Africa

Preview: Women's World Cup playoffs begin with final 3 spots up for grabs

Portugal and Chile start with a slight advantage as 10 teams battle it out for the remaining three berths at this year's Women's World Cup in the final qualifying playoffs over the next week in New Zealand.

Cameroon, Haiti, Panama, Paraguay, Senegal, Thailand, Taiwan and Papua New Guinea are also involved in the tournament, which will complete the field for the first 32-team Women's World Cup in New Zealand and Australia later this year.

Riyad Mahrez roasts himself on Twitter after painful miss vs. Aston Villa

Rodri was named Man of the Match for his dominate midfield display, including one headed goal, in Manchester City's 3-1 beatdown of Aston Villa on Sunday, but winger Riyad Mahrez was certainly a close second. The Algerian provided for Rodri from a corner kick, and then he scored City's third from the penalty spot.

Mahrez probably would've won the game's individual honor if he would've finished a second opportunity in the 84th minute. Instead, with just Emiliano Martínez to beat, Mahrez spooned an effort wildly over from eight yards out.

Real Madrid avenge Seattle Sounders and book a spot in Club World Cup final

A battered and bruised Real Madrid side in a poor run of form eked out a late 4-1 victory vs. Al Ahly in the Club World Cup semifinal on Wednesday in Rabat, Morocco.

The scoreline doesn’t reflect how close the game was as Madrid’s final two goals came in stoppage time.

Major League Soccer fans wished it were the Seattle Sounders playing Real Madrid instead of Al Ahly. The MLS side fell 1-0 to the Egyptian club on Saturday. 

Ghana international Christian Atsu among those missing in Turkey after earthquake

The combined death toll in Turkey and Syria has risen to at least 2,600 from two earthquakes that struck the countries within the space of 12 hours. That number is expected to increase rapidly with many people still missing and trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings.

One of those still unaccounted for is former Newcastle winger and Ghana international Christian Atsu after the collapse of an apartment building in Hatay, Turkey.

Seattle Sounders concede in 88th minute to Al Ahly and miss out on semifinal vs. Real Madrid

The Seattle Sounders made history as the first club from Major League Soccer to compete in the FIFA Club World Cup on Saturday in Tangier, Morocco.. The Sounders lost 1-0 in heartbreaking fashion to Egyptian giants Al Ahly by conceding in the 88th minute.

The Sounders should keep their heads held high as they pushed Al Ahly to the very end. The Egyptian side are Club World Cup regulars as this is the eighth time Al Ahly have qualified for the competition.

Al Ahly stands between Seattle Sounders and a game vs. Real Madrid — Does Seattle have a chance?

Al Ahly defeated Auckland City FC 3-0 in the opening game of the 2022 FIFA Club World Cup on Wednesday in Morocco. With the way the bracket is designed, Al Ahly advance to the second round where they will face the Seattle Sounders on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 12:30 p.m. ET.

The winner of Saturday's game faces Real Madrid in the semifinal.

Al Ahly’s victory against the semi-professional club from Oceania was comfortable. This is the eighth time the Egyptian club have participated in the Club World Cup. They’ve advanced to the semifinals in the previous two tournaments.

FIFA Club World Cup begins this week — can the Seattle Sounders fight and win against Real Madrid?

RABAT - Real Madrid are favorites for a record-extending fifth success at the Club World Cup, and in the process keeping up European dominance over South America in the annual tournament, which kicks off in Morocco on Wednesday.

Real, who won previously in 2014 and then three successive tournaments from 2016 to 2018, are on course for a showdown with Flamengo of Brazil in the final but both must play a semifinal match first before they can set up an intriguing decider in Rabat on Feb. 11.

16-year-old prodigy Vicky López makes goalscoring history at Barcelona

Barcelona Femení made football history on Wednesday by becoming the first team (men's or women's) to win 50 straight league matches after hammering Levante Las Planas 7-0 on Wednesday. Club history was also made as 16-year-old phenom Vicky López became Barça Femení's youngest-ever goalscorer in Liga F.

Barça's run in the league stretches back to a 4-3 defeat to Atlético Madrid on June 1, 2021, but they finished the 2020-21 campaign with five wins, won all 30 games in 2021-22 and have reached the halfway point of 2022-23 with 15 victories.

Dortmund's Sébastien Haller ready for comeback after 6-month battle with testicular cancer

BERLIN - Borussia Dortmund forward Sébastien Haller is back in team training and ready to make his competitive comeback following surgery and treatment for testicular cancer.

The striker was diagnosed during a pre-season training camp in July and had been signed only weeks earlier by Dortmund for an initial fee of $33.24 million.

Death, taxes and FIFA’s rankings making no sense — USA ranked above Germany in latest edition

The almighty FIFA overlords who control the rankings that decide which countries are the best at soccer have spoken. The latest FIFA rankings released on Thursday say that the USA is better than Germany, Brazil is still the best in the world and a whole bunch of other nonsense.

The USA is officially the 13th best nation in the world according to FIFA.

Latest FIFA Rankings

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