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2021-22-23-24 News Thread

BTW ... all the news out of Spain is utterly unhinged. Rubiales Mom locking herself in a church? The FA begging for expulsion? Rubiales apparently being serious about pursuing defamation cases? I know the Spanish have a pretty long tradition of just not giving a crap what the rest of the world thinks about how they do things, but holy crap guys ... Italy called and even they think you've gone around the bend.

Oh, and all they're actually accomplishing by acting like spoiled children in the face of being held to very basic behavioral standards is that the world appreciates the magnitude of just how great that Spanish team had to be to with that Cup. You gave them a clown of a coach, provided him with a support staff full of sycophants, and provided him with the full blooded support of a federation filled to overflowing with people who do not give the first crap about the women's game. You ran off 12 international class players for good measure. And somehow, some way the team that showed up in Spanish colors didn't just manage to compete, but they conquered. Amazing ... and it gets even more amazing every day, honestly.
 
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FWIW, UEFA and thus FIFA have rejected RFEF's request that they be disbanded or expelled due to political interference. Other than public prosecutors looking into Rubiales' personal behavior on the podium in Australia, all legal inquiries have been kept in their courts that normally deal with sports administration and business issues.
 
Spain update ... Jorge Vilda was terminated from his position as women's team manager yesterday. His support staff had pretty much all resigned weeks ago so this was the last move for a clean sweep within the coaching staff. With Rubiales still fighting for his position with RFEF, it seems the women's program is still in stasis though. Shame that the champions are missing their usual victory tour over this mess.

European domestic leagues are heading into pre season games now, and most Spanish players based outside of Europe have reported to their clubs and playing games. Life, it seems, grinds on.
 
NWSL Challenge Cup Finals are set ... NC Courage will be hosting Racing Louisville on Saturday afternoon, a mere 3 days after the semis. Right in the middle of a college football Saturday, too.
 
NC Courage won 2023 NWSL Challenge Cup to take back to back trophies in that tournament. Apparently there won't be a Challenge Cup in 2024, so they might have capped the thing off with a double. They beat Louisville 2-0 on goals from Kerolin and 19 year old Japanese midfielder Manaka ... who is rapidly growing into a real offensive threat after joining the team in midseason on a loan with an option to purchase. That option looks like a no-brainer to pick up right now.
 
The German Men’s National team lost a friendly to Japan, 4-1 yesterday. Today, coach Hansi Flick was sacked. They’ve lost 4 of their last 5 matches and have only won 12 of the 25 matches he’s been in charge for. The Germans host the 2024 Euros next summer, they need to get their act together quickly with 3 more international windows before the tournament starts. They travel to the US for friendlies against the US and Mexico in the October window.

Rudi Voller, who coached them from 2000-04 was named the interim coach for their friendly against France on Tuesday.

 
I 100% understand that move. The German men have been a hot mess for a while now, and with their talent pool that just shouldn't happen.
 
andyt said:
Men in Blazers tweeted that Luis Rubiales has resigned
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Apparently the big idiot announced it in a televised interview with Piers Morgan, but he did follow up with a letter of resignation afterward. So ... good on Rubiales I guess. He finally read the room, but not until he had a good televised man-cry over his grievances with somebody who's an even bigger tool bag than he is. Meanwhile, RFEF has a TON of burned bridges to rebuild and somehow has to start the process of rebuilding their reputation from the ground up. Best of luck with all that.

The ancillary good news ... now Rubiales' Mom can go home and have a nice meal. Presuming she was serious about her church lock-in/hunger strike. Which is fairly doubtful, honestly.
 
More "fun" news ... Bruce Arena went from suspended to fired by the New England Revolution and following meetings yesterday it looks like they players are threatening to walk out, refusing to train yesterday afternoon. For context, Arena was suspended and then let go over "inappropriate and insensitive" remarks, although there's been no formal resolution to the investigation into his remarks and nobody has ever been willing to so much as leak whatever it is he's been charged with saying. There were some reports at the time of his suspension that Arena had made some racist remarks, but those were all publicly walked back so that doesn't seem to be the issue.

Honestly ... even if you can't say what the guy did out loud then you 100% have to do better than saying nothing when you fire a guy with Arena's standing in the game. And you damned sure need to be straight with your players, which apparently didn't happen. This is an absolute masterclass in how not to run a sports franchise. Congrats.
 
Man U may have struggled on the field in the last few years, at least in comparison to the Sir Alex years, but they’re killing it off the field. At the end of July, they extended their deal with Adidas for 10 years at £90 million per year. That’s a 20% premium over their current Adidas deal, which is ending 2 years early.. This week, they announced a new front of shirt sponsorship deal with Qualcomm, worth at least £60 million per year. Current shirt sponsor TeamViewer is ending their deal 2 years early, after a major shareholder told the board to “rapidly disengage from this mess”.
 
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US Soccer will build a national training facility in the Atlanta area. It will also serve as headquarters for US Soccer, relocating from Chicago. It will be funded in part by a $50 million donation from Atlanta United and Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank. Cary, NC was also under consideration and would have used the existing infrastructure of Wake Med Soccer Park, owned by the town of Cary and the home field and training facility of the NWSL NC Courage and USL League One North Carolina Football Club, which will move up to USL Championship next year.
 
Everything they've done feels like it should be illegal and I know they've closed up the loophole they used to "buy" the club in the first place, but it does feel like a great beginner example of why capitalism is utter trash.
 
andyt said:
US Soccer will build a national training facility in the Atlanta area. It will also serve as headquarters for US Soccer, relocating from Chicago. It will be funded in part by a $50 million donation from Atlanta United and Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank. Cary, NC was also under consideration and would have used the existing infrastructure of Wake Med Soccer Park, owned by the town of Cary and the home field and training facility of the NWSL NC Courage and USL League One North Carolina Football Club, which will move up to USL Championship next year.
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I feel like not many locally were even talking about this. I certainly was unaware that a decision was coming soon and I'm actually paying attention. Hard to pass up $50 million in seed money though. Fair enough.
 
Multiple reports that Julian Nagelsmann will be the next German National Team coach. He’s been unemployed since being sacked by Bayern in March.
 
NWSL make Boston's expansion franchise official and announce the ownership group ... Boston Unity Partners led by Jennifer Epstein, who's family owns the Celtics. They will play in 2026, following the introduction of Bay FC and Utah Royals (welcome back) in 2025. That puts the league at 15 teams by 2026, with one additional expansion slot open. No leaks on that yet, but you'd have to figure another Southeastern club would balance out the geography a bit. Atlanta or Nashville maybe? Both have the facilities, unlike Boston, which is supposedly going to upgrade a Public Schools-owned regional football/track & field facility ... if the neighbors will let them.
 
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