• CINCINNATI — A hat trick from Alex Morgan, brace from Catarina Macario and individual strikes from Rose Lavelle, Sophia Smith and Carli Lloyd left hapless Paraguay on the wrong end of an 8-nil result in a friendly Tuesday at TQL Stadium. Follow Jamie on Twitter: @JamieSmed. Support Soc Takes on…
• CINCINNATI — FC Cincinnati and Orlando City SC dueled to a 1-1 stalemate Saturday at TQL Stadium, allowing OCSC to stay in second place in the Eastern Conference while FCC remains mired near the bottom in 13th. Goals from Brenner and Nani on each side of halftime ended up…
• CINCINNATI — Despite arguably being outplayed by the hosts, the visiting Colorado Rapids put their only two attempts on goal in the back of the net Saturday to sink FC Cincinnati 2-0 at TQL Stadium. Diego Rubio bagged the first in the 21st minute while Jonathan Lewis added the…
• CINCINNATI — The New England Revolution remained atop the Eastern Conference on 17 points after blanking FC Cincinnati 1-0 on Saturday in the second match ever played at TQL Stadium. A 70th-minute connection from Carles Gil to Adam Buksa put the visitors up for good. Follow Jamie on Twitter: @JamieSmed….
• CINCINNATI — In the inaugural match at TQL Stadium, FC Cincinnati rallied from two goals down to tie it late before Gonzalo Higuain’s game-winning strike in the 85th minute handed Inter Miami CF a 3-2 road win and three points. Brek Shea scored the first-ever goal at the stadium…
• CINCINNATI — In each club’s first game back since the conclusion of the MLS Is Back tournament, FC Cincinnati and D.C. United settled for a nil-nil draw Friday at Nippert Stadium. Both teams are currently in the middle of the pack in the Eastern Conference with FCC sitting on…
• ORLANDO, Fla. — Second-half strikes by Christen Press and Carli Lloyd propelled the U.S. women’s national team to a 2-nil blanking of England at Exploria Stadium on Thursday in the SheBelieves Cup group stage. The teams last met in the semifinals of the World Cup in July, a match…
• COLUMBUS, Ohio — Making his U.S. women’s national team managerial debut, Vlatko Andonovski led his side to a 3-2 victory over Sweden on Thursday at MAPFRE Stadium. Carli Lloyd bagged a brace and Christen Press scored the other to put the USWNT up 3-0 at halftime, and a second-half…
• CHICAGO — The U.S. women’s national team wrapped up its 2019 Victory Tour with a Sept. 6 draw against Korea Republic at Soldier Field. The 1-1 result marked the final time that decorated manager Jill Ellis roamed the touchline as the USWNT boss. Ji So-Yun put the visitors on…
• CINCINNATI — The LA Galaxy were out-passed and out-possessed at FC Cincinnati on Saturday, but were much more efficient with their opportunities to earn a 2-0 road win. Emmanuel Boateng and Favio Alvarez tallied for the visitors, with the latter also providing the assist on the former’s goal. The…
• CINCINNATI — If Gregg Berhalter’s USMNT squad was hoping for a confidence boost heading into the 2019 Concacaf Gold Cup, it’ll have to look elsewhere for inspiration beyond the tape of Sunday’s 3-0 shellacking by Venezuela at Nippert Stadium. A brace from Jose Salomon Rondon and another from Jefferson…
• HARRISON, N.J. — As the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France looms ever-so close to its start, the U.S. women’s national team squeezed in one final dress rehearsal May 26 at Red Bull Arena against Mexico. Strikes from Tobin Heath, Mallory Pugh and Christen Press carried the hosts to…

• Pelé Soccer, a soccer apparel company, officially opened the doors of its brick-and-mortar flagship location Monday in New York. The store sits in Times Square at 1560 Broadway and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Widely regarded as one of the game’s all-time greats — if…
• Episode 5 of Lower League America with co-hosts Nipun Chopra and Jason Davis is here. The fellas discuss the history of the New York Cosmos, one of America’s most storied clubs. They also touch on the USL’s company-wide rebrand announced earlier this week. Related: Lower League America: The Premiere Related: Lower…

• Pelé Soccer, a soccer apparel company, officially opened the doors of its brick-and-mortar flagship location Monday in New York. The store sits in Times Square at 1560 Broadway and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Widely regarded as one of the game’s all-time greats — if…
• Recently, rumors emerged that next season’s Indy Eleven kits will be sponsored by Adidas. While four independent sources informed Soc Takes that Adidas would indeed be next year’s kit sponsor, it turns out those reports were either premature or incorrect. Larry Linde, director of corporate partnerships at Indy Eleven, informed…

• Pelé Soccer, a soccer apparel company, officially opened the doors of its brick-and-mortar flagship location Monday in New York. The store sits in Times Square at 1560 Broadway and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Widely regarded as one of the game’s all-time greats — if…

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Making his U.S. women’s national team managerial debut, Vlatko Andonovski led his side to a 3-2 victory over Sweden on Thursday at MAPFRE Stadium. Carli Lloyd bagged a brace and Christen Press scored the other to put the USWNT up 3-0 at halftime, and a second-half brace from Sweden’s Anna Anvegard wasn’t quite enough to pull the visitors level.

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Follow Jamie on Twitter: @JamieSmed.

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Image credit: Serie A

What happened to the FIFA Disciplinary Code that promised to protect the integrity of the game and downplay racism?

Italy fell back into the hands of an old demon. Verona’s racism targeted Brescia’s Mario Balotelli with loud gorilla noises every time he contacted the ball. The Italian striker committed a handball and sent the ball to the bleachers as a sign of repudiation.

Referee Maurizio Mariani stopped the match for a couple of minutes — as the protocol states — while players of Hellas Verona and Brescia convinced Mario Balotelli to stay in the game.

According to Article 13.2 of FIFA’s Disciplinary Code, Hellas Verona should be sanctioned. Their fans attempted against Balotelli’s dignity and integrity with humiliating words. However, the bar of a significant punishment is exceptionally high.

When Bulgaria’s fans harassed English players with racist chants, UEFA ordered Bulgaria to play two matches behind closed doors and issued a fine of $83,000. However, that was the third time that the European entity received a sanction for racially discriminating opponents. And the quantity of the punishment was $20,000 less than when Nicklas Bendtner showed the top of his underwear, which contained the name of a sponsor, in 2012.

Racism is bedrock in Italian football, and is a problem that surfaces even in youth leagues. In the previous two years, the independent organization Observatory on Racism in Football recorded 80 cases of intolerance in lower leagues. During that period of time, even 12-year-old players were subjected to discrimination during soccer matches.

The attention of racial bigotry in the boot-shaped country got the direct care of FIFA’s president Gianni Infantino, who publicly showed urgency to develop solutions. Nevertheless, it’s already institutionalized.

After the events with Balotelli, Hellas Verona’s president Maurizio Setti and coach Ivan Juric denied the facts.

“I think that we haven’t heard racist chants. I’ve talked to the fourth referee, and he hasn’t heard any signs of racism.” Juric said at the press conference. Consequently, Setti commented that the fan base of Hellas Verona is “ironic but not racist.”

President Setti told reporters that the supporters have “a sympathetic way of joking with people,” downplaying the evidence. He excused the attitude of his fans by using the “we have a lot of players of color” card, and doubled down in denying the incident. “Let me repeat: today nothing happened on the pitch.”

It is not the first time a player or an executive defended intolerance in Italy. Last year, former Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri and center back Leonardo Bonucci blamed Moise Kean for being harassed during their visit to Cagliari. Even Cagliari president Tommaso Giulini interpreted the Italian youngster’s goal celebration as an intentional trigger for racist chants. Keane just stood up and opened his arms.

Another crowd in Italy repeated an offense against a player of color. What is happening in Italy needs to be eradicated. Racism has escalated to affect the youth, and it should be a priority for FIFA to stop it. During 2019, FIFA eliminated a slur in Mexico during soccer matches. The primary football organism pressured the Liga MX to suspend and/or take points off from every team that didn’t cooperate. It worked out the very first time it was implemented.

However, Italy is a different monster. Racism is in the system, and there’s no punishment for a culture that blames the abused instead of giving solutions. The new Disciplinary Code should be applied harshly, and FIFA has the tools to enforce it. If the judging panel doesn’t implement an exemplary sanction to Hellas Verona, all of them will be complicit in threatening the integrity of the game.

Follow Luis on Twitter: @LFulloa.

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