USMNT remains with no coach, Barca nets 7 and Haaland hat trick powers Man City
Kick the week off with all the news from this past weekend
Happy Labor Day!
We kick off a new month with the unofficial end of summer. While summer may be ending, Europe’s top five leagues are just starting to heat up.
In addition to the club game, we are close to another international break. The games, highlighted by friendlies, UEFA Nations League and World Cup Qualifying, means no league matches next weekend.
Here’s a look at the major stories from this past weekend:
USMNT enters friendlies with no full-time manager
Mikey Varas will serve as interim U.S. coach for the upcoming friendlies against Canada and New Zealand, while a deal has yet to be announced for Mauricio Pochettino to succeed Gregg Berhalter.
Varas, an assistant under Berhalter, named a 24-man roster on Sunday that includes Barcelona youth system goalkeeper Diego Kochen and Standard Liege defender Marlon Fossey, who have not played for the national team.
Injured players who will miss the friendlies include right back Sergino Dest, midfielder Tyler Adams and winger Tim Weah.
Berhalter was fired on July 10, a week after the USMNT was eliminated in the first round of the Copa America. Two weeks ago, U.S. Soccer began negotiations with Pochettino, a former Tottenham and Chelsea manager to replace Berhalter.
The U.S. plays Canada this coming Saturday in Kansas City, Kansas, then faces New Zealand three days later in Cincinnati.
Barcelona routs and Mbappe scores for Real Madrid
The title fight between Barcelona and Real Madrid has already begun.
Barcelona — currently in first with 12 points — won big on Saturday. Brazil srtiker Raphinha scored a hat trick and assisted on another as Barca routed Valladolid 7-0 and remained perfect with four wins in as many games under new coach Hansi Flick.
The Catalan club cruised to the win against newly-promoted Valladolid at home, with Robert Lewandowski, Dani Olmo, Jules Kounde and Ferran Torres also finding the net.
On Sunday, Real Madrid, in second with eight points, got two two goals in less than 10 minutes from Kylian Mbappe in a 2-0 win over Real Betis.
Mbappe, Real Madrid’s big summer signing, had scored once in the team’s win over Atalanta in the UEFA Super Cup final last month, but he had yet to find the net in his previous three La Liga matches.
Haaland scores 3, Liverpool downs Manchester United
The Premier League season is still young, but Erling Haaland has already seven goals in just three games.
Haaland netted his second hat trick in two games as Man City beat West Ham 3-1 on Saturday to maintain its perfect start and move two points ahead of third-place Arsenal, which was held 1-1 by Brighton after Declan Rice was red carded in the second half.
With eight Premier League hat tricks, Haaland has as many as Thierry Henry, Harry Kane and Michael Owen managed in their careers.
On Sunday, Liverpool kept pace with Man City, defeating Manchester United 3-0. Mohamed Salah scored one goal and set up two more in the road win.
Like Man City, Liverpool also remain perfect after three matchdays.
In other news: Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen lost a league game for the first time in 15 months when Lois Openda scored twice in a 3-2 comeback win for Leipzig on Saturday. Under coach Xabi Alonso, Leverkusen has made crucial late goals a speciality. It briefly seemed like that might happen again when the referee went to review a possible penalty in the 86th minute after Leipzig’s Castello Lukeba and Leverkusen’s Patrik Schick made contact. The referee decided against the spot kick and Leverkusen lost to a German opponent for the first time since May 2023 after 35 Bundesliga games unbeaten, including its entire title-winning 2023-24 season. … Souleymane “Sol” Bamba, who played for Cardiff in the English Premier League, has died. He was 39. Bamba was coaching at Turkish club Adanaspor, which said Saturday he had died in the city of Manisa. Bamba had been admitted to hospital ahead of his team’s away game there Friday. … Uruguayan soccer player Juan Izquierdo died last Tuesday at a hospital in Brazil five days after collapsing during a game at Sao Paulo. He was 27. Hospital Albert Einstein in Sao Paulo said in a statement that the Nacional defender died at 9:38 p.m. local time following “cardiorespiratory arrest associated with his cardiac arrhythmia.” Izquierdo had collapsed in a Copa Libertadores match between Nacional and Sao Paulo.