Asia

Sydney United 58 FC — a semi-professional club that plays in the third divison — made history Saturday by reaching the Australia Cup final with a dramatic 3-2 extra time victory over the A-League's Brisbane Roar.

In a back and forth affair, Riku Danzaki opened the scoring for Brisbane, but Sydney's Matthew Bilic leveled before halftime. 33-year-old Englishman Charlie Austin restored normality with a 63rd-minute penalty, but Patrick Antelmi kept the "cupset" alive with one in the 71st to knot the match at 2-2.

HONG KONG - Iran hopes history will repeat itself at this November's World Cup in Qatar, 24 years after overcoming a fractious build-up to score a memorable triumph over the United States — the country's decades-long geopolitical rival — in France.

As the teams prepare to clash again, and their governments wrangle over reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear pact, the Iranian side's preparations have been thrown into turmoil by a divided squad and maneuvering over its leadership.

BENGALURU - India's soccer fraternity breathed a sigh of relief as FIFA lifted the suspension imposed on it after 11 days, but the decision came too late for Gokulam Kerala FC whose hopes of playing at the AFC Women's Club Championship were shattered.

FIFA suspended the All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Aug. 15 for undue third-party influence leading to Gokulam Kerala being banned from the club championship — a pilot tournament before the launch of the AFC Women's Champions League in 2024.

No country has been distancing itself from middle school putdowns as effectively as Turkey this summer.

Back in June, the United Nations agreed to officially change the country's name from Turkey to its Turkish name of Türkiye. While obviously not a big deal inside the country, NPR's Peter Kenyon reported that the move was a rebrand "to dissociate the country's name from the bird that traditionally appears on American dining tables at Thanksgiving and from the slang definition of a turkey as something that doesn't work or is foolish."

The USWNT U-20s were bounced out of 2022 U-20 Women’s World Cup in the group stage on Wednesday after suffering a 3-1 defeat to reigning champions Japan in Alajuela, Costa Rica. The U.S. finished the group stage with one victory and two losses, the team’s worst showing in the 10 editions of the tournament.

The Americans finished third in Group D ahead of Ghana but behind Japan and the Netherlands. The U.S. opened the tournament with a 3-0 victory vs. Ghana but then followed that game with a 3-0 defeat to the Dutch.

The World Cup in Qatar will kick off a day earlier than scheduled if FIFA's ruling bureau agrees to a plan to hold the opening ceremony and the host nation's first match on Sunday, Nov. 20, a source close to the discussions told Reuters.

The original plan was for the opening ceremony to be held before Qatar's game on Nov. 21 against Ecuador — which created the unusual situation of two matches being held before the ceremony.

Normally the ceremony is conducted before the kickoff of the first game of the tournament.

The latest women’s FIFA rankings were released on Friday and, to no one’s surprise, the USWNT remains No. 1. The last time the Americans fell out of the top spot was for a few months in 2017. England and Germany surged up the Top 10, but coming in at No. 10 is yet another baffling appearance from a team that hasn’t played in three years.

The Top 9 of the women’s FIFA rankings include all the usual suspects: USA, Germany, Sweden, England, France, Netherlands, Canada, Spain and Brazil, respectively. 

If you want a preview of exactly what to expect from Neymar at the World Cup, I give you highlights of Paris Saint-Germain's 6-2 friendly win over Gamba Osaka on Monday morning at Suita City Stadium in Japan.