Football

4:25 AM ET Sam Marsden Moises Llorens Barcelona president Joan Laporta has confirmed the club have already completed two signings ahead of the summer transfer window but said they are not considering bringing Lionel Messi back to the club. Laporta did not name the two signings, but ESPN previously reported Barca have agreed deals with

4:00 AM ET Luis Enrique shares a lot with Man United’s legendary Sir Alex Ferguson when it comes to coaching, but he’s destined for other challenges instead of restoring the fabled English club. Pablo Morano/MB Media/Getty Images It’s easy to understand why Manchester United fans fantasise about Luis Enrique Martinez Garcia becoming their next manager. Equally,

2:26 PM ET With World Cup qualifying reaching its dramatic conclusion around the globe over the past few days, Gab Marcotti takes a slightly different approach to his Monday Musings this week. There’s a look at the weird way in which teams book their place (or don’t) at the World Cup, as well as the

10:18 AM ET ORLANDO, Fla. — Tyler Adams has been the de facto captain for the U.S. men’s national team during this World Cup qualifying cycle, but when the U.S. players emerged from the tunnel on Sunday, Christian Pulisic was at the front, the armband wrapped tightly around his sleeve. It was fitting, too. On

11:44 PM ET ORLANDO — It’s a manager’s lot in life to be second-guessed. Decisions get analyzed to the smallest of details. Mistakes get highlighted. That’s especially true of international managers, with a country’s armchair coaches never holding back. Credit is due then to U.S. men’s national team manager Gregg Berhalter. Over the last week

8:57 PM ET The United States men’s national team couldn’t confirm its place at this winter’s World Cup, after Costa Rica‘s win at El Salvador earlier in the day, but its 5-1 win over Panama in Orlando, Florida, on Sunday night put it on the brink of qualifying for Qatar 2022. Christian Pulisic scored his

5:27 AM ET World Cup qualifying has entered its final stretch, with 19 of the 32 finalists now known. But who could take the 13 places that remain? We take a look at how qualifying looks. – World Cup 2022 qualifying: How it works around the world Europe Qualified (10/13):GermanyDenmarkBelgiumFranceCroatiaSpainSerbiaEnglandSwitzerlandNetherlands – Olley: England still a

4:11 PM ET ORLANDO — As the U.S. men’s national team prepares for Sunday’s World Cup qualifier against Panama, and with the possibility that the U.S. could clinch a spot in Qatar, manager Gregg Berhalter has a simple message for his players: Stick to the process. “I preach to the team about just one game

12:39 PM ET MEXICO CITY — When the final whistle blew, bodies started dropping. The Estadio Azteca was every bit the energy sucking force the young United States men’s national team had been warned of and after 90-plus minutes, there was nothing left in the tank. Even striker Jordan Pefok, a 60th-minute substitute, immediately dropped

Mar 24, 2022 Less than five years ago, Ben White was so far removed from top-level football that his typical matchday experience involved a pregame curry and a half-time fistfight. In August 2017, White was sent on a season-long loan to League Two side Newport County by parent club Brighton & Hove Albion, with the

11:38 PM ET Associated Press Lionel Messi says he will reconsider his future in soccer later this year but said it’s likely “many things will change” after the World Cup in November and December in Qatar. Messi’s comments came after Argentina beat Venezuela 3-0 on Friday in the remaining match of the penultimate round of

8:46 AM ET It’s like the old joke about buses: you wait hours for one, and then two come along at once. Except in reverse. Italy went 60 years without missing a World Cup and now, after Thursday’s 1-0 playoff defeat to North Macedonia, they’ve missed the last two buses to the biggest show on

5:00 AM ET MEXICO CITY — The number of times that the United States men’s national team has walked out of Estadio Azteca seething, on the wrong end of a scoreline, are too many to count. Usually it was because the visitors had been subjected to death by 1,000 passes, no match for Mexico‘s methodical

1:22 AM ET MEXICO CITY — It didn’t get the historic win it was looking for, but the United States national team picked up an important point at the Estadio Azteca, taking a significant step toward World Cup qualification in a 0-0 draw with Mexico. Coupled with Panama‘s 1-1 draw with Honduras, the United States

9:33 AM ET MEXICO CITY — As you drive down the Avenida del Iman, Estadio Azteca looms on the horizon. From afar, it looks like a hulking birthday cake was plopped down in the Santa Ursala neighborhood of Mexico City. As you get closer, the concrete supports look like the collective arms of Mexico supporters,

7:00 AM ET Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the biggest names in soccer who could miss out on the tournament. Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images Can you imagine a FIFA World Cup in Qatar without Portugal‘s Cristiano Ronaldo or Egypt‘s Mohamed Salah? Or a tournament in which European champions Italy or African champions Senegal fail to

7:16 PM ET An executive of Peruvian club Universitario Deportes has stated that former Portland Timbers midfielder Andy Polo was paid in full by Major League Soccer and the Timbers despite the MLS club saying his contract was terminated last month, and that Polo was asked by MLS not to sue the league because he

10:51 AM ET The U.S. men’s national team have had a interesting relationship with the World Cup. After appearing in three of the first four competitions (1930, 1950, 1954), the Yanks missed the next nine before returning, in 1990, thanks to a pivotal qualifying goal by Paul Caligiuri in Trinidad & Tobago. (You can see