Frei went down immediately after being hit in the head late in stoppage time and is being evaluated for a head and neck injury.
Lionel Messi scores incredible solo goal as Inter Miami hammer Montreal — Video
Messi scored a magical goal against Montreal as he returned to MLS action with Inter Miami in style.
‘I’m heartbroken’: Jürgen Klopp leads tributes after Diogo Jota dies aged 28
Ronaldo says teammate’s death ‘doesn’t make any sense’
Wolves say ‘memories he created will never be forgotten’
Jürgen Klopp and Cristiano Ronaldo led the tributes from across the football world to Diogo Jota after the Liverpool and Portugal forward was killed in a car accident in Spain. Jota’s brother, André, also died in the crash in the province of Zamora.
Jota was 28, a father of three young children and had married his long-term partner, Rute Cardoso, less than a fortnight ago. Klopp, who signed Jota for Liverpool in 2020 and managed him for four seasons, posted on Instagram: “This is a moment where I struggle! There must be a bigger purpose! But I can’t see it!
Continue reading...Ryan Mason ready to ‘write own script’ with West Brom after perfect Spurs ending
Having helped Tottenham win the Europa League the 34-year-old is stepping out on his own after building a library of coaching experience
For Ryan Mason, this opportunity has been a few years in the making. Since retiring from playing aged 26 after fracturing his skull – a horror injury that required 14 metal plates to be inserted into his skull, held together by 28 screws – he has built a library of coaching experience, working under José Mourinho, Antonio Conte and Ange Postecoglou. This coming season, after accepting his first full-time managerial role at West Brom, he has an opportunity to show his workings. “My last game was as a 25-year-old and I have had a seven-, eight-year apprenticeship, which in normal circumstances is quite a long time,” he says.
Nothing was normal about the end of Mason’s playing career. For a while there were 45 staples and he had a six-inch scar across his head. For about 10 days he had to be spoon-fed and being able to pick up a glass of orange juice was a major milestone. At the time he felt his career was in its infancy but stepping into coaching, initially in the Spurs academy, he discovered a new passion. “I definitely have a fire inside of me to be successful and fulfil the sort of dreams and ambitions that I had as a player,” he says.
Continue reading...Portland Timbers’ Facilities Plan Eyes MLS Calendar Change
The Portland Timbers are expanding their current training grounds after making a $25 million land purchase. As part of the project to grow the Adidas Timbers Performance Center, the Timbers have an option to construct an additional indoor practice surface, augmenting the pair it already leases. Indoor facilities have grown in importance as MLS considers …
Columbus Crew Owner Sells Stake in MLS Club at $900M Valuation
Haslam Sports Group has sold a 10% stake in the Columbus Crew. The MLS team was valued at $900 million in the transaction, according to someone familiar with the agreement who was granted anonymity because the details are private. HSG, the parent company for Jimmy and Dee Haslam’s sports assets, sold the shares to the …
News Analysis: What’s wrong with the Galaxy, who went from a championship to the cellar in one season?
The defending MLS champion Galaxy are still stumbling through a historically bad season. But the question remains, why?
The Club World Cup has shown MLS the cost of capping ambition
Inter Miami’s defeat to PSG wasn’t just a mismatch, but a reminder that MLS can’t compete globally while playing by different financial rules
Even for a tournament that produced a 10-0 scoreline, Paris Saint-Germain’s dominance over Inter Miami to reach the quarter-finals of the 2025 Club World Cup was overwhelming. In an especially one-sided first half, the Major League Soccer side failed to muster a single shot on target. Lionel Messi had just 14 touches against his former side who scored more goals (four) than Inter Miami completed passes in the attacking third (three).
Nobody expected anything different. This is a PSG outfit that scored five past Inter Milan in the Champions League final only a few weeks ago. They also opened their Club World Cup campaign with a 4-0 thumping of Atletico Madrid that further highlighted the strength of Luis Enrique’s team. Inter Miami were the sixth side to have lost to PSG by four goals or more this season. They are not unique.
Continue reading...Lionel Messi remains MLS’s highest-paid player at more than $20m per year
Messi’s salary more than the payroll of 21 MLS teams
Complete MLS salary figures released on Wednesday
Lionel Messi is the highest-paid player in Major League Soccer for the third straight year with total annual compensation of $20,446,667 – an amount greater than the entire payroll of 21 MLS teams.
Messi’s base compensation is $12m the Major League Soccer Players Association said on Wednesday. His total figure covers his MLS deal, which runs through the 2025 season, including any marketing bonus and agent’s fees. They do not account for any additional agreements with the team or its affiliates, or for any performance bonuses.
Continue reading...‘Proud and excited’: QPR appoint Julien Stéphan as head coach after Cifuentes exit
Frenchman coached Rennes and Strasbourg in Ligue 1
QPR say he has a record of creating ‘world-class talent’
Queens Park Rangers have appointed the Frenchman Julien Stéphan as their head coach. The 44-year-old’s arrival comes a day after Martí Cifuentes officially left, having been placed on gardening leave after the penultimate game of the Championship season. Stéphan has worked in Ligue 1 in two spells with his boyhood club, Rennes, with whom he won the Coupe de France in 2019, and one with Strasbourg.
“I feel very proud and excited to join QPR,” Stéphan told the club’s website. “QPR is a historic club with strong values and passionate fans, so I feel honoured. I wanted to come here because I know there’s a lot of passion around the club and around the team, and I feel very lucky to discover that.
Continue reading...Middlesbrough appoint Rob Edwards as head coach on three-year deal
Boro fill role left by sacking of Carrick earlier in June
‘It’s something that’s not lost on me, how big this is’
Rob Edwards has been confirmed as Middlesbrough’s new manager, their eighth since relegation from the Premier League in 2017.
“It’s a real privilege to be given the opportunity to be head coach of this great football club,” said Edwards after long-running negotiations to finalise the 42-year-old’s three-year contract and composition of his coaching staff were finally concluded. “It’s something that’s not lost on me, how big this is, how important this is and what it means to people. There is an amazing fanbase here.”
Continue reading...Newcastle fail with £45m Elanga bid and step up pursuit of £40m-rated Trafford
Nottingham Forest extremely reluctant to sell Elanga
Goalkeeper Trafford was also wanted by Howe last year
Newcastle have had a £45m bid for the Sweden right-winger Anthony Elanga rejected by Nottingham Forest but hope to succeed where they failed a year ago by signing the Burnley and England goalkeeper James Trafford.
Eddie Howe has long admired Elanga but, as first reported by the Athletic, Forest are extremely reluctant to sell. They also appear uninterested in a potential part-exchange deal involving the Newcastle left-winger Harvey Barnes.
Continue reading...Brilliant Lionel Messi free-kick leads Inter Miami past Porto at Club World Cup
Argentine’s 68th free-kick goal secures three points for Miami
Win is MLS’s first in expanded Club World Cup
Palmeiras tops Al Ahly in other Group A match
Lionel Messi connected on a free kick in the 54th minute to propel Inter Miami to a 2-1 victory over FC Porto in a Group A match of the Fifa Club World Cup on Thursday afternoon.
After Porto struck first on Samu Aghehowa’s penalty kick in the eighth minute, Marcelo Weigandt assisted on Telasco Segovia’s game-tying goal in the 47th.
Continue reading...As Club World Cup hands out riches, a plan is needed for those left behind | Nick Ames
With the top-level juggernaut careering away the majority of Europe’s clubs need help and should be better rewarded for players they develop
While a dozen of Europe’s elite clubs were chasing the American dream, 170 of their less garlanded peers gathered for a barbecue next to Lake Geneva. They had converged on Uefa’s headquarters to attend the qualifying round draws for next season’s continental competitions; Tuesday night was time to get together, perhaps to speed-date representatives of the team you had been paired with or simply to cut loose before a labyrinthine summer spent journeying in search of league-phase football.
Borussia Dortmund were slugging out a goalless draw with Fluminense while the meat hit the grills, but “Club World Cup” is a dirty formulation in Nyon’s corridors of power. Any available screens showed action from Uefa’s own Under-21 Championship and alternative sources of entertainment roamed the pastel green lawns. A caricature artist did the rounds, stopping at the table occupied by Aleksander Ceferin and putting his pencil to work.
Continue reading...‘A no-brainer’: Rubén Sellés takes reins at Sheffield United after Wilder exit
New manager ready to helm ‘ambitious project’
Wilder expresses ‘great regret’ at his departure
Sheffield United have appointed Rubén Sellés as their new manager after Chris Wilder expressed “great regret” over his departure from Bramall Lane. Sellés was swiftly named as Wilder’s successor on Wednesday evening with the Spaniard signing a three-year deal at the Championship club.
The 42-year-old former Southampton, Reading and Hull manager said: “When we first heard about the possibility of coming here, it was a no-brainer for us to join a club with this kind of history and with a mission to move forward and try to be even more competitive. This is a very powerful and ambitious project. It was very important at the start of the conversations that everyone is on the same page.
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