Canada’s men’s national team is guaranteed to qualify for at least its second-ever World Cup appearance in 2026 as one of three host nations (along with the U.S. and Mexico). Before that, the Canucks are trying to qualify the hard way for the 2022 World Cup. And when we say the hard way, we mean it. But after watching Alphonso Davies and his teammates torch Bermuda on Thursday, they might just be up to the task.
Over the years FIFA has been opposed to players, teams and fans engaging in protests or sloganeering but it seems global soccer's governing body is perhaps now prepared to tolerate a blurring of the line it once drew between politics and sport.
On Wednesday, Norway's national team players wore T-shirts declaring "Human rights - on and off the pitch" as they lined up before their World Cup qualifier against Gibraltar, and the following day Germany made a similar protest before its qualifier against Iceland in Duisburg.
Midfielder Christian Pulisic returned to the United States men's national team after a 17-month absence in a 4-1 win against Jamaica on Thursday in Wiener Neustadt, Austria.
Sergiño Dest scored his first goal in his sixth match in the 34th minute and Brenden Aaronson made it 2-0 in the 52nd before Jamaica's Jamal Lowe halved the deficit in the 70th minute. Sebastian Lletget scored in the 83rd and 90th minutes to seal the win.
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's superb 1-0 victory over more heralded neighbors Croatia in World Cup qualifying showed they are more than just a nation of Alpine skiers, defender Petar Stojanović said on Thursday.
The Slovenians outplayed the 2018 World Cup runners-up on Wednesday at the start of Group H qualifying for next year's tournament in Qatar and Stojanović, who plays his club football for Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb, was delighted.
ISTANBUL - Veteran captain Burak Yılmaz netted a hat-trick as Turkey saw off a late rally from the Netherlands to secure a 4-2 home victory on Wednesday at the start of their World Cup qualifying campaign.
Yılmaz opened the scoring in the 14th minute of the Group G match with a deflected shot followed by a penalty 20 minutes later at Istanbul's Atatürk Olympic Stadium to put the Turks 2-0 up at halftime.
The dispute over dual nationality players escalated to a new magnitude before the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship as five players chose the USMNT over Mexico, although the Mexican federation was able to get Efraín Álvarez to play with Tata Martino's senior side.
United States women's head coach Vlatko Andonovski said on Tuesday he plans to name his squad for the Tokyo Olympics in mid-June as he waits to see how several players recover from injuries.
"We have roughly set the middle of June when we're going to know the (Olympic) roster," Andonovski told reporters after announcing a 23-player, veteran-heavy squad for April when the four-times World Cup winners have friendlies against Sweden and France.
23 strong to take on and !
AMSTERDAM - The Netherlands team hope that this week’s start of the World Cup qualifiers in Europe will highlight the plight of migrant workers in Qatar and help to improve their working conditions.
"A lot of attention is now focused on whether we should go there if we qualify," coach Frank de Boer told a news conference on the eve of his team’s opening Group G match against Turkey in Istanbul, amid growing controversy at home over Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 finals.
Belize's football federation (FFB) expressed "disappointment and disgust" on Monday after the bus ferrying the squad to their hotel in Haiti was stopped by an armed gang on motorcycles.
The incident occurred shortly after the squad had arrived in the Caribbean nation to play a World Cup qualifier.
STOCKHOLM - AC Milan's Zlatan Ibrahimović shed a few tears of pride as he returned to Sweden's national team after a four-year absence for their World Cup qualifiers and recounted how his son did not want him to leave home to join up with Janne Andersson's squad.
The 39-year-old, who quit international football after Euro 2016, choked up when he was asked what his boys, Maximilian, 14, and 12-year-old Vincent, thought of his decision to answer his country's call again and return to the world stage.