Protect Pulisic, please! Yanks bemoan fouls, lack of cards

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ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) After watching Christian Pulisic repeatedly get hacked down and then removed early for his safety during the United States’ crucial 4-0 World Cup qualifying win over Panama, American former goalkeeper Kasey Keller predicted top European clubs may refuse to release players to national teams unless referees in CONCACAF better protect stars.

[ MORE: USMNT routs Panama to boost WC dreams in a big way ]

“We’re not going to let you play in these kind of games with referees and federations that are going to let you get hit like this, because we’re not going to put that investment in a player that then we’re going to lose for stretches,” the ESPN analyst envisioned them saying. “It would be a huge loss, not only for the U.S., but for everybody.”

Pulisic, the 19-year-old Borussia Dortmund midfielder from Hershey, Pennsylvania, has emerged as the top American player. He helped the U.S. move into position to qualify for its eighth straight World Cup on Tuesday at Trinidad and Tobago. Pulisic made his national team debut in March 2016 and already has eight goals in 19 international appearances, including six in World Cup qualifying.

He scored the go-ahead goal in the eighth minute on Friday, then crossed to Jozy Altidore for the goal that doubled the lead in the 19th. Pulisic was kicked in the back of the left calf by Michael Murillo in the 48th minute, earning the defender a yellow card. Down for a minute and needing treatment from head athletic trainer Jim Hashimoto, Pulisic limped when he re-entered the match after a 2-plus-minute absence.

Pulisic was upended by Anibal Godoy’s slide tackle from behind into his right leg in the 51st. Ahead by three goals, U.S. coach Bruce Arena replaced Pulisic with Dax McCarty in the 57th.

“He’s been getting beat up in these games in CONCACAF, and that’s the way it is. It doesn’t look like anything is going to change,” Arena said. “He took a few shots and we thought it was smart to get him off the field.”

[ MORE: Player ratingsThree things we learned ]

Former U.S. defender Alexi Lalas, now a Fox commentator, said violent play in qualifiers would dwindle if video assistant referees were used. Some leagues have adopted the technology this year.

“If that had happened in an MLS game or I guess now in a Bundesliga game or a Serie A game, there would be guys who would have been gone earlier,” Lalas said. “If he’s not to a certain extent protected, as all players should be, then it’s just a matter of time before somebody gets him when he’s not prepared or not looking.”

Pulisic was given a standing ovation by the crowd as he walked off and greeted by Arena with a handshake and an endearing arm around the shoulder. He doesn’t face those type of tackles with that frequency in Germany. He was fouled repeatedly during the March qualifier in Panama City.

“Panama is a physical team, so it’s always tough playing against them,” Pulisic said. “Yeah, got kicked a few times tonight, but I’ll be fine. I’ll be fine.”

Pulisic has been dubbed “Wonder Boy” by Lalas and current American goalkeeper Tim Howard. Opposing defenses in qualifiers this year have focused on disrupting him.

“He knows it’s coming,” right back DeAndre Yedlin said. “Teams are going to target him, and he’s experienced enough to know that he needs to protect himself, and what sort of tackles to go into and what not. And as you can see, it didn’t faze him. He had a goal and an assist and was a great player for our team.”

Arena faults FIFA’s regulations in which a player earns a one-game suspension for two yellow cards at any point in qualifying, which stretches 16 games over nearly two years for teams in the final round in the North and Central American and Caribbean region.

“It’s the stupidest. I don’t understand it. I’m just happy I haven’t been around this stuff for a lot of years. I’d lose my mind,” said Arena, who returned as U.S. coach in November after a decade at the club level. “The referees aren’t giving out yellow cards, too, because they realize that players will be suspended the next game, so we never know what kind of mentality the referee is going to be.”

Premier League final table: Final standings for 2022-23 season

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If it’s the 2022-23 Premier League table you’re after, you’ve come to the right place.

[ MORE: How to watch Premier League in USA ]

After the break for the 2022 World Cup, the Premier League returned with a bang and the start to 2023 delivered plenty of fun and it continued into the business end of the season.

Manchester City chased down Arsenal to win yet another Premier League title. Manchester United’s new-look side reclaimed a place in the top four, and so did Newcastle. Brighton and Aston Villa surprised by qualifying for Europe, while Liverpool dips into an unusual competition for its recent standards.

Teams were relegated. Managers were sacked. And here’s how the table looked when all was said and done.


Premier League final table – End of season

Premier League standings

NBC Sports’ standings and scoreboard



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Premier League preseason schedule: Dates, calendar, summer tours

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The Premier League preseason schedule ahead of the 2023-24 season looks very tasty as there are some intriguing summer tours lined up.

[ LIVE: Watch Premier League Summer Series in the USA ]

Of course, the first-ever Premier League Summer Series is coming to the USA with six teams playing nine games in five cities, and you can watch all of that action across our platforms here at NBC Sports by clicking on the link above.

[ MORE: How to watch Premier League in USA

Plenty of PL giants are heading to play elsewhere in the USA, Asia and Australia as the Premier League preseason schedule has now turned into a truly global celebration.

[ TRANSFER NEWS: Arsenal | Liverpool | Chelsea | Tottenham | Man City | Man United ]

Below is the full Premier League preseason schedule, with details via the Premier League, as you can see where teams will be heading off to all over the globe this summer.


Arsenal

19 July v MLS All-Stars (Washington DC)
22 July v Man Utd (New York)
26 July v Barcelona (Los Angeles)


Aston Villa

Premier League Summer Series in USA
23 July v Newcastle (Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia)
26 July v Fulham (Exploria Stadium, Orlando)
30 July v Brentford (FedExField, Landover, Maryland)


Brentford

Premier League Summer Series in USA
23 July v Fulham (Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia)
26 July v Brighton (Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta)
30 July v Aston Villa (FedExField, Landover, Maryland)


Brighton

Premier League Summer Series in USA
22 July v Chelsea (Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia)
26 July v Brentford (Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta)
28 July v Newcastle (Red Bull Arena, Harrison, New Jersey)


Chelsea

19 July v Wrexham (North Carolina)
2 August v Dortmund (Chicago)

Premier League Summer Series in USA
22 July v Brighton (Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia)
26 July v Newcastle (Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta)
30 July v Fulham (FedExField, Landover, Maryland)


Crystal Palace

26 July v Millonarios (Chicago)
30 July v Sevilla (Detroit)


Fulham

Premier League Summer Series in USA
23 July v Brentford (Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia)
26 July v Aston Villa (Exploria Stadium, Orlando)
30 July v Chelsea (FedExField, Landover, Maryland)


Leicester City

23 July v Spurs (Bangkok)
30 July v Liverpool (Singapore)


Liverpool

30 July v Leicester (Singapore)
2 August v Bayern Munich (Singapore)


Manchester City

23 July v Yokohama F Marinos (Tokyo)
26 July v Bayern Munich (Tokyo)
30 July 
v Atletico Madrid (Seoul)


Manchester United

12 July v Leeds (Oslo)
19 July
v Lyon (Edinburgh)
22 July v Arsenal (New York)
25 July v Wrexham (San Diego)
26 July v Real Madrid (Houston)
30 July v Dortmund (Las Vegas)


Newcastle

18 July v Rangers (Ibrox Stadium)

Premier League Summer Series in USA
23 July v Aston Villa (Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia)
26 July v Chelsea (Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta)
28 July v Brighton (Red Bull Arena, Harrison, New Jersey)


Tottenham

18 July v West Ham (Perth)
23 July v Leicester (Bangkok)
26 July v Roma (Singapore)


West Ham

15 July v Perth Glory (Perth)
18 July v Spurs  (Perth)


Wolves

26 July v Celtic (Suwon)
29 July v Roma (Incheon)


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 ]

And of course, the USA have plenty of talented youngsters so all eyes will be on Mikey Varas and his squad as they aim to go better than the quarterfinal spot they’ve reached in each of their last three U20 tournaments (2015, 2017, 2019) and they won Group B with three wins from three to reach the knockout rounds.

England, Brazil and hosts Argentina are among the favorites to win the tournament as 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

Round of 16

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


Quarterfinals

Match 46: Saturday, June 3: Winner Match 37 vs Winner Match 40 – 1:30pm
Match 47: Saturday, June 3: Winner Match 42 vs Winner Match 39 – 5pm
Match 48: Sunday, June 4: Winner Match 43 vs Winner Match 32 – 1:30pm
Match 45: Sunday, June 4:  Winner Match 38 vs Winner Match 44 – 5pm


Semifinals

Match 49: Thursday, June 8: Winner Match 45 vs Winner Match 46 – 1:30pm
Match 50: Thursday, June 8: Winner Match 47 vs Winner Match 48 – 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


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


Ranking the 2023-24 Premier League kits

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The 2023-24 Premier League kits are starting to be unveiled and there are some beauties out there.

[ MORE: 2022-23 Premier League schedule ]

From retro looks to snazzy designs, there are some very unique new looks as teams get ready for the new season.

[ VIDEO: Premier League highlights

Below we rank the Premier League kits which have been released as plenty more have been dropping ahead of the 2023-24 season.


1. Liverpool

A classic look for the red home shirt and this is a belter. It has been kept simple and the white trim is marvellous. Liverpool have nailed this.

Liverpool kit
Getty Images

2. Crystal Palace

Absolutely lovely stuff and it also looks like a kit Spider Man would wear!? The red and blue halves are divine, while having the original Crystal Palace design on the shirt is a great touch. This kit also celebrates that Palace have now been in the Premier League for 10 years. The blue shorts and socks are also lovely. Well done Palace. Well done.


3. Manchester City

A nod to being at their current stadium for 20 years, Man City go for a retro look from the 2003-04 season when things were very, very different from them. It’s a lovely kit and having seen it in-person, up close it looks even better than the photos.


4. Arsenal

There is a lot going on with the print on the red but the gold is a nice touch. Pretty decent effort.