Tag: SoccerBlast

U.S. women’s deaf national team set for historic doubleheader with USWNT

The U.S. women’s deaf national team will face Australia ahead of the USWNT’s friendly vs. South Korea

The U.S. women’s national team’s June 1 friendly against South Korea will now be part of a double bill.

U.S. Soccer announced on Friday that the U.S. women’s deaf national team will join the USWNT at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park to play a friendly against Australia as part of a doubleheader.

Tickets for the USWNT’s match in Colorado will be valid for both matches, with the deaf national team’s match set for a 2 p.m. ET start. In a first for one of the federation’s extended national teams, the match will be broadcast on TruTV and Max.

That will be followed by the USWNT’s match against South Korea, which is scheduled for a 5 p.m. ET start. That game will be broadcast on TNT, TruTV, Universo, Max, and Peacock.

“The U.S. women’s deaf national team is honored to take part in this historic doubleheader with the U.S. women’s national team and I know all the players are excited to participate in this unique event,” said deaf WNT head coach Amy Griffin, who was part of the USWNT side that won the 1991 World Cup.

“Along with a legacy of international success, our team serves as an inspiration for deaf and hard of hearing players and is a catalyst for growth in those communities. This doubleheader and the broadcast of our game marks a huge step forward for the extended national teams program and will magnify what success looks like when more opportunities and access are provided to everyone.”

The deaf WNT has won a whopping 37 of its 38 games since getting started in 2005, claiming three DIFA World Deaf Football Championship titles and four Deaflympics gold medals in that time.

The friendly against Australia will wrap up the team’s first training camp since winning the World Deaf Football Championship in October. The camp is planned as part of the preparations for the 2024 Deaf Pan American Games, which will be held in Brazil from November 7-18.

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Leverkusen sets record with unbeaten run, advances to Europa League final

Leverkusen’s ability to score stoppage-time goals to stay unbeaten is beyond belief

Leverkusen may have qualified for a European final on Thursday, but the celebrations may well have been about something no other UEFA club has ever done.

A 2-2 second-leg draw secured a 4-2 aggregate win over Roma in the Europa League semifinals, sending the Bundesliga champions to the tournament’s final.

However, in a more remarkable achievement, Leverkusen has now gone 49 straight competitive games without defeat, which is a record for any UEFA club since the advent of European continental competition. Benfica’s 48-game run spanning games played from 1963-65 was the previous gold standard.

Leverkusen’s last defeat came nearly a full year ago, with the club concluding its previous Bundesliga campaign with a 3-0 loss at Bochum on May 27, 2023.

Since then, Xabi Alonso’s side has gotten a win or draw in every single one of its 49 competitive fixtures across the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal, and the Europa League in the 2023-24 season.

Somehow, this run includes a staggering 17 goals in stoppage time, 12 of which changed losses into draws or draws into wins.

That included an equalizer against Roma. Despite seeing the Serie A side pushing to force extra time with one last goal, Leverkusen still pushed on in pursuit of history.

Seven minutes into second-half stoppage time, late substitute Josip Stanišić sprinted up the right flank. Granit Xhaka could have sent him to the corner to protect the lead, but the Swiss midfielder wanted that 49th game without a loss.

Xhaka’s pass guided Stanišić into the area, where he cut inside of the scrambling Roma defense before picking out the bottom corner, beating Mile Svilar and securing yet another dramatic late draw for Leverkusen.

In a post-match interview broadcast by CBS Sports Network, Xhaka said that Leverkusen took pride in pursuing the record rather than merely hanging on for a place in a continental final.

“Of course!” declared Xhaka when asked about pursuing a 49th game without a loss. “You see the desire from the team. Even after 2-1, in the 90 minutes, in extra time, we didn’t want to slow down the game. We wanted to score the second goal to be unbeaten [for] 49 games now, and we are proud about it.”

Leverkusen will face Atalanta on May 22 at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium. That will be the club’s third-ever European final, and its first since the 2001-02 Champions League.

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Dest future unclear as PSV reportedly declines €10m purchase clause

A convoluted situation has thrown Dest’s future at PSV into question

Sergiño Dest seemed set to convert his successful first season with PSV into a longer stay, but a new development has thrown the U.S. men’s national team right back’s future into uncertainty.

Eindhovens Dagblad reported on Thursday that PSV has decided to decline a €10 million purchase clause built into the loan deal with Barcelona that sent the 23-year-old to the Eredivisie for the 2023-24 season.

Dest was superb for PSV throughout a campaign that saw the club storm to both a 25th Dutch crown and the knockout stages of the Champions League.

However, on April 20 Dest suffered what turned out to be a torn ACL in training, and will be sidelined for several months at minimum.

Despite the injury, PSV manager Peter Bosz expressed strong interest in signing Dest to a permanent contract, praising the USMNT defender as a good fit for both his system and within the locker room.

It wasn’t the first time an authority at PSV said something along those lines. In December, sporting director Earnie Stewart said that the Dutch power would “probably do something” with the purchase clauses for both Dest and USMNT teammate Malik Tillman this summer.

Dest had also said he was enjoying his time with PSV, though his interest in staying further was offered in measured terms.

“I just want to go for my development and where I can play the most,” said Dest in April, just days before suffering his injury. “I have really been able to play my way up again [at PSV] and I want to continue to do so. Wherever my future lies, I just want to be able to play and develop myself.”

PSV may wait to sign Dest for free

Since then, two factors have complicated the matter. The first issue had crept into the discussion even before Dest’s injury: the combination of an eight-figure transfer fee and Dest’s desire to stay on wages in line with those in his contract with Barcelona is more than PSV was prepared to spend.

Second, the Eindhovens Dagblad report noted that Dest’s injury has removed the urgency to get a deal done quickly, as the fullback will almost certainly miss the first half of the 2024-25 season.

The theory goes that PSV could simply wait for Dest to enter the final six months of his deal with Barça on January 1, 2025. At that point, they could offer Dest a contract that would begin immediately upon the end of his time with Barcelona.

Doing so would allow PSV to bring Dest in without shelling out the €10 million fee, but that approach is not without risk. ESPN has reported that Ajax is also interested in Dest, while his performance with PSV has surely caught the eye of clubs across Europe.

Any club can offer Dest a pre-contract at the same time PSV reportedly intends to, opening the door to the USMNT man making his return elsewhere.

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Players union threatens to take FIFA to court over Club World Cup calendar concerns

FIFPro and an association of soccer leagues are both deeply unhappy with FIFA

FIFPro, the union for professional soccer players worldwide, and the 45-member World Leagues Association have served notice to FIFA, demanding alterations to what they assert is an overstuffed calendar.

In a joint letter viewed by the BBC and AP, FIFA was criticized for “unilateral decisions that benefit its own competitions and commercial interests,” which include adding and expanding competitions. The 2025 Club World Cup — an event currently set to be held in the U.S. in June and July 2025 — was specifically cited as an event needing to change.

The letter calls the current global calendar “beyond saturation,” adding that “players are being pushed beyond their limits, with significant injury risks and impacts on their welfare.”

Previously, the Club World Cup had involved only seven teams: the winning team from the top club tournament in each of the world’s six confederations, plus one entrant from the host nation of that year’s tournament. FIFPro blasted the Club World Cup expansion when it was announced, and has apparently not gotten a satisfactory response from FIFA.

The 2025 edition, however, has been massively expanded, with 32 places. Illustrating the letter’s point, a report from The Athletic said that the event would take place during the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup, also being held in the United States.

Additionally, FIFA plans to resurrect the old Intercontinental Cup this year, which will feature a structure along very similar lines as the old Club World Cup. The letter urged FIFA to reconsider, or even abandon, plans to hold that event.

Competition calendar congestion growing

The letter comes as competitions grow or expand in seemingly every direction.

All three of UEFA’s men’s club competitions will expand next season, while the Asian Football Confederation’s rebrand of its top competition (which will be called the AFC Champions League Elite from 2024-25) will feature fewer teams, but requires each participant to play more games. Going along with those plans, the AFC is also adding a Europa League-esque competition called the AFC Champions League 2.

Concacaf has expanded the Concacaf Champions Cup starting with this year’s edition, while in the U.S. there remains a simmering conflict between MLS and U.S. Soccer over whether the top-flight league’s clubs should have to play in the U.S. Open Cup.

FIFPro and the World Leagues Association also demanded a chance to reconsider the calendar for when internationals must be released from their clubs during windows for national team play.

The AP quoted the letter as explicitly including the threat of “legal action against FIFA” should the governing body ignore requests to address the issues.

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U.S. Open Cup 2024 round of 16 pairings: Defending champs Houston Dynamo out

The defending champs are already out, while Tampa Bay and Birmingham played out an epic in the round of 32

The 2024 U.S. Open Cup has narrowed down to its final 16 teams, with pairings for the round of 16 becoming clear as the tournament’s fourth round played out on Wednesday night.

U.S. Soccer conducted a draw on April 18 to sort both the round of 32 and the round of 16, with the remaining teams placed into four-team pods roughly based around geography and other factors.

That effectively set up hosting scenarios for the last 16, with teams drawn into the first pairing within the pod set to host the winner of the second game. The federation will hold a draw for the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds at a later date, with the latter draw also determining hosting priority for the final for each of the final four teams.

The round of 32 included some absolutely wild results. The defending champion Houston Dynamo are already out, having held a 2-0 lead at home only to be knocked off by USL Championship side Detroit City on penalties after a 3-3 extra-time draw.

An all-USL Championship clash produced an absolute classic, with the Tampa Bay Rowdies leading 4-0 after 81 minutes, yet being pushed to extra time by Birmingham Legion. The Rowdies somehow recovered from that to claim a 6-4 win thanks in no small part to an unfathomable bicycle kick goal from Manuel Arteaga (who would also get sent off in the final seconds just for good measure).

Other “cupsets” included New Mexico United seeing off Real Salt Lake 4-2, while MLS Next Pro side New York City FC II managed a 1-0 win over the Colorado Springs Switchbacks of the USL Championship.

All in all, the last 16 will see six MLS teams, nine from the USL Championship, and New York City FC II surviving as the final remaining team from any league lower than the second tier. Based on the pairings, at least two lower-level teams will go through to the quarterfinals.

Below are the round of 16 pairings resulting from April’s draw. Games are set for May 21-22, with schedule and venues for all matches still to be confirmed. Host sides are listed first in each pairing.

2024 U.S. Open Cup round of 16 draw

  • Charleston Battery (USL-C) vs. Atlanta United (MLS)
  • Tampa Bay Rowdies (USL-C) vs. FC Dallas (MLS)
  • Sporting Kansas City (MLS) vs. FC Tulsa (USL-C)
  • Seattle Sounders (MLS) vs. Phoenix Rising FC (USL-C)
  • Sacramento Republic FC (USL-C) vs. San Jose Earthquakes (MLS)
  • Los Angeles FC (MLS) vs. Loudoun United FC (USL-C)
  • Indy Eleven (USL-C) vs. Detroit City FC (USL-C)
  • New York City FC II (MLS Next Pro) vs. New Mexico United (USL-C)

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Tuchel rages after late Bayern goal disallowed in Champions League: ‘It’s the wrong call’

Tuchel slated the referees over waving off De Ligt’s seeming equalizer

Bayern Munich was left flabbergasted by a late call in its Champions League semifinal defeat at the hands of Real Madrid.

Over 13 minutes into second-half stoppage time in a dramatic second leg, Matthijs de Ligt appeared to have scored a staggering equalizer.

However, referee Szymon Marciniak chalked the goal off, drawing intense disagreement from Bayern manager Thomas Tuchel.

“To raise the flag in a situation like this, where you can never, never, never be sure that this is offside, to raise — to have the balls, to have the guts, to raise the flag in a situation like this — is a huge call, and it’s the wrong call,” seethed Tuchel in a post-match press conference.

“The referee has the chance, when he sees that we win the second ball and we win the rebound and we get a shot away within five seconds, he has the chance not to whistle. He takes the decision to whistle, it’s against every rule.”

Tuchel: Call ‘would not have happened’ to Real Madrid

A long ball forward put Real under pressure, and a knockdown header from Thomas Müller set De Ligt up to fire home, seemingly equalizing the scores at 4-4 and setting up extra time.

However, in a game that had already seen a stunning comeback for los Merengues, the last turn of the tale was the wildest: assistant referee Tomasz Listkiewicz lifted his flag to signal offside rather than following the current IFAB directive to let the sequence play out, and Marciniak blew his whistle in agreement.

By rule, Marciniak’s whistle coming so early prevented any VAR check, meaning any chance for Bayern’s goal to be given — much in the same way that Real’s winning goal from Joselu was — was dashed in an instant.

Joselu’s stoppage-time winner came on a sequence that was initially called back for offside, but in that sequence Marciniak held his whistle until the ball crossed the line. As such, VAR could check the call, eventually overturning the initial decision and awarding Real what turned out to be an utterly crucial goal.

For Tuchel, the call went beyond a mistake, with the German coach intimating that Madrid got special treatment.

“I’m sorry. We accept we lost. It is what it is, but just…that [call] would not have happened on the other side.”

Nonetheless, Real will go on to June 1’s Champions League final at Wembley, with Borussia Dortmund the opponent.

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Marco Reus reportedly in talks over MLS move after Dortmund contract ends

Reus could be looking to come to the U.S. once he ends his 12-year stay at Dortmund this summer

Marco Reus could well be considering a move to MLS once he wraps a superb career at Borussia Dortmund.

Former France midfielder Samir Nasri, now working as a pundit on French broadcaster Canal+, said that the 34-year-old is ready to continue his career with an unspecified MLS club once his der Schwarzgelben contract expires at the end of the season.

Dortmund has already confirmed it will not renew Reus’ contract, and the playmaker says he intends to carry on playing.

“I talked to Marco Reus,” asserted Nasri. “He said he loves football too much to quit right now and will go to MLS next season.”

Former Chile striker Ivan Zamorano, now working as an analyst for TUDN, spiced the rumors up further on Tuesday when he narrowed Reus’ possible destinations to a club in Los Angeles.

LA clubs, St. Louis linked with Reus

That would place Los Angeles FC and the LA Galaxy high up on the list of potential landing spots, though LAFC is probably the more likely of the two sides to have room for Reus.

The Galaxy spent nearly $20 million on wingers Joseph Paintsil and Gabriel Pec, and have built around playmaker Riqui Puig. With Greg Vanney’s side playing well, there are salary cap and on-field reasons that reduce the chances of Reus playing for the MLS originals.

LAFC’s ability to bring Reus in may be limited as well, with the club strongly linked to a move for France striker Olivier Giroud.

On Wednesday, The Athletic’s Tom Bogert reported that St. Louis City SC has held “preliminary talks” with Reus’ camp. Roman Bürki, St. Louis’ starting goalkeeper, played alongside Reus at Dortmund from 2015-22.

However, Bogert would add that St. Louis has not yet placed Reus on its discovery list (an MLS process that essentially boxes out any other club in the league from signing a player), and that clubs in Turkey and Saudi Arabia have also expressed interest.

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Messi breaks MLS record with five assists for Inter Miami…all in one half?!

Who does this? Literally no one!

Everyone knew Lionel Messi would be the best player in MLS upon arrival, but we’re now getting a look at just how extreme the situation is.

Messi produced a staggering five (5) assists in one half Saturday night, helping Inter Miami to a 6-2 demolition of the New York Red Bulls.

Luis Suárez and new addition Matías Rojas were the beneficiaries, with the Uruguayan star notching a hat trick. Rojas would strike twice, while Messi would chip in a goal for good measure, because why not?

It didn’t seem like the kind of night where this would happen. The Red Bulls actually walked off at halftime up 1-0 on a Dante Vanzeir goal, and had to be feeling alright about how things were going.

Messi had a different idea in mind.

Rojas would enter at halftime, and the Paraguayan played a major part in flipping this game on its head. Messi’s first assist would come just three minutes after play restarted, but in truth it was mostly about the thunderbolt Rojas unleashed from long range.  This time, all Messi had to do was play a square pass.

Two minutes later, the Red Bulls seemed to begin to collapse. Rojas’ pressure created a bad giveaway, and Suárez helped the ball on for Messi to finish with a first-time strike.

In alarming news for the rest of MLS, Rojas — making just his second appearance since being signed on April 23 — seemed to have an instant rapport with Messi. The duo would link up again, playing increasingly intricate one-twos until Messi defied geometry and our common understanding of space to send Rojas through for a 62nd minute goal.

Things just got worse for RBNY. Benjamin Cremaschi’s chip found Messi in behind the defense in the 69th minute, and two Red Bulls spent an eternity trying to just contain the Argentine icon.

Good news: they did avoid being beaten on the dribble. It’s just that Messi wedged a pass through a miniscule gap, finding Suárez on the doorstep to make it 4-1.

Next up? Another give-and-go sequence, this time with Messi waltzing away from the midfield in possession before combining with Suárez for a point-blank finish.

There was still more time, and with the Red Bulls seemingly unable to track Messi coming out of midfield, more goals were inevitable.

Messi seemed to consider the prospect of dribbling several people for a moment, but ultimately played a slide-rule pass that found Suárez, and the other former Barcelona great on the field evaded goalkeeper Carlos Coronel before shooting home from an acute angle.

On another night, Suárez’s hat trick and the big scoreline would have garnered all the attention. It’s just that Messi did something no one else has ever done, with his five assists and six goal involvements both setting new MLS records.

Entering the night, only 10 players in MLS had five assists on the season. For Messi, five assists in this game required just a 33-minute span, during which he also scored.

That leaves Messi atop the Golden Boot leaderboard with 10, and also way out in front on the assist chart with 12. Carlos Vela once had 49 goal involvements in a single season, setting the MLS record with 34 goals in the process.

Messi’s 22 combined goals and assists, gathered in just in eight appearances, have him on pace to get to around 61 if he plays the rest of Miami’s 22 remaining matches.

So yeah, looks like the guy can play a little.

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USWNT defender Girma misses San Diego Wave match with injury

Girma’s return from an injury on USWNT duty has hit a speed bump

With the Olympics looming, the U.S. women’s national team may need to start worrying about Naomi Girma.

The San Diego Wave center back, who has emerged over the past 18 months as the USWNT’s most important defender, was not in uniform as her side fell 2-1 to the 10-player Seattle Reign at Lumen Field on Friday night.

Girma was listed as out with a thigh issue on a league availability report published Thursday night, not long after Wave head coach Casey Stoney had said she had “no updates” on her side’s list of injured players.

“Still waiting on a few decisions,” Stoney told reporters in a Thursday press conference.

Girma’s status had become something to monitor a month ago, when she pulled up with an injury during the USWNT’s SheBelieves Cup win over Japan.

One week later, the 2023 U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year would sit out San Diego’s 0-0 draw with Racing Louisville due to the knock. However, she would return after that, starting both a 1-0 loss to the Orlando Pride and this past Saturday’s 2-1 win over Bay FC.

Girma is joined by some big names on the list of Wave absentees. USWNT teammates Alex Morgan (lower leg) and Abby Dahlkemper (thigh) were also unavailable for Stoney’s side in Seattle, as were Sweden winger Sofia Jakobsson (lower leg) and teenage midfielder Melanie Barcenas (hip).

After the match, Stoney told reporters that Girma and Dahlkemper are both “questionable” to play on Wednesday, when San Diego hosts the Utah Royals.

The USWNT, meanwhile, will announce a squad for a pair of friendlies against South Korea later this month in what will be Emma Hayes’ first matches as head coach. Those games will be the the final tests before Hayes selects her 18-player roster for the Olympics later this summer.

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Roda JC fans storm field to celebrate promotion despite not being promoted

Everyone gets a little too excited from time to time, even stadium announcers

Roda JC fans might need to work on timing their celebrations.

Supporters streamed onto the pitch at Parkstad Limburg Stadion after two second-half goals gave Roda a 2-0 win over Cambuur in the Dutch second division on Friday.

Fans twirled yellow scarves, ran in jubilation, and generally delighted in Roda’s climb out of the Eerste Divisie and into the top flight.

Just one problem: Roda had not clinched promotion yet.

De Koempels had hit full time, but elsewhere in Eerste Divisie play, Groningen trailed its away match against Telstar. A Groningen loss would do the job for Roda, and at full time it seemed like that was going to happen.

However, Thom van Bergen’s 95th-minute equalizer gave life to Groningen’s hopes of bouncing right back into the Eredivisie. To add to the drama, Telstar would go on to put the ball in the back of the net afterwards, only for the goal to be chalked off.

In an interview with Voetbal International, stadium announcer Wim Frijns put his hand up, saying that he had conveyed some incorrect information to fans at what turned out to be an awkward moment.

“It started with supporters entering the field,” explained Frijns, who said he announced that Telstar and Groningen were still playing.

Still, per Frijns everyone was ready to party. Fans clustered in one corner, ready to get out on the field, while players returned from the locker room to join the revelry.

“Someone said to me, ‘Telstar has scored a goal,'” said Frijns. “People were crying next to me, players came out, everyone was celebrating. So I thought: it must be so.”

Frijns got on the mic and announced the Telstar goal. Cue the scenes:

“A little later I heard that the goal had been disallowed,” admitted Frijns.

Much to the chagrin of Roda fans, the results mean that there’s still work to do. Fortunately, this one isn’t too complicated, and all parties should have no trouble sorting out whether to party or not at full time.

You see, Roda is at Groningen on May 10, and the situation is very simple. Roda will be promoted — for real this time — with a win or a draw. A positive result could also see Roda win the league outright, as the club trails Willem II by a single point.

However, should Groningen win, it’ll be Groningen fans wilding out instead. A win would get Groningen level with Roda on points, and since the former holds a two-goal edge on goal difference (the first tiebreaker in the Eerste Divisie), that would seal promotion for the hosts.

It’s just important for all parties to be absolutely sure the game is really, actually over before getting the champagne out.

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