Royal Roundup: RSL well represented on Concacaf Olympic qualifier rosters

The final Wednesday of February! Get ready for the unpredictable weather of March, at least it should be warmer.

INTERNATIONAL

• Everton received city council approval for a new 52,888 seat stadium in Liverpool’s waterfront. The decision now rests with the UK local government. [Guardian]
• Premier League teams will vote to decide whether or not to allow fans to attend the final game of the season. [Guardian]
• US International Christian Pulisic may be heading back to Bayern Munich. [SportsLens]
• A look at Thierry Henry’s 6 best moments with Arsenal. [FFT]
• Aston Villa may ban it’s players from participating in fantasy leagues due to insider information allegations. [Balls]

USA

• All of the players for the US Women’s team stood for the National Anthem in their game vs Brazil for the first time in over a year. When asked about the decision Crystal Dunn replied: “I think we decided that moving forward we no longer feel the need to kneel because we are doing the work behind the scenes.” [USAT]
• The 50-man preliminary roster for the U-23 USMNT has been announced. RSL is well represented among all the Concacaf teams. [RSL] Full USMNT list here. [NBC] Links to rosters for all teams here. [Concacaf]
• The final match of the She Believes Cup kicks off 5 PM tonight (Wednesday) on FS1 as the USWNT face Argentina. [USSOC]

Photo by GREGG NEWTON/AFP via Getty Images

US LEAGUES

• Columbus Crew hope to break the MLS curse in 2021. Only 3 teams have ever won back-to-back MLS Cups. [USSP]
• NWSL ownership reads like a who’s who of A-list celebs, CEO’s, sports stars and of course foreign investors. [WaPo]
• USL Championship expansion team Monterey Bay FC is renovating an old football stadium on the campus of Cal STate University. [USL]
• MLS has a problem with maintaining parity, and it’s linked with geography. [USSP]
• Portland Timbers and Portland Thorns have announced TikTok as a sleeve sponsor for 2021. It will include a weekly content partnership on the platform with Crystal Dunn and Eryk Willimson as club creator-ambassadors. [NWSL][MLS]
• Chicago’s NISA team finally has a name - Chicago House Athletic Club. [FRS]
• A look at the three new head coaches joining MLS this year. Can they perform as hoped in a league where new coaches often need a year or more to show results? [WFBI]
• FC Buffalo becomes the 6th team to join the growing United Women’s League. [FRS]

FLASHBACK

• Eleven years ago it wasn’t a lockout that threatened to disrupt the league, it was a possible player strike. [2/24/10]
• As preseason ends, we looked at which players on the Real Salt Lake roster impressed the most. [2/25/13]
• A look at RSL’s midfield as the preseason friendly games wind down. [2/25/14]
• RSL beat Sporting Kansas City 2-1 in a foul-ridden game. [2/25/15]
• The first leg of the Concacaf Champions League quarterfinals had RSL lose 2-0 to Tigres UANL. [2/24/16]
• Five of RSL’s young players to watch (none are still with the team...) [2/24/17]

VIDEO

Now streaming on Netflix - a documentary on Pelé!