Michel Platini, the former UEFA president who was banned from football four years ago, was detained in Paris on Tuesday. The former France and Juventus No. 10 was questioned as part of an investigation into alleged corruption surrounding Qatar’s 2022 World Cup bid. Qatar won the hosting rights with Platini a big cheerleader for the bid.
By holding World Cup host France to a draw today, Nigeria could’ve secured passage to the Round of 16 for the first time since 1999. For close to 80 minutes, that looked like the Super Falcons destiny.
Step forward the VAR.
First, the referee looked at the monitor to review a collision in Nigeria’s box between Ngozi Ebere and Viviane Asseyi. The ref decided it was a penalty and sent Ebere off for her second bookable offense.
Up stepped Wendie Renard for the spot kick. Her initial attempt clipped the outside of the post and went directly behind for a goal kick.
The Copa América has some unconventional participants this year. Due to the small size of the CONMEBOL (10 teams), additional invitees are required in order to create the tournament's typical 12-team structure.
Normally, these spaces would be filled by teams from CONCACAF, but because the Gold Cup is also this summer, CONMEBOL offered the spots to Japan and Qatar of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). So, while certainly unlikely, there is a possibility that Japan or Qatar will be crowned Copa America champion this summer.
El Tri kicked off its battle to regain the CONCACAF Gold Cup last Saturday night, and what a way to start the campaign. The Mexicans outplayed their Cuban counterparts in a overwhelmingly one-sided match.
21-year-old LA Galaxy talent Uriel Antuna kicked off the scoring with a right-footed shot inside the box after the ball rebounded from the post. Raul Jimenez announced himself at the Copa Oro with a goal at the 31st minute, and his goal again showed how well he does at holding off pressure from opposition players.
Last night, a meeting between Uruguay — eighth-ranked in the world and perhaps the biggest threat to Brazil’s Copa América quest on home soil — and Ecuador was dominated by La Celeste. First half goals from Luis Suárez, Edinson Cavani and Nicolás Lodeiro effectively decided the match, especially so since Ecuador was reduced to 10-men in the 24th minute following a José Quinteros red card.
The opening goal from Lodeiro in the sixth minute was excellent, featuring a pinpoint cross from Suárez and a three-touch masterpiece from the Seattle Sounders attacker.
The draw for the 2019 Women’s World Cup really couldn’t have been unkinder for Thailand. Not only did the world’s 34th-ranked side land the defending world champion, they also got the last team to defeat the USWNT at a major international tournament, Sweden.
Things, of course, got off to a historically bad start when surrendering 13 unanswered goals to the U.S. to begin group play, and things weren’t looking pretty again today when trailing Sweden 4-0 in the 81st minute.
The USWNT defeated Chile 3-0 on Sunday with all three goals coming in the first half. Coincidentally, that was the exact same score at halftime of the Thailand game before the U.S. added 10 more over the course of the second 45. The score could’ve certainly approached that today, but for Chile goalkeeper Christiane Endler.
The 27-year-old, who plays for PSG, certainly appeared comfortable at the Parc des Princes while pulling off a string of stunning saves to keep the USWNT at bay in front of 45,594 appreciative spectators.
After trouncing Thailand 13-0 to begin FIFA Women’s World Cup play, the question facing the USWNT heading into Sunday’s match against Chile was both how many goals they’d score and — uh oh — how they’d celebrate those goals.
When Lionel Messi declared that Argentina “are not candidates like other times” and that this is a side “going through a process of change,” he wasn’t messing around. The only surprising thing about Argentina’s opening Copa América defeated to Colombia on Saturday night is that Messi himself spurned a glorious opportunity to put La Albiceleste ahead in the 66th minute.
Colombia took full advantage of that miss with Roger Martinez hitting a stunning game-winner in the 71st before Duvan Zapata added the insurance goal in the 86th.
CJ Bott tenía un dolor evidente. La repetición mostró el porqué.
La parte posterior del brazo derecho de la neozelandesa fue terriblemente doblado por un centro de la canadiense Janine Beckie en el 14º partido del Grupo E el sábado. Después de un largo retraso para estabilizar el brazo, Bott fue sacada del campo y reemplazada por Annalie Longo.
Bott fue capaz de salir por sus propios medios, pero estaba visiblemente molesta, gritando "¡J*der!" mientras salía del campo, con un yeso en la parte inferior del brazo.