USWNT continue to thrive without 'triple espresso'; With Champions League over, a summer of soccer awaits

Elsewhere on the Golazo Starting XI newsletter, check out all the coverage from Saturday's Champions League action

Hello! The European club season may have come to a close with Paris Saint-Germain's win in the UEFA Champions League final on Saturday but there is still plenty of soccer to watch this summer. I'm Pardeep Cattry with a preview of what's to come.

📺 Footy fix

All times U.S./Eastern

Tuesday, June 3
🇪🇺 UWNL: Spain vs. England, 1 p.m. ➡️ CBS Sports Network, Paramount+
🌎 Friendly: USWNT vs. Jamaica, 8 p.m. ➡️ TNT

⚽ The Forward Line

🇺🇸 USWNT youngsters begin to click

Getty Images

The U.S. women's national team kicked off the international break with a 3-0 win over China on Saturday, one that showcased the strides that Emma Hayes' young team are making as the era of experimentation continues.

Saturday's win offered another glimpse at a new-look version of the USWNT, one where the pieces are beginning to fall into place after months of work together. The group easily unlocked China's high line over the course of the match, with Catarina Macario among the standouts after notching a goal and an assist. Hayes attributed the dominant performance to the work the team has done over the last several months, one that has come with a learning curve that has begun to subside.

• Hayes: "When you're trying to put together so many new players as a coach, you want to make sure that every time you're with them, you're making less and less tactical corrections and this week, we've made less than we've ever had to make because Avery Patterson knows where to be [on] both sides of the ball, so does Lily [Yohannes], so does Michelle Cooper and so that, in return, means the whole group can go up a higher level because they're getting better at their understanding of that. That's the first thing."

The USWNT's attacking trio on Saturday, featuring a front line of Macario, Alyssa Thompson and Michelle Cooper, filled in nicely as Hayes explores her attacking options as all three members of triple espresso – Trinity Rodman, Mallory Swanson and Sophia Wilason – remain unavailable. Hayes has other players available to her for Tuesday's match against Jamaica, including fellow youngsters Ally Sentnor and Emma Sears and veteran Lynn Biyendolo. Whatever combination she opts for in the upcoming match, though, she did identify some areas of improvement for a relatively young group as they continue in the lengthy buildup to the 2027 Women's World Cup.

• Hayes: "We wanted to be a bit more dynamic in our rotations so the timing of our rotations to pull their wide players out. I thought in the first half, we did that really, really well. What we didn't do as well as we wanted to was [that] we tried to find the spaces in between when actually, the space was in behind so sometimes we overplayed. They want to give us some areas, we take them areas but I'm asking them to deliver a performance with a level of patience so I'm not going to criticize them for that. I feel like, tactically, we've gone up another level. I really feel that way. I feel that there's so many more players that are so much more in control, that were able to do more and I was pleased with the performance."

New episode now streaming

Paramount+

🔗  Midfield Link Play

☀️ Soccer in the summertime

While the offseason is in sight, or already underway, for a chunk of the world's best players, there is still plenty of soccer on the schedule over the next two months. A first-of-its-kind summer of soccer awaits, one with several high-stakes matches on the schedule.

World Cup qualifying resumes

June 11 marks the one year mark before the 2026 World Cup, a tournament that will be top of mind for several national teams as they look to book a spot at the 48 team tournament in North America next summer. Four nations – Japan, New Zealand, iran and Argentina – have already joined the three host nations, while a handful of other teams could join them before the month is over.

While some confederations are several months into their qualifying campaigns, Europe is still in the early stages of their qualification tournament. A handful of high-profile teams will play their first qualifiers this month, a list that includes previous World Cup winners Germany, Spain, France and Italy. Luciano Spaletti's Italy will be a team to watch during UEFA's qualifying run since they have missed the last two editions of the World Cup, especially surprising since they won the Euros in 2021.

New-look Club World Cup gets underway

Meanwhile, 32 clubs from around the world are in the final stages of preparation for the newly expanded version of the Club World Cup. The U.S.-set tournament begins on June 14 and will feature new Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain, as well as fellow European heavyweights Real Madrid and Chelsea and Lionel Messi's Inter Miami. The field now officially includes MLS' LAFC, who won a play-in match against Club America on Saturday to take the final spot in the competition.

How exactly each team will approach this competition is a big question and seems likely to vary from squad to squad. Al-Hilal, the club owned by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, may go all out by recruiting Al-Nassr's Cristiano Ronaldo but will only have until June 10 to get a deal done. It is unclear how the European clubs will handle this tournament considering it is the final stage of a demanding season that began last August and could run until July 13, should they reach the final.

Women's Euro returns in July

This summer's major international tournament will take place in Switzerland, where 16 teams will compete in the Women's Euro. England enter the competition as the reigning champions, winning on home soil in 2022 during a tournament that set records for attendance and viewership, though there have been some dynamic shifts in Europe since. Chief among them is the rapid transformation of Spain, who were a team with potential but no history of deep runs in major competitions and exited in the quarterfinals after a loss to the hosts. A year later, Spain beat England in the Women's World Cup final and will arrive in Switzerland as the favorites to win the whole thing. 

Hopes will still be high for England, though they will be without goalkeeper Mary Earps after she suddenly announced her international retirement last month. Earps had lost a starting role in recent months to Chelsea's Hannah Hampton, who has been the expected starter at the Euros for some time.

🔗  Top Stories

🏆 PSG's dominance: Paris Saint-Germain's lopsided win over Inter in the Champions League final could be the start of a dynastic period for the club, led by Luis Enrique's tactical vision and a host of young players and unsung heroes.

🇫🇷 Two dead during celebrations: Two people died and hundreds were arrested in Paris as the city broke out into celebrations of Paris Saint-Germain's Champions League win.

♥️ Xana Enrique tributes: In Munich, Luis Enrique and Paris Saint-Germain's fans paid tribute to Xana Enrique, the manager's daughter who died in 2019 at age nine following a battle with bone cancer.

1️⃣1️⃣ UCL team of the season: Four PSG players cracked CBS Sports' Champions League team of the season, and so did Barcelona's Lamine Yamal and Raphinha.

🔵⚫ Inzaghi postmortem: Inter manager Simone Inzaghi is likely to leave the club after their defeat in the Champions League final, which was a showcase for his biggest mistakes despite an otherwise successful tenure.

🔮 Next season's contenders: With this season officially in the books, it's officially time to make way-too-early predictions for who will hoist the Champions League trophy this time next year.

🇺🇸 Yohannes' first year: Teenage midfielder Lily Yohannes celebrated her first year with the USWNT, one in which she is slowly but surely living up to her potential.

👋 Managerial comings and goings: Massimilianno Allegri will take charge of AC Milan from next season, while Jonatan Giraldez is likely to make a shock move to OL Lyonnes after less than a year with the Washington Spirit.

🔴 Beckham criticizes United: David Beckham accused some Manchester United players of "disrespecting" fans, comparing the Red Devils to a PSG team that showed team spirit.

👎 Curse watch: After Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham Hotspur broke their curses this season, here's a look at which teams now carry the weight of expectations going into next season.

💰  The Back Line

💵 Best bets

• Club World Cup: champions
  💰 THE PICK: Paris Saint-Germain to win (+650) – Paris Saint-Germain are not the oddsmakers' favorites heading into the Club World Cup – that distinction belongs to Real Madrid, though Manchester City are a close second. The new Champions League winners are probably better positioned to win the competition than the other teams, though, and not only by virtue of recency bias. PSG have perfected Luis Enrique's new tactical approach, easily making them the hardest team to beat. City were the first team to experience the hardships of facing this version of the team, while Real Madrid may have other priorities in mind with new manager Xabi Alonso set to take charge of his first games. It just might be PSG's competition to lose, setting them up to turn their historic treble into a quadruple-winning season.

For more picks, predictions, expert tips and the latest betting news, don't miss out on CBSSports.com's betting home page.

📺 What we're watching

Paramount+

📺 What's on CBS Sports Golazo Network

☀️ Morning Footy (Weekdays 8-10 a.m.): Join Golazo Network as it helps fans get their day started on the right foot on the network's flagship morning show with highlights, interviews and the biggest soccer storylines. Morning Footy is also available in podcast form, so you'll never have to miss an episode.

☀️ Morning Footy (10 a.m. ET): A special edition of Morning Footy, the network's flagship morning show with highlights, interviews and the biggest soccer storylines, will kick off Golazo Network's coverage of the big game. Morning Footy is also available in podcast form, so you'll never have to miss an episode.

🏆 Champions League Today (1 p.m. ET): Kate Scott hosts pregame studio coverage alongside analysts Thierry Henry, Jamie Carragher and Micah Richards. Coverage from Allianz Arena in Munich begins at 1 p.m. ET on Paramount+ and CBS Sports Golazo Network, followed by coverage on the CBS and Paramount+ beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET.

⚽ The Champions Club (5:30 p.m. ET): Poppy Miller, Mike Grella, Nigel Reo-Coker, Tony Meola and Jimmy Conrad for live reactions and match analysis as they break down all the action from the Champions League final.

🥅 Scoreline (7 p.m. ET): Scoreline is the place for fans to catch up on all the biggest news and results impacting global football, match highlights from the top soccer competitions and all the can't-miss goals from the day's action, airing seven days a week.

📺 How to watch: CBS Sports Golazo Network is a free 24/7 channel exclusively dedicated to offering unparalleled coverage of all the top soccer competitions worldwide. You can stream for free on the CBS Sports app, Pluto TV and Paramount+.