Kompany closes door to Club World Cup action for Urbig
Bayern coach Vincent Kompany made it very clear at the pre-match press conference that Manuel Neuer will continue as the starting goalkeeper for the rest of the tournament unless he suffers an injury.
Advertisement
'We discussed this very clearly,' Kompany said at the press conference following Bayern's arrival in Charlotte, North Carolina, where Tuesday's match against Benfica will take place.
'Manu's role is to take us as far as possible as number one - with his performances, leadership and qualities. There is basically zero discussion about that. When Manu is fit, we are all very happy.'
Kompany added that simply being part of the Club World Cup squad is 'a very good experience' for Urbig, who declined a spot in Germany's U21 European Championship squad to travel to the United States with the club.
'We have a very good future perspective with Jonas,' he stressed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
What we're losing with the relentless expansion of the sports schedule
We already have a 12-team baseball postseason, an NBA play-in round, a 12-team college football playoff, an NFL Super Wild Card Weekend after a 17-game season, a Club World Cup and a 48-team World Cup. The NHL, MLS and WNBA have all either expanded recently, will expand again soon or both. Formula 1, which for decades ran between 14 and 18 races per year, is up to 24 in 21 different countries. So it's not altogether surprising that every league, everywhere, is looking to add more. The NCAA men's basketball committee is voting this week on whether to expand their tournament field from 68 to either 72 or 76 teams, and the women's March Madness field is expected to grow as well. Advertisement The NHL's new collective bargaining agreement, officially ratified Tuesday, includes a move to an 84-game regular season starting in 2026-27.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Bayern back in for Xavi Simons! Harry Kane and Co switch focus to RB Leipzig star after missing out on Florian Wirtz and Nico Williams
Bayern reignite Simons interest after key transfer failures Dutch star scored 11 goals in injury-hit 2024–25 season Leipzig yet to begin talks despite player's desire to leave WHAT HAPPENED? Bayern Munich have officially approached RB Leipzig over a possible deal for Simons, according to The Athletic. The 22-year-old has informed Leipzig of his intention to leave this summer despite only joining in January. Though talks have not yet begun, Bayern are weighing their next move following setbacks in the transfer market. Advertisement THE BIGGER PICTURE THE BIGGER PICTURE Simons is seen as a versatile solution after Bayern Munich failed to land Wirtz or Williams, who were the Bavarians' top targets this summer. With Jamal Musiala injured and Leroy Sane and Mathys Tel having left the club, Bayern's attacking depth has thinned. The Dutchman could fill multiple roles in Vincent Kompany's system for the 2025/26 campaign. DID YOU KNOW? Injuries limited Simons' playing time last season, but he still recorded 11 goals and eight assists. Across two years in Germany, he has racked up 44 goal contributions in 76 games. WHAT NEXT FOR BAYERN? WHAT NEXT FOR BAYERN? Bayern are expected to open formal negotiations with Leipzig in the coming days. With the player eager to leave, Bayern could try to strike a deal before pre-season kicks off. Leipzig, however, may demand a fee close to or above the €50 million (£43m) they paid to Paris Saint-Germain in January.
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
PSG: the best club team in the world, USMNT's home fans problem, Hampton wonder pass
The Athletic FC ⚽ is The Athletic's daily football (or soccer, if you prefer) newsletter. Sign up to receive it directly to your inbox. Hello! In case there was any doubt, Paris Saint-Germain are No 1. On the way: 👊 PSG destroy Madrid 🧑🤝🧑 How to pull a USMNT crowd 🤩 Keeper's genius pre-assist 🟥 First straight red in 539 games Do you recall the evening in 2023 when, at the sharp end of the Champions League, Manchester City sliced and diced Real Madrid? Cut them to pieces and reduced Luka Modric to a sad, haunted, thousand-yard stare? Yesterday's game wasn't exactly like that 4-0 win because, however much it tries to tell itself otherwise, FIFA's Club World Cup isn't rivalling the Champions League for Holy Grail status. But watching Paris Saint-Germain deconstruct Madrid by the same scoreline, and with the same cold, hard excellence, brought back memories of that obliteration against City. I thought the tournament's second semi-final would be a marker for Madrid as they transition from Carlo Ancelotti to Xabi Alonso. Instead, it was a fresh demonstration of PSG's mounting supremacy, which really does deserve some reflection: Many of the sides involved in the Club World Cup have looked hot, bothered and ready for a rest. That was Madrid at the MetLife Stadium yesterday. PSG? They couldn't look fresher, and I wouldn't hold out much hope for Chelsea in Sunday's final. PSG are where Madrid want to be, and where Madrid think they belong: at the top of the tree. Having seen what's under the hood, head coach Alonso knows they're a good few branches down. He's not a fantasist. They trailed 3-0 in New Jersey before they'd worked up a sweat. There aren't the words to describe the state of their defending, or none we can publish. Raul Asencio sold the first goal with some dopey hesitation. Antonio Rudiger sold the second by kicking their air rather than the ball (above). You can play well against PSG and take a hiding. Play like Madrid did and you're asking to be demolished. Advertisement I sympathise with Alonso because the handover from Ancelotti wasn't ideal. Madrid have been on a downward slope, and he didn't even receive the courtesy of a quiet summer to bed in. Twenty-four days after his appointment, he was pitched into the most drawn-out of club tournaments in the States. Last night was the end of the glorious Modric-Madrid era and when Alonso said he was 'starting from scratch', it genuinely did feel like that. It might have passed you by, but the qualifying rounds of UEFA's European club competitions got underway this week. That's right: season 2025-26 is starting before the Club World Cup has signed 2024-25 off. Football, as Stuart James says, is virtually a 12-month calendar. Madrid's defeat against PSG was their 68th competitive match of the current campaign (if we can call it current, the lines are blurry). There's almost no room left to fill in the fixture list, but you know somebody out there will try. Players and their unions keep talking about going on a strike in protest against the congestion. It's a perfect time to roll out a quote from the late, great Michael Madsen, who died on July 3: 'Are you gonna bark all day, little doggie, or are you gonna bite?' A predominantly Mexican crowd at Sunday's Concacaf Gold Cup final was, when you think about it, entirely logical. Mexico is mad about football. Houston, where the final took place, isn't so far from the U.S.'s southern border. The city has a large and passionate Latino population. But it must grate on the USMNT squad that even on a night so big, Americans aren't climbing over each other to bag tickets and level the playing field off the pitch. The squad have a solid following, no question, but the atmosphere in the stadiums where they play can make them feel like visitors in their own home. At points on Sunday, they were heavily booed by the 70,925-strong crowd. Advertisement Melanie Anzidei has written about the limited levels of match-going engagement, and it's something U.S. Soccer has to confront before the World Cup next year. As head coach Mauricio Pochettino put it: 'We need people. We need the fans — to be in the stadium, to support, not only through Instagram, social media, or behind the TV, to translate the energy. Football without fans? It's impossible.' Pochettino doesn't need to be told that his USMNT aren't performing in a way that draws an audience, but soccer fandom in his current job isn't like it was in his previous roles. Melanie rightly points out that it's not a new phenomenon, or one without reasons behind it, but it will take some work to achieve what the 2026 World Cup was meant to do for football in America: fully capture the imagination. 💫 The run from Hemp ⚽️ The finish from James 🏴 England put on a clinic against the Netherlands — ITV Football (@itvfootball) July 9, 2025 Women's European Championship: Group A (3pm/8pm): Finland vs Switzerland; Norway vs Iceland — both Fox Sports/BBC. Thanks to reader Paul Grangaard for tipping us off about this one. Omar Gonzalez is a defender at Chicago Fire. His career is into its 17th season, and 539 games deep. According to U.S. Soccer, he'd never received a straight red card (some would say that's pitiful for a centre-back) — until Tuesday, when he livened up a U.S. Open Cup tie against Minnesota United by jabbing Julian Gressel in the nether regions and then crunching him in the jaw. To give Gonzalez his due, if a proud run is going to end, it might as well end in style. The Fire's 3-1 defeat was on him.
