Good morning! U.S. Club Soccer’s id2 program for 13- and 14-year-old boys and girls is one of the oldest national identification and development programs in youth soccer. It takes all-star teams on trips each year to foreign countries. Early participants included seven 2022 U.S. World Cup players. One of the most important aspects of the program is the work Missy Price is doing. She has developed a curriculum to prepare players — and their parents — for the mental rigors of the process. During Mental Health Awareness Month, Dan Woog’s story on Price’s work is important.
Soccer America Daily is edited by Paul Kennedy and Mike Woitalla.
U.S. OPEN CUP
Four former champions from MLS advance to quarterfinals
FC Dallas and the Seattle Sounders, both former champions, edged USL Championship opponents to advance to the quarterfinals of the 2024 U.S. Open Cup.
The Sounders (winners in 2009-11, their first three MLS seasons, and 2014) rallied from a goal down at halftime to beat the Phoenix Rising 2-1 on a goal by Kalani Kossa-Rienzi (photo, above), one of five Seattle call-ups from MLS Next Pro’s Tacoma Defiance, in the 89th minute.
Visiting FC Dallas (Open Cup champion in 1997 and 2016) needed a career-high eight saves from goalkeeper Maarten Paes (photo, below) to hold off the Tampa Bay Rowdies 2-1. The Rowdies finished with a 30-7 edge in shots but could only manage a late goal by former U.S. U-17 star Josh Perez from the penalty spot.
• Final eight: MLS teams won five of six meetings with USL Championship teams. Also through to the final eight are former champions Sporting KC (2004, 2012, 2015 and 2017) and Atlanta United (2019) and LAFC. They are joined by Sac Republic FC, New Mexico United and first-time quarterfinalist Indy Eleven from the USL Championship.
Results: U.S. Open Cup round of 16:
Tampa Bay Rowdies 1 FC Dallas 2. (Goals: Perez pen. 85; Delgado 14, Farrington 26.)
Indy Eleven 3 Detroit City FC 0. (Goals: Own goal 14, Williams 33, Ofeimu 36.)
Seattle Sounders 2 Phoenix Rising 1. (Goals: A.Roldan pen. 68, Kossa-Rienzi 89; Cabral pen. 45+5. Att.: 3,314.)
Quarterfinal composition (2011-24)
For the first time since 2012, the USL Championship will be represented by three teams in the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals. The top USL men’s pro league started in its current form in 2011 as USL Pro. It was known as the USL (2015-18). It had Division 3 sanctioning until 2017 when it became a Division 2 league.
2011: MLS 7, USL Pro 1
2012: MLS 5, USL Pro 3
2013: MLS 6, NASL 1, USL Pro 1
2014: MLS 6, NASL 2
2015: MLS 8
2016: MLS 7, NASL 1
2017: MLS 6, NASL 1, USL 1
2018: MLS 7, USL 1
2019: MLS 6, USL Championship 2
2022: MLS 6, USL Championship 1, USL League One 1
2023: MLS 6, USL Championship 2
2024: MLS 5, USL Championship 3
NWSL
Camille Ashton steps down as Current GM
Camille Ashton (right in photo, with Current owners Chris and Angie Long and head coach Vlatko Andonovski) has resigned as Kansas City Current general manager.
The move comes with the Current still unbeaten (6-0-4) after 10 games and in second place in the NWSL, a turnaround from 2023 when it finished 11th out of 12 teams with only eight wins in 22 games. Andonovski, the former USWNT head coach, was brought in as head coach and sporting director.
• Interim GM: Caitlin Carducci is serving as the interim general manager.
Top 5: Goal-creating actions (NWSL):
1. *Croix Bethune (Washington) 14
2. Sophia Smith (Portland) 11
3. Trinity Rodman (Washington) 7
3. *Barbra Banda (Orlando) 7
3. *Temwa Chawinga (KC Current) 7
*First-year player.
Source: Fbref.com.
AWARDS
NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman named 2024 Sports Executive of the Year
NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman was named Sports Business Journal’s 2024 Sports Executive of the Year in recognition of her work in just two years overseeing the women’s league’s exponential growth.
She beat out five male nominees for the award, including Jorge Mas of Inter Miami. The two other sports owners Josh Harris (Washington Commanders) and Mark Walter (Los Angeles Dodgers) hold interests in soccer clubs.
U.S. UNDER-16 MEN’S NATIONAL TEAM
Gonzalo Segares takes 20 players to Buenos Aires
The U.S. under-16 men’s national team will play matches against Uruguay on May 27 and Argentina on May 30 at the Argentine federation’s national training center.
Coach Gonzalo Segares selected 20 players for the team that will compete in the 2025 Concacaf U-17 Championship. Six are already pros with teams in MLS, MLS Next Pro or the USL Championship.
Argentina-American Maximo Carrizo was one of the standouts on NYCFC II’s run to the U.S. Open Cup round of 16. Mathis Albert, the lone player born in 2009, is expected to join Borussia Dortmund this summer.
• Key absentees: Unavailable are MLS pros Cavan Sullivan (Philadelphia Union) and Julian Hall (New York Red Bulls) and injured Jude Terry (LAFC academy), all standouts from the USA’s 2023 Concacaf under-15 championship team.
U.S. Roster:
Goalkeepers (2): Jack Kortkamp (Sporting KC academy), Owen Pratt (LA Galaxy).
Defenders (7): Christopher Cupps (Chicago Fire academy), Pedro Guimaraes (LAFC academy), Ramiz Hamouda (Birmingham Legion), Ian James (Sporting KC academy), Adrian Sanders (LAFC academy), Oliver Tan (San Jose Earthquakes academy), Gio Villa (Real Monarchs).
Midfielders (4): Maximo Carrizo (NYCFC), Evan Lim (NYCFC academy), Jack Mize (Borussia Dortmund U16 Junioren/GER), Luca Moisa (Real Salt Lake).
Forwards (6): Chase Adams (Columbus Crew academy), Mathis Albert (LA Galaxy academy), Vitaliy Hlyut (Chicago Fire academy), Jamir Johnson (Philadelphia Union academy), Omar Marquez (Real Monarchs), Tanner Rosborough (photo, NY Red Bulls II).
EUROPA LEAGUE
Ademola Lookman fires Atalanta to historic title, ends Leverkusen’s unbeaten run
Ademola Lookman scored a hat trick as Atalanta ended Bayer Leverkusen’s 51-match unbeaten run to win the Europa League final 3-0 on Wednesday and claim its first trophy for 61 years.
Lookman became the first player to score a hat trick in a European final since 1975 to secure Atalanta’s first-ever continental trophy.
• Trivia: Atalanta became the first Italian team to win the competition since Parma lifted the UEFA Cup in 1999.
GERMANY
Fortuna Duesseldorf hopes free games are ticket to top flight
Fortuna Duesseldorf takes on VfL Bochum in the Bundesliga relegation playoff first leg on Thursday riding a wave of momentum, unbeaten in the league since February.
The second division team’s ‘Fortuna for Everyone’ campaign made all tickets for certain home games free and pledged to continue the plan if it reached the top division.
• What They’re Saying: “Following the old business model would not have given us the chance to become a first-division club,” Fortuna CEO Alexander Jobst said.
THURSDAY MORNING: WHAT WE’RE READING
1. MLS reviewing potentially troubling Emanuel Reynoso video By Felipe Cardenas (The Athletic)
2. Angel City and San Diego Wave are rivals on the pitch and strong collaborators off it By Kevin Baxter (Los Angeles Times)
3. Inter Milan taken over by U.S. investment firm Oaktree after Chinese owners fail to repay loan By Maisie Linford and Matias Grez (CNN)
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