International Soccer

Last year it was Adam Armstrong who provided the main thrust in the Blackburn attack. This season, following Armstrong's departure to the Premier League with Southampton, Ben Brereton Díaz has picked up the mantle for Rovers. 

Brereton Díaz is the key reason why Armstrong has not been missed as yet. With nine goals in the season's first 10 games, the 22-year-old has fired Rovers into sixth place. He announced in July he would use his mother's surname in club games as well as international games for Chile, for whom the Stoke-born forward made his international bow on June 14. 

“Why is Pulisic not playing?” will be a question frequently asked in the coming weeks as the USMNT prepares for the second window of World Cup qualifying.

On Wednesday, head coach Gregg Berhalter released the 27-man roster that will represent the United States in October’s qualifying games against Jamaica, Panama and Costa Rica. Christian Pulisic and Gio Reyna’s names weren’t on the list.

I heard once, I can’t remember from where, that the greatest measure of your time remaining on this planet was in how many more World Cups you could reasonably expect to witness before death. Instead of saying “I am 30,” you could say “I hope to see 12 more World Cups.”

That struck me as a reasonable philosophy. 

Birthdays start to come and go with an increasing desire to make less of what starts to seem like a doomsday countdown, but the World Cup — with its quadrennial rarity — stands out as a month-long celebration of the best of our outward reality.  

After missing the European Championship with a knee injury that lingered into the start of the new season, AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimović has been recalled to the Sweden national team for a pair of upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Kosovo (Oct. 9) and Greece (Oct. 12). Ibrahimović celebrates his 40th birthday on Oct. 3, so we’ll get to see if transitioning into the "middle age adult" stage of life has any effect on his game.

You wouldn’t think so.

European Championship winners Italy will face Copa America winners Argentina in June 2022, the soccer governing bodies of Europe and South America said on Tuesday.

"The agreement reached by the two organisations currently covers three editions of this match between the respective continental winners," UEFA said in a statement.

No venue or competition title name was given for the match but a source told Reuters the game has been given the working title of the 'Finalissima'.

The all-time leader in goals scored at a World Cup is not Pelé nor Ronaldo — it’s another Brazilian, the timeless Marta. The brilliant No. 10 added a 113th career international goal to her tally on Monday, a stunning free kick that stirred Pelé whilst the elder Brazilian watched from a hospital. 

After a disappointing third-place finish at the Olympics, the USWNT set out on what was supposed to be a victory tour of sorts with a pair of friendlies against Paraguay in September and two more against South Korea in October. With the U.S. only “celebrating” an unsatisfactory bronze medal, the four-time world champions took out their frustrations on a Paraguay squad that may have wished it had just stayed home.