Jon Marthaler's soccer short takes
May 20, 2017 at 1:11AM
• Monaco's midweek victory over St. Etienne clinched its first French title in 17 years, a huge achievement for a club that's chosen youth development over matching the vast spending of Paris Saint-Germain. Over in Italy, meanwhile, Juventus won the Coppa Itali, and needs one more win to clinch the Serie A title. But only a Champions League title will truly make Juventus fans happy.
• U.S. national team standout Mallory Pugh, just 19, decided to forgo a potential career in Europe and signed a contract in America. It's great news for the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), which gets the biggest star of the new generation. Though Pugh was rumored to be holding out to force a trade to Portland, she instead followed the league's allocation mechanism and signed with Washington. It's nice to see something in the NWSL working correctly.
• NWSL players, at least those who aren't paid through the women's national team, have really had no say in what they're paid or how they're treated. For the first time, though, those players have formed a players' union. U.S. Soccer had a staredown with the women's national team earlier this year. Another one with the new NWSL Players' Association could be upcoming.
about the writer
His New Jersey high school retired the Wolves forward's uniform number Thursday, and he had a big game at Madison Square Garden the next night.
