The Nigerian men’s soccer team has been training for the Olympic tournament in Atlanta for the last month. Now, with less than 36 hours before their first match against Japan in Manaus, the Nigerian team remains in their Atlanta hotel.
According to the BBC, an unpaid flight bill resulted in the airline refusing to take the team to Brazil.
Sources from Lionel Messi’s family have told Goal.com that the former Argentina captain will not return for his country’s September World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay and Venezuela.
It's never easy being the son of a legendary footballer, but Giovanni Simeone, son of Diego Simeone, is showing all the signs that he can follow in his father's footsteps. Need convincing? Just take a look at this goal he scored for the Argentina U-23 team against Haiti.
The Homeless World Cup, which took place in Glasgow this year, finished up on Saturday. Mexico won both the men's final and the women's final, as the men coasted by Brazil 6-1 while the women beat Kyrgyzstan 5-0.
At this point, you might be asking yourself: "Wait. What's a Homeless World Cup?" Allow us to enlighten you.
Euro 2016 is over. It's all over. Tell us it isn't so.
Now that we have finished weeping uncontrollably and cursing the inevitable passing decay of time, we've been able to look back fondly at that magical month in France. All the surprises, all the snoozefests, the wardrobe malfunctions, the hooligans, the Irish lullabies, the pyrotechnics and of course, the tears. It's all been so great.
France take on Portugal in the Euro 2016 final on Sunday in what promises to be a titanic battle.
Oh, who are we kidding?
Portugal are going to play the same blasé football that they have for the entire tournament, and we can only hope that France break their defense early enough to make them come out of their shell. Otherwise, get ready for a long battle of attrition, and possibly penalties.
Anyways, following that cheery outlook on proceedings, let's take a look at some of the interesting facts coming into this match.
The rise, the connection, the shake of the back of the net and the famous celebration. Cristiano Ronaldo's header can only be described as towering. His elevation made him look like he was floating above the Welsh defenders as he smashed a beautiful service past the waiting goalkeeper. Portugal being criticized for not finishing off a single game in this tournament in regular time, left no question in the minds of the doubters as they showed Wales the exit door with a 2-0 decisive win. Ronaldo now has the chance to do what Messi could not do in June... win a major tournament.
Thousands of fans showed up to show to see the national team of Iceland return home to Reykjavik, and to show their appreciation.
If there was one story that everyone got behind at this year's European Championships, it was this unbelievable tale of a small island nation of 325,000 people that threatened to upset everybody.
Iceland's story proved that hard work and an emphasis on grassroots-development can be successful, no matter how limited the resources nor how small the talent pool.
In case you missed it last week, Renato Sanches, the up and coming star for Portugal scored a beamer that tied the game at 1's. Not only is this kid already a great player, the best part is, he is only 18! He is the youngest player to score for Portugal in the European Championships and crazy enough he is the youngest player in history to score in a knockout round game at the Euros. A rising Benfica star thats now at Bayern Munich will be ready to grow his name on the world's stage at the club and international level. What impact will he make against Wales tomorrow?
The 90+ minute winner from Graziano Pellé was enough to seal a two nil victory over the 2012 Euro Champions and advance Italy to the quarterfinals. The Spain Italy affair was one taken by Italy and not given. David De Gea for most of the game, kept Spanish hopes alive with some beautiful saves but he couldn't keep everything out. Italy moves on to face Germany on Saturday. Imagine how out of hand this game could have gotten without the beast in net....