MLS adds Cincinnati in latest round of expansion

Major League Soccer added Cincinnati in its latest round of expansion, rewarding a city that has set attendance records during three seasons of United Soccer League play and has a stadium deal in place. The announcement brings MLS to a 26-team league. Cincinnati will join the league next year and play at the University of Cincinnati’s football stadium while a 21,000-seat soccer stadium is built in the West End neighborhood. It is to open in 2021.

Atlanta United defender Greg Garza is expected to miss four to six months after surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder.

FIFA has invited human rights activists and media to make formal complaints if they cannot work freely at international soccer events. The online reporting tool was launched two weeks after a German journalist who exposed Russian doping had his visa for the World Cup declared invalid, then reinstated.

Tobin Heath is back on the U.S. women’s national team roster after spending the start of the year recovering from surgery. Heath is among 23 players announced for a pair of upcoming exhibition matches against China.

The coach of a minor league soccer team in Utah is facing multiple charges of domestic assault and attempting to tamper with a witness. Prosecutors charged the 36-year-old Mark Briggs last Wednesday.

His attorney Greg Skordas says there is no merit to the claims.

Briggs coaches the Real Monarchs, which plays in the United Soccer League and is affiliated with Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer.