National Teams

Italy coach Roberto Mancini fumed over the state of the pitch after his team were held to a 0-0 draw away to Poland in the Nations League on Sunday.

After a glaring miss by Federico Chiesa early in the game, Italy struggled to create chances and managed only three shots on target despite enjoying 60% of possession. Even so, Italy extended their unbeaten run to 18 matches as they stayed top of League A Group One with five points from three games. The Netherlands and Poland have four each and Bosnia two.

Norway showed Brendan Rodgers levels of character by rebounding from Thursday’s heartbreaking 2-1 defeat to Serbia in the Euro 2021 playoffs with a 4-0 win over Romania in Nations League play on Sunday.

It’s obviously small consolation for the nation’s failure to qualify for a first major international tournament since Euro 2000, but today’s victory showed why qualifying for the 2022 World Cup might be within this current generation’s reach. 

Marcus Rashford's penalty and a lucky strike from Mason Mount helped England come from a goal down to overcome top-ranked Belgium 2-1 at Wembley on Sunday and climb above them in their UEFA Nations League group.

Romelu Lukaku opened the scoring for the visitors from the penalty spot in the 16th minute after being brought down by a lunging tackle from England's Eric Dier. It was the Inter Milan striker's 13th goal in his last 11 matches for his country.

KIEV — Germany scored once in either half to beat hosts Ukraine 2-1 in the Nations League on Saturday for their first win in four matches and their first ever victory in this competition.

Matthias Ginter put them ahead in the 20th minutes after good work from Antonio Ruediger, and Leon Goretzka pounced on a mistake by Ukraine keeper Georgiy Bushchan to head in their second goal four minutes after the restart.

SAO PAULO — Roberto Firmino scored twice and Marquinhos and Philippe Coutinho also got goals as Brazil hammered Bolivia 5-0 in their opening World Cup qualifier in Sao Paulo on Friday.

Brazil had never lost a World Cup qualifier at home, a run that stood at 54 matches going into Friday's game, and they never looked in danger of losing that record.

Brazil vs Bolivia Highlights (All Goals)

MANCHESTER, England — It is 62 years since all four British home nations last qualified together for the finals of a major tournament but after Wednesday's Euro 2020 penalty shoot-out playoff drama, such a prospect is now within reach.

Scotland and Northern Ireland find themselves one game away from qualification for next year's European Championship and the chance to join Wales and England in the delayed finals.

The last time all four made it to a major tournament was the 1958 World Cup finals in Sweden.

BERN — The amount of money spent on international transfers in the window which closed on Monday dropped by more than 30 percent compared to the corresponding period last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, global soccer body FIFA said in a report on Friday.

FIFA announced that a total of $3.92 billion was spent by clubs worldwide between June 1 and Oct. 5 in the transfer window this year, compared to $5.8 billion a year ago.

On Thursday, Vlatko Andonovski called Catarina Macario into the USWNT fall training camp. Later that day, Macario, a Brazilian-born college megastar, announced she had obtained U.S. citizenship. So, when will Catarina Macario be eligible for USWNT games? Well, that’s still up to FIFA, and Macario herself admits there is still a ways to go.

Argentina got their World Cup qualifying campaign off to the perfect start on Thursday when Lionel Messi's early penalty gave them a 1-0 win over Ecuador in a lackluster match in Buenos Aires.

The Argentine FA piped fan noise around the empty Bombonera stadium and the chants of "Messi! Messi!" were vindicated as early as the 12th minute when he put Argentina ahead from the spot after Lucas Ocampos was fouled inside the penalty area.