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.
August 30 – England goalkeeper Joe Hart, whose omission from the Manchester City side now managed by Pep Guardiola has made headline sporting news across the United Kingdom and beyond, has managed to find another club as the transfer window deadline approaches.
August 30 – Tottenham Hotspur have the youngest squad in the Premier League at an average age of 25.5, while Watford have the oldest average age at 29.8. But when it comes to the Champions League, Leverkusen (24.5), Monaco (24.9) and Lyon (25.2) are younger. Dortmund has the same average squad age as Spurs.
By Matt Scott
August 29 – Pressure on the Kuwait Football Association and National Olympic Committee was elevated on Sunday when a letter from the government warned they must hand over their headquarters or face it being taken “by force”.
August 29 – In the last round of fixtures before the international break, Chelsea stormed to the top of the Premier League table and the attendance chart with another ground-filling performance with just 191 empty seats in Stamford Bridge for the home win against Burnley.
August 29 – Samson Siasia, who coached Nigeria’s men’s team to a bronze medal at the Rio Olympics, has decided to pack in working in the country because of what he describes as “a disrespectful system”.
August 29 – Cambodian champions Phnom Penh Crown FC have won their appeal at the Court for Arbitraton for Sports (CAS) to be readmitted to the next qualifying stage of the 2017 AFC Cup, according to a report from the club. CAS have yet to release a statement.
August 29 – Moya Dodd, one of the first women to serve on FIFA’s ‘old’ executive committee as a co-opted member and a forceful campaigner for gender equality, insists she is the right person to join FIFA’s new-look council when she takes on two rivals for the post at elections on September 27.
August 29 – The investigatory chamber of the FIFA Ethics committee has completed an investigation into Saoud Al-Mohannadi, Vice-President of the Qatar Football Association (QFA) and former general secretary of the QFA, and referred it to its adjudicatory body recommending a minimum two-year ban and a CHF20,000 fine.
By Andrew Warshaw
Michael van Praag says he will endeavour to “completely overhaul” UEFA if he becomes president in succession to Michel Platini next month, turning Europe’s governing body into a far more streamlined and accountable organisation by cutting administrative costs and helping smaller federations grow and develop.
By Paul Nicholson
August 26 – UEFA has agreed proposals to revamp the qualifying for the Champions League with the top four clubs from the four top-ranked European national leagues automatically qualifying for the group stages. The winners of the Europa League will also qualify directly to the following season’s Champions League group stages.
August 26 – Kuwait’s troubled football landscape has been plunged into further disarray after the entire board of directors of the national federation was sacked for unspecified financial irregularities along with that of the country’s Olympic committee.
August 26 – When it comes to being good football citizens, Dutch clubs are the best in the world, followed by the Danish and then the English. This is according to the RESPONSIBALL rankings of social responsibility scores of the top league clubs and leagues across Europe.
August 26 – The top brass of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) met in Kuala Lumpur, Thursday, to progress the Memorandum of Understanding signed in Mexico City in May.
By David Owen
Thursday’s group stage draw provides the perfect illustration of why the Champions League needs reform.
August 25 – No prizes for guessing the most mouth-watering tie in the Champions League group stage, the draw for which was made on Thursday.