PORTO, Portugal - Cristiano Ronaldo is excited about the return of experienced defender Pepe to the Portugal squad after he missed Thursday's 3-1 win over Turkey due to COVID-19.
"The king is back! Pepe is back in the house! Look out!" a smiling Ronaldo shouted before Portugal's training session on a warm and sunny Sunday morning in Porto as the 39-year-old defender emerged from the dressing room.
After scoring in Argentina's 3-0 win over Venezuela in World Cup qualifying Friday night, Lionel Messi's post-match comments made global headlines as the 34-year-old indicated that this might be his last year in international football.
United States head coach Gregg Berhalter is urging his players to stay "in the moment" ahead of Sunday's World Cup qualifier at home to Panama with a shot at reaching the finals on the line.
The U.S. battled to a 0-0 draw away to Mexico on Thursday and sit three points behind leaders Canada in the CONCACAF group standings. They are tied with Mexico on 22 points but are above them in second place on goal difference.
Christian Eriksen said he made his return to international football in the "perfect way" by scoring two minutes after coming on for Denmark on Saturday following a near-fatal heart attack last year.
Denmark lost 4-2 to the Netherlands in the international friendly, with Eriksen producing a stunning finish into the top corner in the 47th minute after he came on as a half-time substitute.
BAMAKO — Mali defender Moussa Sissako scored a first-half own goal and was sent off four minutes later to dent his country’s World Cup qualifying hopes as they lost 1-0 at home to Tunisia in Friday’s first leg of their playoff tie.
The 21-year-old Sissako, making his fourth appearance for Mali, put the ball in his own net with a back pass in the 36th minute which caught goal keeper Ibrahim Mounkoro off his line.
Gareth Bale hit back at "malicious" criticism from Spanish media on Friday, saying an article in Madrid-based paper Marca was a "piece of slanderous, derogatory and speculative journalism."
Marca called the Welsh captain a "parasite" and accused him of faking a back injury that kept him out of Real Madrid's humiliating loss to Barcelona at the weekend, four days before he scored both goals in Wales's win over Austria in their World Cup playoff game.
Thursday night’s 0-0 draw between the U.S. and Mexico was probably a fair result, one both teams will contentedly take as another point on the path toward World Cup qualification. Though both teams will lament missed chances — the Americans and Jordan Pefok perhaps a bit more so — the truth is neither team did enough to find the back of the net.
Uruguay and Ecuador secured the last two CONMEBOL direct tickets to the 2022 World Cup on Tuesday, joining already qualified Brazil and Argentina. The only thing left up for grabs now on the continent is the slot in the inter-confederation playoff against AFC (Asia). Those in contention are Perú, Colombia and Chile.
The United States earned a massive point at the Azteca on Thursday night to make its path to the 2022 World Cup that much clearer, but there's a lingering feeling that the team could've returned home with all three had it been more clinical in the final third.
No es por andar presumiendo, pero de algún modo sospechaba que el partido entre México y Estados Unidos terminaría empatado 0-0.