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Canada News.Net
09-08-2025
- Sport
- Canada News.Net
Minnesota seeks to rally from Leagues Cup letdown, host Rapids
(Photo credit: Simon Fearn-Imagn Images) Minnesota United will try to rebound from a disappointing end to their Leagues Cup campaign on Sunday when they host a Colorado Rapids side moving on from one of its best players. Minnesota (12-5-8, 44 points) lost 2-0 to Atletico San Luis on the final day of the first phase of the tournament Wednesday, when a multiple-goal victory might have kept the Loons alive. The Matchday 3 defeat came after MNUFC gave back the lead three times in a 3-3 draw with Club America on Matchday 2. Now Loons manager Eric Ramsay faces the challenge of learning from those uneven performances while keeping confidence high within a team that currently sits third in the Western Conference. 'What I don't want to happen is any bad feeling to seep into how we feel about MLS, how we feel about Open Cup,' Ramsay said after the San Luis match. 'We have to really look at ourselves hard around some of the themes across the three games. But ultimately I want to preserve that feeling of this being a group that is moving in the right direction.' Tani Oluwaseyi and Bongi Hlongwane each scored twice in the tournament, while Oluwaseyi and Kelin Yeboah each have nine league goals. Colorado (8-11-6, 30 points) has two players on nine MLS goals. But one is Djordje Mihailovic, who was dealt to Toronto FC this week for a cash trade worth up to a $9 million fee. The other is Rafael Navarro, who scored three more times in Leagues Cup play, including once in Thursday's 2-2 draw against reigning Concacaf Champions Cup winners Cruz Azul. While Mihailovic will clearly be missed, manager Chris Armas will be looking to make up for his absence collectively. And he took encouragement from the draw with Cruz Azul, in which he fielded a significantly rotated squad against arguably the best team on the continent. 'A really good example of what a real team looks like,' Armas said afterward. 'A team that doesn't really break, but we bend and take some blows along the way.'
New York Post
31-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Post
Struggling Red Bulls face big questions heading into key stretch
New York Red Bulls coach Sandro Schwarz has never been one to get caught up with looking too far down the road. And the second-year coach wasn't looking to do that a day before the Red Bulls opened the Leagues Cup tournament against Chivas Guadalajara on Wednesday. Advertisement But the Red Bulls find themselves in a precarious situation after 25 league matches this season — on the wrong side of the playoff cutoff as they enter a compact part of their schedule and the stretch run of the MLS calendar. Over their next five matches, the Red Bulls will participate in the Leagues Cup, Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and the MLS regular season — a stretch that will include three matches in one week — raising the question of where the team's priorities lie. The Leagues Cup, an in-season tournament between teams in Mexico's Liga MX and MLS that was first introduced in 2019, and the U.S. Open Cup offer a path for the team to qualify for the prestigious Concacaf Champions Cup. Advertisement Meanwhile, the Red Bulls have not missed the MLS playoffs in the previous 15 seasons. Nevertheless, if there was an organizational priority, Schwarz wasn't tipping his hand during a conversation with The Post. 'I would say it's not … more MLS or then Open Cup, or Leagues Cup, or something like that,' he said. 'For us, the priority is to bring our face on the field every day. That's the focus and that's, I think, actually, right now, so important in our situation. To see a chance in every game, to see opportunity in every game, for our confidence to believe in ourselves.' Since the end of May, things have not been great for the Red Bulls, and a club that shocked the MLS world to reach the MLS Cup Final last winter has recorded just one win over the past two months and fallen back to 10th place, one spot out of the playoff picture, after an ugly 1-0 loss to the Chicago Fire last weekend. Advertisement Red Bulls head coach Sandro Schwarz cheers on his squad during their loss to the Chicago Fire on July 26, 2025. Matt Marton-Imagn Images The Red Bulls have been without star Lewis Morgan, who has been out with a quad injury and isn't expected to return until late August, and Cameron Harper, who is dealing with a knee injury and is out indefinitely. It has raised concerns about the depth the team has to withstand the injury issues as scoring has been limited, averaging 1.56 goals per match, and their defense has struggled, conceding 17 goals over their past eight matches. Schwarz described it as 'unfair' to try and analyze the roster or the ongoing season when the topic was broached by The Post. Advertisement Red Bulls star Lewis Morgan, who has been out with a quad injury, isn't expected to return to the lineup until late August. Aristide Economopoulos for New York Post The results — or lack thereof — have left Red Bulls fans even more frustrated, with average attendance dipping from last season and supporters taking to social media, after the team seemingly had raised the bar with their playoff run last season and their first appearance in the league championship game in nearly two decades. The coach understood that the success of last year brought higher expectations but defended the current group. 'That's normal. It's not the first time that I had this experience, to be honest,' Schwarz said about the expectations. 'But for this group right now, it's not fair and we have to do everything to try to give our best. That's clear. The guys are doing a great job, and we have to handle some situations. … But the expectations are good, but I think it has also every time to be realistic, that's important. Ambitious, we are very competitive and that's what I can say we are every day.' Amid the slump for the Red Bulls and the start of the Leagues Cup, the MLS summer transfer window opened last week and the club has been linked to German striker Timo Werner, who has remained in ongoing negotiations with the Red Bulls about a possible jump to MLS after previously featuring for Tottenham Hotspur and RB Leipzig. During a pre-match press conference Wednesday, Schwarz said he and the front office have had conversations about bringing in players during the transfer window, but insisted that the change had to come from the group already with the team. 'This is our responsibility, what we have to change and we can change this with our behavior,' he said.
USA Today
08-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Lamar Hunt US Open Cup: Where to watch, quarterfinal bracket and schedule
The Chicago Fire look to become the first MLS team to win five U.S. Open Cup trophies. The 110th edition of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup — which continues play Tuesday, July 8 — is down to its elite eight, with each remaining team representing Major League Soccer as all lower-division clubs have been eliminated. One of the quarterfinal teams is the Chicago Fire. Helmed by former U.S. men's national team coach Gregg Berhalter, the Fire are attempting to become the first MLS club to win five Open Cup trophies. After enjoying success in the U.S. Open Cup early in their existence (winning in their inaugural season of 1998, and then again in 2000 and 2003), the Fire last won the tournament 19 years ago, which represents the last trophy won by the team. A fifth U.S. Open Cup win for Chicago would tie a U.S. Open Cup record, joining Maccabee Los Angeles (1973, 1975, 1977, 1978 and 1981) and Bethlehem Steel (1915-16, 1918-19, 1926) as five-time winners. The Fire have three more wins to get there. Besides the Fire, D.C. United is the only remaining team that has previously won the U.S. Open Cup, and a return to Open Cup glory would be a welcome change of pace from what has been a dismal 2025 MLS campaign. Austin FC, Minnesota United, Nashville SC, New York Red Bulls, Philadelphia Union and San Jose Earthquakes are all chasing their first U.S. Open Cup trophy. Here's how to watch the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal games: How to watch US Open Cup quarterfinal games All games will stream on Paramount+. CBS Sports Network and CBS Sports Golazo Network to air select games. Tuesday, July 8 Wednesday, July 9 What is the US Open Cup? American soccer history is a disjointed and often-confusing enterprise, barren of the convenience of the century-long continuity of leagues such as Major League Baseball or the National Football League. However, one thread that ties the game of soccer together in this country through the years has been the U.S. Open Cup (officially known as the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup). The first U.S. Open Cup (originally called the National Challenge Cup) kicked off in 1913, seven years before the formation of the NFL and 12 years after the opening season of baseball's American League. The U.S. Open Cup — this country's oldest annual tournament for team sports — has been played every year since 1913 with the exception of 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tournament was modeled after England's FA Cup, so the single-elimination competition is open to U.S.-based amateur and professional clubs. The winner of the U.S. Open Cup — a team that technically is the national champion of American men's club soccer — earns a spot in the Concacaf Champions Cup. MLS has dominated the competition Since 1996, MLS teams have won all but one U.S. Open Cup; the Rochester Rhinos beat the Colorado Rapids in the 1999 final. While MLS has competed in the U.S. Open Cup since the league's inception, the old North American Soccer League avoided it. So, you won't see the likes of multiple-time NASL Soccer Bowl winners such as the New York Cosmos or Chicago Sting gracing the historical records of the U.S. Open Cup. USL sides Indy Eleven (2024 semifinalist), Sacramento Republic FC (2022 finalist) and FC Cincinnati (2017 semifinalist; FC Cincinnati began MLS play in 2019) have made deep tournament runs in recent years as lower division entries. Who has the most US Open Cup titles? If the National Association Football League had stood the test of time like MLB or the NFL, perhaps American sports fans would speak of Bethlehem Steel in the same reverence as the New York Yankees or Green Bay Packers. Bethlehem Steel won five U.S. Open Cups in the tournament's first 13 years. Four years after its last U.S. Open Cup championship in 1926, Bethlehem Steel folded. Meanwhile, the National Association Football League folded in 1921 and was essentially replaced by the American Soccer League, which shut down during the Great Depression in 1933. Bethlehem Steel played in both leagues. Even though its last title came in the 1920s, Bethlehem Steel remains tied for the most U.S. Open Cup championships (five) with Maccabi Los Angeles, a semi-pro soccer club that operated from 1971-1982. MLS teams are catching up to the early repeat champions, with the Chicago Fire, Sporting Kansas City and Seattle Sounders each with four championships. US Open Cup winners: Tournament champions since 1996 Our team of savvy editors independently handpicks all recommendations. If you purchase through our links, the USA Today Network may earn a commission. Prices were accurate at the time of publication but may change.
Malay Mail
30-06-2025
- Sport
- Malay Mail
Olivier Giroud to join Lille after LAFC exit, says French club ‘ticks a lot of boxes'
LOS ANGELES, June 30 — French striker Olivier Giroud is set to join Ligue 1 side Lille after leaving Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC. The 38-year-old, who is France's all-time top scorer with 57 goals, played for Arsenal, Chelsea and AC Milan before joining LAFC last year and helped them win their first Open Cup title with a goal in the final in September. LAFC announced Giroud's departure last week, midway through the MLS season. 'I think this club (Lille) ticks a lot of boxes for me and my family,' Giroud, who has retired from international football, told reporters on Sunday after playing his last match for LAFC, a 1-0 league loss to Vancouver Whitecaps. 'I am excited because we will also play (in the) Europa League, and it's very positive. It's a big club in France, Lille. Top five.' — Reuters
The Star
30-06-2025
- Sport
- The Star
Soccer-Giroud excited to join Lille after LAFC exit
Jun 29, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; LAFC forward Olivier Giroud (9) reacts to fans after a match against Vancouver Whitecaps FC at BMO Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images (Reuters) -French striker Olivier Giroud is set to join Ligue 1 side Lille after leaving Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC. The 38-year-old, who is France's all-time top scorer with 57 goals, played for Arsenal, Chelsea and AC Milan before joining LAFC last year and helped them win their first Open Cup title with a goal in the final in September. LAFC announced Giroud's departure last week, midway through the MLS season. "I think this club (Lille) ticks a lot of boxes for me and my family," Giroud, who has retired from international football, told reporters on Sunday after playing his last match for LAFC, a 1-0 league loss to Vancouver Whitecaps. "I am excited because we will also play (in the) Europa League, and it's very positive. It's a big club in France, Lille. Top five." (Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in BengaluruEditing by Christian Radnedge)
