Underdogs

Panama secured a 2-0 win over Papua New Guinea in the final qualifying playoffs for the Women's World Cup in New Zealand on Sunday and will face Paraguay, who beat Taiwan 4-2 on penalties in a thrilling game.

With both teams seeking World Cup qualification for the first time, Panama and Paraguay will face off in Hamilton on Thursday.

Cameroon will face Portugal, and Haiti will take on Chile in the other two playoffs on Wednesday for the July 20 to Aug. 20 World Cup in New Zealand and Australia, which will be the first edition to feature 32 teams.

After Bayern Munich’s loss against Mönchengladbach on Saturday, a win for second-place Union Berlin against Schalke on Sunday could make Jordan Pefok's team league-leaders with a two-point gap.

If you’ve lived under a rock for the first half of the European season — or just completely disregard anything happening in the Bundesliga (rightfully so after 10 straight league titles for Bayern) — you’re probably not aware that Union Berlin actually has a shot at the title this season.

It was a qualifying slog that lasted a couple months, but the USMNT has finally, officially secured its place at the 2026 World Cup alongside co-hosts Mexico and Canada. 

FIFA announced the news Tuesday at its FIFA Council meeting, which also confirmed changes to the Club World Cup.

After drawing 2-2 last Wednesday at Old Trafford, Manchester United and Leeds did it all again at Elland Road on Sunday with the Red Devils coming away victorious, 2-0, thanks to late goals from Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho. 

Days after the sacking of manager Jesse Marsch, relegation-threatened Leeds have gone into Old Trafford and drawn title-challenging Manchester United 2-2 with a midfield duo of Tyler Adams-Weston McKennie and a three-headed coaching monster including the American Chris Armas (mockingly referred to as "Ted Lasso" during his stint as assistant at Man Utd) and a guy who recently managed England's futsal team.

This sport is batshit crazy and I love it.

A battered and bruised Real Madrid side in a poor run of form eked out a late 4-1 victory vs. Al Ahly in the Club World Cup semifinal on Wednesday in Rabat, Morocco.

The scoreline doesn’t reflect how close the game was as Madrid’s final two goals came in stoppage time.

Major League Soccer fans wished it were the Seattle Sounders playing Real Madrid instead of Al Ahly. The MLS side fell 1-0 to the Egyptian club on Saturday. 

Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s Wrexham FC saw the clock strike midnight on their Cinderella-run in the FA Cup on Tuesday. Sheffield United defeated the fifth-tier lovable Welsh side 3-1 in the 4th Round Replays.

On Jan. 29 these two sides — who sit three leagues apart in the English football pyramid — played to a thrilling 3-3 draw that saw a 95th minute equalizer from Sheffield United to force the replay.