Tag: Aston Villa

Club America vs. Aston Villa: How to watch friendly, TV channel, live stream

A huge crowd is expected in Chicago to see the Premier League side face the Liga MX champions

Club América will face Aston Villa in a friendly at Soldier Field on Saturday.

Villa’s U.S. tour has not gone according to plan so far, as Unai Emery’s side has lost to the Columbus Crew and RB Leipzig in consecutive games.

The final game of the tour will see the Villans travel to Chicago to face the two-time defending Liga MX champions.

[afflinkbutton text=”Watch América vs. Aston Villa FREE on Fubo” link=”https://www.fubo.tv/welcome?irad=343747&irmp=1205322&subId1=PSW&subId2=Generic&subId3=2023%2F24″]

América is taking a break from its league season to play a pair of friendlies against Premier League sides in the United States. The Mexico City powerhouse fell 3-0 to Chelsea in its first friendly over the weekend.

After the two friendlies, América will face a yet-to-be-determined team on August 9 in the Leagues Cup round of 32.

Here is everything you need to know ahead of the game.

Club América vs. Aston Villa (friendly)

  • When: Saturday, August 3
  • Where: Soldier Field (Chicago, IL)
  • Time: 5:30 p.m. ET
  • Channel/streaming: TUDN (Watch FREE on Fubo)

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RB Leipzig vs. Aston Villa: How to watch friendly, TV channel, live stream

RB Leipzig and Aston Villa will square off in a preseason friendly at Red Bull Arena

RB Leipzig and Aston Villa will continue their preseason preparations when they face off in a friendly Wednesday night at Red Bull Arena, just outside New York City.

For RB Leipzig, the match will be a first official preseason clash heading into the 2024-25 season, as well as a first-ever match in the United States.

Marco Rose’s club finished fourth in the Bundesliga last season, and all eyes will be on whether goalkeeper Maarten Vandevoordt and midfielder Assan Ouédraogo — each joining the club in €10 million summer transfers — will make a debut.

[afflinkbutton text=”Watch RB Leipzig vs. Aston Villa on Paramount+” link=”https://paramountplus.qflm.net/217Nxg”]

Villa, meanwhile, will be looking to get back on track after Saturday’s 4-1 loss to MLS Cup champions Columbus Crew. That derailed a preseason that had been going to plan, with 3-0 wins over Walsall and Spartak Trnava.

Per Red Bull, the parent company that owns RB Leipzig, the broadcast of this friendly will include body cameras and drones that track the ball at all times.

Here is everything you need to know ahead of the game.

RB Leipzig vs. Aston Villa (friendly)

  • When: Wednesday, July 31
  • Where: Red Bull Arena (Harrison, N.J.)
  • Time: 8 p.m. ET
  • Channel/streaming: Paramount+ (WATCH LIVE)

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Agent: Disgruntled Jamaica star Bailey won’t play despite Copa America call-up

The Aston Villa star slammed the Jamaican federation in an explosive rant back in March

Just three months after announcing he was taking a break from the Jamaica national team in an explosive rant, Leon Bailey was included on the team’s 26-man roster for the Copa América.

But that doesn’t actually appear to mean the Aston Villa star will play for the Reggae Boyz at the upcoming tournament.

Just hours after Jamaica head coach Heimir Hallgrímsson included Bailey on his squad, the winger posted a two-word message on his Instagram account.

“Misleading information.”

That was quickly followed up with another Instagram post, this time from Bailey’s agent Craig Butler.

“Leon Bailey has stated that he is taking a break from the Jamaica national team for his mental health and to spend time with his family. His position has not changed,” Butler wrote.

“We kindly ask that you respect his wishes at this time. Posts made on social media that are surfacing at this time is a misrepresentation of his position. We wish the Reggae Boyz well in the Copa America competition and he, along with his management team, will continue to support the Jamaica National Team at all levels … change must come…Respect and One Love for all.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/C8JAec9O9Uw/?hl=en

Hallgrímsson suspended Bailey for Nations League matches in March after the winger missed curfew during a November camp.

Bailey took exception to the suspension — and basically everything else related to the Jamaican team and federation — as he announced he wouldn’t be returning to the national team in a brutally honest interview on the Let’s Be Honest podcast.

“A lot of people don’t know that most of the time, I book my own flights to come and represent Jamaica because they are very unprofessional,” explained Bailey. “You’re getting your flight details [at] 11 p.m. to travel the next day. [The Jamaican federation] doesn’t pay us. I can’t remember the last time I received a dollar from the national team. It’s very unprofessional, in ways you can’t even imagine.”

Bailey went on to say that representing Jamaica was something of a gift he felt he was giving to his country.

“Jamaica’s national team is not doing anything for me,” he charged. “Jamaica’s national team is not going to give me exposure. Playing for Jamaica is not going to make Real Madrid call me. I am shining light on the national team by playing overseas and representing as a Jamaican all the time.”

With that as the backdrop, it was something of a surprise when Hallgrímsson released his squad for the Copa América on Wednesday night and Bailey’s name was on the list.

Missing Bailey will be a major blow for the Reggae Boyz. The 26-year-old just finished an excellent campaign with Villa, tallying 14 goals and 14 assists in all competitions.

Elsewhere, goalkeeper and captain Andre Blake was named to the squad despite a knee injury that appears likely to rule him out for at least some of the tournament.

Jamaica has been drawn into Group B at the Copa América, where it will face Mexico, Venezuela and Ecuador.

Jamaica Copa America roster

Goalkeepers: Andre Blake (Philadelphia Union), Jahmali Waite (El Paso Locomotive FC), Coniah Boyce-Clarke (Reading), Shaquan Davis (Mount Pleasant)

Defenders: Damion Lowe (Philadelphia Union), Michael Hector (Charlton Athletic), Amari’i Bell (Luton Town), Richard King (Cavalier), Dexter Lembikisa (Hearts), Greg Leigh (Oxford United), Di’Shon Bernard (Sheffield Wednesday), Ethan Pinnock (Brentford), Wesley Harding (Millwall), Jon Bell (Seattle Sounders)

Midfielders: Bobby Decordova-Reid (Fulham), Kevon Lambert (Real Salt Lake), Alex Marshall (Portmore United), Joel Latibeaudiere (Coventry City), Kasey Palmer (Coventry City), Karoy Anderson (Charlton Athletic).

Forwards: Shamar Nicholson (Clermont), Leon Bailey (Aston Villa), Michail Antonio (West Ham United), Demarai Gray (Al Ettifaq), Renaldo Cephas (Ankaragucu), Kaheim Dixon (Arnett Gardens).

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McKennie reportedly close to Aston Villa move as part of swap deal

McKennie could be back in the Premier League, and on a side playing Champions League soccer to boot

Weston McKennie could be going back to the Premier League, this time on a permanent basis.

Sky Sport Italia reported on Tuesday that the U.S. men’s national team midfielder could be leaving Juventus for Aston Villa as part of an unusual — at least, for European soccer — multi-player trade.

Per the report, which has since been backed up by multiple outlets, Juve is in talks to send McKennie, wide man Samuel Iling-Junior, and between €18-20 million to Villa in exchange for Brazil midfielder Douglas Luiz.

While the reports caution that the deal is not done, Gianluca Di Marzio has claimed that McKennie’s camp has already agreed to contract details with the Birmingham-based club.

Despite an impressive season that saw McKennie post 10 assists as a full-time starter, Juve has seemed set on moving the USMNT regular out the door.

A March contract offer reportedly involved asking the 25-year-old to take a pay cut, and the Italian giants may have been rushing to get something for McKennie this summer rather than losing him on a free transfer when his contract ends after the 2024-25 season.

Juventus reportedly made an improved offer in April, though McKennie rejected that as well amid rumors of interest from clubs in MLS and Saudi Arabia.

Aston Villa move could benefit McKennie

A move to Villa could be a positive development for McKennie. Unai Emery led the club to a fourth-place finish this past season, getting the Villans into the Champions League for the first time.

With Luiz moving as part of the rumored deal, McKennie would be a frontrunner to start in the Villa midfield alongside John McGinn and Youri Tielemans.

McKennie’s prior spell in the Premier League was a difficult half-season spent on loan with Leeds United in 2023. Leeds ended up being relegated, while McKennie struggled for good form amid multiple coaching changes.

However, this past season with Juventus proved that McKennie could be a consistent starter at a top club. Per USMNT manager Gregg Berhalter, McKennie returned to Turin to find he didn’t even have a locker, with the club seeming to have moved on.

McKennie battled his way into the starting lineup in the season’s first few weeks, and by season’s end had totaled 2,950 minutes in all competitions for the Bianconeri.

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The one clip that shows Lucas Paqueta is in real trouble

This evidence looks pretty hard to refute

Lucas Paquetá has got some serious explaining to do.

On Thursday, the FA charged the West Ham midfielder with spot-fixing offenses in four Premier League matches.

As the the FA stated: “It’s alleged that he directly sought to influence the progress, conduct, or any other aspect of, or occurrence in these matches by intentionally seeking to receive a card from the referee for the improper purpose of affecting the betting market in order for one or more persons to profit from betting.”

Among gambling offenses, this is as bad as it gets. The Brazil international is alleged to have manipulated matches he played in by intentionally getting carded. That kind of offense strikes at the core integrity of the game, which governing bodies tend to look at in highly unfavorable terms. See: Porter, Jontay.

Each of the four charges carries a potential sentence of anywhere between six months and a lifetime ban.

For his part, Paquetá denied the charges in a statement released via his social media.

The FA named four incidents in which Paquetá is accused of intentionally getting booked: against Leicester City on November 12, 2022; Aston Villa on March 12, 2023; Leeds United on May 21, 2023; and Bournemouth on August 12, 2023.

Reviewing the footage on just one of those incidents, against Aston Villa, reveals that Paquetá may be facing a real uphill battle in his defense.

To put it simply: Paquetá looks desperate to be carded.

First, he charges into Douglas Luiz well after the Villa midfielder plays the ball away. Paquetá is whistled for a foul, but no yellow. Clearly not satisfied, Paquetá quickly hunts down John McGinn and brings him down with a tackle no referee could ever avoid booking.

Yeah, this doesn’t look great.

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Aston Villa USA tour 2024: Schedule, tickets, stadiums and more

The Villains will be back in the U.S. for a second straight year

Aston Villa is heading back to the United States this summer.

After playing three matches in the U.S. as part of the Premier League Summer Series in 2023, the Villains will return in 2024.

Unai Emery’s side will again play three matches this year, but its opponents will be far different than the three fellow Premier League sides it faced last year.

Villa will take on MLS champions Columbus Crew, German power RB Leipzig, and will close its tour against Liga MX giant Club América.

Here are Aston Villa’s fixtures for its 2024 summer tour of the United States, along with information on purchasing tickets.

Aston Villa USA tour 2024

July 27: Aston Villa vs. Columbus Crew — Lower.com Field, Columbus, OH. TICKETS.

July 31: Aston Villa vs. RB Leipzig — Red Bull Arena, Harrison, NJ. TICKETS.

August 3: Aston Villa vs. Club América — Soldier Field, Chicago, IL. TICKETS.

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Bournemouth coach Iraola rules Adams out for another game

It will be the fourth straight match Adams has missed with a back injury

Tyler Adams looks set to miss a fourth consecutive match due to back spasms, according to Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola.

Adams has been held out of three straight matches due to back trouble, and Sunday’s trip to Aston Villa appears to be too soon for the U.S. men’s national team midfielder.

Iraola gave updates on several injured Cherries players at his pre-match press conference on Friday, but did not specifically mention Adams among that group.

The coach was then asked about the remainder of his injured players, to which he replied: “Some are getting closer but I don’t expect them for the Villa game, no.”

The back injury is turning into an increasingly frustrating setback for Adams, who only returned from nearly a year out last month.

Adams was sidelined after a hamstring surgery in March 2023, and had to have a second operation after suffering a setback upon his return in September.

The 25-year-old’s start against Everton on March 30 marked his first time playing a full match in over a year.

Overall, Adams has made just three appearances for Bournemouth this season. He made an emphatic return to the USMNT in the Nations League last month, scoring a memorable long-range strike against Mexico in the final.

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Leon Bailey blasts Jamaican federation as he announces break from national team

Bailey was unsparing in his assessment of the “unprofessional” Jamaica Football Federation

Leon Bailey has declared that he will “take a break” from the Jamaican national team over issues stemming from what he called a low level of professionalism.

Ahead of the Reggae Boyz’s Concacaf Nations League semifinal against the U.S. men’s national team, the Aston Villa winger lit into the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) — long a target of criticism from players on its national teams — over basic missteps involving equipment, travel arrangements, and more.

Speaking on the Let’s Be Honest podcast, Bailey was unsparing in his criticism of the JFF.

“A lot of people don’t know that most of the time, I book my own flights to come and represent Jamaica because they are very unprofessional,” explained Bailey. “You’re getting your flight details [at] 11 p.m. to travel the next day. [The JFF] doesn’t pay us. I can’t remember the last time I received a dollar from the national team. It’s very unprofessional, in ways you can’t even imagine.”

Bailey then turned to how even being provided with team apparel to train in has been a problem.

“You’re turning up and they don’t have equipment for you. You’ll go and they’ll only have one shirt for you, and you have to find shorts,” said a bemused Bailey. “Players turn up to games and it’s a women’s shirt they print out for them to wear. It’s ridiculous and they don’t know how to operate.”

Bailey gave something of a conflicting accounting of whether he had let Jamaica know about the problems. At one point, he told host Jaii Frais he hadn’t, but later said he butts heads with the JFF in every international window.

“It’s two things I’ve always asked them for, and every time, I can’t get it. You have people booking flights for me and sending me from England to Jamaica with three different stops,” insisted Bailey. “All I ask for is a proper flight and a room by myself, and I can’t get that. If I don’t go the national team, I can go on my vacation and I can live good.”

Bailey: Jamaica’s national team ‘not doing anything for me’

Bailey wouldn’t have been available to take on the USMNT on Thursday, as head coach Heimir Hallgrímsson had suspended him over missing curfew during a November camp.

Bailey admitted that he did violate team rules, but said he took exception to how Hallgrímsson presented the news to the public.

“I did break curfew, but that’s normal. Every player does that,” said Bailey, who added that the suspension was not so much of a big deal in and of itself as it was just the last straw. “It’s just the way how it was presented that I didn’t like.

“[Hallgrímsson] did say to me that he wasn’t going to invite me to the next camp but, way before this happened, I always had it in my head that this is too much on my plate when it comes to the national team, and I was really going to take a break from it, and then [the suspension] just tipped off everything… I felt that was really harsh and it just said to me that me being in the national team right now, it really drains my energy a lot.”

Bailey won’t be alone in missing the match for Jamaica. Striker Michail Antonio withdrew from the roster for unspecified reasons, while Trivante Stewart is suspended by the team over a curfew violation last year. Ethan Pinnock and Amari’i Bell are unavailable due to injury, while Demarai Gray and Shamar Nicholson are suspended due to yellow-card accumulation.

Beyond that, the 26-year-old framed his appearances with Jamaica as a favor to the national team that he does out of pride in his country.

“Jamaica’s national team is not doing anything for me,” explained the Villa star. “Jamaica’s national team is not going to give me exposure. Playing for Jamaica is not going to make Real Madrid call me. I am shining light on the national team by playing overseas and representing as a Jamaican all the time. People know Leon Bailey everywhere in the world…

“I am Jamaican and I love my country, and hopefully one day my kids can come up and grow up in a better environment than I did. But sometimes I think about it and realize that these things were happening before I was born so, can I be the change?”

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Aston Villa players really hate their super-sweaty jerseys

“The players look like they’ve jumped in a swimming pool after about 10 minutes”

Aston Villa’s new jerseys have reportedly become a major issue at the club, with players feeling their ultra-absorbent design is having a negative impact on their performances.

The issue can clearly be seen in any Villa game. After several minutes of play the kits, manufactured by Castore, become sopping wet as players’ sweat is soaked up.

A source told The Telegraph: “The players are having to play in soaking wet t-shirts and it is a problem that needs to be solved. It cannot go on all season. The players look like they’ve jumped in a swimming pool after about 10 minutes.”

Per The Guardian, the club has approached Castore and demanded new kits. But before any new design can arrive, this weekend will see a new issue for Villa as its women’s team begins Women’s Super League play.

“This is going to be a big problem,” pundit Jacqui Oatley told the BBC.

“They’ve got four TV games coming up,” said Oatley. “Normally they’d absolutely relish those games and look forward to them. But they’re actually dreading it because they’re really conscious about how they’re going to look in this wet, clingy kit — for obvious reasons.”

The Villa women’s team has played some of its preseason matches wearing training tops, rather than its new kits.

“You can imagine, as a female athlete, you have plenty enough to think about just being the best you can be on the football field without thinking about getting sweaty and your kit clinging to you, both from a performance aspect as it is with the men but also from an aesthetic aspect,” Oatley added.

“And, as we know, women are different specimens when it comes to our bodies and it can really affect us and how we perform if we’re constantly thinking about how we look, or a top might be clinging to our breasts and also our body shapes.

“These are genuine issues for women which you would have thought somebody would have thought through before they released this kit.”

Villa signed a multi-year deal with Castore in May 2022.

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Which Premier League teams are owned by Americans?

Half of the Premier League’s 20 teams are now under majority American ownership. 

With the news of Everton’s takeover by U.S. private equity firm 777 Partners, the influence of American owners in the Premier League has never been higher.

When that deal goes through, it will mean that exactly half of the Premier League’s 20 teams are under American ownership. That includes four of the league’s biggest teams: Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool.

The English top flight has become an attractive investment for prospective owners as the league’s revenue from broadcast deals continues to skyrocket.

Here, we have listed all 10 Premier League clubs currently under American ownership. Some of the clubs include multiple owners/investors, so the American owners are italicized in those cases.