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Not even Messi can bridge gap between UCL champs PSG and MLS’ Inter Miami

ATLANTA — As many predicted, Paris Saint-Germain triumphed over Inter Miami CF in the Club World Cup round of 16 to advance to the quarterfinals, winning 4-0 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday. The reigning champions of Europe showcased the elegant style of football played under manager Luis Enrique, breaking through Miami’s lines with precise passing and perfectly positioned players. It took PSG only three minutes to force Inter goalkeeper Oscar…

Klopp: Expanded Club World Cup the worst idea

Former Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has criticised the introduction of the expanded Club World Cup format, calling it the worst idea ever implemented in football. In an interview with German newspaper Die Welt published late on Friday Klopp said the tournament would put more strain on an already packed calendar for the players. The expanded format features a 32-team event held every four years during the preseason, in the summers…

Dominant on the pitch and in the stands, Palmeiras upend Brazil rivals Botafogo for CWC quarters berth

PHILADELPHIA — When the goal finally came, after 100 long minutes, it was worth the wait. Palmeiras substitute Paulinho stepped inside, into space, and stroked a low shot through the legs of a defender into the Botafogo net. As he ran off toward the corner flag, he gestured for calm. Behind the goal, thousands of Palmeiras fans — who had never stopped singing all game — ignored him, and celebrated…

Ronaldo after new Al Nassr deal: ‘No finish line’

Cristiano Ronaldo has said his ambition has “no finish line” after signing a new contract with Al Nassr. The Portugal captain on Thursday put pen to paper on a two-year deal that will see him remain in the Saudi Pro League (SPL) until June 2027. “The ambition I feel has no finish line,” Ronaldo, 40, told Record. “It is consistency, commitment, and collective work that will make us better. And…

Euro 2025 kit ranking: Which team is Europe’s style champion?

Another summer packed full of international tournament action continues with the UEFA Women’s European Championship in Switzerland, which kicks off in July 2. For the third time since the format was expanded, there are 16 competing nations involved across four groups, with reigning champions England out defend the title they won on home soil in 2022’s pandemic-delayed tournament. Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses are once again among the favorites to lift the…

LaLiga to get new refs after Madrid controversy

The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) is making sweeping changes after deciding on Thursday to part company with the head of VAR and the president of the Technical Committee of Referees. Luis Medina Cantalejo had been in charge of Spain’s Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) since December 2021 while former referee Carlos Clos Gómez was responsible for VAR. “This decision reflects the desire to open a new era in the field…

5 questions the USMNT must answer in Gold Cup knockouts (and before 2026 World Cup)

The Gold Cup group stage is over. And with a team of mostly MLS players and fringe starters from elsewhere, the U.S. men’s national team is perfect through three matches. It has scored eight goals and conceded just one. It beat the only team that beat Argentina at the last World Cup. And a bunch of new players are getting a lot of valuable competitive experience ahead of next summer’s…

New Boston coach promises ‘passion,’ press

New Boston Legacy FC head coach Filipa Patão wants to make this known: Her teams play with passion. Patão, who spent the past five years coaching Portuguese side Benfica, was officially announced on Wednesday as the first head coach of Boston’s 2026 NWSL expansion team, as ESPN previously reported. She promised an aggressive style of soccer from the outset. “First of all, they’re going to see that my teams are…

Rodri’s return for Man City is just what Pep Guardiola & Co. needed

ATLANTA — If Rodri has come to the Club World Cup to send a message to Pep Guardiola that he’s ready to be thrust back into action, he wasted no time in delivering it. Ahead of Manchester City’s first session on their first day at their Florida training base, it was Rodri who was out on the grass before anyone else. He enlisted one of the many coaches in Guardiola’s…

Embrace the chaos of Concacaf: ‘It’s a different football’

The Dominican Republic had never qualified before for the Gold Cup, Concacaf’s continental championship, and certainly had never scored a goal. When the moment came, however, something seemingly straightforward took on a different tone. As Peter Gonzalez took possession of a throw-in and wriggled past Mexico defenders to get into the box, an El Tri fan lofted the ball that had gone out of play back onto the field. Gonzalez…