Brotherly Game Daily Links: Union host Club America with spot in Champions League Final up for grabs

Philadelphia Union News

“We’re capable”: Philadelphia Union believe in CCL comeback against Club America
“We have an uphill battle, but with our fans behind us at home, the key becomes not conceding and pushing for that first goal,” Curtin said Tuesday. “It’d shift the pressure to them. Our strategy is to just be ourselves at home. We know that we’re capable of scoring more than a goal at this building, we’re capable of keeping a clean sheet. That is our belief, that is our goal.”

MLS News

MLS Power Rankings: Atlanta United, Inter Miami surge after Week 24
The Union continue their free fall and come in at 14th in this week’s MLS Power Rankings.

What to know: Details around the 2021 MLS Roster Freeze Date
The MLS Roster Freeze Date arrives on September 15, when all clubs must submit their final 30-man roster. The only exceptions through December 11 will be cases of Extreme Hardship. The rosters will be locked until the half-day trade window on December 12, the official start of the offseason before the 2022 campaign.

Inter Miami lands first sponsor for game jerseys
The South Florida side is set to announce a game jersey sponsorship deal on Wednesday, ending a long wait that stretched over multiple years.

Miguel Berry lifts the Crew to a comeback home victory vs. New York Red Bulls
Down a goal, the Crew push for two second half goals in a victory over the New York Red Bulls.

Late PK by Makoun lifts Inter Miami to playoff position with 1-0 road win over Toronto
The victory pushed Miami up four spots, above the playoff line, into fifth place in the Eastern Conference with 32 points and 11 games left to play. The top seven make the playoffs.

FC Dallas comes from behind twice to draw New York City FC 3-3
Two goals from Jader Obiran and one from Jesus Ferreira helped give Dallas a valuable road point.

Concacaf News

Sounders vs Santos Laguna, recap: We are going to Vegas, baby
The Seattle Sounders are headed to Las Vegas for the Leagues Cup Final! Seattle took a 1-0 win over Santos Laguna thanks to a goal from Raúl Ruidíaz in the final minute of stoppage time.

US Soccer News

U.S. Soccer Federation offers identical contract proposals to Women’s and Men’s National Teams
Additionally, U.S. Soccer has once again called upon the players and both Players Associations to join the Federation in finding a way to equalize FIFA World Cup prize money between the USMNT and the USWNT. U.S. Soccer will not agree to any collective bargaining agreement that does not take the important step of equalizing FIFA World Cup prize money.

U.S. Soccer Decides How to Allocate Vacant U.S. Open Cup CCL Berth
Faced with the cancellation of the U.S. Open Cup for the second consecutive year, the U.S. Soccer Federation will announced that the CCL berth that would’ve been awarded to the winner of the federation’s knockout tournament will go instead to an MLS team based on its regular season performance.

Rest of the World News

Champions League scores, highlights: Chelsea, Juventus begin group stages with wins after Man United upset
The first set of Champions League games have wrapped up with 16 goals across the eight games. In the night’s most prestigious matchup Bayern Munich emerged comfortable victors from the Camp Nou where goals from Thomas Muller and Robert Lewandowski, twice, did not adequately reflect the comfortable nature of their 3-0 win over Barcelona.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic to miss AC Milan-Liverpool clash in Champions League
Zlatan Ibrahimovic will not feature in AC Milan’s visit to Anfield to face Liverpool in the Champions League on Wednesday after he was left at home as a precaution following an Achilles’ tendon strain.