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Everton will host Crystal Palace in their final home game of the season at Goodison Park, and now some fresh injury news has emerged from the Crystal Palace camp that could give Frank Lampard the lifeline he needs.

What’s the latest?

According to BBC Sport football reporter Alex Howell, Patrick Vieira has confirmed that four players will be unavailable for selection and will not be in the squad against Everton on Thursday night.

Howell tweeted:

“Vieira also confirmed that James McArthur, Nathan Ferguson, Michael Olise and James Tomkins will not be in the CPFC squad for the game against Everton.”

Relegation lifeline

With Crystal Palace missing these players it could be the perfect opportunity for the Toffees to capitalise on taking the victory and securing safety in the Premier League ahead of the final game of the season at the Emirates on Sunday.

Everton currently have a two-point cushion on the bottom three in the table and squandered their chance to end their relegation battle last weekend when they lost at home to Brentford, going down to nine-men over the 90 minutes which will be a big blow for Lampard.

However, with Vieira’s side coming to Merseyside with a weakened squad and a side that has nothing to play for in their final games of the season, it should give Everton the golden opportunity and lifeline they need to secure survival.

The Toffees boss has already confirmed that Yerry Mina and Fabian Delph remain unavailable for selection in their penultimate clash tomorrow evening, along with Salomon Rondon and Jarrad Branthwaite both suspended following red cards in the last game.

Everton have only lost one of their last four games, with the side picking up 11 points from their last seven but the final three points to remove them from the relegation fight are desperately needed.

With that being said, Lampard must inspire his team to move on from the disappointing performance at the weekend and get back to the form they were in prior to the game against Thomas Frank’s side.

This is one of their final chances to keep their survival efforts in their own hands going into the last day of the season.

AND in other news: Everton plotting swoop for 18y/o “shining light”, he can be the next Calvert-Lewin

While Finch’s men will hope their new retro kits bring with them renewed fortune, go ahead and vote for your favourite Australian ODI kit

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Jan-2019
And here are the three most popular nominations from our readers.

Stats highlights from Sri Lanka’s stunning last-ball win over Australia at Geelong’s Kardinia Park

Bharath Seervi19-Feb-201736 Runs Sri Lanka needed off the last two overs, which they chased down, the most by any team. Australia needed 34 off the last two overs against Pakistan in the 2010 World T20 and pulled off a similar heist.411.11 Asela Gunaratne’s strike rate of his last nine balls. He smashed 37 runs, including three fours and four sixes. He had scored 47 off his first 37 balls with three fours and a six.1 Number of higher scores than Gunaratne’s 84 not out by a batsman at No.5 or lower in a chase in T20Is. Joe Root had made an unbeaten 90 against Australia in Southampton in 2013, but it ended in a losing cause. Gunaratne’s score is the highest by a Sri Lanka player at No.5 or lower in T20Is and the sixth highest by any player.5-0 Sri Lanka’s win-loss record in T20Is in Australia. It is the second best record in a country without losing a game. Australia is the only country where Sri Lanka haven’t lost a T20I, and they are the only team unbeaten in Australia.5 Successive losses for Australia in T20Is at home – three against India last year and two against Sri Lanka this series. This is their longest losing streak at home, passing four consecutive defeats in 2012-13.4/31 Nuwan Kulasekara’s figures – his best in T20Is, bettering his 4 for 32 against England in the 2014 World T20. He picked up three wickets off the last four balls of Australia’s innings.

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Jan-2016Hamilton Masakadza then came in and started rebuilding Zimbabwe’s innings•Chris WhiteoakHe was joined by Peter Moor to add 101 for Zimbabwe’s third wicket•Chris WhiteoakTimely strikes from Afghanistan’s bowlers helped them pull things back in the middle overs•Chris WhiteoakThat, however, did not stop Masakadza from racing to his fourth ODI century•Chris WhiteoakZimbabwe’s momentum was slightly thwarted in the death overs, and Afghanistan were left staring at a target of 249 to seal the series•Chris WhiteoakMohammad Shahzad creamed five fours early on, but was unable to make good on his start, getting bowled for 25•Chris WhiteoakLuke Jongwe, who took a five-for in the third ODI, once again got among the wickets, his triple-strike reducing Afghanistan to 66 for 3•Chris WhiteoakHashmatullah Shahidi led a recovery, scoring a crucial 32 and put up 55 for the fourth wicket with Mohammad Nabi•Chris WhiteoakBut both batsmen were dismissed in quick succession, once again tipping the contest Zimbabwe’s way•Chris WhiteoakEnter Gulbadin Naib•Chris WhiteoakNaib, who last played an ODI 11 months ago, stunned Zimbabwe by hammering six sixes during a 68-ball 82 to steal a two-wicket win for his team•Chris WhiteoakThe win not only secured the series for Afghanistan 3-2, but ensured the team stormed into the top 10 of the ICC’s ODI rankings. The players marked their memorable achievement with wild celebrations•Chris Whiteoak

Two of South Africa’s last three series were only two-Test rubbers and they were customarily drowsy in both. But they have set about at a new pace with a win in Galle

Firdose Moonda23-Jul-2014Distance runners are taught to treat their bodies like car engines by going easy at first and demanding more later on. In the recent past that is also how South Africa have approached Test cricket.They started series slowly – the Oval in 2012, Abu Dhabi in 2013 – and played catch-up later on. The exact causes for their marathon-style approach were never quite pinned down but Graeme Smith mentioned the time they took to adapt to different conditions and the need to shake off the rust which develops when Test series are spaced months apart as factors. Both those things applied on this tour too, to an even greater degree.South Africa had not played a Test match in Sri Lanka in eight years, most of the squad had come off at least a month of entirely no cricket and the conditions are as foreign as they get for men used to green tops, trampoline bounce and moderate summers. But this time they bolted off the blocks as though the machinery was already warmed up.Something changed. “Having the one-dayers before the Tests helped because guys acclimatised,” Amla said. “And maybe the fact that we just got out and did the business without too much fuss about anything else.” Or it could be that South Africa have discovered two-Test series are not quite a distance run. Starting too slowly can make it difficult to recover the ground later on as they found out recently.Two of South Africa’s last three series were only two-Test rubbers and they were customarily drowsy in both. Against Pakistan in the UAE, a lethargic bowling showing in Abu Dhabi meant that even after ruthlessness in Dubai, they could not win the series. Against India at home, the caution to go for the draw in Johannesburg meant that even victory in Durban – which did provide a series win – did not supply one big enough to hold on to the No.1 ranking.Amla on the possibility of rewriting history

South Africa last won a Test series in Sri Lanka 21 years ago. In the three times they’ve been back since, their defeats have got worse. But now, they can reverse the trend and enter the Colombo Test with an advantage.
“It’s strange (to be considered favourites),” Hashim Amla said. “We are really pleased with our performance in the last game but we are addressing this game as though we are coming in with a clean slate. There’s a bigger picture here.”
A 1-0 victory would be enough for South Africa to reclaim the No.1 Test ranking. But the approach at SSC will give be a measure of Amla as either an attacking or defensive captain.
“It will be important to assess after two days before we know where the game is going,” he said. “We always say on the subcontinent that the game speeds up later on. Lets see how it starts before we start making any tactical decisions.”
The last three matches at SSC have been high-scoring draws but South Africa’s bowlers have already showed they won’t operate in the shadows of a surface’s reputation and Amla hopes they will show that again. “Our fast bowlers have managed to do the job wherever we have been in the world so it’s not a big surprise for us that they did well here,” he said.

The stresses that come with staying on top eventually showed in next series. Against Australia, South Africa experienced the differences between the effort involved in getting somewhere and the effort required to stay there, which involves more than standing still. You have to keep moving at the same fast pace.For South Africa, Gary Kirsten was the pace-setter. He took them to No.1 and he has now returned as part of his 100-days-a-year consultancy deal. Some may feel that those hours could be better used at a time when South Africa’s batsman actually seem to be struggling rather than when they’ve piled on 455 runs. South Africa got through the Galle Test without being bowled out and are now headed to a venue reputed for being flat. But Kirsten’s purpose is not solely technical.His methods are rooted in process: do the right things more often and the outcome will be favourable. The philosophy can take some time to settle into but once it becomes a habit, its effective.Kirsten will elaborate on that tomorrow night when he is due to speak at the Cinnamon Grand on the subject of “How to build a winning team.” For 9000 Sri Lankan rupees (US$69) a ticket anyone can go and listen to the strategies behind the success Kirsten generated with two different Test teams from completely different cricket cultures and with completely different sets of personnel.South Africa already know what some of those secrets are because they have been schooled in them. They have been times in the recent past where it looked like they had forgotten some of those. Their recent results run before Galle reads: lost, won, drawn, won, lost, won, lost. That is decidedly different from the seven-match stretch they had before that which looked like this: won, won, won, won, won, won, drawn.Getting consistency back after a period of change is the real distance run, in which South Africa have started well. In-between they have to concentrate on the markers: another series, another match, another day of Test cricket, another session, another hour. To win most of those there has to be a mix between even-paced jogging and smart sprints which can be tricky to get right. At least South Africa will know that the engine has been turned on and is running smoothly.

Naeem Islam is a transformed batsman from what he was three years ago, and the changes he has made seem to be paying off richly

Mohammad Isam in Mirpur15-Nov-2012Naeem Islam has completed the shift from being a bit-and-pieces allrounder to a top-order batsman with a maiden Test hundred against West Indies on the third day in Mirpur. He is now only the second Bangladesh batsman after Aminul Islam to score a hundred at No. 4, a position which couldn’t be filled adequately by 16 different batsmen.Naeem’s innings was a revamped version of his batting, and the revamping process had begun two seasons ago; he has grabbed every opportunity since to make the transformation successful. The result of all that work was the gritty 108 off 255 balls, which kept him at the crease for nearly six hours. A clip to the fine-leg boundary in the 88th over took him to the three-figure mark, and was followed by a shout, a fist pump, some tears, a hug and an instantly flashed smile towards the dressing-room.”I got a little emotional there,” Naeem told ESPNcricinfo. “It was an innings that took some time coming. Over the last year I have worked hard on my batting, corrected a few shots. I spent a lot of time in the nets and, of course, the matches for Bangladesh A, in the Dhaka Premier League [the club one-day tournament] and the National Criket League [the domestic first-class competition] helped me become a better batsman.”Naeem broke through into the first-class scene in 2004, after winning the Plate trophy in the Under-19 World Cup that same year. Over the next four seasons, he made 2,178 runs at an average of almost 37 for Rajshahi, including four centuries. The runs earned him a place in the Bangladesh side, lower down the order, and three years ago to the day he was an altogether different batsman. On November 13, 2009, he struck six sixes in an over during a domestic league match at the Shere Bangla National Stadium (which was a first time by a Bangladesh player at any level). That came a week after he blitzed Zimbabwe in a one-wicket win. These knocks defined him as a lower-order hitter and the limited opportunities he got jeopardised his place in national side. Soon he was cast aside for long periods, particularly in Test cricket where he never batted above No. 7.Now, in his first innings at this new position, Naeem calmly saw out the second evening without any more damage after Tamim Iqbal’s dismissal. On the third morning, Naeem’s plan was to control the innings, and while he went about executing that plan, he added some much-needed solidity to Bangladesh’s first innings. His partnership with Shakib grew into a Bangladesh record for the fourth-wicket, and when he added 76 runs for the fifth wicket with Mushfiqur Rahim, the pair took the team past the dreaded follow-on mark.

“I try to follow a certain game plan: select only a few shots and try to execute those properly. I always try to play strokes to the deliveries in my zone and avoid anything otherwise.”Naeem Islam on his batting

“I kept telling myself not to play any silly shots,” Naeem said. “This is what I have done for the last two years – keep telling myself to be disciplined at the crease. It has certainly helped me bat long.”I try to follow a certain game plan: select only a few shots and try to execute those properly. I always try to play strokes to the deliveries in my zone and avoid anything otherwise.”He revealed how chief selector Akram Khan had sounded him out two months ago for a possible call-up, at this position, for the West Indies Tests. “When we were playing against the West Indies High Performance team, Akram told me to bat at No. 4 in the NCL. At that point of time I felt that if I could perform in the NCL, I would have a chance in the senior team. I prepared well, scoring two hundreds, so I think I made my case stronger.”Having made a mark on the big stage, Naeem is not looking too far ahead: “The first match of a series is always important. I have started well, so I want to build on this. It actually becomes a lot easier to execute your plans after you have had some success.”If Naeem can repeat this performance for Bangladesh, it will go a long way in helping them take advantage of Tamim’s early shows of aggression and allowing the likes of Shakib and Mushfiqur express themselves. And his story could well be one to follow for players who are reluctant to make adjustments even during the course of a single innings.

The Kingsmead pitch was as green as advertised and Dale Steyn took full advantage with some high-class swing bowling

Firdose Moonda26-Dec-2010When the covers came off the Kingsmead pitch early this morning, bowlers the world over would have felt like many men do on their wedding day: the world’s most beautiful bride had been unveiled. It was as green as it was talked up to be, almost living up to that legend about the only difference between the Durban pitch and outfield being the painted lines. With gloomy overhead conditions that appeared to have made themselves comfortable for at least a day, it was a bowler’s paradise. We’d seen this movie before. Ten days ago. In Centurion.The psychological mind- games reached their climax when Allan Donald said the pitch looked “exactly the same” as the one on which India were shot out for 66 and 100 in 1996. “Exactly” is probably an exaggeration, but it was a surface that the South Africa bowlers would have relished bowling on and the India batsmen would have felt jittery batting on, especially with memories of Morne Morkel’s SuperSport Park destruction fresh in their minds. It wasn’t Morkel who would be a worry this time, though.Durban is known for swing and Dale Steyn’s arrived like the 1960s. He showed his ability to move the ball away from the first over and exploited the conditions to his advantage. “We had big bounce and a little bit of movement off the seam,” Steyn said at the end-of-day press conference.At the other end, Morne Morkel, with height on his side, was trying to produce something similar to what he did in Centurion, but had no success this time around. While the short ball comes quite naturally to him and has earned him much success, he wasted it today. He used it too often and didn’t execute his follow-ups with the same strategic smartness as he did in Centurion. When Sehwag hit him for four off a fuller ball, Morkel returned to the short ball in defence. His line was questionable, on off stump, or just outside and his first spell was aborted after three overs. Things didn’t improve when he returned, and he bowled an over in which M Vijay did not have to play at a single ball.The bowling at the Old Fort Road end remained gentle and while Morkel and Lonwabo Tsotsobe were posing little threat, Steyn was following the gospel Graeme Smith had preached earlier in the week. Smith emphasised the importance of bowling well, even if conditions are favourable. He went as far as to say that the pressure is greater on the bowlers to perform well when the pitch offers them something.”Everybody is expecting wickets and we knew something would happen,” Steyn said. He usually bowls an opening spell of five or six overs, but he knew patience would pay off and insisted on bowling an extended spell. “I always knew there was a wicket just around the corner. I kept saying to Graeme saying one more, one more.” It was during one of the “one more” overs, that he dismissed Virender Sehwag, with slight away movement. Steyn kept begging. His next over went wicket-less, but then another “one more” and Vijay, who had left so well, poked at one. The wickets came at crucial times, just when South Africa may have started to worry about wasting the new ball.Tsotsobe got Sachin Tendulkar to poke at a wide one in the first over after lunch, but Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman came together to steady India and it was up to Steyn to intervene again. Dravid received a beautiful ball, bouncing steeply and moving away a touch, although it was the bounce more than the movement that got Dravid out. Steyn’s movement was the highlight of his bounce and he admitted that it was the right tool to bring out on this occasion. “I’m very lucky that I can get the ball to do that. I don’t try and do it all the time. You have to be able to do it on certain days. If it doesn’t work you going to get clipped through midwicket and sent to the leg-side boundary. You don’t want to be a hero every ball.”Steyn was certainly was not the hero for his fourth wicket, Tsotsobe was. An outrageous dive to his right at midwicket saw him snatch Laxman’s pull out of the air. ‘It was unbelievable,” Steyn said. “I only got three wickets today and he got a great catch. He can fall asleep sometimes in the field but that was unbelievable. I am actually pretty jealous of that catch.”Tsotsobe came into this match under pressure to keep his place, although with Wayne Parnell having contracted chicken pox, it now seems as though Tsotsobe would have played no matter what. He was fairly mediocre up front, barely hovering around the 130kph mark and showing a desperate need for some more pace. Although he was pinpointed as the weak link, Steyn denied this. “I thought he bowled nicely at SuperSport Park.”Tsotsobe captured the scalp of Tendulkar and also picked up the wicket of Cheteshwar Pujara late in the day, which went a long way towards backing up his selection. “He got another opportunity today and he’s proved that he can bowl,” Steyn said. “He is definitely somebody who is going to be around this team for a long time.”Steyn said that Tsotsobe should be open to learning from everyone, as he became about 18 months ago. “Before, I thought I could do things on my own and let my own skills take over. But it’s a team sport, and if you can take in as much information as you can and listen to the guys around you that have been around for 150 matches, that can make a difference in your career.”India still have four wickets in hand and Steyn has stressed the importance of focusing on knocking them over. “We will treat their bowlers like we treat their top-order batters. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves.”

The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questionsabout (almost) any aspect of cricket

Steven Lynch05-Mar-2007

Anderson Cummins: West Indian in 1992, Canadian in 2007 © Getty Images
I had an interesting question the other day: apparently five playersfrom the 1992 World Cup are also playing in the 2007 one, who are they? Igot Lara, Tendulkar, Inzamam and Jayasuriya, but can’t find the fifth, whois it? asked Mark Wilson
The fifth one is not obvious: it’s Anderson Cummins, who playedfor the West Indies in 1992 and is now turning out for Canada. Cummins,who is now 40, made his official one-day debut for Canada in January 2007,more than 11 years after playing the last of his 63 one-day internationalsfor West Indies, which included most of the games at the 1991-92 World Cupin Australia and New Zealand.Will Anderson Cummins be the first man to play for two sides in theWorld Cup if he plays for Canada this year? asked Prasad Yavalkarfrom India
Assuming that AndersonCummins plays a match for Canada in the forthcoming tournament, hewill become only the second player to represent two different teams in theWorld Cup: Kepler Wesselsplayed for Australia in 1983, and for South Africa in 1991-92. GraemeHick, who played for England in 1991-92, 1995-96 and 1999, was in theZimbabwe squad for the 1983 World Cup, when he was only 17, but was rathersurprisingly not chosen in any of the matches, when Zimbabwe’s captain wasDuncan Fletcher.How many pairs of brothers have played for India in Tests? asked Bhiman from India
Seven pairs of brothers have won Test caps for India, starting in theirvery first Test, against England atLord’s in 1932, when the side included Wazir and Nazir Ali. In India’snext Test, in Bombay in 1933-34,Amar Singh played alongside his brother L. Ramji, and in the next Test, at Calcutta, CS Nayudu playedalongside his brother CK. Since then the brothers have been spaced outrather more: in the late 1950s/early 1960s there was Arvind and MadhavApte, Subhash and Baloo Gupte, and Kripal and Milkha Singh, while in the1970s Mohinder and Surinder Amarnath played together several times. TheAmarnaths have a good claim to being India’s foremost cricketing family,as their father Lala captained India, and scored their first Test century(in that Bombay match mentioned above). For a full list of related Testplayers from all countries, click here.Who called his autobiography Flying Stumps? asked DarrenWilcox from Canterbury
My first thought was that it was the former Lancashire and England fastbowler Brian Statham, but whenI had a look on the bookshelves it turned out that his 1961 book wasactually called Flying Bails. He’d been beaten by seven years tothe title Flying Stumps: that was written by the Australian fastbowler Ray Lindwall. Both bookswere published in the UK by Stanley Paul.I remember David Smith of Sussex scoring a century but not getting theMan-of-the-Match award in a NatWest final a few years ago. Has anyone elsemade a century in a Lord’s final but ended up missing out on the matchaward? asked George Parker from Brighton

Ray Lindwall’s Flying Stumps ©
David Smith made 124 for Sussex in the NatWest final in 1993, but ended up on thelosing side: Warwickshire won, and Asif Din, who also scored a century,picked up the Man-of-the-Match award. Sussex had made 321 in their 60overs, the sort of score that usually guaranteed victory back then – timeshave changed a little since, as Australia found out last week! The onlyother man to make a century in a domestic final at Lord’s but not carryoff the match award was Nick Knight, whose 118 failed to take Warwickshireto victory in the C&G Trophy final in2005: Sean Ervine won the award for his 104 for the winners,Hampshire.How does the Duckworth/Lewis system for rain-affected one-day matcheswork? asked Shabbir Khan from Karachi
To explain it properly would take rather more space than we have here -the official explanation runs to more than 3000 words. The simplifiedversion is that the method calculates the resources left (the number ofovers left and the number of wickets standing) to the side batting second,and adjusts the target accordingly. The full regulations for the systemcan be found on theofficial ICC website.And there’s an update to last week’s question about one-dayinternationals played in whites, from Vivek Srinivasan andothers
“The last one-day series played in whites was not the Texaco Trophy seriesin 1998, which was the last one played in whites in England. It was theIndia-Zimbabwe series in India in December 2000.”

Bayern Munich sporting director Max Eberl has responded to links with Nicolas Jackson, while they Bavarian giants remain keen on signing Christopher Nkunku from Chelsea this summer. Jackson has been linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge, following the additions of Joao Pedro and Liam Delap to the Blues' attack, which will limit Jackson's game time.

Bayern chief provided update on JacksonRemain interested in signing NkunkuChelsea ready to sell JacksonFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱GettyWHAT HAPPENED?

Jackson has been linked with a move to several English clubs, including Newcastle and Manchester United, while Bayern had also been considered as a possible destination for the Senegalese striker. 

AdvertisementWHAT BAYERN CHIEF SAID

Despite his links with the German champions, Bayern chief Max Eberl ruled out the possibility of going after the Blues outcast. Speaking to reporters, Eberl said: "Definitely not. I've never spoken to him." The Bavarian side have strengthened their attack this summer by adding Colombian attacker Luis Diaz from Liverpool.

GettyTHE BIGGER PICTURE

While Bayern have no plans to go after Jackson, they remain keen on signing another Chelsea outcast in Christopher Nkunku, according to Sky Sports' . The report adds that a deal between the Blues and Bundesliga giants could materialise before the transfer window closes on September 1, but it will depend on whether Die Roten reignite their interest in Stuttgart's Nick Woltemade. Bayern's Eberl is known to be an admirer of Nkunku's versatility, as the Frenchman can play in multiple positions in the attack.

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WHAT NEXT FOR BAYERN?

Harry Kane and Co. will play their first competitive match of the new season this Saturday as they take on Stuttgart in the German Super Cup. Woltemade could line up for the opposition.

The analyst responded to Adams' comments about media criticism directed at Pulisic and the USMNT

Lalas called Adams' defense of Pulisic "aloof"Questioned Adams' understanding of media's role Defended right to criticize following Gold CupGetty Images SportWHAT HAPPENED

Fox Sports analyst and USMNT legend Alexi Lalas pushed back on Tyler Adams’ defense of Christian Pulisic, questioning the U.S. international midfielder's suggestion that the media should support rather than critique the star, especially after Pulisic skipped this summer’s Gold Cup.

Adams criticized the pundits who called out Pulisic, especially opinionated former USMNT players, saying "everyone wants to throw his name in the gutter because it creates a big story, or it creates noise."

“This was a strangely immature and naive, and weak kind of take," Lalas said on his State of the Union podcast.  "Not that he's defending Christian Pulisic, because we're all going to do that. But the way he seemed to think that there should be no criticism and we should all be kumbaya. And he talks often about, you know, some of the some of the players.”

Lalas indicated he appreciated Adams' voicing his opinion, but he thought the defense wasn't well-informed. 

“I can appreciate and respect the fact that Tyler Adams was asked a question and he's not shying away from this,” he said. "Doesn't mean you can't defend yourself, doesn't mean you can't defend your teammates. But to be – at least in the way that he's painted himself – blindsided by this? Again, it's just for someone that I have a lot of respect for – and I think is very smart, and the way that he has talked over the years is sometimes beyond his years – maybe he showed a little bit of his youthful naivete in this article here.”

AdvertisementGetty Images SportWHAT LALAS SAID

Lalas said Adams showed a fundamental misunderstanding of professional sports dynamics.

“OK, so Tyler, if you can't explain it and you don't understand it, then you're – if I’m being charitable – naive… You've been around the block. This is not your first rodeo," Lalas said. "But this notion that everybody should be on board and nobody should criticize… the fact that it's so surprising to him that anybody – whether it's guys like myself or others that do this for a living – I just think that it's being a little, like I said, naive and aloof to the reality of the situation, that, by the way, Tyler Adams, you and your players have created.

"And that's why the change [from Gregg Berhalter to Pochettino] was made. And when you go out in the Nations League [early] and we're worried about what we’re going to do next summer – such an important summer – I think it's completely logical for any player that's been around to understand that you were going to come in for criticism."

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Prior to winning five games in a row to reach the 2025 Gold Cup final, the USMNT lost consecutive games to Panama, Canada, Turkey, and Switzerland by a combined scoreline of 9-2.

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AFPWHAT’S NEXT?

Adams returns to Premier League duties with AFC Bournemouth while the USMNT faces continued scrutiny regarding their Gold Cup shortcomings. The team must quickly regroup for September's international fixtures.