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,
November 15 – Concacaf has extended its partnership with Host Broadcast Services (HBS) for the next four years until December 2026 to provide broadcast coverage for its it major competitions including the Gold Cup, W Gold Cup, W Championship, Nations League Finals and Champion’s League.
November 15 – Never mind the reported 5,000+ dead bodies that have created the infrastructure for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, or the reported $385 million spent on Qatari espionage campaigns to discredit and/or buy influence, or the unwelcome LGBTQ folk (you can come but we’d rather you didn’t you poor mentally afflicted people), or even the gagging order on all you stupid players that might have the power of independent thought…(we own you even if we don’t pay for you).
November 14 – In an ironic twist, Byron Castillo, the player at the centre of the bitter, long-running dispute over his World Cup eligibility, has been left out of Ecuador’s squad for the finals tournament.
November 14 – Saudi Arabia has been forced to pull one of its leading World Cup players because of an ongoing doping case.
November 14 – Germany’s 2004 World Cup-winning captain Philipp Lahm (pictured) has re-iterated his stance that Qatar should never have been allowed to host the World Cup and is boycotting the tournament.
November 14 – Cristiano Ronaldo’s long relationship with Manchester United appears to be drawing to a close after the Portuguese superstar publicly accused the club of betrayal by not playing him.
November 14 – Australia’s Commonwealth Bank has signed as a Women’s World Cup 2023 Official Supporter. The tournament will be joint hosted by Australia and New Zealand next summer.
November 14 – Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes has expressed his reservations about the winter World Cup in Qatar, which kicks off next weekend with the hosts playing Ecuador in the tournament’s curtain raiser.
November 14 – Under the auspices of FIFA’s global football development chief Arsène Wenger, the world federation will roll out a new set of insights, metrics and performance data to enhance the experience of the World Cup’s global audience.
November 14 – EA Sports has inked what it is describing as a ‘special collaboration’ with non-profit organisation love.fútbol to help raise awareness of safe play and to engage communities and promote the universal social values of sports.
November 14 – With the World Cup kicking off in just six days, some of the groups are packed full of teams that are in good form. That’s not the case in Group B where England take on the USA, Iran and Wales.
November 11 – The Danish FA (DBU) have said that FIFA has rejected their request to train at the World Cup in shirts with the words ‘human rights for all’ – a protest at Qatar’s controversial rights record.
November 11 – FIFA’s plea that World Cup teams concentrate purely on football without referencing Qatar’s human rights record and treatment of migrant workers is likely to be ignored, according to England manager Gareth Southgate.
November 11 – Hit like many countries by a number of injuries, especially in defence, England unveiled their World Cup squad on Thursday with manager Gareth Southgate (pictured) optimistic he has struck the right balance.
November 11 – Israelis and Palestinians will be allowed to travel together to the World Cup following an agreement brokered by FIFA who met with representatives from the Qatar 2022 organising committee, and from Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Culture and Sport.