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In 2019, Concacaf held the largest-ever Gold Cup, with 16 teams creating an event that was actually pretty exciting. For the 2021 Gold Cup format, Concacaf is doubling down on the 16-team field but adding some weird new spice to the tournament — and for some reason an odd choice for its first guest participant in over a decade.

Former Premier League goalkeeper and USMNT great Tim Howard is dusting off his old analyst skills as he is set to rejoin NBC’s Premier League coverage for the 2020-21 season.

NBC made the announcement on Tuesday that Howard will be back in the studio ranks. 

The former Manchester United and Everton goalkeeper worked with the network for three years. NBC got the rights to the league in 2013.

Jordan Morris scored twice 61 seconds apart early in the second half as the host Seattle Sounders pulled away to defeat Los Angeles Football Club 3-1 Sunday night.

Raúl Ruidíaz scored at the 11-minute mark before being replaced because of a heel contusion at halftime for the defending MLS Cup champion Sounders (4-1-2, 14 points), who moved into second place in the Western Conference, two points behind Sporting Kansas City.

Aron Jóhannsson kept up his good form in the Allsvenskan with a brace in Hammarby's 3-3 draw against Kalmar on Sunday.

After a long run of injuries stretching back several seasons, the USMNT forward has gotten consistent playing time in Sweden over the last couple of months and has reaped the benefits. Since the beginning of the 2014-15 season, Jóhannsson has missed over 100 games due to injury. Since late July, though, he has featured in every game for seventh-place Hammarby and scored four goals in the club's last six games. 

Major League Soccer will resume play later on Friday after postponing matches for two days in solidarity with other North American sports leagues that halted play this week to protest against racial injustice.

Two-times World Cup winner and OL Reign midfielder Megan Rapinoe is opting out of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) fall series starting next month, the Washington-based franchise said in a statement on Friday.

U.S. international Rapinoe is among 10 Reign players who are not available for the tournament, which is scheduled to start on Sept. 5.

Real Salt Lake owner Dell Loy Hansen called his players' refusal to play Wednesday night a sign of "disrespect" and made him question "how much I want to invest in the team."

Real Salt Lake's contest against visiting Los Angeles FC was one of five games postponed in the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Wednesday was a remarkable day in U.S. sports. For the first time in memory, athletes in this country chose not to participate in major professional team sports in protest of the continued shootings of Black men and women by police. It started with the Milwaukee Bucks, whose home arena isn’t far from where Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back earlier this week and where two protesters were murdered in the streets. It continued with the rest of the NBA and WNBA, a poignant message on the four-year anniversary of Colin Kaepernick taking a knee.