Did Berhalter take a shot at Marsch after USMNT-Jamaica game?

The USMNT coach couldn’t help but spike the football after Gio Reyna’s display

After watching Gio Reyna’s incredible display for the U.S. men’s national team on Thursday night, Gregg Berhalter couldn’t help himself.

The USMNT defeated Jamaica 3-1 in extra time, advancing to Sunday’s Nations League final against Mexico at AT&T Stadium.

In his post-game press conference the USMNT coach was asked about Reyna, who came off the bench at halftime and delivered two outstanding assists for Haji Wright to decide a dramatic semifinal.

Chief on Berhalter’s mind was criticism he’d received for calling Reyna up amid a loan at Nottingham Forest in which he’s hardly seen the field.

“I think I heard somewhere or read somewhere, ‘Why did Gio get called in the camp?'” Berhalter said. “Did you guys hear any of that? Anyone?

“Well, I think he showed why he got called into camp. Amazing quality, amazing talent. And for us, it’s about supporting him through the difficult times of adapting to the Premier League. But his quality is unquestionable.

“When you see the plays he made on both the second and third goal, I think most importantly, the ball he wins and then makes the pass [on the third goal]. He has that quality that not many players have and it’s clear that he deserves to play on this team.”

Though Berhalter didn’t name any of the critics, he may very well have been referring to one in particular: Jesse Marsch.

The former Leeds coach and one-time candidate for Berhalter’s job questioned Reyna’s inclusion last week on CBS’s “Call It What You Want” podcast.

Marsch even seemed to suggest that Berhalter was overly deferential to Reyna after the scandal that erupted between the pair and their families last year.

This was hardly the first time that Marsch had taken aim at Berhalter in recent months. The former Red Bull Salzburg and RB Leipzig coach also questioned the inclusion of Tyler Adams on the current roster, called for exiled defender John Brooks to be given a major role on the USMNT, and said the USMNT lacks a signature win under Berhalter.

Given all of the above, it’s tough to really blame Berhalter if he felt like spiking the football a bit on Thursday night.

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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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USMNT vs. Jamaica: How to watch Concacaf Nations League, TV channel, live stream

The USMNT will face the Reggae Boyz with a berth in Sunday’s final at stake

The U.S. men’s national team will face Jamaica on Thursday night in a Concacaf Nations League semifinal at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Jamaica has reached this stage for the first time, while the USMNT is looking to make it three titles out of three in the Nations League.

The USMNT would have been favorites even if Jamaica was at full strength, but the Reggae Boyz enter this match missing several key players. Jamaica will be without Michail Antonio, the injured Ethan Pinnock and Amari’i Bell, the suspended Demarai Gray and Shamar Nicholson, as well as Leon Bailey and Trivante Stewart, who were dropped after missing curfew Jamaica’s last camp.

[afflinkbutton text=”Watch the Concacaf Nations League on Paramount Plus” link=”https://paramountplus.qflm.net/217Nxg”]

The USMNT will be mostly full strength, but did have to make a pair of roster changes ahead of this match with Brenden Aaronson and Haji Wright replacing the injured Luca de la Torre and Josh Sargent.

Overall, the USMNT has a 19W-3L-10D record against Jamaica, including a run of 5W-0L-1D in its last six encounters.

The winner of this match will face the winner of Mexico’s semifinal against Panama in Sunday’s final, while the two losers will meet Sunday in the third-place game.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the match.

USMNT vs. Jamaica (Nations League semifinal)

  • When: Thursday, March 21
  • Where: AT&T Stadium (Arlington, Texas)
  • Time: 7 p.m. ET
  • Channel/streaming: Univision, TUDN, Paramount+ (WATCH LIVE)

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NFL star and former MLS defender Aubrey pays visit to USMNT camp

Brandon Aubrey, a former MLS draft pick who led the NFL in scoring last season, stopped by USMNT camp this week

The U.S. men’s national team had a special guest at Tuesday’s practice, a familiar face for fans in Dallas.

The USMNT invited Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey to a training session ahead of Thursday’s Concacaf Nations League semifinal showdown with Jamaica at AT&T Stadium.

Aubrey, 29, emerged as one of the best kickers in the NFL last season, but his professional sports career actually started in soccer.

Aubrey was a defender at Notre Dame from 2013-2016, scoring 15 goals and earning first-team All-ACC recognition with the Fighting Irish. He was drafted by Toronto FC in the first round of the 2017 MLS SuperDraft.

The defender spent his first season on loan to Toronto’s second team (a USL squad at the time), then he spent one year with Bethlehem Steel FC (another USL team that formerly served as a Philadelphia Union affiliate). After 47 appearances in the USL, Aubrey was out of soccer by 2019.

Aubrey started working as a software engineer. While watching an NFL game in 2019, Aubrey and his wife looked on as a kicker missed an attempt.

“You could do that,” she told him.

So he did.

Aubrey hired a kicking coach and he worked in his garage during the pandemic. After three years of training, he finally got an opportunity with the Birmingham Stallions (then of the USFL, a league that has since merged with the XFL to form the UFL).

In his first season as a professional kicker, Aubrey made the All-USFL first-team and he won back-to-back championships with the Stallions. After going 32-of-37 on field goal attempts in the spring league, Aubrey was invited to Cowboys training camp last summer.

Aubrey ended up winning Dallas’ starting kicker job and he went on to go 36-of-38 on field goal attempts in 2023, leading the NFL with 157 points. He quickly established himself as one of the best kickers in the NFL and made the Pro Bowl in his first season.

Aubrey is following in the footsteps of Josh Lambo, who switched from soccer to American football and went on to have a seven-year career as a kicker in the NFL. If his first season is any indication of what’s to come, Aubrey is well on his way to surpassing Lambo’s feats.

The winner of the USA-Jamacia match on Thursday will advance to face the winner of the Mexico-Panama clash in the Concacaf Nations League final at the Cowboys’ stadium on Sunday night.

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Already shorthanded, Jamaica sees Antonio withdraw ahead of USMNT clash

If Jamaica is to spring an upset over the USMNT, it will have to do so the hard way

If Jamaica is to spring an upset over the U.S. men’s national team on Thursday night, it will have to do so the hard way.

Already missing a host of key players for the Concacaf Nations League semifinal, the Reggae Boyz will now also be without star forward Michail Antonio.

West Ham said on Tuesday that Antonio had withdrawn from the Jamaica squad, declining to provide a reason. The 33-year-old was originally named to Jamaica’s roster for the Nations League finals, and scored on Sunday in West Ham’s 1-1 draw with Aston Villa.

Antonio joins a growing list of players who won’t be available on Thursday when Jamaica faces the USMNT at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Leon Bailey and Trivante Stewart were both not selected for the roster after missing curfew at Jamaica’s most recent camp. Center backs Ethan Pinnock and Amari’i Bell also weren’t called up due to injury, while Demarai Gray and Shamar Nicholson are on the roster but will be suspended against the U.S. due to card accumulation.

The USMNT is aiming for its third consecutive Nations League title, while Jamaica is making its first semifinal appearance in the competition.

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The five biggest surprises of the 2023 Women’s World Cup

Several unheralded teams have over-performed at the tournament in Australia and New Zealand

The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup is down to its final four teams: Spain, England, Australia, and Sweden. It’s been a long, grueling set of games for those squads to get to this point, but all four teams are ranked within the world’s top 10. But what about the squads that entered the tournament as underdogs?

While none of the true tournament underdogs ended up making it all the way to the semifinals, it was still a great World Cup for upsets and surprises. Plenty of teams exceeded expectations, especially when it came to their performances in the group stage of the event.

Let’s take a look at five of the biggest surprise teams of this year’s World Cup.

The five most shocking results of the 2023 World Cup (so far)

The World Cup has already seen its share of stunners as we get ready for the quarterfinals

The knockout stage of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup is officially underway, and the tournament is down to eight teams. It’s been a wild ride to get here thus far, with the two top teams (according to the world rankings) having already been eliminated – Germany in the group stage and the United States in the first round of knockouts.

Needless to say, this World Cup has enjoyed its fair share of shocking results, which always makes for great television. It’s always more fun to root for the underdog (unless you’re a fan of the team that’s expected to win).

So, as there are no games to recap today, let’s take a look at five of the most shocking results of the tournament thus far.

2023 Women’s World Cup Knockout Stage Day 4 Recap: France, Colombia advance

France and Colombia managed to avoid upsets on the final day of last-16 action

The fourth day of knockout stage games at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup was a bit more straightforward than the first three. There were no major upsets, and the teams that were supposed to win did so comfortably.

But before we get into the action, here is your daily reminder that you can follow the entirety of the World Cup right here at Pro Soccer Wire! Make sure to check out the full TV/streaming schedule, a power ranking of all 16 knockout stage teams, and the rankings in this year’s race for the Golden Boot.

Let’s see how the games played out.

World Cup knockout round power rankings: Evaluating all 16 teams

Evaluating the hopes of the 16 teams left at this World Cup

A World Cup group stage full of surprises has resulted in a truly intriguing set of 16 teams going through to the knockout rounds.

Some favorites have looked the part, but the list of big teams that have underachieved is significantly longer (it’s not just the U.S. women’s national team, folks). A couple of second-tier teams have stepped their game up, while some unheralded sides have shown that while no one was watching, they were making major strides.

The result is a round of 16 where it feels like nearly anything could happen. Could the USWNT join the likes of Germany, Brazil, and Canada in being out? What about the possibility of teams like Jamaica, Morocco, and South Africa getting to the quarterfinals?

It’s been completely unpredictable, so all of these things are distinctly possible. Still, Pro Soccer Wire tried to sort out the likelihood of any one team making a run to the final. Somewhere between their results in this tournament, past track record, and overall talent level, we’ve settled on a power rankings list that everyone everywhere will surely have no problems with.

2023 Women’s World Cup Day 14 Recap: South Africa and Jamaica make history

South Africa and Jamaica have reached the knockout stage of the Women’s World Cup for the first time

Day 14 of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup marked the second-to-last day of the group stage, as the final pieces of the puzzle have begun to fall into place.

However, before we get into all the action from Day 14, here is your daily reminder that you can follow the entirety of the World Cup right here at Pro Soccer Wire! You can get the full TV/streaming schedule, an updated list of the group stage standings, and the rankings in this year’s race for the Golden Boot.

Now, let’s see how the games played out on Day 14.