September 8, 2025 • 20 mins
The World Cup road to 2026 is heating up across the globe. Spain smashed Turkey 6-0 behind a majestic hat trick from Mikel Merino, Cristiano Ronaldo reminded everyone of his timeless brilliance as Portugal rolled Armenia, and Morocco became the first African nation to clinch their place at the finals. We also dive into Memphis Depay’s record-setting goals for the Netherlands, Germany’s recovery win in Cologne, England’s steady but unconvincing march, and the drama of Austria’s “sinkhole” stoppage.
From Africa’s Group of Chaos to MLS’s rising stars like Owen Wolff, NWSL’s record-setting Kansas City Current, USWNT players shining in Europe, and college soccer milestones here in Georgia, it’s another jam-packed Morning Espresso to get your week started.
From Africa’s Group of Chaos to MLS’s rising stars like Owen Wolff, NWSL’s record-setting Kansas City Current, USWNT players shining in Europe, and college soccer milestones here in Georgia, it’s another jam-packed Morning Espresso to get your week started.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:12):
Welcome in for another edition of The Morning Espresso on
the SDCH Network, brought to you by Oglethorpe University, Atlanta's
premier undergraduate learning experience and soccer powerhouse. I'm Jason Longshore.
Thanks for hanging out with me, starting another week of
the Espresso. Let's get caught up on World Cup qualifying.
Michael Marino hat trick as Spain was brilliant in a
(00:36):
six zero win over Turkey on the road yesterday. Marino
was incredible. It wasn't just your run of the mill
hat trick. The first came at the end of a
classic Spain kind of team move, the second a controlled
finish off of a pass from Pedri and then the
third a curler into the top corner. Pretty good stuff
(01:00):
from Michael Marino. Spain was unstoppable. It's their second biggest
ever away win in World Cup qualifying Germany. They bounced
back after a loss in Slovakia in game one to nil.
They won at home three to one over Northern Ireland.
Took them until the final quarter of their meeting with
Northern Ireland before they could secure the victory. Floria inverts
(01:22):
with the free kick to seal the win and the
Germans upset the Northern Irish a little bit with their
complaints about the style of play afterwards, to the point
that the return match in Belfast could be interesting. The
Dutch they went on the road and won three to
two against Lithuania. Memphis to Pi became the all time
(01:43):
leading Dutch goalscorer with his fifty first and fifty second
international goals to move clear of Robin van Percy. The
Dutch have ten points through four They lead on goal
difference ahead of Poland, who have played one game more.
But the performances weren't great in this run. A one
to one draw with Poland on Thursday and then the
three two win over Lithuania. A lot of criticism in
(02:05):
the Dutch media, which isn't exactly uncommon, but that's what's
happening at the moment. Portugal first match since the death
of their forward Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva
in a car accident. They took an impressive first step
to the World Cup finals, sweeping aside Armenia five nil.
Christna Ronaldo was brilliant here in this one for Portugal.
(02:28):
He scored in both halves, the second a shot from distance.
He has one hundred and forty goals now in his
international career. Joel Felix with two goals as well. They're
playing together at Al Nasser. Saudi based player Joel Conselo
also contributed route for Portugal as they beat Armenia five nil. Saturday,
(02:50):
Austria hosted Cyprus and the match was delayed after a
sinkhole opened up on the pitch during the second half.
Paused in the seventy fifth minute at the Rafician Arena
in Linz, to the home of Lask where George Bellow plays,
a sinkhole the size of a football was discovered on
(03:10):
the edge of the home team's penalty area. Austria goalkeeper
Alexander Schleger was pulling large clumps of turf out of
the hole as the referee stopped play. Play resumed ten
minutes later with ten minutes ten Play resumed with ten
minutes of stoppage time added to the end of the
second half. This isn't the first time that a sinkhole
has appeared in the playing surface. During an Austria match
(03:34):
June of twenty twenty two, at a different stadium, a
sinkhole appeared in the center circle shortly after full time
of Austria's Nations League match against Denmark at the Ernst
Hoppel Stadium in Vienna. What is going on with Austria?
They did win one nil over Cyprus. Wasn't pretty for Austria.
Marcel Sabatzer's fifty fourth minute penalty gets the win. Ralph
(03:56):
Ragnik's side is now second in Group H, three points
behind Bosnia and Herzegovina with a game in hand. England
four wins out of four in World Cup qualifying for them,
wasn't exactly convincing against Andorra. A little bit different look
to the starting eleven for Thomas Tukel Pukayosaka, Phil Foden,
Cole Palmer all out injured, total control of the match,
(04:18):
never really looked in any danger, but it wasn't very
exciting either against Andorra. Belgium. Kevin de Bruyne the talisman
for Belgium. A stunning goal to break the deadlock set
Belgium away on a six nil win to beat Kazakhstan
in their World Cup qualifier yesterday. Let's go to Africa Morocco.
They became the first African nation to qualify for the
(04:40):
World Cup. Five nil win over ten man Niger in Rabot.
The Atlas Lions were semi finalists in the last World Cup.
All they needed was three points. They knew that coming
into the match after Tanzania could only draw one to
one in Congo earlier on Friday, Nigeria they re their
(05:00):
hopes of automatic qualification one nil win over Rwanda. It
wasn't easy in this one for Nigeria. It took a
goal from new Wolf striker tol Lou Arikadare that was
the match winner six minutes into the second half of
volley from close range. So Nigeria leapfrogs Rwanda to go
(05:21):
third in Group SEE, six points behind leader South Africa,
who they will play in South Africa on Tuesday, massive
massive match in African World Cup qualifying. Nigeria will also
be without Victor Osiemen who suffered a foot injury. He
missed the trip now after being injured in that match
against Rwanda. Azerbaijan they have terminated the contract of their
(05:45):
national team coach Fernando Santos. This was by mutual consent
announced today, days after a five nil loss to Iceland
in a World Cup qualifier. Santos winless and eleven matches
since taking charge of Azerbaijan in June of twenty twenty five,
for nine losses out of the eleven. It was so bad.
And then the postgame press conferences media from Azerbaijan were
(06:07):
informing Santos of a direct flight from Iceland to his
home country of Portugal. Yeah, not good. Today's qualifiers Italy
they will look to make three victories in a row
as they face Israel in a match today, and it's
a big one for Italy. They got to go basically
unbeaten the rest of the way and flip the gold
difference to pass Norway to earn automatic qualification. They will
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host Norway in November. Israel they are nine points through
four games. They're in the second spot ahead of Italy,
so this is a big one as both teams try
to challenge Norway for that automatic spot. Croatia they will
try to pull level on points with Cechia as they
host Montenegro today. Croatia has a significant advantage in gold difference.
(06:53):
They would also have a game in hand if they
get the three points, so they would be in control
of their group. Libya in African qualifying, they host winless
Swatini today. A win in Group C in Africa really
becomes interesting here. If Libya can do it, all eyes
are going to be on Cape Verde and Cameroon tomorrow.
Cape Verdi leading the group, Cameroon second. Libya would pull
(07:14):
to within two points at the top of the table
with two games left to play in October. If they
get the win today Algeria, they could clinch qualification today
with a win and some other results going their way.
In Group G, Algeria's on the road at Guinea. They
need Uganda to fault to fail to pick up maximum
points at home to Somalia. They need help from Botswana
to take points off of Mozambique Tunisia. They can earn
(07:38):
a spot by the end of this window. If they
win at Equatorial Guinea today, they won't know till tomorrow
with the results there. Group I, this is the Group
of Chaos in Africa. Colmos has played their games in
this round. They sit on fifteen points in second place.
They've got two games left in October. That's one point
behind Ghana. Ghana are on sixteen points. They host Molly,
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who is on twelve points in fourth place, but very
much still alive. In this group, Madagascar is in third
place on thirteen points. They host winless Chad today now.
Even though they haven't won, Chad threw the group into
chaos with a draw against Ghana, the leaders on Thursday.
MLS updates from the weekend. Owen Wolf formerly of the
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Atlanta United Academy before moving to Austin with his father.
It's one of the hottest young Americans in MLS. Scored
a goal, had an assist on the late winner Austin
two to one win at Sporting Kansas City. Twenty years old.
Wolf made it five goals in his last seven appearances
with the equalizer in the thirty seventh minute. It was
his corner that found CJ. Faudry for his first MLS
(08:43):
goal that was the match winner in the eighty second minute.
Wolf leads Austin with eleven goal contributions this season. The
win also puts them into sixth place in the Western Conference,
eight points above the playoff line with six to play.
Dallas one one draw at Saint Louis City despite losing
goalkeeper Michael Colode with a red card in the sixteenth minute.
(09:04):
Jacob Jackson made his FC Dallas debut and goal eleven
saves for him in the match, second most saves in
FC Dallas history. The thirteen combined saves by Coloda and
Jackson are the most ever in a match for FC Dallas.
Saint Louis finished the match with an edge of forty
one to five in shots, but only one goal out
(09:25):
of forty one shots. In WSL Kansas City Current, they
beat BAFC two nil at PayPal Park to extend their
league lead over Washington to seventeen points. The current set
INWSL records for the most wins on the road in
a season with nine and consecutive shutout minutes with six
hundred and thirty two. Black Cowendanofski also became just the
(09:46):
second coach in NWSL history after Laura Harvey, to earn
one hundred regular season wins. The Chicago Stars. They celebrated
their first game at Northwestern University with a five to
win over the defending champions Orlando Pride. Ludmilla and Julia
Grosso each had a goal and an assist as the
Stars won for only the second time in nineteen games.
(10:09):
In twenty twenty five, they drew over ten thousand fans
to Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium that's gonna be
Chicago's new home in twenty twenty six. The twelve thousand
seat stadium is the interim home of Northwestern Football. The
Stars have been playing at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview. They've
averaged less than three thousand fans per game this season.
(10:31):
US women's national team players in Europe. Lily Johannes one
goal and helped set up another as Leonis beat Marseille
three to one in the French top flight opener. Johannes
is now eighteen. She turned eighteen in June. She was
signed from IAX joins US women's national team captain Lindsay
Heaps in the OL Leonis midfield. Jonathan Heraldez, the new
(10:54):
coach at OL Leonis formerly of Washington Spirit, described Johannas
as a special player for her ability to combined with others.
The match drew just over five thousand fans. Where OL
Leonis is going to play in the main stadium at
leon that seats fifty nine thousand fans, the Groupama Stadium
that's where Michelle King's OL Leonis side will play all
(11:16):
their matches this season. Emily Fox, she scored or she
started for Arsenal in their four to one win over
London City Lionessys before thirty eight thousand fans at Emirates
Stadium Fallontellus. Joyce earned a shoutout in Manchester United's opener,
a four to nail win over Lester Naomi Germa did
miss Chelsea's two to one win over Manchester City with
(11:37):
a calf injury, and Alyssa Thompson just transfer went through
right before the game, the day before the game, so
Nobelissa Thompson obviously yet for Chelsea. She'll start training with
the team this week. Local college results huge win in Gainesville,
Florida last night for Georgia State. Their women came back
to win two to one over Florida. It's the panthers
(11:57):
first win over an SEC team since two thousand and five.
Reyes Gordon's finish off of an Aliah Fidul Cross was
the difference. Mercer's women they dominated Gardner Webb five mil win.
On Senior Day, Oklahoma transfer and senior Morgan Ikele Barner
had a hat trick. She's been playing really, really well
for the Bears as of late. Mercer's men, it was
(12:17):
a crazy finish. It's a weird game all the way around.
A mishit cross from Toluada Yemmi ends up in the
back of the net in the last minute, forty plus
seconds left on the clock that pulled them level with
number twenty two ranks South Florida. Match finished one pint one.
South Florida had all the control of the game. They
were slowing everything down, they were keeping possession, they were
(12:40):
playing keep away, but they didn't put the game away.
And sometimes when you do that, miss hit crosses end
up in the back of the net and you end
up dropping results. Georgia's women they drew one to one
on the road at Clemson thanks to a goal from
Summer Dennigan. Other news from around the world as we
wrap up this edition of The Morning Espressolston Battery they
(13:00):
clinched a USL Championship playoff berth for the third straight year.
They defeated Indy eleven two to one in front of
a sold out crowd at Patriots Point. The Battery are
four points behind Louisville City in the race for the shield.
F C Tulsa is in third. They are trailing Alu
City by eleven points. Cal Jennings bagged both goal goals
(13:22):
on both sides at halftime to move into first in
the Golden Boot race with fourteen goals byer Leverkusen's coaching
searches over. According to reports in Germany, Casper Hullmand will
succeed Eric Tenhag, who was fired last Monday agreement in
principle between Hullmand and Bayer Leverkusen. He stepped down as
Denmark's national team coach in the summer of twenty twenty four.
(13:44):
He's been without a job since beginning of twenty twenty five.
He announced ave football hiatus without specifying a specific time frame.
In January, turned down a lucrative offer to become Belgium's
national team coach, which is why even yesterday people familiar
with him weren't sure if he'd even take the job
at Levercusen, but it sounds like he has. Byron Munich
(14:05):
on the women's side, they smashed the Frauen Bundesliga's attendance record,
drawing a crowd of fifty seven thy seven hundred and
sixty two for their two nail win over byer Leverkusen
at the Alians Arena. Previous record was just over thirty
eight thousand for a match between Cologne and Eintrach Frankfurt
in twenty twenty three. Last night, San Diego Wave retired
(14:26):
Alex Morgan's number thirteen after their match, presented her with
a framed jersey moments after their three nail loss to
the Houston Dash. Not something you typically see in retired
jersey numbers in the sport. Occasionally it will happen. San
Diego Wave have made that happen for Alex Morgan. News
(14:46):
out of England today Tottenham Hotspur. They say they are
categorically not for sale, despite expressions of interest from various parties,
including former Newcastle co owner Amanda Staveley. The departure of
Daniel Levy on Thursday, when he he was let go
it sparked rumors of an imminent change of ownership. On
Monday morning, PCP International Finance, the investment vehicle led by Staveley,
(15:09):
They confirmed that they had been interested in a potential move.
They confirmed that they quote do not intend to make
an offer for Tottenham unquote, and takeover rules mean that
the company cannot return with an offer for the club
within the next six months. Andrea Onnana. He is closing
in on a loan move to Trabzonspor in Turkey after
(15:30):
deciding to leave Manchester United's According to ESPN, he also
stands to virtually double his wages by leaving for the
rest of the season. Not bad PSG. They are unhappy
with French national team head coach Dider dea Schamp for
playing Usman Dimbele in Friday's match against Ukraine, despite the
forward having a hamstring injury that PSG described as serious.
(15:51):
Dimbele a strong candidate for the ballon d'Or probably should
win it. He will be sidelined for at least six weeks.
Desiree Due will also miss four weeks after being in
in the match. PSG has written to the French Football
Federation demanding a better working relationship between club and country.
They want a more transparent and collaborative medical coordination protocol
(16:11):
and the club wants to prevent these kind of things
from happening in the future. The club says they provided
the national team with medical information concerning workloads and the
injury risk to their players. They argue that Deschamp, who
accepted that they received the reports, just overlooked it. Then
Belle is going to miss the first Champions League game
against Atalanta, the second one away at Barcelona, and potentially
(16:33):
the trip to bayer Leverkusen in legah, He's going to
miss a big game with Marseille, along with several other fixtures.
Centuries all around. At PSG head coach Luis Enriquez was
sent for surgery after breaking a collarbone in a cycling
accident on Friday. It's going to be okay, but man
psg'sus bad luck right now. Also bad luck. Arling Holland
Manchester City striker suffered a cut to his face that
(16:56):
required stitches after a freak accident while on international duty
with Norway. He posted a picture on Snapchat showing a
cut under the right side of his lip, with the
caption just got banged out by a bus door thumbs
up emoji, three stitches, laughing face emoji. Norwegian publication VG
they report that he was hit by a luggage door
(17:17):
as he exited the bus, not a serious injury. He
continued to joke about the accident on social media. He
said the cut look good. Not looking good at the
moment is Barcelona's not gonna get out of this edition
of the Morning Espresso without a little Barcelona talk. That's
what we do around here. They always provide the content.
And we still don't know where their first La Lega
home match is going to be played. I mean it's
(17:38):
going to be this weekend. We don't know where it's
gonna be played though it's match week and we don't
know where the games? Can it be? Can't be delayed
much longer? Can it? Should be announced? Tomorrow Barcelona City
Council will carry out a new inspection of the construction
work at the Spotify camp new the Blograna does not
have the final construction certificate that it must have to
(18:02):
send to the Barcelona City Council in order to grant
the first occupancy license for the stadium. So it's looking
more and more like the game is going to have
to be played and La League is allowing them to
do this at the Estadi Johann Kroif, the small stadium
for the reserve team and for the women's team. It's
(18:22):
not a good situation. They're really not even supposed to
play it there because of the size, but they can
meet all the technical requirements that they need to. Barcelona
is still trying to get the game in the Camp New.
They're going to work with all parties involved, trying to
get everything done to have this game at the Camp New,
but they don't have what they need. They don't have
(18:44):
the final construction certificate. The city council hasn't been able
to inspect the work. Yeah, good job Barcelona. Maybe we'll
find out before the game where it's going to be played.
That'll do it for this edition of The Morning Espresso
will be back tomorrow to get your for the final
day of the international break with World Cup qualifiers all
over the place, international friendlies and more. That will be tomorrow. Also,
(19:09):
don't forget tomorrow night, we're having an event part of
our Atlanta Soccer City USA series at Emory University. We're
going to talk to Emory men's head coach Corey Griner,
women's head coach Sue Patberg to talk about Emory soccer,
their place in the Atlanta soccer ecosystem, the history of
the program which dates back to nineteen fifty eight, and more.
(19:31):
That's going to start at seven o'clock in the Jones
Room at the Woodruff Library on campus at Emory University.
Hope you can be there for us or with us
for that. We'll also have content from that on our
social media platforms as well. We'll have some social media
content from John Nelson's trip to Statesborough to see South
(19:52):
Georgia Tormento over the weekend, an interview with owner Darren
van Tassel that'll be up on the network later today,
along with SDHAM which we'll start at nine on the
Soccer down here, YouTube x and Twitch channels. I'll be
back with Espresso tomorrow. See y'all then,
Welcome in for another edition of The Morning Espresso on
the SDCH Network, brought to you by Oglethorpe University, Atlanta's
premier undergraduate learning experience and soccer powerhouse. I'm Jason Longshore.
Thanks for hanging out with me, starting another week of
the Espresso. Let's get caught up on World Cup qualifying.
Michael Marino hat trick as Spain was brilliant in a
(00:36):
six zero win over Turkey on the road yesterday. Marino
was incredible. It wasn't just your run of the mill
hat trick. The first came at the end of a
classic Spain kind of team move, the second a controlled
finish off of a pass from Pedri and then the
third a curler into the top corner. Pretty good stuff
(01:00):
from Michael Marino. Spain was unstoppable. It's their second biggest
ever away win in World Cup qualifying Germany. They bounced
back after a loss in Slovakia in game one to nil.
They won at home three to one over Northern Ireland.
Took them until the final quarter of their meeting with
Northern Ireland before they could secure the victory. Floria inverts
(01:22):
with the free kick to seal the win and the
Germans upset the Northern Irish a little bit with their
complaints about the style of play afterwards, to the point
that the return match in Belfast could be interesting. The
Dutch they went on the road and won three to
two against Lithuania. Memphis to Pi became the all time
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leading Dutch goalscorer with his fifty first and fifty second
international goals to move clear of Robin van Percy. The
Dutch have ten points through four They lead on goal
difference ahead of Poland, who have played one game more.
But the performances weren't great in this run. A one
to one draw with Poland on Thursday and then the
three two win over Lithuania. A lot of criticism in
(02:05):
the Dutch media, which isn't exactly uncommon, but that's what's
happening at the moment. Portugal first match since the death
of their forward Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva
in a car accident. They took an impressive first step
to the World Cup finals, sweeping aside Armenia five nil.
Christna Ronaldo was brilliant here in this one for Portugal.
(02:28):
He scored in both halves, the second a shot from distance.
He has one hundred and forty goals now in his
international career. Joel Felix with two goals as well. They're
playing together at Al Nasser. Saudi based player Joel Conselo
also contributed route for Portugal as they beat Armenia five nil. Saturday,
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Austria hosted Cyprus and the match was delayed after a
sinkhole opened up on the pitch during the second half.
Paused in the seventy fifth minute at the Rafician Arena
in Linz, to the home of Lask where George Bellow plays,
a sinkhole the size of a football was discovered on
(03:10):
the edge of the home team's penalty area. Austria goalkeeper
Alexander Schleger was pulling large clumps of turf out of
the hole as the referee stopped play. Play resumed ten
minutes later with ten minutes ten Play resumed with ten
minutes of stoppage time added to the end of the
second half. This isn't the first time that a sinkhole
has appeared in the playing surface. During an Austria match
(03:34):
June of twenty twenty two, at a different stadium, a
sinkhole appeared in the center circle shortly after full time
of Austria's Nations League match against Denmark at the Ernst
Hoppel Stadium in Vienna. What is going on with Austria?
They did win one nil over Cyprus. Wasn't pretty for Austria.
Marcel Sabatzer's fifty fourth minute penalty gets the win. Ralph
(03:56):
Ragnik's side is now second in Group H, three points
behind Bosnia and Herzegovina with a game in hand. England
four wins out of four in World Cup qualifying for them,
wasn't exactly convincing against Andorra. A little bit different look
to the starting eleven for Thomas Tukel Pukayosaka, Phil Foden,
Cole Palmer all out injured, total control of the match,
(04:18):
never really looked in any danger, but it wasn't very
exciting either against Andorra. Belgium. Kevin de Bruyne the talisman
for Belgium. A stunning goal to break the deadlock set
Belgium away on a six nil win to beat Kazakhstan
in their World Cup qualifier yesterday. Let's go to Africa Morocco.
They became the first African nation to qualify for the
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World Cup. Five nil win over ten man Niger in Rabot.
The Atlas Lions were semi finalists in the last World Cup.
All they needed was three points. They knew that coming
into the match after Tanzania could only draw one to
one in Congo earlier on Friday, Nigeria they re their
(05:00):
hopes of automatic qualification one nil win over Rwanda. It
wasn't easy in this one for Nigeria. It took a
goal from new Wolf striker tol Lou Arikadare that was
the match winner six minutes into the second half of
volley from close range. So Nigeria leapfrogs Rwanda to go
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third in Group SEE, six points behind leader South Africa,
who they will play in South Africa on Tuesday, massive
massive match in African World Cup qualifying. Nigeria will also
be without Victor Osiemen who suffered a foot injury. He
missed the trip now after being injured in that match
against Rwanda. Azerbaijan they have terminated the contract of their
(05:45):
national team coach Fernando Santos. This was by mutual consent
announced today, days after a five nil loss to Iceland
in a World Cup qualifier. Santos winless and eleven matches
since taking charge of Azerbaijan in June of twenty twenty five,
for nine losses out of the eleven. It was so bad.
And then the postgame press conferences media from Azerbaijan were
(06:07):
informing Santos of a direct flight from Iceland to his
home country of Portugal. Yeah, not good. Today's qualifiers Italy
they will look to make three victories in a row
as they face Israel in a match today, and it's
a big one for Italy. They got to go basically
unbeaten the rest of the way and flip the gold
difference to pass Norway to earn automatic qualification. They will
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host Norway in November. Israel they are nine points through
four games. They're in the second spot ahead of Italy,
so this is a big one as both teams try
to challenge Norway for that automatic spot. Croatia they will
try to pull level on points with Cechia as they
host Montenegro today. Croatia has a significant advantage in gold difference.
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They would also have a game in hand if they
get the three points, so they would be in control
of their group. Libya in African qualifying, they host winless
Swatini today. A win in Group C in Africa really
becomes interesting here. If Libya can do it, all eyes
are going to be on Cape Verde and Cameroon tomorrow.
Cape Verdi leading the group, Cameroon second. Libya would pull
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to within two points at the top of the table
with two games left to play in October. If they
get the win today Algeria, they could clinch qualification today
with a win and some other results going their way.
In Group G, Algeria's on the road at Guinea. They
need Uganda to fault to fail to pick up maximum
points at home to Somalia. They need help from Botswana
to take points off of Mozambique Tunisia. They can earn
(07:38):
a spot by the end of this window. If they
win at Equatorial Guinea today, they won't know till tomorrow
with the results there. Group I, this is the Group
of Chaos in Africa. Colmos has played their games in
this round. They sit on fifteen points in second place.
They've got two games left in October. That's one point
behind Ghana. Ghana are on sixteen points. They host Molly,
(08:00):
who is on twelve points in fourth place, but very
much still alive. In this group, Madagascar is in third
place on thirteen points. They host winless Chad today now.
Even though they haven't won, Chad threw the group into
chaos with a draw against Ghana, the leaders on Thursday.
MLS updates from the weekend. Owen Wolf formerly of the
(08:21):
Atlanta United Academy before moving to Austin with his father.
It's one of the hottest young Americans in MLS. Scored
a goal, had an assist on the late winner Austin
two to one win at Sporting Kansas City. Twenty years old.
Wolf made it five goals in his last seven appearances
with the equalizer in the thirty seventh minute. It was
his corner that found CJ. Faudry for his first MLS
(08:43):
goal that was the match winner in the eighty second minute.
Wolf leads Austin with eleven goal contributions this season. The
win also puts them into sixth place in the Western Conference,
eight points above the playoff line with six to play.
Dallas one one draw at Saint Louis City despite losing
goalkeeper Michael Colode with a red card in the sixteenth minute.
(09:04):
Jacob Jackson made his FC Dallas debut and goal eleven
saves for him in the match, second most saves in
FC Dallas history. The thirteen combined saves by Coloda and
Jackson are the most ever in a match for FC Dallas.
Saint Louis finished the match with an edge of forty
one to five in shots, but only one goal out
(09:25):
of forty one shots. In WSL Kansas City Current, they
beat BAFC two nil at PayPal Park to extend their
league lead over Washington to seventeen points. The current set
INWSL records for the most wins on the road in
a season with nine and consecutive shutout minutes with six
hundred and thirty two. Black Cowendanofski also became just the
(09:46):
second coach in NWSL history after Laura Harvey, to earn
one hundred regular season wins. The Chicago Stars. They celebrated
their first game at Northwestern University with a five to
win over the defending champions Orlando Pride. Ludmilla and Julia
Grosso each had a goal and an assist as the
Stars won for only the second time in nineteen games.
(10:09):
In twenty twenty five, they drew over ten thousand fans
to Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium that's gonna be
Chicago's new home in twenty twenty six. The twelve thousand
seat stadium is the interim home of Northwestern Football. The
Stars have been playing at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview. They've
averaged less than three thousand fans per game this season.
(10:31):
US women's national team players in Europe. Lily Johannes one
goal and helped set up another as Leonis beat Marseille
three to one in the French top flight opener. Johannes
is now eighteen. She turned eighteen in June. She was
signed from IAX joins US women's national team captain Lindsay
Heaps in the OL Leonis midfield. Jonathan Heraldez, the new
(10:54):
coach at OL Leonis formerly of Washington Spirit, described Johannas
as a special player for her ability to combined with others.
The match drew just over five thousand fans. Where OL
Leonis is going to play in the main stadium at
leon that seats fifty nine thousand fans, the Groupama Stadium
that's where Michelle King's OL Leonis side will play all
(11:16):
their matches this season. Emily Fox, she scored or she
started for Arsenal in their four to one win over
London City Lionessys before thirty eight thousand fans at Emirates
Stadium Fallontellus. Joyce earned a shoutout in Manchester United's opener,
a four to nail win over Lester Naomi Germa did
miss Chelsea's two to one win over Manchester City with
(11:37):
a calf injury, and Alyssa Thompson just transfer went through
right before the game, the day before the game, so
Nobelissa Thompson obviously yet for Chelsea. She'll start training with
the team this week. Local college results huge win in Gainesville,
Florida last night for Georgia State. Their women came back
to win two to one over Florida. It's the panthers
(11:57):
first win over an SEC team since two thousand and five.
Reyes Gordon's finish off of an Aliah Fidul Cross was
the difference. Mercer's women they dominated Gardner Webb five mil win.
On Senior Day, Oklahoma transfer and senior Morgan Ikele Barner
had a hat trick. She's been playing really, really well
for the Bears as of late. Mercer's men, it was
(12:17):
a crazy finish. It's a weird game all the way around.
A mishit cross from Toluada Yemmi ends up in the
back of the net in the last minute, forty plus
seconds left on the clock that pulled them level with
number twenty two ranks South Florida. Match finished one pint one.
South Florida had all the control of the game. They
were slowing everything down, they were keeping possession, they were
(12:40):
playing keep away, but they didn't put the game away.
And sometimes when you do that, miss hit crosses end
up in the back of the net and you end
up dropping results. Georgia's women they drew one to one
on the road at Clemson thanks to a goal from
Summer Dennigan. Other news from around the world as we
wrap up this edition of The Morning Espressolston Battery they
(13:00):
clinched a USL Championship playoff berth for the third straight year.
They defeated Indy eleven two to one in front of
a sold out crowd at Patriots Point. The Battery are
four points behind Louisville City in the race for the shield.
F C Tulsa is in third. They are trailing Alu
City by eleven points. Cal Jennings bagged both goal goals
(13:22):
on both sides at halftime to move into first in
the Golden Boot race with fourteen goals byer Leverkusen's coaching
searches over. According to reports in Germany, Casper Hullmand will
succeed Eric Tenhag, who was fired last Monday agreement in
principle between Hullmand and Bayer Leverkusen. He stepped down as
Denmark's national team coach in the summer of twenty twenty four.
(13:44):
He's been without a job since beginning of twenty twenty five.
He announced ave football hiatus without specifying a specific time frame.
In January, turned down a lucrative offer to become Belgium's
national team coach, which is why even yesterday people familiar
with him weren't sure if he'd even take the job
at Levercusen, but it sounds like he has. Byron Munich
(14:05):
on the women's side, they smashed the Frauen Bundesliga's attendance record,
drawing a crowd of fifty seven thy seven hundred and
sixty two for their two nail win over byer Leverkusen
at the Alians Arena. Previous record was just over thirty
eight thousand for a match between Cologne and Eintrach Frankfurt
in twenty twenty three. Last night, San Diego Wave retired
(14:26):
Alex Morgan's number thirteen after their match, presented her with
a framed jersey moments after their three nail loss to
the Houston Dash. Not something you typically see in retired
jersey numbers in the sport. Occasionally it will happen. San
Diego Wave have made that happen for Alex Morgan. News
(14:46):
out of England today Tottenham Hotspur. They say they are
categorically not for sale, despite expressions of interest from various parties,
including former Newcastle co owner Amanda Staveley. The departure of
Daniel Levy on Thursday, when he he was let go
it sparked rumors of an imminent change of ownership. On
Monday morning, PCP International Finance, the investment vehicle led by Staveley,
(15:09):
They confirmed that they had been interested in a potential move.
They confirmed that they quote do not intend to make
an offer for Tottenham unquote, and takeover rules mean that
the company cannot return with an offer for the club
within the next six months. Andrea Onnana. He is closing
in on a loan move to Trabzonspor in Turkey after
(15:30):
deciding to leave Manchester United's According to ESPN, he also
stands to virtually double his wages by leaving for the
rest of the season. Not bad PSG. They are unhappy
with French national team head coach Dider dea Schamp for
playing Usman Dimbele in Friday's match against Ukraine, despite the
forward having a hamstring injury that PSG described as serious.
(15:51):
Dimbele a strong candidate for the ballon d'Or probably should
win it. He will be sidelined for at least six weeks.
Desiree Due will also miss four weeks after being in
in the match. PSG has written to the French Football
Federation demanding a better working relationship between club and country.
They want a more transparent and collaborative medical coordination protocol
(16:11):
and the club wants to prevent these kind of things
from happening in the future. The club says they provided
the national team with medical information concerning workloads and the
injury risk to their players. They argue that Deschamp, who
accepted that they received the reports, just overlooked it. Then
Belle is going to miss the first Champions League game
against Atalanta, the second one away at Barcelona, and potentially
(16:33):
the trip to bayer Leverkusen in legah, He's going to
miss a big game with Marseille, along with several other fixtures.
Centuries all around. At PSG head coach Luis Enriquez was
sent for surgery after breaking a collarbone in a cycling
accident on Friday. It's going to be okay, but man
psg'sus bad luck right now. Also bad luck. Arling Holland
Manchester City striker suffered a cut to his face that
(16:56):
required stitches after a freak accident while on international duty
with Norway. He posted a picture on Snapchat showing a
cut under the right side of his lip, with the
caption just got banged out by a bus door thumbs
up emoji, three stitches, laughing face emoji. Norwegian publication VG
they report that he was hit by a luggage door
(17:17):
as he exited the bus, not a serious injury. He
continued to joke about the accident on social media. He
said the cut look good. Not looking good at the
moment is Barcelona's not gonna get out of this edition
of the Morning Espresso without a little Barcelona talk. That's
what we do around here. They always provide the content.
And we still don't know where their first La Lega
home match is going to be played. I mean it's
(17:38):
going to be this weekend. We don't know where it's
gonna be played though it's match week and we don't
know where the games? Can it be? Can't be delayed
much longer? Can it? Should be announced? Tomorrow Barcelona City
Council will carry out a new inspection of the construction
work at the Spotify camp new the Blograna does not
have the final construction certificate that it must have to
(18:02):
send to the Barcelona City Council in order to grant
the first occupancy license for the stadium. So it's looking
more and more like the game is going to have
to be played and La League is allowing them to
do this at the Estadi Johann Kroif, the small stadium
for the reserve team and for the women's team. It's
(18:22):
not a good situation. They're really not even supposed to
play it there because of the size, but they can
meet all the technical requirements that they need to. Barcelona
is still trying to get the game in the Camp New.
They're going to work with all parties involved, trying to
get everything done to have this game at the Camp New,
but they don't have what they need. They don't have
(18:44):
the final construction certificate. The city council hasn't been able
to inspect the work. Yeah, good job Barcelona. Maybe we'll
find out before the game where it's going to be played.
That'll do it for this edition of The Morning Espresso
will be back tomorrow to get your for the final
day of the international break with World Cup qualifiers all
over the place, international friendlies and more. That will be tomorrow. Also,
(19:09):
don't forget tomorrow night, we're having an event part of
our Atlanta Soccer City USA series at Emory University. We're
going to talk to Emory men's head coach Corey Griner,
women's head coach Sue Patberg to talk about Emory soccer,
their place in the Atlanta soccer ecosystem, the history of
the program which dates back to nineteen fifty eight, and more.
(19:31):
That's going to start at seven o'clock in the Jones
Room at the Woodruff Library on campus at Emory University.
Hope you can be there for us or with us
for that. We'll also have content from that on our
social media platforms as well. We'll have some social media
content from John Nelson's trip to Statesborough to see South
(19:52):
Georgia Tormento over the weekend, an interview with owner Darren
van Tassel that'll be up on the network later today,
along with SDHAM which we'll start at nine on the
Soccer down here, YouTube x and Twitch channels. I'll be
back with Espresso tomorrow. See y'all then,
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