After ending last within the MLS, the San Jose Earthquakes should look different next season.

With a high-profile latest coach already in place, the Earthquakes continued to reshape their roster with two transactions on Wednesday.

While San Jose said goodbye to long-time midfielder Jackson Yueill, the Earthquakes welcomed defender Nick Lima as the primary free agent signing under coach and athletic director Bruce Arena.

Lima signed a two-year contract with a club option for 2027, bringing the Castro Valley native back to where he began his skilled profession.

“I’m excited to have Nick on the team,” Arena said in a press release. “His experience in this league and versatility will help strengthen our defense. Nick grew up in the Bay Area and had a lot of success here through the Quakes system, so he is even more familiar with the club.”

Lima, 30, graduated from the Quakes Academy in 2016 and signed as a homegrown player with San Jose, where he played his first 4 skilled seasons. After moving from Austin FC to New England Revolution last season, he began 20 of 25 games and contributed one goal. In eight seasons, he scored nine goals and assisted on 20 more goals in 16,775 profession minutes, in addition to nine caps for the U.S. national team in CONCACAF competition.

“I’m really looking forward to returning to the Bay Area and playing in front of everyone again, especially friends and family,” Lima said within the press release. “I have made some great memories with the Quakes in the past and look forward to creating even better ones. I can’t wait to get back to work.”

Lima is the fourth former New England player to hitch the Earthquakes this offseason, after the club accomplished a trade last week to sign defenseman Dave Romney and midfielders Ian Harkes and Mark-Anthony Kaye from the Revolution.

And that's not all that's happening between the 2 clubs.

Yueill, who spent his first eight skilled seasons with the Earthquakes, signed a three-year contract with New England.

The 27-year-old attacker is from Minnesota and was named captain in 2021. He was one in every of the few vivid spots in an otherwise dark period for the Earthquakes, who posted a league-worst record of 6-25-3 in 2024. Yueill, a first-round pick in 2017, scored 13 goals and 19 assists in 232 profession games, the sixth-most minutes of any player in MLS since 2020.

The Earthquakes commemorated his time on the club with one Highlight video posted on social media.

From his first touch of the ball to his last goal, Jackson Yueill left his mark on the Quakes.

Thanks for the memories, Jackson! pic.twitter.com/OV2MauMzXa

— San Jose Earthquake (@SJEarthquakes) December 18, 2024

Originally published: December 18, 2024 at 5:13 pm PST

San Jose Sharks winger William Eklund will likely be amongst 13 forwards chosen for Sweden's participation within the four-nation clash. based on a printed report Monday on this country.

Eklund was asked to hitch the Swedish national team and accepted the offer, based on Expressen. a Swedish national newspaper.

The official 23-player rosters for Sweden and Finland will likely be unveiled Wednesday at 11 a.m. (PST) on ESPN and the NHL Network. The American and Canadian team rosters will likely be announced Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. (PST) on TNT.

Each country's squad – which incorporates three goalkeepers, seven defensemen and 13 forwards – needed to be submitted by Monday. It could be the primary time for Eklund to play for the Swedish men's national team.

Eklund, a 22-year-old Stockholm native, recently confirmed to the Bay Area News Group that he has had discussions with Team Sweden coach Sam Hallam, who was on the bench for Tre Kronor on the last two World Cups.

After Sunday's NHL games, Eklund was fourth amongst all Swedish-born forwards with 22 points, behind only New Jersey's Jesper Bratt (31), Los Angeles' Adrian Kempe (25) and Detroit's Lucas Raymond (24).

Before the Sharks' game against the Washington Capitals on Tuesday, Eklund had 13 points in his last 11 games. Eklund has also improved his 200-foot game and develop into one in all the Sharks' most reliable penalty strikers.

Eklund, who was drafted seventh overall by the Sharks in 2021, plays alongside Macklin Celebrini and Fabian Zetterlund at San Jose's helm. But his ability to kill penalties and prevail against experienced teams was seen as Eklund's best hope of being one in all Sweden's 13 forwards on the event, with games played in Boston and Montreal.

Sweden plays Canada on February twelfth and Finland on February fifteenth on the Bell Center in Montreal. They will face the United States on the TD Garden in Boston on February 17 to conclude the round-robin portion of the tournament. The top two teams will play one another in the ultimate on February twentieth in Boston.

Expressen's report didn’t reveal which other players are within the Swedish squad. Zetterlund was also considered a candidate for a squad spot with nine goals and 19 points in 27 games this season.

Players already added to Sweden's roster include defensemen Gustav Forsling of Florida, Victor Hedman of Tampa Bay and former Shark Erik Karlsson of Pittsburgh. The aforementioned forwards were Filip Forsberg of Nashville, William Nylander of Toronto and Mika Zibanejad of the New York Rangers.

Sharks center Mikael Granlund is anticipated to be one in all the 13 Finnish forwards. He is a veteran of international hockey tournaments and has previously spoken about how much it means to him to represent his country.

Originally published: December 2, 2024 at 5:35 pm PST

Over the course of greater than a dozen “hunts,” the squad has targeted Salinas residents they believed to be members of rival gangs, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release. In some cases, the victims were chosen just because they were Latino, bald or wore blue clothing.

The unit used military tactics and traveled in a convoy of special reconnaissance and gunnery vehicles, authorities said. The occupants of the primary vehicle identified a goal and the occupants of the second vehicle opened fire on the goal.

Authorities said that 11 people were killed in these hunts between 2015 and 2018. Another 17 people were shot at but survived. Most of the victims weren’t members of rival gangs and a few weren’t targeted in any respect but hit by ricochets.

The killings began, authorities said, as a technique to commemorate a recently deceased friend or loved one. Each murder also served to extend a member's status and prestige inside the gang.

“The Murder Squad killed for sport, terrorized the city of Salinas and forever changed the lives of so many innocent members of our community,” said U.S. Attorney Ismail Ramsey.

“Thanks to the longstanding and close cooperation between federal and state law enforcement agencies, these men will rightly spend the next decades of their lives in prison,” he said.

On May 7, the members pleaded guilty to 1 count of conspiracy to commit organized crime and one count of conspiracy to commit murder in aid of organized crime.

Siaki Tavale, 27, was sentenced to 41 years; John Magat, 37, was sentenced to 37 years; Anthony Valdez, 27, was sentenced to 31 years; Anelu Tavale, 28, was sentenced to 27 years; and Mark Anthony Garcia, 33, was sentenced to 25 years.

They were also ordered to serve five years' probation after serving their prison sentences.

Originally published: September 12, 2024 at 8:57 am

With his alternative of chalk, United States captain Jim Furyk has created excitement ahead of this month's Presidents Cup.

Furyk selected Nos. 7 through 12 within the team rankings for his six captain's picks, announced Tuesday. The move means Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley will play for Team USA for the primary time in a decade, while longtime American star Justin Thomas will stay home.

The other American picks were Sam Burns, Russell Henley, Max Homa, Brian Harman and Tony Finau. Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark, Patrick Cantlay and Sahith Theegala were the team's six automatic picks.

The Presidents Cup will happen from September 26 to 29 on the Royal Montreal Golf Club.

“I'm just trying to put the pieces together,” Furyk said of his alternative, calling it a “tough omission” but otherwise giving Golf Channel no explanation for why he not noted Thomas, the 31-year-old who was No. 19 within the points standings.

Bradley was originally slated to be Furyk's assistant captain, his only probability to achieve experience as a team leader before the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York. Instead, he might be relieved of those duties, Furyk said, and might concentrate on playing as a substitute.

International team captain Mike Weir has chosen Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Corey Conners, Mackenzie Hughes, Si Woo Kim, Min Woo Lee and Taylor Pendrith. Conners, Hughes and Pendrith are all Canadian, adding an actual maple flavour to the team with a Canadian captain and three players. They will join Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im, Adam Scott, Tom Kim, Jason Day and Byeong Hun An.

What do you concentrate on the US team?

That's each not surprising and incredibly disappointing. Furyrk, who takes on players ranked seventh through twelfth, avoids criticism because he can say, “That's fair,” but it surely does mean the U.S. has a team that’s failing each in current form and in current form. And usher in young talent. Max Homa has dropped to 86th on DataGolf while enduring a chaotic season, and Brian Harman has just one top-10 finish since March. Justin Thomas, however, is a U.S. Cup legend and is having a a lot better season than those two. Thomas is 9-3-2 in Presidents Cups and finished T14th on the Tour Championship, and Akshay Bhatia won the Texas Open this yr. Bringing the 22-year-old rising star onto the team for the long run might have been invaluable. It all seems like a missed opportunity that neither produces the most effective team nor helps the team move forward. —

Furyk could have gone straight down the list and picked the subsequent six players on the U.S. Presidents Cup leaderboard, but a few of those selections are still confusing. Harman and Homa were outmatched by several players who would have been great suits within the team — including Thomas, who’s widely often known as among the finest American match play players of this generation. Harman was likely chosen for his shot accuracy in preparation for a good and shut Royal Montreal, and Homa will bring the fireplace and spirit that comes naturally to him in team settings. But consider Bhatia, and even someone like 20-year-old Nick Dunlap. This yr's Cup might have been the proper opportunity to groom young blood for future team events, and as a substitute Furyk went with an older selection that isn't even necessarily playing that well right away. In addition to partner fit, statistics probably played an enormous role in those decisions. But you’ll be able to't ignore recent form, and it seems that Furyk has done just that. —

What do you concentrate on the international team?

Weir is giving his native Canadians love, but possibly not in the best way we thought. It would have been inconceivable for Weir to depart out Lee or Kim – two of his top talents – or Bezuidenhout, who’s having a fantastic yr, in order that left essentially three decisions to make. You could argue that Conners is a top five international player, so it's a no brainer. The same goes for Pendrith, who jumped to twenty fifth within the DataGolf world rankings with a profession yr. It's the choice for Hughes over potentially higher talents like Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor that’s so hard to make. Both Hadwin and Taylor have struggled badly in recent months, so I get it, but Taylor is a killer with two wins as an enormous boy on the 2024 Phoenix Open and 2023 Canadian Open, until absolute chaos in the summertime. That hurts. (Leaving out Australian Cam Davis is the appropriate move. His beautiful win in Detroit was more of an outlier.) —

Weir considered plenty of aspects when choosing his captain. Still, Canada's home-court nature and emphasis on recent form appear to have dominated his decision-making process. Of Weir's captain selections, the three Canadians will enjoy playing on familiar turf in front of a supportive crowd. Hughes – who finished fifteenth within the international team rankings – was notably not included within the 2022 squad. He can also be known to welcome leadership roles and needs to be a fantastic fit within the team room. Pendrith and Conners got the nod, seemingly ahead of Hadwin and Taylor, who’re perhaps the better-known and more fiery Canadians. The alternative showed that Weir prioritized consistency and up to date tournament results. Then there's Kim: He brought a memorable heat to the 2022 Games and was little doubt a natural for the energy within the locker room. Plus, Weir specifically mentioned Kim's putting, which has been shaky of late but appears to be improving with a putter change. Bezuidenhout has snuck into the FedEx top 30 and put together an underrated season, and Lee has emerged as among the finest drivers on the PGA Tour and established himself as a transparent fan favorite. Overall, there aren't too many surprises here, other than the curveball from Hughes and Davis being omitted for No. 8 within the rankings. Weir's picks are strong and represent a deliberate, multifaceted strategy. —

Required reading

policy

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, one in every of the House progressives often known as the “Squad” and a fierce critic of Israel’s war in Gaza, has won her primary in Minnesota.

Omar successfully defended her Minneapolis-area fifth District seat against a renewed challenge from former Minneapolis City Councilman Don Samuels, a more centrist liberal whom she narrowly defeated within the 2022 primary.

Omar escaped the fate of two of his squadmates. Rep. Cori Bush lost the Democratic nomination in her Missouri district last week, and Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York lost his primary in June. Both faced well-funded challengers and thousands and thousands in spending from the United Democracy Project, a political motion committee affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee that apparently sat out the Minnesota race.

Samuels had criticized Omar's condemnation of the Israeli government's handling of the war between Israel and Hamas. While Omar also criticized Hamas for attacks on Israel and hostage-taking, Samuels said it was one-sided and divisive. He also highlighted public issues of safety in Minneapolis, where a former police officer murdered George Floyd in 2020.

Samuels said he was “very disappointed” together with his defeat.

“Obviously money plays a somewhat bigger role in politics than I had hoped,” he said in an interview

Omar will face Republican Dalia Al-Aqidi, an Iraqi-American journalist and self-described secular Muslim who Omar describes as pro-Hamas.

Meanwhile, conservative populist and former NBA player Royce White defeated Navy veteran Joe Fraser within the Minnesota primary for the Republican nomination to face Democratic U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar in November.

And former federal prosecutor Joe Teirab, backed by former President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and the National Republican Congressional Committee, won a contested Republican primary for Minnesota's 2nd District seat held by Democratic Rep. Angie Craig.

His opponent, defense attorney Taylor Rahm, was capable of win support on the district convention with the support of the conservative base.

Although Rahm announced in July that he would put his campaign on hold and as a substitute function a senior adviser to Trump's Minnesota campaign, he remained on the ballot.

Teirab will face Craig in November in what is anticipated to be essentially the most competitive race for a seat within the Minnesota House of Representatives.

Craig issued an announcement after Teirab's victory, describing him as “a man who recently moved to the district because he saw a political opportunity.”

“He's a man who has spent months doing everything he can to gain the support of Republicans in Washington,” Craig said. “And he's a man who has made it his life's work to take away families' reproductive freedoms and leave those decisions to politicians.”

In the U.S. Senate race, White – an ally of imprisoned former Trump adviser Steve Bannon and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones – shocked many political observers when he defeated Fraser on the convention and urged Republicans to support his party.

White's social media comments have been denounced as misogynistic, homophobic, anti-Semitic and blasphemous. His legal and financial troubles include unpaid child support and questionable campaign spending, including $1,200 spent at a Florida strip club after losing his 2022 primary to Omar. He argues that as a Black man, he can broaden the party's base by appealing to voters of color within the greater Minneapolis-St. Paul area and others disillusioned with establishment politics.

Fraser said White's confrontational style and message wouldn’t attract the moderates and independents needed to mount a competitive challenge to Klobuchar, who’s looking for a fourth term. He represents a more mainstream approach, emphasizing fiscal conservatism, a powerful defense, global leadership and small government. Fraser also pointed to his 26 years within the Navy, where he was an intelligence officer and served in combat in Iraq.

Neither of them has anywhere near the resources Klobuchar has at her disposal. White recently reported $133,000, while Fraser took in $68,000. Klobuchar has raised around $19 million this legislative session and may spend greater than $6 million on the campaign trail. She had only nominal opponents within the primaries.

Another clash between establishment and grassroots Republicans took place within the seventh District in western Minnesota. Trump-backed Republican Rep. Michelle Fischbach, considered one of the vital conservative members of Congress, defeated small business owner Steve Boyd. Boyd stood to her right, using religious arguments to forestall her from gaining support on the district convention. Boyd reported spending $170,000, while Fischbach spent over 1,000,000 dollars.

Patriots

Kayshon Boutte's place on New England's roster is anything but secure next season.

Even though the Patriots decided to release JuJu Smith-Schuster on Friday, Boutte still has an extended technique to go relating to standing out amongst the big group of receivers.

The first surefire candidates for this pass-catching team should include rookies Ja'Lynn Polk and Javon Baker, newly signed free agent KJ Osborn, veteran Kendrick Bourne and second-year pro DeMario Douglas.

But though some spots on the roster are already filled, Boutte seemed confident on Sunday when asked about his probabilities of making the squad this fall.

“I feel like we’re all fighting for a job, but I have no doubt that I’ll make the team,” said Boutte. “I feel like I'm doing everything I'm supposed to do to make the team. I feel like I'll do even more as time goes on.”

Boutte is probably going still battling with Tyquan Thornton and Jalen Reagor for a spot on New England's roster, although New England could also open up one other spot if Bourne needs additional time to rest and recuperate while rehabbing a torn ACL.

Boutte took a step in the appropriate direction last week with a powerful performance in New England's season opener against the Panthers on Thursday, recording three catches for 53 yards in his team's 17-3 victory.

Boutte's running style has been consistently impressive over the past two training camps, resulting in the 2023 sixth-round pick from LSU being added to New England's roster last season. Although the 22-year-old wide receiver only had two catches for 19 yards last season, continued strong performance during preseason could earn him more playing time in a while.

“Training camp is going great,” Boutte said. “Competing every day. Stacking days after days. Just day after day, chance after chance.”

New England's decision to focus on a pass catcher like Boutte within the 2023 NFL Draft was based on his potential – Boutte recorded 83 catches for 1,243 yards and 14 touchdowns in the primary 16 games of his college profession.

A lackluster 2022 season with the Tigers has somewhat hurt his probabilities within the draft, but a young receiver like Boutte definitely has what it takes.

Boutte enters his second yr within the NFL and isn't fearful about expectations or where he might find yourself on the skilled roster – whether it's with the Patriots or potentially some other place if he comes up short within the annual numbers game.

“You see a lot in the media about expectations and stuff like that. … I don't like to create expectations, I just like to go out and play,” Boutte said.

For the primary time in 16 years, striker Alex Morgan won’t be a part of the US women's national soccer team's squad for a serious tournament.

On Wednesday, coach Emma Hayes dropped Morgan from the 18-man squad for this summer's Olympic Games in Paris. Without her, the US national team might be with no former gold medalist. The team's last victory got here in London in 2012.

“It was obviously a difficult decision, especially given Alex's past and success with this team,” Hayes said, “but I felt like I wanted to go in a different direction and selected other players.”

Morgan's absence will be viewed in a lot of ways. It's the top of an era for the USWNT. Some will see it as an overdue move to put younger players alongside experienced players. Others will argue that Hayes made a straightforward soccer decision. Most importantly, Wednesday's move reminded us that no spot on a U.S. roster is guaranteed.

“Today I am disappointed that I will not have the opportunity to represent our country on the Olympic stage,” Morgan posted on social media after the announcement. “This tournament will always be close to my heart and I am incredibly proud every time I wear the crest.”

Today I’m dissatisfied that I didn’t have the chance to represent our country on the Olympic Games. This tournament will at all times be near my heart and I’m incredibly proud each time I wear the crest.

In lower than a month, I look ahead to supporting this team… pic.twitter.com/NAXmQnNN8B

– Alex Morgan (@alexmorgan13) 26 June 2024

Hayes declined to elaborate on her reasons for leaving Morgan out of the squad or provide an inventory of 4 replacements, including Gotham FC striker Lynn Williams, but as a substitute emphasized “what a great player and person Alex Morgan was” while working along with her briefly at training camp this month for 2 friendlies against South Korea.

“I have seen first-hand not only their qualities but also their professionalism. Their record speaks for itself,” said Hayes. At the identical time, she recognized the restrictions of the 18-man squad, which only has room for 16 field players.

Morgan has leadership qualities, having captained the Americans on the most important stage of the World Cup, and her experience surpasses every other player on the squad when it comes to appearances and goals, so what kept her from making the Olympic team?

Since the friendlies in South Korea, it was clear that the very best starting lineup for forwards included Trinity Rodman, Sophia Smith and Mallory Swanson, but Morgan was still fighting for a spot within the squad. Her performance at club level, nevertheless, could have hurt her fight for a spot.

“I come from a club background and I've learned that the best development happens at the club level,” Hayes said during her first media appearance last month in New York City, essentially addressing players directly through the media. “So go back to your clubs, play, compete, get healthy and put yourselves in the best position possible.”

Since taking office, Hayes has consistently stressed that performance and form play a job in her assessment, especially at club level.

“There are players in the squad who are performing well and the decision to take those players was carefully considered, but I think it's a balanced squad,” Hayes said. “I've taken into account all the factors that we're going to need during the Olympics and (this squad) is one that I'm really happy with.”

After a couple of years of limited club involvement – she played just 10 league games for Orlando Pride and Tottenham from 2019-2021, including a break while she was pregnant with daughter Charlie – Morgan enjoyed a resurrection season for the newly formed San Diego Wave in 2022. She won the Golden Boot by leading the NWSL with 15 goals, including 11 from play. It was Morgan at her best – organising shots along with her left foot and finding loads of space within the six-yard box to convert dangerous probabilities.

Morgan, who turns 35 on Tuesday, also had to take a seat out for a while attributable to a persistent ankle injury.

Her form was not quite as strong in the beginning of 2023, but her place in Vlatko Andonovski's World Cup squad was secure. She was a staple in his lineup within the lead-up to the tournament and the hope was that she could do some thankless work as a lineman, even when her goal-scoring instincts weren’t quite at their best.

However, for the reason that USWNT was eliminated within the round of 16 on the World Cup, Morgan has struggled to attain goals for her club and country. San Diego has been off form this season and fired head coach Casey Stoney this week. However, a player with Morgan's pedigree is predicted to attain goals even when the going gets tough. Instead, in 2024, midway through the season, she has yet to attain a goal.

Given the Wave's struggles to enhance possession this yr, Morgan has needed to drop deeper than usual to get to the ball. That's evident in how rather more often she has to direct her passes forward – 16.2% of her passes are not less than 5 yards toward goal, a rate more more likely to be seen in a midfielder than a forward and significantly higher than her 12.1% in 2022. She has seemed less inclined to tackle an opponent along with her dribbling, having only three dribbles in 542 minutes this season after completing 35 dribbles in 1,630 minutes last yr.

Even more worrying is the 0 within the goals scored column this season, despite playing almost 600 minutes.

Morgan's lack of versatility can also have played a job in Hayes' decision. Morgan has long been a standout striker, scoring 123 goals because the USWNT's fifth-leading goalscorer of all time. But with that specialization comes a scarcity of experience in other positions, like a number of the players chosen for the tournament.

Partly hampered by her club's stagnant possession strategy, Morgan has didn’t enjoy a similarly lavish output within the box. She has yet to take a single shot contained in the six-yard box within the 2024 season, resulting in a pointy drop in her expected goals per shot, and only six of her 20 shot attempts this season have been made along with her stronger left foot.

Wave teammate Jaedyn Shaw was in a position to contribute barely enough to remain in Hayes' Olympic plans despite the team's poor form. Unfortunately, Morgan was unable to supply the identical strong USWNT performance that bolstered Shaw's case for inclusion on the list. Hayes called her goal contributions for the national team “significant” on Wednesday.

---

Morgan's best arguments for one more Olympic appearance were more intangibles, whether it was her presence as a veteran leader alongside captain Lindsey Horan or the sort of presence she could provide within the late stages of a knockout match given her track record at major tournaments. With an 18-man roster, it's clear Hayes couldn't justify those intangibles over more basic roster needs.

“There is no denying that this program has been tremendously successful in the past, but the reality is that it will take a lot of work before we get back to that level of excellence,” Hayes said.

Youth is a component of that process. Hayes named the youngest Olympic squad for the USWNT since 2008, when the team won gold in Beijing. The current squad has a mean age of 26.8, 4 years younger than the team that went to Tokyo in 2021 and settled for a bronze medal. Even more stark, nevertheless, is the difference within the variety of appearances in comparison with the last Olympics. The average appearances per player in 2021 was 111; for this team, the typical is just 58.

“When you look at the team's salary cap, you can see that there has been a lack of development in terms of putting less experienced players in positions where they can develop that experience,” Hayes said. “I think it's important that we do that to take the next step. So I'm not looking back.”

Hayes identified that Shaw's addition to the squad reinforces that concept, putting a give attention to younger players and their development at major tournaments to achieve experience that may profit the USWNT each immediately and long-term. Hayes sidestepped questions on where the team might find yourself or what its goals are for the Olympics, stressing that her mission is to get the team as near its best level and best version as possible.

Morgan could have provided a short-term boost, despite all of the history and legacy she’s going to leave behind in her absence. But that might not be the case. It's not possible to predict the contribution anybody player might make over the course of a serious tournament. Ultimately, Hayes is concentrated on something larger, constructing on the changes already made following the early exit from the World Championship last summer.

“For us, this is an opportunity to show that these findings will take us much further than last time,” she said. “But there are no guarantees in life.”