Angels Links: USMNT look to Dave Sarachan as interim boss

Dave Sarachan confirmed as interim United States coach for Portugal game

The United States Soccer Federation has announced that Dave Sarachan, assistant coach for the USMNT under Bruce Arena, will be the interim head coach for the national team when they take on Portugal in a friendly on November 14th. ESPN reports that the plan is for Sarachan to be in charge for the Portugal game only, since the staff of Bruce Arena is still on the USSF payroll. Further reports indicate that a long-term head coach will not be appointed until after the USSF Presidential Elections in February, or even until after the World Cup(!), and that a strategy for naming the next man up is still being ironed out. ESPN’s sources also said that the roster for the friendly will be composed of more young players, with fewer older veterans.

Diego Maradona: Giving FIFA award to Ronaldo and not Messi 'hurt my soul'

The Best FIFA Football Awards took place yesterday, with Cristiano Ronaldo taking home the title of Best Men’s Player for 2017. He won the award over Lionel Messi and Neymar, although all three made it into the team of the year. At the awards ceremony, Argentina Legend Diego Maradona was the one to present the award, and said afterwards that it “hurt my soul“ to give the award to Ronaldo over his compatriot Messi. He also said that he has a good relationship with Messi, amid speculation that the two do not get along after Messi did not invite him to his wedding last summer (drama!).

Real Madrid release update on Harry Kane pursuit

At the FIFA Awards ceremony in London, Real Madrid President Florentino Perez was asked about Harry Kane. Since Kane is a goal-scoring machine and is only 24, he has, of course, been linked to signing with Real Madrid after the World Cup. Tottenham fans can breathe steady for now, however, because Perez said “Signing Harry Kane has not passed through my head...we are delighted with [Karim] Benzema and with all of the team. I didn’t ask Tottenham’s president for the price because he would have told me that he is worth €250m.” Of course, it is October, so 1) Madrid would not be able to buy him right now anyway, 2) Madrid can’t start tapping up now, 3) the price for Kane is really only going to go up, especially if he keeps scoring and if he has a good World Cup. But for now, Spurs fans can exhale and enjoy one of the best strikers on the planet.

Premier League’s big six defeated in bid to reallocate £1bn of overseas TV revenue

The “big six“ in the Premier League have, for now, been forced to accept defeat in their push to get a bigger share of overseas TV revenue. England’s biggest clubs (you know who) were bidding to make 35 percent of the TV revenue from other countries be distributed according to league table position. Right now, the revenue is divided equally among all the teams, and there would be a clear discrepancy if the top six teams, who pretty consistently finish in the top six, got more money. The smaller teams reportedly banded together to strongly oppose the proposal. The Guardian also reports that the top six recruited Leicester, West Ham, and Everton to agree with the proposal, but they need 14 teams to agree, and the meeting of shareholders on Wednesday was cancelled after realizing a deal would simply not get done.

What do you think? Leave a comment below!