Tag: Luca De La Torre

De la Torre: Red card led to torrent of abuse from angry gamblers

“Football is entertainment for a lot of people and they just want to talk s–t about it online and have a good time”

Luca de la Torre has said his social media was flooded with angry messages from gamblers after a red card earlier this season.

The Celta Vigo midfielder was sent off midway through the second half against Alavés in September. His side was ahead 1-0 at the time of his red card, but the visitors would equalize in a match that would end 1-1.

De la Torre appeared on a recent episode of the Vamos podcast with Herculez Gomez, and detailed how he was on the receiving end of a torrent of abuse in the aftermath of his red card.

“I was sent off this season against Alavés at home,” the U.S. men’s national team midfielder said.

“And it was a game we were winning 1-0 and then we drew, so I think I messed up a lot of people’s bets on the game. And I got a couple hundred direct messages — things like, ‘kill yourself, I hope your mom dies, I hope you break your leg and you never play again.’

“I just turned off my direct messages and now I don’t see that anymore. But that’s not nice that people would lack the empathy for other people to send that type of stuff.”

In addition to turning off his direct messages, the 25-year-old said he copes with the abuse by trying not to take it to heart.

“Remembering that it’s difficult for people probably to have empathy for footballers if they haven’t played professionally like we have,” De la Torre said. “They don’t really understand what it’s like and how difficult it is. Football is entertainment for a lot of people and they just want to talk s–t about it online and have a good time. Just trying not to take things to heart or not seeing things at all I think is the best way.”

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USMNT calls Aaronson, Wright up for Nations League as injury replacements

Snubbed no more, Aaronson and Wright will get their shot at the Nations League

The U.S. men’s national team has had to make a pair of changes, with Gregg Berhalter adding Brenden Aaronson and Haji Wright to his squad for the Concacaf Nations League.

The duo will join up with the USMNT after Luca de la Torre and Josh Sargent had to withdraw from the team with injuries ahead of Thursday’s semifinal against Jamaica in Arlington, Texas.

De la Torre was forced to withdraw with what U.S. Soccer called a quadriceps strain, while Sargent — whose superb recent form earned him his first call-up since 2022 — will miss out due to ankle irritation.

The recall comes at a critical time for Aaronson. The New Jersey native said he is enduring “the toughest year of my life” on Saturday, shortly after what was arguably his best single-game performance with Union Berlin. Aaronson scored the winner in a 2-1 victory over Werder Bremen, just two minutes after notching his first assist of the year.

Wright, meanwhile, is flying high. The USMNT recall comes a day after the Coventry City striker notched a stunning stoppage-time winner to send the Sky Blues through to the FA Cup semifinals. The Californian has eight goals in Coventry’s last 10 matches.

Despite the injury news, Berhalter had a series of options to sort through, particularly in replacing Sargent. Brandon Vazquez has been thriving since completing a winter transfer to Monterrey, while Jordan Pefok has started 10 straight for Borussia Mönchengladbach. If a wide attacker had been preferred, the list of players vying for a spot would have to include Kevin Paredes, Cade Cowell, Alex Zendejas, and Griffin Yow.

If Berhalter had concerns about the balance of his squad going too attack-heavy, Gianluca Busio, and Aidan Morris could have all been in the mix as well. Another option, Lennard Maloney, remains out for Heidenheim with a knock.

Updated USMNT Nations League finals roster

Goalkeepers (3): 22-Drake Callender (Inter Miami; 0/0), 18-Ethan Horvath (Cardiff City; 9/0), 1-Matt Turner (Nottingham Forest; 37/0)

Defenders (8): 2-Sergino Dest (PSV; 32/2), 23-Kristoffer Lund (Palermo; 3/0), 16-Mark McKenzie (Genk; 13/0), 13-Tim Ream (Fulham; 55/1), 3-Chris Richards (Crystal Palace; 14/1), 5-Antonee Robinson (Fulham; 39/4), 12-Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati; 28/3), 19-Joe Scally (Borussia Monchengladbach; 8/0)

Midfielders (5): 4-Tyler Adams (Bournemouth; 36/1), 15-Johnny Cardoso (Real Betis; 9/0), 8-Weston McKennie (Juventus/ITA; 49/11), 6-Yunus Musah (AC Milan; 33/0), 7-Gio Reyna (Nottingham Forest; 24/7)

Forwards (7): 11-Brenden Aaronson (Union Berlin/GER; 38/8), 20-Folarin Balogun (Monaco; 8/3), 17-Malik Tillman (PSV; 8/0), 9-Ricardo Pepi (PSV; 22/10), 10-Christian Pulisic (AC Milan; 64/28), 21-Tim Weah (Juventus; 35/5), 14-Haji Wright (Coventry City/ENG; 7/2)

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Luca de la Torre: Dutch fans called me Frenkie de Jong from Aldi

De la Torre said of the nickname: “I guess it was a compliment”

Luca de la Torre has revealed that his team’s fans in the Netherlands bestowed him with a true backhanded compliment of a nickname.

After leaving Fulham in 2020, the U.S. men’s national team midfielder joined Dutch side Heracles. De la Torre performed well in the Netherlands, earning a move to Spanish outfit Celta Vigo last year.

While in the Netherlands, De la Torre developed a reputation as a central midfielder secure in possession and capable of progressing the ball forward. His style reminded Heracles fans of a certain Dutch international star, causing them to give De la Torre a nickname that could be taken in a few different ways.

“When I was playing in Holland, the fans of the club called me Frenkie de Jong from Aldi,” De la Torre said in an interview with ESPN. “Which is like Frenkie de Jong from a cheap knock-off supermarket. Which I guess was a compliment.”

The 25-year-old also contrasted the level in the Eredivsie to La Liga, after making the same jump that De Jong did in 2019 when he traded Ajax for Barcelona.

“The level of football is higher here obviously, both physically and technically,” De la Torre said.

“As a midfielder when you’re pressing, it’s important to not get beat and to make fouls when you have to. That was something I really had to add to my game when I made this step.”

De la Torre has become an important squad member at Celta Vigo, starting 21 league games since he arrived, including five of six this season.

According to Transfermarkt, Celta Vigo paid just €1.4 million to sign De la Torre from Heracles. Much like a trip to Aldi, that appears to be a bargain.

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The Americans Abroad Five: Musah emerges at AC Milan

The USMNT midfielder just had the best week of his early AC Milan career

We’ve talked quite a bit about Christian Pulisic’s strong start at AC Milan, but now another offseason USMNT addition is making his move with the Rossoneri.

Yunus Musah just had the best week of his early Milan career, turning in a strong cameo in a midweek draw against Newcastle before making his first start for Milan in Saturday’s 1-0 win against Hellas Verona.

Now in his fourth full season of first-team soccer, it’s easy to forget Musah is still only 20. The midfielder still has rough edges to smooth out, but it looks like he’ll have plenty of chances to do so while learning on the job with Milan this season.

This week’s Five kicks off with an encouraging week for the USMNT midfielder.

Celta Vigo gets De la Torre assist only to utterly collapse late in loss to Barcelona

Celta…guys what happened?

Celta Vigo thought it had it all on Saturday.

Rafael Benítez’s side faced a daunting away day against Barcelona, but for 80 minutes it looked like Celta was set to stun La Liga’s defending champions.

An early goal from Jørgen Strand Larsen set up by U.S. men’s national team midfielder Luca de la Torre gave Celta the lead. A defensive masterclass — despite trailing, Barça managed just six shot attempts in the game’s first 65 minutes — seemed to leave the visitors poised to pick up a shock win.

However, Barça stormed back with three goals in an eight-minute span, climbing from a 2-0 deficit in the 80th minute to win thanks to João Cancelo’s 89th minute winner.

It could have been so different. Celta took the lead after breaking up an attempt from Barcelona to surge forward. An early ball forward found De la Torre, who despite being completely cleaned out by Jules Koundé managed to slip the ball wide to Strand Larsen for the finish.

Barcelona couldn’t really find any traction in the game, and in the 76th minute a marvelous pass from veteran Iago Aspas sent Anastasios Douvikas racing in behind to make it 2-0. That’s a wrap on this one folks! Definitely nothing else to see here.

That second goal looked huge when some clever interplay between Robert Lewandowski and João Félix ended with the Polish striker acrobatically prodding home what looked for all the world like a consolation goal.

At least, that’s what it should have been. Unfortunately for Celta, just as Barça began lifting its play and attacking with more conviction, the visitors started to hesitate.

The thing is, when a team has the kind of talent Barcelona does, you can’t really hesitate if you want to prevent things like this from happening.

Lewandowski’s second completed the 180-degree change in vibes, and suddenly it seemed like a Barcelona victory was inevitable.

The source of the goal, perhaps, was the only surprise. A Lewandowski hat trick? Some João Félix sauce? Maybe something from Raphinha or İlkay Gündoğan?

Nope. João Cancelo would end up finishing the comeback, taking advantage as De la Torre tried to pass him off to distracted teammates to sprint in and finish off Gavi’s inswinging cross.

It was a heartbreaker for Celta, and the result only became more frustrating in stoppage time. There, one last surge forward ended with Óscar Mingueza receiving the ball in a glorious position, only to agonizingly drag his 13-yard shot wide.

As the club has been doing off the field for a couple of years now, Barcelona wriggled out of one more jam, going top of the table in the process. Celta, meanwhile, has just one win from six after throwing this one away, and is one point clear of the drop zone.

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The Americans Abroad Five: Survival Sunday in La Liga

Both Americans in Spain stayed up, but it mattered a lot more to one of them

Entering the final day of the season, La Liga’s relegation battle was … (gets out Spanish dictionary) … loco.

The bottom two, Espanyol and Elche, entered the last day already relegated. Ahead of them, no less than six teams were fighting to avoid being the final team to drop down to the Segunda División.

Of those six, two featured Americans. But Celta Vigo’s Luca de la Torre and Valencia’s Yunus Musah had vastly different outlooks if their teams were to be relegated. De la Torre needed to stay up much more, and it showed.

In the end, both Valencia and Celta Vigo retained their La Liga status, with Real Valladolid the unlucky team headed down.

The Americans Abroad Five signs off for the season this week with a look at a dramatic final day in Spain, and an even wilder last day in Belgium.

USMNT player ratings: Pulisic dominates in Grenada rout

The USMNT’s big names sure played like it Friday night

The U.S. men’s national team was supposed to handle Grenada with ease, and it turns out that’s exactly what they did.

Returning to CONCACAF Nations League play for the first time since June 2022, the USMNT steamrolled the Spice Boys, scoring early and often in a 7-1 victory.

Just knowing the scoreline, even a person that didn’t see the game could probably divine some of the ratings here. Christian Pulisic was dominant from kickoff, Weston McKennie conjured up two goals, and Alex Zendejas marked his becoming cap-tied to the team with a goal. If you’re a USMNT fan, it was a fun Friday night.

With that in mind, our ratings for a game that was never particularly close:

USMNT injuries: Berhalter gives updates on four World Cup roster players

Gregg Berhalter named 26 players to his World Cup squad, but not all of them are currently healthy.

Gregg Berhalter named 26 players to his World Cup roster on Wednesday, but not all of them are currently healthy.

Some, like Miles Robinson, Sam Vines and Chris Richards, had already been ruled out for the tournament. Others are healthy enough to make the roster, but aren’t quite ready to play right away.

Here we take a look at four important U.S. men’s national team players who are still working their way back to fitness.

The Americans Abroad Five: Oh boy, here come the injuries

Some key USMNT players are fighting to get fit with three weeks until the World Cup. Nobody panic!

Three weeks ago, this very column celebrated the triumphant return to health of many key U.S. national team players who had been battling injuries.

We are very, very sorry.

It’s not time to panic yet because the injuries are all minor-ish, but some important USMNT players have gone down over the past week. The World Cup kicks off in three weeks, so even a minor problem right now could have an impact in Qatar.

Tick tock. Tick tock. Let’s get to the Five

Luca de la Torre out three weeks with muscle tear, putting World Cup in doubt

The midfielder will face a tight timeline to be fit for Qatar after a thigh muscle tear

Luca de la Torre will miss “around three weeks” with a thigh muscle tear, his club Celta Vigo has announced.

The Spanish side made the announcement with 24 days left before the U.S. national team kicks off the World Cup against Wales, giving the midfielder a tight timeline to return to fitness.

“Luca de la Torre suffered a grade 1 fibrillar tear in the biceps femoris of his left leg, according to the ultrasound performed by the club’s medical services. The U.S. international will remain out for around three weeks,” a Celta Vigo statement read.

De la Torre became an important midfield cog for Gregg Berhalter during World Cup qualifying, earning eight caps so far in 2022.

The California native appears to be just below starting midfield trio Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie and Yunus Musah on the depth chart, as his ball security and ability to break lines has proven valuaable to Berhalter’s side.

After impressing with Heracles in the Netherlands, the 24-year-old earned a summer move to La Liga with Celta Vigo. In Spain, De la Torre has struggled for minutes so far, playing just 50 total minutes this season spread over five substitute appearances.

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