The attacking midfielder’s path to representing the US was natural for him, even if it seemed unorthodox to others Like many California-raised Mexican Americans, I’ve lost count of the times my family has gathered to watch a match between Mexico and the United States. Whether a friendly or World Cup qualifier, the “Dos A Cero” rivalry attracts the largest crowds to my tia’s watch parties, about an hour south of San Francisco. Each clash feels like the fractured embodiment of being Mexican American: the cheering and moaning of Mexican immigrant parents and their Americanized children alike, rife with intergenerational discord. The stakes are always high, especially since most of my relatives grew up with the sport – and aren’t shy about sharing their tactical opinions midgame. Many of them played pro, semi-pro, collegiately and, of course, at the neighborhood parks. Continue reading...

In an unexpected soliloquy, the US mens national team manager made clear there’s a method behind his selections, even if players may never know it. The thing to know about Mauricio Pochettino is that, in his view, there is knowledge in not knowing. In a meditation on his unifying theory on the nature of knowledge that called to mind Donald Rumsfeld’s famous “unknown unknowns” diatribe, the Argentinian explained on Thursday why he never tells potential United States men’s national team players why they weren’t called up. Continue reading...

Tyler Adams left off US squad for next Fifa window Team will play against Ecuador and Australia Mauricio Pochettino has named a 26-player roster for the US men’s national team’s upcoming friendlies against Ecuador and Australia that includes many familiar names – and has one very notable omission. Bournemouth midfielder Tyler Adams, a usual mainstay of the squad who captained the US at the 2022 World Cup, is not included. Adams has not been disclosed as having an injury and has been in great form for Bournemouth to start the Premier League season. Pochettino is expected to address the player’s absence in a press conference later on Thursday. Continue reading...

Wright inspires 4-0 win for Frank Lampard’s side Josh Maja goal gives West Brom 1-0 win at Norwich Haji Wright added two more goals to his early-season collection as Coventry dismantled Millwall 4-0 at the Den to move second in the Championship table. The USA international Wright is the top scorer in the Championship with seven goals after his double against a Lions side who became the latest to feel the power of the Sky Blues’ rampant attack this season. Frank Lampard’s side remain unbeaten in the league and closed to within two points of pacesetters Middlesbrough after taking their goal tally to 22 goals in eight matches. Continue reading...

The USA women’s manager on the death of her predecessor at Chelsea, Matt Beard, and how managers need more support to navigate the modern game Eagerly with hands raised in the air, the children from Abbott Community primary school all want to quiz the United States head coach. The plan was for Emma Hayes to just take a few questions from the youngsters at the National Football Museum, but she wants to answer them all. Even her son, Harry, watching on, raises his hand. The tone is light, fun and educational as Hayes celebrates being inducted into the Hall of Fame. The former Chelsea manager, who is being honoured by the National Football Museum for her coaching achievements so far, not least her seven Women’s Super Leagues titles and Olympic gold medal, is quick to point to how glad she is that the “women’s game is in a better place in this country” compared to when she took on the Chelsea job in 2012. Alongside her smiles, though, there is a deep sadness at present. When later sitting down to speak to the Guardian, Hayes issues words of warning to the sport, namely that it must learn lessons from the death of her predecessor at Chelsea, Matt Beard, after the shock news of his death at the age of 47 last month. Continue reading...

Team have yet to win or score a goal this season US international Gio Reyna facing another coach change A winless and goalless start to the Bundesliga season cost Gerardo Seoane his job as Borussia Mönchengladbach coach on Monday, just three league games into the campaign. The Swiss coach wasn’t able to turn around a run of poor form dating back to last season. His final game in charge was a 4-0 loss to Werder Bremen on Sunday which left Gladbach with one point from their opening three games, and no goals scored. Continue reading...

Mauricio Pochettino made big changes to the US setup, and the moves paid off with the team’s most complete performance in a long while This United States’ international window once looked like it could be disastrous. Now, it has been upgraded to strangely uneven. A much-improved US got goals from Alejandro Zendejas and Folarin Balogun to beat a heavily rotated Japan side 2-0 at Lower.com Field in Columbus. The result lends some credence to Mauricio Pochettino’s insistence that the US’s recent subpar results were all part of a plan with a single target: arriving at the World Cup in peak form. Continue reading...

20-year-old’s fee may break world record with add-ons Grace Clinton and Jess Park swap clubs in Manchester Chelsea have signed the USA winger Alyssa Thompson from Angel City for an upfront fee understood to be just shy of $1.5m (£1.1m), which sources say could climb close to a world-record sum with potential add-ons, on a dramatic transfer deadline day in the Women’s Super League. Thompson is understood to have put pen to paper on a five-year contract with just over an hour to spare before the window shut at 11pm. The 20-year-old completed a medical earlier on Thursday in London, after boarding a flight from Los Angeles late on Wednesday night, amid extensive negotiations between the two clubs. Continue reading...

As the 2026 World Cup approaches, the USMNT lack the charisma, underdog charm and striking victories of their predecessors Imagine the 1980 Miracle on Ice, but with the USA on the other side. In this scenario, the US men’s hockey team aren’t a scrappy band of outmatched amateurs playing for the country perceived as the good guys in the cold war. The opponents aren’t an aloof, brutally effective Soviet Union team expected to steamroll their way to a gold medal just as their military were attempting to steamroll their way through Afghanistan. Continue reading...

Drama at Elland Road as Vipotnik strikes in added timeFlemming free-kick helps Burnley maintain top-two tilt Leeds missed the chance to return to the top of the Championship as they conceded in the sixth minute of added time to draw 2-2 at home to Swansea. The hosts made the ideal start as they looked to respond to Sheffield United’s Friday night win over Coventry, with Brenden Aaronson bundling the ball home inside a minute. Swansea were handed a chance to level from the spot in the 14th minute, only for Illan Meslier to turn Josh Tymon’s penalty behind. Continue reading...

SoFi Stadium will host the US for two of its World Cup group games, but it was barren for their two lackluster games Mauricio Pochettino looked sullen. Occasionally, he would shake his head in despair. Mostly, he just looked on with a frown. The United States men’s national team manager understood that there would be a lot of recriminations to go around. Following a second competitive loss in four days in the Concacaf Nations League finals, it was hard to pinpoint where, exactly, to lay the blame for a dispiriting international window for the USA. Continue reading...

The American striker has been in splendid form at club level, but that has yet to translate to his national team It’s not too warm or too bright for Josh Sargent. He’s parked in a chair on the patio of the US men’s national team hotel in Manhattan Beach, Los Angeles. He’s facing the horizon and embracing the sun, the moment. There are possibilities ahead, including in the Nations League finals that were then due to take place in a couple days. Sargent arrived for his second camp under Mauricio Pochettino as a safe bet to be the starting striker for the US men’s national team after Ricardo Pepi and Folarin Balogun were left off the Concacaf Nations League Finals due to injuries. Prior to the semifinal against Panama, he wasn’t feeling the heat. Continue reading...

Mauricio Pochettino’s side lost their second straight game in underwhelming fashion against regional competition After winning four consecutive matches under new coach Mauricio Pochettino, the United States faces a crossroads 15 months before it joins Canada and Mexico in playing host to the World Cup. Canada took third place in the Concacaf Nations League tournament with a 2-1 victory at SoFi Stadium. The defeat, which came 72 hours after a 1-0 loss to Panama in Thursday’s semi-finals, forced the United States to finish fourth in a competition it had only won in its three previous editions. Continue reading...

The Milan star’s nine-episode docuseries is most notable in that it reveals anything at all Deep into the third and most recent episode of the Paramount+ docuseries on Milan and United States men’s national team star Christian Pulisic – with the very does-exactly-what-it-says-on-the-tin title of Pulisic – a remarkable sight unfolds: Pulisic, coaxed by his girlfriend, reveals something of himself. In that scene, Pulisic and Alexa Melton, a golfer on the second-tier Epson Tour, sit at a table in his house in Italy playing a card game. He looks uncomfortable. “What feelings are hard for you to communicate to me and how can I make it easier?” Melton asks, reading off a card. Continue reading...