Football

Pep Guardiola said Erling Haaland‘s goalscoring record is reaching the levels of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, but believes the striker is capable of getting even better in the years ahead. Haaland scored the opening goal on 18 minutes as City started their quest for a fifth consecutive Premier League title with a 2-0 win

Alex Kirkland, ESPN FCAug 18, 2024, 07:31 PM ET Open Extended Reactions MALLORCA, Spain — It’s the 36th minute at the Son Moix Stadium, and Real Madrid — already 1-0 up, away from home, on their LaLiga debut for the 2024-25 season — were enjoying themselves. Camped inside the Mallorca box, the Spanish champions, one

Erling Haaland scored his 91st goal in his 100th appearance for Manchester City on Sunday as the champions kicked off their Premier League title defence with a lively 2-0 away win over Chelsea. The Norway international, fed by Bernardo Silva, forced his way between Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana and finished neatly past Robert Sanchez

Jeff Carlisle, U.S. soccer correspondentAug 17, 2024, 04:10 PM ET Close Jeff Carlisle covers MLS and the U.S. national team for ESPN FC. Open Extended Reactions Former United States under-20 coach Mikey Varas will lead the U.S. men’s national team on an interim basis during the upcoming September international window, a source confirmed to ESPN.

Aug 17, 2024, 06:44 PM ET Open Extended Reactions We are so back. It’s been a long summer of sticky, sweaty days chock full of international football and preseason tours, but finally, the European club game has returned. The Premier League, LaLiga, Serie A and Ligue 1 all kicked off their campaigns on Saturday. In

Open Extended Reactions LONDON — The first game of the season can sometimes trigger clubs to panic buy in the transfer market as suspected shortcomings are exposed. Instead, Arsenal‘s 2-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday offered further evidence of why they have held their nerve until now and could opt against signing the attacking

Rob Dawson, CorrespondentAug 16, 2024, 05:47 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Joshua Zirkzee hailed a “perfect” Manchester United debut after he came off the bench to score a late winner against Fulham. United won their Premier League opener 1-0 at Old Trafford after the Dutchman came off the bench to score in the 87th minute.

Rob Dawson, CorrespondentAug 16, 2024, 06:31 PM ET Open Extended Reactions MANCHESTER, England — There’s nothing like a late winner from a new striker to fuel early-season optimism, and Joshua Zirkzee delivered it for Manchester United and manager Erik ten Hag. Just when it looked like the Red Devils’ campaign would get off to a

Aug 16, 2024, 11:17 AM ET Open Extended Reactions The U.S. men’s national team was eliminated from the Copa América 46 days ago. With Gregg Berhalter being dismissed soon after, there’s hardly been a moment to breathe as U.S. Soccer searched for its next men’s manager and appears to have settled on Mauricio Pochettino. For

ESPN News Services Aug 15, 2024, 04:15 PM ET Open Extended Reactions If Paris Saint-Germain manager Luis Enrique thought the theme of his conferences would change without Kylian Mbappé, he was mistaken. The long-running saga of Mbappé’s transfer to Real Madrid from PSG finally ended at the beginning of June when the French forward joined

Aug 15, 2024, 07:51 AM ET Open Extended Reactions The 2024-25 European soccer season is finally here! After months of waiting — and with a brilliant summer of drama and excitement thanks to Euro 2024, the Copa America and the Olympics — we are back with a new club season on the continent, and there’s

Jeff Carlisle, U.S. soccer correspondentAug 15, 2024, 11:04 AM ET Close Jeff Carlisle covers MLS and the U.S. national team for ESPN FC. Open Extended Reactions Matt Crocker looks like he’s about to deliver in all manner of ways in hiring the next manager of the U.S. men’s national team. The USSF sporting director said

Open Extended Reactions Mauricio Pochettino has agreed to become the new United States coach with the responsibility of leading the team into the 2026 World Cup, a source has told ESPN. Editor’s Picks 1 Related Pochettino, 52, has been out of work since leaving Chelsea by mutual consent earlier this summer after just one season

Alex Kirkland, ESPN FCAug 14, 2024, 05:36 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Kylian Mbappé said there’s “no limit” to how many goals he and Real Madrid can score this season, after getting off the mark in his debut as the club lifted the UEFA Super Cup with a 2-0 win over Atalanta. After a tight

Open Extended Reactions It’s not even a month since Spain captain Álvaro Morata and Argentina skipper Lionel Messi held aloft the Euro 2024 and Copa América trophies, yet we’re about to usher in the new Premier League season. It all kicks off on Friday when Manchester United host Fulham at Old Trafford, which will be

ESPN News Services Aug 13, 2024, 09:44 PM ET Open Extended Reactions The Columbus Crew came from two goals down to put an end to Inter Miami CF‘s Leagues Cup title defense on Tuesday night at Lower.com Field. Christian Ramírez started the rally and Diego Rossi scored twice as the reigning MLS Cup champs fought

Aug 13, 2024, 03:41 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Manchester United have completed the signings of Noussair Mazraoui and Matthijs de Ligt from Bayern Munich, the Premier League club announced Tuesday. A source has told ESPN that the deal is worth a combined £60 million ($76.6m) including add-ons. Netherlands centre-back De Ligt has signed a

Open Extended Reactions Football is at a breaking point. If anyone doubts that, just ask Erling Haaland. Should all go to plan for the Manchester City forward during the 2024-25 campaign, his season will be 354 days long. Ready or not, the new football season will be the longest and most physically demanding ever. Haaland,