U.S. coach Berhalter tries position change

New U.S. soccer coach Gregg Berhalter announced an intriguing position change after his first session with the full player pool, moving Tyler Adams to right back and DeAndre Yedlin to wide midfield.

Yedlin, at 25, is among the veterans retained after the failure to qualify for last year’s World Cup. He has been primarily a right back for the national team and Newcastle in England.

“He’s not going to be in the back. He’s going to be forward at the top of the penalty box or he’s going to be combining in wide areas. And that’s right in his skill set,” Berhalter said.

Adams, a 20-year-old who made his debut in November 2017, has been a central midfielder for the national team, the New York Red Bulls and RB Leipzig in Germany.

Preparing for the CONCACAF Gold Cup in June, the Americans play exhibitions against Ecuador on Thursday in Orlando and Chile next week in Houston.

A judge ordered a sports marketing group to pay a total of $1 million in fines in the FIFA soccer scandal.

U.S. District Judge Pamela Chen fined Traffic Sports International and Traffic Sports USA at a hearing in federal court in Brooklyn, N.Y.

The companies had been implicated in the sprawling U.S. case accusing the companies and other firms of bribing top international soccer officials in exchange for commercial rights to major tournaments.

They were each was fined $500,000. They had previously agreed to shut down operations as part of a plea agreement.