USA

The NCAA soccer season began Thursday night and Stony Brook gave us our first mind-blowing moment. Two players making their collegiate debuts scored two minutes and four seconds apart to propel the Seawolves to a wild 2-1 victory, the latter Stony Brook women’s soccer goal making SportsCenter’s vaunted Top 10 at No. 2.

It all started in the 88th minute when freshman Hannah Maracina was taken down in the box and fellow freshman Linn Beck converted the ensuing penalty kick to tie the game at 1-1. 

With nine successive Serie A titles followed by two campaigns where Champions League qualification seemed a shallow silver lining, Juventus’ fall from grace has been clear to see in recent years. This summer has seen several big names depart Turin, and the Bianconeri will be hard-pressed to find adequate replacements in order to once again fight for the Scudetto.

Heather O’Reilly is backing up that smack talk she levied at Cristiano Ronaldo earlier this week.

O’Reilly, a 37-year-old World Cup winner and three-time Olympic gold medalist, came out of three years of retirement in July to join Irish champion Shelbourne to fulfill her dream of playing in the Champions League. That moment came on Thursday when she started in a Women’s Champions League qualifying match against ZNK Pomurje of Slovenia. 

Organizers have sold 2.45 million tickets for this year's World Cup in Qatar, world soccer governing body FIFA said on Thursday, with more than half a million of them sold in the last sales period from July 5-16.

FIFA said the biggest number of allocated tickets were for group stage matches like Cameroon vs. Brazil, Brazil vs. Serbia, Portugal vs. Uruguay, Costa Rica vs. Germany and Australia vs. Denmark.

MANCHESTER, England - British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe's interest in buying Manchester United has raised the hopes of the club's supporters that their American owners, the Glazer family, might now sell the club and pave the way for a return to glory on the field.

Whether that happens will depend on three key factors: how much they think the club is worth; whether there are potential buyers willing to pay that price; and finally, if the much-criticized Glazers are willing to take the money and leave.

The Master Bruce Arena almost pulled off the improbable on The Apprentice Bob Bradley at BMO Field on Wednesday night.

Arena's New England Revolution, after winning the Supporters' Shield last year, found themselves just beneath the Eastern Conference playoff line and four points above Bradley's Toronto FC heading into Wednesday night's showdown.

TFC has been surging up the standings since the arrival of its Italian stars, and it was the lively Federico Bernardeschi who gave the home side the advantage from the spot in the 31st minute.