Gold Cup 2025

USA clinch last four slot with penalty win over Costa Rica

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,

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US justice battles FIFA head-on in the ‘World Cup of fraud’

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By Paul Nicholson
December 4 – Just when FIFA’s executive committee thought it was safe to return to Zurich for their final meeting of the year – an event that would climax with the eagerly anticipated unveiling of FIFA’s new (and game-changing) reform proposals – football’s now habitual party poopers from the US justice authorities unleashed a second tsunami on the world governing body.

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Del Nero now faces FIFA probe into ethics violations

Marco Polo del Nero

By Samindra Kunti
December 3 – FIFA’s ethics committee has begun an investigation into the Brazilian FA (CBF) president Marco Polo Del Nero. If guilty Del Nero can expected to be added to an increasingly long list of south American football chiefs either suspended or banned from all football-related activities.

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FIFA to scrap exco as reform package targets roots and branches

FIFA signage

By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
December 3 – The timing could not have been more apt. On the day the FIFA corruption scandal escalated dramatically with a second dawn raid in six months and the arrests of two more high-profile footballing figures, so decades of protocol were wiped away with a total overhaul of the way the organisation does business.

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Stoke City potter along nicely to another profit as club nears £100m turnover

Stoke City

By David Owen
December 3 – Stoke City, the Midlands-based Premier League club controlled by bet365, the online gambling company, has reported a second consecutive annual profit. The club, which has become an established top-tier outfit under first Tony Pulis and now Mark Hughes – and which joins Liverpool, Everton and Manchester City in the semi-finals of this season’s Capital One Cup – posted a pre-tax profit of £5.7 million for the year to May 31,

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FIFA deficit may reach $100 million

FIFA signage

By David Owen
December 3 – The crisis engulfing FIFA looks to be taking its toll on the football governing body’s finances, with reports emanating from Zurich on Wednesday night to the effect that the 2015 deficit will be worse than budgeted.

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President of Mauritania steps in to bring boring match to early end with penalty shoot-out

Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz

By Mark Baber
December 2 – When it comes to a boring football match, most fans have little option but to grin and bear it. Not so with Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, President of Mauritania, who in the 63rd minute of the Supercup match between FC Tevragh-Zeina and ACS Ksar, decided enough was enough and brought the action to an end – ordering the referee to proceed straight to penalties.

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