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2021-22-23-24 News Thread

Carlo Ancelotti is the latest to get caught up in Spanish tax problems. He was charged in 2020 with evading roughly €1 million in taxes on income earned during his first stint at Real Madrid, in 2014-15. Spanish prosecutors have recommended a a 4 year, 9 month prison sentence. However, Messi, Ronaldo and Mourinho all avoided jail time by paying hefty fines, in Mourinho’s case it was €2.18 million.
 
VinatieriDefinesClutch said:
Do they all just not have accountants? I don't understand how so many soccer people have tax issues.
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Oh, they all seem to have the kind of accountants who push every single boundary to the breaking point and then figure it out later. Spain is just broke enough as a country to need to find all those loopholes and close them.
 
W Gold Cup Finals are set ... with the USWNT beating Canada in PKs and Brazil thumping Mexico 3-0 in the semis, that gives us US vs Brazil in primetime Sunday night. 3 days between games for two consecutive rounds is ... a thing they only ask of women. Speaking of which there's a zero percent chance that the men would have had to play on a pitch that was holding water to the degree Snapdragon's field was last night. The entire first half of US/Canada was an unsafe travesty. CONCACAF is of course, throwing the match ref under the bus for continuing play even though it's obvious that her appeal to the match coordinator to suspend play was denied. In other news, CONCACAF remains an absolute dumpster fire.
 
The US squeaked out the inaugural W Gold Cup title with a 1-0 win over a snappy young Brazil side. Pretty impressive seeing as how the US only had a handful of players in mid season shape/form. Tierna Davidson and Jenna Nighswonger helped solidify the back line, Korin Albert took a ton of minutes in midfield and was solid, Sam Coffey made the most of finally getting a coach to believe in her and Jaedyn Shaw won the Gold Ball up front. That's a big dose of change to a roster that had grown very, very stale. In the end it was Lindsey Horan headers and Alissa Naeher stops that did the most damage, but still ... well done, ladies.
 
The US Women’s National Team has dropped to 4th in the latest FIFA rankings. It’s the first time they have ever been out of the top 3 and their stay in 3rd was brief. FIFA announced the drop was due to their loss to Mexico in the Gold Cup Group Stage, a tournament they went on to win.

Spain remained 1st, England moved up 2 spots to 2nd, France remained 3rd, despite losing the UEFA Nations League Final to Spain and Germany moved up 1 spot to 5th. The rankings will probably impact the seeding for the 2024 Olympics and may not mean that much, they’ll effectively be the 3rd seed as England/Great Britain didn’t qualify. So if it gets that far, they’d still probably face France in the semifinals.
 
FIFA rankings remain inscrutable ... the US immediately punished for a single loss (immediately redeemed by three quality wins), while England are rewarded despite failing to quality for the Olympics and France holds ground despite not beating anybody any good in 2 years. Makes perfect sense in FIFA World.
 
NWSL started their 2024 season this weekend. Bay FC (still think this is a dumb name and a boring logo) got their inaugural W over Angel City, Mal Swanson returned following that horrific kneecap injury for Chicago, KC and Portland played a barn burner at KC's new purpose built NWSL stadium, the Courage embarrassed the Dash ... looks like a solid start to a season that didn't feature a lot of off field drama for once.

Oh, not drama free of course. Angel City are for sale ... kinda. They're looking for a new equity partner, but have so many celebrity minority partners that it's tough to know what's actually on offer. They have struggled to find direction despite all the flash and star power.
 
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I know where Jeffbear will be on July 23

Celtic is doing a US tour this summer. They kick off in Washington against DC United on July 20. On July 23, they’ll face Man City in Chapel Hill, NC. They close with Chelsea on July 27 at Notre Dame Stadium.
 
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andyt said:
I know where Jeffbear will be on July 23

Celtic is doing a US tour this summer. They kick off in Washington against DC United on July 20. On July 23, they’ll face Man City in Chapel Hill, NC. They close with Chelsea on July 27 at Notre Dame Stadium.
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Already signed up for the virtual queue for the southeastern booster group, but I think I'd rather go to DC. I'd really rather go to South Bend, honestly, because I've never been in that stadium and can't stomach Notre Dame football under any circumstances ... but driving distance wins out in the end. Especially since I've got a kid moving to Denver soon so I've got to start stockpiling my Southwest points.
 
More NWSL ownership movement ... as expected, Seattle Reign will be sold now that Washington Spirit owner Michelle Kang has an ownership stake in the parent club. The ground that owns the MLS Sounders is purchasing a controlling share. Also, the managing share of San Diego Wave quietly changed hands right as the season was getting under way. None of these changes really represent financial difficulties, which is nice. It's still a bit unsettling to see this much change ahead of a season that was supposed to be about projecting stability and a great onfield product.
 
jeffbear said:
More NWSL ownership movement ... as expected, Seattle Reign will be sold now that Washington Spirit owner Michelle Kang has an ownership stake in the parent club. The ground that owns the MLS Sounders is purchasing a controlling share. Also, the managing share of San Diego Wave quietly changed hands right as the season was getting under way. None of these changes really represent financial difficulties, which is nice. It's still a bit unsettling to see this much change ahead of a season that was supposed to be about projecting stability and a great onfield product.
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In other ownership news, Steve Malik, owner of North Carolina FC, which fields an eponymous USL Championship team and the NWSL North Carolina Courage, has picked up minority investors for the men’s side as part of an equity raise. The 3 new investors come from private equity, auto dealership ownership and McDonald’s franchise ownership. The NC Courage already had minority owners, the most visible of which is tennis pro Naomi Osaka. The is the first equity raised for the men’s side.

You may recall that Malik was a bidder for a MLS expansion club but never had a suitable stadium site, beyond the 10,000 seat stadium the club uses now. IMO, he was never better than 5th in a 4 team expansion and his inability to get financing or a stadium allowed Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper to swoop in from Charlotte with a ready made stadium.
 
Malik is quietly looking for another (minority) equity partner for the Courage as well. I was told he made a run at getting Dundon into the fold, but Tom wanted more control if he was going to get involved. He's trying to generate some reserves to better compete with the newer group of deeply financed owners without coming out of pocket now that it's more expensive to operate an NWSL franchise with the support staff requirements have been substantially raised. I was kind of surprised that he took NCFC up a division last season because they were financially self supporting in the lower division of USL. Malik has been a good owner/operator, but he's always going to keep the budget tight. Which is fine.
 
The US men hung yet another Dos a cero on Mexico to take home the Nations League trophy last night. A long range bomb from Tyler Adams just before half was backed up by a silky finish by Gio Reyna about 20 clock minutes later, as the US just did a better job of finishing chances. Matt Turner only had to make 2 saves, neither of which was particularly taxing, as Mexico had real trouble turning possession into penetration. Let's face it ... even with dull, doltish coaching the US are just a better program right now.
 
Welcome back Tyler Adams. And Reyna is back in Berhalter’s good graces after the dust up with mom and dad.
 
andyt said:
And Reyna is back in Berhalter’s good graces after the dust up with mom and dad.
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Mostly because he's pretty much the only guy they have that can create chances out of that advanced 8 role Berhalter insists on using. Results aside, Berhalter is doing everything he can to validate his critics.
 
Olivier Giroud is out of contract this summer and he’s joining MLS club LAFC. He’ll join after Euro 2024 when the MLS transfer window opens. They have 2 DP slots open.

www.espn.com

Sources: Giroud finalizing DP deal with LAFC

MLS side LAFC is finalizing a deal with AC Milan and France international forward Olivier Giroud, sources confirmed to ESPN.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
 
Giroud may be old, but with the wingers LAFC have available he might head in 20 in half a season.
 
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