Soccer News: Orange County Register

LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo ready for what is likely his final El Tráfico

Josh Gross — Sat, 19 Jul 2025 01:03:15 +0000

As it stands now, Saturday night’s El Tráfico matchup at BMO Stadium will be the final encounter of 2025 between the Steve Cherundolo-led Los Angeles Football Club and its rival, the six-time Major League Soccer champion Galaxy.

Stuck at the bottom of the Western Conference, 14 points shy of a wild-card spot with 11 regular-season games left, chances are slim to none that the Galaxy (3-14-6, 15 points) will qualify for the MLS postseason.

A far more likely but not sure thing: the rivalry could renew in the Leagues Cup once that competition reaches the semifinal round of the knockout phase.

But if not, their second regular-season meeting this year, the 26th between the two in all competitions, represents the earliest and quickest conclusion to the annual derby series since it kicked off in 2018. Previously, the fastest they concluded was Aug. 24 during LAFC’s expansion campaign.

Over the past seven seasons, arguably the most compelling MLS rivalry took place three times per year and (in 2020, 2022 and 2023) as many as four.

“Judging from texts and comments from others around the league who are not emotionally attached to that game, I know a lot of people tune in,” Cherundolo said Friday. “What I take from that is the more games we can get where the intensity level is raised, the better the MLS looks. I love coaching in these games.”

Presuming they don’t cross paths again in 2025, Cherundolo shall depart for the next chapter of his managerial career after coaching 13 times against the Galaxy – the same total Bob Bradley accumulated throughout his four-year run with the Black & Gold.

Bradley pieced together a 3-5-5 record against the Galaxy, eventually nailing down an El Tráfico victory in LAFC’s sixth try during the 2019 postseason.

Cherundolo’s squads enjoyed more success after a dozen encounters, going 6-5-1 including the first draw since Bradley’s final season when LAFC (10-5-5, 35 points) headed to Dignity Health Sports Park in mid-May.

The 46-year-old coach said his most memorable El Tráfico came in his debut season, when LAFC won an MLS Cup Western Conference semifinal showdown, 3-2, at BMO Stadium.

French winger Denis Bouanga scored two goals on a night when LAFC took its initial step toward winning a first league championship.

To the delight of his head coach, his teammates and the supporters, Bouanga has reliably produced in big moments well into his fourth year with the Black & Gold.

On Saturday, Bouanga can become the first player to score in six consecutive derbies, surpassing Carlos Vela. If so, he will equal Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s El Tráfico total of nine goals, trailing only Vela’s 12.

“For every derby I want to score,” Bouanga said through an interpreter. “Since I was a kid I have dreamt about those games.”

On Wednesday in St. Paul, Minnesota, a third straight clean sheet victory in eight days materialized for Bouanga and the boys after the 30-year-old three-time MLS All-Star bagged his 11th goal of the regular season, leaving him nine shy of tying Vela for the most in franchise history at 93.

Following the season-ending injury to captain Aaron Long, goalkeeper Hugo Lloris was handed that role against Minnesota United FC.

Lloris excelled as captain over a record 121 games with the French national team, and across eight seasons with Tottenham Hotspur in the English Premier League.

Coming into El Tráfico, wearing the armband is “not something I was looking to get, but it usually comes to me naturally,” Lloris said. “It doesn’t change my mind or my spirit or my approach to the game. Also the way I am in the changing room towards my teammates. With the absence of Aaron I will do my best to make sure the team is going in the right direction.”

GALAXY AT LAFC

When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.

Where: BMO Stadium

TV/Radio: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV/710 AM, 980 AM

Galaxy look to end 6-game league winless streak at LAFC’s BMO Stadium

Damian Calhoun — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 21:49:16 +0000

Galaxy coach Greg Vanney called Wednesday’s loss against Austin FC a “missed opportunity.”

When you factor in that a trip to LAFC was next on the schedule, that loss takes on added weight as the Galaxy try to put together a late-season climb up the Western Conference standings.

“When we live in this moderate intensity space we’re vulnerable,” Vanney said. “So hopefully it’s a reminder again that you can’t go to LAFC and be in the middle ground intensity-wise. You got to show up with maximum intensity. Everybody knows that and looks forward to this game. They know what’s at stake.

“Guys have to shake it off and turn around. Doesn’t matter what happened yesterday or what’s going to happen tomorrow. It’s going to be about Saturday and that 90 minutes. Our guys been around long enough to know that.”

Another big obstacle facing the Galaxy (3-14-6, 15 points) is their inability to win at BMO Stadium. The Galaxy are winless in their last six MLS games in downtown L.A. (0-5-1) and they will be facing a surging LAFC team (10-5-5, 35 points) that has recorded three consecutive shutout wins.

“It’s a tough place … you have to take your (scoring) opportunities,” Vanney said. “I always felt like that’s been our biggest challenge there. Being really efficient about punishing them when we get the chances and then managing their transitions and managing the things that they’re obviously very good at.

“When you get there, you want to try to get on top of the game. You don’t want to be chasing the game. They’re very good at sitting in a block and protecting their goal, especially if they get up and then they play in the transition. For everybody, I think it’s a tough place to play, but I think for us, it’s always been about us finishing when we do get those opportunities. You don’t necessarily get a ton of them when you’re on the road, especially against a team like that, so you have to take advantage of your moments.”

In the first meeting this season, on May 18 in Carson, the Galaxy rallied for a 2-2 draw thanks to a late goal from Marco Reus.

“I liked our start to that game a lot,” Vanney said. “We took the first goal early, but I felt like we got off to a good start to the game. Then we had sort of a middle section that maybe wasn’t as strong as we wanted to be. Later, we started to get a little bit more proactive, a little bit more aggressive and I felt like we started to take over and dictate sort of the balance of power in the game and we were able to create some opportunities. I liked our aggression and our positive approach in the second half and at the beginning.”

To replicate that in the second meeting, the Galaxy will need something from Gabriel Pec. His inability to finish continued Wednesday, despite finding his way into good spots in attack.

“He’s getting to some good spots and getting some good looks,” Vanney said of last year’s MLS Newcomer of the Year. “A little bit unfortunate, the last game when he hits off the inside of the post and catches a little bit of a deflection. If it doesn’t deflect, I think he tucks it in. … There’s some moments where I feel like he’s just not hitting the ball clean. We have to continue to encourage him to do things at speed and not to be afraid to go right sometimes, to open up the left, but to show defenders that you’ll go either direction.

“The other thing for Joe (Joseph Paintsil) and Gabe, both of them, is that each of them only have one assist. They also need to be helping us set up other guys. Sometimes it’s decision making and sometimes it’s just execution. But I feel like they, Gabe, specifically, he’s carrying this burden of feeling like he needs to get one to get going and sometimes I think that affects your decision-making and maybe it even tightens you up a little bit when you get into that final moment.”

GALAXY AT LAFC

When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.

Where: BMO Stadium

TV/Radio: Apple TV+/980 AM, 710 AM

Angel City’s Savy King says she’ll be back ‘better than ever’

Damian Calhoun — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 19:49:31 +0000

Angel City Football Club defender Savy King, who collapsed in a May 9 game against the Utah Royals, said Wednesday in an interview with “Good Morning America” that she doesn’t remember much of what happened that night.

“I remember that I wasn’t feeling right and I remembered I grabbed my leg because I was trying to distract myself from the fact that I felt I was going to pass out,” King said in an interview with Will Reeve. “I remember the medical staff coming onto the field.”

King, 20, collapsed in the second half of the game. The medical staff rushed onto the field to treat her, doing chest compressions and using a defibrillator. King was eventually rushed to the hospital and transferred to Cedars Sinai, where she underwent successful heart surgery.

King said that she didn’t have a history of heart problems before the incident, but was diagnosed with a rare congenital heart abnormality.

Dr. Richard Kim, one of King’s doctors, said in the interview that King was born with an “anomalous left coronary artery.”

“The left coronary is the most important blood vessel in your heart,” Kim said. “When it is anomalous, it means that it’s in a slightly different location than normal.”

Kim added that the surgery created a “new pathway for the blood to get to the artery.”

“I think the first responders on the field did a fantastic job of resuscitating her before there was permanent damage,” Kim said.

“They saved my life,” King said of the team’s medical staff. “That will stay with me forever. They are a huge reason why I’m here.”

One month later, King returned to BMO Stadium, watching Angel City’s game against the Chicago Stars. She also surprised the team attending a training session.

“Me and Savy got super close this year,” midfielder Kennedy Fuller said after the June 7 game. “To be able to see her and see her so healthy and so happy … she battles so hard, that’s on the field, that’s off the field. To be able to see have little wins and big wins. She makes me so happy.

“To be able to see her and for the fans to be able to see her was awesome.”

Fellow defender M.A. Vignola added that King and the team needed that moment.

“To see her smile and see her so radiant and back to being herself, it was kind of like a breath of fresh air for us,” Vignola said.

King hasn’t been cleared to resume playing, but according the interview, her doctors believe that “it’s just a matter of time” before that happens.

“I was so happy that I was going to be able to recover and be as normal and almost be like a Savy 2.0 now,” King said. “I’ll be back and I’ll be better than ever.”

SUMMER EXHIBITIONS

Angel City will play the first of two summer exhibition matches on Saturday against Northern California rival Bay FC. The game will be played at 1:30 p.m. at PayPal Park.

Angel City will host Carolina Ascent FC, from the USL Super League, in an exhibition on July 26 at BMO Stadium (5 p.m.).

Angel City will resume NWSL play on Aug. 1 at Seattle.

Galaxy score late, but come up short in loss to Austin FC

Damian Calhoun — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 05:10:20 +0000

Galaxy midfielder Edwin Cerrillo, left, recovers the ball while defended by Austin FC midfielder Owen Wolff during the first half of their MLS match on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr., Contributing Photographer)

1 of 28

Expand

CARSON — The positive vibes the Galaxy players and coaches had started to experience lately evaporated into the night sky on Wednesday.

Looking for their first three-game winning streak of the season, the Galaxy gave up a pair of easy goals, failed to convert in their attacking situations and suffered a 2-1 loss to Austin FC at Dignity Health Sports Park.

“Frustrating,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. “Based on the position where we are, every game is meaningful, doesn’t matter when it is or where it is. Today was an opportunity I think to try to get back into it, and that was a missed opportunity.”

The Galaxy (3-14-6, 15 points) had earned at least one point in five of their past six games, including consecutive wins over the Vancouver Whitecaps and D.C. United.

The hosts found a late lifeline early into the eight minutes of stoppage time on Wednesday, when Joseph Paintsil earned and converted a penalty kick, bringing life to the 16,272 inside Dignity Health Sports Park.

Unfortunately for the Galaxy, they were unable to turn that momentum into a second goal to salvage a point. The eight minutes of stoppage time turned into 11, but a late low curling shot by Paintsil was kept out by a sprawling Brad Stuver to end the game.

Austin FC (8-8-6, 30 points), which won the first meeting in April, opened the scoring in the 40th minute on a goal by Myrto Uzuni. Uzuni was able to get between defenders Maya Yoshida and John Nelson and finished the sequence with a shot that goalkeeper Novak Micovic couldn’t get his hands to.

The second goal came in the 63rd minute from Owen Wolff. The situation appeared harmless as the Galaxy had two defenders near an Austin attacker and Micovic coming out to scoop up the ball. However, the ball slid away from Micovic and toward Wolff for the finish.

The night got off to a strange start.

Shortly after kickoff, play was halted because players complained the balls were improperly inflated. After a couple of balls were kicked out of play, the game resumed.

“Weird start,” Vanney said. “The game sort of lacked intensity in the early part with the stop-start. Everybody, all the players were complaining, if you will, and stopping because they felt like the balls were flat, they weren’t firm enough.

“So it was both teams that were feeling that way. … We tried several. I don’t think in the end they actually put any air in the balls. I think we just got on with it.”

Adding to the early problems for the Galaxy was a third-minute yellow card to midfielder Edwin Cerrillo.

“Getting it so early, I’m cautious on the next foul, especially early on,” Cerrillo said. “It’s my game to kind of impose and get into people’s faces. That (the yellow card) limits a little bit of what I can do.

“Every game is important for us right now, and I can’t afford to get another yellow card.”

It was another night of the Galaxy wasting their chances in attack. The hosts were credited with 13 shot attempts but only two were on goal. Gabriel Pec had a frustrating night. The speedy winger was able to get into several dangerous spots, but he couldn’t get many attempts on target.

“That’s been our formula,” Vanney said. “Giving up soft goals and missing our opportunities.”

The Galaxy have a quick turnaround with a short trip to BMO Stadium on Saturday night to face LAFC (10-5-5, 35 points). The first meeting ended in a 2-2 draw on May 18 in Carson.

LAFC edges Minnesota for 3rd straight shutout victory

Staff and news service reports — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 03:34:53 +0000

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Denis Bouanga scored on a first-half penalty kick and Hugo Lloris made it stand up for his third straight clean sheet as LAFC edged Minnesota United, 1-0, on Wednesday night.

Bouanga scored his 11th goal when he sent a right-footed shot past Dayne St. Clair into the top left corner in the 42nd minute. The PK was awarded after Jeremy Ebobisse was fouled by defender Nicolás Romero, who received a yellow card.

Lloris finished with three saves for his league-high-tying ninth clean sheet of the season for LAFC (10-5-5, 35 points), which won in Minnesota for the first time ever in its seventh try (1-5-1).

Dayne St. Clair entered with nine shutouts and totaled five saves for Minnesota United (11-5-7, 40 points), which had a four-match unbeaten streak (3-0-1) end and dropped to 6-3-3 at home.

Both goalkeepers had to make diving two-handed saves to prevent goals in the first 22 minutes and keep the game scoreless. St. Clair’s came in the eighth minute when he turned away Bouanga’s curling free kick outside the box that was headed for the left corner, while Lloris stopped Joaquin Pereyra’s left-footed try from outside the middle of the box by the right post.

LAFC, playing its first match without team captain and star center-back Aaron Long, who ruptured his left Achilles tendon in a 2-0 victory over FC Dallas on Saturday, employed a five-man back line that shut down the Loons in the second half. Minnesota’s best scoring chance came in the 71st minute when Joseph Rosales tried a sharp-angle shot from the left side of the box that Lloris easily saved.

Bouanga twice had chances to add an insurance goal late in the game, but his one-on-one chip try against St. Clair from the middle of the box in the 87th minute went wide and St. Clair made a sliding kick save on his breakaway right-footed try in the 90th minute.

LAFC, which posted a 1-0 victory over Minnesota at home in the season opener, improved to 2-3-4 on the road. The club has outscored Colorado, FC Dallas and Minnesota 6-0 in its past three games.

UP NEXT

LAFC plays host to the rival Galaxy on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

How to buy World Cup tickets for 2026: FIFA announces details on timeline

Associated Press — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 18:40:55 +0000

By JAMES ROBSON

Applications for tickets for the 2026 World Cup open Sept. 10, FIFA said Tuesday.

The next edition of the tournament, which will be co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States, kicks off at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City on June 11.

Soccer’s world governing body FIFA said that due to anticipated high demand, tickets would be released in phases.

It did not say if it would use dynamic pricing, as was the case for the Club World Cup, which saw ticket prices fluctuate wildly.

“We’re looking forward to welcoming the world back to North America, as Canada, Mexico and the United States host what will be the biggest and greatest sporting event ever,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said in a statement. “We encourage fans everywhere to get ready to secure their place — these will be the most coveted seats in world sport.”

For more information and to register interest in purchasing tickets, visit the FIFA ticketing website.

LAFC moving forward after Aaron Long’s season-ending injury

Josh Gross — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 02:19:08 +0000

The Los Angeles Football Club was already in the market for center backs. Then team captain and defensive anchor Aaron Long ruptured his left Achilles tendon on Saturday night, making that a priority.

After going down in the 76th minute of LAFC’s 2-0 victory over FC Dallas at BMO Stadium, Long, 32, underwent successful surgery on Monday evening to repair an injury that wasn’t immediately apparent to people in the stands or the press box.

On the field, though, there was no mystery.

“For me, as soon as I saw his face on the ground in the game, I already noticed what was happening,” said fullback Sergi Palencia, who has played together on the backline with Long and fellow outside back Ryan Hollingshead for most of the past two-plus seasons. “It was so sad. Not only are we going to miss him so much on the field. Off the field, also, he is a huge part for us.”

Long appeared in 104 matches in all competitions after joining the club as a free agent in 2023. Named captain in his third season in L.A., Long’s joking manner and way of speaking endeared him to the group as much as his sustained, hard-nosed play.

“As a footballer you just know how quickly it can be taken from you,” Hollingshead said. “And so you watch one of your best buds and captain and starting center back and such a rock for our defense go down like that in that way, and especially grueling for him because he’s dealt with this injury before, so it’s something that he knows well.”

In May of 2021, with the New York Red Bulls, Long ruptured his right Achilles tendon while landing from a jumping header.

Eight months later, he was back to training at full speed.

“He’s going to be in the gym showing the young kids what it’s like to recover from an injury,” a hopeful Hollingshead said.

Unavailable from the midway point of the season on, Long’s rehab gets underway as his team faces an important midweek trip to second-place Minnesota United FC, which has played three more MLS games than LAFC (9-5-5, 32 points) and is eight points above Coach Steve Cherundolo’s club in the Western Conference standings.

Opening league play by beating Minnesota, 1-0, on Feb. 22 at BMO Stadium, Cherundolo had five of the roster’s seven center backs listed on the team sheet, starting Long next to Marlon Santos.

Cherundolo is likely to have three on Wednesday night at Allianz Field against the Loons (11-4-7, 40 points) – Eddie Segura, Nkosi Tafari and first-team contracted LAFC2 regular Kenny Nielsen, a 23-year-old Irvine native who is in line to make his MLS debut.

Placing Long on the season-ending injury list means LAFC gets roster relief and can sign a player of equal value on top of the money it saved with the departures of Olivier Giroud and Marlon. Ahead of the summer transfer window, those resources, including $750,000 in general allocation money plus several million dollars in winnings from the FIFA Club World Cup prize pool, should go toward shoring up positions across the field.

Meanwhile, current players – including Long, who played 375 of LAFC’s 390 Club World Cup-related minutes – will split $1.8 million dollars from the CWC excursion.

On Tuesday, The Athletic reported a deal had been struck on June 27 between MLS and the players’ association.

Increasing the guaranteed money going to LAFC, Seattle Sounders and Inter Miami CF players by 40% above what is required in the collective bargaining agreement, each roster received $1.4 million, plus 30% of any performance prize.

MLS chief communications officer Dan Courtemanche said the league “provided the players with the most lucrative bonus package in the tournament.”

Hollingshead was less than impressed, noting that even though players remained committed to competing they were very much distracted by how negotiations unfolded.

A range of actions occupied his mind a month ago, including a strike, but ultimately he removed himself from talks that he felt went nowhere.

“We should have gone in with joy, everybody excited to split a huge amount of money that was being thrown at this tournament,” Hollingshead said. “Instead, it’s millionaires pickpocketing, pinching pennies over little amounts. So it’s frustrating.”

That said, the defender credited LAFC ownership for communicating well with the team and pushing hard for players to earn a greater share from a tournament that concluded Sunday with a notable Black & Gold footnote: The road to Chelsea FC’s tournament title began with a 2-0 victory over LAFC in Atlanta.

“We can compete against everybody,” Palencia said. “Even the winner of the Club World Cup.”

LAFC AT MINNESOTA UNITED FC

When: Wednesday, 5:30 p.m.

Where: Allianz Field, St. Paul., Minn.

TV/Radio: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV/710 AM, 980 AM

Galaxy’s Diego Fagúndez approaching 80-80 MLS milestone

Damian Calhoun — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 19:00:30 +0000

With his goal in Saturday’s 2-1 win against D.C. United, Galaxy midfielder Diego Fagúndez moved closer to the 80-goal, 80-assist group.

It’s a rare accomplishment, with only three players in MLS history – Landon Donovan, Jaime Moreno and Diego Valeri – reaching the milestone.

Fagúndez, who now has 77 goals to go along with 76 assists in his 12-year career, tried to downplay the significance.

“To be honest, it doesn’t mean much,” he said Saturday. “It’s just another number that I get closer to. At the end of the day, I just want to be one of those players that will be recognized for what I’ve accomplished. Maybe it doesn’t show as much when your numbers are not showing every game, you know? But the work rate and everything that I give, that’s what matters to me and winning games.

“Winning games is what people remember, not the achievements that personally you have. It’s always nice to have those things, that’s why I have it in the back of my book, and I just keep those to myself. But like I said, if I can end the year with 80-80, I’ll be happy. If I don’t, there’s another year and I just have to keep working harder and get there, but right now we want to win games and make it as far as we can in this league and hopefully talk about playoffs sometime.”

Fagúndez and the Galaxy (3-13-6, 15 points) have won consecutive games heading into Wednesday’s meeting against Austin FC. Dating to May 31, the Galaxy have gained at least a point in five of their past six games (3-1-2).

“I think it’s one of those things that we want to forget about what happened before and focus on what’s happening now,” Fagúndez said. “I don’t think we were a bad team before, but I think if you look at the mistakes we were making, I think we were punishing ourselves and now we’re not making those mistakes. We’re actually allowing other teams to make those mistakes and we’re finishing our chances when we have to.

“We have to be mindful of mistakes that we make, but right now everything is clicking and everybody is putting in the shift. And when everybody puts in the shift and everybody gives their 110 percent, we can win games.”

Despite their recent run of success, the Galaxy are still at the bottom of the Western Conference. The challenge now is taking points in the final three games of July, before the start of Leagues Cup.

“We have a quick turnaround and everybody needs to be ready and like we told everybody: if we play this good, we can beat any team,” Fagúndez said.

After Wednesday, the Galaxy will visit LAFC (9-5-5, 32 points) on Saturday and Houston (7-10-5, 26 points) on July 25. Their group stage games in Leagues Cup, all at home, will be played July 31 against Tijuana, Aug. 3 vs. Cruz Azul and Aug. 7 against Santos Laguna.

After the group stage, the Galaxy have three more games at home in the month of August.

By then, the Galaxy will have a clearer picture of their playoff hopes and Fagúndez could be even closer to MLS history.

“Do we believe we can make it? Of course,” he said. “If we didn’t believe it, we shouldn’t be here. We just have to take it game by game. We have a lot of home games coming up. That’s a huge part.

“We have an important game now again (Wednesday). If we get points out of that, who knows? You take care of business and get the points you deserve, then you never know. I think right now is the best time to get momentum and when we have all these home games you have to take advantage of it.”

AUSTIN FC at GALAXY

When: Wednesday, 7:40 p.m.

Where: Dignity Health Sports Park

How to watch: Apple TV (MLS Season Pass)

Club World Cup marked by empty seats, searing heat and Chelsea victory

The Associated Press — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 22:45:05 +0000

By RONALD BLUM and JAMES ROBSON AP Sports Writers

An expanded Club World Cup marked by empty seats, slashed ticket prices, searing heat, weather-delayed matches and a criticized field surface ended in a surprise victory by Chelsea, the fourth-place team in the Premier League.

Among the lasting lessons was FIFA’s decision to dramatically drop ticket costs as some kickoff times approached, which could impact decisions by fans thinking of attending next year’s World Cup. FIFA lowered the cost to attend the Chelsea-Fluminense semifinal at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, from $473.90 to $13.40, then dropped the Chelsea vs. Paris Saint-Germain final from $330 to $199.60.

There will be 104 matches at next year’s expanded 48-nation World Cup and many are likely to be on weekday afternoons. FIFA has not said whether it will use dynamic pricing at the tournament and has declined to comment on discounting.

The 63 matches drew 2.49 million, about 62% of the listed capacity. FIFA didn’t disclose tournament capacities of venues, focusing on tickets sold rather than about 1.5 million unfilled seats, and would not address price cuts.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino assessed the expanded tournament he championed, saying: “It is already the most successful club competition in the world.”

Former Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp was less enthusiastic, telling the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag it was “the worst idea ever implemented in football” because of demands on players as a result of the extended season.

PSG played its 65th competitive match and Chelsea its 64th since starting in mid-August. Each team will have 33-35 days off before their 2025-26 openers.

“I told my players that I had the feeling that this competition will become just as important or even more important than the Champions League,” Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca said.

Maresca described the heat as dangerous. Borussia Dortmund coach Niko Kovač said the grass at MetLife Stadium, site of next year’s World Cup final, was so short “it’s more a golf green, so you can putt here.”

TINY U.S. TV AUDIENCE

The streaming service DAZN bought world rights and sublicensed 24 of the 63 matches to TNT Sports, which averaged 418,000 viewers for the first 23 matches with English-language commentary on TNT, TBS and truTV. Seventeen matches sublicensed to TelevisaUnivision with Spanish commentary averaged 551,000.

By comparison, NBC’s networks averaged 510,000 viewers per match window for the Premier League in 2024-25, regular-season Major League Baseball is averaging 1.841 million this year on Fox and 1.74 million on the cable network ESPN. The NFL averaged 17.5 million during the 2024 regular season.

DAZN has not yet released figures but says it will during the week.

HOT SEAT

The temperature was above 90 degrees for many matches, with humidity that made it feel like more than 100.

“Honestly, the heat is incredible,” Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez said. “Playing in this temperature is very dangerous.”

Six games were delayed by weather for a total of 8 hours, 29 minutes, raising questions over the suitability of the U.S. for next year’s World Cup during a time of global warming. Only four of the 11 U.S. World Cup venues have roofs, including one that isn’t temperature controlled.

“Players have played in these conditions before, but I think it doesn’t make it easy and it doesn’t make it as enjoyable, for sure,” said former Wales captain Gareth Bale, a DAZN commentator who attended the semifinals and final. “It’s one of those things and there’s no real way around it.”

At the 1994 World Cup in the U.S., just seven of 52 games had night local time starts in order to broadcast matches during the evenings for Europe television.

MISSING CHAMPIONS

While FIFA hyped the tournament as a competition of the best teams in the world, it didn’t include the current champions of England (Liverpool), Spain (Barcelona), Italy (Napoli) and Portugal (Sporting Lisbon) among the dozen European clubs in the 32-team field. Instead of inviting the latest league winners, FIFA’s rules based entry primarily on continental titles won over four years and ranking points, with some limits on clubs from the same nation.

Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami got an invite even though it has never won the MLS title.

PLAYER WELFARE

For the top players, the Club World Cup meant they likely faced three consecutive years of summer tournaments, following the European Championship and Copa America last year and leading to the World Cup for national teams in 2026.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said the impact of the new tournament might not be known until midway through next season.

“I may say: ‘So listen, we are a disaster. We are exhausted. The World Cup destroyed us,’” he admitted.

Bayern Munich and Germany star Jamal Musiala likely faces months out of action after sustaining a fractured fibula and broken and dislocated ankle in his team’s quarterfinal loss to PSG.

A GLOBAL GAME

FIFA wanted the Club World Cup to help grow the sport globally and shine a light on clubs outside of Europe’s most popular leagues.

Brazilian teams excelled, with all four entrants reaching the knockout stage. Botafogo produced one of the upsets of the tournament by beating PSG in the group phase, while Fluminense reached the semifinals.

Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal advanced to the quarterfinals and ousted Manchester City.

Lionel Messi led Inter Miami to the Round of 16, including MLS’s first competitive win against European opposition, defeating Porto in the group phase.

The other U.S. teams, LAFC and the Seattle Sounders, were less impressive – with both exiting at the group stage, winless.

New Zealand’s Auckland City lost 10-0 to Bayern, while a game between South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns and South Korea’s Ulsan drew just 3,412 fans.

A QUESTION OF QUALITY

Messi produced moments of magic, but a bout of acute gastroenteritis limited Kylian Mbappe’s involvement.

While many matches in the group stage, in particular, were competitive, only a few games will be remembered for iconic moments.

FIFA Club World Cup: Chelsea beats PSG to claim expanded title

The Associated Press — Sun, 13 Jul 2025 22:11:53 +0000

Chelsea players celebrate with the trophy after beating Paris Saint-Germain in the Club World Cup final soccer match in East Rutherford, N.J., Sunday, July 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

1 of 15

Chelsea players celebrate with the trophy after beating Paris Saint-Germain in the Club World Cup final soccer match in East Rutherford, N.J., Sunday, July 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Expand

EAST RUTHERFORD, N,J. — Cole Palmer scored twice and fed João Pedro for a goal as Chelsea overwhelmed Paris Saint-Germain in the first half and beat the European champions 3-0 on Sunday in the final of the first expanded Club World Cup.

Palmer had almost identical left-footed goals from just inside the penalty area in the 22nd and 30th minutes, then sent a through pass that enabled João Pedro to chip goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma in the 43rd for his third goal in two starts with the Blues.

A 23-year-old who joined Chelsea from Manchester City two years ago, Palmer scored 18 goals this season.

PSG finished a man short after João Neves was given a red card in the 84th minute for pulling down Marc Cucurella by his hair. After a testy final few minutes in a game with six yellow cards, the teams needed to be separated as PSG coach Luis Enrique and Donnarumma pushed João Pedro near the center circle.

A heavy favorite who had outscored opponents 16-1, PSG had been looking to complete a quadruple after winning Ligue 1, the Coupe de France and its first Champions League title.

Before a tournament-high crowd of 81,188 at MetLife Stadium that included U.S. President Donald Trump, Chelsea showed the energy of a fourth day of rest after its semifinal, one more than PSG. Trump was booed when he walked on the field for the postgame awards, then posed with Chelsea players after he and FIFA president Gianni Infantino handed the trophy to captain Reece James.

Chelsea had finished fourth in the Premier League and won the third-tier UEFA Conference League. The Blues took the world title for the second time after 2021, when it was a seven-team event. The Blues earned $128,435,000 to $153,815,000 in prize money, the amount depending on a participation fee FIFA has not disclosed.

PSG had not lost by three goals since a 4-1 Champions League defeat at Newcastle in October 2023.

Key moments

Chelsea went ahead in the 22nd after goalkeeper Robert Sánchez kicked the ball downfield and Nuno Mendes mis-hit his header 15 yards past the midfield stripe toward his own goal. Malo Gusto’s shot was blocked by Lucas Beraldo and rebounded to Palmer, who ended PSG’s streak of 436 minutes without conceding.

Palmer doubled the lead in the 30th when he ran onto a long ball from Levi Colwill, cut inside before shooting.

Takeaways

Chelsea heads into the 2025-26 season, which starts in less than five weeks, believing it can challenge Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal for the Premier League title.

They said it

“It’s a great feeling. Even better because obviously everyone doubted us before the game. … The gaffer put a great gameplan out and obviously, he knew where the space was going to be.” — Palmer

“They had a lot of energy. … I believe they were actually better than we were.” — Enrique through a translator.