Soccer's European Championship kicks off on Friday with the 24 teams' battle for glory accompanied by off-field conflict over the anti-racism gesture of "taking the knee".
England were booed by some of their fans in two friendlies while Ireland were jeered in Hungary for kneeling before kickoff in a move borrowed from American NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick and popularised by the Black Lives Matter movement.
The build-up to every major international tournament is the same: who has the best striker? Or, this is why x midfielder is going to dominate or why this winger is the key to this country getting out of its group.
But no one ever talks about the goalkeepers. In such a short tournament, where three matches decide a team's fate, the importance of the goalkeeper becomes magnified.
So let's give the goalkeepers the spotlight for a little bit, because often they're the ones that end up deciding the tournament.
Hello and welcome to the preview of Euro 2020’s most diabolically unpredictable opening group stage fixture. On Monday, June 14, No. 6 ranked Spain welcomes No. 18 Sweden to La Cartuja in Seville, where 18,000 fans will be in attendance.
Watching the USMNT vs. Costa Rica finish 4-0 had me tingling with excitement as if it was Christmas morning and I was nine again. This team is damn fun to watch.
Three days after defeating Mexico to lift the Concacaf Nations League trophy, the USMNT traveled to Utah for a friendly against Costa Rica. The starting squad against Costa Rica only featured two players that started against Mexico. Mark McKenzie and Tim Ream were the only two returners.
Daryl Dike has arrived. Well to be fair he arrived at Barnsley a long time ago, but this Daryl Dike goal vs Costa Rica means that the man from Oklahoma has his first USMNT goal.
DARYL DIKE'S FIRST USMNT GOAL pic.twitter.com/00NAke0vNq
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) June 9, 2021
The first round of Concacaf World Cup qualifying is in the books. In March a total of 30 nations —29 if you account for Saint Lucia withdrawing — battled for six precious spots. On Tuesday, the final qualifying games were played as six nations punched their tickets for round two of Concacaf World Cup qualifying.
If you need a refresher on Concacaf’s World Cup qualifying format, then I recommend the video below. The dates aren’t accurate — you can thank Covid for that — but the format remains the same.
Despite 119 international caps to his name, Goran Pandev has rarely experienced success with North Macedonia.
The North Macedonian record-holder for both appearances and goals, Pandev made his international debut back in 2001 during a 3-3 draw against Turkey in World Cup Qualifying. It took more than three years after that day for the center forward to win his first competitive fixture with his country — a 3-0 victory over Armenia.
MADRID — Spain defender Diego Llorente became the latest player after captain Sergio Busquets to test positive for COVID-19, causing further disarray in the three-times European Championship winners' preparations for the tournament.
Following Busquets' positive test at the weekend, Spain's players have been in isolation and only able to train on an individual basis - with their first game just three days later.
Argentina drew 2-2 with Colombia in World Cup qualifying on Tuesday night at El Metro in Barranquilla after Los Cafeteros were able to snatch an equalizer with the game’s final attack.
The detective work done by all neutrals when watching this Albiceleste side is to determine how much progress has been made since the nervy, need-a-Messi-hat-trick-on-the-final-day 2018 qualifying cycle, but it remains difficult to say.
The difference between the two cycles after six games is just one point (although it’s a positive point).
Si esta tarde hubiera estado en Marbella y hubiera tenido que decidir entre ir a la playa o ver el amistoso entre México y Arabia Saudita Sub 23, el fútbol salía a pérdida. 25ºC frente al mar, en cualquier escenario, son superiores a lo que mostraron ambas selecciones. Sin embargo, como uno está en medio de la semana laboral, no había mucho donde elegir.