National Teams

This year's Copa América will go ahead with only 10 teams, the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) said on Monday, as it abandoned plans to replace Australia and Qatar, the two sides who withdrew due to fixture congestion.

"As is traditional, CONMEBOL invited teams from other confederations," the body said in a statement. "However, the suspended matches and delays brought about by the pandemic that affected world football impeded other nations from participating."

MADRID - Luis Enrique has named four uncapped players in Spain's 24-man squad for the upcoming triple header of World Cup qualifiers against Greece, Georgia and Kosovo later this month.

Barcelona's 18-year-old forward Pedri, Brighton & Hove Albion goalkeeper Robert Sánchez, Eibar attacker Bryan Gil and fullback Pedro Porro of Sporting are the new faces in a squad that only contains six players from Spain's “big three” clubs.

MADRID - Valencia forward Yunus Musah has committed his international future to the United States, U.S. Soccer said on Monday.

Musah, who turned 18 in November, was eligible to represent Gregg Berhalter's side as he was born in New York to a Ghanaian mother who was on holiday visiting relatives at the time.

YOU CAN’T SPELL MUSAH WITHOUT USA

The selection process for the Canadian team competing at this month's Concacaf men's Olympic qualifying tournament may have been hampered by Covid-19 and other issues but head coach Mauro Biello remains confident in his squad.

Nine Toronto FC players were on the provisional roster but, due to positive Covid-19 tests at the MLS club's training camp, none made the 20-player squad named on Wednesday that will compete in the March 18-30 tournament in Guadalajara, Mexico.

BERLIN — Germany coach Joachim Löw will step down from the role he has had since 2006 after the end of this summer's European Championship, he said on Tuesday, ending his run as the current longest serving national team coach.

The top-ranked U.S. women's team will head to Europe in April to face Sweden as part of their preparations for the Tokyo Olympics where it will try to reclaim the gold medal that eluded it at the 2016 Rio Games, U.S. Soccer announced on Tuesday.

U.S. Soccer said fans will not be allowed at the April 10 game in Stockholm and that it is currently finalizing a second match in Europe to be played on April 13.

For the U.S. men’s national team, 2020 was another lost year with a mere four matches played because of the Covid-19 pandemic, by far the fewest in recent memory. This came on the heels of a lost year in 2018, when U.S. Soccer took 14 months to find a new coach after Bruce Arena and Jurgen Klinsmann’s failed World Cup qualifying campaign. Needless to say, the 2021 USMNT schedule could not be more important.