Sporting KC on new DP search, Everton talk, 2015 review and more

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Sporting Kansas City’s 2015 season may have ended prematurely with a penalty shootout defeat to the Portland Timbers in the Western Conference playoff round, but that’s given them the opportunity to get the ball rolling for the 2016 season.

[ MORE: Behind-the-scenes at Wembley

Speaking exclusively to ProSoccerTalk, Sporting KC’s CEO Robb Heineman revealed that SKC’s coaches have been scouting in Europe as plans to add new Designated Players are well under way for the 2015 U.S. Open Cup champs.

[ FOLLOW: All of PST’s MLS coverage

In a wide-ranging interview Heineman also chatted about the Sporting Club ownership group being interested in buying Everton, or any other Premier League club which may come on the market for that matter, plus touched on Peter Vermes’ future at Sporting Park and the development of the U.S. Soccer training facility in KC.

With respect to new DPs arriving in the foreseeable future, Heineman believes that heading to Eastern Europe in particular will bear considerable fruit for the club.

“Two of our coaches have been in Europe already and that is probably going to be our focus,” Heineman confirmed. “We are going to look more at Eastern Europe, Portugal and Spain. We will probably do less in South America this year. Historically we have probably been more South American heavy but I think having brought in Kristzian Nemeth last year and he did such a nice job for us, I think we are going to go back to that well a little bit in Eastern Europe and find a player there. We have a nice relationship with Barcelona B over team and I think we are going to see if there’s some other players in Spain that we can bring in.

“That will be our strategy and I feel like this is an important offseason for us. We tried to make more moves than we made during the summer window and honestly we weren’t able to finalize the deals. That was a little troublesome for us. It is not like we are going to break up our team because we have a good group of core players but I do feel like we have got to reinvigorate that core with a couple of pieces and it is important to go get them this offseason.”

Will those players from Europe be DP players or will Targeted Allocation Money (TAM) come in to play to sign them?

“My expectation would be that a couple of the players we are interested in would qualify as Designated Players from a salary persepective,” Heineman said. “We are not signing [Andrea] Pirlo, we are not signing [Steven] Gerrard, that is never going to be our deal in the current cap structure of MLS where we are going to be signing $5 million annual salary guys. That is just not our formula but these are guys where there will be sizeble transfer fees and they will be Designated Players in terms of their salary. They will be either guys who are either TAM players or Designated Players and we will have to use TAM as a mechanism to work through our current roster cost structure.”

KANSAS CITY, KS - MAY 14: Sporting KC prepare to take on the Philadelphia Union at Sporting Park on May 14, 2014 in Kansas City, Kansas. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

On the subject of new additions, Heineman confirmed that the ownership group he is part of discussed buying Premier League outfit Everton and, despite saying it’s not upcoming, he wouldn’t rule out seeing them try to invest in or buy a PL club in the future.

“It is not anything that we are actively pursuing and I think part of what we did with the Everton exploration was that we really wanted to learn a lot more about the league and how teams operated. We spent a good amount of time there,” Heineman revealed. “I’m not sure we were ever really close to getting anything today and I don’t sit here today and say ‘gosh, we’ve got to go and find an opportunity in the English Premier League’ and that’s the way the other majority owners feel about it as well. I think we will always be opportunistic. If the right opportunity came our way and the timing made sense then I could see us doing something. It is not something I would say we are striving to do every day but it is also nothing we would turn our back on, for sure.”

With Sunderland, Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Aston Villa all currently owned by Americans and the likes of Bournemouth now having U.S. investors and Crystal Palace close to a takeover fronted by Josh Harris, why is owning a PL club so attractive to Americans in particular?

“There is tons of American interest but in relation to Everton specifically I never necessarily knew who else it was, I just knew that there were other parties with whom they were speaking,” Heineman said. “There is a huge trend of American owners getting involved and I could see another two to three American owners jumping in there over the next couple of years, for sure. It is the top league in the world and it is just like any other sports league. You always want to invest in the top opportunity available and I think the Premier League is that in the world of football. That is something that will always be attractive. I think with the increasing content and television rights you see around the Premier League it feels likes that is an investment which will exponentially grow over time. It is one that there are lots of people looking into.”

After confirming that Mike and Cliff Illig who are part of the Sporting Club group and the Illig’s are the main investors, are not individually in the running to buy Everton, Heineman stated that he felt the Sporting Club ownership group would stay together if an opportunity to buy one of the 20 PL clubs arose in the future. He also confirmed they would not be interested in partnering with any PL clubs if the opportunity arose, unless it was a two-way street. 

LIVERPOOOL - AUGUST 28: General view of Goodison Park taken during the FA Barclaycard Premiership match between Everton and Birmingham City played at Goodison Park in Liverpool, England on August 28, 2002. The match ended in a 1-1 draw. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

Speaking of the future, helping SKC’s core group go further than they did in 2015 is crucial but overall Heineman was happy with how the 2013 MLS Cup champs performed this season, even if a familiar slump occurred towards the second half of the campaign.

“We had a good year and going into the season we had expectations to win it all, so to win the Open Cup was obviously for us organizationally, it is a big mantra of ours that we want to win championships, so to have a year we win that championship is important for us,” Heineman said. “The end of the season was disappointing in the fact that we went out the same way we went out last year with our results tailing off towards the end of the year and not advancing in the playoffs. We all look back on it and feel like it was a bit of an opportunity missed. We had a team where if we would have positioned ourselves better with home-field advantage we could have made a deep run in the playoffs. I don’t think I am saying anything every one of our players doesn’t feel, which is that we feel like we could have gone further in the playoffs.”

Heineman admitted that if SKC had finished the season stronger and secured home-field advantage in the playoffs then “the rest of the playoffs set up pretty well for us” and “we really felt like if we beat Portland we were going to play in MLS Cup.” Alas, a gut-wrenching 7-6 shootout loss to Portland ended the season and some questions were raised about the strength of Vermes’ squad which struggled to cope with defensive injuries.

PHILADELPHIA, PA - SEPTEMBER 30: Sporting Kansas City celebrates with the Lamar Hunt trophy after defeating the Philadelphia Union in penalty kicks on September 30, 2015 at PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)

SKC have earmarked two areas where they feel they must strengthen during the offseason and Heineman admitted the maybe a lack of experience played a part in their downfall in 2015.

“It is interesting because we had depth this season in the respect that we had three rookies who probably overachieved and played a lot of minutes and played quite well for us. At the end of the season those are guys whose engine just are not built to play as many games as they had played,” Heineman said. “There were some games there when we needed to bring a dynamic sub on and we just didn’t necessarily have that available to us. So [in the offseason] we are looking for some depth in the attacking third and obviously we had some injuries tear us up in the back last season so bringing in another high-quality central defender is going to make some sense for us.”

NAPLES, FL - APRIL 04: Robb Heineman of Sporting Club poses with award at the 2013 Forty Under 40 Awards on April 4, 2013 in Naples, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

With the Sporting Club group seeing their USL franchise making its debut in 2016, the Swope Park Rangers are, in Heineman’s words,  something “we definitely think of it first as a player development tool” and will use it to bridge the gap between their academy and first team while bringing soccer to other communities of KC. Heineman also revealed that a coaching staff “which has been coaching in a domestic league in the U.S.” will be announced on Friday for the Rangers.

“Although we’ve been successful with both Orlando City and Oklahoma City  it hasn’t been a pure player development opportunity for us. Now having the ability for the Rangers and Sporting Kansas City to train at the same time side-by-side on the training field, it will allow us to have a completely different opportunity,” Heineman said. “If you looked over the course over the past few years, it would have been great to have the Rangers for some rehab stints for guys like Chance Myers, Seth Sinovic and Ike Opara trying to make their way back into the squad. We didn’t feel like it was the right thing to send those guys to Orlando or Oklahoma. We are really excited because we have the academy from ages 12-18 but we have had that gap from 19-23 so to have USL there as a reasonably effective development tool, we are feeling very good about that.”

HARRISON, NJ - SEPTEMBER 19: Head Coach Peter Vermes call out from the sidelines during tyhe fgame against the New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena on September 19, 2012 in Harrison, New Jersey. Sporting Kansas City defeated New York Red Bulls 2-0. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images for New York Red Bulls)

Something which has been pretty good over the past few years is the coaching at SKC. Asked about Vermes’ future with many touting him to be the next boss of the U.S. national team, Heineman revealed he’s a fan of what Jurgen Klinsmann is currently doing with the USMNT and pointed towards the fact that the $80 million new U.S. Soccer training complex opening up in Kansas City in 2017 is a big reason for Vermes to stay with Sporting.

“Peter over the course of his career is going to have every opportunity in the world. We have had some teams in Europe who have inquired about him over the course of the last year and some teams in our league, but what has always worked well with Peter and Kansas City is that his approach has always been long-term in nature,” Heineman said. “He has never been a guy who feels like he needs to force a player move in the season because if he doesn’t then he feels like it will cost him his job. We have a good relationship with Peter and feel like he has achieved a good amount here at SKC but he has a good amount in front of him. With the addition of us building this new training facility for the senior team as well as a U.S. Soccer training center, I think he feels that his resources here will allow him to continue to have success. We are proud of the job he has done and we are content that he will continue with us for the long-term.”

With MLS continuing to grow and the re-branding of the Kansas City franchise one of the major success stories of MLS 2.0, Heineman is keen for David Beckham’s potential franchise in Miami to get more time to find a suitable stadium option and is excited about where MLS is heading, long-term.

“David Beckham specifically has been a really important person for our league so us continuing to work with him so he has a long-term standing in our league makes a lot of sense,” Heineman said. “Hopefully everything works out there and his partner, Marcelo Claure, is a friend of ours in Kansas City and we would love to see that group come together. In relation to expansion, there are a number of different cities interested which is fantastic for us as a league but I will let the expansion committee run with that and see what happens.”

U20 World Cup schedule: How to watch live, groups, calendar, dates, times, fixtures

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The U20 World Cup takes place in Argentina from May 20 until June 11 as 24 teams full of the best young players on the planet go head-to-head to be crowned World champs.

[ LIVE: Watch the U20 World Cup en Espanol ]

The USA have plenty of talented youngsters and Mikey Varas’ talented squad made a run to the quarterfinals before bowing out to Uruguay. That’s the same stage they exited their previous four U20 tournaments (2015, 2017, 2019 and once again in 2023).

The USA won Group B with three wins from three and hammered New Zealand in the last 16. The Baby Yanks fell to Uruguay on Sunday at the Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades in Santiago del Estero.

England and hosts Argentina were among the favorites to win the tournament but were knocked out, with Brazil and Italy both impressing and in the last eight, plus Nigeria and Uruguay have also looked very good.

Argentina stood in at the last minute to host the event after the tournament was moved from Indonesia.

Below is everything you need for the U20 World Cup.


2023 U20 World Cup schedule, start time, dates, how to watch live

  • When: May 20 to June 11
  • Group stage kick-off times: 2pm ET, 5pm ET
  • Location: Argentina
  • TV channels en Español: Telemundo, Universo
  • Streaming en Español: Telemundo, Online via NBC.com

2023 U20 World Cup schedule

All kicks off times ET

Quarterfinals

Match 46: Saturday, June 3: Israel 3-2 Brazil
Match 47: Saturday, June 3: Colombia 1-3 Italy
Match 48: Sunday, June 4: South Korea 1-0 Nigeria
Match 45: Sunday, June 4: USA 0-2 Uruguay

Semifinals

Match 49: Thursday, June 8: Uruguay vs Israel – 1:30pm
Match 50: Thursday, June 8: Italy vs South Korea – 5pm


Third-place game

Match 51: Sunday, June 11: Loser Match 49 vs Loser match 50 – 1:30pm


Final

Match 52: Sunday, June 11: Winner Match 49 vs Winner mtahc 50 – 5pm


Round of 16 results

Match 38: Tuesday, May 30: USA 4-0 New Zealand
Match 37: Tuesday, May 30: Uzbekistan 0-1 Israel
Match 40: Wednesday, May 31: Brazil 4-1 Tunisia
Match 42: Wednesday, May 31: Colombia 5-1 Slovakia
Match 39: Wednesday, May 31: England 1-2 Italy
Match 41: Wednesday, May 31: Argentina 0-2 Nigeria
Match 44: Thursday, June 1:  Gambia 0-1 Uruguay
Match 43: Thursday, June 1: Ecuador 2-3 South Korea

Group stage results

Group A

 

Saturday, May 20: Guatemala 0-1 New Zealand – 2pm
Saturday, May 20: Argentina 2-1 Uzbekistan – 5pm
Tuesday, May 23: Uzbekistan 2-2 New Zealand – 2pm
Tuesday, May 23: Argentina 3-0 Guatemala – 5pm
Friday, May 26: New Zealand 0-5 Argentina – 5pm
Friday, May 26: Uzbekistan 2-0 Guatemala – 5pm


Group B

Saturday, May 20: USA 1-0 Ecuador – 2pm (92nd minute winner from Jonathan Gomez)
Saturday, May 20: Fiji 0-4 Slovakia – 5pm
Tuesday, May 23: USA 3-0 Fiji – 2pm
Tuesday, May 23: Ecuador 2-1 Slovakia – 5pm
Friday, May 26: Slovakia 0-2 USA – 2pm
Friday, May 26: Ecuador 9-0 Fiji – 2pm


Group C

Sunday, May 21: Israel 1-2 Colombia – 2pm
Sunday, May 21: Senegal 0-1 Japan – 5pm
Wednesday, May 24: Senegal 1-1 Israel – 2pm
Wednesday, May 24: Japan 1-2 Colombia – 5pm
Saturday, May 27: Japan 1-2 Israel – 5pm
Saturday, May 27: Colombia 1-1 Senegal – 5pm


Group D

Sunday, May 21: Nigeria 2-1 Dominican Republic – 2pm
Sunday, May 21: Italy 3-2 Brazil – 5pm
Wednesday, May 24: Italy 0-2 Nigeria – 2pm
Wednesday, May 24: Brazil 6-0 Dominican Republic – 5pm
Saturday, May 27: Brazil 2-0 Nigeria – 2pm
Saturday, May 27: Dominican Republic 0-3 Italy – 2pm


Group E

Monday, May 22: England 1-0 Tunisia – 2pm
Monday, May 22: Uruguay 4-0 Iraq – 5pm
Thursday, May 25: Uruguay 2-3 England – 2pm
Thursday, May 25: Iraq 0-3 Tunisia – 5pm
Sunday, May 28: Iraq 0-0 England – 2pm
Sunday, May 28: Tunisia 0-1 Uruguay – 2pm


Group F

Monday, May 22: France 1-2 South Korea – 2pm
Monday, May 22: Gambia 2-1 Honduras – 5pm
Thursday, May 25: France 1-2 Gambia – 2pm
Thursday, May 25: South Korea 2-2 Honduras – 5pm
Sunday, May 28: South Korea 0-0 Gambia – 5pm
Sunday, May 28: Honduras 1-3 France – 5pm


The Soccer Tournament to air across NBC platforms in summer 2023

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27 games from the The Soccer Tournament (TST) will be aired across NBC Sports’ platforms in the summer of 2023 as some of the biggest clubs in the world will be represented as teams square off to try and win the $1 million grand prize.

[ LIVE: Watch The Soccer Tournament on Peacock ]

Games will be aired on Peacock and CNBC, as the inaugural 7-a-side tournament takes place in Cary, North Carolina and the likes of West Ham United, Wolves, Borussia Dortmund, Wrexham and various teams from around the world including former USMNT and USWNT players will compete.

“On June 4th, two teams will face off in our championship game for a million dollars. The second place team will get nothing. We are excited to showcase the drama of that moment and 26 additional high-stakes matches through this partnership with NBC Sports, home of the Premier League in the United States,” said TST founder and CEO Jon Mugar.

[ MORE: How to watch Premier League in USA


What is The Soccer Tournament?

Here are more details on what to expect from The Soccer Tournament this summer:

“A first-of-its-kind soccer event, TST will feature 32 teams from eight different countries competing in a World Cup-like group stage. Sixteen teams will advance to the knockout stage, where they will compete in single elimination games for a $1 million grand prize.

“Teams competing in the event include 7-a-side teams from notable European clubs such as Borussia Dortmund, West Ham, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Wrexham, Como 1907, Israeli club Hapoel Tel Aviv, MLS club Charlotte FC, Liga MX’s Club Necaxa, Clint Dempsey’s Team Dempsey, and US Women, a team of former US women’s national team players organized by Heather O’Reilly and coached by Mia Hamm.

“Notable players include legendary Spanish midfielder Cesc Fabregas (Como 1907), NFL wide receiver Chad Ochocinco (Nati SC), social media influencer and former MLS Academy product Noah Beck (Borussia Dortmund), among others. TST’s field will also include 23 former U.S. senior national team players on both the men’s and women’s side with nearly 1,400 matches of experience combined.”

Below is the full TST game schedule and tickets for all TST games are on sale now at thetournament.com/tst-tickets.


The Soccer Tournament schedule, how to watch live, start times, dates


June 1, 2023

Borussia Dortmund 2-5 Hoosiers Army (Indiana Alumni) – June 1, 9am ET

West Ham United 2-4 Far East United – June 1, 10:30am ET

US Women 0-5 Say Word FC – June 1, 12pm ET

Wrexham Red Dragons 3-2 Como 1907 – June 1, 1:30pm ET

Wolverhampton 3-4 Blade & Grass – June 1, 5pm ET

 

Club Necaxa 2-3 Hapoel Tel Aviv – June 1, 6:30pm ET

 

Wrexham Red Dragons 12-0 US Women – June 1, 8pm ET

Team Dempsey 0-3 Sneaky Fox – June 1, 9:30pm ET


June 2, 2023

Borussia Dortmund 1-7 Kingdom FC – June 2, 9am ET

West Ham United 4-3 Culture by Mo Ali FC – June 2, 10:30am ET

Wrexham Red Dragons 8-1 Say Word FC – June 2, 12pm ET

Team Dempsey vs. Zala FFF – June 2, 1:30pm ET


Quarterfinals (4 games) – June 2, 12 pm – 4:45pm ET

Como 1907 3-4 Zala FFF

Conrad and Beasley United 1-2 Sneaky Fox


June 3, 2023

Semifinals (2 games) – June 3, 7 pm and 9:30pm ET

SLC FC 1-0 Zala FFF

Newtown Pride 4-1 Sneaky Fox


June 4, 2023

TST $1M Championship Game (Live) – SLC FC vs Newtown Pride — June 4, 3pm ET CNBC – Encore to air on June 10, 2pm ET (NBC)


Manchester City vs Inter Milan: How to watch Champions League Final, odds, predictions

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Manchester City is on the chase for a historic treble and standing in the way is Inter Milan, one of Europe’s precious few clubs to claim such an honor.

[ LIVE: Manchester City vs Inter Milan ]

The Premier League winners three times running have an FA Cup under their belt after beating Manchester United on June 3 and the final jewel in their treble crown awaits with a win in Istanbul on June 10.

[ MORE: How to watch Premier League in USA ]

Pep Guardiola could lead a second club to a treble after he did it with Barcelona in 2008-09, and they would give heated rivals United domestic company on the treble stage right down the road.

Guardiola says it’s now okay to talk about the treble. We agree, and we’ve laid out why the achievement is so special after the jump.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of Manchester City vs Inter Milan.


How to watch Manchester City vs Inter Milan live, stream link and start time

Dates: 3pm ET June 10, 2023
Online: Live updates via NBCSports.com
How to watch: TUDN, Paramount+


What Premier League clubs have won the treble?

Manchester United won the Premier League, FA Cup, and Champions League in 1998-99.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s Red Devils are the lone Premier League club to win it.

That’s it. For now.


How many times has the treble been won?

Nine times in history has a team won its domestic league, top domestic cup, and the European Cup.

Bayern Munich and Barcelona have each done it twice, with Bayern doing it in 2012-13 and 2019-20 and Barca pulling it off in 2008-09 and 2014-15.

Celtic was the first to win a treble, doing it in 1966-67, while Ajax was the next in 1971-72.

PSV Eindhoven then won it in 1987-88 before Man United made it happen 11 years later. Inter Milan is the only Italian team to pull it off, winning in 2009-10.

(UEFA.com)


Champions League Final odds (Betting odds provided by our partner, BetMGM )

BetMGM is our Official Sports Betting Partner and we may receive compensation if you place a bet on BetMGM for the first time after clicking our links. 

Man City (-250) vs Inter Milan (+625) | Draw over 120 mins (+380)

Over 2.5 goals (-160). Under 2.5 goals (+110)


Champions League Final predictions

Joe Prince-Wright: Man City 2-1 Inter Milan
Andy Edwards: Man City 3-1 Inter Milan
Nick Mendola: Man City 2-0 Inter Milan


Manchester City team news, injuries, lineup options

QUESTIONABLE: None

Inter Milan team news, injuries, lineup options

QUESTIONABLE: Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Joaquin Correa. OUT: Dalbert.

Manchester City beat Man United in FA Cup, one win from treble

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Manchester City won its seventh FA Cup and moved with a Champions League win of the very rare treble with a 2-1 win over Manchester United on Saturday at Wembley Stadium.

Ilkay Gundogan scored a goal after just 13 seconds — an FA Cup Final record — and volleyed home off a corner kick in the second half after a Bruno Fernandes penalty had drawn United level before halftime.

[ MORE: Pep Guardiola reaction – Okay to talk treble now ]

The Manchester derby nature of this FA Cup Final, the first final match-up between the heated rivals in tournament history, will make City’s win even sweeter, and the cherry on top is that United was unable to stop City’s quest to match its 1998-99 team.

That’s the only time in English history we’ve seen a treble that included the European Cup. Man City meets Inter Milan next week in the Champions League Final. A win means the treble.

Erik ten Hag is denied a domestic cup double in his first season as United boss. The FA Cup has been played since 1871, and Man United’s 12 tournament wins trail only Arsenal’s 12. United last won in 2016.


Treble-chasing Man City didn’t need its best, shows rivals distance to climb

This could’ve been a clean sheet win for City on another day, who had to deal with a 1-1 deadlock because of a legal but unsavory handball call against Jack Grealish that sent Bruno Fernandes to the spot.

Yes, United will point to the fact that it had to rebound from Ilkay Gundogan’s super quick opener, but City’s train barely left the station in this game and it was still a comfortable-enough win.

City let United hang around but there was always a feeling of inevitability: A moment of class was coming from one of the best teams ever assembled in world football.

Erling Haaland didn’t score and City misfired on a number of opportunities that it generally puts home. Is that a bad sign for next week’s Champions League Final?

That remains to be seen and debated, but there’s no question that City showed United how much more there is to be done to catch up to the champs. Why? Because City’s B-game was more than enough to collect another trophy.


Manchester City vs Manchester United player ratings: Stars of the Show

Ilkay Gundogan

Kevin De Bruyne

Bruno Fernandes

Kyle Walker

Manchester City vs Manchester United player ratings


Manchester City vs Manchester United as it happened

First half

THE FASTEST GOOOOOAAAALLL IN FA CUP FINAL HISTORY! It’s Man City taking the lead as a long ball is headed down by Erling Haaland and Ilkay Gundogan’s first touch is a stunning strike from outside the box. Man City, 1-0!

That’s certainly put the game on its head, and City has another chance go very close before United can get their hands anywhere near the game.

City’s had three of the match’s four shot attempts and about 67 percent of the ball at the quarter-hour mark but United’s press is keeping things interesting and there’s been a little drama in the United third.

Fine margins… could’ve been 2-0! Erling Haaland is an absolute full stretch to poke a Bernardo Silva pass toward goal, but he can barely get to it and De Gea corrals the ball with ease. 17′

CLOSE! Kevin De Bruyne drills a left-footed shot that spins just wide of the post as City is starting to collect near-misses. That’s both asserting control but keeping the Red Devils in the match. 29′

VAR CHECK. Could there be a penalty for Man United? Aaron Wan-Bissaka heads a cross off Jack Grealish’s arm, and the video review is putting Man United on the spot! PENALTY…

GOAL! Bruno Fernandes bests Stefan Ortega with a stuttering run-up, rolling the ball the other way to make it 1-1.

Looks like this one’s going to the break at 1-1, and Erik ten Hag has to be thrilled about that. Neutrals will be happy, too, as we’ve got a tense derby finale in the balance. City’s taken six of the 10 shots in this one and had 60 percent of the ball but United’s got the xG lead 1.00-0.61.

Second half

GOAL! City on the front foot again, with no changes to start the second half, and a 51st-minute corner free kick sees Ilkay Gundogan etching his name further in Man City lore when he waits out De Bruyne’s lofted free kick and grounds the ball inside the near post. Man City, 2-1.

SAVE! David De Gea reacts to make an in-tight leg save on De Bruyne.

OFFSIDE GOAL: Gundogan is point blank to tap in a loose ball but is offside. It would’ve been a hat trick.

CLOSE! At the other end, United sub Alejandro Garnacho drags a shot just wide of the far post. Those fine margins remain part of this one!

It’s desperation time for Manchester United, who only had seven minutes and stoppage to get in the way of City’s second jewel in its treble crown.

Gundogan’s close to his hat trick again but this time Luke Shaw intervenes to force a corner kick.

WOAH! Very close to a stoppage-time equalizer as Scott McTominay makes chaos in Stefan Ortega’s box, leading to a corner kick. Cleared by Kyle Walker for the moment. Less than two minutes left now…


Ilkay Gundogan goal video: 13 seconds in!

Bruno Fernandes goal video: Penalty makes it 1-1


Ilkay Gundogan goal video: Patient, precise, pretty


How to watch Manchester City vs Manchester United live, FA Cup Final stream link and start time

Kick off: 10am ET, Saturday
Where: Wembley Stadium, London
Online: Stream via ESPN+
Updates: Stats, commentary on NBCSports.com


FA Cup Final odds (Betting odds provided by our partner, BetMGM )

BetMGM is our Official Sports Betting Partner and we may receive compensation if you place a bet on BetMGM for the first time after clicking our links. 

Man City (-200) vs Manchester United (+525) | Draw over 120 mins (+375)


Manchester City team news, injuries, lineup options

OUT: None.

Manchester United team news, injuries, lineup options

OUT: Lisandro Martinez, Marcel Sabitzer, Donny van de Beek, Anthony Martial, Antony.