PACT PAVES WAY FOR USNWT
The United States Soccer Federation and its World Cup champion women’s team said Tuesday that they had resolved the players’ outstanding claims about working conditions, a rare moment of detente — and mutual happiness — before the sides’ long-running f ight about equal pay returns to federal court.
The agreement, f iled in U.S. District Cour t for the Central District of California, is equal parts labor peace and legal maneuvering. For the players and their lawyers, the deal brings oppor tunity: In settling their issues related to working conditions, the women’s stars cleared the way to appealing a judge’s decision in May that had rejected most of their equal pay claims.
For the federation, removing one of the last unresolved items in the team’s wage-discrimination lawsuit allowed its new leadership team to rid itself of one more point of contention in a dispute they would prefer to see end, and to signal that U.S. Soccer is open to more accommodations.
U.S. Soccer ’s president, Cindy Parlow Cone, hailed Tuesday’s agreement, saying it signaled the federation’s effor ts “to f ind a new way forward” with the women’s team and, hopefully, a way out of the rest of the litigation. In a conference call, she spoke of “a different relationship” with the women’s team, of which she was once a member, and of a chance to “rebuild the trust” between the sides.
Champions League
Jurgen Klopp could count on his kids to see injury-depleted Liverpool through in the Champions League.
A first European goal from Curtis Jones secured a 1-0 victory over visiting Ajax, clinching a place in the knockout stage with a game to spare in Group D.
The midf ielder scored after connecting with a cross from fellow 19-year-old Neco Williams, taking advantage of the stranded goalkeeper Andre Onana and clipping the ball into the net with the outside of his right boot in the 58th minute.
Shakhtar Donetsk beat Real Madrid 2-0, leaving the 13-time European champion’s hopes of advancing hanging in the balance.
Shakhtar goes ahead of Madrid cour tesy of a better head-to-head record. Both teams are one point behind Group B leader Borussia Monchengladbach, which lost 3-2 to Inter Milan.
Madrid hosts Gladbach in the final group match while Shakhtar visits Inter.
Notable
Greg Vanney resigned as Toronto’s coach after more than six seasons in charge of the Major League Soccer team.
Toronto finished second in the Eastern Conference at 135-5 during the pandemicshortened season, then lost to Nashville 1-0 in over time in the first round of the playoffs.
The Seattle Sounders defeated FC Dallas 1-0 on a goal by Shane O’Neill in the 49th minute in the Western Conference semifinals.
The Washing ton Spirit acquired U.S. World Cup defender Kelley O’Hara in a trade with the Utah Royals, two people close to the situation said.