Soccer

ESPN News Services Sep 27, 2024, 05:06 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Christian Pulisic scored in his fifth straight game for club and country for the first time in his career as his AC Milan side eased to a 3-0 win over Leece in Italy’s Serie A on Friday. Pulisic’s 43rd-minute finish was his fourth

Luis Miguel Echegaray, ESPNSep 27, 2024, 09:54 AM ET Open Extended Reactions Welcome to a new season of Onside/Offside! Luis Miguel Echegaray shares his point of view on the latest headlines in the soccer world, including standout performances, games you might have missed, what to keep an eye on in the coming days and of

Jeff Kassouf Sep 27, 2024, 12:10 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Portland Thorns forward Christine Sinclair, the leading goal scorer in international soccer history, will retire at the end of the 2024 National Women’s Soccer League season, she announced on Friday. Sinclair’s final regular-season game will be Nov. 1 against Angel City FC in Portland,

Open Extended Reactions Liverpool could lose three of their best players — Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold — for nothing in less than 100 days. That is the stark reality of the contract chess game being played out right now at Anfield, because the sands of time really are running down to

Sep 26, 2024, 11:51 AM ET Open Extended Reactions MUNICH — It’s probably not an example of perfect planning to be ensconced here in Munich this week, if the thought of partying leaves you stone cold. Oktoberfest, or the Wiesn (meadows), as the world’s largest and most famous beer festival is often referred to, has

Alex Kirkland, ESPN FCSep 26, 2024, 11:09 AM ET Open Extended Reactions The best Atlético Madrid teams of the past 20 years all had a great No. 9. Think of Luis Suárez, scoring 21 league goals to fire Atlético to the title in 2021, fueled by a burning desire to prove Barcelona wrong for letting

Tom Hamilton, Senior WriterSep 25, 2024, 12:03 PM ET Close • Joined ESPN in 2011• Covered two Olympics, a pair of Rugby World Cups and two British & Irish Lions tours• Previously rugby editor, and became senior writer in 2018 Open Extended Reactions WREXHAM, Wales — The football club started and continues at The Turf. It is where

Rob Dawson, CorrespondentSep 25, 2024, 06:45 PM ET Open Extended Reactions MANCHESTER, England — Manchester United like to think of themselves as one of Europe’s elite. A club that not only should be competing in the UEFA Champions League, but challenging to win it. Yet this season — again — they’re in the UEFA Europa

Gabriele Marcotti, Senior Writer, ESPN FCSep 25, 2024, 09:29 AM ET Open Extended Reactions Two things are pretty obvious when it comes to the question of whether top footballers play too many games, and whether they ought to consider strike action. One is that this isn’t “workers vs. owners” or “us vs. them” — it’s

Alex Kirkland Rodrigo Faez Sep 24, 2024, 06:45 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Alavés coach Luis Garcia Plaza said Endrick should have been sent off in Real Madrid‘s 3-2 LaLiga win on Tuesday, after the teenage forward appeared to strike defender Santiago Mouriño with his knee in an off-the-ball challenge. Madrid led 3-0 in the

Rob Dawson, CorrespondentSep 24, 2024, 05:31 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Pep Guardiola says Rodri will be out “for a long time” with the knee injury he suffered against Arsenal, but the Manchester City manager is retaining hope that it could be “less than expected.” The midfielder has travelled to Barcelona for tests after being

Open Extended Reactions Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson once said that “attack wins you games, but defence wins you titles.” The problem is, without reliable goal scorers, a team will never be in a position to put the second part of the theory to the test, and no team has consistently failed to

Megan Swanick Sep 23, 2024, 08:00 AM ET Open Extended Reactions It’s Monday, and another week of MLS action is in the books, which means it’s time for ESPN’s Power Rankings. Our Power Rankings are derived from a combination of key season statistics (points per game, goal differential, expected goal differential), recent performance, the Opta

Open Extended Reactions Pep Guardiola was always facing an uphill battle at Manchester City this season, but the grim news of Rodri suffering an ACL injury that is likely to rule the midfielder out until next season has now given Guardiola and his team a mountain to climb. Sources have told ESPN that defensive midfielder

Open Extended Reactions Video Assistant Referee causes controversy every week in the Premier League, but how are decisions made, and are they correct? After each weekend we take a look at the major incidents, to examine and explain the process both in terms of VAR protocol and the Laws of the Game. In this week’s

Sep 22, 2024, 10:16 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Another topsy-turvy weekend of European football action is in the books, with Christian Pulisic instrumental as AC Milan pipped Internazionale 2-1 in the Derby della Madonnina. His goal, combined with Matteo Gabbia‘s late header, secured a crucial victory for Milan, easing pressure on manager Paulo Fonseca

Sep 22, 2024, 02:33 PM ET Open Extended Reactions MANCHESTER, England — John Stones‘ 98th-minute equaliser salvaged a 2-2 draw for Manchester City against an Arsenal side who had to play the entire second half with ten men following Leandro Trossard‘s controversial red card. In a pulsating game at Etihad Stadium on Sunday between last

Alex Kirkland Rodrigo Faez Sep 21, 2024, 06:55 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said his team are improving “little by little” after their 4-1 comeback win against Espanyol in LaLiga on Saturday. Madrid failed to score in the first half at the Santiago Bernabeu — they’ve only scored one first-half