Russia concluded group play in the 2018 Algarve Cup without a point, losing all three matches while being outscored 7-1. A 3-0 loss to Sweden on Monday ensured the Russians finished among the bottom two of 12 national teams. But there was one positive: an exquisite rainbow by forward Marina Fedorova.
The USWNT, the world's top-ranked side, defeated Germany, second-ranked, 1-0 to begin SheBelieves Cup play Thursday night, Megan Rapinoe scoring the game's lone goal off an assist from Alex Morgan.
The weather outside was weather — cold, wet (a nice wintery mix of rain/snow) and windy. Why the SheBelieves Cup decided to stage two matches in the midwest during the winter is an awfully good question, but the USWNT and Germany played out a high-energy, although somewhat limited, match — the opener for both nations at this round-robin tournament.
The 2018 World Cup was always going to be a little unhinged. This, after all, is a country in which groups of ultras get together before league games and partake in semi-organized brawls. After the Russians took the spotlight at Euro 2016 in France with some, well let's be polite and call them "antics," folks were right to be worried about fan safety during the World Cup.
The Algarve Cup began Wednesday with six matches. The highlight was supposed to be Japan, a finalist in the last two World Cups, against the Netherlands, the reigning European champion. However, the match was hardly competitive, with the Leeuwinnen thoroughly dominating the match. The only notable aspect of the 6-2 rout was four miserable seconds from Japan goalkeeper Sakiko Ikeda.
Winning the World Cup is the emotional paramount for every football player in the planet.
Over the years, World Cup finals have offered fans unforgettable moments, from fantastic goals to thrilling matches.
However, nothing beats the emotion of lifting the trophy for all the world to see.
It is such an ecstatic moment. A whole nation celebrates while the whole world acknowledges the most remarkable of accomplishments.
USWNT coach Jill Ellis revealed the final 23-player squad for the 2018 SheBelieves Cup on Friday. The tournament will see the world’s No. 1-ranked side (the U.S.) host Germany (No. 2), England (No. 3) and France (No. 6) in a round-robin tournament across three cities — Columbus, Ohio, Harrison, New Jersey, and Orlando, Florida.
Apparently, soccer comebacks are all the rage right now. Landon Donovan is back playing with León, Freddy Adu rediscovered his love for soccer with the Las Vegas Lights, Marco Reus is back scoring for Dortmund and now a Gianluigi Buffon Italy return appears imminent.
Sepp Blatter, the asshat who once allowed corruption to run rampant as the longtime president of FIFA, spoke out about the 2026 World Cup on Thursday. The man who helped award the next two World Cups to nations with countless human rights violations gave the joint bid from the U.S., Mexico and Canada a boost by saying Morocco is the logical choice to host the tournament in eight years.
As the World Cup gets closer and closer, it’s never too early to prepare for the spectacle on television. The World Cup TV schedule has been released for the United States and we’ve listed what channels each match will appear on when the tournament begins on June 14.
The English-language World Cup TV schedule was made by Fox, which will be showing matches on its over-the-air FOX network as well as FS1. Fox has opted to not use FS2 for any matches, though that’s subject to change for simultaneous matches at the end of group play.
Paolo Guerrero has had an interesting five months or so. He went from scoring the goal that essentially put Peru into its first World Cup in 36 years in October to FIFA banning him for a year for testing positive for cocaine in December.