Injuries

Angel City forward Sydney Leroux was in tears Monday night after an emotional return to the field. Leroux had been sidelined for the past 11 months and scored in her first game back during Angel City’s 2-1 defeat to the Chicago Red Stars.

Leroux joined Angel City from the Orlando Pride last June and was only able to make three appearances for the Los Angeles club before a season-ending ankle injury that required surgery.

There are plenty of interesting teams to watch at The Soccer Tournament, but one of the most star-studded is certainly Team Dempsey (although USMNT legend Clint Dempsey only serves as the head coach in flip-flops).

On Thursday, they began play at the 7-on-7 tournament with a starting lineup that had Luis Robles in goal (three USMNT caps), Jermaine Jones in midfield (69 USMNT caps), Eddie Johnson out wide (63 USMNT caps) and Chris Wondolowski up top (35 USMNT caps). Jaime Lozano (34 Mexico caps) was on the bench.

United States women’s national team and potentially soon-to-be Chelsea midfielder Catarina Macario posted on social media that she won’t recover from her ACL injury in time for the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

With the tournament starting in less than two months the 23-year-old looked like a long shot for making the roster. She missed the entire 2022-23 season for her club team Lyon (France) after suffering an injury to her left ACL in June 2022.

AC Milan forward Rafael Leão could be fit to face Inter Milan in their Champions League semifinal second leg, manager Stefano Pioli said on Monday, providing a major boost to his side's hopes of overturning a two-goal deficit.

Portuguese winger Leão, 23, missed the 2-0 first-leg defeat and also sat out Saturday's shock loss to Spezia in Serie A after sustaining a thigh injury in Milan's league win over Lazio earlier this month.

Leão has been one of Milan's most influential players this season and registered 13 goals and 10 assists in all competitions.

Having just turned 30 back in March, Paul Pogba should be at the height of his powers in the Juventus midfield. But the Frenchman has been so riddled by injuries that Sunday's Serie A match between Juve and Cremonese at Allianz Stadium represented his first start since turning out for Manchester United against Norwich back in April of 2022.

For fans of the beautiful game, it's been a tremendous loss — the World Cup winner, when healthy and in form, is an otherworldly mezzala, capable of things his peers can only conjure in their imaginations. 

The United States men’s national is set to face bitter rival Mexico in a month’s time in the Concacaf Nations League semifinal at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. With a litany of injuries to the team we felt that a potential USMNT starting XI vs Mexico was necessary.

Mexico and the U.S. faced off in a snooze fest with their B-teams in the Continental Clásico in April, but on June 15 the star players should be back on the field.