USA 2 Costa Rica 2 (USA win 4-3 on pens)
June 29 – You’d hate to use the word ‘sterile’ to describe a Concacaf Gold Cup quarter-final, but following the drama and passion of Guatemala versus Canada, it all felt a little flat as the United States Men’s National Team (USMNT) and Costa Rica kicked off for the right to face Guatemala in St. Louis. After 90 minutes and the drama of penalty kicks,
August 2 – He claimed he was forced to work 14 hours a day, often with no meal breaks, fined thousands of Euros if he was late for training by even 30 seconds and spend hours on end standing in the city centre selling newspapers.
August 2 – The fast expanding United Soccer League (USL), part of the professional tier of US football below the MLS, will play a longer season in 2017. The league that starts matches at the end of March will now run for 30 weeks with teams playing 32 games.
August 2 – With the first round of Scotiabank Champions League fixtures kicking off the 2016-17 season tonight with Trinidad’s Central at home to Canada’s Vancouver Whitecaps and Mexico’s Pachuca at home to Honduras’ Olympia, CONCACAF has announced a significantly expanded Spanish-language TV deal in the US with Univision.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 1 – Tensions between Israeli and Palestinian football authorities have seriously escalated after the final of the Palestine Cup, one of the most important fixtures in the region, was postponed by two days on Saturday when several Gazan players were barred from crossing through Israel to reach the West Bank town of Hebron where the fixture was scheduled to be played.
August 1 – Four months after pleading not guilty, former Guatamalan football chief Brayan Jimenez has changed his plea to guilty in a US court to charges racketeering and wire fraud as part of the FifaGate scandal and faces up to 20 years in prison.
August 1 – The failed military coup in Turkey has spilled over into football with the entire governing board of the Turkish FA resigning.
August 1 – William Hill has agreed a two-year partnership with Premier League Everton to become its new official betting partner, offering exclusive odds to Everton fans.
By Paul Nicholson
August 1 – English champions Leicester City made their Hollywood debut in LA with an inconspicuous 4-0 spanking at the hands of French champions Paris St-Germain. One wonders if the follow-up movie to the Leicester story currently being scripted by two big name Osar-winning writers will have a different storyline.
August 1 – Manchester City completed their first football data hackathon this weekend. The hackathon was designed to unveil new insights on player performance using data provided by the Premier League, OptaPro and ChyronHego.
Suddenly, strangely, it has all gone quiet. After days and weeks of eager anticipation about whether Gianni Infantino is being investigated for breaking ethics rules, Fifa continues to leave us all on tenterhooks.
By Paul Nicholson
July 29 – Chinese investors are reportedly circling around a third English Championship club. Leeds United, like Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers that are both under new Chinese ownership, are considered a ‘sleeping giant’ waiting to return to their glory years. Chinese money could provide the boost they need to achieve this.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 29 – FIFA’s new Senegalese secretary-general Fatma Samoura, whose appointment raised a number of eyebrows as she had no prior experience in football, believes the time she spent working in war zones for the United Nations has more than prepared her for the challenges that lie ahead.
July 29 – Bhutan has become the first of the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) member associations to embrace the new Live Streaming Platform with the AFC’s partner mycujoo.
By Paul Nicholson
July 29 – As if on cue, as Facebook’s millionaire founder Mark Zuckerburg (pictured) announced that the social media giant’s future would be ‘video’, so Liverpool launched their third kit via a Facebook Livestream directly from Facebook Headquarters in San Francisco.
July 28 – French defender Mamadou Sakho, who missed France’s Euro 2016 campaign after serving a 30-day suspension after a failed drugs test, is back in the news again for all the wrong reasons.