GM football fans. It’s Wednesday, Feb. 05 - The MLS and US Soccer Federation win an antitrust lawsuit, Spanish referees threaten strike, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.
Editor’s Note: Got a minute? Share your feedback with the Route One team using February’s form here.
FIXTURES
English League Cup Semi-Final: Newcastle United vs Arsenal, Agg 2-0, 20:00 / 15:00. Newcastle enter the fixture with two losses in their last three league matches, while Arsenal have won five and drawn one of their last six matches since losing the first leg. However, Arsenal must win by at least three goals for the first time at St James' Park since October 2010 (4-0) to advance outright. Liverpool host Tottenham on Thursday (Feb. 06) in the corresponding semi-final second leg.
Results…
Copa Del Rey, Quarter-Final: Atletico Madrid 5-0 Getafe
DFB Pokal, Quarter-Final: Stuttgart 1-0 Augsburg
Coppa Italia, Quarter-Final: Atalanta 0-1 Bologna
EFL Championship: Burnley 1-0 Oxford | QPR 2-1 Blackburn (League Table)
TOP TALKING POINTS
MLS Wins Historic Trial
The North American Super League (NASL), which held second-tier status in the United States from 2011-17, has lost an antitrust lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation (USSF) and Major League Soccer (MLS). After a three-week trial, deliberations took a mere two hours.
The NASL sued after the USSF didn’t renew its second-tier status. The USSF said the NASL failed to meet several second-tier criteria, including stadium seating capacity, the number of teams, and their locations. The now-defunct NASL accused the USSF and MLS of conspiring to maintain a monopoly on professional football in the US and Canada. The suit initially sought $500m in damages.
Jeffrey Kessler, a lawyer for the NASL, said in an email that an appeal was highly likely. He believes there were fundamental errors that “prevented the jury from considering important evidence and claims.” After the verdict, an MLS statement said the case “was nothing more than an attempt by NASL to deflect blame for its own failures.”
Referees Threaten Strike
All referees from the first and second divisions in Spain were called to an emergency meeting held by the country’s referee committee. The president of the committee, Luis Medina Cantlejo, reportedly expressed anger over the mistakes made by referees over the weekend.
Disciplinary action was taken against ten referees from both divisions, including the main referee and VAR, respectively, in Real Madrid’s 1-0 loss to Espanyol. Reports in Spain suggest that referees (in Spanish) have not reacted well to the meeting and are seriously considering striking.
The meeting followed a four-page letter of complaint made by Real Madrid of refereeing mistakes addressed to the Spanish Football Federation. While all top clubs in Spain complain of poor refereeing in the country, a formal complaint like Madrid’s was unusual.
CR7 Claims Greatest Ever
Cristiano Ronaldo said he is “the most complete player to have existed” in an interview with Spanish television show El Chiringuito. While the Portuguese forward respects fans who prefer Lionel Messi, Pele, or Diego Maradona, he argues that statistics back up his claim.
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner, 39, is the highest men's goalscorer in football history with 923 goals. "Who's the player in history who's scored most goals with their head, their left foot, penalties, free kicks? I was looking the other day, and not being left-footed, I'm in the top 10 goalscorers with their left foot in history,” Ronaldo told the reporter.
During the interview, Ronaldo said Real Madrid “didn’t behave well” with him during his departure in 2018. But he hasn’t ruled out a return to the Bernabeu after his retirement.
See a detailed breakdown of Ronaldo and Messi’s career stats here.
POLL
Do you agree with Cristiano Ronaldo's claim that he's the greatest footballer ever?
ON THE BALL
Europe
> Hugo Viana has departed his role at Sporting ahead of replacing the outgoing Txiki Begiristain as Manchester City’s director of football (More) | West Ham’s technical director Tim Steidten has left the club following his arrival in 2023 (More)
> Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham won’t feature for Real Madrid in Wednesday’s (Feb. 05) Copa del Rey quarter-final at Leganes (More)
> Roma are trying to convince Carlo Ancelotti to become their new head coach next season (More) | AC Milan complete the signing of Joao Felix on loan from Chelsea for the remainder of the season, with no option to buy (More)
> Gerard Pique, the top shareholder of FC Andorra, has launched an ultimatum to the Government of Andorra, asking it to bet on the football club as it is doing with rugby (More)
Americas
> Emmanuel Latte Lath becomes the MLS record fee after joining Atlanta United from Middlesbrough in a deal worth around $22-24m plus add-ons (More)
> The National Women's Soccer League awards Denver the league's 16th professional franchise (More)
> TV Globo has secured an agreement with the Liga Forte Uniao (LFU) to broadcast matches of the Brazilian Serie A, completing the league’s media rights cycle for at least the next three seasons (More)
Rest of the World
> Cristiano Ronaldo celebrated his 700th career club win by scoring two goals in Al Nassr's 4-0 victory over Al Wasl in the Asian Champions League (More)
ROUTERS’ VOICE
Yesterday’s Poll: If you could add one rule to football, what would it be and why?
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🤔 I would... (80%)
🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🙅 It's fine as it is... (12%)
🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other... (8%)
Your punditry takes:
🤔 M.G: “Make the clock stop, similar to how American sports work. Every time the ball goes out or the game is stopped to prevent more time wasting.”
🤔 W.G: “Eliminate end-of-overtime penalty kicks in the last match of a competition. Play on while continually reducing the number of players on the pitch so that open space decides, not a super-sized version of what should be a rare part of the game.”
🤔 J.M: “Penalty kicks only given for fouls or handballs in the 6-yard box. Fouls in the 18-yard box result in a free shot (all other players besides the goalkeeper must be outside the box) from the edge of the box nearest to where the offence took place.”
🤔 J.P: I would change the offside rule to something similar to what Arsenal Wenger had recommended. Maybe not the full daylight, but if 50% or more of the attacking player is ahead of the last defender. What advantage is the attacker getting if he wears size 11 and the defender is a nine? None really.”
EXTRA TIME
A summary of the winter transfer window…
… and analysing every Premier League club’s business in the window.
Vanishing kit for a team under threat from climate crisis.
When Baresi played in the 1994 World Cup final a month after knee surgery.
The weirdest announcement video of the window. (via X)
Lionel Messi's heat map evolution in La Liga from 2005 - 2019.
Are Rashford and Emery a match made in heaven?
The pub that lost £1500 on pints by betting against Nottingham Forest.
Sixth tier of English football has five teams on 55 points at the top.
GAME FACE ON
Question: Which club has won the FA Cup six times but never won the League Cup?
Clue: Championship.
Scroll below for the answer.
ON TODAY
English League Cup, Semi-final
Newcastle vs Arsenal (20:00)
Copa Del Rey, Quarter-final
Leganes vs Real Madrid (20:00)
DFB Pokal, Quarter-final
Bayer Leverkusen vs Koln (19:45)
Coppa Italia, Quarter-final
AC Milan vs Roma (20:00)
Scottish Premiership
Celtic vs Dundee (19:45)
Women’s League Cup, Semi-final
Chelsea vs West Ham (19:00)
*All time in UK. ET -5. CST -6. PST -8. MST -7. CET +1.
Answer
Blackburn Rovers.
I'm the most complete player there has ever been. I head well, I take set pieces well, I shoot well with my left foot, I'm fast, I'm strong, I jump.
