France

PARIS - Kylian Mbappé continued his meteoric rise on Saturday with another jaw-dropping performance as France qualified for next year's World Cup with an 8-0 demolition of Kazakhstan.

The Paris Saint-Germain striker became the first player to score four goals for France in a single game since Just Fontaine against Sweden at the 1958 World Cup.

Five weeks before his 23rd birthday, Mbappé has scored 23 international goals from 52 caps — bettering the marks of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo at the same age.

David Henderson, the businessman who organised the flight that crashed and led to the death of soccer player Emiliano Sala, was on Friday sentenced to 18 months in prison by the Cardiff Crown Court, local media reported.

Henderson, 67, was accused of failing to follow safety protocols that caused the death of 28-year-old Argentine Sala and pilot David Ibbotson when their plane crashed into the English Channel on a flight from Nantes to Cardiff in January 2019.

Paris Saint-Germain women's midfielder Aminata Diallo has been released from police custody following an attack on one of the club's players last week, the French side said on Thursday.

PSG said on Wednesday that Diallo had been taken into custody by the Versailles Regional Police Service as part of the proceedings opened following the alleged assault.

One day after being named to Vlatko Andonovski’s USWNT squad for a pair of friendlies against Australia at the end of the month, 22-year-old midfielder Catarina Macario played a huge role in Lyon’s comeback victory over Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Bayern took the lead in the 25th minute at Groupama Stadium after Kadeisha Buchanan scored an own goal with Carina Wenninger lurking.  

On Tuesday, PSG hammered Real Madrid 4-0 in the UEFA Women’s Champions League with 26-year-old France international Aminata Diallo starting in the defensive midfield role.

Thirty-one-year-old France international Kheira Hamraoui — Diallo’s direct competition for the spot — had started PSG’s first two UWCL games, but Hamraoui had been ruled out of the match due to injuries sustained following an assault by two masked individuals last week that left her requiring stitches. 

PARIS — Midfielder Paul Pogba left training with a possible thigh injury ahead of France's World Cup qualifier against Kazakhstan on Saturday.

The Manchester United player, who was one of very few players to take part in a light session on Monday evening, left the pitch with a thigh problem with team doctor Franck Le Gall.

Much has been said about Lionel Messi’s slow start to life in Paris, which is basically just to say that the 34-year-old hasn’t played much. Given his reluctance to ever miss a minute with Barcelona — regardless of whether it was a Champions League or second round Copa del Rey match — it’s been weird seeing Messi go over one-third of the league season without scoring or assisting yet.

PARIS — Paris Saint-Germain forward Lionel Messi will miss Saturday's Ligue 1 trip to Bordeaux through injury but could feature for Argentina in this month's World Cup qualifiers, manager Mauricio Pochettino said on Friday.

The 34-year-old Messi, who signed from Barcelona in the off season, is still recovering from "knee and hamstring pains", the club said. He also sat out the 2-2 draw against RB Leipzig in the Champions League in midweek.

On Wednesday morning, the NCAA slammed Oklahoma State’s men’s basketball team with a postseason ban for an infraction that happened four years ago where the only player involved received a mere $300 (players are now allowed to be paid). For fans of college sports, this was yet another case of the NCAA crushing a smaller school for a minor infraction while letting the blue bloods of the sport off scot-free for major violations.