AL RAYYAN, Qatar - Portugal's Football Federation (FPF) have denied media reports that captain Cristiano Ronaldo threatened to leave the national team during the World Cup after coach Fernando Santos dropped him for their last-16 win over Switzerland.
Wednesday's news is that the search for the next USMNT coach could be a short one — Gregg Berhalter and U.S. Soccer have opened discussions on a new contract with the manager's current deal expiring at the end of the year.
Portugal manager Fernando Santos made the incredibly bold decision to bench Cristiano Ronaldo for his team’s 6-1 victory vs. Switzerland in the Round of 16 on Tuesday. Taking Ronaldo’s place was 21-year-old Benfica talent Gonçalo Ramos.
The rest is history.
Ramos scored a hat trick and added an assist in a dominant performance. Ronaldo who?
The rumor for why CR7 was benched is for a spat he had with South Korea’s Cho Gue-sung when being substituted out of Portugal’s final group stage game.
Spain manager Luis Enrique made the surprise decision to start Marcos Llorente at right back for his team’s Round of 16 clash with Morocco. Llorente hadn’t played a single minute in this World Cup before Tuesday and Morocco’s Sofiane Boufal had a field day with him in the first half.
Boufal was a Moroccan menace in the opening 45 minutes showing off a variety of skills and good dribbles. The 29-year-old winger who plays for Angers in Ligue 1 made Llorente’s life a living hell.
"Baila Brasil, Baila"
Brazil got back to winning ways with a comprehensive 4-1 victory over South Korea, but the Seleção, and especially manager Tite, stole the headlines for what they did after each of their four goals.
The University of Chicago beat Williams College 2-0 in the Division III men's championship, making head coach Julianne Sitch the first woman to lead an NCAA men's soccer team to a national title.
Sitch led the UChicago Maroons to an undefeated 22-0-1 record in her first season at the helm. The team's lone blemish — a 0-0 draw to New York University back in October — was actually against the only other woman coaching in men's Div. III, NYU's Kim Wyant.
AL RAYYAN, Qatar - Brazil forward Neymar will train later on Sunday and is set to play for the five-times champions in their World Cup last-16 match against South Korea after recovering from an ankle injury, coach Tite said.
Neymar suffered the injury in Brazil's opening 2-0 win over Serbia, which ruled him out of their 1-0 win over Switzerland and the shock defeat by Cameroon, one of a series of injury problems within the squad.
"Neymar will train today in the afternoon and if he trains well he will play," Tite told a news conference.
AL RAYYAN, Qatar - Argentina captain Lionel Messi and coach Lionel Scaloni predicted a tough but beautiful encounter with the Netherlands when the sides meet in Friday's World Cup quarterfinal.
Argentina beat Australia 2-1 while the Netherlands defeated the United States 3-1 on Saturday to set up a tantalizing clash between two of the great teams of world football who famously met in the 1978 World Cup final which the South Americans won.
The USA’s 2022 World Cup run ended in the Round of 16 on Saturday with a 3-1 loss to the Netherlands. It’s a game that could have ended differently for the Stars and Stripes who simply weren’t at their best.
This youthful American team will be disappointed in the loss but should be proud of their performances in the tournament. This team went undefeated in the group stage, outplayed mighty England and was the only Concacaf team to advance to the Round of 16.
For one last time let’s look at the three takeaways from the USA’s final game.
The USMNT starting 11 vs Netherlands has been confirmed with Christian Pulisic returning to the lineup after being forced off with a pelvic contusion against Iran last time out. Josh Sargent, however, still hasn't fully recovered from his ankle injury (he's unavailable for selection) and the starting striker claim goes to Jesús Ferreira (his first appearance).