Football

7:52 PM ET The Canada women’s national team said Friday it will strike ahead of next week’s SheBelieves Cup due to budget cuts, equal pay issues and an overall lack of support from Canada Soccer. Canada captain Christine Sinclair and forward Janine Beckie said they won’t represent Canada Soccer until their demands are met. –

1:45 PM ET Alex Kirkland Rodrigo Faez Carlo Ancelotti is already coaching Brazil star Vinicius Junior at Real Madrid. David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images The Brazilian Football Confederation has denied an ESPN Brazil report that Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti has given the OK to becoming the new coach of the Brazil men’s national team. Brazil have

8:18 AM ET The break between the Champions League group stage and knockout rounds always feels a bit strange. The competition drives and dictates the European soccer season to the point where we follow the top-four races in the top leagues as closely as we do the title races — or more so, due to

4:00 AM ET Chelsea are set to let a host of players, including USMNT star Christian Pulisic, depart in the summer, while other clubs are busy making plans for the future. ESPN’s Insider Notebook has the latest. Jump to: Man United could sign Sabitzer permanently | Atletico target Thuram in the summer | Ansu Fati

3:46 PM ET Every week, our own Luis Miguel Echegaray offers his latest thoughts from the world of football. You have the analysis; now comes LME’s commentary. Welcome to The Tap-In. This week, I thought a lot about the meaning of greatness. Well, if we want to be specific: the pressures of reaching greatness and

5:00 AM ET Rob DawsonCorrespondent For all the talk of fabulous tactics and that fiery desire to win, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola believes it’s an ability to “smell” what’s going on with his teams that is his greatest asset as a football manager. – Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.) During news conferences,

5:51 PM ET Rob DawsonCorrespondent MANCHESTER, England — Manchester United fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Leeds United in the Premier League at Old Trafford on Wednesday. – Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.) Wilfried Gnonto opened the scoring for Leeds after just 55 seconds before a Raphael Varane own-goal

9:30 AM ET Jeff Kassouf A new year often brings clarity, and for the U.S. women’s national team, it was affirmation of what was hiding in plain sight: the core of the 2023 World Cup roster. U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski made it clear throughout the past year that he was developing a new-look squad for

7:00 AM ET “My favourite goal is the one from Dimitri Payet, then Kylian Mbappe, and then Francisco Gonzalez Metilli.” Marcin Oleksy is giving his verdict on the top goals among the nominations for the 2022 Puskas Award, FIFA’s prize for the best goal scored by anyone, anywhere over the course of the year. –

3:44 PM ET The vibes are strange throughout the top of European soccer at the moment. The top teams in both the Premier League (Arsenal) and LaLiga (Barcelona) either didn’t qualify or didn’t advance to the Champions League knockout rounds, which begin just a week from now, and none of the actual favorites in the

6:20 PM ET They say the sequel never quite lives up to the original, but that kind of logic doesn’t apply to Wrexham AFC. Hollywood star owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney might have preferred a different ending to the club’s FA Cup fourth-round replay against Sheffield United on Tuesday, but there was certainly no

5:46 PM ET Real Madrid‘s brilliant winger Vinicius Junior is a young, talented, exciting, successful, Black Brazilian player who, inarguably in my view, is being treated atrociously by Spanish football and by some sections of the country. Partly because of the colour of his skin. What’s happening is an outright disgrace, something that fair, decent,

2:47 PM ET Christian Atsu joined Hatayspor in September after a spell in the Premier League. Photo by Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images Ghana international winger Christian Atsu is among those missing after the collapse of an apartment building following Monday’s devastating earthquake that rocked Turkey and Syria. The former Chelsea and Newcastle player scored

4:59 PM ET Timing is everything in all manner of ways. That is especially true in the case of Jesse Marsch and the U.S. Soccer Federation. Marsch was fired as manager of Leeds United on Monday, following a run of just two wins in his past 18 Premier League matches. With the managerial post for

9:54 AM ET Jesse Marsch has been sacked as Leeds United manager after a poor run of results, the club announced Monday. Leeds suffered a disappointing defeat on Sunday to fellow relegation rivals Nottingham Forest that left them one place above the bottom three in the Premier League. – Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more

7:19 PM ET Upsets were the theme of the European weekend with giants Arsenal, Real Madrid, Manchester City and Liverpool failing to score a single goal between them. But, while the bigwigs were drawing blanks, there were plenty of plenty of highlights elsewhere including an absolute humdinger between Celta Vigo and Real Betis in LaLiga.

1:24 PM ET A record-breaking Harry Kane strike helped Tottenham edge to a 1-0 victory over Manchester City on Sunday as Pep Guardiola’s side failed to make up ground in the Premier League title race. Kane became Spurs’ all-time leading scorer when he sent his side into the lead on 15 minutes after finding an

10:00 AM ET Alex KirklandESPN FC Marco Asensio had a penalty saved as Real Madrid were beaten 1-0 at Mallorca on Sunday in another blow to their LaLiga title hopes. A Nacho Fernandez own goal put Mallorca ahead in the 13th minute. The defender rose with forward Vedat Muriqi at the near post to head