Welcome to Monday's edition of the Golazo Starting XI newsletter

By Jonathan Johnson

Jun 5, 2023 at 11:58 am ET • 6 min read

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Happy Monday and welcome to the last week of the European club season. I'm Mike Goodman and this is the Golazo Starting XI newsletter. It all culminates with a Champions League final on Saturday between Inter and Manchester City, but we've got plenty to get to before then ...

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📺 Footy fix

All times U.S./Eastern

Monday, June 5
🇩🇪 Bundesliga qualification: Hamburger SV vs. VfB Stuttgart, 2:45 p.m. ➡️ ESPN+
🇧🇷 Brasileirão: Vasco Da Gama vs. Flamengo, 7 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🇺🇸 NWSL: Angel City FC vs. Chicago Red Stars, 10 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+

Tuesday, June 6
🇺🇸 Open Cup: FC Cincinatti vs. Pittsburgh Riverhounds, 7 p.m. ➡️ B/R App
🇺🇸 Open Cup: Chicago Fire vs. Houston Dynamo, 8:30 p.m. ➡️ CBS Sports Golazo Network

⚽ The Forward Line

Welcome to silly season

The festival of offseason moves is already beginning before the club season is even over. The biggest story is centered around the amount of money that Saudi Arabia is throwing around. Karim Benzema is set to follow Cristiano Ronaldo to the Saudi Pro League. Lionel Messi may not be far behind. But with the ink on the season not even dry yet, there are plenty of other moves heating up as well, both players and managers. Let's look at some of the big ones that might get done this week:

Alexis Mac Allister to Liverpool: Brighton's midfielder looks set to be on his way to Liverpool. It's no secret that Jurgen Klopp's side is in need of reinforcements at the center of the park, and with Mac Allister reportedly having a reasonable buyout clause with Brighton, the move is all but completed, pending a medical. James Benge took a look at how Mac Allister might fit in at Anfield.
Marco Asensio to PSG: This one is a free-agent move with Asensio running down his contract with Real Madrid and now seeming to be on the verge of signing with Paris Saint-Germain. Asensio has been a rotation player at Madrid for the past seven seasons, where he's never cracked the 2,000-minute mark. But the 27-year-old attacker is also coming off his best career season with 15 combined league goals and assists and a combined non-penalty expected goals and expected goals assisted total of 0.65. Both the best of his career with Real.
Manuel Ugarte to PSG: While the other names on this list aren't surprising, Ugarte's move from Sporting CP to PSG has seemingly come out of nowhere. As of this weekend Chelsea seemed to be the favorites, but they've pulled out of the race and now it looks like he could complete a move to PSG real soon. The 22-year-old Uruguayan midfielder is a young defensive minded ball-stopper, just the kind of player who can do the dirty work that allows flashier stars to thrive further up the pitch. He's just the kind of player PSG have struggled to reliably find on the transfer market and if he works out he could be a major boon for a post-Messi Parisian side.
Ange Postecoglou to Tottenham: Their long managerial hunt nightmare seems like it's finally coming to an end. The Celtic boss and former Australia and Yokohama manager has had success at every step of his career, but moving to the Premier League will still be a major step up in class. Postecoglou has had a fascinating career, moving from managing Australian clubs to the national team to Japan, to Celtic and now to Spurs. He's won at every step along the way, and at every step he's actively sought out and taken new challenges. Now, at 57 years old, he'll finally make it to the Premier League once the deal with Spurs is official.

These early deals are the easy ones. They're the kinds of situations where a free agent knows where they want to go, or a player has a buy-out clause making negotiations easy. As the days and weeks of the summer stretch on though, the tougher deals will start to come to the fore. Deals with multiple bidders, or where players want to leave and teams don't want to let them. With Bayern Munich and Real Madrid both in the market for strikers, and Liverpool looking to further buff up their midfield, and with lord only knowing what Chelsea are doing, many of the world's biggest clubs are sure to be splashing some serious cash as player movement picks up. It's going to be a very silly season indeed.

🔗 Midfield Link Play

A true David vs. Goliath UCL final ahead

We're five days out from the Champions League final, which of course you'll be able to watch Saturday on CBS and Paramount+, complete with plenty of leadup to the big match on CBS Sports Golazo Network as well, including a special special edition of Morning Footy in the afternoon.

The match itself is a truly old school classic story of gritty underdog against a heavy favorite. Manchester City are -225 to win the title match outright (odds courtesy of Caesars Sportsbook). You cannot find another side in the last 20 years to enter the competition with shorter odds. That's not to say upsets can't happen, though. And for inspiration, Inter can look at Chelsea twice. It was only two years ago that Chelsea entered the final with +332 odds and defeated this very same Manchester City side to take the crown. Or then there was the 2011-12 season when Bayern entered the final as -143 favorite and some Chelsea managed to fight out a draw and then get to penalties before famously winning it all. So, yes, Inter have a huge hill to climb, but huge hills have been climbed before, and who doesn't love watching an underdog try and make history.

Now let's get to the links:

🔗 The USA U-20 side crashed out of the World Cup quarterfinals, Chuck Booth breaks it down.
🔗 Zlatan Ibrahimovic is officially retiring.
🔗 Karim Benzema made it official, he's leaving Real Madrid.
🔗 Barcelona staged an epic comeback to win the UEFA Women's Champions League.
🔗 After a disappointing four years, Eden Hazard is out at Real Madrid.
🔗 Cristo Fernandez of Ted Lasso joined the Morning Footy crew and Alexis Guerrero wants everybody to know he smells amazing.
🔗 Should Messi come to MLS? The Morning Footy crew debates whether the U.S. is the best place for the world's biggest star.
🔗 NJ/NY Gotham hosted San Diego Wave on Sunday and set a new attendance record in a 1-0 loss.
🔗 Should Washington Spirit's Ashley Sanchez make the USWNT World Cup squad? Charlie Davies breaks it down.
🔗 Manchester City cruised to an FA Cup victory over Manchester United, keeping their potential treble hopes alive.
🔗 In Soccer We Trust: Don't miss the crew sitting down with Fabrizio Romano to talk American transfers
🔗 House of Champions: The team reacts to Karim Benzema leaving Real Madrid.
🔗 Attacking Third: It's week 10 recap time with Sandra Herrera joined by Jordan Angeli

💰 The Back Line

💵 Best bets

All odds courtesy of Caesars Sportsbook and all times U.S./Eastern. SportsLine has you covered with cup final bets..

U.S. Open Cup: FC Cincinnati vs. Pittsburgh Riverhounds, Tuesday, 7 p.m.
💰 THE PICK: FC Cincinnati (-210) -- Everybody loves an underdog, except Cincinnati. The MLS club hasn't lost in 11 matches, and has won nine of those. And they won't be overlooking the Pittsburgh Cinderella story that toppled Cincinnati's rival Columbus in the last round. Pittsburgh are on a nine-game unbeaten streak of their own, but that ends Tuesday.
U.S. Open Cup: Chicago Fire vs. Houston Dynamo, Tuesday, 8:30 p.m.
💰 THE PICK: Chicago Fire (-145) -- Neither of these teams are having good MLS seasons. Houston, however, still has a shot at making a run for the playoffs while Chicago is second to last in the East. With both teams in indifferent form, look for Chicago to be the side that takes this match more seriously, and between that and being the home team, expect them to advance as they chase some hardware this season.