Africa

The combined death toll in Turkey and Syria has risen to at least 2,600 from two earthquakes that struck the countries within the space of 12 hours. That number is expected to increase rapidly with many people still missing and trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings.

One of those still unaccounted for is former Newcastle winger and Ghana international Christian Atsu after the collapse of an apartment building in Hatay, Turkey.

The Seattle Sounders made history as the first club from Major League Soccer to compete in the FIFA Club World Cup on Saturday in Tangier, Morocco.. The Sounders lost 1-0 in heartbreaking fashion to Egyptian giants Al Ahly by conceding in the 88th minute.

The Sounders should keep their heads held high as they pushed Al Ahly to the very end. The Egyptian side are Club World Cup regulars as this is the eighth time Al Ahly have qualified for the competition.

Al Ahly defeated Auckland City FC 3-0 in the opening game of the 2022 FIFA Club World Cup on Wednesday in Morocco. With the way the bracket is designed, Al Ahly advance to the second round where they will face the Seattle Sounders on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 12:30 p.m. ET.

The winner of Saturday's game faces Real Madrid in the semifinal.

Al Ahly’s victory against the semi-professional club from Oceania was comfortable. This is the eighth time the Egyptian club have participated in the Club World Cup. They’ve advanced to the semifinals in the previous two tournaments.

RABAT - Real Madrid are favorites for a record-extending fifth success at the Club World Cup, and in the process keeping up European dominance over South America in the annual tournament, which kicks off in Morocco on Wednesday.

Real, who won previously in 2014 and then three successive tournaments from 2016 to 2018, are on course for a showdown with Flamengo of Brazil in the final but both must play a semifinal match first before they can set up an intriguing decider in Rabat on Feb. 11.

Barcelona Femení made football history on Wednesday by becoming the first team (men's or women's) to win 50 straight league matches after hammering Levante Las Planas 7-0 on Wednesday. Club history was also made as 16-year-old phenom Vicky López became Barça Femení's youngest-ever goalscorer in Liga F.

Barça's run in the league stretches back to a 4-3 defeat to Atlético Madrid on June 1, 2021, but they finished the 2020-21 campaign with five wins, won all 30 games in 2021-22 and have reached the halfway point of 2022-23 with 15 victories.

BERLIN - Borussia Dortmund forward Sébastien Haller is back in team training and ready to make his competitive comeback following surgery and treatment for testicular cancer.

The striker was diagnosed during a pre-season training camp in July and had been signed only weeks earlier by Dortmund for an initial fee of $33.24 million.

The almighty FIFA overlords who control the rankings that decide which countries are the best at soccer have spoken. The latest FIFA rankings released on Thursday say that the USA is better than Germany, Brazil is still the best in the world and a whole bunch of other nonsense.

The USA is officially the 13th best nation in the world according to FIFA.

Latest FIFA Rankings

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Trailing 1-0 to France shortly before halftime in Wednesday's FIFA World Cup semifinal, Morocco center back Jawad El Yamiq almost found an equalizer with an outrageous bicycle kick from 12 yards out.

Initially it looked like the overhead attempt had thumped directly off the base of the post, but it was counted as a shot on target and save for Hugo Lloris after replays showed the French goalkeeper getting his fingertips to it to help aid it onto the woodwork.

Without Lloris' touch, maybe the shot hits the inside of the post and goes in.