Soccer Monday: Summer friendlies, Leagues Cup begins and Olympics mayhem
Kick the week off with all the news from this past weekend
Good morning — or should I say bonjour.
The Summer Olympics are in full swing. For those watching the men’s and women’s soccer tournament, we can only say it’s been very interesting.
At the same time, Europe’s top teams returned to action — albeit for preseason matches — on American soil, while MLS is on hiatus for the return of the Leagues Cup.
Here’s what you have missed this past weekend:
Summer friendlies come to the U.S
Premier League teams are in full blown preseason mode and many of them are barnstorming across the United States this summer.
Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal are on U.S. tours, playing a series of head-to-head fixtures against one another to prepare for the upcoming season.
Manchester City and Chelsea will also participate in the Soccer Champions Tour, which will be played in six cities, alongside Real Madrid, Barcelona and AC Milan. Aston Villa, Bournemouth, West Ham, Wolves and Crystal Palace are all also playing games in the U.S.
In two of the biggest games from this past weekend, AC Milan defeated Man City 3-2 on Saturday at Yankee Stadium in New York. Marco Nasto scored the winning goal 12 minutes from time.
Also Saturday, Arsenal downed Manchester United 2-1 at SoFi Stadium in suburban Los Angeles. Gabriel Martinelli tallied the decisive goal in the 81st minute.
MLS teams kick off Leagues Cup
Beyond international club friendlies, the Leagues Cup — pitting MLS teams against Liga MX — is back for another year. Won by Inter Miami last season, the Leagues Cup returned with the group stage.
A Leagues Cup attendance record was set on Saturday when 50,675 fans watched the San Jose Earthquakes take on Chivas Guadalajara at Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.
Fans were treated to a thriller, with San Jose winning 4-3 on penalty kicks after Roberto Alvarado's 98th-minute equalizer canceled out Jeremy Ebobisse’s sixth-minute opener in a 1-1 draw.
In other notable matches, Inter Miami — minus the injured Lionel Messi — defeated Puebla 2-0 on the road, while the New England Revolution edged visiting Mazatlan FC 1-0.
Click here to see the complete Leagues Cup schedule and results.
Olympic soccer tournament dominated by scandal
The Olympics have a motto: “Faster, Higher, Stronger — Together.” You can add cheating, scandal and mayhem to the mix.
FIFA has deducted six points from Canada women's national team, the defending gold medalists, and banned coach Bev Priestman for a year as part of a spy drone controversy. Priestman and her two staff members were caught using drones to spy on New Zealand ahead of last Wednesday's opening match.
Moving away from scandal and to the U.S. men’s and women’s teams. After an awful opening game (a 3-0 defeat to France), the men’s team used a stunning surge right from the start on Saturday to put their knockout round aspirations back on track.
Three goals inside the first half-hour powered the Americans to a 4-1 win over New Zealand at the Velodrome Stadium in Marseilles.
The U.S. women, meanwhile, opened the tournament with a 3-0 win against Zambia. On Sunday, the Americans clinched a spot in the knockout round with a 4-1 rout of Germany in Marseilles.
Click here for all the latest results from Paris 2024.
In other news: UEFA ordered seven national federations to pay fines totaling $250,000 for racist and discriminatory abuse by fans at the recent European Championship. UEFA did not specify details of the incidents — which mostly involved fans from teams in the Balkans — during the month-long, 24-nation tournament played in Germany. Croatia was ordered to pay the biggest fine of $54,000 for incidents at each of its three games. … European leagues and player unions formally complained to the European Commission about how FIFA had decided to add competitions to congested fixture schedules. The move backs up warnings to FIFA in May by FIFPRO Europe urging a rethink on what they claimed was an “inherently abusive” decision-making process, including to expand the World Cup and Club World Cup. It also follows a European Court of Justice ruling last December which found that FIFA and UEFA abused their position as regulator and competition organizer in a case brought by clubs that tried to launch a breakaway Super League in 2021. … A tearful Endrick couldn’t hide his emotions as he was introduced to the Real Madrid crowd on Saturday for the first time. Some 68,000 fans attended the Brazilian teenager’s official unveiling at the Santiago Bernabeu following his transfer from Brazilian club Palmeiras. “I hadn’t planned it, but as I have said since I was little I love Real Madrid,” he said after being reduced to tears by the reception he received.