Madrid (AFP) – Stand-in Spain captain Sergio Ramos has expressed his surprise at Iker Casillas's exclusion from Julien Lopetegui's first squad as Spain boss. Ramos is expected to lead the 2010 world champions in their first 2018 World Cup qualifier against Liechtenstein on September 5 after the 35-year-old Casillas was dropped in favour of David […]

Buenos Aires (AFP) – Lionel Messi's return to international duty with Argentina could be delayed by a groin injury his club side Barcelona stated on Monday. Messi was set to return for the two-time world champions' World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay and Venezuela after reversing his shock decision to retire from international football in June. […]

Buenos Aires (AFP) – Diego Maradona was not able to leave Argentina on the weekend because his passport had been reported "stolen", preventing him from travelling to Dubai, according to his lawyer. "It's a very rare occurence," said Diego Morla, the double World Cup winner's lawyer. "They told him his passport had been reported as […]

Marseille (AFP) – American businessman Frank McCourt, former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, on Monday entered into exclusive discussions for the acquisition of Marseille football club. McCourt sealed the deal in a meeting with incumbent owner Margarita Louis-Dreyfus, who will maintain a minority shareholding, and Marseille mayor Jean-Claude Gauldin, saying afterwards that […]

The 4th Round of CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying comes to a close Friday, September 2 and Tuesday, September 6 with the final 2 matchdays of the round. Reminder: The top 2 teams from each of the 4 groups advance to the 5th and final round of qualifying (the Hexagonal where the top 3 gain a […]

Now that the international break is upon us, there are plenty of games to look forward to. The action in Europe kicks off on Wednesday with several friendlies. Meanwhile, Thursday, September 4 will mark the start of qualifying for 54 FIFA affiliated nations of UEFA for World Cup 2018. The nations will be divided into 9 groups of […]

Madrid (AFP) – The Madrid city government said Monday it will pursue Real Madrid for 18.4 million euros ($20.6 million) in illegal state aid that the European Commission ordered the club to repay. Real, Spanish champions Barcelona and other clubs were found to have received an "unfair advantage" by the commission in July due to […]

Here are the ten things we learned from Week 25 of the 2016 MLS season. 1. Timbers Wallop Seattle For various reasons, it’s hardly felt at times this year like the Portland Timbers are MLS’ defending champions. But on Sunday afternoon at Providence Park, facing a make-or-break Cascadia derby against Seattle, the Timbers looked the […]

Berlin (AFP) – Germany coach Joachim Loew is aiming to blood some younger players at next year's Confederations Cup with an eye on defending the World Cup in 2018. "I would like to use the Confederations Cup as a tournament based on the future," said Loew, hinting that some of his senior players would be […]

Burton-on-Trent (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Marcus Rashford needs to play regular first-team football for Manchester United if he is to regain a place in the England squad, national manager Sam Allardyce told reporters on Monday. Rashford, 18, made his first appearance of the season for United as a substitute at Hull City on Saturday and […]

Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was relaxed about the possibility of losing star forward Sergio Aguero to suspension after television footage appeared to show him elbowing West Ham United's Winston Reid on Sunday. Aguero could face retrospective action by the Football Association, and suspension, if the incident in City's 3-1 […]

Barcelona (AFP) – Barcelona coach Luis Enrique highlighted the hunger of his squad not to be ousted by Real Madrid as Spanish champions after a hard-fought 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao maintained their perfect start to the season. The Catalans had to win their final five league games of last season to stave off Real's […]

Milan (AFP) – Marco Sau produced a last-gasp leveller for newly-promoted Cagliari as they battled back to draw 2-2 with Roma in Serie A on Sunday and complete a difficult few days for the Giallorossi. Genoa, who saw new Italy call-up Luca Pavoletti hit a brace in a 3-1 win away to newly-promoted Crotone, are […]

Paris (AFP) – Reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain suffered their first defeat under new coach Unai Emery on Sunday, going down 3-1 to a rampant Monaco at the Stade Louis II. Joao Moutinho put Monaco ahead before a Fabinho penalty doubled their lead just before half-time to leave the visitors up against it. Edinson Cavani pulled […]

Madrid (AFP) – Ivan Rakitic's first-half header maintained Barcelona's 100 percent start to the La Liga season as the champions withstood a wave of late pressure to win 1-0 at Athletic Bilbao on Sunday. Rakitic finished off an excellent team move after 20 minutes, but with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez uncharacteristically wayward in front […]