Tag Archives: Weston McKennie

Juventus Close to Wrapping Up Deal for Aston Villa Midfielder Douglas Luiz

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Douglas Luiz is thisclose to kickin’ it in Italy…

Juventus is close to wrapping up a deal for the 26-year-old Brazilian professional footballer and Aston Villa midfielder, per ESPN sources.

Douglas Luiz, Luiz, a Brazil international is set to move to Turin for a fee of around £43 million ($54m). Juventus pair Samuel Iling-Junior and Enzo Barrenechea are set to move to Aston Villa in a separate deal worth £18.6m.

A source has told ESPN that the deals are progressing and should be formally completed by the end of next week. United States midfielder Weston McKennie was initially part of the discussions between Juventus and Aston Villa, but has not been included in the move.

Luiz, who moved to Villa Park from Manchester City in 2019, was a key part of Unai Emery‘s team last season as they finished fourth in the Premier League and secured a place in the Champions League.

Villa have been under pressure to raise funds after reporting a loss of nearly £120m in March.

Luiz leaves Villa having made 204 appearances in five years, scoring 22 goals.

Villa have also agreed deals for Tim Iroegbunam to join Everton and for Omari Kellyman to join Chelsea.

Iling-Junior will move back to England after spending time in Chelsea’s youth set-up before joining Juventus.

The 20-year-old has represented England at Under-21 level and has made 45 appearances for Juventus since making his senior debut in 2022.

Barrenechea, 23, spent time on loan at Frosinone last season.

Ricardo Pepi Leads United States Past El Salvador to Clinch Spot in CONCACAF Nations League Finals

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It didn’t take long for Ricardo Pepi to make an impression…

The 20-year-old Mexican American professional soccer player scored seconds after coming into the game as the United States beat El Salvador 1-0 at Orlando’s Exploria Stadium on Monday night to win Group D and clinch its spot in the CONCACAF Nations League finals in June.

Ricardo Pepi The U.S., fresh off a 7-1 shellacking of Grenada, started a strong XI, with interim manager Anthony Hudson knowing all his team needed was a win or draw to advance to the Nations League semis.

The hosts never found an opener in a scoreless first half despite applying plenty of pressure and had a pair of injury scares with both goalkeeper Matt Turner and midfielder Yunus Musah requiring attention from the team’s medical staff.

Giovanni Reyna, making his second start for the U.S. after a World Cup in which he found minutes hard to come by, hit the post as play resumed after the break, and veteran Tim Ream had a close-range volley blocked away seconds later.

Pepi came on for Daryl Dike on the hour mark and made an instant impact, latching onto a Weston McKennie through ball, holding off his defender and chipping El Salvador keeper Mario Gonzalez to give the U.S. some breathing room in a game in which the Americans had dominated but failed to score.

Fellow substitute Taylor Booth picked out Pepi on the left side of the area in the 79th minute for a chance to double the lead, but the FC Groningen striker didn’t get enough bend on his shot and the ball sailed just wide of Gonzalez’s far post.

The defending champions join Mexico, which won Group A on Sunday with a 2-2 draw against Jamaica, in the four-team Nations League finals from June 15 to 18 at Allegiant Stadium, the home of the NFL‘s Las Vegas Raiders.

The last two spots will be decided Tuesday when CNL group-stage play concludes.

Gio Reyna & His U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team Mates to Be Subject of World Cup-Themed Docuseries

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Gio Reyna’s World Cup preparations are headed to the small screen…

The U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team (USMNT) will be the subject of a new documentary series as they gear up for the international soccer competition featuring the 19-year-old half-Argentine American soccer player and his teammates.

Giovanni Reyna Park Stories and H.wood Media have teamed up with the U.S. Soccer Federation and Soccer United Marketing on the untitled all-access docuseries.

The series is expected to launch on a streamer around the Qatar World Cup in November.

The series will bring fans into the locker room and visit the players in their hometowns as they prepare for the tournament.

The team is competing in its first World Cup since 2014 and has an exciting team of youngsters including Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic, Juventus’ Weston McKennie, Barcelona’s Sergiño Dest and Borussia Dortmund’s Reyna.

Led by head coach Gregg Berhalter, the first person in U.S. history to represent the country at the World Cup as a player and a head coach, the team will fight it out against England, Wales and Iran in the group stages.

They kick off against Gareth Bale-led Wales on November 21 before facing Euros finalists England on the day after Thanksgiving before competing against Iran on November 29.

The games will air on Fox and Telemundo.

The docuseries is exec produced by Rand Getlin and Janina Pelayo for Park Stories, and John Terzian, Jeremy Allen and Brian Toll are producing for H.wood Media.

The show is directed by Getlin and Luke Korver, and Nikle Guzijan will co-produce.

“Five billion people are projected to tune in for the 2022 World Cup, and this team has the potential to impact each of them in profoundly transformative ways,” said directors Getlin and Korver. “We know it starts with their play on the field, but we’re most excited for viewers to see them as sons, brothers, fathers and leaders who care deeply about their loved ones and bringing the world closer together.”

After representing the United States at several youth levels, Reyna received his first call up to the senior United States squad for matches against Wales and Panama in November 2020.. On November 12, 2020, a day before his 18th birthday, Reyna made his senior national team debut against Wales. In the following game, a 6–2 friendly victory over Panama, Reyna started and scored his first senior goal directly from a free kick.

Andres Perea Granted Permission to Represent United States

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Andres Perea is switching (international) sides…

The 20-year-old professional soccer player and Orlando City SC midfielder has been granted a one-time switch from Colombia to represent the United States.

Andres Perea

Perea, a Tampa, Florida native, moved to Colombia at an early age, rising through the club ranks at Atletico Nacional. He went on to represent Colombia at the FIFA U17 World Cup in 2017 and U20 World Cup two years later before joining Orlando City on loan last season.

Perea, who’s at the January camp with the U-23 U.S. men’s team, received the news on his switch from senior side coach Gregg Berhalter. Because Perea played for Colombia in official competition, Perea wasn’t able to take part in the USMNT‘s 6-0 win against El Salvador last December.

“It was a very important decision for me. Colombia is my country as well, but it’s an honor for me to represent the United States as I did Colombia in the past,” Perea said.

The players of the U23 side — which will represent the U.S. at the Tokyo Olympics this summer — are training alongside 12 members of the senior group in Bradenton, Florida, with reports of a friendly match against Serbia in the works.

“Andres we find to be a really, really interesting holding midfield player for us,” U.S. U23 coach Jason Kreis said during a conference call. “The amount of ground that he’s capable to cover defensively, I think it’s a little bit different level than some of the other guys that we have in our pool. His processing of the ball, he’s still learning a little bit about that.”

Kreis anticipates men’s Olympic soccer qualifying for North and Central America and the Caribbean will take place during late March in Guadalajara, Mexico, where the CONCACAF tournament last spring was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Kreis said he anticipates it will be difficult to access top Europe-based Americans for qualifying. FIFA does not require that clubs release players to under-23 teams. FIFA extended the age limit by a year, keeping the group for qualifying limited to players born on or after Jan. 1, 1997.

Each team reaching the games in Japan can supplement its roster with three players over the age limit. Top Americans are not expected at qualifying, with clubs expected not to make available Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams, Joshua Sargent and Giovanni Reyna. All are regulars in league play this season.

Real Madrid’s Marcelo Takes Knee & Raises Fist in Solidarity with BLM Movement After Scoring Goal Against Eibar

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Marcelo is taking a new in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement…

The 32-year-old Brazilian soccer player and Real Madrid left-back took a knee and raised his fist after scoring in the team’s 3-1 La Liga victory over Eibar on Sunday.

Marcelo

Marcelo tallied the Real Madrid’s third goal of the day — pouncing on a poor clearance and beating Eibar goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic with a low, driven shot from the edge of the penalty box. 

He then immediately dropped to his knees, lowered his head and raised his right fist — a gesture which is often seen as a symbol of the Black Power movement that gained prominence in the United States in the 1960s and ’70s and associated with the current Black Lives Matter movement.

The display comes as players, clubs and leagues throughout the sport have expressed solidarity in the wake of the May 25 killing of George Floyd, a black man, who died after Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes in Minnesota. Floyd’s death has spurred demonstrations against racial injustice around the world.

Several clubs paid tributes earlier this month to Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement on their warm-up shirts prior to league matches. Marcus Thuram, Jadon Sancho, Achraf Hakimi and United States international Weston McKennie have been among the players who have showed their support. And last week, the Premier League announcedit will allow players to replace the names on the back of their jerseys with the words “Black Lives Matter” for one round and that teams will wear a patch to show support for the movement for the rest of the season.

FIFA, whose rules prohibit “any political, religious or personal slogans, statements or images” on equipment, made a rare public statement last week in which it urged competition organizers to apply “common sense” and consider not sanctioning players for solidarity during matches.