National Teams

The Libyan Football Federation (LFF) said Nigeria were to blame for the postponement of Tuesday's scheduled Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Benghazi after the visitors refused to play the match citing mistreatment on arrival in the country.

Nigerian players and officials were kept in a locked airport for over 16 hours almost 150 miles away from their intended destination after their charter flight was redirected while on approach to Benghazi and instead landed in Bayda.

Christian Pulisic is one of five United States men’s national team players being sent back to their club ahead of Tuesday’s friendly. For fans asking why is Pulisic not playing vs Mexico, the USMNT star is going back to AC Milan to manage his workload.

The other four USMNT players heading back to their clubs have picked up minor injuries.

Weston McKennie, Ricardo Pepi, Zack Steffen and Marlon Fossey have all left the USMNT October camp.

Why is Pulisic not playing vs Mexico

The Mauricio Pochettino era is officially underway as the United States men’s national team defeated Panama 2-0 on Saturday in a friendly. We’re winning the damn World Cup.

Saturday’s victory at Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas, was the first win for the USMNT in four months as the team had a brutal skid and transition from the Gregg Berhalter era. Prior to the win vs. Panama, the U.S. had won just one of their previous seven games.

WARSAW — First-half goals from Bernardo Silva and Cristiano Ronaldo helped group leaders Portugal to a comfortable 3-1 victory away to Poland in the Nations League on Saturday as they continued their perfect start to the competition with three wins.

Silva put Portugal in front after 26 minutes, netting from Bruno Fernandes' headed assist, before Ronaldo doubled their lead 11 minutes later with a low, first-time shot.

Cristiano Ronaldo goal vs Poland

SIUUUU

Venezuela pulled off a fantastic result in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying with a 1-1 draw vs. Argentina on Thursday. During a pause in the game for an injury there was a small skirmish between Lionel Messi and Venezuela’s Yeferson Soteldo.

When we say “small skirmish” we’re not talking about the heights of the players as Soteldo stands at 5 feet 3 inches tall and Messi is 5 feet 7 inches.

New United States men’s national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino is overseeing his first training camp with the players as the squad prepares for two October friendlies. Veteran defender Tim Ream says that Pochettino’s sessions are another level of demanding.

Ream appeared on the ”Player / Manager” podcast and shared what the first few days have been like working under Pochettino.

Tim Ream Pochettino comments

“It’s INTENSE…the longest training session in my 14 years.”

Gio Reyna is expected to miss another month and-a-half with a groin injury after suffering a setback, announced Borussia Dortmund manager Nuri Sahin.

The United States men’s national team midfielder initially suffered the injury during the USMNT’s September window and has been out for club and country since.

️ Nuri Şahin:

New United States men’s national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino will oversee his first game in charge on Oct. 12 in a friendly vs. Panama. On Wednesday the first-ever Pochettino USMNT roster was announced featuring 25 players.

Let’s look at the players Pochettino will call upon for the upcoming friendlies vs. Panama and Mexico.

First Mauricio Pochettino USMNT roster

The full squad headed to Texas pic.twitter.com/A3KpUsnYpP

PARIS, Sept 30 (Reuters) - France midfielder Antoine Griezmann announced the end of his international career on Monday after being coach Didier Deschamps's most important player for a decade, during which he won a World Cup title.

The 33-year-old, who struggled at this year's Euros, was one of the key elements in the 2018 and 2022 World Cup campaigns as Les Bleus took the title in Russia and finished runners-up in Qatar.