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.
LONDON — Belgium's Kevin De Bruyne hit out at soccer's crowded calendar on Saturday on the eve of their Nations League match against England, the second of three national-team games inside a week.
“I've been playing without a break for two years now. But nobody listens to the players,” De Bruyne, who will captain the team against England at Wembley, told a news conference.
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.
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.
Three England players scored their first international goals to give Gareth Southgate's experimental team a comfortable 3-0 win over Wales in a friendly at Wembley Stadium on Thursday.
In-form Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin opened the scoring in the 26th minute before second-half goals from Conor Coady and Danny Ings secured the win in the warm-up game for Nations League matches against Belgium and Denmark.
Norway’s fledgling golden generation — spearheaded by Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland and Real Madrid’s Martin Ødegaard — fell at the penultimate hurdle to Euro 2021 on Thursday, losing 2-1 to a deserving Serbia after extra time in the qualifying playoffs in Oslo.
Norway hadn’t qualified for a major international tournament since Euro 2000 — whereas Serbia participated at the 2018 World Cup — but the home side entered this one full of hope after a qualifying cycle that included only one defeat (albeit five draws) in a group with Spain, Sweden and Romania.