THE SOCCER REPORT
Chelsea host Manchester United in Carabao Cup; Houston Dynamo, USWNT name new managers
The Houston Dynamo officially announced the appointment of former U.S. Men's National Team midfielder Tab Ramos as the club's new Head Coach last Friday. Ramos arrived in the Bayou City on Monday and has begun to plan for the 2020 Major League Soccer season.
The Dynamo were not the only ones with a new manager as the U.S. Women's National Team announced the appointment of two-time NWSL Championship winning coach Vlatko Andonovski. The 2019 NWSL Coach of the Year takes over for Jill Ellis, who took the USWNT to back-to-back FIFA Women's World Cup titles.
The U.S. Men also had positive news of their own to share. Sergiño Dest, the 18-year-old Ajax defender, revealed his intent to play for the United States over the Netherlands. Dest had played with the USMNT earlier this year but is yet to be permamently tied through an appearance in an official encounter. Dest also played with the youth national teams of Team USA, including under Ramos at the 2019 U-20 FIFA World Cup.
Here is the rest of the soccer ongoings from the past week:
Major League Soccer
The MLS Cup Playoffs have one finalist decided after Seattle Sounders upset LAFC on Tuesday night. Seattle will play for the championship at Atlanta or will host Toronto, depending on the results of Wednesday night's match.
Conference semifinals results
- New York City FC 1-2 Toronto FC
- Atlanta United 2-0 Philadelphia Union
- Los Angeles FC 5-3 LA Galaxy
- Seattle Sounders 2-0 Real Salt Lake
- Los Angeles FC 1-3 Seattle Sounders
- Atlanta United vs. Toronto [to be played Wednesday]
National Women's Soccer League
The 2019 NWSL season came to an end as the North Carolina Courage succesfully defended their title with a 4-0 win over the Chicago Red Stars.
English Premier League
After weeks of concern from U.S. Men's National Team fans over the playing time of Christian Pulisic, the 21-year-old American prodigy scored his first goal for Chelsea F.C. - delivering three in the process. Pulisic became the second U.S. player with a hat-trick in the EPL and the first since Clint Dempsey.
The Premier League resumes this coming weekend but first, English clubs are taking part in the League Cup - known also as the Carabao Cup - during the midweek slate.
Top six: Liverpool (28), Man City (22), Leicester City (20), Chelsea (20), Arsenal (16), Crystal Palace (15)
Scoring leader: 9 - Jamie Vardy (Leicester City)
Assists leader: 9 - Kevin De Bruyne (Man City)
Spanish La Liga
Updated through October 29 matches
Top six: Barcelona (22), Granada (20), Atletico Madrid (20), Real Sociedad (19), Sevilla (19), Real Madrid (18)
Scoring leader: 7 - Gerard Moreno (Villareal) / Lorenzo Garica (Real Betis)
Assists leader: 4 - Leo Messi (Barcelona) / Santi Cazorla (Villareal)
German Bundesliga
Top six: Monchengladbach (19), Bayern Munich (18), Freiburg (17), Wolfsburg (17), Dortmund (16), RB Leipzig (15)
Scoring leader: 13 - Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
Italian Serie A
Top six: Inter Milan (25), Juventus (23), Atalanta (20), Napoli (17), Roma (16), Lazio (15)
Scoring leader: 10 - Ciro Immobile (Lazio)
Assists leader: 5 - Four players tiedFrench Ligue 1
Top six: PSG (27), Nantes (19), Lille (18), Reims (18), Brest (17), Angers (17)
Scoring leader: 9 - Wissam Ben Yedder (Monaco)
TV listings (All Times CT):
Wednesday, October 23
1:00 p.m. - [Serie A] Napoli vs. Atalanta (ESPN+)
1:00 p.m. - [La Liga] Valencia vs. Sevilla (beIN Sports)
2:30 p.m. - [English League Cup] Liverpool vs. Arsenal (ESPN+)
2:45 p.m. - [English League Cup] Aston Villa vs. Wolves (ESPN+)
2:45 p.m. - [German Cup] Dortmund vs. Gladbach (ESPN3)
2:45 p.m. - [German Cup] St Pauli vs. Frankfurt (ESPN3)
3:00 p.m. - [Serie A] Juventus vs. Genoa (ESPN+)
3:00 p.m. - [Serie A] Udinese vs. Roma (ESPN+)
3:00 p.m. - [English League Cup] Chelsea vs. Man United (ESPN+)
3:00 p.m. - [La Liga] Real Madrid vs. Leganes (beIN SPORTS)
7:00 p.m. - [MLS Cup Playoffs] Atlanta United FC vs. Toronto FC (FS1, FOX Deportes)
