José Mourinho has a Special One
It's Monday, June 3. Mourinho dropped wisdom all day Saturday then started his new job in Istanbul - which was quite the scene. Plus CONCACAF, MLS, Euro 2024, Copa America and the 'Summer of Soccer'.
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Over the weekend…
While the Champions League final had the makings of a classic if only Borussia Dortmund had put their shooting boots on, don’t let it be said that we didn’t tell you about Carletto’s Way. Only Real Madrid have more European Cup/Champions League wins than the man himself:
Although, maybe not many more if he doesn’t stop with this kind of thing.
But it was the pundits who truly shone on Saturday night, none more so than than The Special One, José Mourinho. Although, it didn’t bode well before the game as the Dortmund fans enjoyed a Klopp vs. Mourinho face-off on the Wembley Jumbotron; and while Jurgen started brightly, from there on in it was the José show:
José on Ancelotti: "He’s not a social media coach, he’s a proper coach. He comes from the meritocracy. Go to his office and look at his medals.” (@footballontnt)
José on his words of consolation to Edin Terzic: "Time is not going to help you... but you have to be very proud!" (@footballontnt)
José on Jadon Sancho and player management: "The kid made mistakes... but his manager wasn't able to get the best out of him." (@footballontnt)
José with Jude Bellingham’s mum: “I asked José Mourinho for a picture with my mum, she’s fancied him for years!"
To which Mourinho replied, "Now you come to Fenerbahçe!"(@FabrizioRomano)
Apparently, the next season of Love Undercover - where footballers who nobody’s heard of pretend to be nobodies to ‘find love’ - will include footballers who everyone’s heard of matchmaking family members with their managers to get into the starting eleven. Or not.
José with Gareth Bale: “I loved working with him,” gushed the Welshman. Mourinho: “At that time he was already thinking about winning Augusta.” (@SpursOTM)
José on Arséne Wenger’s offside rule
And with that parting shot, off he went to Istanbul to introduce himself to over 30,000 Fenerbahçe fans.
But, the best barb of the evening goes to CBS anchor, Katie Abdo. (@CBSSportsGolazo)
Your Daily Soccer Round-up….
Today’s Top Transfers
Bayern Munich join, Liverpool, Chelsea, and Newcastle in a bidding war for Burnley and England goalkeeper, James Trafford (footballinsider247.com)
Kylian Mbappé to be unveiled by Real Madrid in five-year deal worth $16.2M (after taxes) annually. His free transfer will also include a €150m signing on fee. (ESPN)
Sunderland are determined to keep the other Bellingham brother, Jobe, with Spurs, Brentford and Crystal Palace all keen on the midfielder (Guardian)
Ross Barkley’s Luton heroics may have earned him a £5m move to Champions League qualifiers Aston Villa (@FabrizioRomano)
Managerial Mayhem
Maresca joins Chelsea as manager (BBC)
Fenerbahçe unveil José Mourinho as new boss (if you haven’t been paying attention) (ESPN)
USA Round-up
The other team in day-glo yellow to forget where the goals were on Saturday were CONCACAF Champions Cup finalists Columbus Crew. They started like a house on fire, missing a host of chances against CF Pachuca, before being snuffed out by the Liga MX side 3-0, due not to a lack of oxygen at an altitude ten times higher than they’re used to in Central Ohio, but by ‘stomach distress’.
Do pop over to the substack that covers everything CONCACAF where Jon Arnold takes an informed look at what the Crew’s defeat means (and doesn’t mean) for Liga MX and MLS. (Get Concacaffed)
For some reason MLS couldn’t quite bring itself to leave the stage clear for Columbus on Saturday night and there was a full-round of MLS games going on at the time. Matt Doyle’s Armchair Analysis is here.
Inter Miami, who lost 3-1 to Atlanta in midweek, drew 3-3 at home to St.Louis on Saturday. It was a familiar story Messi and Suarez scored and they couldn’t defend. Highlights here.
MLS hates being called a retirement league (part 236) - Marco Reus didn’t retire with Dortmund’s defeat to Real on Saturday - he’s off to the LA Galaxy says Fabrizio (and his gringo version)
Euro 2024
The Guardian’s ‘Experts Network’ brings some good local knowledge to their previews for the tournament. The first two are up already - Germany and Hungary. Both well worth a read.
The English FA wrote to UEFA recommending a ban on alcohol for the team’s Euro 2024 opened against Serbia in Gelsenkirchen ahead of what the city’s police chief sees as the most ‘high-risk’ match of the tournament. But, it would be unlawful, apparently. (YahooSports)
France coach Didier Deschamps has done an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport which Football Italia has summarized in English. He says Marcus Thuram could be the heir to Olivier Giroud, who will be playing in his final tournament before heading off to LAFC as MLS continues to shred it’s retirement league image
Copa America
For those on the other side of the pond, Copa America will be up and running three days after the Euros start, when world champions Argentina take on Jesse Marsch’s Canada in Atlanta on June 20.
Argentina are already in the States, they have begun training in Miami.
Fox Sports have their hands full with the rights to both the Euros and the Copa. Here is their full line-up of commentators, pundits and Mark Clattenburgs.
We will leave it to others to make their analysis of whether Fox has really pulled out the stops to bring Americans the best analysis available but we will say we are delighted to see JP Dellacamera on the list. In an era of hyperbole and banter, the familiar, calm, tones of the always well-informed JP will make it all a little easier on the ears.
‘Summer of Soccer’
So, how does The Daily Soccer plan to cover these two tournaments? Well, given our goal is to provide a comprehensive soccer newsletter to fans in both Europe and North America, this is right in our wheelhouse.
For those in the UK and Europe who want to keep up with Copa America without having to burn the candle at both ends – we’ll make sure you that before the Euro action gets under way you’ll be up to speed with everything you need to know from the overnight Copa action.
For our American readers – our emphasis on the days ahead will ensure you get great preview material every morning on both tournaments.
As we may have mentioned, the idea of TDS is that you don’t need to spend time searching for soccer news – just read it. And that will be at the core of our mission through the coming weeks – to ensure you get all the best game coverage, analysis, opinion and news, from multiple sources, in one email.
All you need to do it, is subscribe. Our readership has grown significantly in the past week or so but to ensure that you can always access our content for free – just simply click on the subscribe button, type out your email, confirm you want the free subscription and away you go.
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