Alex Morgan, Becky Sauerbrunn and five other prominent NWSL stars signed on to a letter sent to the U.S. State Department asking the American government expedite the evacuation of Afghan women’s national team players from the country where the Taliban recently took power.
Soccer's world governing body FIFA said it is negotiating the "extremely challenging" evacuation of soccer players and other athletes from Afghanistan after the Taliban's takeover of power.
Afghan news agency Ariana made an announcement that one of the victims who fell from the U.S. plane at the Kabul airport on Monday was 19-year-old Afghani footballer Zaki Anwari.
The former captain of the Afghan women's soccer team has urged players to delete social media, erase public identities and burn their kits for safety's sake now that the country is again under Taliban rule.
Copenhagen-based Khalida Popal told Reuters in a video interview on Wednesday that the militants had killed, raped and stoned women in the past and female footballers were scared of what the future might hold.
No one in the world has won more men’s soccer trophies than Dani Alves. You’d never know it from how he celebrated his first Olympic gold medal on Saturday.
The 38-year-old Alves helped his country to a repeat gold at the Olympics as the Seleção beat Spain 2-1 in extra time. When the final whistle blew, Alves broke down in tears of joy.
¡Un título más para @DaniAlvesD2 !
Japan was five minutes and penalty kicks away from reaching the gold medal match against Brazil as the host nation of the 2020 Olympics. Then Marco Asensio did Marco Asensio things.
Asensio, the 25-year-old Real Madrid winger and the oldest player on Spain’s roster, came off the bench to score a beautiful curler in the 115th minute to send Spain past Japan 1-0 in extra time of their Olympic semifinal on Tuesday, setting up a dream final against Brazil on Saturday.
Defending champions Brazil had to struggle to make the final, beating Mexico 4-1 on penalties after the game ended goalless after extra-time.
Brazil went close to settling their match against Mexico inside 90 minutes when Richarlison struck the post with a glancing header in the 82nd minute.
#OlimpicosTelemundo ¡AL PALOOOOOO !
Mexico is one win away from its second Olympic medal in soccer after thrashing South Korea 6-3 on Saturday in Yokohama. A tight game burst into a rout after a stunning Luís Romo volley, and Sebastián Córdova put the game out of reach with a long-range golazo.
Mexico won gold in 2012 but failed to reach the knockout rounds in Brazil five years ago, heading home after a 1-0 defeat to South Korea in the final group-stage match. El Tri wasn’t about to bow out with another loss to South Korea.
HONG KONG - With crucial goals in each of Japan's three group games, Takefusa Kubo is delivering on his potential, as the Olympic Games hosts step up their chase for a place on the podium for the first time in over half a century.
Just as he had done in group phase wins over South Africa and Mexico, the 20-year-old opened the scoring for Japan in Wednesday's 4-0 victory over France to set up a quarterfinal meeting with New Zealand on Saturday.
Takefusa Kubo Goal Vs. France
For all the talk about building momentum and playing their best stuff come the knockout rounds, the USWNT has very little momentum and could put you into a soccer-induced coma heading into a quarterfinal against either the Netherlands or Brazil after drawing Australia 0-0 on Tuesday morning.
The optimist might say “job done.” The USWNT had nothing to gain here with Sweden locking up the top spot in the group, but the team could’ve still dropped to third with a defeat. The realist will say “yeah but that was terrible.”