Pitch Invasion

Chris and Ted are back from their winter break. We break down the latest front office hires from Inter Miami of Kurt Schmid and Niki Budalic and mourn the loss of a South Florida soccer staple, Fado Irish Pub. Also, we run through Chris' recently completed vacation to England where he went to games at Wembley, Watford, Southampton, Fulham, Manchester United, Leyton Orient, Chelsea, and Manchester City. We discuss all the differences between American and English soccer experiences and even the differences between each individual club.

Chris and Ted run through the big news in the soccer world from this week, including Mourinho's sacking, the Champions League Draw, Liverpool staying top of the league, the MLS Playoff changes, and more.

Jam-packed Pitch Invasion for you this week. Chris and Ted run through the value of the MLS Expansion Draft to new clubs (Inter Miami will take part in one in a year), Atlanta United winning MLS Cup (Ted went), the Barcelona-Girona scheduled for Miami being called off, the Raheem Sterling controversy, and everything else from around the soccer world.

It was discussed on the Five Reasons Sports Podcast this week, so we had our answer. Are soccer fans in Miami to discerning to be interested and support a team in MLS? Plus the Copa Libertadores madness, US Men's National Team Hires Gregg Berhalter, Champions League, Premier League, MLS Playoffs, and much more.

Chris was at world soccer conference SoccerEx, held in Miami, and was able to interview a few key figures in the soccer world. In this episode, here from 2:05 Alexi Lalas, US Men’s National Team Legend and FOX Sports Analyst 8:55 Paul McDonough, Sporting Director of Inter Miami CF 18:10 Boris Gartner, President of La Liga North America 31:20 Jorge Mas, Owner of Inter Miami CF 36:10 Don Garber, MLS Commissioner

SoccerEx Comes To Miami Manchester Derby recap Der Klassiker is a cracking game. Chelsea & Arsenal drop points (little bit of separation occurring in PL table) Barcelona thoughts (losing to Betis, tight La Liga table) Real Madrid confirm Solari MLS Conference Semis Atlanta vs Red Bulls Preview Portland vs Sporting KC Preview USMNT Friendlies (Pulisic back, Manager hire soon?) UEFA Nations League wrapping up

Here from Inter Miami owners David Beckham and Jorge Mas after the referendum for Miami Freedom Park and the new stadium passed with City of Miami residents voting in favor 60-40. Then, stay for  Our reaction to the referendum results Manchester United come back to win in the Champions League Man City winning comfortably every game it seems. Manchester Derby this weekend Real Madrid recovery under their new manager Tottenham stay alive in the Champions League Inter hold their own against Barca Liverpool lose in Belgrade  MLS Playoffs Weekend preview: Milan-Juve, Monaco PSG, Der Klassiker

1. Inter Miami: I don't know of any news but maybe could talk about potential temporary stadium 2. El Clasico/Lopetegui fired 3. MLS Decision Day: How it played out, media/coverage criticism MLS Playoff Preview 4. DC United vs Columbus Crew 5. NYCFC vs Philly 6. LAFC vs RSL 7. FC Dallas vs Portland 8. Leicester Tragedy 9.EPL Recap: Arsenal run ends, ManUtd nice win, Ross Barkley (!), Man City professional performance 10. Weekend Ahead: Arsenal vs Liverpool, Bournemouth vs ManUtd

Inter Miami Chief Business Officer Jurgen Mainka joins the pod to tell us about how he came into the club, the club's campaign for ballot measure 378 to approve Miami Freedom park and the new stadium for the club, and everything that goes into building a new club. Then, Ted Hill joins Chris to discuss the latest from around European soccer and MLS. 

Chris and Ted run through our 10 most interesting things in soccer. Here is the running order. 1:15 Southern Legion’s VP of Communication Chris Allen joins the pod to discuss ballot initiative 378, which will allow City of Miami residents to either approve or deny Inter Miami’s stadium plan 15:05 The international break! The US Women have qualified for the World Cup 19:05 The US Men played in 2 friendlies against Colombia and Peru. What did we learn? 24:05 The UEFA Nations League. Is it working and are the games fun?  27:20 What the hell is going on with Germany? 30:45 Which European teams stood out? Is the best part of the Nations League Gibraltar winning 38:30 #SaveTheCrew worked! 45:35 Previewing Man United-Chelsea, the standout game of the Premier League this weekend 50:40 Barcelona-Sevilla highlights a tight title race in Spain 53:00 Which other European games are you most excited to watch

Our 10 point rundown   1. How English should Inter Miami be? 2. Jose Mourinho delays the inevitable 3. Liverpool-City 4. Rest of Premier League “Big 6” 5. Top sides across Europe getting off to slow starts or recovering has led to some compelling tables in Spain and Germany 6. Should Chelsea be insulted that Eden Hazard constantly talks about Real Madrid? 7. Potential Liga MX/MLS merger. What to make of it? 8. McKennie, Pulisic, Adams out of US squad. No manager yet. What is the point? 9. Matias Almeyda to San Jose. Some hyperbole that this could be a massive step for MLS in the hiring of managers. 10. USWNT close to qualifying for the World Cup

The Pitch Invasion Running Order 1. Inter Miami linked with Falcao. The hype/leak machine is working strong 2. Cristiano Ronaldo Rape Allegations 3. Barcelona dominant at Wembley in winning at Spurs 4. United draw to Valencia and draw with West Ham. Should Mourinho get the sack? 5. City underwhelm but win at Hoffenheim. Should they be concerned heading into their massive game against Liverpool? 6. Speaking of Liverpool, they fail to win for a 3rd straight match, losing at Napoli 1-0 in UCL. What's behind their recent struggles? 7. Real Madrid lose in Moscow and have also failed to win in 3. Have they lost what made them great? 8. Bayern aren't top of the Bundesliga and drew at home to Ajax. Is there a title race on in Germany? 9. The USWNT embark on their Women's World Cup Qualifying campaign this week. We don't have to be concerned about another qualifying failure, do we? 10. MLS: The race between Atlanta United and New York Red Bulls goes down to the wire and LA Galaxy somehow still have a chance to make the playoffs.

Chris and Ted roundup Match Day 1 in the Champions League, including Liverpool's thrilling win over PSG, Real Madrid and Barcelona dominating, and opening day losses for Spurs and Man City. Then, (21:30) Chris gives his ideas for who Inter Miami could sign as their first designated player and talk about the cool piece ESPN wrote about the Inter Miami logo.

Chris and Ted run through the both US Men's National Team friendlies against Brazil and Mexico, including the brilliant incidents with Matt Miazga/Diego Lainez and DeAndre Yedlin/Neymar, the continued search for a US manager, the UEFA Nations League, the next week's big games, and Antoine Griezmann saying he'd eventually like to play for Inter Miami.

IN THE FIRST 20 MINUTES YOU WILL HEAR A CODE WORD FOR HOW TO WIN TICKETS TO GO SEE COLOMBIA-VENEZUELA AT HARD ROCK STADIUM COURTESY OF OUR FRIENDS AT DORAL TOYOTA We welcome to the pod new contributor Ted Hill! Follow him @tedhill. We get into the international break and the young if manager-less US squad, the start of the Premier League season, more details about La Liga to Miami being released, and close with how much Wayne Rooney has helped DC United. We taped this episode before the release of the Inter Miami name and logo reveal, but, we play for you again the bit we did with Adam Smoot of Ballscast when he came on to break down the logo when it first leaked.