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Reyna Included in US World Cup Squad, 4 Years after Doha Drama

United States coach Mauricio Pochettino named Giovanni Reyna in his 26-strong for the World Cup (Reuters)
United States coach Mauricio Pochettino named Giovanni Reyna in his 26-strong for the World Cup (Reuters)
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Reyna Included in US World Cup Squad, 4 Years after Doha Drama

United States coach Mauricio Pochettino named Giovanni Reyna in his 26-strong for the World Cup (Reuters)
United States coach Mauricio Pochettino named Giovanni Reyna in his 26-strong for the World Cup (Reuters)

United States coach Mauricio Pochettino named Giovanni Reyna in his 26-strong for the World Cup on Tuesday, four years after the midfielder was almost sent home from the 2022 tournament in Qatar following a bust-up with former coach Gregg Berhalter.

Borussia Monchengladbach attacking midfielder Reyna appeared as a substitute in the USA's friendly defeats to Belgium and Portugal in March after impressing Pochettino during last November's international window.

Reyna has played only a handful of games at club level since the turn of the year, making only eight appearances in the Bundesliga as a substitute for Monchengladbach.

However the 23-year-old remains one of the most technically gifted attacking players available to Pochettino as the Argentine coach prepares for the USA's World Cup Group D opener against Paraguay in Los Angeles on June 12.

Reyna was at the center of an explosive controversy in Doha four years ago, when it emerged after the tournament he had almost been kicked out of the camp by then coach Berhalter over his attitude in training.

That in turn led to Reyna's mother informing US Soccer of a physical altercation in 1991 between Berhalter and his then girlfriend, and now wife, which triggered an investigation by US Soccer.

Pochettino's squad was announced at a roster reveal event in New York on Tuesday.

"I think we were seeing, analyzing, assessing all the situations and we decided the 26 players of the roster," AFP quoted Pochettino as telling a briefing Tuesday.

He added that he was seeking the "best balance in the 26" picks.

The US coach declined to comment on high-profile figures like Lyon's Tanner Tessmann who were left out of the roster while relying heavily on the likes of Tyler Adams.

"I think we cannot talk about the players that are not in the roster, because it's very respectful to the players that made the roster," he said.

"I know what it means to be out of the roster, in 1994, the World Cup in the US I was out... finally I made the roster. That is why I know it's so painful, but that is my job."

Little suspense surrounded the event, with details of Pochettino's selection leaking out in US media reports for several days leading up to Tuesday's formal announcement.

As expected, Europe-based players make up the bulk of Pochettino's squad with the likes of AC Milan's Christian Pulisic, Juventus's Weston McKennie and Monaco's Folarin Balogun all included alongside English Premier League players Adams (Bournemouth), Brenden Aaronson (Leeds), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace) and Antonee Robinson (Fulham).
Among the Major League Soccer players included in the roster are former coach Berhalter's son, Sebastian, the Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder.

Squad:
Goalkeepers
Chris Brady (Chicago Fire), Matt Freese (New York City), Matt Turner (New England Revolution)
Defenders: Max Arfsten (Columbus Crew), Sergino Dest (PSV Eindhoven/NED), Alex Freeman (Villarreal/ESP), Mark McKenzie (Toulouse/FRA), Tim Ream (Charlotte FC), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace/ENG), Antonee Robinson (Fulham/ENG), Miles Robinson (Cincinnati), Joe Scally (Borussia Monchengladbach/GER), Auston Trusty (Celtic/SCO)
Midfielders: Tyler Adams (Bournemouth/ENG), Sebastian Berhalter (Vancouver Whitecaps), Weston McKennie (Juventus/ITA), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders), Brenden Aaronson (Leeds United/ENG), Christian Pulisic (AC Milan/ITA), Gio Reyna (Borussia Monchengladbach/GER), Malik Tillman (Bayer Leverkusen/GER), Tim Weah (Marseille/FRA), Alejandro Zendejas (Club America/MEX)
Forwards: Folarin Balogun (Monaco/FRA), Ricardo Pepi (PSV Eindhoven/NED), Haji Wright (Coventry City/ENG)

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Sports

Tottenham Signs Savinho from Man City to Take Summer Spending to More Than $400M

FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - FA Cup - Fifth Round - Newcastle United v Manchester City - St James' Park, Newcastle, Britain - March 7, 2026 Manchester City's Savinho celebrates scoring their first goal Action Images via Reuters/Craig Brough/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - FA Cup - Fifth Round - Newcastle United v Manchester City - St James' Park, Newcastle, Britain - March 7, 2026 Manchester City's Savinho celebrates scoring their first goal Action Images via Reuters/Craig Brough/File Photo
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Tottenham Signs Savinho from Man City to Take Summer Spending to More Than $400M

FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - FA Cup - Fifth Round - Newcastle United v Manchester City - St James' Park, Newcastle, Britain - March 7, 2026 Manchester City's Savinho celebrates scoring their first goal Action Images via Reuters/Craig Brough/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - FA Cup - Fifth Round - Newcastle United v Manchester City - St James' Park, Newcastle, Britain - March 7, 2026 Manchester City's Savinho celebrates scoring their first goal Action Images via Reuters/Craig Brough/File Photo

Tottenham took its summer spending to more than $400 million by signing Brazil winger Savinho from Manchester City on Tuesday in a deal worth 85 million pounds ($115 million).

During this transfer window, Spurs have already brought in Italy midfielder Sandro Tonali from Newcastle for a reported club-record fee of 100 million pounds ($133 million), days after purchasing another midfielder in Mateus Fernandes from West Ham for 85 million pounds (then $113 million).

The summer refresh under Roberto De Zerbi — setting out on his first full season in charge of Tottenham — now includes the 22-year-old Savinho, who joined City in 2024 for 40 million euros ($43.6 million) from sister club Troyes but hasn't lived up to expectations.

He scored two goals in 53 Premier League appearances and didn’t make Brazil’s squad for this year’s World Cup.

Referring to a transfer saga that has lasted most of this summer, Savinho said in a Tottenham statement: “It’s taken a while but I’m very happy to be here.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity at a brilliant club with one of the best managers in the world. As soon as I spoke to the head coach, I knew I had to come. He told me he wants to help me reach the highest level, and I believe we can do that together, as a team,” The Associated Press quoted him as saying.

De Zerbi hailed Savinho's “energy, imagination and quality,” saying: “He has the courage to attack defenders and the ability to change a game with his creativity.”

Tottenham began the Premier League season by fielding a much-changed starting lineup, containing Tonali and fellow new signings Jan Paul van Hecke, Marco Senesi and Andy Robertson, in a 3-0 loss at Brentford.

Spurs are rivaling Chelsea as the heaviest spenders in European soccer this transfer window.

It's another big sale by Man City Recently hired City manager Enzo Maresca said last week that Savinho had told him “since day one” that he wanted to leave.

It's a club-record sale from City, which also allowed Spain captain Rodri to join Barcelona in a deal worth 76.5 million euros ($88.5 million), has sold midfielder Tijjani Reijnders, goalkeeper James Trafford and defender Nathan Ake, and released stalwarts John Stones and Bernardo Silva this offseason.

The only senior outfield addition has been England midfielder Elliot Anderson, for a reported club-record fee of 116 million pounds ($155 million).

The transfer window shuts next Tuesday and there are likely to be a number of incomings at City before then, including potentially Morocco midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi.

Sports

Attacking Trio Can Be Chelsea’s Heart, Alonso Says After Debut Win

Football - Premier League - Fulham v Chelsea - Craven Cottage, London, Britain - August 24, 2026 Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso celebrates after the match. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Fulham v Chelsea - Craven Cottage, London, Britain - August 24, 2026 Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso celebrates after the match. (Reuters)
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Attacking Trio Can Be Chelsea’s Heart, Alonso Says After Debut Win

Football - Premier League - Fulham v Chelsea - Craven Cottage, London, Britain - August 24, 2026 Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso celebrates after the match. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Fulham v Chelsea - Craven Cottage, London, Britain - August 24, 2026 Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso celebrates after the match. (Reuters)

Chelsea coach Xabi Alonso toasted ‌his winning debut in the Premier League by praising his front line of Joao Pedro, Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer who put on a masterclass of attacking football in a 3-2 London derby win at Fulham on Monday.

"They are going to be a very important part to build around them, to build the team with them," the Spaniard told reporters.

"They need to take responsibility. They need to lead the rest. They need to inspire the rest because if they do great, the other ones will follow."

Joao Pedro put Chelsea ahead after 31 seconds when he latched onto a pass from Palmer, who was back in ‌the kind of ‌dazzling form that stunned the Premier League after his ‌move ⁠from Manchester City ⁠in 2023.

The Brazilian repaid the favor early in the second half when he set up Palmer to make it 3-1 to the visitors with an angled shot that flew between the legs of goalkeeper Bernd Leno.

That was after Rogers – the club’s record signing over the close season from Aston Villa - had marked his debut for the Blues by restoring their lead in the 41st minute.

Goals from Fulham’s ⁠Josh King and Gonzalo Garcia kept the hosts in ‌the game until the end but Chelsea’s ‌18 shots – six on target – helped send the visiting fans home confident of a big ‌improvement on last season’s dismal 10th-place finish.

The Chelsea supporters happily dusted off ‌their Cole Palmer song – something that was not heard much during that last campaign as he struggled with injury.

"I'm very happy for Cole because I have really enjoyed seeing him playing with this dynamism, with this freedom, with this responsibility, helping the team, ‌feeling important, and we need that for the team,” Alonso said.

"If Cole feels this way, we'll have a ⁠better team, a ⁠better Chelsea."

Fulham boss Alvaro Arbeloa - a former Liverpool and Spain teammate of Alonso who was also making his Premier League debut as a coach - said his side had made the challenge of facing Chelsea all the more difficult by conceding so early.

But he praised his players for sticking to his plan for an energetic, high-pressure approach which could have been rewarded with another equalizer to make it 3-3 had Antonee Robinson kept his lob over keeper Robert Sanchez on target.

"My players they did what they had to do," Arbeloa said. "I can’t be happy because we lost this game. We wanted to win for our fans. But I think this is the way that we have to play ... We're going to play in this way ... no matter who is in front of us."

Sports

Roger Federer Is Coming Back to Play at the US Open, but Not Interested in Coming Back to Pro Tennis

Swiss former tennis player Roger Federer (front) arrives to practice on the main court at Arthur Ashe Stadium at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, US, 24 August 2026. (EPA)
Swiss former tennis player Roger Federer (front) arrives to practice on the main court at Arthur Ashe Stadium at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, US, 24 August 2026. (EPA)
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Roger Federer Is Coming Back to Play at the US Open, but Not Interested in Coming Back to Pro Tennis

Swiss former tennis player Roger Federer (front) arrives to practice on the main court at Arthur Ashe Stadium at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, US, 24 August 2026. (EPA)
Swiss former tennis player Roger Federer (front) arrives to practice on the main court at Arthur Ashe Stadium at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, US, 24 August 2026. (EPA)

Roger Federer is actually nervous about his tennis.

The man who won five straight US Open championships during the height of his dominance of the sport is set to play again in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday night for the first time since 2019. And he's not quite sure how the game that perhaps nobody ever made look more elegant will appear now.

“I haven’t played a singles set in, I don’t know, (Hubert) Hurkacz at Wimbledon maybe, so it’s been five years,” Federer said Monday, referring to his 2021 quarterfinal loss in his last Grand Slam match. “I don’t know how it’s going to go tomorrow. So, there is a lot of uncertainty but a lot of happiness that I can return to Arthur Ashe, a place where I have had so many beautiful moments.”

It's only one set of singles in an exhibition against Andy Roddick and one set of doubles with John McEnroe against Roddick and Andre Agassi. The winner of 20 Grand Slam singles titles should be fine for those.

But a return to tennis beyond that, competing in major tennis tournaments in his mid-40s like Venus and Serena Williams?

“No, no, no, no. No, not at all,” Federer said during a news conference. “Thanks for asking. I wasn’t sure if the question was going to get asked, but I’m happy you did so I can clarify in case anybody thought.”

At 45, Federer still looks fit, and said he enjoys working out in the gym. But he said he goes through long stretches where he is rarely on the court.

His lengthy absence from the US Open has done little to dampen his popularity, based on the amount of people around the grounds who were mentioning his name. The appearance of “Roger Federer” up on the big board for all to see again, ahead of his afternoon practice on Ashe, where Federer collected the trophy every year from 2004-08, was a welcome sight for his fans.

The trip to New York is a stop for Federer on his way to Newport, Rhode Island, where he will be enshrined in the International Tennis Hall of Fame on Saturday.

Federer never really had the chance to say goodbye to New York as a player, because there was no way to know his loss to Grigor Dimitrov in the 2019 quarterfinals would be his last match. He had reached the French Open semifinals and the Wimbledon final earlier that year, falling to Rafael Nadal in Paris and then Novak Djokovic in a fifth-set tiebreaker at the All England Club.

It was easy to imagine him returning to the US Open the next year and making another deep run. But after falling to Djokovic in the semifinals of the Australian Open to begin 2020, he had knee surgery that February, then another procedure in May.

He returned to play in the French Open in 2021 but had to withdraw before his fourth-round match. After the loss to Hurkacz — where he appeared struggling and lost 6-0 in the third set — Federer had another knee surgery that August and knew there would be no more comebacks.

“The knee can’t do it anymore. It’s tired,” he recalled thinking. “The mind can’t be patient even more and wait for another couple years and see what happens.”

Federer knows Tuesday night won't be real tennis, joking that he and Roddick hopefully would be respectful and not try to drop shot each other. But it will be different from when he did return to Ashe a couple of years back to watch.

“They gave me an ovation because they saw me on the big screen, but I just feel, like, tomorrow and I guess today, as well, and Monday next week, it really gives me a true opportunity to say thank you and goodbye, which I think is important for some,” Federer said. "It’s a nice thing to do, for sure."