Canada 2-0 El Salvador
June 24 – Fresh from emerging from a Concacaf-imposed timeout, Canadian head coach Jesse Marsch returned to the technical area at Shell Energy Stadium in Houston, knowing any more misbehaviour would send him back to the naughty room. He needn’t have worried as their opponents El Salvador simply imploded in a red mist.
September 30 – UEFA have run out patience with fans of Polish club Legia Warsaw and have ordered them to play their next Champions League game, against holders Real Madrid on November 2, behind closed doors.
September 30 – The system of additional assistant referees, brainchild of former UEFA president Michel Platini who always preferred it to goal-line technology, is to be adopted by Asia.
September 29 – Scottish giants Celtic have received their ninth UEFA sanction in five years in after the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body (CEDB) decided to fine the club €10,000 for flying pro-Palestinian flags at their Champions League play-off, first leg tie, against Israel’s Hapoel Beer-Sheva.
By Paul Nicholson
September 29 – Big thinking Premier League club Liverpool may shelve the next phase of their stadium development, according to comments made by owner John Henry in the US.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 29 – Israel is trying to block moves to suspend five Israeli league teams controversially situated in the occupied West Bank, according to local reports.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 29 – Following the stunning abandonment of the Asian Football Confederation’s extraordinary congress in Goa, sparked by FIFA’s ban of Qatari Saoud Al-Mohannadi from standing for election to join its new ruling council because of an ongoing ethics investigation, attention has switched to Africa where another candidate has suddenly withdrawn from that region’s Council election being held today.
September 29 – The Association of Football Agents has called for a total reform of the current system in order to tighten it up and make it “globally enforceable” following the revelations in Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper that have rocked the English game.
September 29 – The cash-strapped Nigerian Football Federation has dismissed reports that it is too broke to send a team to Zambia for a forthcoming World Cup qualifier.
September 29 – Manchester City have extended their five-year partnership with EA Sports. The video game developer will remain as the Club’s Official Gaming Partner.
By Paul Nicholson
September 28 – The sensational abandonment of the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) extraordinary congress yesterday has drawn something of an ambivalent response from FIFA president Gianni Infantino, the man the action was intended to send a clear message to.
By Paul Nicholson
September 28 – The CIES Football Observatory has dug deeper into its transfer spend data of big-5 league clubs to examine where the money is being spent and how far down the football chain it is reaching. The answer is that probably not as far as clubs and leagues would like to pretend.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 28 – Markus Kattner (pictured), FIFA’s former secretary general who was sacked in highly controversial circumstances by the new administration of Gianni Infantino, has reportedly begun legal action to challenge the “unjustified” move.
September 28 – English football’s League Managers Association (LMA) has been quick to react to sensational newspaper claims that a raft of its members have been guilty of taking bungs.
September 27 – More than 2 million spectators have crammed in the Premier League grounds after the first six rounds of the season with Swansea, Stoke, Manchester United and Arsenal all reporting more than 99% of their stadium capacities were filled last weekend.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 28 – The good news is that he left with a 100% record. The bad news is that it comprised one solitary game in a reign that lasted just 67 days, the shortest in history.