FIFA and the football fraternity are in mourning today, following the tragic passing of midfielder Patrick Ekeng in Romania. The Dinamo Bucharest and Cameroon international was just 26, and collapsed in the 70th minute of the Romanian league game between Dinamo and Viitorul Constanta last night.
Gianni Infantino vowed on Friday to lead FIFA out of years of corruption and scandal after the former UEFA general secretary was elected to succeed his Swiss compatriot Sepp Blatter as president of football's world governing body.
The FIFA ethics committee has extended Jerome Valcke’s ban for an additional 45 days while it awaits a decision on his impending nine-year ban.
What the U.S. and Japan didn’t win in the women’s soccer final.
Japan's dramatic 2-1 semifinal victory over England on Wednesday in Edmonton gives the United States and its many fans a chance at something they've long dreamed of: revenge for the 2011 Women's World Cup title game, in which Japan got a last-minute equalizer and then won on penalty kicks.
The U.S. and Germany are the only teams to have won the Women’s World Cup twice. So the United States’ 2-0 win over Germany in the World Cup semifinal on Tuesday night wasn’t only the most important game of this year’s tournament. It also helps to settle a score about which country has the greatest overall run of Women’s World Cup success.
Even though the United States is a bit insecure about its place in the world’s most popular sport, the U.S. women’s national soccer team has been dominant on the world stage for nearly a quarter-century. Tonight it will face off in the semifinals of the women’s World Cup against Germany, with nothing less than the title of “greatest of all time” at stake. Each team has two World Cup championships, and they’ve been the two top-ranked teams in the world since FIFA’s rankings began in 2003. The winner will take the lead in World Cup finals appearances and will have the inside track to finish atop 2015’s rankings.
Sepp Blatter has fuelled speculation about his future by insisting he has not resigned as FIFA president and will lay down his mandate at a special congress, though the governing body says Blatter's plans to step down have not changed. On June 2, Blatter announced that he would walk away from the FIFA presidency at an extraordinary congress to be held between December and March. The move followed the crisis that engulfed FIFA this summer, with 18 people indicted in the United States on football-related corruption charges.
There is trash-talking and then there is…well, mysterious trash-talking. Nobody seems to know what Colombian players are referencing ahead of Monday’s round-of-16 match against the United States at the 2015 Women’s World Cup. “I know they’ve made comments like they’ve been disrespected, but that’s not from us,” U.S. midfielder Megan Rapinoe said. “We definitely respect them as an opponent. We’ve seen what they’ve done in this tournament. I don’t think it’s any fluke that they beat France.”
The women's World Cup has a Round of 16 for the first time in its history this year, giving the tournament's big favorites and additional chance to have an off-day and get knocked out of the tournament. This World Cup's draw and structure also created a tournament in which the top teams are no longer the big favorites. Only one of the world's top three teams can make the final.
Now that Alex Morgan has had a start, look to see more of her at the Women's World Cup. Morgan is one of the most visible players on the U.S. national team, with endorsement deals with Nike, ChapStick and Nationwide Insurance. But Morgan came in as a sub in the U.S. team's first two matches in Canada while she returned from a bone bruise in the left knee. She made her first World Cup start in the final group stage match, a 1-0 victory over Nigeria.
Brazil will carry a significant edge in experience and a remarkable record of defensive impregnability into Saturday’s final against Serbia at the Under-20 World Cup in Auckland. The five-time champions, Brazil, in their ninth final, are trying to match Argentina’s record of six World Cup titles, while Serbia are first-time finalists as an independent country, although Yugoslavia made it to the final in 1987.
United States forward Abby Wambach says the team would have more goals in the Women's World Cup if it were being played on grass. In the Americans' 3-1 victory against Australia, Wambach missed a pair of headers that she is normally expected to convert, with the ball glancing off her head and going wide on both occasions. In the U.S. team's 0-0 draw with Sweden, another Wambach header was driven down into the turf, bounced up, and was then tipped over the bar by Sweden goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl.
Saturday was about travel, rest and recovery for the United States women after a scoreless draw with Sweden on Friday in their second match in group play at the 2015 World Cup. Only 12 players trained at under a blue sky and coastal breezes at the University of British Columbia on Saturday afternoon following a morning flight to Vancouver. A game of handball to loosen the legs got the session started for Friday’s reserves.
It might sound hyperbolic, but the US women's national team's game against Sweden has pretty much everything you could ask for in a soccer game. Sure, both teams are ranked in the top-5 in the world -- the US sits at No. 2 and Sweden at No. 5 -- but there's also the added drama of Pia Sundhage, who made the matchup that much more intriguing with her recent comments that were printed in The New York Times.
Team USA plays Sweden Friday night in its second World Cup match, but there off-the-field distractions are still stirring controversy, reports CBS News correspondent Jericka Duncan. Team USA is looking to ride the momentum from their first game Monday, thanks largely to inspired playing by goalkeeper Hope Solo. Her three saves in the first half helped keep Australia at bay.
The waiting game is almost over. The U.S. women's national team plays its World Cup opener Monday. But how do the Americans match up against their first opponent, Australia?
Soccer fans are geared up for the FIFA Women's World Cup, beginning on June 6 and running through July 5, and fans in the United States will look to the tournament with excitement. The United States women's team is poised for a run to the championship--meaning American fans will jump on the soccer bandwagon (even though the sport still searches for fans in the country).
Canada's women's soccer team is coming off a World Cup-opening victory over China. They play New Zealand on Thursday.
Hope Solo's lingering domestic abuse case was brought back into the forefront on Sunday, leaving a host of questions in the air as the USWNT prepares to kick off its Women's World Cup run.