National Teams

No one in the region seemed to want this to happen — even fewer (outside of Xavi) expected it — but Qatar is the best team in Asia. 

With its fans banned from the host country due to diplomatic tensions in the Middle East, a tiny population and little footballing tradition prior to FIFA awarding the nation 2022 World Cup hosting rights, Qatar’s 3-1 victory over Japan in the AFC Asian Cup final capped an unlikely run to the Maroons’ first-ever major soccer championship.

And they did it in some style, with two incredible first-half goals.

The AFC Asian Cup final is set. Japan, the winningest team in the history of the competition, will take on Qatar, trying to prove it can actually play the sport before hosting the 2022 World Cup. But Qatar making it through the AFC Asian Cup Semifinals did not come without controversy.

Qatar reached the AFC Asian Cup semifinals by edging South Korea in the Maroons’ first big upset of the tournament, although you could argue Qatar beating Saudi Arabia was a pretty big upset too. 

You’ve heard this before: A broken foot is threatening to prematurely end Neymar’s club season, and he could be facing a race for fitness ahead of a major international tournament. 

Last season, Neymar sustained a crack to the fifth metatarsal bone in his right foot during a match against Marseille on Feb. 25. The injury was worse than first expected, required surgery and Neymar missed PSG’s Champions League Round of 16 return leg against Real Madrid before sitting out the rest of the season. 

After preaching the verb “compete” as one of the mantras of his new leadership, Gregg Berhalter began his reign as USMNT manager with a 3-0 victory over Panama on Sunday night. The first starting eleven of Berhalter’s tenure included five players making their international debuts, and three of them — Real Salt Lake’s Corey Baird, Chicago’s Djordje Mihailovic and San Jose’s Nick Lima — played huge roles in the opening two goals.

The third was created and finished by two more players making their international debuts — NYCFC's Jonathan Lewis and LAFC's Christian Ramirez. 

Brazil clinched qualification into the final stage of the South American U-20 Championship with a 1-0 victory over Bolivia on Friday afternoon in Chile. 

The win completed a difficult group stage for the young Seleção, who have a prodigious amount of talent at their disposal, including Real Madrid-bound Rodrygo, who scored twice in a win over Venezuela earlier in the competition. 

Heading into Friday’s quarterfinals of the AFC Asian Cup, South Korea and Australia were widely expected to advance past underdog opponents. One brilliant long-range strike and one unforgivable error later, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are preparing to face off in next week’s semifinals.

Last week, the South American U-20 Championship kicked off in Chile, with the top four finishers earning qualification to this summer’s U-20 World Cup in Poland.

It’d been a long time since any nation treated the USWNT like Spain did in the opening 45 of today’s contest in Alicante. 2019 will mark La Roja’s second-ever World Cup appearance (the first came in 2015), but the growing European side controlled 58 percent of possession and out-passed the defending world champions 274-195 in the first half. Not bad for a first-ever meeting with the powerhouse that is the USWNT.  

Jill Ellis got the test she wanted for the USWNT vs France. And then some. 

Kadidiatou Diani scored two goals, including an audacious second-half chip, to send third-ranked France to a 3-1 win over the U.S. in front of a sold-out crowd Saturday at Stade Oceane in Le Havre, France. 

The USWNT had its 28-match unbeaten streak snapped in the first game of 2019 after having gone unbeaten in 2018. The last time the U.S. women lost was July 27, 2017, a 1-0 defeat to Australia in the Tournament of Nations.