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 . . .
Another shot at a super league
The soccer news starts with Real Madrid president Florentino Perez disrupting the song and dance between UEFA and the major clubs by potentially moving forward with… you guessed it, a super league. The New York Times' Tariq Panja reports that Perez is trying to gain support from some of those other major European clubs to go their own way, setting aside their domestic leagues and the Champions . . .
UEFA’s new league
The soccer news starts with UEFA officially announcing a third European club tournament. That might have some people remembering the Cup Winners' Cup in the era when there were three European club tournaments. UEFA's retro move isn't a return to giving the domestic cup winners something to play for. Instead, it's a catchall tournament underneath the Champions League and Europa League to give the . . .
The Champions League asks too much
By J Hutcherson (Jul 23, 2019) US Soccer Players - There's an old truism about the Champions League. For most teams, it only really counts if you make the group stage. For the elite, it's making the knockout round. Whenever a team tries to stretch that to the Europa League, it falls flat. UEFA downgraded their secondary competition too many times. The only thing that counts at that level is . . .
Milan, Chelsea, and UEFA’s rules
The soccer news starts with the club game in Europe, easy enough to overlook right now with the Women's World Cup, Gold Cup, Copa America, and Cup of Nations taking the spotlight. As brief as the offseason is on the other side of the Atlantic, there's no end to the issues across multiple leagues. The latest worth noticing is AC Milan going ahead and sitting out the Europa League. Last week, the . . .
FIFA’s World
The soccer news starts with the latest version of what most would see as an old situation. FIFA's mandate to grow the game however their membership sees fit pushing up against what the fans of the game might want. The conclusion of UEFA's Nations League suggested that this is a tournament some fans might want. At least fans of the teams that advanced to the semifinals. What that isn't is a broader . . .
The Europa League problem
By J Hutcherson (Mar 28, 2019) US Soccer Players - It's hard to get a realistic feel for the Europa League these days. By design, UEFA's secondary tournament crowns a non-champion each May a few days ahead of the Champions League final. Attempts to make the Europa League matter crashes into that basic problem. Giving a Champions League group stage spot to the winner makes it as important as . . .
The Champions League knockout
. . .
