National Teams

It took less than two days for the Concacaf Men’s Olympic Qualifying Championship to go full Concacaf.

Haiti was forced to start its opener against Honduras with 10 men — including a field player at goalkeeper — after some Covid-19 testing snafus. Honduras took full advantage to score a 3-0 win over Haiti on Friday afternoon in Guadalajara, Mexico, the opening Group B match.

Only in Concacaf.  

David Ochoa might not have been expected to be the first-choice keeper for the U.S. at the Concacaf Men’s Olympic Qualifying Championship, but Jason Kreis is sure glad he went with the Real Salt Lake goalie in the USMNT’s opener. Ochoa made nine saves and Jesús Ferreira scored on the other end as the U.S. opened the qualifying tournament with a nervy 1-0 win over Costa Rica on Thursday in in Guadalajara, Mexico. 

MANCHESTER - Next week's World Cup qualifying games in Europe and beyond are set to be heavily affected by clubs refusing to release players for international duty, COVID-19 quarantines and travel restrictions.

Inter Milan announced on Thursday that all of their players will be pulled out of international duty after two more positive COVID-19 cases at the club.

LONDON - England manager Gareth Southgate has dropped Liverpool full back Trent Alexander-Arnold from his squad while recalling on-loan West Ham midfielder Jesse Lingard for this month's World Cup qualifying matches against San Marino, Albania and Poland.

Alexander-Arnold has been a regular in the England squad since breaking into the side ahead of the 2018 World Cup but Southgate said his form had cost him his spot.

Former Italy captain Daniele De Rossi has joined Roberto Mancini's national team staff as technical coach, the Italian Federation said on Thursday.

Ex-Roma midfielder De Rossi is fourth on Italy’s all-time appearance list having played 117 times for the Azzurri, and takes up his first coaching role after retiring from playing last year when he left Boca Juniors.

Fresh off the announcement that he’d been included in Gregg Berhalter’s 26-man squad for a pair of USMNT friendlies at the end of the month, Daryl Dike went and scored a brace for Barnsley on Wednesday, bringing his Championship total to five goals in 10 games.

USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter has finalized his 26-man roster for a pair of friendlies against Jamaica and Northern Ireland at the end of March, although seven of those players will only be available for the Jamaica match before heading back to their club sides because of mandatory quarantine restrictions.

STOCKHOLM — Sweden's record goalscorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic announced his return to his country's international squad following a five-year hiatus by declaring "The return of the God" in a social media post on Tuesday.

The 39-year-old was named in coach Janne Andersson's 26-man squad for their World Cup qualifiers against Georgia and Kosovo, five years after the striker retired from the national team.

Arsene Wenger says FIFA should consider holding the World Cup and Euros every two years and that a review of the international match calendar will consider compressed qualifiers and enforced breaks for players.

The former Arsenal manager is Chief of Global Football Development at world soccer's governing body and a close advisor to president Gianni Infantino.

Wenger said the current four year wait for a World Cup is unfair to players and the focus should be on "competitions of meaning," including the European Championships.