The Daily Dirt, July 2: Holiday Road

Our soccer weekend is an extended one this time around with the July 4th holiday on Monday. Tonight sees three games in MLS with the highlight being a depleted Toronto FC squad hosting Seattle at 7:30pm.

Also, ESPN2 has a huge Euro 2016 quarterfinal this afternoon at 3pm with Italy facing Germany. Italy had almost no expectations coming into the tournament and now find themselves one win away from a semifinal slot.

Fire up the grill, get the beer on ice, and enjoy the weekend of action!

America

Real Salt Lake surrenders a lead late, draws with DC United 1-1 (RSL Soapbox)

DC United’s equalizer via Jared Jeffrey:

Chicago Fire wins 1-0 over San Jose on John Goosens’ first MLS goal (Hot Time in Old Town)

Orlando City parts ways with Adrian Winter in a bit of a surprise (The Mane Land)

Nashville FC will be the name of the new USL team starting in Music City in 2018 (USL)

The BBC looks at the North American Soccer League and their future goals (BBC)

Youth clubs file suit to claim training and solidarity fees for players they developed like Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, and DeAndre Yedlin (Vice)

World

Get ready for Italy vs. Germany this afternoon at 3pm (SB Nation)

Landon Donovan joins the ownership team at Swansea City (SBI Soccer)

44 Premier League players are out of contract, take a look at some possible future Atlanta United players (Daily Mail)

Atlanta

Peachtree Hoops is coming in hot today with coverage of NBA Free Agency. Latest updates include details on Kent Bazemore’s signing, offers made to Al Horford, and other moves that might be made to juggle the salary cap. Stay tuned. (Peachtree Hoops)

The international signing period brings a huge haul to the Braves. (Talking Chop)