UEFA Group B in FIFA World Cup qualifying continues to deliver after both Sweden and Greece secured victories on Saturday to put pressure on leader Spain with only three matchdays remaining.
If you haven’t seen a picture or video of the Portugal U21 scoreboard from a Euro qualifier against Liechtenstein on Thursday, I implore you to take a gander. Liechtenstein’s senior team is ranked 188th in the world. As a country with second lowest population among UEFA members, I honestly didn’t even know they had enough people for a U21 team.
Anyone who came of age in the 80s and 90s knows the name: Gheorghe Hagi. Nicknamed “Maradona of the Carpathians,” the Romanian icon was good enough to play for both Real Madrid and Barcelona while retiring as his country’s all-time leading goal scorer. His son has been on the soccer radar since joining Fiorentina at the age of 17, and on Friday the Ianis Hagi goal vs Germany showed this youngster has a touch of his father’s abilities in him.
El plan era que el retorno del público a un partido del Tri en el Estadio Azteca fuera una fiesta. Sin embargo, Canadá convirtió la velada en una ensalada de frustraciones. La Hoja de Maple sigue sin ganarle a México en partidos eliminatorios, pero el 1-1 final dejó a todos con sabor a bilis en la boca.
The last time Belgium’s national team missed a major tournament was Euro 2012. Since then, the nation of 11.5 million has quickly become the best international team in the world per FIFA’s somewhat arbitrary ranking system. Despite the success, the last time Belgium was in a final was Euro 1980, losing to Germany 2-1.
Belgium’s chances of seeing a final for the first time in 41 years was blown spectacularly on Thursday when France came roaring back from two goals down to defeat the Belgians in the UEFA Nations League semifinals.
HONG KONG - Son Heung-min struck with less than two minutes remaining to earn South Korea a dramatic 2-1 win over Syria in Ansan on Thursday as Paulo Bento's side maintained their unbeaten start in Group A in the final phase of Asia's World Cup preliminaries.
Son swept the ball home from close range in the 89th minute, five minutes after Omar Khribin looked to have secured a share of the points for the Syrians in a game dominated by the hosts.
After allegations of repeated sexual abuse, coercion and harassment led to the firing of NC Courage head coach Paul Riley, the resignation of NWSL commissioner Lisa Baird and the cancellation of last weekend’s matches, the league returned to play on Wednesday with the Courage in action against Racing Louisville at WakeMed Soccer Park.
Antes del duelo con Italia, por las semifinales de la Nations League, el técnico de España, Luis Enrique, estaba siendo linchado por la prensa local. Porque otra vez no había convocado a jugadores del Real Madrid, porque había omitido a otros de buen presente, porque su convocatoria estaba llena de jóvenes que no sabrían hacer frente a la experiencia de la Azzurra y porque no era capaz de hacer lo necesario como para salvar al planeta de su sexta extinción masiva. OK.
The spectacle of the young phenom taking to the field against players 10 or 20 years their senior is one of football’s more fascinating subplots. As far as physicality will take you in the game, quality will always take you further, giving rise to the mantra that “there are no young and old players, only good and bad.”
Wednesday’s Chelsea-Wolfsburg matchup in the UEFA Women’s Champions League was one of those games you just didn’t want to end. Thrilling action on either side of the pitch ended in a 3-3 draw featuring stunning golazos, horrifying mistakes and a late, late equalizer.
Chelsea, last season’s runner-up, opened its UWCL campaign on fire, scoring 12 minutes in through a Sam Kerr stunner only to concede the next three goals on howlers. But the reigning FA WSL champs dug deep to earn a draw to share the spoils in Group A.