PARIS — United States international Crystal Dunn has retired from professional soccer after a decorated playing career to spend more time with her family.
The 33-year-old New York native helped the U.S. win the 2019 women’s World Cup and the gold medal at the Paris Olympics.
“This decision has not come easily, but I am at peace and deeply fulfilled with all that I have accomplished,” she wrote in an Instagram post Thursday. “I’ve achieved nearly everything I dreamed of in this sport and gave all I had to give.
“I’m ready to embrace the life that awaits me on the other side. I look forward to spending more time with my family and being a more present mom.”
Dunn was under contract with Paris Saint-Germain, which said Thursday that both sides agreed to end their collaboration. A versatile player who contributed from multiple positions, Dunn joined PSG in January 2025 after leaving Gotham FC of the NWSL. She made nine appearances for PSG, scoring two goals and providing two assists.
Dunn appeared in 160 games for the United States, scoring 25 goals.
“As one of the first Black stars of the U.S. women’s national team, especially as a field player, Dunn has long been a role model to many young players of color across the country who aspired to reach the highest levels of the game,” the U.S. Soccer Federation said in its announcement about Dunn’s retirement.
“Dunn’s career will be remembered for her versatility, her tremendous one-on-one defending, her ability to perform far above her size (5-foot-1), her popularity among her teammates, her ability to inspire generations of U.S. Women’s National Team players and for a heck of a lot of winning.”
Before Gotham, Dunn played for the Portland Thorns and took most of 2022 off for the birth of her son, Marcel. She also had stints with the North Carolina Courage, Chelsea, and the Washington Spirit.
Joe Walsh, 75, of West Chester, member of four athletic Halls of Fame, longtime high school and college football coach, retired health and physical education teacher at West Chester Henderson High School, mentor, and neighbor extraordinaire, died Tuesday, Jan. 27, of cancer at his home.
Mr. Walsh grew up in the Farmbrook section of Levittown, Bucks County, and played football at the old Woodrow Wilson High School and what is now West Chester University. He got a job as a health and physical education teacher and assistant football coach at Henderson in 1972 and spent the next five decades coaching thousands of high school and college athletes, teaching thousands of high school students, and mentoring hundreds of friends and colleagues.
He coached football, wrestling, lacrosse, and tennis at Henderson, and his football teams at Henderson and Sun Valley High School combined to win four league championships. He coached in 13 all-star football games and was named the Chester County area football coach of the year four times, the Ches-Mont League coach of the year three times, and the Del-Val League coach of the year once.
In 1992, an Inquirer reporter asked him to describe himself. “I am an easygoing, volatile kind of coach,” he said with a big chuckle, the reporter wrote. “Actually,” he said, “I think I’m a player’s coach. I think my rapport with my players is my strong point.”
Mr. Walsh (center) had many occasions to celebrate with family and friends on the football field.
Former colleagues, players, and friends said in online tributes that Mr. Walsh was “an inspiration,” “a great coach,” and “a positive example for many, many young people.” On Threads, his brother, Russ, called him a “Hall of Fame human being.”
“He was always there,” said John Lunardi, assistant principal at Henderson, who played quarterback for Mr. Walsh and served later as his assistant coach, “a steady, reliable role model, somebody who could be counted on no matter what.”
In 20 years as head football coach at Henderson, from 1992 to 2011, Mr. Walsh’s teams won 131 games, lost 104, and captured three Ches-Mont League championships. From 1988 to 1991, he went 17-25 as head coach at Sun Valley and won the 1990 Del-Val League championship.
His 2007 team at Henderson went 12-2, won the Ches-Mont title, and made it to the district championship game. “Our motto,” he told The Inquirer in2004, “is no excuses, just results.”
Mr. Walsh and his Henderson football team were featured in The Inquirer’s 1992 preview section.
In 2025, he was inducted into the Chester County Sports Hall of Fame, and colleagues there noted his “remarkable achievements and contributions to local athletics” in a Facebook tribute. He earned a standing ovation after speaking at the ceremony, and Henderson officials recognized his legacy with a moment of silence at a recent basketball game. They said in a tribute: “Joe Walsh was a Hall of Fame person in every possible way.”
Mr. Walsh taught health and physical education at Henderson from 1972 to 2008. He organized offseason clinics to encourage all students to join sports teams and told The Inquirer in 1992: “I’ve always tried my best to get as many people out and make it enjoyable for them so they stay out.”
He served as board president for the Killinger Football Foundation and cofounded W & W Option Football Camps LLC in 2001. “It wasn’t about the wins and losses for him,” said his wife, Pam. “It was all about the kids, and he was that way in all aspects of his life.”
Mr. Walsh and his wife, Pam, had many adventures together and spent countless afternoons at football games.
Joseph Richard Walsh was born Feb. 5, 1950, in Philadelphia. He lettered in football, wrestling, and track in high school, and graduated from Wilson in 1968.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education at West Chester in 1972 and played center on its two-time championship football team.
He married Sharon Clark, and they had a son, Joe, and a daughter, Kelly. After a divorce, he married Pam Connor in 1978, and they had a daughter, Jen, and lived in Downingtown and then West Whiteland Township since 1985.
Mr. Walsh enjoyed all kinds of fishing and golf. In 2023, he and his wife visited half a dozen college football stadiums on a wild cross-country road trip to Yellowstone National Park.
Mr. Walsh enjoyed time with his children.
They entertained often at home, and his gourmet soups were usually the hit of the party. He doted on his children and grandchildren, and never lost his sense of humor, they said.
He was the best neighbor ever, friends said. He cleared miles of sidewalks and driveways with his snowblower every winter, hosted late-into-the-night firepit parties every summer, and could fix practically anything.
“He was gentle but strong,” his wife said. “He was kind and considerate, and he never badmouthed anybody. He truly was a great man.”
In addition to his wife, children, brother, and former wife, Mr. Walsh is survived by seven grandchildren, one great-granddaughter, sisters Eileen and Ruth, and other relatives.
Mr. Walsh rarely let the big ones get away.
Visitation with the family is to be from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 5, and from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Friday, Feb. 6, at DellaVecchia, Reilly, Smith & Boyd Funeral Home, 410 N. Church St., West Chester, Pa. 19380. A celebration of his life is to follow Friday at 10:30.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — For most of the night, it seemed as if the Flyers were still on a road outside Columbus. Despite facing a Metropolitan Division foe in the Blue Jackets, and with their playoff dreams fading away, it was too much of that Midwest way of ease.
They finally turned it up for the third period and were knocking on the door of a comeback, thanks to Travis Konecny and Dan Vladař, but then fell back into the habits that sank them earlier in the game. Within five minutes it went from a tie game to a 5-3 loss.
Just a few weeks ago, the Flyers were sitting inside the playoff picture. Now they’ve lost nine of 11.
“We just shot ourselves in the foot a few times, and they capitalized on them,” defenseman Travis Sanheim said. “And just weren’t executing the way that we need to at this level. And it cost us.”
The gas tank seemed to be low for much of the team for much of the time — except for Konecny and Vladař.
“We all know he’s our big dog, as everybody says,” Vladař said about Konecny. “We were happy that he’s going, but at the same time, it’s a team game. We just can’t rely on only two players. We cannot expect from him scoring [a] hat trick every single game.”
A painful hat trick
Konecny notched his third career hat trick as he gutted and grimaced out a performance that could have and should have gone down in Flyers lore.
His first goal tied the score at 1, settling things down momentarily after his line was on the ice for the first Columbus goal 38 seconds into the game — thanks to a turnover by Trevor Zegras. But then, at the end of the second, Konecny blocked a Damon Severson slap shot off his ankle or foot and appeared to be in so much pain that the guy who normally sticks around after the buzzer was already deep down the tunnel when it sounded.
Travis Konecny (right) leads the Flyers in goals with 20 and points with 48.
He wasn’t out there for the start of the third — missing the opening shift with his linemates, Zegras and Christian Dvorak — but he was on the bench just as the puck dropped and was back on the ice for their next rotation. The next shift after, Konecny made it 3-2, and with 4 minutes, 46 seconds remaining, he received a nifty pass from his buddy Travis Sanheim to tie it at 3.
But in the process, the Flyers may have lost Konecny for some time.
“He’s hitting the holes, and … he races inside on them and beats people, and then obviously he’s got a good shot,” coach Rick Tocchet said.
“And he took one off the foot. He’s limping around. He might not play [Thursday against the Boston Bruins]. We don’t know. He [had] a lot of guts tonight.”
Konecny is the Flyers’ leader in goals (20) and points (48), and losing him would be a big hole to fill as they try to climb back in the race. They are six points out of third place in the Metro and eight points back of a wild-card slot.
Vladař’s strong return
Although Sam Ersson battled and performed up to the task across the gauntlet through Las Vegas, Utah, and Colorado, the return of Vladař after a six-game absence was expected to be a durable shovel added to the dig-out.
Although he missed two weeks and said he didn’t “think my legs and my reads were there at the beginning,” the No. 1 goalie was up to the task. But the defense faltered in front of him again, committing turnovers and leaving Blue Jackets wide-open on the weak side.
“We’ve talked from training camp [about] the weakside goals, and lately, since Tampa, we’re just giving up too many weakside goals,” Tocchet said, referencing two straight losses to the Lightning in mid-January.
“You cannot let that weakside goal go in. Obviously, there’s a couple of guys [who] made mistakes on it. Let Vladdy have the strong side shot; he stops that all day long. But that one’s impossible for him to stop.
“I shouldn’t say impossible, because he made some great saves.”
Indeed, he did.
Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar in action against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Jan 12. He made 26 saves Wednesday.
There’s always talk about goalies needing to make one more save in a game. Vladař did that and more. He saw the puck well, especially through traffic, and made 26 saves on 30 shots, stopping three out of five high-danger shots.
Two of those saves were highlight-reel, saves-of-the-year stops on Adam Fantilli when it was 3-1 and Boone Jenner when it was 3-2, with his glove as they waited on the weak side all alone at the right post. Sean Monahan, who scored the game-winner two shifts after Konecny notched his third goal, mentioned postgame he was happy his shot was on the stick side.
“[Sanheim] can’t be tied up with his guy, he’s got to stay loose. He’s got to stay loose because there’s a breakdown,” Tocchet said about the game-winner. “Noah [Cates] should have took back ice, but Sanny just was, he stood with his guy. He should just leave him loose, and then he takes the weak side. So, it’s a couple of things, multiple things. You want to give your goalie a chance to make the save when there’s a breakdown.”
It did seem as if the Blue Jackets were crashing the net and making a goalie returning from injury move side-to-side a lot.
“I don’t think it was intentional because of Vlad,” Sanheim said.
“I think it was some of the mistakes that we were making and coverages and allowing them to make those plays. It puts a lot of stress on your goaltender and can’t blame him, he made a heck of a save on a couple of occasions and really kept us in that game.”
There were turnovers galore, missed assignments, missed reads, and the official stat says nine giveaways. It’s been the norm lately for the Flyers as their once-promising season is charging downhill.
The question is, how many times can the Flyers break till they shatter?
The 76ers have made at least one move at five consecutive NBA trade deadlines since Daryl Morey took over as president of basketball operations in 2020.
Many of those moves slashed salaries, enabling the Sixers to avoid paying the luxury tax. However, the new acquisitions didn’t make the team’s playoff chances any better.
The Sixers are expected to continue their trend of making moves ahead of this season’s 3 p.m. deadline on Feb. 5. Here are five reasons the Sixers should be cautious at the deadline:
The Sixers could avoid the luxury tax by trading Kelly Oubre Jr. ahead of the Feb.5 NBA trade deadline. However, he’s their best perimeter defender.
A bad look for the franchise
The Sixers are $7 million above the allowable threshold to avoid being taxed. They’re also around $1 million away from being a first-apron team and facing penalties.
Quentin Grimes ($8.7 million), Kelly Oubre Jr. ($8.3 million), and Andre Drummond ($5 million) have expiring contracts that could help avoid paying the threshold tax.
But trading a key contributor for the sake of avoiding being taxed would be a bad look for the franchise. It would give the impression that saving money for Sixers managing partner Josh Harris is more important than contending for a title. The team would come off looking cheap, especially considering that the Joel Embiid championship window is closing quickly.
Aside from Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe (77), the Sixers don’t have the assets to bring in the type of player who could drastically improve the team.
Not enough assets
The Sixers don’t have much to give up to upgrade talent via a trade. Aside from Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe, the Sixers don’t have the assets to acquire the type of player who could drastically improve the team. And they’re not trading either of those guys. Nor should they forfeit their future by surrendering future draft picks to help facilitate a trade. The Sixers will need those picks to acquire young talent and continue building around Maxey and Edgecombe after Embiid and Paul George leave.
Joel Embiid (21) and Paul George (8) are once again healthy. As a result, the Sixers can beat anyone in the Eastern Conference when the team plays well.
A dangerous team
The Sixers are dangerous as currently constructed. When they play well, they can beat anyone in the East. They’ve won two of their three meetings against the conference’s second-place New York Knicks. The Sixers have done the same against the third-place Boston Celtics, and split the four-game series against the fourth-place Toronto Raptors. They’re 0-2 against the first-place Detroit Pistons. However, the Sixers were without Embiid and George in both games. And they still had opportunities to win before blowing fourth-quarter leads both times. So if they remain healthy, the Sixers are a team no one wants to face in the postseason.
Forward Trendon Watford is one of many role players who have learned to mesh well with the Sixers’ Big Three of Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and Paul George.
Losing chemistry
If you bring in someone new, he’ll have to learn to play with Embiid. The current players spent half the season learning how to play with Embiid, Maxey, and George. And based on the Sixers’ early struggles with their Big Three intact, there’s clearly a learning curve to playing alongside Embiid, Maxey, and George.
Players like Oubre, Grimes, Drummond, Dominick Barlow, Jabari Walker, Adem Bona, Jared McCain, and Trendon Watford have established roles. Tinkering with that could negatively impact the team, especially if the Sixers are not acquiring a major upgrade in talent.
League sources say the Sixers are open to trading Andre Drummond.
Insurance for Embiid
With Drummond and Bona backing up Embiid, who is back to playing at a high level, the center position is set. However, league sources say the Sixers are open to trading Drummond, even though he and Bona have been equally valuable assets, playing behind and often in place of Embiid, who misses games because of knee injury management.
Bona plays against the teams that have fast and athletic centers, while Drummond usually plays against towering centers who flourish in the post.
The 6-foot-11 Drummond averages a team-leading 8.9 rebounds while playing just 20 minutes per game. Drummond is second in the NBA in rebounds per 36 minutes at 16.0, trailing the Knicks’ Mitchell Robinson (16.9). And he has started 17 of the games Embiid has missed, averaging 8.6 points, 10.9 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in those contests.
In 2024, Whit Merrifield was the newcomer to a Phillies’ roster that was virtually unchanged from the previous season. Now, the retired former infielder joined Phillies Extra to discuss the team’s decision to keep the core of the roster intact, as well as his close friend Brad Keller’s path to the Phillies’ bullpen and why Rob Thomson was his favorite manager. Watch here.
After Penn’s disappointing 6-4 finish in football, which resulted in the departure of longtime coach Ray Priore, the program saw several upperclassmen enter the transfer portal as they ran out of Ivy League eligibility.
Some of those players moved on to bigger programs. As of now, seven former Quakers are committed to other schools.
Headlining those transfers is a trio on offense: quarterback Liam O’Brien and wide receivers Jared Richardson and Bisi Owens.
O’Brien is heading to Cincinnati, Richardson looks to make an impact at Duke, and Owens will join Purdue.
“Having an opportunity at Penn to showcase what I could do and that translating into an opportunity like this,” O’Brien said, “I mean, the way college football is nowadays — it’s pretty much like the minor leagues to the pros. It’s almost like a childhood dream.”
The trio grew close in the summer after their freshman season at Penn but had to wait much longer before taking the field together.
Richardson and Owens excelled during their sophomore year, while O’Brien battled injuries and served as a backup to Aidan Sayin. O’Brien didn’t get his opportunity on the field until his junior year, when Sayin suffered a season-ending elbow injury against Yale in 2024.
“Penn is not a football-first school,” O’Brien said. “But you can make it one. The one thing Penn does is it provides you [with] opportunities to succeed in whatever you do, and both on and off the field. All of us have really taken advantage of that for good.”
In 2024, Liam O’Brien broke Penn’s record for passing touchdowns and total touchdowns in a game.
In his second start, O’Brien broke Penn’s record for passing touchdowns (six) and total touchdowns in a game (seven).
After a full offseason, O’Brien, Richardson, and Owens powered the Quakers offense in 2025, finishing third in the Ivy League in passing yards per game and second in offensive efficiency.
Richardson and Owens combined for the most yards (1,729) and touchdowns (17) among Ivy League wide receiver duos. Richardson ranked 13th in receiving yards (1,033), first in receptions per game (eight), and fourth in total receiving touchdowns (12) across all of the Football Championship Subdivision.
“We came in together,” Richardson said. “We worked our tails off. All of us being successful, it’s nothing short of special. It’s a blessing for each and all of us.”
New opportunity
O’Brien is already on Cincinnati’s campus, preparing for spring ball. He’ll be competing for the starting job as the Bearcats also brought in quarterback JC Frenchfrom Georgia Southern.
“The quarterback room is seeing a big change-up,” O’Brien said. “They lost their starter last year, lost their backup from last year. So they brought me in and brought in the quarterback from Georgia Southern. Right now, it’s an open job, and may the best man win.”
For Richardson, a quick exploration of Duke’s campus made him eager to cancel his other planned visits. He hopes to carve out a role for himself on a star-studded team that won an ACC championship this past season.
He also still has dreams of playing in the NFL.
Next season, Jared Richardson will play for Duke, which won the ACC Championship in 2025.
“It’s not going to be easy,” Richardson said. “I’m embracing that. I don’t want it to be easy. I want to leave a legacy. That’s my goal behind playing football. I want to provide my family with a life that they never got to have. So that’s what drives me. I’m not afraid of working hard, sweating a little bit. I just embrace the grind.”
For Owens, the chance to lead a young Purdue receiving corps was too good an opportunity to pass up. Plus, he wanted to make the leap to the Big 10.
“Getting to play in front of at least 60,000 people every week,” Owens said, “it’s a lot different than playing at Franklin Field, which gets 7,000 on a good day. It’s been a complete whirlwind the past couple of weeks, but all trending in the right direction, and definitely more excited than worried or nervous, because this is another challenge for me to take on.”
Goodbye, Penn
The three will be leaving Penn with Ivy League degrees, but according to them, the most valuable part of their experience in West Philadelphia was the relationships they formed.
“These Penn brothers are ones I will have for a lifetime,” Owens said. “I’m never going to forget that. So at the end of the day, Penn will always be my home.”
O’Brien and Richardson echoed that statement and emphasized how special their bond is.
“Building a relationship with these guys, it was awesome these past four years,” Richardson said. “It was a pleasure playing with Bisi and Liam, and these guys are my best friends. So I can’t wait to see what they do. I’ll be in their corner rooting for them.”
“It’s going to be fun to keep in touch with everyone after and throughout this year,” O’Brien added. “After this year, and after the fall season, and just compare experiences. See what it was like. See who does what at the next level. Because I think some of the guys are going to do big things.”
It’s finally happening, Eagles fans. It took eight years, but ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary series is set to relive one of the most memorable moments in Eagles history: the Philly Special.
ESPN released the official trailer for the documentary, which is appropriately set to Boyz II Men’s “Motownphilly.” The film, titled The Philly Special, was produced by NFL Films and directed by Angela Zender and Shannon Furman. It will debut on Feb. 6 at 9 p.m. on ESPN and the ESPN app.
“Everybody loves the Rocky movies, but they were fiction,” Zender said in a release. “The amazing thing about The Philly Special is that it’s a real-life Rocky story. A group of five underdogs went up against the greatest dynasty in NFL history and pulled off an upset worthy of Hollywood. That underdog mentality is something that will resonate with people all over the country.”
The film features several familiar faces to Philly fans, including former head coach Doug Pederson and the four Eagles players who touched the ball on that play in Super Bowl LII: Jason Kelce, Corey Clement, Trey Burton, and Nick Foles.
But there are many others: owner Jeffrey Lurie, former safety Malcolm Jenkins, former coach Chip Kelly, and former offensive coordinator Frank Reich. Several local and national media members also appear, including Angelo Cataldi, Ray Didinger, Sal Paolantonio, and Kyle Brandt.
With all that Philly flavor, it’s no surprise one of the directors is a Birds supporter.
“I grew up an Eagles fan, so The Philly Special has been a dream project,” Furman said in a release. “It was surreal to stand in front of the statue of Doug Pederson and Nick Foles at the Linc with the five men who made one of the most iconic plays in NFL history happen. There’s no doubt fans will enjoy reliving the Eagles’ first Super Bowl as much as I did.”
While it’s been the better part of a decade since the play helped lead the 2017 Eagles past Tom Brady and the New England Patriots dynasty — capping an improbable run for Foles, who took over as the starter less than two months earlier — it’s not hard to find reminders around the Philadelphia area, from the statue outside Lincoln Financial Field to a multistory mural to the name of a holiday band featuring Kelce and a pair of current Eagles players.
“It’s been everywhere and on everything, transcending football to become part of Philadelphia’s cultural identity,” ESPN said in its release describing the film. “It’s not just a play; it’s a rallying cry for a city used to being overlooked. While Philadelphia might be the birthplace of America, the sixth-most populous city in the country lives and dies with an underdog mentality — one epitomized by the Founding Fathers, Rocky Balboa … and the Philly Special.”
Two days before Super Bowl LX, there will likely be a few more reminders, as fans across the area tune in to relive the play — and learn the story behind it — one more time.
Philadelphia is ready to get its first taste of professional women’s basketball with Unrivaled hosting a doubleheader Friday at Xfinity Mobile Arena. In front of a sold-out crowd, the three-on-three tournament is set to have plenty of spectators for its first event outside the Miami area — making this the perfect time for Jordan Brand to debut its Heir Series 2 sneaker.
On Thursday, Jordan Brand unveiled the women’s basketball shoe with Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier as the face. The sneaker will make its on-court debut during Friday’s Unrivaled doubleheader in Philly with Jordan Brand athletes Dana Evans and Dominique Malonga.
The low silhouette is similar to the Heir Series 1, which is the lowest shoe in Jordan Brand’s basketball lineup. The sneaker was first introduced in 2024 and put emphasis on the running and cutting that’s central to women’s basketball.
Five-time WNBA All-Star Napheesa Collier wearing Jordan Brand’s Heir Series 2 sneaker.
While the Heir Series 2 continues to share the same focus as its predecessor, it adds key improvements to enable more quickness in every step.
“With my footwork being an important part of my game, the Heir Series 2 is a performance shoe that provides the flexibility and stability for me to be a force on both ends of the floor,” said five-time WNBA All-Star Collier in a press release. “Everyone who follows my game knows I was a fan of the Heir Series, but the innovation in the Heir Series 2 has exceeded my expectations.”
Some of its new features include a forefoot Air Zoom unit to provide standout responsiveness for speed, a thicker drop-in Cushlon 3.0 midsole that is wrapped in an additional layer of foam cushioning above the outsole for more comfort, a translucent TPU cage, and a rubber herringbone traction pattern for greater quickness and control.
The sneaker also includes a removable hair tie attached to the heel and features a series of bold colorways — including a pink, yellow, and green colorway, a white, black, and red colorway, and a gray and black colorway that includes speckled pink paint along the midsole.
The Jordan Heir Series 2 comes in three different colorways.
“Women’s basketball has a very important place in the sports landscape, and Jordan Brand is committed to helping the next generation of hoopers reach their greatness. We titled this series of footwear ‘Heir’ knowing that these amazing athletes are next up — here to claim the basketball throne as their own,” said Leo Chang, the senior creative director of Jordan Brand basketball and sport, in a press release.
“The Heir Series 2 is the next iteration of the basketball sneaker designed for her, by her. The new forefoot Air Zoom unit enables even more support and responsiveness, tailored to the beautiful playing style of the women’s game.”
The sneaker will be available globally on Feb. 20 at jordan.com and select retail locations.
FRISCO, Texas — Four days after a heartbreaking College Football Playoff national championship game loss, Levittown native David Blay was back in football pads.
Last week, Blay, whose five-year career spanned three schools and two levels of college football, practiced against some of the other draft-eligible prospects at the East-West Shrine Bowl.
His college career began locally at Division II West Chester, where he spent two years, then spanned two years at Louisiana Tech before he finished this past season with national runner-up Miami. Blay, a defensive lineman, played 22 snaps against Indiana in the College Football Playoff title game and finished with one tackle in the 27-21 loss.
Blay, a graduate of Harry S. Truman High School, gained a unique perspective in all three stops along the way, which included two years (his first at West Chester and first at Louisiana Tech) when he didn’t see the field much.
“For West Chester, time management, the process of doing things at certain times [at] the correct time, and doing the correct things,” Blay said about what he learned.
“And then for [Louisiana] Tech, they taught me the brotherhood aspect, because when I transferred into Louisiana Tech, about six or seven defensive linemen alone transferred in there at the same time. So it was like everybody had the same vision, the same goal. So it was easy to play against somebody I can call my brother.
“[With Miami], having camaraderie with the team wasn’t that hard. They’re outgoing guys, so bringing me in wasn’t that hard. Me, I’m more of — I guess you could say a quiet guy.”
Miami and David Blay (11, at rear left) got past Jeremiah Smith (4) and Ohio State in the CFP quarterfinals on their way to an appearance in the title game.
At Miami, snaps weren’t easy to come by for Blay, with potential first-round NFL draft picks Rueben Bain and Akheem Mesidor manning the edge rusher positions and Ahmad Moten and Justin Scott starting in the interior.
Blay was on the field with Miami’s defense on 412 plays, according to Pro Football Focus. He played 443 defensive snaps in one fewer game in 2024 for Louisiana Tech.
But Blay, who amassed 95 tackles (23½ for losses) and 11½ sacks in four seasons at Louisiana Tech and West Chester, carved out a consistent rotational role on Miami’s D-line during a playoff run that Blay “will remember for the rest of my life.”
The 6-foot-2 and 302-pound lineman credits his discipline for refining his skills, which helped get him on the field at the Power Four level.
“In terms of getting on the field and playing, I just really had to be real technically sound,” said Blay, who had 28 tackles (2½ for losses) in 13 games with Miami. “Like I feel as if going to Miami, the big thing there was [to be] technical, technical, technical. That’s the difference between the levels in my head.”
Blay was joined by Indiana safety Louis Moore and Miami linebacker Wesley Bissainthe as players who appeared in the national championship game and also practiced at least one day at the Shrine Bowl. Indiana tight end Riley Nowakowski also traveled to Frisco to interview with NFL teams but did not practice.
Throughout his practice sessions at the Shrine Bowl, which wrapped up with the game on Tuesday night — the West won, 21-17, on a touchdown with 6 seconds left — Blay showed his strength capable of pushing the pocket as a pass rusher and standing his ground as a run defender against double-team blocks.
“I give those guys a lot of credit,” Shrine Bowl director Eric Galko said. “And Wesley [Bissainthe] and David [Blay] are coming in like everyone else, they’re banged up, but they just played 16 games, right? Not 12, like other guys have.
“And David’s done great, in the practice he had and in the interviews he has had, too. … I think David showed a lot of character — especially with the way the season ended, not on a victory, but on a loss — and he still said, ‘You know what? Now I’m on [to] the NFL.’ And to be focused here, I give the guy a lot of credit.”
Added Blay: “Just the aspect that we’re getting better every day [motivates me]. You’re never at your best; in a sense you can always get better. And I also say to my mom, I’m trying to get her to understand the aspects of the game and how it could change your life.”
Blay played his high school and the beginning of his college career about 30 miles from Lincoln Financial Field. An opportunity to play for his hometown Eagles would be “a dream scenario.”
“Being around the crib, I could go work out, go practice, go do my job, and then essentially come home to the people I’ve seen my whole entire life,” Blay said.
Bradley Carnell can be pretty reserved in public. It’s not that he doesn’t like being on camera, but you aren’t always going to get too much from him in a news conference.
At the United Soccer Coaches convention a few weeks ago, the Union’s manager got a different opportunity. It was his first time at the longstanding event, and he spent an hour on stage talking about his coaching methods.
Carnell’s journey has taken him a lot of places. The Johannesburg, South Africa, native turned pro at age 16 in his home country, then at 21 moved to the first of four clubs he played for in Germany. He played 40 times for the Bafana Bafana, including at the World Cup in 2002.
After hanging up his cleats in 2011, Carnell started his coaching career at the University of Johannesburg. From there, he had two assistant jobs with South African pro clubs, then moved to the U.S. in 2017 to join the New York Red Bulls’ staff. He’s been in this country ever since, and the Union are his third coaching stop in MLS.
Bradley Carnell (left) playing for South Africa against Paraguay in the 2002 World Cup.
What has stayed constant over the years? One thing is how he sees the sport.
“Überzeugungstäter,” he said, a word learned while living in Germany. “A perpetrator. I’m a criminal of the game model that I’m presenting today.”
This produced some amused looks, and not just because of the multiple languages involved. Carnell was not surprised.
“I believe in it so much, and this is who I am,” he said. “Not because I’ve learned the game that way. It’s just because I live my life in a certain way.”
Bradley Carnell giving instructions to his players during a game last year.
You can get that sense at an average Union practice, where Carnell, 49, often is right in the middle of the fray.
“When setting up a game model, one, it’s based on previous experiences of your playing days: caching influences, but also DNA, how I live my life every single day,” he said. “Fast, energetic, proactive, on the front foot — these are all terms that are coming to life now because it’s just who I am. If I’m playing Monopoly with my family, I’m trying to win the game in the quickest way possible.”
The manager who had the most influence on Carnell was Ralf Rangnick, who coached the young left back at German club VfB Stuttgart from 1999 to 2001. Ragnick is known as one of the founding fathers of “gegenpressing,” the high-octane tactics that spread all over Germany and eventually worldwide.
Those ideas have stayed in Carnell’s mind for a quarter of a century.
Bradley Carnell (left) during his playing days with German club VfB Stuttgart in 2002.
Inside the playbook
Carnell put up a slide that laid out four principles: “Hunting” to gain possession high up the field; “swarming” to regain the ball after losing it; “striking” to try to get to the opponent’s goal within 10 seconds; and “waves” of attacking moves.
He talked a lot over the course of his session about the defensive side of things, especially “rest defense”: how the centerbacks position themselves when their teammates have the ball up the field.
He also took an interesting question from the audience about man-to-man vs. zone defending.
“I don’t mind going one-for-one at the back,” Carnell said. “It’s not man-marking. So if they cross over the center back axis, I’m not going to say to you, ‘Go with him and track him all over the field.’”
If this brought the term “matchup zone” to anyone’s mind, it hasn’t been used much in soccer. But if it ever was going to be, the city that produced John Chaney would be an appropriate place to start.
The Union won the Supporters’ Shield and reached the second round of the playoffs in Bradley Carnell’s first year at the helm.
But the most interesting stuff, as it is for Union fans, was what he said about attacking.
Quality on the ball is valued over time on the ball, a point Union fans have certainly learned by now. And Carnell laid out his “baseline” for how he wants his team to score: 60% in transition, 30% on set pieces, and 10% in possession.
“We can go quick — I say [with] quality on the ball, you can always get quicker,” Carnell said. “But if you try to go too quick, then there’s going to be turnovers. So, progressive quality over speed. We can always learn to get quicker in this transitional phase of the game.”
Last year, the Union scored around 50% of their goals in transition, 30% from set pieces, and 20% in possession. That wasn’t quite what Carnell had aimed for. How did he react?
“We don’t see it as a failure,” he said. “We just see it as an adaptation. To every team you inherit, or every team you go to in terms of me joining here a year ago at the Philadelphia Union, we see certain trends, character traits in players, in how we can get this effectiveness.”
Bruno Damiani with the finish and @PhilaUnion takes the lead in a rainy D.C. ⚡️
The Union ranked well in some stats he likes. They were second leaguewide in shots taken within 10 seconds of gaining possession, at 2.84 per 90 minutes. They were also second in percentage of first passes of a possession that went forward in transition, at 45.5%. And they had the fewest passes per shot sequence, at 2.3 per 90 minutes.
“Reactions quicker than the opponent can get themselves organized against,” Carnell said.
He put up some tactical graphics on his slides to illustrate the plays he wants. He also showed some videos of notable plays that the Union made last year, and they really made the point.
Carnell said “one of my favorite moments of last year” was a goal the Union scored on May 30 at Montreal: a counterattacking dash that covered almost the entire field in 12 seconds in just the second minute of the game.
What a strike! Indiana Vassilev gives @PhilaUnion the early lead on the road!
Another goal Carnell liked came on April 19 at home against Atlanta. The visitors had the ball, but only briefly: Kai Wagner and Jovan Lukić teamed up to jam Brooks Lennon just short of the midfield line.
Danley Jean Jacques was nearby, and started dashing upfield. Three passes in eight seconds later, he had his first goal in a Union jersey.
“In our game model we’re saying, ‘Go put out the fire,’” Carnell said. “’Go win the ball as high as you can. Be brave. Be brave and hunt in numbers.”
