Speaker 1: Welcome in for another edition of the Morning Espresso here
Speaker 1: on the SDAG Network, brought to you by Oglethorpe University,
Speaker 1: Atlanta's premier undergraduate learning experience and soccer powerhouse. I'm Jason Longshore.
Speaker 1: All the soccer news you need to know for Monday,
Speaker 1: February twenty fourth. I guess it's a construction or lawn
Speaker 1: work Monday. As right as I'm getting ready to start
Speaker 1: talking to you guys on the Espresso, it starts outside,
Speaker 1: so bear with me. I will try not to get
Speaker 1: too distracted by all the noise out the window. Let's
Speaker 1: talk about the weekend in Major League Soccer, and we'll
Speaker 1: start here in Atlanta. A wild night for Atlanta United
Speaker 1: on Saturday Night three, two win, two goals from Latte
Speaker 1: Lot in his debut, a banger from Edwin Mosquerra that
Speaker 1: ends up being the game winner. Montreal it proved to
Speaker 1: be a very difficult opponent, especially in the second half
Speaker 1: when they made a couple of changes at halftime. I
Speaker 1: thought they looked so much better in the second forty five.
Speaker 1: Tom Pierce down the left, Bryce Duke coming in made
Speaker 1: them a lot more difficult for Atlanta to deal with.
Speaker 1: Atlanta had a good start, needed more out of it
Speaker 1: to really take control of the game. By not doing that,
Speaker 1: they left the door open for Montreal to grow into it,
Speaker 1: and they did. One goal from a set piece. Another
Speaker 1: goal from Montreal is a good one, and Atlanta gets
Speaker 1: the win, but they also get I think, some important
Speaker 1: lessons in things that they need to do better. And
Speaker 1: I think if you listen to the full time report
Speaker 1: on ninety two nine in the game, you heard a
Speaker 1: lot of the audio from Ronnie Diila, you heard the
Speaker 1: conversations from other players as well. Mattais click, this was good.
Speaker 1: This needs to be better, and that's the next step
Speaker 1: for this team is to not just get wins, but
Speaker 1: to control games a little bit better, to dominate games,
Speaker 1: to be able to breathe a little more comfortably at
Speaker 1: times the sixty five thousand plus at Mercedes Benz Stadium
Speaker 1: or not breathing comfortably, and they were very loud, especially
Speaker 1: in the big moments of the game. Really happy to
Speaker 1: see all of this for game one, and look, it's
Speaker 1: a good foundation to build for future matches, which the
Speaker 1: next one is on the road Saturday afternoon in Charlotte.
Speaker 1: A very interesting game after Charlotte was able to get
Speaker 1: a point in Seattle late on Saturday night own goal
Speaker 1: helping Charlotte again. But Charlotte WI feel pretty good about
Speaker 1: that result. They did not play Wilfred Zaha, he was
Speaker 1: left back and Charlotte, his wife is expecting Atlanta will
Speaker 1: feel pretty good about their result and it sets up
Speaker 1: for a really interesting game Saturday afternoon at Bank of
Speaker 1: America Stadium. Other news from around MLS San Diego, they
Speaker 1: became the story of the weekend their win over the
Speaker 1: LA Galaxy and it was a dominant win. Danish designated
Speaker 1: player Under Dryer with two goals in this one could
Speaker 1: have had a hat trick. Chucky Lozano could have had
Speaker 1: a goal. It's pretty dominant over the LA Galaxy. Tyler Heaps,
Speaker 1: who is the general manager slash Sporting director, thirty three
Speaker 1: years old, the youngest one in Major League Soccer. He
Speaker 1: talked to Scott French of Soccer America in their essay
Speaker 1: Confidential series and he said that the five year plan
Speaker 1: for San Diego years one to three is establishing themselves.
Speaker 1: They want to make sure the business model is working.
Speaker 1: Four to five is the transition phase where the first
Speaker 1: wave of players from the right to Dream Academy will
Speaker 1: be integrated into the first team, and then after that,
Speaker 1: Heaps said, it probably flips completely on its head, where
Speaker 1: ideally we become the youngest team in the league. We'll
Speaker 1: watch the evolution of San Diego over time. There were
Speaker 1: a lot of questions I had them as well about
Speaker 1: how good they could be in year one. Mikey Veris
Speaker 1: and his crew really really good in Game one in
Speaker 1: Los Angeles over the Galaxy with a two zero win,
Speaker 1: one of the most impressive performances of the weekend. San
Speaker 1: Jose had one of the most impressive performances of the weekend,
Speaker 1: four nil over RSL. Bruce Arena pointed out after the
Speaker 1: win that RSL rotated RSL heavy legs after playing in
Speaker 1: concer CAF in the midweek. Bruce Arena took advantage of that.
Speaker 1: Though they set up in a three four to two
Speaker 1: one the wing backs one of those Christian Espinoza, the
Speaker 1: other Jamar Ricketts. They were able to pin RSL's fullbacks
Speaker 1: back and just dominate that space with fresh legs. Espinoza
Speaker 1: was brilliant. Three assists on the day, five chances created
Speaker 1: really good performance for the Quakes over RSL. Can they
Speaker 1: continue it. We'll be watching Philadelphia. Can they continue a
Speaker 1: very good performance on the road over Orlando, who was
Speaker 1: not all that great. Orlando got caught in possession a
Speaker 1: couple of times, gave up some bad goals. Philly with
Speaker 1: four didn't see that coming. Good win for the Union.
Speaker 1: Columbus Chicago is one of the more interesting games and
Speaker 1: one that I'm gonna sit down with and study little
Speaker 1: bit more. Atlanta, We'll see both of these teams twice.
Speaker 1: Chicago started out really well, Brian Gutiedez with two goals,
Speaker 1: really nice connections on the left side with Jonathan Bamba
Speaker 1: and Andrew Gutman. Columbus made adjustments and that's what you
Speaker 1: would expect from Wilfred Nanci, and you started to see
Speaker 1: the game turn their way. Steven Morera, a player that
Speaker 1: I've talked about a lot over the past few years
Speaker 1: with NANSI started as a right back. Now he's a
Speaker 1: right sided center back. He can play a lot of
Speaker 1: different positions for Columbus depending on what they need him.
Speaker 1: Getting forward and we've seen this before, really tilted the
Speaker 1: game towards Columbus. His forays into the attacking third really
Speaker 1: started to make Chicago not be able to get forward
Speaker 1: down their left, but also then started to create opportunities.
Speaker 1: Diego Rossi, he got a header. He's the player who's
Speaker 1: really going to have to carry the offensive side of
Speaker 1: this for Columbus right now. They come back a couple
Speaker 1: of times. They get the win over Chicago. Five goals
Speaker 1: in the first half of that one, a very entertaining
Speaker 1: opening forty five. Let's move over to the She Believes
Speaker 1: Cup the US women's national team. They won again. Japan
Speaker 1: won again, which sets up a really good game on Wednesday.
Speaker 1: US has to win to win the She Believes Cup.
Speaker 1: Japan have the better gold differential. They beat Australia for
Speaker 1: one in Game one, and yesterday they beat Colombia for
Speaker 1: nil with a couple of goals very very early in
Speaker 1: that one. The US won yesterday two to one over Australia.
Speaker 1: Ema Hayes fifteen to oh and two. Since taking over
Speaker 1: the US women's national team, eleven changes from the group
Speaker 1: that beat Australia and the group that beat Colombia. In
Speaker 1: Game one. Lynn Biandolo, who previously will know es Lynn Williams.
Speaker 1: She scored the opening goal in the first minute yesterday.
Speaker 1: Michelle Cooper scored the second Australia scored in the eightieth minute,
Speaker 1: made it a very interesting finish. Youngest US women's national
Speaker 1: team starting eleven since March of two thousand and one.
Speaker 1: That's what you're seeing with the She Believes Cup with
Speaker 1: m Hayes, and now they've got a game. It's going
Speaker 1: to mean a little something, which is what they need
Speaker 1: on Wednesday. If they want to win She Believes Cup,
Speaker 1: they have to beat Japan on Wednesday in San Diego
Speaker 1: at snap Dragon Stadium. Sportico had a report over the
Speaker 1: weekend about college soccer, not something Sporticode is normally going
Speaker 1: to dig too deep into, but this was about something
Speaker 1: that had been murmured around soccer in the United States
Speaker 1: here for a little bit. The US Soccer Federation has
Speaker 1: talked with the Big Ten, has talked with the ACC
Speaker 1: about launching a pilot program to establish a year round
Speaker 1: college soccer Division program league. I don't really know. There
Speaker 1: was a group of thirty two schools that we're going
Speaker 1: to do a trial run that would have been a
Speaker 1: year round model. It would have included the Big Ten,
Speaker 1: it would have included the ACC, it would have included
Speaker 1: West Virginia, Oregon State, San Diego State, South Carolina, Kentucky
Speaker 1: UCF for those schools currently playing in the Sun Belt,
Speaker 1: along with Georgia State and Georgia Southern. That was supposed
Speaker 1: to take place this upcoming school year. It's not so
Speaker 1: now there's a lot of conversations about what could happen
Speaker 1: in the long run. J. T. Batson US Soccer CEO,
Speaker 1: Secretary of General. He's in his third year with the Federation.
Speaker 1: Batson has been really ambitious in trying to create this
Speaker 1: type of situation for college soccer. It's going to be
Speaker 1: fascinating to see what happens here. I think what the
Speaker 1: US Soccer Federation is doing. And Rusty Oglesby in the article,
Speaker 1: he's the women's head coach at Harden Simmons University, previous
Speaker 1: past president of the United Soccer Coaches previously the NSCAA,
Speaker 1: which you might know. Oglesby said that Batson and Cindy
Speaker 1: Parlow Cone quote, working hand in hand has been the
Speaker 1: greatest change in the landscape and Bret the fresh air
Speaker 1: in United States soccer in the last thirty years. Absolutely agree.
Speaker 1: Oglesby said, the Federation is finely doing what the Federation
Speaker 1: should be doing. Which is worrying about the landscape of
Speaker 1: soccer in the United States, not just the national team,
Speaker 1: so college soccer is part of it. We'll see what
Speaker 1: this looks like. I think the conversation now not rushing
Speaker 1: into something good. The conversation is good. I would like
Speaker 1: to see the women's game join along with this, but
Speaker 1: right now, the two semester model hasn't really gained a
Speaker 1: whole lot of traction on the women's side. It's all
Speaker 1: been on the men's side. The women's side has on
Speaker 1: the NCAA element. They have extended the season by two weeks,
Speaker 1: so instead of twelve weeks, it's fourteen weeks. The men's
Speaker 1: season will stay at twelve weeks. This will take effect
Speaker 1: for the twenty twenty sixth season. Two hundred and twelve
Speaker 1: D one men's programs, three hundred and fifty women's D
Speaker 1: one programs, A lot of opportunity, a lot of players
Speaker 1: come from these programs. US Soccer getting involved and potentially
Speaker 1: overseeing a transformation in college soccer, at least at the
Speaker 1: D one level in the United States. Really fascinating story
Speaker 1: that I think we're going to be talking a lot
Speaker 1: more about. Oh and I'm really curious as we talk
Speaker 1: about Oglethorpe University here on the Morning Espresso, what that
Speaker 1: looks like at the D three level, what that looks
Speaker 1: like at the D two level, what that looks like
Speaker 1: in the naia level. Where the trickle downs fall, and
Speaker 1: how all of this is going to go. So many
Speaker 1: people play soccer in college and those people go on
Speaker 1: and become administrators in the game, become fans, become professional
Speaker 1: players more and more at the various levels here in
Speaker 1: this country and abroad. Ton of opportunity. I'm happy to
Speaker 1: see some big picture conversation about making it even better.
Speaker 1: Don't rush into anything, and let's see where it goes.
Speaker 1: Some international updates on the Morning Espresso. As we wrap
Speaker 1: up here on a Monday, Liverpool there went over Manchester
Speaker 1: City pretty much gives them the Premier League title eleven
Speaker 1: point gap over Arsenal, but the Champions League qualification gets
Speaker 1: interesting across the board. The Premier League might get five
Speaker 1: slots depending on country coefficients. Right now, the gap from
Speaker 1: City and fourth to Aston Villa in eight is two points.
Speaker 1: The gap from fourth place City to eleventh place Brentford
Speaker 1: is only seven points. So a lot of teams in
Speaker 1: this race, especially if that fifth spot comes into play.
Speaker 1: Manchester United they are not in that race right now
Speaker 1: and they are trying to stem losses off the field.
Speaker 1: There's some reports that are unconfirmed suggesting that you could
Speaker 1: have announcements today of two hundred redundancies, releases letting people
Speaker 1: go layoffs in a planned meeting with staff. The scouting
Speaker 1: network could face considerable cuts. Manchester United not in good
Speaker 1: shape on the field or off the field at the moment.
Speaker 1: Rangers not in a good position on the field. Clement,
Speaker 1: their manager has been sacked. They lost over the weekend
Speaker 1: and this comes on the heels of news we talked
Speaker 1: about last week. The San Francisco forty nine ers, who
Speaker 1: already control Leeds United. They're bidding for a majority stake
Speaker 1: in Rangers and this might open the door for or
Speaker 1: a fresh vision at the club desperately needs at the moment.
Speaker 1: Let's go over to Spain. Barcelona on top of La
Speaker 1: Liga on gold difference over at Real Madrid. Barsov won
Speaker 1: five in a row, but La MiG Yamal is now
Speaker 1: an injury concern ahead of the Copa Dela or a
Speaker 1: semi final match against Atleti on Tuesday. He showed pictures
Speaker 1: of a bloody foot after taking a lot of fouls
Speaker 1: against Los Palmas on the weekend. See if he plays
Speaker 1: on Tuesday. Speaking of Atletti, they're only one point back,
Speaker 1: one point separating the top three. Let's go to Turkey.
Speaker 1: Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic. He has been appointed for the
Speaker 1: Istanbul darby between Galatasarai and Fenerbaceik. Forty five years old.
Speaker 1: He's been drafted in by the Turkish Federation for the
Speaker 1: game today after a request from both clubs. According to ESPN,
Speaker 1: they did not want a referee from the domestic group
Speaker 1: to referee this game. There's been a lot of talk
Speaker 1: about the state of refereeing in Turkey. Now you have
Speaker 1: someone coming in from another country. I'm sure there will
Speaker 1: still be talk about the refereeing when the game is done.
Speaker 1: Jose Imerinho is involved. Let's go to Brazil. Neymar fans
Speaker 1: were taunting him in the corner. They were playing in
Speaker 1: the Polystout State League against Inter de ly Mara. The
Speaker 1: fans for Inter de la Mara were taunting him. They're
Speaker 1: yelling at him. He's kind of drawing back and forth
Speaker 1: with him. He goes to take a corner, scores an
Speaker 1: Olympico like it's nothing, then shushes him right back. Neymar
Speaker 1: is having some fun and Brazil he's playing very well
Speaker 1: as well. Santos are in very good position in the
Speaker 1: polystou They have qualified for the knockout rounds. This is
Speaker 1: the state league. The national league will start in April. Oh,
Speaker 1: it's time for our weekly sometimes daily Foster Gillette update.
Speaker 1: Do you do? Uh? Foster not paying the money Valentine
Speaker 1: Gomez who was transferring to Udines from Velez that has
Speaker 1: finally fallen through, reached its India yesterday deadline for the
Speaker 1: Businessman's group Foster Gillette's group to make the deposit of
Speaker 1: eight point five million dollars for Gomez to end up
Speaker 1: going to Udinese. Didn't hit the deadline, so he's going
Speaker 1: back to Vellas. He's been training in a park in Italy.
Speaker 1: Not kidding, no, really, that's been happening also, And that's
Speaker 1: another element of this business group that is strange and
Speaker 1: weird and trying to broker deals in different places. Well,
Speaker 1: the biggest one he was trying to broke a deal
Speaker 1: in was becoming an investor at a studiantes working with
Speaker 1: one Sebastian Verown the deal to make this happen. It's
Speaker 1: crumbling because he's not paying anything that he said he
Speaker 1: would go he was going to and now it's reportedly
Speaker 1: on the verge of collapsing entirely. Verro Own. If this does,
Speaker 1: he might leave Argentina for the United States and get
Speaker 1: more involved with the MIAMIFC in the USL Championship. According
Speaker 1: to reports, his son has gone there to play total
Speaker 1: mess for a Studiantes total mess across the board. If
Speaker 1: Foster Gillette shows up to do a deal with you,
Speaker 1: you need to run the other direction. It looks like
Speaker 1: Veron is running the other direction. If that deal doesn't
Speaker 1: get done with Studiantes and there's a deadline, but it
Speaker 1: hasn't been said what the deadline is, they're probably past it.
Speaker 1: One more on the boards. Keep this in mind when
Speaker 1: we're talking about a club from London in the Premier League,
Speaker 1: Tottenham Hotspur, they have email broadcasters to say they don't
Speaker 1: want to be called Tottenham anymore, so no more just Tottenham.
Speaker 1: It's Tottenham hot Spur or Spurs. That's it. We'll see
Speaker 1: how long that takes to really stick. But no more
Speaker 1: just Tottenham. It's Tottenham Hotspur or Spurs. With that being said,
Speaker 1: that'll do it for the morning espresso here on the
Speaker 1: SDH network. I'll be back tomorrow. More soccer news that
Speaker 1: you need to know to get your day started, presented
Speaker 1: by Oglethorpe University