Fever ax Sides despite Clark stardom, playoff bid​

Reece James has suffered another hamstring injury and will miss Chelsea‘s trip to face Leicester in the Premier League this weekend, head coach Enzo Maresca said in a news conference on Thursday.

James, 24, has suffered from frequent muscular injuries over the past few seasons and only returned from a five-month layoff in Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat to Liverpool on Oct. 20.

“We have for sure just one injured player, that is Reece. Unfortunately, he felt something small and we don’t want to take any risk for the weekend,” Maresca said

“So it’s only one for sure is the only one for sure that is not available for this weekend. The rest, some of them are better, some of them are still a doubt. We have to see.”

Asked about the exact nature of the injury, Maresca said: “Hamstring. It’s a muscular problem. We don’t want to take, as I said, any risks for this weekend. Hopefully it’s not something long.”

The Chelsea captain played just 482 minutes of first-team football last season as hamstring injuries kept him on the sidelines. He underwent surgery in an attempt to correct the issues in December 2023, before he picked up another hamstring injury during the club’s preseason tour of the United States this summer.

Maresca said on Oct. 18 that he was looking to ease James back into the first-team picture slowly by initially limiting his match time as he felt the player’s body cannot cope with two matches in a week.

Since his return, James started consecutive games against Liverpool, Newcastle, Manchester United and played the last eight minutes of Chelsea’s draw with Arsenal before the international break.

James called the setback “another challenge” but insisted he would be back.

“This message is to the people that understand & have respect for what I’m going through … I appreciate you so much, your support and kind messages go further than you could ever imagine,” James wrote on Instagram.

“I’m doing okay, been better and also been worse. Another challenge ahead accepted. Eventually I’ll come out on top. Against all odds.”>

Saturday’s match at the King Power Stadium represents Maresca’s first return to face the team he led to the Championship title and promotion to the Premier League last season. He was appointed as Chelsea’s new head coach on May 31.

He said he is “excited” to face his old side and still talks to some of his former colleagues at the club.

“I’m excited and thankful, it was a fantastic season. The owner, his family are fantastic people. They care for players, staff, all of the people that work in the club. You can see that,” Maresca said.

“It was a fantastic season because I met good people. There was a fantastic connection between the players and staff, and that is something you have to create to be successful. I’m still in contact with them, it was fantastic.”

Asked if he felt he has become a better coach since leaving Leicester, Maresca said: “To be honest, I work every day to become better. I hope [so] because I like to see things and analyse. We try to improve players but also improve staff. I try to improve every day.

“I don’t know if I’m better or worse, but I’m always curious to see things and study. That’s the only thing I focus on.”

Chelsea are third in the Premier League after 11 matches, nine points behind leaders Liverpool. Leicester are 15th, three points above the relegation zone.

Football clubs worldwide have been paid $125 million in money owed to them from transfers of their former players, FIFA said on Wednesday, with money routed via its finance house in Paris, and there’s a backlog of another almost $200 million.

A further $31.7 million has been agreed but not yet sent.

The payments are being allocated to more than 5,000 grassroots and professional clubs by the FIFA Clearing House.

FIFA published an update on two years of work by the clearing house, which started in November 2022 to bring more transparency to the often murky multi-billion dollar transfer industry. It also tries to ensure smaller clubs get cash they are owed from future sales of players they nurtured.

When Moisés Caicedo made a British transfer record move from Brighton to Chelsea last year, his former clubs in Ecuador were entitled to share millions of dollars from the £115 million ($145 million) deal.

The money routed by FIFA “was a dream,” the president of CD Espoli, Lenín Bolaños, said in the FIFA report, with plans to pay for a practice ground, medical clinic and a gym.

Some parts of the FIFA transfer market rules in place since 2001 are under review after a European court ruling last month in a case brought by former France midfielder Lassana Diarra.

The existing FIFA system entitles players’ former clubs who trained them between the ages of 12 and 21 to share up to 5% of a future transfer fee.

However, clubs often were unaware a transfer had gone through or did not have the expertise or resources to pursue a claim. Now the online process is managed by the FIFA finance house which notifies buying clubs of approved payments that must be made within 30 days.

The wealthiest buying markets, England and Saudi Arabia, have paid the most in so-called “training rewards” FIFA said — $50.1 million and $18.7 million, respectively, in the past two years.

The leading net recipients have been clubs in Netherlands ($8.7 million), France ($7.8 million) and Argentina ($7.1 million).

One reason for the backlog is that clubs are not compliant with the system, the FIFA report said. It said at least 1,600 clubs in more than 100 countries are accredited.

“There are still important challenges ahead and areas for improvement,” FIFA chief legal officer Emilio García said in the 52-page report.

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — Washington Spirit midfielder Croix Bethune capped off an incredible first year as a professional player with another award on Thursday when the 23-year-old was named the first recipient of the NWSL’s Midfielder of the Year, and told ESPN that she is only just getting started.

Bethune, who tied an NWSL record with 10 assists this season, was also named Rookie of the Year earlier this week. She earned her first cap for the United States this year and won an Olympic gold medal with the team in August.

Her season was cut short by a torn meniscus suffered while throwing out a celebratory first pitch in late August, meaning she won’t be on the field for the Spirit in Saturday’s NWSL Championship against the Orlando Pride.

Bethune said she hopes to start running again next week and return to the field for the start of the 2025 season.

“Of course, staying healthy, but building on this year,” she told ESPN about her future goals. “Having such a great rookie season, I feel like a lot of people might think it will be hard to top or do better, but for me, I feel like this is just the base to build off of that and to continue to elevate as a player.”

Bethune needed only 17 games to tie former USWNT great Tobin Heath’s NWSL assists record from 2016. Heath, a two-time World Cup winner, was one of Bethune’s favorite players growing up. Bethune said Heath congratulated her on her great season and agrees that there are similarities in their games.

“Tobin is so cheeky and creative, and she has great soccer IQ,” Bethune said. “I feel like there’s a lot of similarities and just watching her play was always so much fun.”

She continued: “For me, I’ve just been playing soccer for so long and I love it. I’ve been taken away from the game, and it helped me find love even more for the game, so I feel like when it’s time to play and perform, I’m just out there doing what I love, just having fun. I feel like I naturally go into a state of flow or calmness.”

Bethune joins USWNT defender Naomi Girma as the only first-year player to win NWSL Rookie of the Year in addition to another award. Girma was also named Defender of the Year as a rookie for the San Diego Wave in 2022.

Bethune described the year as “blessings on blessings,” although having it cut short by another injury, one that didn’t even occur during soccer activities, took some time to process.

“The first week or two were tough, especially coming to peace with what happened,” she said. “It happened and I can’t change anything about it. But after that, just the support being around and flipping my mentality like let’s put this work in to get back, it was fine after that.”

Bethune is one of 11 players this year to earn her first senior USWNT call-up under head coach Emma Hayes. She said she wrote down the Olympics as one of her goals at the beginning of 2024, despite being uncapped, and it manifested itself.

“I honestly love it,” Bethune said of the youth movement in the league and with the USWNT. “I think it’s showing that no matter what class or how old you are, if you’re a baller you’re a baller. I love that Emma’s giving us youth and the younger ones an opportunity to see what we can do. We definitely do have some OG ballers involved with the national team, but I love that she’s allowing us to show what we can do.”

She is also part of a Washington Spirit rookie class that has played a crucial role in the team’s championship run. Washington has continued its strong run of form despite missing Bethune this season.

The attacking midfielder is in Kansas City with the squad and will be cheering them on from the sidelines.

“I think what makes the team special is our grit, our determination to work hard, but also the trust we have within each other,” Bethune said. “I feel like from the beginning of the season, the exterior of our bubble, everyone else didn’t believe in us or think that we would get this far — especially having a new team and then a new coach come in. But I feel like we stuck together and stayed within our bubble to perform so well.”

Midfielder Julian Gressel said Lionel Messi demanded Inter Miami CF reach higher standards, going as far as to label ties throughout the season as “unacceptable.”

“It’s demanding [in the locker room with Messi]. You’re talking about the player with the most wins in the history of the game,” Gressel said on the “Major League Journeymen” podcast. “They’re coming in and they’re expecting the same, and you as a teammate, you kind of have to get accustomed to that and get used to that with Messi, [Luis] Suárez, [Sergio] Busquets and [Jordi] Alba.

“It’s unacceptable to tie a game, as simple as that. We tied a game earlier in the year and I remember him being really really upset in the locker room, he’s like, ‘We shouldn’t tie, we can’t tie.'”

Gressel said at one point in the season, then-manager Gerardo Martino tried to step in and calm Messi down, telling him: “It’s OK to draw sometimes, we can’t just win everything, it’s not how this league works.”

“But for [Messi], his aura is that,” Gressel added.

Inter Miami concluded the 2024 MLS campaign with the Supporters’ Shield and set the league record for most points in a single season before losing to Atlanta United FC in the first round of playoffs. Though the team managed a historic 22-4-8 (W-L-D) record, Gressel emphasized tension would rise inside the locker room after a negative result and lead Suárez to occasionally confront players about individual performances.

“When it comes to the game or when it comes to being serious, it’s being serious and it’s time,” Gressel said. “If you’re not doing your part, you’re getting it, like, you’re hearing it. You notice they’re not content. [Messi has] addressed other guys directly, he’s more so quiet, but you have guys like Luis, who’s a little bit more emotional. He’s more outgoing in a sense, emotionally outgoing like that, so you hear more from him.

“Messi will certainly come up to you and will talk to you more so rather than be in your face about things. So we definitely kind of see that demand.”

The Herons fell to Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Nov. 2 and Chase Stadium on Nov. 9 to see the 2024 campaign come to an end after a 2-1 loss in the teams’ best-of-three series, leaving many on Miami in a state of shock.

“After the loss, the guys were distraught in the locker room. You have everybody kind of staring into nothing,” Gressel said. “You just sit in the quiet and kind of in disbelief, but also very hesitant too, like, ‘Whoa, like, what just happened.'”

Gressel, however, said he could see “warning signs” that Inter Miami would struggle in the postseason before the eventual elimination during the third match. Though the team scored a league-high 79 goals throughout the season, the backline conceded 49.

“I saw some warning signs throughout the last few weeks of the season,” Gressel said. “All year long, we’ve given up too many chances and we’ve given up too many goals and that’s all usually something that you have to fix before the playoffs in order to kind of make a deep run.”

The team now heads into the offseason with the task of making 2024 roster decisions and finding a new coach after Martino announced his resignation on Nov. 19.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Washington Spirit forward Trinity Rodman said Thursday that a new team-first mentality has been a major factor in her development as she looks to cap a memorable year with another National Women’s Soccer League title.

Saturday’s clash with the Orlando Pride will mark Rodman’s second NWSL Championship appearance in four seasons as a professional. She delivered the game-winning assist in extra time in the 2021 final to help the Spirit lift their first NWSL trophy.

Since then, the 22-year-old has emerged as one of the best players in the world. She scored three goals at the 2024 Olympics and started every game on the forward line to help the USWNT win a fifth gold medal.

“I don’t want to say it’s surprised me, but I’m extremely happy with the way that the year has gone,” Rodman said ahead of Saturday’s showdown at CPKC Stadium. “I couldn’t have asked for a better Olympics. I think the biggest thing for me has been not getting too hung up on mistakes and celebrating other people. I think that has been really good for my development.

“Really successful players that are developing can get really stuck in themselves and only thinking about their performance, when I feel like it’s bigger than that. This year, I’ve really just put a huge focus on being a part of a team and learning and growing from the people around me. That’s what I did at the Olympics and that’s what I’ve been doing here at club.”

Rodman added that the influx of attacking talent into the NWSL pushes her and other U.S. internationals to be even better.

“Obviously, being an attacker for the U.S. women’s national team and for the NWSL, I want to strive to be the best and I want to be the best that I can be,” Rodman said. “So, when there are people getting these titles and getting these trophies, you want to strive to get that. That alone I think pushes you when they’re getting awards that you want to get.”

Rodman finished the regular season with eight goals, tied for sixth in the league. Orlando Pride forward Barbra Banda, who is Rodman’s opponent in Saturday’s final, scored 13. Kansas City Current forward Temwa Chawinga won the Golden Boot and set a new league record with 20 goals.

“It shows where the sport is going and with players like that that push the game and push the players to be better, that’s just bringing in more people,” Rodman said.

Rodman missed the last matchup between Washington and Orlando, on Oct. 6, when the Pride won 2-0 to clinch the NWSL Shield. She was dealing with back spasms that were reaggravated when she was tackled by Chawinga in a 3-0 loss to the Current on Sept. 20 at CPKC Stadium.

Rodman joked that things can only go up from the last time the Spirit were in town, between her injury and the Spirit losing while playing down a player.

Washington bounced back to finish second in the league and set a new NWSL record alongside Orlando, with each team winning 18 games.

Three years ago, Rodman was a rookie on a team that won a championship while players publicly called for the removal of former team owner Steve Baldwin. On Saturday, Rodman and her teammates take the field in search of a second title, this time under the stewardship of owner Michele Kang and head coach Jonatan Giraldez.

“I don’t want to say comfortable, but I’m a lot more confident in myself and in the team,” Rodman said. “There’s less bad nerves and more good nerves. We’ve created a good foundation and I think we’ve figured out what this team’s identity is and now it’s just about putting a nail in the coffin. We have nothing to add at this point, it’s just locking in for this last game. Everyone’s on the same page of that; everyone’s ready to step up to the spot.”