Human Interest

When Bolton Wanderers and Salford City faced off in a League Two tussle on the outskirts of Manchester on Friday, the match featured two sides that had converged on the lowest level of the English Football League. It was a match over a decade in the making as the sides were once eight divisions apart in English football. 

During the 2007-08 season, Bolton was a Premier League club and featured in the Europa League, while Salford played in the North West Counties League Division One, the country's ninth tier.

Goran Pandev has been spearheading North Macedonia's attack for the best part of two decades and, though it seemed he was chasing a lost cause for much of that time, his persistence has been rewarded with their qualification for Euro 2020.

The 37-year-old, scorer of the winning goal against Georgia on Thursday which took North Macedonia to their first major tournament, has played under 14 different coaches, made 114 appearances and scored 36 goals since his debut against Turkey in 2001.

The USMNT played its first match since Feb. 1 on Thursday, a friendly against Wales in Swansea. It was the first time the team had taken the field since Covid-19 shut the world down, since the world watched as George Floyd was murdered in broad daylight by the police, since people around the globe began protesting systemic racism in police departments and society as a whole. And it was the first time the U.S. players had the opportunity to make their own statement as a team, and they did so with USMNT jackets featuring social justice messages.

Former Barcelona, Inter Milan and Chelsea striker Samuel Eto’o was taken to the hospital over concern from his involvement in a nasty car crash near the town of Nkongsamba, Cameroon, on Sunday.

Reports say that Eto’o was driving home from a wedding when a public transportation bus collided with his car head-on. He was taken to the hospital with fears of a head injury, but BBC Sport reported he escaped the incident unscathed.

BUENOS AIRES — Argentina soccer great Diego Maradona has been sedated by doctors to help him cope with withdrawal symptoms from alcohol dependency, his personal doctor said on Friday.

Alfredo Cahe said Maradona, who underwent emergency surgery on Tuesday for a subdural haematoma, a blood clot on the brain, had been sedated after suffering from "episodes of confusion" linked to withdrawal symptoms.

"He has to have treatment to stop drinking alcohol and all his family is in agreement that Diego as he is now is unmanageable," Cahe told TyC Sports, an Argentine TV channel.

On Friday, USA TODAY Sports revealed that sporting power couple Julie (USWNT, Chicago Red Stars) and Zach Ertz (Philadelphia Eagles) had pledged to provide 2,500 meals to local food banks for every touchdown scored over the Eagles next three home games at Lincoln Financial Field.