Hey there! A new season of UEFA Women’s Champions League will begin with a bang on Tuesday as two European heavyweights meet in England, while the U.S. men’s national team are officially back in session ahead of Friday’s friendly against Ecuador. I’m Pardeep Cattry with the latest as a busy new week gets underway.
📺 Footy fix
All times U.S./Eastern
Monday, Oct. 6
🇺🇸 NWSL: Angel City vs. Kansas City Current, 10:30 p.m. ➡️ CBS Sports Network
Tuesday, Oct. 7
🇪🇺 UWCL: Juventus vs. Benfica, 12:45 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+, CBS Sports Golazo Network
🇪🇺 UWCL: Arsenal vs. OL Lyonnes, 3 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+, CBS Sports Network
⚽ The Forward Line
🏴🇫🇷 Arsenal vs. OL Lyonnes meet as UWCL begins
First-time UEFA Women’s Champions League winners Arsenal will not ease into their title defense, hosting eight-time winners OL Lyonnes as both teams return to European competition with a point to prove.
Lyon are a refreshed team after a very busy summer, with Jonatan Giraldez taking over as manager and a long list of exciting players like American Lily Yohannes and Marie-Antoinette Katoto making the move in time for the new season. Their new-look squad seems designed for maximum impact in the Champions League, a competition that is slowly resembling the new world order in the women’s game. Lyon were once the serial winners of this competition with a record eight titles, most of them coming during a stretch from 2016 to 2020 when they won five in a row, but the French side have not lifted the title since 2022 and seem determined to end that streak this season.
Tuesday’s match at Arsenal, though, will mark the first meaningful test for Giraldez as he tries to find the best starting lineup from a stacked roster. Lyon are off to a perfect start in the Premiere Ligue this season but the manager has had the luxury of rotation because of his team’s dominance in the domestic league, the Champions League always serving as a truer test of their mettle.
Even the uncertainties of Lyon’s newness, though, may not quash their status as the favorites in this game. They will have the benefit of playing an Arsenal team that is still full of quality but has started the season in a rough patch – they have just two wins in five Women’s Super League games this season and are winless in three, an untimely run of inconsistent form before what could be their stiffest test of the league phase. The Gunners are still one of England’s better attacking teams with 12 goals to start the season but they have kept just one clean sheet so far, complicating matters as they enter the Champions League for the very first time as the defending champions.
The stakes will be high from the get-go as the UWCL adopts the Swiss system for the first time this season, the field of competitors expanding from 16 to 18 for this season. Only the top four league phase teams will qualify directly for the quarterfinals, meaning every point will count for teams like Arsenal and Lyon as they target the most straightforward path to the May 24 final at Oslo’s Ullevaal Stadion.
Kick off Matchday 1 Tomorrow!
🔗 Midfield Link Play
🇺🇸 USMNT’s World Cup prep kicks into high gear
The U.S. men’s national team have convened in Austin as they continue their preparations for the World Cup on home soil, now just eight months away. Head coach Mauricio Pochettino has called up many of the team’s heavy-hitters for this month’s friendlies against Ecuador and Australia, the latest high-caliber opponents as the USMNT continues their streak of almost exclusively facing teams in FIFA’s top 30 in the year before next summer’s tournament.
This month’s roster is a reflection of Pochettino’s self-imposed deadline to begin whittling down the roster after a year-long player pool expansion project, one that has benefitted several players who cracked the squad. There are 12 players on the October roster who were not involved in the Copa America in the summer of 2024, the last squad assembled by Pochettino’s predecessor Gregg Berhalter before his dismissal days after their group stage exit, and most of those players were not regularly in Berhalter’s rotation. Pochettino’s reinvention of the squad, though, means several of those players are realistically in the mix for World Cup roster spots, making this month’s games a crucial chance to prove their worth.
Mainstays like Christian Pulisic and Folarin Balogun in attack and Antonee Robinson and Chris Richards in defense will likely earn meaningful minutes over the course of this international break, but who lines up alongside them will be worth keeping an eye on. The goalkeeper race, which seems to be coalescing around Berhalter’s No. 1 Matt Turner and Pochettino’s Gold Cup starter Matt Freese, will be a point of intrigue this month but the midfield picture is just as up in the air. A mix of veterans and fresh faces will take part in what could be a fierce battle for playing time, the group led by regular Weston McKennie in his first camp since March and Diego Luna and Malik Tillman, whose stocks have risen since Pochettino took over a year ago. Tyler Adams’ absence for personal reasons this month means there is the potential for further experimentation and reinvention in the center of the park, making these some of the most competitive races as the World Cup roster slowly begins to take shape.
🔗 Top Stories
🇺🇸🇦🇺 LaLiga and Barca in Miami: UEFA gave the green light for Barcelona to play a LaLiga match in the United States in December, despite opposing the idea. The European soccer governing body also approved Milan playing a Serie A game in Australia.
⚫🔴 Pulisic’s missed pen: Christian Pulisic missed a penalty for AC Milan in their 0-0 draw at Juventus on Sunday but the fact that he was designated to take the spotkick – and is unlikely to lose the responsibility despite the miss – is a signal that the USMNT star is an increasingly important player for the Italian side.
🇪🇺 UWCL Power Rankings: Arsenal may be in the middle of a poor run of form but they may still be the favorites to win the Women’s Champions League, topping the first batch of power rankings for the season.
🔴 Liverpool lose again: Chelsea scored late to hand Liverpool a third successive defeat in a week, a sign that the Reds have a long list of problems that have led to their downward turn in form.
🔵🔴 Barcelona’s big defeat: Sevilla notched a 4-1 win against Barcelona on Sunday, with Hansi Flick’s side truly struggling without the injured Lamine Yamal.
👍 Man Utd win: Manchester United picked up a routine win over Sunderland that provided manager Ruben Amorim with some breathing room, if nothing else.
💰 The Back Line
💵 Best bets
- UEFA Women’s Champions League: Arsenal vs. OL Lyonnes, Tuesday, 3 p.m.
💰 THE PICK: OL Lyonnes to win 2-1 (+950) – The Champions League will begin with what could be one of the most anticipated matches all season long and a competitive match could be in store. Even then, it is hard not to pick Lyon at this juncture of the season – the French side have a stacked roster, led by a group of players that should be able to take advantage of the fact that Arsenal have kept just one clean sheet in five league games to start the campaign. The Gunners may find a way to turn things around at some point this season but against a Lyon team with a point to prove, expect the visitors to take home all three points and start their European campaign on a high.
For more picks, predictions, expert tips and the latest betting news, don’t miss out on CBSSports.com’s betting home page.
📺 What We’re Watching
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What’s on CBS Sports Golazo Network
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3️⃣ Attacking Third (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday): The leading women’s soccer podcast and social brand is now a live studio show. The NWSL season is back and our coverage of the women’s game is stronger than ever. Our analysts will be breaking down the USWNT, NWSL and European domestic season all year long. And don’t miss Sunday live streams on YouTube as soon as the last NWSL game of the weekend ends.
⚽ Call it What You Want (Tuesday and Thursday): Jimmy Conrad, Charlie Davies, and Tony Meola cover all things USMNT and the state of the game in the United States as the country prepares to co-host the 2026 World Cup. Catch new episodes live on the Golazo America YouTube channel every Tuesday and Thursday at 10 a.m. ET.
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