Costa Rica 4 Suriname 3
June 15 – With the baking sun of a sweltering San Diego day in Southern California giving way to a cool evening, Costa Rica went from red hot to freezing cold as they threw away their lead and had to battle back to win with 10 men and a penalty more than 10 minutes into added time.
August 12 – Russia’s search for a winning national coach to prepare the team for the 2018 World Cup has ended with the appointment for former international goalkeeper Stanislav Cherchesov (pictured).
August 12 – The Chinese buyers of Italy’s AC Milan have named Marco Fassone, former Juventus and Inter Milan general manager, as chief executive once their takeover has gone through.
August 12 – Will he stick to his promise? Halfway through last season, as Leicester City, 5000 to 1 outsiders at the start of the campaign, looked like they might win the English Premier League title, former England striker and BBC television presenter Gary Lineker boldly proclaimed that he would appear in his underpants at the start of this season’s campaign if his beloved Foxes somehow went go all the way.
August 12 – Another Premier League club has announced an Asia-Pacific regional betting sponsorship. Online sportsbook Tempobet has become an Official Regional Betting Partner of Manchester City.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 11 – Just days after he was controversially cleared by FIFA’s ethics committee of any wrongdoing, Gianni Infantino has been plunged into yet more embarrassment over his pledge to clean up the organisation in the wake of the Sepp Blatter regime.
August 11 – Ligue 1 side OGC Nice will open their season on Sunday wearing a special kit to honour the victims of the Nice terror attack last month.
August 11 – Just when the crunch came, Brazil delivered. After being booed off twice in a row following goalless draws against South Africa and Iraq, Brazil’s Olympic squad finally found their scoring touch as they cruised to a 4-0 win over Denmark that not only ensured survival but also clinched top spot in Group A and a quarter-final against Colombia in Sao Paulo on Saturday.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 11 – FIFA has confirmed that new Secretary General, Fatma Samoura will deliver a keynote address as part of the opening of this year’s Soccerex Global Convention in Manchester at the end of September.
August 11 – While FIFA’s Anti-discrimination task force seems to have been consigned to the backburner of projects the governing body doesn’t really know what to do about (not unlike the its former chair Jeffrey Webb who is under house arrest in the US), the Zurich mandarins have announced an awards ceremony to cover what is still one of the most contentious issues in world football.
August 11 – With Chinese money having taken positions in big league Italian and English clubs, France has attracted more Chinese interest with ORG Packaging having bought a controlling 60% stake in AJ Auxerre for €7 million.
By Matt Scott
August 10 – Ten months since Kuwait was suspended from world football by FIFA over government interference, police entered the Kuwait Football Association (KFA) headquarters on Tuesday.
August 10 – Hard on the heels of its announcement of an estimated £85 million sponsorship of the Premier League as a ‘Lead Partner’, EA Sports has followed up with confirmation that it has concluded a deal with the Premier League’s biggest club, Manchester United.
August 10 – Tournament favourites Brazil and the USA both drew their final pool games but topped their groups to go through to the quarter-finals of the Women’s Olympic tournament. Canada topped their group to maintain a 100% win record beating European champions Germany 2-1.
August 10 – Brazil’s leading players could get so demoralised they might refuse to play in the Olympics if they keep getting booed. That was the stark warning issued by national coach Rogerio Micale as the host nation’s Olympic men’s team approached their must-win fixture against Denmark.
August 10 – Police have arrested 10 people as part of a probe into alleged match-fixing in the little-known Welsh Premier League.