USA

Forced to operate from a distance last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, David Beckham promised on Friday to be the hands on owner he said he would be and defended hiring his friend Phil Neville as Inter Miami coach.

Despite qualifying for the Major League Soccer playoffs in their debut campaign in 2020, Beckham said he was not happy with the culture within the club he co-owns with Jorge Mas and started the new season by sacking manager Diego Alonso and bringing in former Manchester United teammate Neville.

Jordan Morris joined Swansea City on Friday on loan for the rest of the 2020-21 season, with the EFL Championship side retaining an option to buy the American striker permanently at the end of the campaign. The deal reinforces a recent trend: European clubs finding massive bargains in American players.

It’s been decreed by content creators across the land: Cristiano Ronaldo, with his 760th career goal, is now the top scoring player in soccer history, and there’s nothing Pelé can do now except bow to B/R Football’s use of the goat emoji. 

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— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) January 20, 2021

Back on Dec. 9, Major League Soccer unveiled its list of the 25 best players in the league’s 25-year history. One no-brainer was the inclusion of attacking midfielder Dwayne De Rosario, who spent 14 hugely decorated seasons in the league. 

De Rosario was a four-time MLS Cup winner, six-time MLS Best XI selection and the 2011 MVP. His 104 career goals puts him ninth all time, and two of those strikes famously won MLS Goal of the Year Awards (2004 and 2005).  

The U.S. women’s national team is in the midst of a two-match friendly series with Colombia, having won 4-0 on Monday with another match slated for Friday. In between, a USWNT inauguration video helped celebrate Joe Biden becoming the 46th president of the United States.

If you believe The Athletic — and not just their 15,000-word oral histories about that time when something slightly, comparatively odd happened — then Frank Lampard is finished as manager of Chelsea following Tuesday’s 2-0 defeat to Leicester City.

The Mewis sisters, led by Samantha's three goals, did all the scoring as the U.S. women's national team opened its 2021 campaign with a 4-0 victory against Colombia on Monday in Orlando, Fla.

A second dose of Matthew Hoppe heroics was thwarted by a Luka Jović brace in Eintracht Frankfurt’s 3-1 Bundesliga victory against Schalke on Sunday. The Frankfurt-Schalke highlights depict the emergence of the American teenager and the resurgence of a written off star.

Manchester United’s surprise run at the top of the FA WSL was halted by Chelsea on Sunday with the Blues handing the Red Devils their first defeat of the season and taking their spot at the summit in the process.

The rise of United and legitimacy of its title challenge was highlighted this week by Tobin Heath’s decision to decline a call-up for the USWNT’s January camp in order to stay in Manchester for a couple crucial games, including today’s top-of-the-table clash.  

Manchester City’s transfer policy it quite transparent, but honestly it might be the smartest thing any club has ever done.

There is little doubt the two-time defending world champion USWNT is the best soccer team in the world, so it makes sense for Manchester City to throw all its money at World Cup-winning players. The Citizens signed their third American of the season on Saturday, making Abby Dahlkemper’s move official.