Soccer

For 48 hours, soccer stood on the brink. Fans took to the streets. Players broke into open revolt. Chaos stalked the game’s corridors of power, unleashing a shock wave that resonated around the world, from Manchester to Manila, Barcelona to Beijing and Liverpool to Los Angeles.That internationalism is what has...

Jamie Vardy ended his two-month goal drought as Leicester tightened its grip on a Champions League spot with a 3-0 win over West Bromwich Albion on Thursday that pushed the visitors closer to relegation.Vardy had not netted in his previous 11 games but opened the scoring in the 23rd minute,...

The top female hockey players in Sweden refused to attend training camp Thursday or play in an coming international tournament in Finland, the latest such move by a women’s national team to get better compensation.The Swedish Ice Hockey Federation said it had been informed of the looming boycott and was...

Vlatko Andonovski was vaulted into one of the most coveted positions in women’s soccer on Monday, taking the helm of the United States women’s national team in the wake of their record-extending fourth World Cup victory.Andonovski, a coach in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), takes over from Jill Ellis...

The U.S. women’s national team wants the U.S. Soccer Federation to repeal the anthem policy it instituted after Megan Rapinoe started kneeling during the The Star-Spangled Banner.The U.S. women’s team also wants the federation to state publicly that the policy was wrong and issue an apology to the team’s black...

Having rapidly mobilized to thwart rebel clubs from joining a breakaway European competition, the Premier League is taking steps to prevent the so-called “Big Six” from attempting something similar in the future.England’s biggest clubs have often used threats of joining a Super League as a power play in the past...

A pronouncement from Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola that the abandoned Super League was a “closed chapter” is proving way wide of the mark.The ripples of discontent from the failed power-grab by England’s so-called “Big Six” were continuing to be felt on Thursday, when a group of Manchester United fans...

All three Canadian MLS teams have got their first shots of the COVID-19 vaccine.The Vancouver Whitecaps, who have set up shop at Real Salt Lake’s Utah home due to pandemic-related border restrictions, got their vaccinations Tuesday.“I feel good,” coach Marc Dos Santos told reporters Wednesday. “My arm just feel sore,...

The plot to create a European Super League fizzled out on Wednesday, but the backlash quickly began with fans demanding resignations, rival teams calling for punishment and the British government announcing plans to weaken the power of team owners.The scheme started to unravel late Tuesday after two days of unrelenting...

Vinicius Junior finally came up with the type of performance Real Madrid fans have been expecting from him.The Brazilian forward netted his first double for the club on Tuesday, leading it to a 3-1 over Liverpool in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals.The youngster tormented the Liverpool defence...

Still opponents rather than teammates, Phil Foden showed Erling Haaland there’s already a 20-year-old excelling at Manchester City.Foden netted City’s 90th-minute goal to clinch a 2-1 victory over Haaland’s Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday – and even before that it was the...

Solid defensively and precise in attack, Chelsea took a big step toward returning to the last four of the Champions League by defeating Porto 2-0 in the first leg of the quarter-final on Wednesday.Mason Mount and Ben Chilwell scored their first Champions League goals to give Chelsea a great chance...

The European Super League collapsed on Wednesday as eight of the 12 founding members from England, Italy and Spain abandoned the breakaway project under massive pressure from fans, politicians, soccer officials and even the British royals.Founder and Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli told Reuters he was reluctantly calling time on the...

Canada will open the Tokyo Olympic women’s soccer tournament against host Japan on July 21 at the Sapporo Dome.The eighth-ranked Canadian women, bronze medallists at the last two Olympics, were drawn in Group E with No. 11 Japan, Britain (FIFA ranks England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland separately) and No....

Early in the evening, London time, news began to leak that the first of the dozen mutinous European soccer clubs looking to start their own super league was pulling out. A few minutes later, a second decided to follow. A few minutes after that, two more teams were on the...

A plan by some of the biggest clubs in soccer to form a European Super League has collapsed after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson threatened a “legislative bomb” to stop English teams from joining the venture.Outrage had been building since Sunday when the 12 teams – six from England’s Premier...

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said on Tuesday that breakaway Super League clubs cannot be “half in, half out” of the established soccer system while his UEFA counterpart said it was not too late for those involved to step back from the brink.European soccer’s governing body UEFA has threatened to ban...

Toronto FC kicks off its 2021 season in deep water Wednesday, taking on Club Leon in Mexico in the first leg of their Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League round-of-16 tie.The timing of the tournament favours the in-season Mexicans, as does the altitude (1,815 metres) in Leon.But Toronto captain Michael Bradley, like...

On Sunday, a dozen of the biggest soccer clubs in the world announced their intention to form a so-called European Super League.By Monday, this potential schism had become a full-on shooting war.Nobody stands to lose more in this bargain than UEFA, the governing body of European soccer. UEFA controls the...