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Happy belated Fourth of July! Hopefully it was a good one wherever and however you celebrated it. The European soccer transfer window pushes on with big moves imminent, including Mason Mount to Manchester United, Declan Rice to Arsenal and Luis Enrique's arrival as Christophe Galtier's replacement as PSG head coach. The Gold Cup continues as well with Canada squeezing through as the second placed team in Group D to set up a Sunday quarterfinal against the USMNT in Cincinnati. I am Jonathan Johnson checking in with the Golazo Starting XI newsletter for your midweek catch up.

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📺 Footy fix

All times U.S./Eastern

Wednesday
🇪🇺 U-21 Euros: Israel vs. England, 12 p.m. ➡️ CBS Sports Golazo Network
🇪🇺 U-21 Euros: Spain vs. Ukraine, 3 p.m. ➡️ CBS Sports Golazo Network
🇺🇸 MLS: NYCFC vs. Charlotte, 7:30 p.m. ➡️ AppleTV+
🇦🇷 Argentina: River Plate vs. Colon, 8:30 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+

Thursday
🇦🇷 Argentina: Union Santa Fe vs. Boca Juniors, 4 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+

⚽ The Forward Line

Can Enrique, Mbappe and PSG succeed?

Paris Saint-Germain's 2023-24 season starts here with Christophe Galtier officially dismissed on Wednesday with Luis Enrique expected to replace his seat. To make the dawn of this latest new era, the French champions opted to unveil their new head coach and their shiny new training campus at the same time. The Spaniard comes in after the Frenchman was the latest in a long line of tacticians to have struggled to get PSG over the line in their ultimate quest for Champions League glory. Will it truly be any different under Luis Enrique, though?

The 53-year-old comes in after leading the Spain national team at the 2022 World Cup and his credentials at club level with Barcelona are often overlooked because of what has happened to the Catalan giants since. However, on paper, a Champions League-winning coach who champions youth and had a more than respectable playing career of his own while still being relatively young by managerial standards should be a good fit at Parc des Princes as the Ligue 1 giants seek to build around young French talent from the Paris region where possible.

Here's what I wrote just last week on his imminent appointment:

"Luis Enrique not only has Champions League-winning pedigree from his 2015 success with Barcelona, but he has also got the best out of fallen Brazilian superstar Neymar in Catalonia and has even gone on to lead a youth revolution during his time in charge of Spain. That Barca triumph eight years ago in Berlin with a 3-1 win over Juventus remains Neymar's only European victory so far despite his talent hinting that it would be the first of many at that time before he opted to move out of Messi's shadow in 2017 following his key role in Remontada.
"Now 31, Neymar was just 23 back then and he hit 10 goals during the 2015 UCL edition which included five against PSG alone over two quarterfinal legs and a pair of meetings in Group F of which Laurent Blanc's side only won one of four total meetings. This Champions League title flies under the radar when considering Luis Enrique's career so far as does 2015 being a treble year along with La Liga and Copa del Rey success which was still followed by a domestic double in 2016 as part of an overall haul of nine trophies in less than three full years."

So, Luis Enrique's arrival could be good news for the unwanted Neymar, but what about Kylian Mbappe? The French superstar and PSG find themselves in an awkward attritional battle with Mbappe adamant that he wants to see out the final year of his contract in Paris and the capital club reluctant to lose him for nothing next summer when he would presumably join Real Madrid. Rumors linking the 24-year-old with Los Blancos this summer have been a bit halfhearted given that Florentino Perez has already said that it would not happen this summer and that Real have already done a large bulk of their expected summer business. At this stage, there is still time for a move to materialize, but the chances of one actually happening are fairly slim. That leaves Luis Enrique and Mbappe to make the best of it together for at least the 2023-24 season with the PSG captaincy perhaps the first part of a charm offensive toward the French talisman.

🔗 Midfield Link Play

Unexpected semifinalists in U-21 Euros

Wednesday on CBS Sports Golazo Network also brings the UEFA U-21 Euro semifinals with Israel up against England in the early game before Spain take on Ukraine in the later fixture. Both of these encounters already played out once in the group stage and although the Three Lions and La Rojita were arguably expected to get this far, the same cannot be said of the others. Israel edged out Georgia while Ukraine blew away France to reach the final four and now both will be aiming to make it an unexpected final in Batumi this Saturday. Spain needed a late equalizer to tie Ukraine in Group B while England beat Israel 2-0 in Group C earlier in the tournament to make both the Spanish and the English the favorites heading into these matchups.

However, of interest before the games even get underway is the fact that we will see three of these four at the Olympic Games next summer. Three European slots are available for the 2024 Olympic men's soccer tournament, not including the eliminated French side who automatically qualify as hosts anyway nor England who are part of Team GB for the Games. So, the top three from these finals will also reach the Olympics which is Spain, Ukraine and Israel -- a first for the Israelis since 1976 which makes this campaign a huge success already. "I told the players that they are the children of the revolution of Israeli sports, of Israeli football," said Israel head coach Guy Luzon. "We are in the big four of Europe, in the Euro. I am so proud."

Time for some links:

🔗 Nigel Reo-Coker and Alexis Guerreros break down Inter Miami's playoff chances following a 2-2 draw to Columbus.
🔗 The all-time MLS attendance record was set in L.A. for El Traffico, with 82,110 fans packing the Rose Bowl Stadium.
🔗 Nigel Reo-Coker explains why Dortmund would be a great landing spot for Weston McKennie.
🔗 AC Milan sent an improved second bid for USMNT captain Christian Pulisic in a reported package worth up to $24 million.
🔗 NYCFC head coach Nick Cushing joins Box2Box to break down the challenges of fighting for a playoff spot.
🔗 Francesco Porzio with the latest transfer news from Serie A.
🔗 Speaking of Serie A, the opening matchday fixtures are out.
🔗 James Benge as Al-Nassr come in with a bid for Manchester United target Andre Onana.
🔗 Chuck Booth on USMNT star Brenden Aaronson's potential move from Leeds United to Union Berlin.
🔗 More Saudi news from Benge as Al Ettifaq hope to reunite new boss Steven Gerrard with Philippe Coutinho.
🔗 I fill you in on PSG sacking Christophe Galtier ahead of Luis Enrique's arrival.
🔗 More from Benge as he takes an in-depth look at where Mason Mount fits for Manchester United.
🔗 We also have updated Arsenal, United and Chelsea transfer hubs.

💰 The Back Line

💵 Best bets

All odds courtesy of Caesars Sportsbook and all times U.S./Eastern. SportsLine has you covered with all your soccer betting needs here.

U-21 Euros: Israel vs. England, Wednesday, 12 p.m.
💰 THE PICK: England to win and both to score (+300) -- Israel's progress to the semifinals has been one of the stories of the tournament, but the Three Lions are expected to advance. Despite losing to the English in the group stage and being far from prolific, this Israeli side could make things difficult. England winning the game with both teams scoring seems to be a better pick than going for Israel to pull off a real surprise and keep this one level over 90.
U-21 Euros: Spain vs. Ukraine, Wednesday, 3 p.m.
💰 THE PICK: Draw (+260) -- La Rojita needed a late equalizer in the group stage to salvage a draw against the Young Men and the Ukrainians have since eliminated France. The Spanish are favorites, but Ruslan Rotan's men should not be ruled out and their prolific form suggests that this one will be close once more. Do not be surprised if this one finishes level over 90 and that Ukraine take it after that.