last season, but I’ll go with Oxford and Charlton to complete the three. They have decent managers in Gary Rowett and Nathan Jones, but both have shortcomings.
Weatherspoon: Wednesday’s awful off-field summer speaks volumes. Hull nearly dropped down last season and have little to crow about either. After those two, it’s one from as many as 10. Oxford signing young striker Will Lankshear on loan from Tottenham Hotspur could prove crucial in keeping them up. If they survive again, the end of Preston North End’s dreary 11-year stay in this division looms.
Evans: They’ll make a decent impression and kick on. Conor Coady and Kieffer Moore are good signings and I’ve no doubt their spending won’t stop here. Looking forward to another series of Welcome to Wrexham.
Weatherspoon: Outside the play-offs, but inside the top half. It’s easy (some might say mandatory) to dismiss them as a fairytale never too far from crashing into reality, but beneath the Hollywood glitz, there’s a football club in better health than many they’ll face this season. They have momentum after three promotions in a row, but the big question is whether investing in older heads might finally start to falter — and if Phil Parkinson, who has managed over 1,000 games in his career but only 141 as high as this division, has hit his ceiling.
Could Parkinson hit his ceiling in the Championship? (Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)
Buckingham: Reality will bite this season. I struggle to see them getting near the top six, given the clubs they’re competing against. This is a very different test from the ones Wrexham have repeatedly aced in the past three years. The top half would be a huge achievement.
How will the relegated clubs do?
Weatherspoon: Parachute payments play a huge part here, but there are some quirks to consider. Southampton have an impressive squad on paper but are carrying the mental scars from that 12-point, two-win Premier League season, while Still is going to have a lot of eyes on him. They’ll be up there, through having a high floor. A long-awaited points deduction for Leicester will likely be hefty, albeit not enough to keep them completely away from the promotion discussion. As I said above, Ipswich will win the title.
Sutcliffe: All three will challenge, albeit Leicester’s possible points deduction hangs over the club like a dark cloud. Ipswich’s attack looks strong, and it will be fascinating to see how Still adapts to managerial life in England after making his name in France’s top flight.
Pigott: This is an incredibly unforgiving league and I have a feeling Leicester will find it the hardest of the three. Play-off push for them.
Pigott: I’ve been impressed with Charlton’s business. A mixture of solid Championship experience — Amari’i Bell, Reece Burke, goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski, Joe Rankin-Costello — plus players who have shown signs they could handle the step up to the second tier — Charlie Kelman, Rob Apter, Harvey Knibbs and Tanto Olaofe. They’ll have enough to remain in the division.
Weatherspoon: Birmingham, buoyed by their money and momentum, should occupy a play-off spot Wrexham will come to covet. Charlton risk being a ‘Best of League One’ side in the wrong division, but the inadequacies of others will see them just about secure safety.
Which manager will attract Premier League interest?
Pigott: John Mousinho continues to do an excellent job at Portsmouth on a tight budget. Premier League clubs will surely be keeping an eye on his progress.
Evans: At this stage, none of them. If Chris Davies keeps Birmingham on an upward trajectory and flying high, his reputation will continue to grow, but which club could convince him to move on when the project is so exciting at St Andrew’s?
Weatherspoon: I agree with Gregg — possibly none of them. Ipswich’s McKenna remains an obvious candidate, while, at a push, Liam Manning has City Football Group experience and an opportunity to impress at Norwich.
Sutcliffe: It’s difficult to say in a division where 19 of the 24 managers have been appointed in the past 12 months. McKenna has his admirers, but last season was a struggle among the elite.
Player of the season
Evans: Birmingham’s Tommy Doyle. An all-action 23-year-old midfielder with Premier League experience for Manchester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers, he should stand out at this level and could become his team’s heartbeat.
Sutcliffe: Louie Barry, 22, could be an inspired loan signing by Sheffield United. The Aston Villa winger was far too good for both Leagues One and Two as a loanee at Stockport County for a season and a half from summer 2023, but injury ruined his short spell at this level with Hull for the second half of last season.
Barry celebrates scoring for Stockport in League One last season (MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Buckingham: Jack Clarke. He is coming off a trying first season with Ipswich in the Premier League, but, boy, was he a star at this level with Sunderland. There were not many better than him in 2023-24, and the 24-year-old is still a winger who can make a fool of most full-backs.
Weatherspoon: Middlesbrough midfielder Hayden Hackney, 23, has turned down a move to Ipswich, though wealthier suitors lurk. If Hackney goes, or even if he doesn’t, 21-year-old midfielder Shea Charles will be a huge part of Southampton’s promotion bid after spending last season on loan in this division at Wednesday.
Pigott: Ronnie Edwards at Southampton. Perhaps signed a year ago with this season back in the Championship in mind, the 22-year-old is an excellent defensive prospect with lots of league experience under his belt already after four seasons with Peterborough United.
Leading goalscorer
Pigott: Mihailo Ivanovic’s record in his debut year at Millwall last season (12 goals in 37 league games, 22 of them starts) was impressive. Left-footed efforts, right-footed ones, penalties, headers in the air and headers on the floor. Still only 20, the Serbian looks a real prospect.
Sutcliffe: Southampton’s Archer, 23, should be in the goals, but 22-year-old Jay Stansfield may well be the player who fires Birmingham back to the Premier League after 15 seasons in the second and, briefly, third divisions.
Buckingham: Sammie Szmodics could do no wrong when last in the Championship with Blackburn Rovers (27 league goals in 2023-24), and the 29-year-old ought to get plenty of opportunities in a potent Ipswich attack.
Evans: Ellis Simms at Coventry. If he stays fit, this could be the season the 24-year-old former Everton striker really kicks on.
Weatherspoon: Most teams in the Championship share their goals around — no player scored 20 in the league last season, despite it being a 46-game regular season. United States international Haji Wright, 27, heads a strong-looking Coventry attack and has got to double figures in each of his two years at the club, even while missing three months in the middle of last season with an ankle injury.
Wright of Coventry could be a contender for top scorer (Bradley Collyer/PA Images via Getty Images)
Breakout star
Evans: Jeremy Monga at Leicester. The 16-year-old made his senior debut last season and has all the attributes to develop into a regular.
Pigott: I’m very interested to see how Watford’s 19-year-old winger Nestory Irankunda does. He’s obviously raw at that age, but quick and powerful. The Tanzania-born Australia international could benefit nicely from the creative talent around him at Vicarage Road.
Sutcliffe: Charles enjoyed an exemplary 2024-25 season on loan at Wednesday and the 21-year-old Northern Ireland midfielder will now be looking to make a big impact back at Southampton.
Buckingham: Provided his recovery from November’s season-ending anterior cruciate ligament knee injury goes to plan, this ought to be the year we see Ollie Arblaster really make a name for himself in senior football with Sheffield United — at 21, he’s a midfielder with huge potential.
Weatherspoon: Barry has been talked about as a prospect for so long, he feels older than 22 (here’s The Athletic labelling him Aston Villa’s breakthrough star at the beginning of the 2020-21 season!). He scored goals aplenty in League One in the first half of last season as Stockport chased promotion and at Sheffield United this time, he’ll similarly enjoy playing in a team battling at the top end of a table.
Game you can’t miss
Evans: Birmingham vs Ipswich tonight! Expect an electric atmosphere at St Andrew’s as the newly promoted home side test themselves against the best team in the division.
Pigott: Southampton vs Portsmouth; Sunday, September 14. It’s nearly six years since these bitter south-coast rivals and near-neighbours last met. That’ll be a quiet night at the library.
Buckingham: The Sheffield derbies might be too one-sided to really pique the interest, so I’ll go Swansea City vs Wrexham — an all-Wales affair — on Friday, December 19. The first time the clubs have met since March 2003.
Weatherspoon:The East Anglian derby is usually fun. If Manning can get Norwich ticking, Ipswich’s mid-April trip to Carrow Road will have a lovely mix of local acrimony and promotion jeopardy.
(Top photos: Wrexham owners Rob McElhenney, left, and Ryan Reynolds show off their latest promotion trophy; and Leicester City’s Jeremy Monga; by Getty Images)
Why are U.S. forwards spying opportunity in the Championship?
At least for USMNT scouting purposes it is a tidy remit: one division, five contenders to fill out the striker spots on the World Cup roster.Expect to see Mauricio Pochettino’s staff glued to videos of games from the English Football League (EFL) Championship in the forthcoming season.The summer transfer window has seen two U.S. international attackers sign for clubs in England’s second tier, joining the three American forwards already there. Damion Downs’ move from Koln in Germany to Southampton, plus Gold Cup star Patrick Agyemang’s switch to Derby County, means they join more experienced USMNT forwards Josh Sargent, Haji Wright and Daryl Dike — whose stint at West Bromwich Albion has been so wrecked by injuries — in the same division.But what is it about the Championship that has attracted the quintet — all of whom, to varying degrees, will still aspire to make Pochettino’s 2026 World Cup squad? And what qualities do they bring that appeal to clubs vying for promotion to the Premier League?What You Should Read NextChampionship season preview: Can Wrexham reach the Premier League? Will relegated clubs bounce back?Our EFL experts make their predictions as English football’s second tier kicks off a new campaign this weekend
The Championship might be second tier, but it is not second rate when it comes to Europe’s most competitive leagues.
Opta’s Power Rankings, published in June and assessing football’s global hierarchy, has the Championship listed sixth in the Top 30 leagues based on their “advanced performance metrics” used to “identify which leagues are home to the highest concentration of elite clubs”.
That is higher than the Dutch, Belgian and Portuguese top flights.
That said, last year The Athletic reported how a data-driven model by Twenty First Group, a sports intelligence firm that advises clubs, leagues and investors, had the Championship ranked 12th.Its World Super League model uses a machine-learning algorithm to generate a single rating for every team in world football. League strength can then be calculated from the average rating of each team.Either way, with its gruelling 46-game season (the Championship has 24 clubs compared with 20 in the Premier League, La Liga and Ligue 1, and 18 in the Bundesliga), it represents a formidable challenge. Add to that two domestic cup competitions and Championship players are pushed to their physical limits.
Danny Higginbotham played for a string of English clubs as a defender and featured in the Premier League with Manchester United, Derby County, Stoke City and Southampton. He also made 100 Championship appearances during a 17-year professional career, but now lives in the U.S. where he worked for Philadelphia Union before becoming a match analyst for Major League Soccer broadcasts.
He sees similarities between MLS and the Championship that may make young players from the former attractive to English clubs.“The speed and physicality of MLS is, to a certain extent, increasingly quite similar to the Championship,” says Higginbotham. “It’s probably fair to say the quality is a bit higher in the Championship but there are key qualities they share now.“Recruitment teams in the Championship are seeing that these guys have all the attributes. They’re asking: are they good enough or with their age, can we make them better?“They see that the players are physically and mentally robust. They’re used to the long travel time in MLS, the flights and time differences. Then there’s the extreme weather these days. Plus they play a lot of games too. Factor all this in and they’re probably not going to be as fazed by a 46-game season.
“I feel they’re well placed to acclimatise quickly to the Championship.”
Downs made the switch from German football to the Championship this summer (Matt Watson/Southampton FC via Getty Images)
For Downs, who broke into the USMNT picture earlier in the summer and has made five appearances under Pochettino, the number of games he faces at St Mary’s under new manager Will Still is a positive.
“For me to be an option for that (the USMNT World Cup squad) as a striker you need to score goals,” he told Jimmy Conrad and Tony Meola in an interview with CBS Sports Golazo America. “Obviously, you don’t play more games anywhere than in England and that’s a big chance for me.”
“There are some good quality players coming out of MLS academies now,” adds Higginbotham. “You only have to look at the Philadelphia Union and Cavan Sullivan.“If they’re good they are also likely to get opportunities when they’re young in MLS so they have experience of first-team football.“I think as well that the younger players (in MLS) have benefited from the big names going there. Guys like Lionel Messi, Emil Forsberg, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and now Son Heung-min and Rodrigo De Paul. That highly professional elite mentality of these guys, how they prepare and conduct themselves, is rubbing off on the younger American players.”All of which makes those developed in MLS attractive to suitors from Europe. Championship clubs can also find value for money with fees for players from MLS.In July, Derby spent an initial £5.8million ($8m) on Agyemang after the 24-year-old, a native of East Hartford, Connecticut, scored 18 goals and provided six assists in 63 career games with Charlotte. That tally included eight, with two assists, this year before the move to Pride Park. Agyemang has also become one of the bright points for the national team, making all 12 of his appearances in 2025, including playing every game of the Gold Cup.By contrast this summer, Norwich City forked out £6.9m ($9.2m) on Denmark international forward Mathias Kvistgaarden, 23, who scored 23 goals in 38 appearances in all competitions for Brondby in 2024-25.
Then Birmingham City signed 30-year-old former Celtic forward Kyogo Furuhashi for a reported £10m ($13.4m) after he scored 10 goals in the Scottish Premiership for Celtic before a short-lived move to Stade Rennes in France earlier this year.
Agyemang moved to Derby this summer (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
Agyemang has yet to make his Derby debut after undergoing hernia surgery that is likely to see him miss the season’s start, but he is backed to make an impact.“At almost $8m — and that could rise — that’s actually a lot of money for an MLS team,” Higginbotham says of the Agyemang fee. “But he has got something. He is raw but he is a player who is quick, strong and knows how to finish.“Now the question is: can he improve? If he can do that, then Derby could get significantly more than what they paid for him down the line.“You’ve got to imagine that Dean Smith (former Aston Villa manager and now Charlotte FC boss) has assessed that he’s good enough to make that step.”Similar logic may have been behind Downs’ move to the south coast, although the German-U.S. dual national was plying his trade at FC Koln in the second-tier 2 Bundesliga last season, where he delivered 10 goals and three assists.“I see it (moving to the Championship) work with a lot of other players, and Southampton has a great resume of players who have taken the next step with their careers here,” said Downs.“I think I have a great switch of coming short and getting the ball to my feet but also running in behind — giving the defence different things to worry about. And I’m pretty versatile as well. I’m a young player with a lot of stuff I can develop on… with all kinds of things to work on to take my game to the next level.”In an interview with BBC Radio Solent he added: “I think English football is the most attractive you can play so it was a no-brainer for me.“Their (Southampton’s) ambition is to get to the Premier League and stay in the Premier League and that’s something I want to do as well.”
Sargent in action for Norwich against Northampton Town in pre-season (Pete Norton/Getty Images)
The two relative ‘elder statesmen’ of the USMNT roster in England, Sargent at Norwich and Wright at Coventry City, have long since proved to be successful MLS exports to the Championship. Sargent also enjoyed a brief stint in the Premier League.
And Higginbotham thinks their impact, along with the growth of MLS’ popularity around the world, means the flow of talent to the English second division is likely to continue. Another 24-year-old American striker, Max Arfsten, has been mooted as a potential new arrival at Middlesbrough from Columbus Crew during this window.
“With the Apple TV deal, there is greater accessibility to the MLS brand and overseas fans watching these players,” adds Higginbotham. “So I don’t think the optics of signing these players are viewed as a risk so much by fans in England, where maybe they once were. They can tune in and see the quality of the league.”
The hope is that Pochettino’s staff, and everyone invested in the U.S. hopes for progress on home soil next year, will be tuned into Paramount Plus’ coverage of the Championship.
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