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Friday is finally here! I am Jonathan Johnson bringing you everything that you need. With the NWSL Draft to look forward to as well as the usual Premier League thrills and spills, and Champions League round of 16 draw, lets get to it.
📺 Footy fix
All times U.S./Eastern
Friday, Dec. 15
🇮🇹 Serie A: Genoa vs. Juventus, 2:45 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🏴 EPL: Nottingham Forest vs. Tottenham Hotspur, 3 p.m. ➡️ USA Network
Saturday, Dec. 16
🏴 EPL: Manchester City vs. Crystal Palace, 10 a.m. ➡️ USA Network
🇮🇹 Serie A: Napoli vs. Cagliari, 12 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🇪🇸 La Liga: Valencia vs. Barcelona, 3 p.m. ➡️ ESPN+
Sunday, Dec. 17
🇮🇹 Serie A: Milan vs. Monza, 6:30 a.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🏴 EPL: Liverpool vs. Manchester United, 11:30 a.m. ➡️ USA Network
🇮🇹 Serie A: Lazio vs. Inter, 2:45 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🇫🇷 Ligue 1: Lille vs. PSG, 2:45 p.m. ➡️ beIN Sports USA
⚽ The Forward Line
🆕 NWSL Expansion Draft day
By Pardeep Cattry
The NWSL offseason ramped into overdrive this week ahead of tonight's Expansion Draft, when the incoming teams -- the Utah Royals and Bay FC -- will raid their opponents' rosters as they attempt to fill their own. Ten of the league's 12 existing teams will have partial or full roster protection tonight after a truckload of trades this week, headlined by Bay FC's acquisition of Emily Menges from the Portland Thorns.
A trade-heavy buildup to the expansion draft is nothing new for the NWSL, and neither are eye-popping moves. Teams have always used the expansion draft as a creative way to build rosters including in 2015, when Meghan Klingenberg was drafted by the Houston Dash and then her rights went to three different teams before ending up at the Thorns. Sandra Herrera notes, though, that the expansion draft might be losing its relevance, especially with players from only five teams available tonight.
- Herrera: "Do two recent expansion draft events with limited participation mean the league should lead once more and look for an alternative for future teams to build rosters? Rules and processes have been reevaluated in nearly every expansion process since the first draft event in 2015. There are no longer rules for allocated players as the concept no longer exists. Free agency is here and there are no trade clauses in contracts that now have to be honored. Even with improvements for player labor, there's still the general ickiness of a player not having self agency or say in how their careers are navigated."
Despite limited participation in tonight's event, several talented players are up for grabs. Herrera spotlights top talent that could be on the move, including a pair of attackers currently on the books at Racing Louisville, a team that will at least be protected from Bay's selections.
- Herrera: "Utah Royals head coach Amy Rodriguez might be intrigued to build with a couple players from Louisville. Depending on how they will use international spots, Nigeria's Uchenna Kanu and South Africa's Thembi Kgatlana are two attacking players that would immediately impact the attack."
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🔗 Midfield Link Play
🎟️ UCL round of 16 draw set for Monday
With this week's UEFA Champions League action now done and dusted, attention turns to Monday's early round of 16 draw at 6:00 a.m. ET which promises some fascinating matchups to look forward to when continental club soccer returns in early 2024. The top seeds boast your usual suspects such as Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Manchester City with welcome returns for Arsenal and Barcelona, but there are also some unexpected names in there such as Borussia Dortmund and Real Sociedad. Meanwhile, Inter and Paris Saint-Germain are arguably the two unexpected big guns in the unseeded path while possibly Porto as well as RB Leipzig are known enough at this level to not be written off.
Pardeep Cattry broke the draw scenarios down in full and weighed in on the unseeded teams that will pose the biggest threats to those seeded sides going into next week's draw:
- Cattry: "Without a doubt, Serie A leaders Inter and French champions PSG are the teams the seeded teams would rather not receive in Monday's draw. The Italian side finished second on a tiebreaker in Group D and have steadily performed throughout the season, meaning a headline-grabbing round of 16 matchup could be in the cards for them. As for the Parisians, they may have been inconsistent throughout the group stage but with the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Zaire-Emery, PSG boast the talent to oust any team from the competition."
UCL round of 16 clubs
Seeded
- Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City, Real Madrid and Real Sociedad.
Unseeded
- Copenhagen, Inter, Lazio, Napoli, PSG, Porto, PSV and RB Leipzig.
No-draws
- Arsenal cannot draw PSV, Atleti cannot draw Lazio, Barca cannot draw Porto, Bayern cannot draw Copenhagen or Leipzig, Dortmund cannot draw PSG or Leipzig, City cannot draw Leipzig, Real cannot draw Napoli and Sociedad cannot draw Inter.
🔗 Top Stories
⬆️ UCL and UEL power rankings: Our Champions League power rankings position PSG, Real, Barca, Arsenal, Bayern and others after the group stage. Our Europa League standings feature Liverpool, Milan and Bayer Leverkusen.
🇪🇺 UCL's best: Our Champions League team of the group stage features Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham, Arsenal's Bukayo Saka, but also Borussia Dortmund's Mats Hummels and Atletico Madrid's Alvaro Morata. We also look at the Europa League runners and riders.
🎭 UCL Group F's contrasting fortunes: Champions League Group F delivered maximum drama for PSG, ecstasy for Milan and heartbreak for Newcastle United as the French giants flirted with the Europa League while the Magpies were briefly in dreamland.
🔎 UCL's underlying numbers: Our breakdown of numbers which could shape the Champions League round of 16 and beyond with Man City looking sharp and Real Madrid struggling in defense.
🤓 UEFA coefficient latest: We break down the latest in the chase for an extra Champions League spot as well as England's quest for a fifth UCL berth as the Netherlands fall away from Europe's top five.
🇮🇹 Serie A's 'unknown' gems: Our look at calcio's current crop of developing talents featuring Bologna's Joshua Zirkzee, Frosinone's Matias Soule and Genoa's Albert Gudmundsson.
🏆 Club World Cup explainer: All you need to know ahead of the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup which will be the last of its kind before next year's format changes.
💰 The Back Line
💵 Best bets
- Premier League: Liverpool vs. Manchester United, Wednesday, 11:30 a.m.
💰 THE PICKS: Draw (+500) or draw with both teams to score (+550) -- After their midweek exit from all forms of European soccer, Erik ten Hag's Manchester United must show something away at Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool. The Reds lead the Premier League while the Red Devils are three points off the pace for a European berth with their Dutch tactician likely to be under greater scrutiny now that another shot at silverware has gone to waste. Not that United were ever likely to win the UEFA Champions League, given the mess that they are in at present, but a drop down to the Europa League would have been more respectable. As it is, United need a reaction and they need it now so Anfield is hardly an ideal destination to rebound but there is no choice about that. Should Ten Hag see his players fall to defeat again, his Old Trafford hot seat -- which is already scalding -- will surely be untenable given that it was previously United's EPL form which was holding the fallen giants' season together by a solitary thread. It feels likely that we see one more managerial casualty before the end of the calendar year and it could well be Ten Hag who finds himself relieved of his duties after a frankly disastrous opening half of this term.
📺 What's on CBS Sports Golazo Network
☀️ Morning Footy (Weekdays 8-10 a.m.): Hosts Susannah Collins, Charlie Davies, Nico Cantor and Alexis Guerreros help fans get their day started on the network's flagship morning show with highlights, interviews and the biggest soccer storylines. Morning Footy is also available in podcast form, so you'll never have to miss an episode.
📦 Box 2 Box (Weekday afternoons): The news-driven show quickly recaps all the latest headlines from around the world with panelists previewing the top matchups of the day. Catch Box 2 Box on CBS Sports Golazo Network on the CBS Sports app, PlutoTV and Paramount+.
3️⃣ Attacking Third (Monday, Wednesday and Friday evening): The leading women's soccer podcast and social brand is now a live studio show. Just because the NWSL season is over doesn't mean that our coverage of the women's game is going anywhere. Our analysts will be breaking down the USWNT. NWSL offseason and European domestic season all winter long.
👟 Kickin' It (Tuesday, 7 p.m.): CBS Sports Golazo Network's new unfiltered interview show returns Tuesday Hosted by Kate Abdo, Clint Dempsey, Mo Edu and Charlie Davies, the group chat candidly with the biggest names from the Beautiful Game and share their stories from on and off the pitch.
⚽ Call it What You Want (Monday night): A weekly podcast where Jimmy Conrad, Jesse Marsch and Charlie Davies cover all things USMNT and the state of the beautiful game in the United States.
🥅 Scoreline (Daily): Scoreline is the newest place for fans to catch up on all the biggest news and results impacting global football, match highlights from the top soccer competitions and all the can't-miss goals from the day's action, starting Thursday and airing seven days a week.
📺 How to watch: CBS Sports Golazo Network is a free 24/7 channel exclusively dedicated to offering unparalleled coverage of all the top soccer competitions worldwide. You can stream for free on the CBS Sports app, Pluto TV and Paramount+.
