Young Americans

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Mauricio Pochettino doesn't believe in friendlies, and tonight in St. Louis, his young U.S. team gets its next chance to show why against Chile. Across the Atlantic, Zinedine Zidane couldn't stay put on the touchline, the Esposito family made Italian history, and Pochettino himself had plenty to say about Manchester City's guilty verdict. Closer to home, Georgia Gwinnett gets Cumberland twice in one day.

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Midway through Monday's press conference in St. Louis, a Chilean reporter referred to tonight's match as a friendly. Mauricio Pochettino corrected him. "A friendly is when we play with our friends," the U.S. Men's National Team head coach said in Spanish. "Unofficial is competitive."

It was a small correction, but it told you how Pochettino sees this window. Saturday's 4-1 win over Peru in Orlando opened a new four-year cycle pointed toward 2030, and it came with 11 first caps, eight of them to teenagers. Justin Ellis scored four minutes into his debut. Julian Hall scored in his. Sebastian Berhalter added a goal and an assist, and Malik Tillman buried a penalty for his third goal in three matches. Every one of the four U.S. goals involved a debutant. Asked whether the new faces were still carrying nerves, Pochettino said they never had any. He called the group "very confident, very cocky," and he meant it as a compliment.

Chile should test that confidence more than Peru did. Pochettino knows the country well. He spent the early 1990s crossing the Andes with Newell's Old Boys for Copa Libertadores trips against Colo-Colo, Universidad de Chile, and Universidad Católica, and he still remembers an overnight bus ride from Coquimbo to Santiago along the coast. He said every trip to Chile meant suffering. He also noted that five of Chile's last seven matches have involved red cards, which makes La Roja hard to scout and easy to predict: this one will be contested. Iván Zamorano, one of the best strikers Pochettino says he ever faced, will be in the building calling the match for Chilean television.

The bigger priority for Pochettino isn't the opponent. It's the minutes. This is a four-match window, with Mexico and Canada still ahead, and he's asked Chile's federation to allow 11 substitutions tonight. As of Monday, he was still waiting on an answer. Chris Richards could start or come off the bench. Cole Campbell didn't finish Monday's training session and may not dress, though Pochettino said he'll be available against Mexico either way. And Damion Downs, who recently joined St. Louis CITY SC, could get minutes in front of what's now his home crowd.

The night belongs to someone else, too. Tim Ream, a St. Louis native and a steadying voice through the last World Cup cycle, will be honored before kickoff at Energizer Park. Pochettino credited Ream with helping him adapt to American soccer culture when he took the job, and said he "fully deserves" the recognition coming his way in his hometown. Tyler Adams wore the captain's armband for the first time under Pochettino against Peru, and Pochettino called him "a perfect ambassador for us." He also said the staff will start thinking about naming a permanent captain after tonight, with Adams among the candidates.

One captain gets his send-off. The next one may be standing a few yards away.

USA vs. Chile kicks off at 8 p.m. ET from Energizer Park in St. Louis on TNT, truTV, HBO Max, Universo, and Peacock. The match will also air on 92.9 The Game thanks to Westwood One, with Atlanta Soccer Tonight to follow.

The ball found Michael Olise deep inside his own half in the 88th minute Monday night in Brussels, and he started running. So did Zinedine Zidane. As Olise carried it down the right, cut inside, and curled a shot past Senne Lammens into the bottom corner, the France head coach was sprinting down the touchline with him, screaming, before he found a loose ball in his path and booted it away.

"I don't even know what I did, actually," Zidane said afterward, smiling. He sensed Olise was off on a dribble, wanted to be part of it, and saw a ball that needed kicking. "It might be a little bit ridiculous, but it doesn't matter."

It's hard to think of anyone who's earned the right to be a little ridiculous more than Zidane. And two matches into the job he took over from Didier Deschamps after the World Cup, he's got two 1-0 road wins to show for it. The first came Friday in Türkiye, where Kylian Mbappé scored the winner and then limped off with a left knee injury that's sent him back to Real Madrid for treatment. Without his captain in Belgium, Zidane didn't try to replace Mbappé so much as rethink the whole thing. He made nine changes to his lineup, kept only goalkeeper Mike Maignan and defender Maxence Lacroix from Friday's XI, and started Olise, Rayan Cherki, and Ousmane Dembélé on the bench. Lucas Da Cunha, the Como midfielder, made his senior debut.

For long stretches it looked like the gamble would end in a scoreless draw. France had the better of it. Désiré Doué cracked a shot off the crossbar in the 12th minute, Da Cunha hit the post from 25 yards early in the second half, and Lammens made one save after another. Then Olise, on for only 11 minutes, did what he spent the World Cup doing: made something out of nothing.

Zidane didn't sound surprised. "I told myself that I have 23 players at my disposal, and I am going to use them all eventually," he said. "I wasn't afraid at all of what might happen." France now sits alone atop its Nations League group with six points, three clear of Belgium and Italy. Next up is Italy on Friday at the Stade de France, Zidane's first home match in charge. Expect a big crowd. Maybe expect him to run a little, too.

Zinedine Zidane has won a World Cup, a Ballon d'Or, and the Champions League as both a player and a manager. None of it made him any better at standing still when Michael Olise picked up the ball in his own half with two minutes left in Brussels. Watch the goal, then watch the man on the touchline. You never get too decorated for a moment like this.

When Italy's lineup went out Monday in Bursa, two of the names on it belonged to the same family. Pio Esposito, 21, was making his 11th appearance for the Azzurri. His older brother Sebastiano, 24, was making his first. Not since 1915 had two brothers started the same match for Italy.

Italy needed something to feel good about. Roberto Mancini's return as head coach began Friday with a 2-0 home loss to Belgium and jeers from the crowd in Rome. Three days later, in a downpour in Türkiye, his team looked like a different group. Alessandro Bastoni lunged to fire in the opener off a corner. After 23 minutes, goalkeeper Altay Bayındır flapped at a low cross-shot from Michael Kayode, and Davide Frattesi tucked it home. Then Kayode found the same pocket on the right side of the box and beat Bayındır at his near post himself. Italy's passing kept pulling Türkiye out of shape, and the muddy goalmouth did the rest. It was 3-0 at halftime.

Barış Yılmaz pulled one back two minutes after the break, and for five minutes the crowd believed. Then Sandro Tonali hit the post and Pio dove to head in the rebound. Yılmaz thought he'd scored again later, but Oğuz Aydın was offside, and the 4-1 held.

Pio finished with a goal and an assist. Sebastiano went close several times, and his little brother made sure the night was about him anyway. "I remember well my first time for the senior Italy side, as it was only last year, so I tried not to add any more pressure onto his shoulders," Pio said. "I hope he enjoyed it to the max." The Espositos are only the fourth set of brothers to play in the same match for Italy, a list that includes Filippo and Simone Inzaghi in 2000. The last brothers to start together, Aldo and Luigi Cevenini, scored all three goals in a 3-1 win over Switzerland in 1915. And with Sebastiano's debut, the family completed a set nobody else has: Salvatore Esposito, the oldest brother at 25, earned his one cap in 2022, making them the first three brothers ever to play for Italy's senior team.

The win pulls Italy level with Belgium on three points, three behind France, and eases some of the pressure on Mancini. It shifts plenty of it onto his old Sampdoria teammate Vincenzo Montella, who took Türkiye to the Euro 2024 quarterfinals but watched his side finish bottom of its group at this summer's World Cup. Italy heads to the Stade de France on Friday to face Zidane's unbeaten France. Mancini has three days to decide whether the brothers stay together.

Mauricio Pochettino was in St. Louis on Monday to talk about Chile, but one question, asked in Spanish, took him back to north London. What did he make of Manchester City being found guilty? He started with his own memories. He coached Tottenham from 2014 until nearly 2020, while the club was building its new stadium, and for 18 months, he said, Spurs couldn't sign a single player. They fought for the top four every year and won a Champions League semifinal anyway. "Those controls were so strict with us," he said, "and so lax with some others."

Then he asked the question he kept coming back to: "Where were the controls?"

English soccer has been asking some version of it since Friday, when it was reported that City had been found guilty of nearly all of the 115 charges the Premier League brought against the club in February 2023. The core of the case covers 2009-10 through 2017-18, when the league said City failed to provide accurate financial information, including details of payments to players and coaches. A second set of charges accused the club of refusing to cooperate with the league's investigation from 2018-19 through 2022-23. City won seven Premier League titles across those seasons. The punishment hasn't been decided. It could range from a fine to a points deduction to, in theory, expulsion. City has always denied wrongdoing and plans to appeal.

Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak broke his silence Saturday with a letter to supporters, writing that the club's confidence in proving its innocence is "just as strong as when this began." He said the process still has a long way to run, and that confidentiality rules keep him from explaining why City feels so sure of its position.

The rest of the league isn't waiting. The Independent reported that Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, and Tottenham have all preserved their right to seek compensation under the same section of the rulebook Burnley used to win its case against Everton over financial breaches, a rule that places no cap on what can be awarded. The numbers help explain why. Per The Athletic's analysis, City spent £1.943 billion on wages across the nine seasons at the center of the charges, more than £100 million beyond any other English club. City reached the Champions League in eight of those nine years. Tottenham finished one spot short four times.

Pochettino called it "a great sadness." Some of what was celebrated in those years may not have been real, he said, and some of what looked like failure might have been something better, if everyone had been playing by the same rules. He hopes the case leads to a future where every club competes through its own ability and creativity. But no sanction, he said, can turn back the clock.

"It's impossible to go back."

SDH AM is live right now on our YouTube and Twitch channels and on the National Sports Broadcast Network, and we're starting the day in St. Louis. Justin Graham of the Ball Watching pod leads off to talk about the run St. Louis CITY SC has been on and the kind of environment the USMNT is walking into tonight at Energizer Park. In Hour 2, Life University women's soccer head coach Meg McGonigle joins us to break down her team's season so far, the SSAC race, and where things stand in the NAIA. You'll also see our exclusive interview with Kiana Miree, AMBSE's VP of Retail and Merchandising, on how Atlanta City FC's new brand makes the jump from reveal to the merchandise you'll be wearing to matches.

Then, just after 10 p.m., I'll be live with Atlanta Soccer Tonight on 92.9 The Game and the Audacy app to talk through what we learned against Chile.

GGC Men Host No. 3 Cumberland in a Top-10 White Out: No. 6 Georgia Gwinnett College (5-2-1) hosts unbeaten No. 3 Cumberland (8-0-2) today at 3 p.m. at the Grizzly Soccer Complex in Lawrenceville, a rematch of last season's NAIA Round of 16, which GGC won 2-1 in Orange Beach, Alabama, on a Josefa Simao winner. The Grizzlies are 5-0-1 all-time against the Phoenix and come in off a 4-0 win at Pikeville in which reserves scored all four goals, including two from senior Francisco Osorio in a two-minute span. Sophomore Ousmane Fall leads GGC with six goals, while David Barbakadze paces Cumberland with nine.

GGC Women Close Road Swing at No. 19 Cumberland: Same opponent, different venue for Georgia Gwinnett's women, as the No. 22 Grizzlies (4-5-0) wrap up a four-match road trip this afternoon in Lebanon, Tennessee. GGC has dropped consecutive one-goal matches to top-15 opponents but has won four of six all-time meetings with Cumberland (9-2-1), including a 2-1 comeback win last season. Sophomore Hannah Lorenz leads the Grizzlies with six goals; Victoria Collins leads the Phoenix, winners of four straight, with 12.

Pickett Anchors Clayton State's Shutout Streak: Clayton State freshman defender Lofton Pickett of Newnan was named Peach Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Week, the first such honor of her career. Pickett played all 180 minutes as the Lakers held USC Aiken and Middle Georgia scoreless while facing 26 shots, extending a run of three straight shutouts that's the program's first since 2024. The Lakers (5-2-1, 3-1-0 PBC) visit Anderson on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

Brazil Rallies Past Australia, but Raphinha Leaves Hurt: Brazil came from behind to beat Australia 4-2 on Tuesday in Brisbane, with Bruno Guimarães and Vinícius Júnior scoring in the second half after Australia had led 2-1 through Alessandro Circati and Connor Metcalfe. Captain Raphinha converted a penalty to level the match before halftime but was substituted at the break with discomfort in his right leg, where he has had repeated hamstring and thigh problems. Carlo Ancelotti's side travels to Kolkata to face India on Saturday.

Mallorca Goalkeeper Hospitalized After Training Ground Accident: Mallorca goalkeeper Iván "Pichu" Cuéllar, 42, suffered a serious head injury Monday when a large decorative structure collapsed in the dining room at the club's training ground. The club said he'll remain under observation for 24 hours. With Lucas Bergström away with Finland, Mallorca has only one senior goalkeeper, Arnau Tenas, available for Sunday's Segunda División match against Girona.

Sevilla Brings in Goldman Sachs to Run Sale Process: Sevilla's major shareholders have hired Goldman Sachs to assess potential buyers for the club, with a group involving Sergio Ramos and, more recently, Mondo Sport Capital among the parties that have shown interest. President José María del Nido Carrasco said the club cut its net debt from roughly €90 million to about €60 million over the summer, helped by around €41 million in player sales.

Two Red Cards for Pulling Anguilla Player's Hair: Antigua and Barbuda finished its Concacaf Nations League win over Anguilla with nine men after two players were sent off for pulling the dreadlocks of Anguilla substitute Aedan Scipio. Keon Greene was dismissed three minutes after Scipio entered, and Shalon Knight followed in stoppage time. Antigua and Barbuda still won 5-0.

Naples Commits €50 Million to Stadio Maradona Renovation: Naples' city council has approved €50 million toward redeveloping the Stadio Maradona, adding to €150 million from the Campania regional government for a total of €200 million. The city-owned stadium is on the longlist of venues competing to host matches at Euro 2032, which Italy and Türkiye will co-host.

Wissa Spoils Zimbabwe's Homecoming: Yoane Wissa scored one goal and set up another as DR Congo won 2-1 in Harare in Africa Cup of Nations qualifying, Zimbabwe's first home match since November 2021 after lengthy stadium renovations. DR Congo leads Group E with six points from two matches.

There's no such thing as a friendly when you're still figuring out who you are, and tonight in St. Louis, a young U.S. team gets its next chance to find out. Kickoff is 8 p.m. ET, and when it's over, I'll be live on Atlanta Soccer Tonight just after 10 on 92.9 The Game and the Audacy app to talk through what we learned.

Song of the Day: 'Young Americans' by David Bowie. Eight teenagers earned their first caps on Saturday, and tonight another chapter starts for a group that's barely begun writing its story. Hard to think of a better soundtrack for this team right now.

Jason