Shocking

The United States women’s national team defeated Canada 3-1 on penalties (2-2 after extra time on Wednesday) in the Concacaf W Gold Cup amid horrid weather and field conditions at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, California.

Rain poured down throughout the evening and during the day’s earlier Gold Cup semifinal that saw Brazil defeat Mexico 3-0. By the time the USWNT and Canada took the field it looked more like a swimming pool.

Real Madrid survived a real scare from RB Leipzig in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday as Vinicius Jr. scored a critical goal in a 1-1 draw and 2-1 victory on aggregate to book a spot in the quarterfinals.

Fans have a big question about Real Madrid’s win. Should Vini. Jr have even been on the field when he scored his goal?

A controversial moment took place in the 54th minute when the Brazilian winger caught Leipzig’s Willi Orbán late on a tackle. When Orbán confronted Vini Jr. about the tackle the Real Madrid man shoved the defender in the upper chest/throat area.

MELBOURNE — Australia captain Sam Kerr will face trial in the UK accused of the racially aggravated harassment of a police officer in London over a year ago.

Chelsea forward Kerr, one of the world's most recognizable women footballers and a sporting idol in her home nation, was charged on Jan. 21, almost a year after the incident was alleged to have occurred.

"The charge relates to an incident involving a police officer who was responding to a complaint involving a taxi fare on 30 January 2023 in Twickenham," the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

Christian Pulisic is now one of Lazio fans’ most hated players after he drew two red cards against the club on Friday during AC Milan's 1-0 victory. 

The incident that the Lazio faithful are the most upset about was Pulisic drawing a second yellow card on Luca Pellegrini who wanted play to stop for an injured player. There was no whistle so Pulisic kept playing.

Christian Pulisic was the spotlight of two hectic moments between AC Milan and Lazio players on Friday during the Rossoneri’s 1-0 victory. In the second half Pulisic got under the Lazio players’ skin and drew two red cards. 

The first incident saw the American dragged to the ground by Lazio defender Luca Pellegrini who was given a second yellow card and sent off. Pellegrini had already picked up a yellow card earlier in the game for a hard tackle on Pulisic.

Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba's career hung in the balance on Thursday after he was handed a four-year doping ban but the France international said he would try to clear his name by appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The France international was provisionally suspended by a tribunal of Italy's national anti-doping organisation (NADO Italia) in September after testing positive for DHEA - a banned substance which naturally raises levels of testosterone.

UPDATE: Cristiano Ronaldo has been suspended for one game and will pay a small fine announced the Disciplinary and Ethics Committee of the Saudi Football Federation on Wednesday.

Cristiano Ronaldo is in hot water after Al Nassr’s 3-2 victory vs. Al Shabab on Sunday for an obscene gesture made toward opposing fans following the final whistle. Saudi media reported that the Saudi FA have opened an investigation into the incident.

A 38th-minute goal by Jacqueline Ovalle and a score by Mayra Pelayo in second-half stoppage time led Mexico to a stunning 2-0 victory over the U.S. women's national team in Carson, Calif., on Monday to win Group A of the CONCACAF W Gold Cup.

The victory snapped Mexico's 16-match losing streak to the U.S. since a 2-1 win in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Women's World Cup qualifying event in Cancun, Mexico, on Nov. 5, 2010. The U.S. leads the series 40-1-2 and had blanked the Mexicans in the previous six meetings.

BARCELONA — Brazilian footballer Dani Alves was convicted of raping a woman in the restroom of a Barcelona nightclub in 2022 and sentenced to 4-1/2 years in prison on Thursday, which he will appeal.

The top court in Spain's Catalonia region also ordered Alves, who has been jailed on remand for over a year and repeatedly changed his story, to pay $163,000 to the victim.