World Cup

BAMAKO — Mali defender Moussa Sissako scored a first-half own goal and was sent off four minutes later to dent his country’s World Cup qualifying hopes as they lost 1-0 at home to Tunisia in Friday’s first leg of their playoff tie.

The 21-year-old Sissako, making his fourth appearance for Mali, put the ball in his own net with a back pass in the 36th minute which caught goal keeper Ibrahim Mounkoro off his line.

The United States earned a massive point at the Azteca on Thursday night to make its path to the 2022 World Cup that much clearer, but there's a lingering feeling that the team could've returned home with all three had it been more clinical in the final third.

Italy broke English hearts last July as they won the European Championship final but after failing to qualify for the World Cup for the second straight tournament they have left fans thinking their Wembley triumph was a flash in the pan.

For a country who have won the World Cup four times, Italy's recent record is a national embarrassment.

Since lifting their fourth World Cup trophy in 2006, they have not played a knockout game in the showpiece event, having only won one group stage match at the finals in that time. Their recent World Cup record is even more distressing.

North Macedonia pulled off one the biggest upsets in sporting history on Thursday when the minnows took on European champions Italy in a World Cup playoff and somehow pulled off a 1-0 victory in Palermo.

This game could've been played 100 times and Italy wins 99 times.

But I watched this game from start to finish and I must say the North Macedonia win was absolutely deserved. I don’t know if I've ever seen a more valiant display of defending in my life. Italy recorded 32 shots but only five ended up on target. 

Gareth Bale's 2021-22 Real Madrid season was summed up by last Sunday's Clásico, when rumors of a surprise start in replace of the injured Karim Benzema led to nothing more than the Welshman missing out on the matchday squad entirely.

Bale's played a total of just 270 minutes in five appearances across all competitions, including only 77 minutes this calendar year, and his only goal of the campaign came way back in August.

But as we all know, Bale's an entirely different animal when representing his national team: Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that order.

The USMNT shouldn’t and doesn’t need help to qualify for the 2022 World Cup. Gregg Berhalter’s side controls its own destiny to make it to Qatar this winter. But it’s never a bad idea to have backup plan, and America’s neighbor to the north is on standby to bail the USMNT out should it fail against Mexico, Panama and Costa Rica.

Lyon forward Ada Hegerberg returned to the Norway squad for the first time in nearly five years on Thursday, handing a huge boost to the team ahead of this year's European Championship.

Hegerberg, who won the inaugural women's Ballon d'Or in 2018, quit the national team in 2017 because of a dispute with the Norwegian Football Federation over the treatment of women's soccer in the country. The federation's attempts to break the impasse failed.

SYDNEY - Substitute Kaoru Mitoma scored twice in the final few minutes to give Japan a 2-0 win over Australia at a rain-soaked Olympic Stadium on Thursday and send his country through to seventh successive edition of the World Cup finals.

Japan's first victory over the Socceroos in Australia since 1998 also secured Saudi Arabia's passage to Qatar and condemned Australia to a tricky path through two playoffs if they are to make the finals for the fifth time in a row.