Human Interest

MADRID — Police detained seven men on Tuesday over separate alleged hate crime incidents against Real Madrid football player Vinicius Jr as Spain's main soccer league urged changes to Spanish law that would enable it to take steps to curb racism in stadiums.

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti expressed support for Vinicius Jr, whom he expected would remain at the club.

He lambasted Spain's "obsolete" protocols to deal with racism in the sport, and said he would consider taking his players off the pitch if they were to be abused again during a game.

John Brooks was one of several surprise inclusions on the 60-man United States men’s national team preliminary roster for the Concacaf Nations League. There could be a chance for a John Brooks USMNT reunion.

The Concacaf Nations League resumes in June with the United States vs. Mexico and Canada vs. Panama as the semifinals. The tournament requires teams to release preliminary rosters with up to 60 players and those were unveiled on Friday.

Major League Soccer (MLS) awarded its 30th team to San Diego on Thursday, with the club set to make their debut in 2025 under the ownership of entrepreneur and investor Mohamed Mansour.

San Diego, which was a well-publicised front-runner to be awarded the expansion franchise, follows several other recent additions to the top-flight North American league, including St Louis City SC, which debuted this year.

On Sunday's episode of 60 Minutes, correspondent Scott Pelley visited Google's AI lab in London for a segment looking at how the company was getting robots to play soccer.

The robots weren't programmed by humans — they learned the game themselves after only being instructed to score goals. From there the AI program went about devouring motion capture technology and testing different moves for about two weeks.

Through this system of trial and error, the robots just got better and better with more practice.

Major League Soccer handed a six-game suspension to New York Red Bulls forward Dante Vanzeir on Thursday in response to his admitted use of racist language last Saturday in a game against the San Jose Earthquakes.

The ban applies to MLS games, but during the duration of the suspension, Vanzeir is also prohibited from appearing in U.S. Open Cup games, MLS Next Pro games and exhibition games.

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MLS Matchweek 7 proved severely dichotomous to the league’s image. Fans were treated to the best that MLS offers with individual brilliance, age-defying heroes, local rivalries and close games. However, it was an alleged incident that occurred between San Jose and New York that left an extremely sour taste in fans' mouths.

NAPLES, Italy - The face of a young Diego Armando Maradona gazes down from a mural in Naples' Miracles Square, watching the city gear up for a celebration it hasn't enjoyed since the Argentine soccer star was at his peak more than 30 years ago.

Miracles for Neapolitans, who grew up in a city steeped in mysticism and superstition, are happening on the pitch, as their team cruise towards a third Serie A triumph and prepares for their first ever quarterfinal in the Champions League.