Football

12:57 PM ET Jeff Carlisle Close U.S. soccer correspondent Jeff Carlisle covers MLS and the U.S. national team for ESPN FC. Austin Lindberg The 2020 MLS Cup playoffs are upon us, with games beginning this Friday, and with 18 clubs vying for an opportunity to lift that most prized piece of silverware, ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle

3:31 AM ET Two days before Christmas will mark Diego Simeone’s ninth anniversary as manager of Atletico Madrid. So glorious has been his era, the greatest in this club’s 117-year history, that the combative Argentinian’s achievements seem endless. They’re not, of course, but it wouldn’t be hard to be seduced by the illusion. Count them

11:13 AM ET Inter Miami CF striker Gonzalo Higuain needed a fresh start. The 32-year-old Argentine wanted to take control of the next step in his career and rekindle his love for the game after almost 14 years playing at the highest level in Europe. Landing at Real Madrid from River Plate aged 19, winning

11:00 AM ET After a nine-month gap between games due to COVID-19, the United States men’s national team finally returned to the pitch this past week with a pair of friendlies in Europe against Wales and Panama. The games, a 0-0 draw with Wales and a 6-2 win over Panama, showcased the growing talent standard

10:32 AM ET The Grand Place was packed, a sea of red shirts. The Belgium squad waved down from the balcony of Brussels’ City Hall, celebrating their third-place finish in the 2018 FIFA World Cup. It felt like the entire country (population: 11 million) was packed into the square. “It’s a difficult environment, sometimes, but

12:45 PM ET Every day at 6 a.m., Minnesota United manager Adrian Heath wakes up, and the first thing he does is look at his phone. Did the latest COVID-19 tests for players and staff come in? Did anyone test positive? With four positive tests in his team since the start of October, his tension

10:22 AM ET Football could have fans back inside English stadiums before Christmas, sources have told ESPN. The Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) held a landmark meeting on Tuesday with key administrators across football including representatives from the Premier League, the Football Association, the English Football League, the Professional Footballers’ Association, anti-discrimination

5:01 AM ET When Spain welcome Germany at an empty Estadio de la Cartuja in Seville on Tuesday in their final Nations League match, it offers the chance to see where they are in their evolution. When Spain won back-to-back European Championships and a World Cup in their dominant spell from 2008 to 2012, they

7:28 PM ET The worth of a forward is often in the eye of the beholder. A 30-yard-blast counts as much as a two-yard tap-in, even though the former is often what gets the hearts of fans beating faster. There is value in both kinds of goals — not to mention link play and pressing

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6:35 PM ET Moving to a three-man defence at the 2018 World Cup was widely acclaimed as a masterstroke by Gareth Southgate. The jury is still out, however, on whether returning to a similar shape will prove equally effective when it matters most. As a disciple of former Three Lions boss Terry Venables, Southgate is

7:19 PM ET Paul Pogba has said that his time away from Manchester United when he is playing with France is a “breath of fresh air.” In an interview on Sunday the midfielder admitted he was going through the toughest period of his career at the moment at United and that joining the French national

7:50 AM ET FOR AMERICAN SOCCER FANS, Oct. 10, 2017, still lives in infamy. In front of roughly 1,500 spectators at a slapdash pitch in Trinidad, the U.S. men’s national team failed to qualify for a World Cup for the first time since 1986. The Americans had advanced from the group in three of the

4:55 PM ET France handed defending Nations League champions Portugal a rare defeat on Saturday, winning 1-0 in Lisbon with N’Golo Kante‘s second-half strike to reach the competition’s final four at the expense of the holders. – Stream LIVE games and replays on ESPN+ (U.S. only) Kante scored only his second France goal in the

2:47 PM ET Sergio Ramos has become the most capped European footballer ever, making his 177th appearance for Spain in their UEFA Nations League match with Switzerland on Saturday. The Real Madrid defender — who captains both club and country — has now played one game more than the previous record holder, former Italy goalkeeper

9:00 AM ET Austin LindbergESPN FC On Thursday, the United States men’s national team played its first match since February and gave fans a solid look at the Yanks’ future. Head coach Gregg Berhalter gave debuts to six players — including a pair of 17-year-olds, Yunus Musah and Giovanni Reyna (who turned 18 on Friday)

11:45 AM ET Agents in football are nothing like Jerry Maguire. It’s not that they don’t develop heartfelt bonds with their representatives: Mino Raiola, who represents Paul Pogba, Erling Haaland and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, famously has no written contracts tying him to his clients but relies on handshakes instead. No, the difference is that in Maguire’s

2:52 PM ET Didier Deschamps’ weekends have become really tricky in 2020. The France head coach wants to watch as many of his players featuring for their clubs every Saturday or Sunday, but the problem is that there are too many contenders now to make the squad that he and his assistants are struggling to