The former Aston Villa and Whitecaps player joined Mic’d Up to discuss the UCL format, the Prem title race and educating U.S. fans
Nigel Reo-Coker has a unique perspective. Born in London, pushed through the academy systems of English football, before eventually settling in three different long-term stints with Premier League teams, the center midfielder put in the hard yards in one of the game’s more traditional formats. Then, things changed. He moved to MLS and played in America for three years. And now, he’s back, a pundit, analyst and talking head for CBS Sports Golazo Network. Very few of his English peers returned to embed themselves in the U.S. broadcast landscape. Reo-Coker has no regrets, though. Educating new American soccer fans, he feels, is important.
“I think now Americans are really starting to understand it and starting to get deep. It’s only going to be because of different players’ experiences, and how they communicate. My biggest thing I always say to my American fans is: watch the game. When you really watch the game, then you truly understand it,” Reo Coker tells GOAL.
His journey has been an interesting one. For starters, Reo-Coker is a rare English analyst on American television who never represented his country or played consistent European football. His experience in MLS, too, was in the early 2010s, when the league was still in an awkward spot between a niche micro-culture and global relevance. But in many ways, that makes him singular in his analytical efforts. He has been in MLS and seen it from the outside. He played in the Premier League and watched it from afar. There are some constants here, though. Reo-Coker will remain an Aston Villa loyalist – although he believes the Birmingham club should have a bigger footprint in America. He will also always root for old-fashioned football; it’s why he loves Nottingham Forest this year.
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“We always say as ex-players, there’s more than one way to win a football match. You know, what might be palatable to me might not be to you. But at the end of the day, we grew up in a generation and culture about winning, and that will never change in football. So there’s many ways to stimulate conversations from many different points of view,” he says.
And all of that knowledge is being applied on American TV every week. Reo-Coker is a CBS Sports analyst and co-host of The Golazo Show on Paramount+, where he covers football worldwide, ranging from the Champions League to the Premier League. It’s a broad remit, but one he has embraced.
Reo-Coker weighed in on the state of American soccer, the Premier League, and why jeopardy is good for the Champions League in the latest edition of Mic’d Up, a recurring feature in which GOAL US taps into the perspective of broadcasters, analysts, and other pundits on the state of soccer in the U.S. and abroad.
NOTE: This interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
ATLANTA (Jan. 28, 2025) – The U.S. Soccer Federation and The Home Depot today announced an expansive partnership, making the world’s largest home improvement retailer a strategic partner of the 27 U.S. Soccer National Teams, including the U.S. Men’s and Women’s senior National Teams, as well as the Federation’s Youth and Extended National Teams. The retailer will also be a Supporting Level partner of the Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer National Training Center – U.S. Soccer’s new home in Atlanta, named for the company’s co-founder.
“The Home Depot’s deep roots in the Atlanta community and strong ties to sports, and soccer in general, make it a perfect strategic partner for our Federation,” said U.S. Soccer Chief Commercial Officer David Wright. “Its support is crucial toward building our National Training Center and helping us unite communities across the country through the beautiful game, and we look forward to what we can achieve together in service to soccer.”
“The Home Depot is thrilled to deepen our commitment to soccer through this partnership with The U.S. Soccer Federation,” said Molly Battin, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at The Home Depot. “Our customers are passionate about sports, including soccer, and we’re proud to support the game they love. This partnership allows us to help build the foundation for the future of soccer in the U.S.”
The partnership was officially announced at an in-person event at the construction site of U.S. Soccer’s new state-of-the-art National Training Center, where Wright and Battin, along with The Home Depot field associates, celebrated a marquee coming together of two iconic brands based in the Atlanta area. During the event, U.S. Soccer’s Chief Financial Officer Chelle Adams provided updates on the facility’s construction.
Through this partnership, U.S. Soccer and The Home Depot will bring communities together by shining a spotlight on local Hometown Heroes who are creating a positive impact in their communities, engaging them as Gameday Ambassadors for unique matchday experiences at U.S. Soccer matches.
The partnership complements The Home Depot’s recent deal with FIFA, which made it the official home improvement retailer in North America for the 2026 FIFA World Cup which will take place across Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Atlanta will also host eight matches throughout the tournament, including a semifinal.
ABOUT THE HOME DEPOT
The Home Depot is the world’s largest home improvement specialty retailer. At the end of the third quarter, the company operated a total of 2,345 retail stores and over 760 branches across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. The Company employs over 465,000 associates. The Home Depot’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: HD) and is included in the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor’s 500 index.
ABOUT U.S. SOCCER
Founded in 1913, U.S. Soccer has been the official governing body of the sport in the United States for more than 100 years. As U.S. Soccer looks toward the future amid an unprecedented moment of opportunity, it has aligned its efforts around five strategic pillars: Grow the game by increasing youth and adult participation and accessibility to the sport; Foster best playing environments through quality of referees and coaches, and commitment to participant safety; Develop winning teams through solidified pathways and success of professional leagues; Grow the soccer economy to fuel reinvestment by increasing membership, fandom and commercial success; and Create a world-class organization through revitalized structure and culture, best-in-class talent, progress in DEIB, and more. For more information, visit ussoccer.com/ourvision.
Following their loss to Orlando Pirates, Richards Bay FC coach Ronnie Gabriel has made a bold claim about the so-called big teams.
The Natal Rich Boyz suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of the Buccaneers in the Nedbank Cup Last 32 on Sunday afternoon.
This was their third loss to the Sea Robbers this season, after two 1-0 defeats in the Betway Premiership matches.
When asked about the gap between his team and top sides like Orlando Pirates, Gabriel acknowledged that Jose Riveiro’s troops are are on another level.
However, he asserted that Richards Bay’s impressive second-half showing against Pirates demonstrated their ability to “compete against the big guns.”
He expressed confidence that they will elevate their game even more in the second round.
RICHARDS BAY COACH – ‘WE ARE CAPABLE OF DOING IT’
“Pirates is a team of high quality,” said Gabriel. “They are a top team, we can’t take that away from them. The levels are high.
Richards Bay FC Langelihle Mhlongo challenged by Orlando Piratss stars – Picture courtesy of Richards Bay FC
“They’re having a good season, they’ve been doing well in Africa. They’ve been doing well in the local league.
“So, they are one of the best performers in the African continent at this present moment. But looking at our second half display, it gives us encouragement that we can compete against the big guns.
“We do have the ability and we are capable of doing it. It’s just a matter of us being more consistent, starting the game with more confidence, taking more risk, and the results will come our way.”
Looking to come back stronger in the second round, Richards Bay have added striker Mxolisi Macuphu to their squad. Gabriel expressed their excitement to get him on the field.
“We didn’t discuss that about more reinforcements. But we’re doing well at training,” he added.
“He [Macuphu] had a few good training sessions. We want to get him into a respectable level of fitness so we can throw him out to the pitch and maybe he can do a job for us.”
RELATED STORY: Ronnie Gabriel ahead of Pirates clash: ‘We’re not intimidated’
Fiacre Ntwari of Kaizer Chiefs during the Betway Premiership 2024/25 media day for Kaizer Chiefs at Chiefs Village in Johannesburg on 25 November 2024
Alche Greeff, Backpages
There seems to be hope for a Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper despite having appeared to be down in the pecking order, the Siya crew has learnt.
In recent matches, Chiefs goalkeeper Fiacre Ntwari has been out of coach Nasreddine Nabi’s starting line-ups as Chiefs have been trying different combinations.
Read – Khanye On Soweto Derby: Who Has The Upper Hand?
Following a good start with Amakhosi as he was starting matches earlier in the season after he joined the club from TS Galaxy, Ntwari suffered an injury while on national team duty with Rwanda in November.
While indications had been that the 25-year-old was the number one choice for Nabi earlier in the campaign, he has struggled to reclaim his place since recovering from injury.
Bruce Bvuma has been playing ahead of him and his performances have been impressive.
However, sources close to the Soweto giants have given hope about Ntwari’s situation that all is not lost in his push for a place in the team.
“He (Ntwari) is working hard to win his place back in the starting line-up. The most important thing about him is that he is a positive guy who is willing to always learn. With that attitude, he will go far, and people shouldn’t rule him out yet, and he’s got the support of everyone at the club,” said the source.
Meanwhile, Bvuma is likely to retain his place as Chiefs’ number one for Saturday’s big clash against Orlando Pirates based on current form.
Read – Insider: When Saleng Could Return At Pirates
In the previous match on Sunday against third tier outfit Free Agents FC in the Nedbank Cup, Bvuma kept another clean sheet and provided an assist for the first goal scored by Pule Mmodi in the 4-0 victory.
The 29-year-old has now kept three clean sheets in seven matches across all competitions.
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“It’s just a JPEG,” London-based Lou Bever shared with me recently about his photographic philosophy. This sentiment is indicative of the blunt and humble Bever, who mainly shoots portraits of friends and friends of friends at his flat. “It’s incredibly DIY,” he said. That might be so, but there’s nothing that comes across as rag-tag or ill-considered about Bever’s work. Quite the opposite, in fact! Bever’s football (soccer) kit collection serves as the aesthetic center point of his vision, in which he takes existing paintings and other artworks from throughout history and reimagines them with people wearing his jerseys.
Retro sports design and anything inspired by a robust soccer kit collection are going to catch my eye, so I reached out to learn more. Bever’s responses to my questions are below (lightly edited for length and clarity).
I was initially drawn to your work because I am an avid football fan and player with an affinity for retro soccer aesthetics. What’s your own personal relationship with football? Why are you compelled to blend football aesthetics into your portraiture work?
I grew up playing and watching football. My dad is in the army, and we moved around a lot. Football was a way to make friends, even if I couldn’t speak the language. You don’t need to share fluency in a language to play a game of football.
My dad is a huge football fan, and my mum is massively into her art. Over time, I have seen aspects of football and art in my pictures. Their influence has become more and more evident in portraits. I didn’t realize it until friends and family pointed it out in pictures I took years ago.
When you hit your 20s, nostalgia usually becomes a big influence on your work; it’s lovely to incorporate what made you happy as a child into your work. Football and art are happy reminders from my childhood; it could be a specific football shirt or painting, and it always makes me smile.
If you choose to shoot things that you are genuinely interested in, you’ll naturally spend all your time doing so. My work hasn’t felt like work; I’ve just been showing off my football shirt collection! I’ve been taking one to three people’s portraits for years. It’s a way to relax.
Where did your initial idea to recreate classic contemporary artworks as football-inspired portraits come from? How did you develop that concept?
I’ve always loved taking portraits, but wasn’t completely satisfied with them. Selfishly, I decided to show off my football shirt collection within my portraits. I then never knew how to compose people properly, so I thought that making subjects mirror compositions would be fun. From there, it all became a game where I would try and match shirts, subjects, and paintings. Sometimes, I hit the jackpot, and an artist has painted a singular subject numerous times, and that subject matches the person I’m shooting. That makes my life much easier.
I couldn’t think of anything worse than taking pictures of things that I’m not interested in.
But again, my dad likes football, and my mum likes art. My dad taking my brother and me to football games and my mum taking us to galleries, ended up rubbing off on me. I’m also incredibly stubborn, so I couldn’t think of anything worse than taking pictures of things that I’m not interested in. Following trends can be great temporarily, but in the long run, you’ve just spent your career copying other people’s passions.
Can you share more about your portraiture process? Where do you typically find the source images that you recreate with your own photographs? How do you then conceive of your recreations?
I get influence from a fair few places. Art accounts on various social media platforms are a big one. I buy galleries and art books from charity shops that are filled with paintings. They’re cheaper than going to exhibitions, and I don’t have to leave my flat to look at paintings.
I’m sure many hipster photographers will spend hours discussing how their identity and emotions affect how they take pictures; however, I just think, ‘That looks nice.’ Then I take the photo.
I trust my belly a lot and try various things, as long as I like them and get a good belly feeling out of them. I’m sure many hipster photographers will spend hours discussing how their identity and emotions affect how they take pictures; however, I just think, “That looks nice.” Then I take the photo. I wouldn’t overthink it; you’ll hurt your brain.
I see that you’re taking most of your portraits at your flat in London. What’s your studio set-up like? Technically speaking, what sort of cameras and types of film are you using?
It’s incredibly DIY— I shoot in the corner of my bedroom. I buy all my backdrops cheaply; I use one big light and a Mamiya RZ67. I’ve been shooting portraits on the same camera for ten years. I always have Radio 2 on, as there’s nothing worse than shooting someone in silence. Then, I only take one shot per shirt. That way I am never spending hours deciding which picture is better.
I never understand why people will shoot four to five rolls for the sake of two pictures. It’s just a JPEG.
I couldn’t think of anything worse than renting out a studio, having a million cameras, and having a million people at the studio churning through rolls and rolls of film. That’s just bonkers from a financial point of view. I never understand why people will shoot four to five rolls for the sake of two pictures. It’s just a JPEG.
What does your typical portrait session entail? Who are you photographing? What sort of instruction do you give them?
It’s a variety of people: friends, friends of friends, people from model agencies, and even family members. Couples can be from all walks of life. As long as they aren’t picky about wearing various shirts, I’m game if they’re easy to get on with. That’s why friends of friends are great; I know I won’t feel like chucking them out of the flat after one photo.
With instructions, I organize everything beforehand so that when they arrive, there isn’t any faffing around. I take one picture per shirt and copy the painting’s composition. I don’t enjoy wasting people’s time.
I also tell people to blink a lot before taking the picture, as if their eyes are open for too long; it makes them look like they’re crying in the photo. Having your portrait taken by me is not that emotional.
At just 13 years old, Annalise Sianne Naidu from Lenham, Phoenix is already making waves in the soccer world, and her journey is nothing short of inspiring. Her love for the game began at the tender age of four when she started playing for Lenham Sporting in the Phoenix Local Football Association.
Speaking to the Phoenix Tabloid, the Crystal Point Secondary School learner said: “I believe that soccer is something that came to me naturally – a God-given talent. Growing up, I used to play with my plastic ball a lot. My dad saw my talent, and that’s where it all started. After joining Lenham Sporting, I became the player of the year in 2017 and was also scouted by SAFA in the same year. I then played for Wardens FC in the DCLFA league, where I was the only girl playing in the boys’ division, but sadly the club closed down. From there, I played for Phoenix Rising, where I was selected to play in the Women’s Day tournament. I became the player of the tournament and highest goal scorer and was selected to play in the Secondary Division at the age of 12.”
Phoenix soccer star, Annalise Sianne Naidu
Naidu continued to play for Toti FC in the girls’ league, where once again she was the smallest player. “I was selected as a club ambassador and came into contact with Banyana Banyana star and Wafcon champion Robyn Moodaly, and now we have a personal relationship. I had the opportunity to train with them and meet players like Gabrielle Salgado and Kylin Swart – it was an amazing experience. I also played with FIFA 2010 Bafana Bafana Moneeb Josephs, and I actually scored. Now I am currently playing for Lindelani Ladies FC from Ntuzuma. We compete in the Hollywood Bets SA Women’s Super League. We have an amazing head coach, Nkosinathi Vilakazi, who trains us to become the best. Our girls are amazing, and we have a good team spirit,” said Naidu.
When asked how she balances school and soccer, Naidu responded: “Well, it’s not easy, as I sometimes train during my exams. On my first trip to Eastern Cape, we left on Thursday, I played on Saturday, and was back home on Sunday morning – I had a few hours of sleep and then sat with my books, preparing for my exams the coming week. I really try to keep it simple – go to school, do my work, be disciplined, prioritise my time accordingly, attend my training, which I enjoy, as well as fellowship at Living Faith Ministry under Pastor Solomon. This helps me a lot in having a strong mindset.”
Some of the highlights in her soccer journey include scoring the winning goal when she played for Lenham Sporting at a tournament in Stella, being chosen as the player of the tournament after a game for Phoenix Rising, the start of the women’s league in Phoenix, and her first appearance at the iconic Sugar Ray Stadium. “My goals for the next few years are to score more goals, to continue to work hard and stay focused, so I can represent my country on the big stage. There is a lot of talent in our community. Women’s soccer is developing well, and I think it starts with support from parents and schools, as it is important to realise your talent early. Parents play an important role in pushing kids to showcase their talent and helping them reach their highest potential. I believe that we must be brave and fearless when it comes to our dreams and what we want to achieve in life,” said Naidu.
She said: “My dad is my biggest role model. He is also a good soccer player. I’ve heard many stories of him playing in his younger days. He is not old, but I think there were not many opportunities for him growing up, so he makes sure I live up to my dreams. My advice to other young girls with a passion for soccer is to go out there and live your dream. Trust God, as He is the way, the truth, and the life. Believe in yourself. Go out there and watch as many games as possible, research the soccer clubs in Phoenix, and never say you can’t play. There’s a lot of fun in soccer; it’s a beautiful game that brings our nation together.”
Naidu thanked everyone who has supported her journey from a young age, including her family, coaches, and mentors.
