Friday's soccer news starts with UEFA not at all happy that Belgium went ahead and canceled the rest of their season. The Pro League still has time to reconsider their decision to keep the table as it is, sacrificing the final game of the regular season and giving up on their convoluted playoffs. The Netherlands is also considering calling time on the Eredivisie, a league with two teams tied at . . .
UEFA tries to move forward
Wednesday's soccer news starts with UEFA meeting in part to try and determine a timescale for completing the 2019-20 European season. If this sounds like a topic on endless repeat these days, you're not alone. European soccer's attempt to chart a path through the uncertainty of a global pandemic carries with it the significant constraint of having no clear idea when it will be safe and in the . . .
Soccer continues with the tough job of predicting its future
Friday's soccer news starts with the ongoing problem that is trying to predict the short-term future of professional soccer. Each day that passes without an obvious end to the stay at home policies now in place in countries all over the world only adds to the discussions about the eventual return to normal. The expectation is of a date that counts, but that doesn't seem reasonable right now. In . . .
EURO 2020 and Copa America postponed to next summer
Tuesday's soccer news starts with UEFA and CONMEBOL responding to the need for a compressed club schedule by pushing EURO 2020 and the 2020 Copa America to the summer of 2021. Both tournaments are now on the schedule for June 11 - July 11, 2021. "It is an extraordinary measure for an unexpected situation, and therefore responds to the fundamental need to avoid an exponential evolution of the . . .
UEFA’s decision
Monday's soccer news starts with Europe waiting to see what UEFA has planned for the rest of the 2019-20 club season as well as this summer's EURO 2020 tournament. UEFA is meeting remotely with stakeholders on Tuesday to try to determine a strategy in uncertain times. The limited postponements through the end of the March international window now seem like a short-term answer that will need . . .
Postponements across Europe, goal for Brooks
The soccer news starts with leagues suspending their schedules due to the coronavirus. As of now, the German and Mexican leagues are the only ones with games on the schedule this weekend, with that subject to change. Since Major League Soccer joined Serie A and La Liga in suspending their leagues, most of Europe has followed suit. That includes the English leagues announcing they were postponing . . .
UEFA’s Ceferin stresses purpose over profit
Tuesday's soccer news starts with UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin speaking to the organization's congress in Amsterdam. With European soccer's governing body facing pressure from FIFA as well as from some of its own elite clubs, Ceferin responded by stressing UEFA's role as protector of the bigger picture. The one-sentence synopsis of that he put on repeat at the beginning and end of his . . .
Manchester City’s situation
Monday's soccer news starts with the same thing most of soccer is talking about, UEFA banning Manchester City from European competition for two seasons over Financial Fair Play. For a team like Manchester City, that means no Champions League and no point for the vast amount of money the club spends. That's what has them in trouble, how they accounted for incoming revenue to stay on the right side . . .
Two goals for Gooch
Wednesday's soccer news starts in England's League One. USMNT player Lynden Gooch scored twice in Sunderland's 3-0 home win over Rochdale. Gooch opened the scoring in the 11th minute with an own-goal doubling the lead in the 15th. Gooch scored again in the 32nd minute, subbing out in the 78th. Sunderland is 5th in the League One table with 51 points from 30 games, trailing Wycombe by two points . . .
Soccer’s inventory problem
Tuesday's soccer news starts with the potential for more games that count for some of the world's biggest clubs. The NY Times' Tariq Panja reports on a meeting between those clubs and the owner of the Miami Dolphins and International Champions Cup investor Stephen Ross. The purpose is to turn the summer touring schedule into games that count. That means full buy-in from the clubs likeliest to . . .
