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In just three months at San Jose Earthquakes, Timo Werner was named as April Player of the Month, a feat not even Lionel Messi at Inter Miami wasn't able to achieve. Timo Werner has become a vital piece for a San Jose Earthquakes side currently dominating the 2026 MLS season, with the German star claiming his first Player of the Month award just three months after joining. With such an immediate impact, Werner has managed to establish himself as a dominant force on the pitch even faster than Lionel Messi did upon joining Inter Miami. After logging just 13 minutes across three Bundesliga matches for RB Leipzig in the first half of the 2025-26 season, Werner sought a move away from Germany during the winter transfer window. On January 29th, he was officially announced as the newest member of the SJ Earthquakes, taking one of the club’s Designated Player spots. While his league debut started slowly, tallying 200 minutes in his first four appearances and missing three others, April proved to be his breakthrough. With a league-high seven goal contributions (four goals and three assists) in April, Werner was voted the MLS Player of the Month. The Earthquakes enjoyed a formidable run in April, pulling off five consecutive wins while outscoring opponents 16-5. The German star returned from injury against Los Angeles FC with a goal and an assist in a 4-1 win, continued his streak against Austin FC, and finally netted a brace with an assist to spark a 3-2 comeback road victory over St. Louis City. Player of the Month ⏰🗞️ | #Quakes74 Forward Timo Werner Named MLS Player of the Month for April 2026➡️ https://t.co/M3j6wWrh4b pic.twitter.com/Pzq1N3XL6g— San Jose Earthquakes (@SJEarthquakes) April 30, 2026 Just three months since his January arrival, Werner has already etched his name into the MLS history books. By winning the Player of the Month award for April, he became only the second German player to earn the honor, joining Nashville SC’s Hany Mukhtar, who has won the award twice. How long did it take Messi to win his first MLS POTM? Lionel Messi currently sits tied for 5th all-time with five MLS Player of the Month awards, level with Luciano Acosta and trailing only legend Chris Wondolowski, who holds the record with seven. However, in terms of immediate impact from his debut, Werner has actually outpaced the Inter Miami ace. Following the expiration of his PSG contract, Messi joined Inter Miami on July 15, 2023, with more than half of the season already completed. The Argentine made his MLS debut against the New York Red Bulls on August 26, but he was limited to just five more appearances that campaign due to recurring injuries. After regaining full fitness and settling in with Inter Miami, Messi’s first MLS Player of the Month award arrived in April 2024. During that month, he recorded a staggering six goals and four assists in just four matches. While Messi claimed his first award in his fifth month of active league competition (accounting for the unified Feb/March window), Werner secured his in just his second.
For the USMNT's preparation ahead of the 2026 World Cup, head coach Mauricio Pochettino identified the "friendly games" as a main challenge to sort out among the squad. Mauricio Pochettino’s nearly two years leading the USMNT will be put to the test in less than 50 days when the 2026 World Cup commences in North America. In the process of establishing his philosophy, Pochettino identified “friendly games” as one of the main challenges ahead of the competition. Set to host the tournament alongside Canada and Mexico, the USMNT had the advantage of skipping the World Cup qualifiers. However, having their spot already secured seemed to be an issue for Pochettino in terms of demanding more from his players. Speaking on The Overlap YouTube channel, Pochettino was asked by Roy Keane if he had concerns over the lack of jeopardy since the team had already qualified: “When we (Pochettino & staff) accept the challenge to go to America, we knew that it was going to be a problem how to approach the games. Because we were already qualified.“ The coach then explained a shift made during his time with the USMNT regarding the approach toward friendly games. “I avoid to say to the players, and to my staff, and the media in America to say friendly game. I say not official game. A friendly game is when you play with your friends. Non-official game is still not official, but it’s competitive. And sometimes they make that mistake: ‘This is a friendly game. I don’t need to take a risk.’ You need to create that habit,” he added. Apart from the CONCACAF Nations League and the Gold Cup, Pochettino’s tenure has featured more friendly games (14) than official ones (10) over his 24 games in charge. That number is set to grow in the friendlies prior to the World Cup, with one against Senegal (May 31st) and another yet to be confirmed. This change in terminology during the last international window was intended to change his players’ perception. “You don’t compete for a year and a half, and then you go to the World Cup to compete. It’s not like this, and we are fighting to change that mindset,” Pochettino added. Pochettino still convinced of USMNT World Cup chances Pochettino surprised fans when addressing the USMNT as potential World Cup winners in 2026. During the draw gala, he admitted to U.S. President Donald Trump that he sees the team winning the tournament, and he is far from taking that back. When asked by Gary Neville if the goal is to reach the quarterfinals, he doubled down on winning the competition: “Why not? Why not? It’s all about to believe. Look at Morocco in Qatar, no one believed and they arrived to the semifinals. Or South Korea in Japan/Korea 2002, another semifinal. I think there’s plenty of examples. If you put a limit and the message is to arrive to quarterfinals… You don’t go through the group stage.“ Beyond citing World Cup history, he addressed Tottenham’s heroics in reaching the Champions League final against Ajax. “Everything is possible in football, and because I really believe it… Look what happened in 2019 in Amsterdam. It’s because the standard, the habit, and the mentality was to believe until the end. We believed and we got the result in the end,” he added.
SC Freiburg keeper Noah Atubolu experienced quite the rollercoaster ride during Thursday evening’s Europa League loss away at Sporting Braga The 23-year-old executed a magnificent save to keep the ...
La Liga president Javier Tebas would like Barcelona and Real Madrid to play matches abroad. The dispute between Javier Tebas and Spain’s biggest clubs has been going on for years. Barcelona and Real Madrid’s popularity makes it very appealing to see them play in countries outside of Europe, which could happen if the executive succeeds in his plan. Tebas said: “We are going to continue trying. Many other sports came to Spain; we want to do something similar to them. FIFA is establishing a rulebook to play one match from each league abroad. It would be very good for the brand.” These comments came during a public event organized by the Universidad de Navarra. In his speech, he also mentioned the United States, Saudi Arabia and Casablanca as potential locations La Liga could choose for this. Tebas remarks on Spanish clubs Logically, the La Liga president gets very enthusiastic when describing the competition he leads. Even if the titles are mostly dominated by two clubs, with Atletico Madrid occasionally challenging, he spoke highly about the continental matches. Tebas isn’t liked by the fans (Arnold Jerocki/Getty Images For Sportel) For Tebas, what puts Spanish clubs ahead of most is their participation against teams from other countries in continental competitions. In this regard, he highlighted the teams that are representing the league, each being in a semifinal. Tebas said: “We had very bad luck with the teams that were eliminated in the quarterfinals, but those who are still alive (Atletico Madrid in the Champions League against Arsenal and Rayo Vallecano in the UEFA Conference League against Strasbourg) have good possibilities. In 10 years, La Liga has won many titles.” A failed attempt The main precedent for this idea came last year. Barcelona was scheduled to play against Villarreal in Miami in December. However, the backlash from players and fans was so significant that they had to reverse the decision. This decision was mainly driven by Real Madrid, who complained to FIFA that it could affect the fairness of La Liga by giving up a home match to a rival in the title race. In October, the match was canceled, which shows that Tebas may not easily succeed in making teams travel outside of Spain.
An investment group has come forward to buy the Vancouver Whitecaps and relocate the Major League Soccer club to Las Vegas. The group is led by Grant Gustavson, grandson of B. Wayne Hughes, the founder of Public Storage. The Whitecaps were put up for sale 16 months ago, but no potential buyers had emerged publicly until Thursday.
