Managers

Liverpool had a comfortable 90 minutes at Wembley Stadium on Saturday in the FA Cup semifinal vs. Manchester City. The final four minutes of stoppage time weren’t so comfortable as a late City push made for an exciting 3-2 finale victory for Liverpool.

American goalkeeper Zack Steffen can be given a lot of credit for making Liverpool’s afternoon so easy. Steffen had a disastrous first half that saw him concede three goals including an all-time blunder.

Bayern Munich manager Julian Nagelsmann opened up at a press conference on Friday about the hatred and threats he received after his side fell to underdog Villarreal in the Champions League on Tuesday.

The Nagelsmann death threats on social media are abhorrent and the evil “fans” leaving these comments went as far as threatening his mother. 

Nagelsmann said the threats certainly don’t make his job and life easy.

Burnley sacked manager Sean Dyche, the Premier League club said on Friday, ahead of a tight end-of-season run-in as it looks to avoid relegation.

Burnley has struggled this season and sits in 18th place in the standings, four points from the safety zone. But the decision was unexpected, given Dyche's track record of maintaining the Lancashire club's status in the top division on a relatively modest budget.

He was the longest-serving English top flight manager having been in charge for nine-and-a-half years.

In September, the USWNT crushed Paraguay in back-to-back friendlies by a 17-0 aggregate score. This past week, the USWNT crushed Uzbekistan in back-to-back friendlies by an 18-1 aggregate score. While the September matches felt mostly a waste of time, the April matches felt instructive and useful, for both Vlatko Andonovski’s plans moving forward and U.S. fans trying to figure out those plans.

U.S. Soccer released the eighth (and final?) episode of the Gregg Berhalter Podcast (hosted by former FC Dallas midfielder Bobby Warshaw) on Tuesday. The USMNT manager spent a lot of time discussing the intense final window of qualification, reflecting on "The Ocho" as a whole and how all that shapes his decision making going toward the World Cup.

Northern Ireland women's coach Kenny Shiels has apologised after drawing intense criticism for suggesting that women are "more emotional" than men, therefore making them more likely to concede two goals in quick succession.

The comments came after England's Lauren Hemp and Georgia Stanway netted twice each while Ella Toone also scored as Northern Ireland were beaten 5-0 in a 2023 Women's World Cup qualifier on Tuesday.