Wednesday’s soccer news starts with the Championship playoffs, where Ethan Hovath’s Luton Town advanced with a 2-0 home win over Lynden Gooch’s Sunderland, taking the semifinal series 3-2 on aggregate. Gooch subbed out in the 77th minute. Gabriel Osho put Luton Town up in the 10th and Tom Lockyer doubled the lead in the 43rd. Horvath made two saves to keep the clean sheet.
Ricardo Pepi subbed out in the 25th minute of Groningen’s 3-2 home loss to Ajax in the Eredivisie. Ajax took the lad from an 18th minute penalty with Groningen’s Florian Kruger equalizing in the 38th. Ajax went up 3-1 from goals in the 68th and 81st minutes. Groningen’s Laros Duarte scored in the 87th. Pepi saw yellow in the 9th minute.
Sergino Dest wasn’t in the squad for AC Milan’s 1-0 loss at Inter Milan, exiting the Champions League 3-0 on aggregate. Inter scored in the 74th minute.
“It’s easy to make judgments after a bad result, but we conceded two quick goals in the first-leg and we then played as a team until the end,” AC Milan coach Stefano Pioli said. “We had chances in that second-half to get back in it. We played as a team again today, but we couldn’t find the telling move. We weren’t precise or quick enough and, unfortunately, the result didn’t go our way.”
Also in the soccer news, US Soccer announced that Folarin Balogun is now eligible for the USMNT after changing his international registration. “My decision to represent the United States came together with my family,” Balogun said in the press statement. “In the end it became a no-brainer, but for sure it’s just something I wanted to do and it feels like I’m at home here. To represent the United States means a lot, more than people would know. I’m very proud and honored to have this opportunity, and I want to give everything I have to make our team successful.”
Concacaf has introduced a new club and league rankings system that will be used, in part, to determine Concacaf Champions League seeding. The current rankings have Monterrey in 1st-place, Club America 2nd, and LAFC 3rd at the top of the clubs table, and Liga MX ahead of MLS in the league standings.
THURSDAY’S SOCCER TV
Premier League on USA: Newcastle vs Brighton at 2:30pm. Europa League on TUDN: Sevilla vs Juventus at 3pm. Liga MX on Telemundo: Chivas vs Club America at 10pm ET.
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