Editor in Chief,
@SoccerAmerica
. 2016 Hall of Fame Colin Jose Media Award recipient. On Ballon d’Or jury since 2007. Proud husband and father. Weeknight cook.
FIFA just released the viewing figures for final. Largest audience wasn’t in USA. It was in Brazil where almost 20 million viewers watched. Globe TV’s share was 41.7, blowing away Fox’s 27.
First two
#USWNT
games in
#SheBelievesCup
have averaged 522,000 (Spain game on ESPN) and 387,000 (England game on ESPN2). They rank 1-2 among viewers of any MNT or WNT game on U.S. English-language TV since July 7, 2019.
Christen Press wrote 50 columns for SA over 3 years while she was in Sweden. As her editor, I can say she is one of the most thoughtful & sensitive players I've ever known. A *brilliant* writer, too. Playing so well tonight means so much to her. The Pitch:
Luca de la Torre on finally getting to start in
#USMNT
's 3-0 win over Honduras: "I feel like I deserved an opportunity for a long time. I've been in good form from my club and every time I got the chance with the national team in the substitute appearances I felt I did well."
Megan Rapinoe gets red card for dissent (second yellow) from bench in 2nd half of
@OLReign
match with
@weareangelcity
(1st game she's started in 2022). First red card in 176 games over 14 seasons with 6 teams in 4 leagues. She's never been ejected in 187
#USWNT
matches.
Gregg Berhalter says big moment in
#USMNT
camp was everyone watching Barca-Juventus game with Americans Sergino Dest and Weston McKennie starting. Everyone in this young group aspires to be them.
It’s taken only 9 months under Berhalter for
#USMNT
to hit bottom. Only difference between 4-0 loss to Costa Rica — low point of last cycle — and tonight’s 2-0 loss to was Canadians didn’t finish. Everything else was same. Lack of ideas, lack of inspiration. Shockingly bad.
Quite a first
@USSoccer
postgame show on HBO Max. DaMarcus Beasley: Gregg Berhalter lost locker room and has got to go. Foudy: "I don't think Gregg can continue."
I generally don't wade into logo or jersey critiques -- I am not a brand guy and definitely not a fashion guy -- but this is embarrassing. How on earth did it get through multiple levels of an approval process?
San Diego’s MLS expansion team, which is set to take the field in 2025, has officially selected a brand identity in addition to its name: San Diego FC.
More details:
This is one of the toughest days ever in the soccer media business with the news of SB Nation. It has been like this for more than 50 years, an uphill battle for soccer journalism. Soccer America was started by Clay Berling in 1971. It was tough work then, and is today. 1/ 🧵
Extraordinary scenes of Moroccan players and staff huddled around watching the end of Germany game and then celebrating with tears of joy. The most emotional is their French coach Reynald Pedros, the former Nantes star.
Bravo to Tab Ramos & Dave van den Berg for talking on the record about U.S. Soccer decision-making and policies. The absolute fear many coaches and more generally those involved in and around the federation have about talking publicly underscores how fucked up things are.
The most important number regarding Sunday’s sports viewerships is this: In the 18-49 demographic, the one advertisers most covet, World Cup final drew 10.2 million viewers on Fox & Telemundo. The most-watched NFL game in same demo: only 6.4 million.
The 4 largest crowds in
@NWSL
playoff history came in the last week:
1. San Diego-Chicago (2022 QFs), 26,215
2. Portland-San Diego (2022 SFs), 22,035
3. OL Reign-KC Current (2022 SFs) 21,491
4. Houston-KC Current (2022 QFs), 21,284
....
5. Portland-NC Courage (2018 final), 21,144
Christian Pulisic is Gazzetta hello Sport's top-rated player for the second straight game. Commanding performance, as the pink paper put it. Two wins against two teams AC Milan should beat, but he has looked good, complementing Giroud and Leao up front. (Musah: 6.)
16 national teams will compete with one common goal: To bring home Our Cup and to remind the world - This Is Ours!
Join us on Sunday July 7th, as the iconic Soldier Field hosts the 2019
@GoldCup
Final in Chicago!
#GoldCup
Last time USA and England they met was at 2010 World Cup. 1-1 tie. Since then, the two NT programs have moved in opposite directions. What was a gap is now a gulf. Respect to FA. Shame on U.S. Soccer.
An emotional Nualphan Lamsam, 53, known to many as Madam Pang, after Thailand scores against Sweden. She's basically the Thai FA as far as women's soccer goes. Her insurance company employs the WNT.
Quite a week for soccer on TV.
Here are combined viewers for these four games,
-- Euro 2020 final, 9.4M (ESPN/Univision)
-- Copa America final, 5.3M (FSI/Univision)
-- Gold Cup Mexico-T&T, 2.7M (FSI/Univision)
-- Cup Cup USA-Haiti, 1.7M (FSI/Univision)
That's more than 19M.
$100,000 in GAM and 2nd-round pick in 2020 SuperDraft. That's all it took for
@ATLUTD
to acquire Justin Meram from Columbus. Seemed reasonable at the time. Could be one of the greatest mid-season moves for role player in MLS history.
The scene of MLS Cup weekend took place Friday night at half-empty Westin lobby bar. While everyone else was off at party, Sunil and Eric Wynalda sat for what had to have been two hours over dinner and debated soccer. Intense, yes, but this isn’t knives & pitchforks.
Robbie Gould, the son of a former college soccer star, with the winning field goal for the
#49ers
. His father with the same name won the 1980 NCAA D2 title for Lock Haven and went on to be a three-time All-American. He was drafted by the MISL's St. Louis Steamers.
Barbra Banda has tied the Olympic women’s soccer record for goals in a tournament (6) with her second hat trick for Zambia and the match is still going on. No player has ever scored two hat tricks in a single tournament, WWC or Olympics.
Since Jan. 1, 2020, 13 coaches, all foreigners, without previous pro coaching experience in USA or Canada have held MLS head coaching jobs. Only one has a winning record during that time frame: Ronny Deila.
I've seen a lot of
#USAvBRA
games. This was best sustained performance by
#USMNT
over 90+ minutes. Even given the circumstances, heat and pre-tournament friendly, it managed game quite well.
U.S. Soccer’s Chicago-or-the-highway policy is one of the worst decisions ever made. You can debate policy’s pros/cons but YNT coaches were conduit to all levels below, not just players in their pools, and it was lost. Larger disconnect is single biggest issue federation faces.
If you read one story about Jonathan Gonzalez's decision and the bigger picture, this interview w/ SA's
@MikeWoitalla
is it. Brad saw Jonathan as recently as New Year's Eve. (And yes, Brad is Alan's son.)
Infantino's proposals for women's soccer ...
1. Club World Cup. "ASAP."
2. World League (Nations League concept).
3. Increase teams from 24 to 32).
4. "Prize money": Double. He referred to current $50M (which is prize money+expenses+money to clubs).
5. Investment: Double to $1B.
Some good news on
#USMNT
injury front, Tim Weah, injured in training on Aug. 28, should be ready to go Saturday for Lille in its derby at Lens, reports L’Equipe in its Thursday edition. It needs him. He was Lille’s best winger before he was hurt, and it faces 6 games in 20 days.
Sunday's Mexico-El Salvador game averaged 3.79 million viewers on Univision, making it the most-watched Gold Cup group-stage match on U.S. television in a decade.
Today's high in Doha was 96 degrees. World Cup moved to November due of summer heat. 2026? Highs today in 6 candidate cities forecast to he higher: Dallas 100, Houston 99, KC 98, Monterrey 98, Denver 97, Nashville 97. Ten of 16 U.S. cities will be 90+. Miami 88 ("feels like" 97).
The $9.5 million
@SportingKC
is reported to have spent on Pulido is more than double the amount it previously spent on transfer fees in its entire 24 years.
It didn't take Weston McKennie long to impress Gazzetta dello Sport: 'instant cult figure" for Juventus tifosi. (His 7.5 rating was tied with two other Juve players for highest in 3-0 win.)
Friday's Tigres-Monterrey game (Liga MX Femenil) set a modern record for the largest crowd at a domestic women's match. Seven of the top 10 crowds have been registered in last year: four in Mexico, one in England, Colombia and Brazil.
Berhalter: Brooks wasn't the fit for how
#USMNT
wants to play against opponents in this window. (These are the same three opponents as in September when Brooks did start of 2 of 3 games.)
Five Americans, all 2000s, have joined Bundesliga clubs this summer after they turned 18. At least a half a dozen other Americans, most about to turn 18, have been testing German waters. Most will likely leave MLS academies for free.
NWSL breaks record for average attendance on opening weekend for second year in a row. This time by a lot.
2013: 3,321.
2014: 4,133.
2015: 7,632.
2016: 7,880.
2017: 5,978.
2018: 5,659.
2019: 4,488.
2022: 10,150.
2023: 15,002.
Monday’s
@lequipe
devotes first eight pages to
#USAvNED
. Says world of difference between
#USWNT
and everyone else. Coverage impressive given it was Day 2 of Tour de France (owned by its publisher) and France was playing in Euro basketball women’s final.
No one is cursing these Group E scores more than Fox execs. FIFA set up U.S. prime-time kickoffs for Group E winner in round of 16 and quarterfinals. Instead, it looks it'll be late-nighters as far as
#USWNT
goes.
Amazing scenes in Lille’s Grand-Place, where fans celebrate Ligue 1 title. (This despite curfew still in effect in France.) Team will be honored with parade on Monday afternoon.
By our estimates, NWSL clubs and U.S. youth clubs could share $478,575 & $374,175, respectively, as rewards in FIFA's new $8.4M WWC club benefits program. Only problem: U.S. Soccer never told the youth clubs about the application.
🧵MLS faces a no-win situation. It needs more and better players to be viewed as competitive, so to pay for them teams must play more games and charge more money for tickets to generate more revenues, but they are understandably getting big-time pushback on all fronts. 1/
I'm headed to Orlando for
#USMNT
camp & Thursday's Ecuador game. Forty years ago, I drove down from Richmond, where I was in law school, to Orlando for
#USMNT
camp. I met Walt Chyzowych for dinner. My first question: How many players are in camp? His answer: "Three."
#olddays
For those who didn’t know Grant, the outpouring of thanks for acts of support or kindness is 💯 true and they remind all of us to share what we are good at with others and most of all be kind to each other.
COVID is horrible. And isn’t going away. I don’t want to hear any bullshit from anyone speaking about it in the past tense. You know who you are. My sympathy goes out to anyone affected by COVID. And I thank all the front-line workers for their work. You have my prayers. RIP Eva.
First American referee in the middle for a World Cup final. And two American ARs. Quite an accomplishment. USA will be well represented in final after all!
After just two appearances — both starts — Konrad de la Fuente has already made a big impression in France, where he is featured in Saturday’s L’Equipe. Says Ousmane Dembele taught him a lot when he was at Barca. Now has been taken under Hispano wing at OM.
In last 24 hours, there have been reports/updates about teams moving/possibly folding in:
MLS (Columbus).
NASL (SF Deltas);
USL (Rochester);
NWSL (FC Kansas City)
Bad news all around.
The idea that USSF didn't know what it was getting with its law firm makes no sense. As I've tweeted several times, Seyfarth Shaw is a notorious anti-union firm. Some cases: Vegas casinos, California farm growers, Yale clerks, WaPo pressmen.
@turneresq
@ussoccer
When I was in law school at UR (1978-81), I took labor law. Reading up on Seyfarth Shaw, the federation’s firm in USWNT suit, they were involved in many of the cases we studied. They literally wrote the law (and tactics) for union-busting management in 1960s and ‘70s.
From Univision Deportes: It accounted for 53% (!) of U.S. soccer TV viewership in Q4. Sunday's Cruz Azul-America Gran Final (2.5M viewers) was most-watched game on U.S. TV in 2018 other than World Cup.
As a nation, we have failed on so many fronts. In this presidential campaign season, I’ll throw out a stat: during four 2016 debates, the number of questions related to climate change: 0.
I’m so saddened & shocked to hear of Grant’s passing. I was awakened an hour ago (middle of the night here) by a text about him and was very confused. Just saw him a week ago at US game & had read his tweet about tying Dutch goal last night. My sincere condolences to his family.
Someone else has probably said this already, but taking away simultaneous games on the final day of group play at the World Cup, like the two we're watching now, in 2026 will be, if confirmed, one of the dumbest things FIFA, a very dumb organization, has ever done.
Cali Hejduk, Frankie's daughter, named to U.S. under-15 women’s national team roster for camp in Georgia. Seems like yesterday Frankie was breaking into MNT picture.
Today, April 8, marks
@SoccerAmerica
's 49th birthday. We begin our 50th year! Clay Berling started SA on 4/8/71 as Soccer West, working out of the basement of his church, Albany Methodist Church (across the street from my house!). Cost: $4.50 for 26 issues. 1/3
Here’s voting for Kopa Trophy (U-21 Ballon d’Or). Christian Pulisic finished second behind Mbappe. Mbappe got all 22 first-place votes of former Ballon d’Or winners. Pulisic got 10 2nd-place votes, including Messi’s, one 3rd-place vote. Not on other 11 ballots.
Pulisic with the two goals and Weah with tons of work on first goal and assist on second goal, the two players most vocal in their support of their former (future) coach.
#USMNT
#USAvMEX