The top-ranked U.S. women's team will head to Europe in April to face Sweden as part of their preparations for the Tokyo Olympics where it will try to reclaim the gold medal that eluded it at the 2016 Rio Games, U.S. Soccer announced on Tuesday.
U.S. Soccer said fans will not be allowed at the April 10 game in Stockholm and that it is currently finalizing a second match in Europe to be played on April 13.
ASUNCION — The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) has decided to suspend this month's double header of World Cup qualifiers for Qatar 2022 amid concern over the COVID-19 pandemic and strict quarantine restrictions.
The 10 South American teams were due to play two games on March 25/26 and March 30 but CONMEBOL acknowledged tightening lockdown and quarantine regulations mean many of the European-based players will be unable to travel.
Rounds 5 and 6 of the CONMEBOL 2022 World Cup qualifiers, scheduled for this month, are not fully confirmed due to the restrictions on players due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
CONMEBOL representatives will hold a key meeting this week, most likely on Friday, with FIFA president Gianni Infantino, to know the position of the world soccer governing body regarding the difficulties that South American teams have to make their player selections.
For the U.S. men’s national team, 2020 was another lost year with a mere four matches played because of the Covid-19 pandemic, by far the fewest in recent memory. This came on the heels of a lost year in 2018, when U.S. Soccer took 14 months to find a new coach after Bruce Arena and Jurgen Klinsmann’s failed World Cup qualifying campaign. Needless to say, the 2021 USMNT schedule could not be more important.
The USWNT just completed an expected-but-still-impressive showing at the 2021 SheBelieves Cup, winning all three matches to claim the tournament title for a fourth time in six years. While the exhibition is a good barometer of some of the world’s top national teams, it’s also one of the best chances to evaluate talent ahead of a big summer competition. With the 2020 Tokyo Olympics postponed to 2021, the question is: Who will make the USWNT Olympic roster this summer?
Megan Rapinoe and Carli Lloyd are both over 35 and showing no signs of slowing down. While both will face stiff competition to make the 18-woman roster for this summer’s Olympics, they both showed they’re still among the best in the world in a dominant first half against Argentina on Wednesday.
Rapinoe, 35, scored twice and Lloyd, 38, added a third as the USWNT won its fourth SheBelieves Cup by strolling to a 6-0 victory over Argentina on Wednesday night in Florida. The U.S. won all three matches in the competition, becoming the first team to win it in back-to-back years.
The roster for the Tokyo-bound U.S. women's squad seeking to reclaim the Olympics gold medal that eluded them in 2016 is far from set in stone, national team head coach Vlatko Andonovski said on Tuesday.
Olympic rosters feature 18 players instead of the usual 23 that typically travel to a tournament and Andonovski said he had yet to lock in any player.
When asked how many of the roster spots for the Tokyo Olympics remain open, Andonovski told reporters during a video call: "Right now, 18, but we are getting closer."
Australia and Qatar, the two non-South American sides due to take part in this year's Copa América, have pulled out of the tournament, the secretary general of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) said on Tuesday.
The two teams were set to join 10 others from South America in the tournament, which will be hosted by Argentina and Colombia in June and July.
"Qatar and Australia will not come to play in the Copa América," Gonzalo Belloso told Argentine radio station Radio Red.
The USMNT and El Tri are considering Efraín Álvarez for the Concacaf Olympic qualifiers. The player who was runner-up in the World Cup with the U-17 Tricolor is on the preliminary rosters of both teams, which will be looking for a ticket to Tokyo 2021 in March.
18-year-old LA Galaxy midfielder Efrain Alvarez played for USMNT at U15 level, and Mexico at U15 and U17 level.
He's been named in both nation's preliminary rosters for Olympic qualifying.
No one scored more for Cameroon than former Barcelona and Inter Milan superstar Samuel Eto’o. The lethal striker scored 56 times in 118 appearances for the Indomitable Lions, and now his son appears ready to pick up the mantle.
Etienne Eto’o Pineda, Samuel Eto’o’s son, scored two goals in his first start for Cameroon, leading the U-20 Indomitable Lions to a 4-1 win over Mozambique at the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations on Saturday in Mauritania.