Soccer Monday: Garcia out, MLS playoffs roll on and Gotham wins NWSL title
Kick off your week with all the action from this past weekend
It was another action-packed weekend ahead of the international break.
In Italy, defending league champions Napoli learned the hard way that new manager Rudi Garcia should have been fired weeks ago. Over in the NWSL, Gotham FC won the title a year after finishing last.
Here are the highlights from this past weekend:
3. Garcia out at Napoli?
What a difference a season can make.
Napoli manager Rudi Garcia is on the verge of being fired — five months after taking over from title-winning coach Luciano Spalletti — following the team’s third Serie A defeat of the season.
Viktor Kovalenko scored a stoppage-time goal to grab a 1-0 win for Empoli, which had lost eight of its previous 11 matches, as the boos rang out on Sunday at the Diego Maradona Stadium in Naples.
All three of Napoli’s Serie A defeats this season have come at home. Under Spalletti, Napoli had lost just two matches at home all season on its way to its first league title in 33 years.
Napoli remained in fourth — 10 points behind league leaders Inter Milan after they breezed past Frosinone 2-0 — as Empoli moved a point clear of the relegation zone. Napoli could have moved into third, following AC Milan’s 2-2 draw at Lecce on Saturday, but it was still without injured striker Victor Osimhen.
2. MLS Cup Playoffs conference semifinals set
Following the opening round of the MLS Cup Playoffs, which featured a best-of-three series, eight teams advance to the conference eemifinals.
In the Eastern Conference, Orlando City FC will take on the Columbus Crew in the round’s single-elimination match, while FC Cincinnati, the team with the best regular-season record, play the Philadelphia Union, last season’s MLS Cup runners up.
In the Western Conference, the Houston Dynamo face Sporting Kansas City, while defending champions Los Angeles FC play Seattle Sounders FC in what should be a battle for the ages.
Following the international break, the semifinals will be played as doubleheaders with two Eastern Conference matches on Nov. 25 and two Western Conference games scheduled for the following day.
1. Gotham takes NWSL crown
Gotham FC won what Yahoo! Sports senior soccer writer Henry Bushnell called “a beautifully chaotic NWSL championship game” on Saturday, defeating OL Reign 2-1 to “complete an out-of-nowhere rise from the league's basement to its mountaintop.”
A year ago, the New Jersey-based team had finished last in the 12-team National Women’s Soccer League. Lynn Williams, who was acquired in a draft-day trade from Kansas City, opened the scoring after 24 minutes. Rose Lavelle equalized just five minutes later, but Esther Gonzalez scored in first-half stoppage time to put Gotham ahead for good.
While the first half featured all the goals, it was the game’s finale was highlighted by one of the craziest finales ever. Following a VAR review in stoppage time, Gotham goalkeeper Mandy Haught was given a red card for denying an obvious scoring opportunity, giving the Reign a chance to tie it.
With defender Nealy Martin taking over in goal — and having to put on the goalie jersey and gloves — Lavelle took a free kick just outside the box, but the ball bounced off a Gotham player along the wall for the last chance of the match.
In other news: Former Manchester City player Cole Palmer scored a penalty in the fifth minute of stoppage time as Chelsea came back on Sunday to draw 4-4 with the defending Premier League champions. Referee Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot when Ruben Dias slid into Armando Broja in the penalty area. Following a delay, Palmer swept his shot into the corner to stop City moving three points clear at the top. … Israel lost 1-0 to Kosovo following a first-half goal by Milot Rashica in their rescheduled European Championship qualifier at the Pristina City Stadium on Sunday. Israel, playing in their first match since Hamas gunmen attacked the country on Oct. 7, stay in third spot with 11 points from seven games, a point ahead of Kosovo, who have played eight. The Group I game had originally been scheduled for Oct. 15. … Malmo was crowned Swedish champion for the 23rd time on Sunday by beating rival Elfsborg 1-0 on a second-half penalty taken by league top scorer Isaac Kiese Thelin. The win meant Malmo caught up with Elfsborg on points in the final round of the season and won the Swedish league on better goal difference.