Underdogs

With the OL Reign taking center stage at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma on Sunday, all eyes were on the attacking riches of the No. 2 seed in the NWSL playoffs, including the USWNT duo of Megan Rapinoe and Rose Lavelle, France’s Eugénie Le Sommer, Germany’s Dzsenifer Marozsán and Wales’ Jess Fishlock.    

They were collectively outplayed and humbled by the Washington Spirit’s 19-year-old sensation Trinity Rodman and 22-year-old attacker Ashley Sanchez.

OSLO — Norway's hopes of qualifying for the World Cup finals in Qatar suffered a serious blow when they were held to a 0-0 draw at home by Latvia in their Group G clash on Saturday.

The single point earned leaves the Norwegians in third spot in the group on 18 points, behind second-placed Turkey on goal difference with Netherlands in the lead on 19 points. The Dutch can win the group by beating Montenegro later on Saturday.

VALENCIA - Atlético Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann scored a sensational individual goal against Valencia on Sunday but the LaLiga champions let a two-goal lead slip in stoppage time to draw 3-3 on Sunday.

Valencia were trailing 3-1 when seven minutes of time were added on but Hugo Duro scored twice in the final stretch of the game to salvage a point, to the delight of their raucous home fans.

VENICE - AS Roma’s slump continued with a 3-2 Serie A defeat by lowly Venezia on Sunday, as the hosts recovered from surrendering the lead before halftime to launch a sensational second half fightback.

José Mourinho’s side have one win in their last seven games in all competitions and have dropped out of the top four after picking up four points from their last five league games.

“This is not the year to dream big, but it is up to me to raise the ambition and motivation. Our goal is fourth place, but for some reason we have slid to sixth," Mourinho told DAZN.

Europe’s favorite Moldovan/Transnistrian soccer club received a brutal reality check in the Champions League on Wednesday in the form of a second straight 3-1 defeat to Inter Milan.

After starting the Champions League group stage with victories against Shakhtar Donetsk and Real Madrid, Sheriff has suffered two straight defeats at the hands of Inter Milan.

Inter was pulling out all the stops, including Nicoló Barella throwing himself on the grass to avoid blocking Marcelo Brozovic’s opening goal in the 54th minute. 

If European football wasn’t as familiar with American manager Jesse Marsch as it should’ve been, it sure as hell is now. On Tuesday, the RB Leipzig boss masterminded a stirring performance at the Parc des Princes that had the German side deservedly ahead 2-1 with just over 20 minutes to play. 

But a terrible mistake from American midfielder Tyler Adams allowed Lionel Messi to equalize before a rash challenge in the area gifted PSG another from the spot.   

Jesse Marsch’s first season as RB Leipzig manager was always going to be full of growing pains. He had impossibly large shoes to fill in replacing Julian Nagelsmann — who led Leipzig to the 2020 Champions League semifinals, becoming the youngest-ever coach to reach that stage — and Marsch inherited a side in transition with Dayot Upamecano and Marcel Sabitzer following Nagelsmann to Bayern Munich while Ibrahima Konaté signed with Liverpool.