Mexico 1 Honduras 0
July 2 – The question on the lips of pundits and fans at Levi Stadium, Santa Clara, was “would tonight be business as usual or unusual business?” as Mexico and Honduras met for the right to face the United States in the Concacaf Gold Cup Final on Sunday in Houston.
Spain 5 Portugal 0
July 3 – With an imperious display, world champions Spain waltzed past neighbours Portugal at the Wankdorff Stadion in Bern, winning 5-0 to back up their status as tournament favourites.
By David Gold
June 26 – New Australian A-League team Western Sydney Wanderers has been officially launched at a media event at the Parramatta Stadium.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 25 – Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko has cited the country’s protracted transition season for their surprise group stage elimination from the 2012 European Championship – and also laid the blame partly at the feet of coach Dick Advocaat (pictured below).
By David Gold
June 25 – The Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the board of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations have confirmed the final qualifying round draw for the tournament will take place in Johannesburg on July 5.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 25 – UEFA’s hopes of imposing Financial Fair Play (FFP) sanctions against clubs who fail to balance the books have suffered a potentially damaging blow after Turkish club Bursaspor won a shock appeal against being banned from playing in Europe for failing to pay transfer fees.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 25 – The cash-for-votes scandal that led to former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner resigning in disgrace from all footballing activities is clearly having no effect on his political career after he was appointed Minister of National Security in his native Trinidad and Tobago.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 23 – Russia’s Euro 2012 went from bad to worse today when the national association was fined for the third time by UEFA because of the misbehavior of their fans.
By Tom Degun
June 22 – Football Federation Australia (FFA) has revealed its plan to help develop and improve elite male football players in the country after releasing the outcomes of their National Competition Review (NCR).
By Tom Degun
June 22 – The mascot for the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup in Azerbaijan later this year has been officially named the “Top Top Girl” following a nationwide competition to decide what she would be called.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 22 – FIFA and UEFA are on a collision course over whether to allow Kosovo the right to play international matches, with European officials furious at what they see as a clear attempt by the world governing body to undermine their regulations.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 22 – UEFA’s refereeing chief Pierluigi Collina has defended the organisation’s experimental system of two extra goal-line officials but admits that an “unfortunate mistake” helped eliminate Ukraine from the 2012 European Championship.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 21 – Debt-ridden Scottish giants Rangers have denied a report that they plan to re-emerge as an English club by taking over third-tier team Bury.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 21 – The English Football Association (FA) has been fined a token €5,000 (£4,000/$6,000) by UEFA for the “inappropriate conduct” of a small group of fans in Friday’s (June 15) European Championship win over Sweden.
By David Owen
June 21 – Didier Drogba, the Ivorian striker who starred in Chelsea’s recent European Champions League victory, has confirmed his long-expected move to Shanghai Shenhua of China.
By Stuart Newman
June 21 – The first ever captain of Australia’s national football team, the late Alex Gibb, has been honoured in a special ceremony during the recent FIFA 2014 World Cup Asian qualifying match between the hosts and Japan in Brisbane, which ended 1-1.
The European Championship once again raises the question of whether we are right in believing that sport, and in particular football, can reach out to society in the way nothing else can. The answer so far from the Euros is a chilling one: those of us who believe in the redemptive power of modern sport need to re-examine our beliefs – or at least ask if we do not need to prepare much better before we burden sport with this heavy load of transforming society.