Royal Roundup: MLS Pre-season set for March 8th

Happy post-Valentines day! Hope you’ve recovered enough to read the soccer news from the weekend.

Perhaps the most noteworthy item is the ongoing problem of racial abuse of players over social media. Yet another player has reported a recent attack.

“The punishment given to the perpetrator actually gives them more fuel for hate as now they know for sure there are no firm consequences to their actions online... His dm’s may be restricted but the ramifications of his actions continue to ripple through our community.” - Yan Dhanda, Swansea City

INTERNATIONAL

• Swansea City midfielder Yan Dhanda is the latest player to face racial abuse over social media. [Guardian]
• After yet another loss for Liverpool, some fans have started calling for coach Jurgen Klopp to be fired. [SportsLens] Klopp has admitted that the team will not be winning back-to-back EPL championships. [Goal]
• Scottish club Rangers is investigating allegations that several players attended a house party in violation of lockdown restrictions. [Guardian]
• 10 observations from week 24 of the EPL. [NBC]
• One UK team has decided to stop taking a knee before kickoff. Brentford announced that they believe the anti-racism gesture has now lost it’s impact. [Guardian]
• Unlike the US, commentators in the UK aren’t supposed to get caught up in the action, but when they do it’s often full of some great reactions! [Balls]
• The UEFA Champions League round of 16 begins on Tuesday. Here’s the schedule and how to watch. [CBS]

USA

• Currently there is 9 US players on English Championship League rosters, here’s a look at who they are. [USSP]
• Matthew Hoppe was just another anonymous American in the Bundesliga, until he scored a hat trick. [WAPO]
• Gregg Berhalter has been USMNT coach for 2 years, what progress has he made? [SSFC]
• US international Timothy Weah is following his father’s footsteps with Lille in Ligue 1. [CBS]
• A wide-ranging visa fraud has been revealed with direct links to NWSL. [Equalizer]

MLS

• A compressed, and congested schedule is just one of the effects the league has made to adapt to the ongoing pandemic for 2021. [USSP]
• Preseason dates have been announced! Teams in Canada and Champions League will start early, all other camps will start March 8th. [MLS]

FLASHBACK

• Nat Borchers signed a contract extension with Real Salt Lake. [2/14/11]
• In the final preseason game RSL beat Chivas USA 2-0. [2-16-11]
• RSL announced the signing of Olmes Garcia. [2/15/13]
• RSL lost a preseason match to Seattle Sounders, but young players impressed. [2/16/13]
• We took a look at 5 players to watch as the season was ready to begin - some of them are still around! [2/14/16]
• A look at one big item that makes MLS weird - Single Entity. [2/15/16]
• Time to update this list - the 10 leading goal-scorers for RSL. [2/16/16]
• We took a look at the 10 best players to come out of RSL academy. [2/15/17]
• RSL tied Minnesota United 3-3 in a preseason match. [2/15/17]
• On this day, RSL’s much maligned “white t-shirt” kit was revealed. [2/16/17]

VIDEO

Crystal Palace 0-3 Burnley - the third goal was one for the highlight reels.