Central & South America

Diego Maradona is revered in Argentina, except, apparently, by the border police.

The 55-year-old football legend was reportedly detained by border police at an airport while traveling to Dubai from Buenos Aires. The police supposedly accused Maradona of having a false or stolen passport.

Maradona responded as would be expected, by throwing out conspiracy theories.

“I won’t let anyone control my life,” he told Diario Popular.

With Bolivia sitting ninth in the 10-team South American World Cup qualifying table, and having lost all three of their Copa America Centenario matches, newly appointed manager Angel Guillermo Hoyos is determined to get the most out of La Verde by going back to square one — the square where he determines who in Bolivia actually plays soccer.

Remember that time Germany beat Brazil 7-1 in the World Cup semifinals? Yeah, that's history now. Weverton came up with a save in penalties and Neymar scored his penalty (in addition to a monster free-kick earlier in the game) and Brazil became Olympic champions.

We're not sure if anyone out there knew this, but Neymar is really good.

Look at that celebration. Cristiano is clearly Neymar's idol pic.twitter.com/vsnGaLiZdl

We have to admit, we're happy for Nigeria. A couple weeks ago they were stranded in Atlanta and it looked likt they might not get to be in the Olympics. Saturday, they medaled after surviving, 3-2, against Honduras.

It looked like smooth sailing for the Super Eagles after two goals from Sadiq Umar and one goal from Aminu Umar put Nigeria up 3-0.

Canada have medaled. Brazil have not. 

Here's how it went down:

Ashley Lawrence is a burner and as such she burned Brazil's entire defense on a counterattack and put the ball on a plate for 17-year-old (!) Deanne Rose to slot home.

Brazil absolutely dominated Sweden during their Olympic semi-final match on Tuesday. The final statistics show that Brazil had 67% of possession and nine shots on goal compared to Sweden’s two. However, Sweden rode their luck to a second consecutive penalty shootout victory following their similar upset of the USWNT.

Sweden does it again!

Brazil have found their best form at the 2016 Summer Olympics men’s football tournament at just the right time. Building off their 4-0 hammering of Denmark and 2-0 quarterfinal victory over Colombia, they’ve put in their most impressive performance yet in a 6-0 drubbing of Honduras.

They now await the winner of the Nigeria vs. Germany match in the other semifinal in Sao Paulo later today.

Brazil couldn’t have asked for a better start in front of 70,000 supporters at the world famous Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.

A few weeks ago, the Seattle Sounders hit rock bottom. They were one point from the Western Conference cellar. They were just embarrassed on national television by Sporting Kansas City and had no choice but to fire Sigi Schmid, the only coach they’d ever had in their MLS history. 

All of a sudden, one of America’s great soccer cities found itself with a club that was more pretender than championship contender. 

Enter Nicolas Lodeiro. 

Brazil’s Olympic footballing dream received a massive lift on Saturday. Following the women’s dramatic shootout victory over Australia on Friday, Brazil’s men followed the example of Marta and company to reach the semi-finals of their own competition.

Having struggled through group play with draws against Iraq and South Africa, Neymar and his teammates sprung to life with devastating efficiency against continental rivals Colombia.

Well, that was short-lived. Argentina manager Edgardo Bauza’s trip out to Barcelona has to be deemed a resounding success with the news that Lionel Messi has decided to reverse his decision to retire from international football.

Rather than keep his country in limbo, Messi now appears set to star for Argentina in their September World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay and Venezuela — an outcome that looked impossible at the end of June.