By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Dec 21, 2022) US Soccer Players - Major League Soccer's wait for success in the Concacaf Champions League was long for many reasons. The league spent years chasing a trophy in the revamped version of the competition, one that Liga MX teams dominated. Coming up short against those Liga MX clubs time and time again also meant missing out on a chance for MLS teams to . . .
It’s the cup and then the league as Belgian club soccer resumes next week
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Dec 16, 2022) US Soccer Players - While all of the biggest leagues in Europe will wait until after Christmas or the New Year to resume play, a few competitions are returning to action sooner. Scotland's Premiership resumed yesterday and Belgium's topflight will hit the field for league matches again on December 23. Ahead of that, they'll play the seventh round of . . .
Major League Soccer’s free agency period is becoming the story
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Dec 14, 2022) US Soccer Players - With a few weeks left in 2022 and the arrival of preseason training camps just around the corner, clubs are working to add proven MLS performers to their rosters from the ranks of the unattached. For a league that long resisted adopting a free agency mechanism and then tightly controlled the number of players granted the right to . . .
The season resumes for USMNT players in the Championship
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Dec 7, 2022) US Soccer Players - England's second division resumed play last weekend with a single game and will play a full schedule of matches between Saturday and Monday while the World Cup's latter rounds unfold. The USMNT is well represented in the Championship, with eight players at seven different clubs calling the competition home. The Championship is a . . .
Lagerwey in Atlanta, Wood to New England, and Nancy with Columbus
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Dec 7, 2022) US Soccer Players - With much of the world focused on the World Cup, Major League Soccer is going about its winter business. If not for the biggest sporting event on the planet happening simultaneously with massive news dropping across the North American competition, there might be more attention available. As it is, it's a great time to catch up on . . .
Previewing the Netherlands after an interesting group A
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Dec 2, 2022) US Soccer Players - When FIFA held the draw for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar back in April, American soccer fans got a glimpse of a possible future. FIFA's structure for the tournament not only put the USMNT into group B with England, Wales, and Iran, it revealed likely match-ups in the round of 16 if the Americans should advance to the knockout . . .
Defense, balance, and limited changes helped England and the USMNT advance from group B
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Nov 30, 2022) US Soccer Players - Tournament soccer is a particular kind of problem. With a premium on getting the results needed to advance, how those results happen is not much of a concern. Everyone would like to score lots of goals and win going away. However, goals can matter when it comes down to tiebreakers. The first priority is always the points. A narrow . . .
What the USMNT can use from two group B goals
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Nov 23, 2022) US Soccer Players - Over the first few days of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the most definitive performance so far by the final score was England's 6-2 win over Iran in group B. The United States gets the challenge of England on Friday, and there's no denying that the Americans face a stiff defensive test in game two of the group stage. Still, there are . . .
Preview: USMNT vs Wales, 2022 World Cup group B
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Nov 18, 2022) US Soccer Players - It's almost impossible to make too big a deal out of what's coming on Monday. Years of effort, much of it in service of just qualifying for the tournament, have led to this. There are no givens when it comes to making the field for the quadrennial celebration of the world's favorite game, and perhaps no two teams in the field know . . .
The USMNT defense has experience and creativity
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Nov 16, 2022) US Soccer Players - The USMNT is just days away from kicking off its 2022 World Cup campaign. On the ground in Qatar, preparing for its opening group stage match against Wales on Monday, head coach Gregg Berhalter is putting his players through a final set of training sessions. Regarding readiness, there's not much more he could have asked . . .
