Royal Roundup: Fallout from the NWSL abuse scandal expands to other countries

The sexual abuse scandal that broke in NWSL late last week is now spreading to other leagues as players come out of hiding to tell their experiences. Australia and Venezuela are the first to countries to announce investigations into allegations of abuse in their respective women’s leagues and national teams.

Late Tuesday the CEO and managing owner of Washington Spirit stepped down after 27 players went public with a letter asking him to sell the team. North Carolina Courage owners are in damage control mode, making a statement that the message they received following former coach Paul Riley’s investigation was that he remained in good standing with the league.

[CBS][SI][Guardian][SI][Goal][FRS][SI][SI][TheScore]

REAL SALT LAKE / UTAH

• [USL] Time for a trip in the RSL family way-back machine... 4 years ago today (Oct. 7th) Real Monarchs officially won the USL Championship regular season title. They followed it up with the actual playoff championship trophy two years later.
• [90Min] Interim coach Pablo Mastroeni plans to use the international break to tighten up RSL’s defense.
• [MLS] One league pundit predicts RSL will not make the playoffs.

MLS / USL / NWSL

• [NWSL][FRS] Four NWSL matches postponed last weekend have been rescheduled. Here is the remaining league schedule.
• [SI][FRS][SBI][SSD] Minnesota United will host the 2022 All Star game.
• [HTIOT] Chicago Fire have rebranded once again, and this time they got it right.
• [USSP] Patience is key for Cincinnati FC in parity driven MLS.

USA

• [FRS] Ranking the best USMNT players in the UEFA Champions League.
• [Goal][SI][SBI] US Youth star snubs USMNT and makes one time FIFA switch to play for Mexico.
• [NBC] USMNT World Cup Qualifying round two starts this week, here’s the schedule.
• [NBC] Five key questions for the USMNT as they enter round 2 of the Octaganal.

INTERNATIONAL

• [CBS] Players in Venezuela and Australia have now also come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct in their respective leagues.
• [FFT] Manchester United coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is under extreme pressure to win.
• [CBS] UEFA Champions League power rankings after the first round.
• [NBC] An audit of Barcelona FC reveals that they were bankrupt.
• [SI][FFT] A Brazilian player has been charged with attempted murder after attacking a referee during a game.
• [CBS] World Cup qualifiers resume in South America after a wild first round that saw players arrested.
• [Goal] Jurgen Klopp says VAR needs to be streamlined to improve the game rather than be the controversial issue it is now.
• [USSP] FIFA’s proposed new calendar change with bi-annual World Cup pits clubs against the international organization.

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LAST WORD

Is there anything you the readers would like to see more or less of in the Roundup? Recaps of games from MLS or other leagues? Anything you would like to have added? Comments and suggestions welcome.