Football

7:18 PM ET LOS ANGELES — LAFC won its first-ever MLS Cup title, beating the Philadelphia Union 3-0 on penalty kicks after a thrilling, roller-coaster final at Banc of California Stadium on Saturday finished 3-3 after extra time. Substitute goalkeeper John McCarthy, in just his second appearance for the club, was LAFC’s hero, coming off

9:49 AM ET Associated Press Shannon Boxx, a three-time Olympic gold medalist with the United States and member of their 2015 World Cup team, has been appointed vice chair of the U.S. Soccer Federation’s participant safety task force. Maryland State Youth Soccer Association executive director Greg Smith was also picked as a vice chair. –

11:30 AM ET LOS ANGELES — It’s been 19 years since the No. 1 seeds in the Eastern and Western Conferences met in an MLS Cup, which LAFC and the Philadelphia Union will do on Saturday. MLS has changed an awful lot in that time. In 2003, there were only 10 teams in the league.

12:37 PM ET Bruce Schoenfeld In 2022, Manuel Pellegrini led Real Betis to their third Copa del Rey title. (Photo by Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) SEVILLE, Spain — When Manuel Pellegrini folds his lanky frame into a chair at the Real Betis training facility, he has time on his mind. He isn’t hurried, but his

9:30 AM ET Sid LoweSpain writer “Culers, I have to tell you something,” he posted at 6.36 p.m. on a grey Thursday evening in November, and just like that, it was over. Twenty-five years after he joined the club where he’d been a member from the day he was born, and 15 years since he

5:00 AM ET The battle for Jude Bellingham is hotting up, with Liverpool in pole position — ESPN’s Insider Notebook has the latest. Jump to: Real Madrid ready for battle | Barcelona plan more spending | Shakhtar set for MLS fundraising drive | Alonso’s new deal | Prem clubs to help financially struggling fans Liverpool

1:18 PM ET The next time the Champions League becomes the dominant topic in soccer, we will be approaching Valentine’s Day. An entire World Cup will have come and gone. We’ll have spent many thousands of words talking about player wear and tear, particularly for players on the four teams that will have played seven

5:00 AM ET The 2022-23 Champions League group stage is all wrapped up, and there was no shortage of drama, goals and chaos. Bayern Munich achieved a perfect record, Tottenham Hotspur narrowly clinched qualification into the knockouts and Club Brugge made it out of the group stage for the first time in their history. Meanwhile,

6:00 PM ET Kylian Mbappe scored the opener and set up the winner for Paris Saint-Germain as they beat Juventus 2-1 at the Allianz Stadium in the Champions League on Wednesday, but finished a heartbreaking second in their group. PSG came into the match thinking they needed to win to ensure top spot in Group

5:32 PM ET Shakhtar were no match for a rampant Leipzig side who avenged a 4-1 defeat in matchday one to win 4-0 and advance to the Champions League last 16 at the Ukrainian side’s expense. EPA/Leszek Szymanski WARSAW, Poland — “We wanted to hit the jackpot, but it was not to be,” Shakhtar Donetsk coach

9:36 PM ET Ange Postecoglou has come a long way since he served as a ball boy on the sidelines at Middle Park in Melbourne. A long, long way. The stage he inhabits now is significantly grander, but the early experiences and lessons in a place that allowed him to familiarise himself with a new

5:51 PM ET Tottenham Hotspur survived a real scare in Marseille before fighting back to win 2-1 at the Stade Velodrome on Tuesday and clinch a place in the Champions League last 16 as group winners at the French side’s expense. Spurs, with coach Antonio Conte banned from the touchline, were dominated in the first

7:21 PM ET Tottenham Hotspur survived a scare in Marseille before fighting back to win 2-1 at the Stade Velodrome on Tuesday and clinch a place in the Champions League last 16 as group winners. Spurs, with coach Antonio Conte serving a one-game suspension from the touchline, went behind the French side in stoppage time

3:36 AM ET The organisers of the World Cup in Qatar are paying groups of fans to travel to the tournament, saying they are asking them for positive comments on social media in return. The Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) confirmed the policy of inviting groups of supporters to the finals as guests

3:52 AM ET Associated Press Mana Shim, a former National Women’s Soccer League and the U.S. under-23 national team player, will chair the U.S. Soccer Federation’s taskforce to prevent the abuse and harassment of women that was found to be systemic in the sport. The USSF created a participant safety taskforce following a report issued

9:00 AM ET Adam Snavely Braden Mann’s attempted onside kick was a familiar one to all those with an interest in soccer. ESPN New York Jets punter Braden Mann attempted a kick in an NFL game on Sunday that would have made former Tottenham Hotspur star Erik Lamela proud. Adam Snavely compares Mann’s “rabona” attempt to

9:34 AM ET The participants in the 2022 MLS Cup final are set, and for the first time since 2003, the top seed in each conference — the Philadelphia Union in the East and LAFC in the West — will square off. It will take some doing to reach the drama of that 2003 final,

10:29 PM ET The Philadelphia Union will take on host LAFC in the MLS Cup final after coming from behind to score three quickfire second-half goals and beat defending champions New York City FC 3-1 at Subaru Park in Sunday’s Eastern Conference Final. After NYC took a 57th-minute lead through Maxi Moralez, Philadelphia responded swiftly