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Ahmed Qasem scored his second goal in as many career MLS starts, Sam Surridge and Hany Mukhtar each added their first of the season and Nashville SC pulled off a 3-1 upset victory over the Philadelphia Union on Sunday afternoon in Chester, Pa.
Mukhtar scored on a penalty late in the second half following a video review, in which referee Pierre-Luc Lauziere reversed his original decision not to penalize Jakob Glesnes' late aerial challenge.
Not long before, Lauziere was instructed to review replay at the other end of the field for an offense that could've given Philadelphia a game-tying PK attempt, but stuck with his decision on the field.
Joe Willis made four saves for Nashville (2-1-1, 7 points), including a late double stop of Quinn Sullivan's penalty and Bruno Damiani's rebound attempt.
Jovan Lukic scored his second goal of the season for Philadelphia (3-1-0, 9 points), which suffered its first defeat under new manager Bradley Carnell. Philadelphia's Tai Baribo was kept scoreless for the first time this season, keeping his MLS-leading total at six goals.
Qasem had been excellent in his first MLS start last weekend, earning a penalty kick attempt and then eventually scoring from open play in a 2-0 home win against Portland.
On Sunday, he gave his side a 2-1 lead just before halftime after Daniel Lovitz's first-time pass from his own half freed the attacker into a break down the right. Qasem controlled it well and guided a low finish from a tight angle past Andre Blake and inside the far post.
Willis made an excellent stop with his legs to deny Daniel Gazdag a close-range equalizer in the 58th minute. Not long after, Philly thought it could tie it after Lauziere was asked to review Lovitz's challenge on Quinn Sullivan. After a lengthy look, Lauziere stuck with his on-field decision.
Several minutes after that, Lauziere was again summoned for Glesnes' aerial challenge on Mukhtar, and this time judged the defender to have felled the attacker following his flick-on header.
Mukhtar had missed two penalties a week ago. This time he stepped up and chipped coolly down the middle as Blake lunged to his right, doubling the visitors' advantage in the 82nd minute.
Lauziere eventually awarded a penalty to Philadelphia deep in second-half stoppage time for Lovitz's late lunge on Chris Donovan, but Willis' double-save denied the Union again.
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What Liverpool are now internally saying about Isak transfer after bombshell statement
Liverpool have reportedly held internal discussions over using Federico Chiesa as a makeweight in a deal for Alexander Isak. The Merseysiders have yet to make a breakthrough in negotiations for the Sweden international. That’s despite the 25-year-old having kicked up a very public fuss over ‘broken promises’ at Newcastle. Could Federico Chiesa help Liverpool sign Alexander Isak? It remains to be seen whether or not Chiesa does indeed have a future at Liverpool. The Italian international didn’t do his chances any harm, of course, with a superb contribution from the bench in a 4-2 victory over Bournemouth last week. However, Mark Brus at CaughtOffside has now exclusively revealed that the Reds have held internal discussions over the prospect of utilising the former Juventus star in talks for Isak. Moreover, it’s understood that as many as six clubs – including AC Milan, Atalanta, Inter Milan, Napoli, Roma, and Fulham – are interested in signing the attacker. Chiesa doesn’t want to leave Liverpool It shouldn’t be forgotten that Federico Chiesa’s official position is that he doesn’t want to leave Liverpool this summer. Arne Slot himself certainly hinted in his most recent presser that the club’s position on the matter had evolved. “I see a totally different Federico now than through large parts of last season, which is completely normal because he missed out on the whole pre-season,” the Dutch head coach said. Arne Slot on Federico Chiesa: “I see a totally different Federico now than through large parts of last season, which is completely normal because he missed out on the whole pre-season.” #fyp #liverpool #premierleague #chiesa #lfc ♬ original sound – Farrell Keeling The reality remains that Liverpool can hardly afford to sell another senior attacker. Beyond the former Serie A man, the Merseysiders can only call upon Mo Salah, Cody Gakpo and Hugo Ekitike as their remaining senior options. The forward line is looking far too slim after the departures of Darwin Nunez (Al-Hilal) and Luis Diaz (Bayern Munich). You could make the argument for a potential swap deal plus a huge chunk of cash for Isak – that would at least take our numbers up to four senior attackers. But there’s little to no chance, in our view, of Slot sanctioning Chiesa’s exit elsewhere unless both the club and player are pushing for it.
Urban Meyer pushes for Chargers or NFL to suspend Jim Harbaugh
Former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer thinks the Los Angeles Chargers or the NFL should take it upon themselves to punish Jim Harbaugh. On Aug. 15, the NCAA punished Michigan for violations connected to the Connor Stalions sign-stealing scandal. Harbaugh received a 10-year show-cause order. During Wednesday's episode of "The Triple Option" podcast, Meyer compared Harbaugh's situation to that of Jim Tressel in 2011. Meyer argued that the league or the Chargers should suspend Harbaugh, like the Indianapolis Colts did to Tressel. "There's an elephant in the room here, boys, though, that no one's talking about," Meyer said. "When Jim Tressel was fired at Ohio State and he was given a suspension, Roger Goodell, commissioner of the National Football League, came out and said that, 'We're going to honor that suspension.' And you remember, he went to the Indianapolis Colts to work in the replay room or something. "The Colts, because of the respect they had for the NCAA and the suspension, you realize suspended Jim Tressel? So he was unable to perform his duties for the first six games of the year for the Indianapolis Colts. I think we all know the answer. Any chance that Roger Goodell and the NFL, of course not. And I don't know why." There is a belief that Harbaugh bolted to the Chargers after winning the national title in 2023 because he knew the NCAA was getting ready to punish the Wolverines. A six-game suspension is not comparable to a 10-year show-cause order, and punishing Harbaugh so lightly would be more symbolic than substantive. Frankly, it's bad business for the league to suspend Harbaugh and to connect the outspoken head coach to a trivial scandal that happened in college. Punishing Harbaugh would draw unwanted attention to the Chargers and the league, who knew what happened before he jumped to the NFL before the 2024 season.
Jerry Jones: Micah Parsons' agent told me where we could stick contract details
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones wants to deal with David Mulugheta insofar as to get Micah Parsons' agent to fill out the paperwork on the contract extension that was already negotiated. During an appearance with Michael Irvin on Thursday, Jones said Mulugheta told him to shove the paperwork up their heinie. "When we wanted to send the details to the agent, The agents told us to stick it up our a--," Jones said. "Just so we're clear. (Parsons) and I talked, and then we were going to send it over to the agent, and we had our agreements on term, amount, guarantees, everything. "We were going to send it over to the agent, and the agent said, 'Don't bother, because we've got all that to negotiate.' Well, I'd already negotiated. I'd already moved off my mark on several areas." Following an incoherent analogy to a child going between a mom and dad to negotiate, Jones accused Mulugheta of trying to "stick his nose" in negotiations to try to get the Cowboys to cave for a better deal for his client. Jones has no plans to back down from the agreement he had already worked out with Parsons. "In my mind, for the Dallas Cowboys, we've got it done," Jones said. "And if the agent wants to finish up the details, which he should, and do all the paperwork, he can do that, and we're ready to go. But as far as the amount of money, the years, the guarantees, all of that we negotiated." Dallas is set to conclude its preseason against the Atlanta Falcons on Friday night with no end in sight to the biggest distraction on the team this summer. Jones should have avoided the situation with Parsons by dealing with Mulugheta directly, but that might have caused the theatre to be much less dramatic before the regular season.
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Blackhawks make gargantuan commitment to young forward
The Blackhawks have officially announced a seven-year extension for pending RFA forward Frank Nazar. The deal will pay him an AAV and cap hit of $6.59M for a total value of $46.13M. It’s a gargantuan commitment to the 21-year-old Nazar considering his lack of NHL experience. The 2022 No. 13 overall pick lands the richest total-value contract in league history for someone with 56 or fewer career appearances, which is Nazar’s tally entering the 2025-26 campaign. Nazar, who still has one year left on his entry-level contract before his extension will kick in for 2026-27, has yet to spend an entire season on the NHL roster. Last year was his first full run in the pros after two years at the University of Michigan, but he made his NHL debut in the final three games of 2023-24 after signing his ELC. He did not make the Blackhawks’ opening night roster but, after recording 11 goals and 24 points in 21 games for AHL Rockford, was recalled in mid-December shortly after Chicago’s coaching change and never looked back. He faltered out of the gate, recording only one assist and a -5 rating through his first 10 appearances while averaging 14:44 of ice time per game. But under interim head coach Anders Sörenson, who had overseen his early-season success in Rockford, he was extended some patience. That paid off in the long run as Nazar built confidence, including a four-game point streak in January and a run of nine points in eight games in April to end the season. All told, Nazar finished the season with a 12-14–26 scoring line 53 games — ninth on the team — and averaged nearly 16 minutes per game. While size concerns (5-foot-10, 190 pounds) created some detractors about his ability to hold down his natural center position in the NHL, he saw a fair amount of time as Chicago’s second-line middleman behind Connor Bedard. His most common deployment (107 minutes) amid an astronomical 91 different line combinations used by the Hawks last year was at 2C between Tyler Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teräväinen, although he did also see some time up on Bedard’s wing. Nazar was seen as a top-10 threat in the 2022 class, but after slipping to Chicago and missing most of his freshman year at Michigan due to injury, there were warranted doubts about his development path. He silenced them quickly with a point-per-game sophomore showing for the Wolverines and has made about as good an adjustment to pro hockey as can be expected, given the lack of quality veteran support on the Hawks’ NHL roster. A long-term bet at what’s even now a conservative second-line price point in 2025 could pay incredible dividends for the Blackhawks if he remains a long-term top-six piece, even if it’s on the wing, as the cap increases and they reward the other pieces of their young core with long-term deals. There’s also an incredible risk factor for someone still relatively early on their development track with less than a full season’s worth of NHL experience. The only recent comparable for someone with his experience is Wild superstar Kirill Kaprizov, who signed a five-year, $45M contract after his rookie season (55 GP). Kaprizov, however, had far more professional experience after coming up through Russia’s KHL and was two years older than Nazar is now, making him a more projectable player. Kaprizov also took home the Calder Trophy that year and had twice the offensive output Nazar did. As such, the Blackhawks are betting hard on Nazar being a long-term solution, either as a wingman for Bedard or as a second-line center behind him. There’s certainly reason for optimism – he’s developed well and is coming off a spectacular World Championship showing with the United States that earned him a spot at their Olympic orientation camp. He’ll be under contract through the 2032-33 season and can walk to unrestricted free agency upon expiry. Getting Nazar’s extension out of the way now isn’t just about him, though. Chicago has two other big-ticket RFAs next summer — Bedard and new No. 1 goalie Spencer Knight — who will take serious resources to extend. They still have barely over $40M in allocated cap hits for 2026-27, though, leaving them with virtually unlimited spending power under a projected $104M cap. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet first reported the Blackhawks were signing Nazar to a seven-year extension. Bleacher Report’s Frank Seravalli reported a more accurate cap hit in the $6.6M range.
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