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Mic'd Up: The former USMNT and MLS star evaluates Pochettino, raves about Alejandro Zendejas' resurgence

As a former U.S. men's national team player, Maurice Edu dislikes talking about the Americans when they fall short of expectations. He’d much rather hype them up and trash-talk to international friends as the world counts down to next year’s World Cup in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

Still, like many former players, pundits and fans, he understands recent frustrations, saying this team and its manager, Mauricio Pochettino, should be further along by now.

"If we didn't think anything of these players or this manager, then it would be quiet," Edu told GOAL. "You could have a poor performance and no one would notice or care… We expect more because we feel like we have a group of players and, hopefully, a manager who we feel can really help us to be where we all dream of being.

"This is a home World Cup. That's the extra 10 percent. If you control everything you can control and you work your a** off… that's the extra five to 10 percent that can take you a step further than you believe you can."

Edu, who made 46 caps for the USMNT and was part of the 2010 World Cup squad, has seen it all in a career that spanned playing for Scottish powerhouse Rangers to starring in MLS with Toronto and Philadelphia. Now an analyst for Apple TV's MLS coverage, Edu says Pochettino should prioritize building momentum with the World Cup coming.

"When the 2026 World Cup is over, we're judging this U.S. team based on how they did in the competition, right?" he said. "But to get there, you need momentum. You need to build confidence." 

Edu discusses the USMNT following their September friendlies, grades Pochettino a year into the job and asks why Weston McKennie hasn't been more involved with the national team in the latest edition of Mic'd Up, a recurring feature in which GOAL taps into the perspective of broadcasters, analysts, and other pundits on the state of soccer in the U.S. and abroad.

Getty ImagesON THE USMNT'S SEPTEMBER FRIENDLIES

GOAL: Following the September friendlies against South Korea and Japan, what was your overall assessment of the U.S.? What did you like and what are areas of improvement?

EDU: It was a mixed bag. Disappointing collective performances and individual performances. The thing that was important for this group was that they finished on a high – a win and a clean sheet against Japan. These camps are about opportunity. So if you're a guy who's been there, it's about how do you continue to reinvent yourself and continue to dry that cement that you're spot is [locked] into that group for the World Cup. If you're a new guy, a guy, like Alejandro Zendejas for example, he's a guy who's had an incredible run with Club America in Liga MX.

"Fair play to him, in a couple of interviews, he's been asked if he feels like he's been looked over or that he should be in camp – I appreciate that his response has never been "Woe is me." Never a victim mentality… When you walk away from this camp, he's the guy who made the most of this opportunity in this camp. He put himself right back in the conversation and showed that he can carry over the form that he had in Liga MX… I'm glad the results happened in the way that they did. I would I'd much prefer to end on a high note than to have started off with a win and then end the window with a loss.

AdvertisementGetty Images SportON POCHETTINO

GOAL: As a former national team player, if a manager mentioned to the media that you don't necessarily need to win friendlies, how would that be taken in the locker room?

EDU: When I heard the statement, and of course that's the headline that draws you in, I'm going to assume when they're on their own and in camp, there's more nuance to that statement… I wouldn't have expected him to say that outwardly because of how the public opinion is of the national team – there's been a lot of frustration with recent results… I think the point he was getting at is ultimately this team is going to be defined by how it performs in the World Cup. But that being said, no, I want the emphasis. I want the pressure. I want the stress and the importance to be on every single game.

I saw a quote from Tyler Adams, who kind of echoed similar sentiments to what I was saying, but then also ended by saying, "But results do matter, right?" And they do matter. You can have a great performance and you can have a series of great performances, but if you're not getting the results, it makes it tricky because you can buy into a theory, buy into a mentality, buy into an approach. But it starts to seep into you when you start getting results. There's something tangible to attach to that. You can say like "Hey this performance, when you put together this kind of performance consistently, this is what you get out of it, you get the result." We live in a result-driven industry, right?… I would probably say 99 percent of us were competitors, and so the result is incredibly important to us.

GOAL: This week marked the one-year anniversary of Pochettino's hiring by U.S. Soccer. If you had to give him a grade on his performance, what would it be?

EDU: I'm usually a glass-half-full guy, and this sucks because I'll put my hand up. I was one of the people who was excited when I saw his name was even floating around that circle. To date, I would have to say, and this is going to be generous, probably a C-minus… Just look at the competitions we've been in. Nations League? We finished fourth, which is crazy. Gold Cup? We lose to a better Mexico side, a team that you could see the difference. They have the experience in those big moments. So maybe that's where he draws some of his credit, if that's the right word to use. But like that's where I maybe get the passing grade from. Because he introduced some new faces in that camp.

That's where Matt Freese won the position that he's in right now. That's where Sebastian Burhalter emerged. Chris Richards took a step forward in terms of leadership. So those kinds of details, I guess, get him to that position. But the jury is still out, right? At the same time, I wanted to see progress. There haven't been a ton of different faces that have been in this group that played in this year's Nations Leagues, compared to the three previous ones where where we won all of them, right? So, I want to see first and foremost some level of consistency. I expected momentum at this point in time and for things to be a bit more encouraging. 

GOAL: What did you make of Pochettino making a change to a three-man backline against Japan? Does the U.S. have enough defensive depth to facilitate that consistently?

EDU: I'm not going to sit here and say that's the home run and that's the system we have to go with. But what it does do is gives us a different look. It gives us some flexibility to whether it's in-game adaptations, whether it's starting with that system. But I would say from the outside, it definitely looked like it was more comfortable for the players, and it suited some of their skill sets a little bit better than the first game.

Getty Images SportON WESTON MCKENNIE

GOAL: You mentioned the need for more consistency. One thing that's been a bit surprising is the absence of Weston McKennie. Pochettino said it was due to already knowing of him, but couldn't the same be said for guys such as Christian Pulisic, Tim Ream, Tyler Adams, who were in camp this month?

EDU: Yeah, it's a strange one because I'm similar in the thought process to you, right? And so trying to just decipher all the different words that have come out around that situation and around the team in totality is weird. You hear one part of it where it's like "Hey, I want to I want to see other guys or I want to see different faces." But if you truly think that Weston's one of the core guys, like you can still see other guys but still have him as part of that group, right? Because you want to see other guys but you want to have those other guys align with who you believe your core is, with whom you believe this team's foundational pieces are for this team. And so if you think Wes is one of those guys, then yeah, to me, it's a no-brainer that he should be there…

I am surprised. And there's other names that have been left out too, where it's like just going along that same vein of you want to see more players. I'm surprised they haven't got more looks. Tanner Tesmann hasn't been called in since the Nations League. Aidan Morris is having a pretty good season with Middlesbrough in the Championship. There's other guys that have kind of either just not had many looks, very few looks. But, you know what? I'm I'm going to hold my tongue, you know, until October and just really see if that window produces a roster that is in sync with what we expect, but also kind of a reflection of what he really, truly believes is his group.

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Getty ImagesON MLS VS. EUROPE

GOAL: Pochettino also made headlines by saying MLS can be just as competitive as some leagues in Europe. As a player who starred both in Europe and MLS, do you agree?

EDU: It's an interesting one, right? Because to me, it's about who performed for the national team, right? Diego Luna is a guy who emerged in January camp, but then in the Nations League, when it was with the European group plus MLS group, he showed his quality. I'd say Sebastian Berhalter showed well for himself during Gold Cup and kind of emerged and put his name in that conversation. Alex Freeman put his name in that conversation. So to me, it's about performing at a high level first and foremost, showing that consistency, and when you get into camp, then it's about, regardless of what club you're coming from, it's about what do you show there?

It's about what you show in those moments. Do I think that guys, if they're playing in Champions League, is that a different level of competition? For sure. I mean, the quality of play in those kinds of competitions, the pressure in every moment in every touch that you take on the pitch, does it have crucial consequences? Of course, it does. And so, I'm not going to sit here and be naive and say that MLS is the equivalent to the Premier League or the Bundesliga or anything like that. But I'm also not going to sit here and say that guys who play in MLS can't show well for themselves alongside guys who play in Europe, or can't and in some circumstances play better than those guys.

After losing Mohammed Kudus earlier this summer, West Ham United could now reportedly lose another attacking star amid reports that Jose Mourinho is set to launch his opening move.

West Ham still seeking reinforcements

It’s not exactly been a headline summer at the London Stadium so far, but West Ham have at least managed to splash out on El Hadji Malick Diouf whilst also welcoming young forward Daniel Cummings and free agent Kyle Walker-Peters. The latter recently became the latest to arrive and will be hoping to enjoy a far better season than last time out, when he was relegated with Southampton.

There is, of course, still plenty of work to be done at the London Stadium, however. But with the Premier League season closing in, the Hammers could yet suffer another frustrating exit blow and lose yet another member of Graham Potter’s frontline.

Mourinho set to launch Summerville move

According to reports in Turkey, as relayed by Sport Witness, Mourinho is now set to launch a move to sign Crysencio Summerville for Fenerbahce this summer. The club’s director Devin Özek is reportedly set to travel to England in an attempt to secure a loan move for the winger, whilst the self-proclaimed Special One is also set to make contact.

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Whilst Summerville endured a debut campaign to forget at the London Stadium, Kudus’ departure opens the door for the former Leeds United man to finally make his mark. Given that he cost the Hammers as much as £25m, plus add-ons, last summer, all involved at the London Stadium should also be keen to hand him the time to eventually come good.

It wasn’t so long ago that Summerville was dubbed a “coup” for West Ham by former Leeds player Carlton Palmer and the winger will be desperate to prove that’s still the case

Palmer said last summer: “This is a really big coup for West Ham, given the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain were interested in the player.

“Summerville has decided to join West Ham, a fantastic bit of business for West Ham. As I said, he was a standout player in the Championship, still young.”

تحدث فيرجيل فان دايك قائد ليفربول، عن زميله ألكسندر إيزاك المنضم للفريق من كريستال بالاس في سوق الانتقالات الصيفي، واحتمالية ظهوره الأول مع الريدز في دوري أبطال أوروبا.

وتعاقد ليفربول مع إيزاك في اليوم الأخير لانتقالات الصيف في صفقة بلغت قيمتها 130 مليون جنيه إسترليني.

ويستعد ليفربول لمواجهة أتلتيكو مدريد غدًا الأربعاء في إطار مباريات الجولة الأولى بمرحلة الدوري لبطولة دوري أبطال أوروبا.

وافتتح فان دايك المؤتمر الصحفي قبل المباراة، بالحديث عن الوافد الجديد إلى ليفربول، ألكسندر إيزاك، وقال: “انطباع جيد جدًا، متحمس جدًا، وقد أُثبتت جودته بالفعل، نتبادل أطراف الحديث، وقد تحدثت معه خلال فترة التوقف الدولي عندما تم ترتيب كل شيء”.

وأضاف: “أهم شيء هو الوصول إلى أقصى لياقة بدنية ممكنة في أسرع وقت ممكن، وفهم كيفية التدريب، وكيفية الضغط، وكيفية تنفيذ الكرات الثابتة، لقد كان أسبوعًا جيدًا بالنسبة له، لنرَ ما سيحدث غدًا”.

وأكمل: “إيزاك جاء ليفربول ليس فقط كإضافة هجومية ولكن بديلاً بعدما غادرنا لاعبون ذوو جودة عالية، واضطررنا لاستبدالهم لأهميتهم لنا ونجاحاتنا، ليس لدينا أي سيطرة على سعر اللاعب، دائمًا ما يكون هناك نقاش حول ذلك، وهذا يُسبب ضغطًا، لكن الأمر يعود إليه وإلىّ في عدم الحديث عنه”.

اقرأ أيضًا | ضربة قوية لـ أتلتيكو مدريد قبل مواجهة ليفربول في دوري أبطال أوروبا

وأكد: “نأمل أن يُسجل الكثير من الأهداف، يجتهد ويستمتع بكونه صانع ألعاب ليفربول، وأن يكون عنصرًا مهمًا في الفريق بتسجيله الأهداف وتمريراته الحاسمة وترابطه مع زملائه”.

وتابع: “إنه مهاجم بارع، يجيد التسديد بالرأس، يسارًا ويمينًا، وفي الزوايا، إنه المهاجم المتكامل حاليًا، يمكن قول الشيء نفسه عن هوجو إيكتيكي، يختلفان قليلًا، لكن ليس بنفس القدر، كلاهما يتمتع بجودة عالية، ويجيد التعامل مع الكرة، ويمكنهما ربط اللاعبين ببعضهم البعض، ويتمتعان بالسرعة”.

وأصر: “هذا ما يُطلب من المهاجم المعاصر، كلاهما صعب المراس، من الجيد أنهما في فريقي، آمل أن يُظهرا ذلك للخصم”.

وأسترسل: “أنا سعيد بمستوى التعاقدات، لكن الأمر يتطلب وقتًا، هذا طبيعي تمامًا، إنهم في وضع جيد، والتواجد هنا هو مكان رائع، والنادي في وضع رائع، ومنحهم فرصة التعبير عن أنفسهم أمر جيد”.

وبشأن الثنائي ميلوس كيركيز ودومينيك سوبوسلاي، علّق: “يتمتعان بطاقة هائلة وجودة عالية، ميلوس يتعلم أسلوب لعبنا وقوة اللعب مع ليفربول وكيفية التعامل معها داخل الملعب وخارجه، ليس بالأمر السهل، سيكون في أفضل حالاته بالتأكيد”.

وأتم فان دايك: “بدأ سوبوسلاي الموسم بشكل رائع، ليس هذا مركزه المفضل، لكنه قدم أداءً رائعًا، إنه خيار رائع لبقية الموسم، أنا سعيد جدًا بهما، إنهما يتعلمان كل يوم”.

Suryakumar Yadav has been confirmed as India’s new T20I captain, ahead of Hardik Pandya who was the vice-captain of the squad that won the 2024 T20 World Cup in the USA and West Indies in June.Suryakumar’s first assignment is the three T20Is in Sri Lanka on July 27, 28 and 30, which is also the first assignment of India’s new coach Gautam Gambhir. It’s also seen as the first step towards building for the next T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka in 2026. While Hardik is part of the T20I squad, Shubman Gill has been named vice-captain.Gill had captained India in the five-match T20I series against Zimbabwe that followed the T20 World Cup.The need for a new captain arose following Rohit Sharma’s retirement from T20Is after winning the World Cup. Though Hardik was Rohit’s deputy at the T20 World Cup and is a more experienced captain – he has led India in three ODIs and 16 T20Is, apart from leading Gujarat Titans and Mumbai Indians in the IPL – it is understood fitness concerns and workload management may have been factors in the decision taken by the selection panel led by Ajit Agarkar.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Hardik had suffered an ankle injury during the ODI World Cup last October-November and was out of action until the start of IPL 2024, when he returned to lead MI. Hardik has played in just 46 of the 79 T20Is India have played since the start of 2022.Suryakumar, meanwhile, has captained the Mumbai state team in the domestic circuit. More recently, he led India to a 4-1 win over Australia in a T20I series last November, followed by a 1-1 series draw in South Africa.Suryakumar was not named in the ODI squad for the Sri Lanka tour, while Hardik, too, is taking a break from 50-over internationals.

It is the dawn of a new era for Glasgow Rangers after Andrew Cavenagh and 49ers Enterprises officially completed a takeover of the club last week.

They have immediately invested £20m into the club and will now oversee the search for the team’s next head coach, after Barry Ferguson stepped away at the end of the 2024/25 campaign.

The former Scotland international was appointed as the interim boss after Philippe Clement was dismissed in February, and he only won six of his 15 matches in all competitions in the dugout at Ibrox.

Ferguson, whose team was held to a 2-2 draw by Hibernian on the final day of the Scottish Premiership campaign, failed to do enough to convince the board that he was the man for the job moving forward.

The 49ers and new sporting director Kevin Thelwell are now tasked with finding a manager who can bring glory back to Ibrox, after four seasons without a Premiership title.

One of the first items on the agenda for any incoming Rangers head coach should be convincing Nicolas Raskin to remain with the Gers beyond the summer.

Why Nicolas Raskin could leave Rangers

The Belgium international could move on from Ibrox in the summer transfer window, as Premier League clubs Aston Villa and Leeds United are both reportedly interested in the central midfielder.

Raskin has attracted interest from elsewhere due to his impressive performances for the Gers during the 2024/25 campaign, which led to him winning the club’s Men’s Player of the Year and the Men’s Players’ Player of the Year awards.

The 24-year-old star was deemed to be the best player at Ibrox this season and there are now teams who want to test how he would adapt to Premier League football next term.

Rangers, however, should be doing everything in their power to keep hold of the Belgian talent during the summer transfer window, because they will need as much quality as possible to finally beat Celtic to the Premiership title.

The former Standard Liege star is tenacious out of possession, as he averaged 3.4 tackles and interceptions per game and won 57% of his duels in the league this term, but the Light Blues star also provides plenty of quality on the ball.

Appearances

33

Touches per game

68.4

Goals

4

Big chances created

9

Assists

10

Pass accuracy

87%

Dribbles completed per game

1.0

Dribble success rate

68%

As you can see in the table above, Raskin is a player who thrives on the ball with his ability to both score and create goals from a central midfield position, whilst being efficient as a passer and a dribbler.

This suggests that the Belgian star would, therefore, love a manager who is committed to a ball-dominant style of play, which is why he should be pleased with the latest update on the Rangers manager search.

The latest on Russell Martin to Rangers

According to the Daily Mail, former Southampton head coach Russell Martin is one of the ‘main contenders’ to land the vacant managerial position at Ibrox.

The report claims that the former Scotland international, who had a loan spell with Rangers during his playing career, and Davide Ancelotti are the two main contenders for the role.

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It adds that Francesco Farioli, who recently left Ajax, and Brian Priske, most recently of Feyenoord, are also still in the running, but they are not as high up the list as Martin and Ancelotti.

The Daily Mail claims that the ex-Saints head coach was set to fall out of the race for the Rangers job when he was being lined up for the Leicester City position, but they have yet to sack Ruud Van Nistelrooy, so he remains in contention to replace Ferguson at Ibrox.

Appointing Martin as the first head coach of the 49ers era could be good news for supporters who want to see Raskin remain at the club, as the central midfielder could be a perfect fit for the Scottish tactician.

Why Nicolas Raskin would love Russell Martin

Analyst John Walker hailed Martin’s style as “exciting” and “total football”, due to the ball-dominant nature of how he wants his teams to play, and that could suit the Belgium international perfectly.

As aforementioned, Raskin is a technically brilliant footballer who constantly looks to make things happen from a central midfield position, with passes, dribbles, goals, and assists, and he could have plenty of chances to influence games in this manager’s system.

The clip above, from his time at MK Dons, is a flavour of the way Martin’s teams play, with plenty of short passes under pressure and movement off the ball to provide players with multiple passing options at all times.

Raskin would be a perfect fit for the way the ex-Norwich City and Rangers centre-back likes to coach his sides, because of his dynamism off the ball and his quality in possession.

Pass accuracy

87.7%

1st

Passes into the penalty area

594

1st

Progressive passes

2556

1st

Shot-creating actions

1255

1st

xG

79.8

2nd

Points per game

1.89

4th

As you can see in the table above, Martin successfully deployed a possession-based system to get Southampton promoted out of the Championship in the 2023/24 campaign, building a team that was incredibly dominant when it came to passing forward and creating high-quality chances.

These statistics suggest that Raskin, who created nine ‘big chances’ in the Premiership, would thrive in his system as a midfielder who would constantly have chances to dictate play and create even more opportunities for his teammates with the dominance that the style of play creates.

Therefore, the Belgian midfielder could be more inclined to stay at Rangers for another year because of the prospect of thriving in a side coached by Martin, as it could help him to take his game to the next level ahead of a bigger move next year.

49ers not messing: Rangers advancing free transfer to sign 29 y/o defender

He could be the first arrival of the 49ers era.

ByTom Cunningham May 31, 2025

Chelsea have certainly had their issues in front of goal this season. Whilst the Blues are up there with some of the top scorers in the Premier League, finding the back of the net on 63 occasions, they have certainly left a little to be desired at times.

As per Understat, they are grossly underachieving on their expected goals tally. Enzo Maresca’s side have an expected goals of 70.51xG, meaning they are over eight goals behind where they should be this term. Amongst the sides with 60 or more goals, they are the sides underachieving gon their expected goals the most.

Well, perhaps one reason why they have struggled of late could be the form of Cole Palmer.

Palmer’s recent form for Chelsea

Despite Jamie Carragher describing Palmer as “the best player in the Premier League” back in October, it has been a lean few months of form for the England international.

He has certainly seen a drop-off in the number of goals and assists in recent weeks.

This term has, overall, been fruitful for Palmer once again, from a goals and assists point of view. He’s managed 24 of them combined in total, having featured in 36 games for the Blues in the Premier League.

However, the 22-year-old did go on a lengthy goal drought recently. He actually went 12 games without a goal, picking up just three assists in that time, too. He ended the run with a penalty against Liverpool in a 3-1 win.

Palmer’s goal drought surely impacted Chelsea’s struggles in front of goal, but perhaps so did the fact that goals were tough to come by from elsewhere, too. As per Sofascore, Nicolas Jackson is the only other person in double figures for goals this season.

Given Palmer has created 23 big chances, it certainly seems like they need another presence up front to make their talisman unplayable once again. They have recently been linked with someone who could provide the answer to their struggles.

The signing who can help solve Chelsea’s goal drought

So, it really does seem like the Blues need a number nine to help put the ball into the back of the net more often. Well, as reported by BBC Sports’ Nizaar Kinsella earlier this week, a move for one of the most heavily-linked forwards, Victor Osimhen, ‘isn’t being ruled out at this stage’.

The striker, who was valued at £64m by Tuttosport last month, might be just the man Chelsea need to fix their issues in front of goal. He is currently enjoying a successful season in front of goal for Galatasaray, where he is on loan from Napoli.

This term, the Nigerian international has managed a remarkable 33 goals in 38 games for the Turkish club, with six of those coming in seven Europa League appearances. That included two strikes against Chelsea’s London rivals Tottenham Hotspur in the group stage.

The 26-year-old certainly has an eye for goal, which was also the case throughout his Napoli career. He bagged 76 goals in that famous Blue shirt of Gli Azzurri, coming in just 133 games. The Scudetto-winning season of 2022/23 saw him find the back of the net 26 times in 32 games.

Osimhen’s underlying numbers from the last 365 days, courtesy of FBref, show just why he can help Chelsea score more goals and take Palmer to even greater heights, given all the chances he creates. For example, the striker averages 0.88 goals per game, which ranks him in the top 4% of strikers in Europe.

Goals

0.88

96th

Shots on target

3.36

99th

Expected goals

1.27xG

99th

Shot-creating actions

3.65

94th

Aerials won

4.24

91st

There is no doubt that, whilst the £64m reportedly needed to sign Osimhen is a big investment, it might be a necessary one for the Blues. Palmer is a chance-creation machine, and with the striker’s record and excellent underlying stats, he could be the guy to make him reach even greater heights, getting on the end of all the opportunities he creates.

This seems like a deal that Chelsea need to get done before anyone else can beat them to it. As Statman Dave said, he is “the best striker on the market” at the moment, and the Blues simply can’t miss out.

A better signing than Osimhen: Chelsea in talks to land the "next Haaland"

Chelsea appear to be making moves to land a star who would be better than Victor Osimhen.

1 ByEthan Lamb May 14, 2025

Glasgow Rangers need a huge summer to ensure that they can bounce back and be competitive in Scotland in the 2025/26 campaign and beyond.

There is no way to describe their current domestic campaign as anything other than disappointing, as they are on course to end the year without any trophies to show for their efforts.

The board made the decision to part ways with Philippe Clement and replaced him with the interim appointment of Barry Ferguson until the end of the season.

Rangers have lost two of their last four Scottish Premiership matches under the former Scotland international, who has not done much to suggest that he deserves the job on a permanent basis – beyond beating Fenerbahce on penalties after a 2-0 defeat at Ibrox.

A deal with US investors Andrew Cavenagh and San Francisco 49ers Paraag Marathe has reportedly been agreed in principle ahead of a takeover this summer, which means that there could be plenty of change on and off the pitch ahead of next season.

There could be turnover in the playing staff, as Rangers look to build a team that can compete for the title, but one player who should remain at Ibrox is central midfielder Nicolas Raskin.

Why Rangers must keep hold of Nicolas Raskin

TEAMtalk reported earlier this year that several teams are keeping tabs on the Belgium international ahead of the summer transfer window, having been impressed by his form this season.

The outlet claimed that English sides Aston Villa, who are in the Champions League this term, and Leeds United are both keen on the former Standard Liege star, who is said to be valued at £20m by the Gers.

When the takeover is finalised, Rangers must do everything in their power to fend off interest from down south to convince the Belgian dynamo to remain at Ibrox, because he is a key player for the team moving forward.

Raskin has delivered consistently impressive performances in the middle of the park as a box-to-box midfield player, starring for both Clement and Ferguson in the Premiership this term.

Appearances

28

Big chances created

6

Assists

6

Pass accuracy

88%

Tackles + interceptions per game

3.6

Ground duel success rate

58%

Aerial duel success rate

59%

As you can see in the table above, the 24-year-old star, who was signed by Michael Beale at the start of 2023, has been a defensive monster for the Gers, winning the majority of his duels and almost making four tackles and interceptions per game.

The Belgian talent has also provided quality in possession, assisting six goals, and been a metronomic figure on the ball with his high pass success rate.

Despite all of this, Raskin is not one of the very top earners at Rangers in the 2024/25 campaign, placing tenth on the wage bill at £19k-per-week.

The top ten earners at Rangers

The former Pro League starlet only just makes the top ten, earning £2k less per week than Ianis Hagi in ninth and £11k less per week than captain James Tavernier at the top of the wage bill.

This is despite Raskin being more integral to the Rangers team in the Premiership than many of the players who currently earn more than him at Ibrox.

James Tavernier

£30k

25

Vaclav Cerny

£27k

26

Cyriel Dessers

£27k

19

Danilo

£26k

6

Jack Butland

£25k

26

Rabbi Matondo

£23k

2

Dujon Sterling

£22k

11

Tom Lawrence

£22k

8

Ianis Hagi

£21k

16

Nicolas Raskin

£19k

24

As you can see in the table above, only three of the nine players above Raskin on the wage bill have started more games than him in the Premiership – one being a goalkeeper, one being the captain, and the other being a loanee.

Wage Burners

Football FanCast’s Wage Burners series explores the salaries of the modern-day game.

The new ownership should look to ruthlessly ditch some of the duds who are among the top earners at the club despite not contributing much on the pitch, and that is why Rangers must move on from Danilo this summer.

Why Rangers should sell Danilo

The Light Blues swooped to sign the Brazilian forward from Feyenoord in the summer of 2023 for a reported fee of £6m in an attempt to bolster their options at the top end of the pitch.

To date, Danilo has racked up 12 goals and nine assists in 42 matches in all competitions, which is far from a horrendous return in front of goal, but he has failed to establish himself as a regular starter at Ibrox.

Part of that has been down to his consistent injury issues. The 26-year-old forward has missed a staggering 53 matches through injury since the start of the 2023/24 campaign.

This has hampered his Rangers career so far and played a part in him only starting 11 games in the Premiership during his time at Ibrox, which suggests that the club have not got value for money out of the £6m they paid for his services, as well as his reported £26k-per-week.

His lack of minutes, and contributions, on the pitch in almost two years in Glasgow has led to his market value plummeting by millions over the past 18 months or so.

July 2023

£6m (reported fee)

December 2023

£6m

March 2024

£5.1m

October 2024

£4.3m

December 2024

£3.8m

March 2025 – present

£3.4m

As you can see in the table above, the Brazilian centre-forward is currently worth £2.6m less than the £6m fee that the Gers paid Feyenoord for him back in the summer of 2023.

He is a depreciating asset who is not offering much in return on the pitch for the wages that he is earning at Ibrox, which is why the club must ruthlessly ditch him from the squad in the summer transfer window.

Ferguson must finally drop Rangers flop who was worse than Diomande

Rangers must finally drop the flop who was even worse than Mohamed Diomande.

1 ByDan Emery Apr 6, 2025

The Light Blues must explore their options to see if there is any interest in him in an attempt to recoup some of the money that has been drained by the former Ajax starlet.

Why is the tournament being staged in the UAE amid the October heat, you ask? Read on to have this and other questions you might have answered

Shashank Kishore01-Oct-202415:17

Runorder: Can Australia be stopped at the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024?

Another Women’s T20 World Cup this soon?
Covid’s knock-on effects forced the 2023 edition in South Africa to be held a year later than originally planned. And so the smallish gap between both editions.Right. Why the UAE – weren’t Bangladesh slated to host?
The tournament has had to find a new home at short notice. It was originally slated to be held in Bangladesh, but anti-government protests leading to hundreds of deaths in July-August forced several countries, including Australia, England and India, to issue advisories against travelling to the country. This meant the ICC had to look for a Plan B, eventually deciding to host the tournament in the United Arab Emirates.Isn’t it going to be scorching hot?
It will be, but it’s not unusual for cricket to be played there at this time of the year; October is officially the start of the cooler months in the country, though day-time temperatures are still in the mid-30s on average. The men’s T20 Asia Cup in 2022 was held here in August-September. The men’s T20 World Cup in 2021 was held in October-November.Teams will be tested, as there are seven double-header days scheduled during the group stage of this World Cup, with games to be played at 2pm and 6pm. You can check out the full schedule here.Related

• ICC launches AI tool for Women's T20 World Cup to protect teams from 'toxic content'

• Catching in focus as Women's T20 World Cup enters the ring of fire

• The Devine dilemma – to open or not to open?

• Alyssa Healy: 'Not here to defend the title, here to win it'

• Coach Leigh, spinner Kasperek: Scotland to New Zealand, twice over

Why was UAE chosen despite the testing weather?
In a way, the UAE emerged as the best option because India rejected ICC’s offer to host, citing their hosting of next year’s 50-over women’s World Cup. Sri Lanka wasn’t a viable option due to the monsoons. Zimbabwe stepped in with a late offer to host, but the ICC dialled the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB), who will work closely with the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). The games will be played across two venues: Dubai and Sharjah.Don’t the hosts play? So will we see UAE at the World Cup?
No, they will not gain automatic qualification here, since Bangladesh qualified as hosts long before the tournament was moved. Six other teams – Australia, South Africa, India, England, West Indies and New Zealand – made it on the basis of finishing in the top six at the T20 World Cup in South Africa last year. Pakistan were the next-best team from the ICC T20I women’s rankings, while Scotland and Sri Lanka made it through the Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifiers, where they pipped Thailand and UAE – their closest competition – to take the final two spots.Right. So that’s how many teams participating?
Ten – same as in 2023. The only change is Scotland will replace Ireland, whom they pipped at the Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifiers earlier this year. This will be Scotland’s maiden appearance at a women’s global event.What is the format?
Teams are divided into two groups of five and will play the others in their group in a round-robin format, with the top two from each group qualifying for the semi-finals. India have a pre-decided semi-final venue (Dubai, on October 17), should they qualify. The second semi-final is slated for October 18 in Sharjah. The final will be played on October 20 in Dubai. All the knockout games have a reserve day.Give me a few interesting facts about this World Cup.

• This will be the first women’s T20 WC at a neutral venue.
• Dubai hasn’t hosted any of these ten teams in a women’s T20I previously.
• An Indian team – men or women – will be playing in Sharjah for the first time in nearly 25 years.
• This will be the first women’s global tournament since ICC announced equal prize money for both men’s and women’s tournaments. The winners will receive USD 2.34 million, an increase of 134% over what Australia were awarded for winning in 2023.


23:04

Who makes it to ESPNcricinfo’s best women’s T20I XI?

Let’s talk teams now. Can anyone challenge Australia?
Yes. But whether they can put it past them under pressure is the bigger question. India have shown they can dominate them – like their Test win in Mumbai or a nine-wicket hammering in the first of three T20Is this January. They’ve been working extensively with a sports psychologist as part of their tournament preparation, to help them get over the mental barrier.England are coming off a strong summer, having completely outclassed New Zealand and Pakistan. But they were given a reality check last year by Sri Lanka, easily among the most improved sides, who beat England for the first time in a T20I series. Sri Lanka also put one past India to clinch their maiden women’s Asia Cup title in July. So the field is narrowing, even though it does appear Australia are still clearly a cut above.What are some of the games I simply must not miss?
If you watched the women’s Asia Cup, you’d know why Pakistan vs Sri Lanka is a big rivalry. That game will be played at 6pm (local time) on the opening day (October 3). On a slow pitch in Sharjah, don’t miss Sri Lanka taking on Australia on October 5 – who knows, there could be an upset loading…Then there’s India vs Pakistan on October 6, which isn’t as big a rivalry as it is in men’s cricket but is nevertheless a broadcaster’s favourite. England vs South Africa – which was the semi-final fixture in the previous World Cup (October 7), Australia vs New Zealand (October 8), and India vs Australia (October 13) are some of the other big games.

This is the closest thing to a sporting pitch in the country and it was clear to see on the first day of the India Test

Mohammad Isam14-Dec-2022India’s 400-plus total in the third ODI, four days ago, in Chattogram made everyone think we’d get a featherbed for the Test match too. Nope. There was actually a contest between bat and ball.With both variable pace and bounce on offer, playing through the line needed close attention. Cheteshwar Pujara, who made 90 off 203, said that batters never feel set on this kind of pitch while Taijul Islam, the highest wicket-taker at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, said that they can’t really predict how the surface will transform in in the coming days.Taijul’s observation is based on how sometimes conditions in Chattogram have an uncommon tendency to get better for batting as a Test rolls along. Sure, there have been matches where, like most subcontinent venues, the pitch wears and tears and becomes really tough to score runs on. But also times when it stops spinning after playing like a raging turner for the first four days. With Chattogram, you can never tell, really.When talking about pitches in Bangladesh, the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka dominates the conversation. Then there’s this one. Over the last five years, teams have scored anywhere between 242 and 374 runs on the first day of a Test match at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium. India’s 278 sits somewhere in the middle of that list. But the six wickets they lost represent Bangladesh’s best return after one day’s play. Conclusion: this is the closest thing to a sporting pitch in Bangladesh (a few demerit points notwithstanding).Taijul, whose three wickets on Wednesday included two superb deliveries to remove Virat Kohli and Pujara, said it best. “There’s definitely a difference between the two wickets between the third ODI and this Test. If you look at the pitches from the last two or three years, the pitch actually gets better day by day. We can’t really predict much about this pitch. It is difficult to tell; there aren’t any big turning deliveries nor is the ball only going straight.Taijul bowled Pujara late in the day even though he was well set and that’s the kind of pitch Chattogram is•AFP/Getty Images”And despite being the first day, the wicket’s behaviour did go through changes. There was different behaviour with the new ball. There were fewer runs even when fewer wickets fell in some of the previous first days. But today they made more runs, but we would have been in a better position had we taken a couple of more wickets.”At the start of the day, TV commentator Sanjay Manjrekar observed that the pitch had a decent covering of grass but not enough to be considered a green top. He reckoned the grass was there just to bind the pitch together; to prevent it from cracking too much too soon. He expected India to play three seamers, but both teams went for the same combination – two seamers and three spinners – and the game was all the more compelling for it.”There was variable bounce from the first or second over onwards,” Pujara said. “The odd ball kept low. The same happened with the second new ball also. The odd ball kept low. I hope that we try to make the most of it.”Once the ball gets old, it is slightly easier. Bowlers are also getting tired. They can’t bowl in the same area all the time. We know as batters that the first 20-30 overs are always important with the Kookaburra ball. Things are slightly easier when you get through that phase.”But you are never set on this kind of pitch; you have to concentrate hard for longer periods of time. One ball an over is turning [big] consistently. You can’t relax as a batsman. It is still a challenging pitch for batters. I think it will keep getting worse to bat on.”Chattogram hasn’t always been this way. In fact, to a team that either plays on green mambas when they go abroad, or dust bowls when they go to Dhaka, this ground was the one place where they could come and score bucket loads of runs. Of all the places that has hosted at least 50 first-class matches in Bangladesh, this venue has the highest batting average (33.06). For context, that figure for the Shere Bangla is just 29.34.It’s been good to opposition teams too. England enjoyed how it offered them pace and bounce in 2016 and Afghanistan were only too happy to push Bangladesh into their own spin-loaded trap in 2019.Bangladesh’s captains and coaches have started to discourage one-sided pitches. They often suggest, directly in the case of Russell Domingo, that the team should play on better pitches at home so that all skills are involved, and they aren’t only considered a one-dimensional, spin-based side when they play abroad. Chattogram seems to have answered the call. At least for now.

Their season disintegrated in the latter stages, with their batsmen not putting up enough runs for their bowlers to work with

Karthik Krishnaswamy07-Nov-2020Five matches, five defeats. That’s how a promising Royal Challengers Bangalore season ultimately came to nothing. In each of those last five games, the Royal Challengers batted first, posting totals of 145, 164, 120, 152 and 131. And as hard as their bowlers tried to keep them in the game, they simply didn’t have enough runs to defend, with only two of these matches going into the final over.Something, clearly, went horribly wrong with the Royal Challengers’ batting. But what, and why? How did a team that won seven of its first ten games disintegrate so spectacularly?According to Mike Hesson, the Royal Challengers’ director of cricket, the downturn was caused by the batsmen’s inability to adapt to the slowing down of the pitches as the tournament progressed.”The reality is that the wickets slowed up and as a batting group we didn’t adapt quickly enough, and when you don’t score enough runs you put an awful lot of pressure on your bowling unit,” Hesson said in a media interaction on Saturday. “Last five games, we batted first, [and] on all of the surfaces we struggled to adapt, we struggled to be able to apply any pressure on our opposition, we kept losing wickets by trying to force our case, therefore you end up basically crawling over the line a little bit from a batting point of view, getting a sub-par score, and then scrapping hard.”And the fact that we’ve had to scrap for every game, the last four or five, it certainly exposed the fact that we struggled on the slower surfaces as the tournament progressed.”The first ten rounds, when there was enough pace in the surfaces, as a batting unit we were very good. In the death we were the second-best team, in the powerplay I think we were second or third, in the middle we were sort of around the middle, and as the tournament progressed we dropped off in those phases, but that in a nutshell was the story of the last five games.”On the surface, Hesson’s reading seems accurate. The Royal Challengers were indeed the second-fastest-scoring team in the death overs until the end of their tenth match of the season, and third-quickest in the powerplay, but second-from-bottom in the middle overs.Then they simply fell off a cliff, particularly in the death overs (their middle-overs scoring rate actually improved marginally in the latter part of the tournament).The Royal Challengers’ death-overs scoring rate nosedived over their last five games•ESPNcricinfo LtdBut did cracks suddenly erupt in the Royal Challengers’ batting unit after game 10, or did they exist right through the tournament, papered over initially by the acts of a genius? Look at the death-overs numbers in the above graphic, and think about this game, this game, this game and this one. Would the Royal Challengers have won any of them without AB de Villiers?Four wins out of seven, owing largely to the efforts of one man. And even de Villiers can’t keep such a run of form going forever. The Royal Challengers’ death-overs decline towards the end of their campaign can be attributed largely to de Villiers reverting to the mean. In their first ten games of the season, he batted six times in the death overs, and was only dismissed twice in 69 balls. In their last five games, he was dismissed three times in 16 balls across three innings.The Royal Challengers were heavily reliant on AB de VIlliers’ death-overs masterclasses•ESPNcricinfo LtdA team can’t be so reliant on one batsman. Or even two. Virat Kohli’s approach in T20s has been widely debated, but when he makes it as far as the death overs he usually makes it count. In the early, happy phase of the Royal Challengers’ season, he made it into the death overs four times in 10 innings, and scored 88 runs off 40 balls (strike rate 220.00) while being dismissed once.In his last five games, Kohli only got into the death overs once, scoring 17 off 11 balls in the phase against the Chennai Super Kings, after having scored 33 off his first 32 balls.That sort of start was typical of Kohli’s season, and the Royal Challengers were prepared to accept it given the death-overs payoff he can deliver. But did they organise the rest of their batting well enough to complement those slow starts?Simon Katich, their head coach, certainly believes so.”One thing that we tried to do with our batting order was structure it so that guys who batted in consistent pairings complemented each other,” Katich said. “You’re having guys who are strong against maybe pace, and other guys who’re strong against spin to complement each other in different phases of the innings, so it makes it harder for opposition captains to really stifle the innings.ALSO READ: Gambhir says RCB need to look beyond Kohli for captaincy”We see that in games where two similar players bat together and an opposition captain can win a three- or four-over spell of the game with a certain type of bowling, so we were really mindful of that, and hence the reason why there were games where we did bring left-handers into the fold to break up our right-handers at the top, which we obviously had, with three of the top four, in [Aaron] Finch, Kohli and de Villiers.”Pretty much in T20, batting has to be adaptable and flexible, because the nature of the game situation dictates how you have to play, whether you’re batting first or you’re chasing and when you enter the fray. So there are no actual set positions in T20 a lot of times, it comes up to how you have to go against a certain match-up and try and make it as hard as possible for the opposition captain.”That flexibility, however, wasn’t always apparent when it came to de Villiers’ batting position. He batted at No. 4 in all but two of his innings, no matter when the second wicket fell. And he ended up with a rigidly fixed position over his last six innings of the season, after the Royal Challengers made the widely debated decision to promote a pair of left-handers, Washington Sundar and Shivam Dube, above him, to match up against the two legspinners in Kings XI Punjab’s attack.”We certainly tried [promoting the left-handers] in Sharjah against Kings XI knowing full well they had their two legspinners bowling in that phase of the game,” Katich said. “Unfortunately, the execution of that plan probably meant that we copped a lot of flak over it, because it left AB de Villiers not batting as much as we would have liked, and also we didn’t get the runs we would have liked in that phase, where we did promote Sundar and Dube. I don’t think there was anything wrong with the actual thought around the plan.”

“The wickets slowed up and as a batting group we didn’t adapt quickly enough, and when you don’t score enough runs you put an awful lot of pressure on your bowling unit”Mike Hesson, RCB’s director of cricket

There wasn’t, but the flak they copped for the move dissuaded the Royal Challengers from trying it again, even in situations that seemed to cry out for it.In the game against the Super Kings in Dubai, Kohli and de Villiers scored a combined 68 off 62 balls against Ravindra Jadeja, Mitchell Santner and Imran Tahir, all of whom turn the ball away from the right-hander. Moeen Ali, a left-hand batsman with a T20 strike rate of 169.36 against legspin and left-arm orthodox before that game, and a far more proven performer than Sundar or Dube, didn’t come out to bat until the 18th over.Moeen didn’t play another game until the Eliminator against Sunrisers Hyderabad, when the Royal Challengers made two major changes to their batting line-up. It felt like a belated recognition of the issues that had plagued the team through the tournament, especially through the middle overs. Kohli, who had struggled to find the boundary through the middle overs all season, opened alongside Devdutt Padikkal to try and make use of the powerplay field restrictions. Moeen – who boasted the best middle-overs strike rate (176.51) of all Royal Challengers batsmen since the 2018 season – came back into the team.According to Katich, Moeen was set to bat at No. 3 to target the legspin/left-arm spin combination of Rashid Khan and Shahbaz Nadeem. But the Royal Challengers lost two wickets within the first four overs, and the plan was put on ice. Moeen eventually arrived in the 11th over and ran himself out, off the first ball he faced – a free-hit.ALSO READ: Kohli’s mentorship and never-say-die attitude vital for RCB, says coach Katich”There was a period, if we hadn’t lost a wicket early [in the Eliminator], Moeen would have probably batted three, if he’d come in at the back end of the powerplay or just after the powerplay, so the timing of the wickets probably changed how our batting line-up looked,” Katich said.”We were taking the aggressive option, really, in moving Virat to the top of the order to try and get him in the game, to influence the game positively. That didn’t happen, I mean, that’s the way it panned out. It’s not often you get someone [Kohli] caught down the leg side and someone else run out off a free-hit no-ball, so that’s the way the game goes sometimes, and it didn’t go our way.”It didn’t go their way, but it might well have done had the Royal Challengers taken those decisions earlier in the tournament, and acted more proactively to address their middle-overs issues.