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Emily Fox's USWNT experience helped her lead Arsenal to the Champions League title

Sports / Soccer /

PHILADELPHIA — In most of the big games Emily Fox plays these days, she plays for the favorite.

It’s as true with the U.S. national team as it is with her club, Arsenal, one of the biggest in England and all of Europe. But there are some matchups where the Gunners are the underdogs, and last Saturday’s Champions League final was one of ...Read more

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Messi in top form, but Inter Miami faces Columbus Crew on Saturday with depleted roster

Sports / Soccer /

Inter Miami, eager to build on a midweek victory and head into June on a high note after a miserable May, will be forced to play with a depleted roster against perennial power Columbus Crew at Chase Stadium on Saturday.

In addition to the loss of defensive midfielder Yannick Bright, who is out indefinitely with a hamstring injury, Miami lost ...Read more

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Dylan Hernández: 'We know what's at stake': LAFC braces for shot at Club World Cup

Sports / Soccer /

LOS ANGELES — LAFC has won an MLS Cup and played in two CONCACAF Champions League finals.

None of those games were worth as much as the team's upcoming match.

Literally.

Next up for LAFC is the $10 Million Game, in which it will play Mexico's Club América on Saturday at Banc of California to determine the final entrant in the Club World ...Read more

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Messi, Suarez heroics lead Inter Miami to much-needed 4-2 win over CF Montreal

Sports / Soccer /

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami teammates entered Wednesday’s home game against CF Montreal under intense pressure to live up to lofty expectations and get out of an eight-game funk during which they won just one game and slipped to seventh place in the Eastern Conference.

The Argentine icon and his former FC ...Read more

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Analysis: Why are big-name US players passing on World Cup tuneup?

Sports / Soccer /

"To represent my country in a soccer game, there's just nothing better than that."

— Christian Pulisic, 2020

Never mind.

— Christian Pulisic, last week

With the World Cup, one the U.S. will play at home, just 380 days away, Captain America has decided to take a pass on the national team's last major competition ahead of the tournament.

...Read more

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LAFC star Carlos Vela retires and becomes first club ambassador

Sports / Soccer /

LOS ANGELES — Carlos Vela, the first player signed by LAFC and still the club record-holder in goals, assists, games and minutes played, announced his retirement Tuesday. The team said in announcement that Vela will work with LAFC as its first Black and Gold Ambassador. He will also be honored on Carlos Vela Night at BMO Stadium on Sept. 21.

...Read more

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Tom Krasovic: Chucky Lozano's heroics cap dramatic, meaningful win by SDFC

Sports / Soccer /

SAN DIEGO — If you went to Saturday’s soccer game in Mission Valley, you won’t soon forget how it ended.

The game-winning goal and the explosion of joy it unleashed was a reminder of why sports events remain king in the country’s crowded media market, and why fans put up with the hassle of traffic and other inconveniences to attend ...Read more

Inter Miami rallies to tie Philadelphia Union, 3-3, with late goals by Messi, Segovia

Sports / Soccer /

Desperate to get back on track after going winless in six of the past seven games, Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami teammates showed up at a sold-out Subaru Park Saturday determined to beat the first-place Philadelphia Union after an intense week of practice that included a players-only team meeting.

They didn’t get a victory, but they ...Read more

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Inter Miami holds meetings, intense practices to right ship ahead of Philadelphia clash

Sports / Soccer /

Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami teammates headed to Philadelphia with a palpable sense of urgency to defeat the first-place Union on Saturday, fueled, in part, by a players-only meeting Sunday night after the team’s 3-0 home loss to Orlando City.

Despite its star-studded lineup and lofty preseason expectations, the team has slipped to sixth ...Read more

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Jordi Alba signs contract extension with Inter Miami through 2027 season

Sports / Soccer /

Inter Miami delivered much-needed good news to its fans Thursday amid a slump during which the team has just one win over the past six games.

The club announced that it signed star left back and 2024 MLS All-Star Jordi Alba to a contract extension through the 2027 season.

“I’m happy to renew my contract because I have the desire to ...Read more

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Everton FC braces for finale at 133-year old Goodison Park before moving to a new home

Sports / Soccer /

How does an iconic team that has had just one home for the past 133 years pack up all that history, culture and tradition when it comes time to move across town?

Very carefully.

Everton FC has been playing at Goodison Park, just north of central Liverpool, since the Victorian Era. And in that time the so-called Grand Old Lady has hosted more ...Read more

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Women's World Cup will expand to 48 teams in 2031

Sports / Soccer /

LOS ANGELES — The Women's World Cup will expand to 48 teams and 104 games in 2031, making it the largest and longest women's tournament in history, FIFA announced Friday. The event is widely expected to be held in the U.S., the only country to bid for the rights to the competition.

FIFA is scheduled to announce a host country next summer.

...Read more

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Mallory Swanson, who hasn't played for Stars all year, is expecting 1st child with Cubs' Dansby Swanson

Sports / Soccer /

CHICAGO — Chicago Stars striker Mallory Swanson and her husband, Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson, announced Wednesday in a joint Instagram post that they’re expecting their first child.

Mallory Swanson hasn’t played this season after the Stars released a statement Jan. 27 that she wouldn’t be participating in training camp for “personal...Read more

Kevin Baxter: Are the Galaxy cursed? Why things are going so wrong for winless defending champs.

Sports / Soccer /

LOS ANGELES — There's an episode midway through the first season of "Ted Lasso" in which the team, feeling cursed, decides to remove the spell by gathering in the locker room at night to burn personal items in a flaming trash barrel.

It may be time for the Galaxy to consider a similar exorcism because it seems clear someone has put a spell on...Read more

Inter Miami loses 3-1 to Vancouver (5-1 aggregate), ousted from Champions Cup semis

Sports / Soccer /

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Against steep odds, Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami teammates showed up at Chase Stadium Wednesday night highly motivated to overcome a two-goal deficit against the Vancouver Whitecaps in the second and decisive leg of the Concacaf Champions Cup semifinal.

“Anything is possible, absolutely anything,” Miami coach ...Read more

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Kevin Baxter: Japanese soccer players forming connections with LA's Japanese American community

Sports / Soccer /

LOS ANGELES — Growing up Japanese American in Southern California, Saki Watanabe had plenty of role models who showed her she could be whatever she wanted to be. There were baseball players, judges, politicians and actors. Writers, artists, teachers and business leaders.

But there was nobody doing what she wanted to do, which was play soccer....Read more

Ecuadorian soccer player's wife, child kidnapped in home invasion

Sports / Soccer /

Ecuadorian soccer player Jackson Rodriguez‘s wife and 5-year-old child were kidnapped following a home invasion.

The incident occurred around 3 a.m. Wednesday in Guayaquil, a port city considered one of the most dangerous places in the country, police said.

Rodríguez, 26, told police he heard a group of men breaking in and hid under a bed. ...Read more

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Messi leads Inter Miami vs. Crew in MLS clash of unbeatens, 67,000 fans expected

Sports / Soccer /

MIAMI — A crowd of 60,000-plus awaits Lionel Messi and his teammates for the second weekend in a row as Inter Miami takes on the Columbus Crew at Cleveland’s Huntington Bank Field in a Saturday afternoon battle of the only unbeaten teams in Major League Soccer.

The game was moved from the Crew’s cozy 20,000-seat Lower.com Field, which ...Read more

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LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo will step down at end of season and return to Germany

Sports / Soccer /

LOS ANGELES — LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo will step down at the completion of the season and return to Germany, the club announced Friday.

"It is an honor to be the head coach of LAFC," Cherundolo said in a statement. "After much reflection and discussion with my family, we made the decision that at the end of this year we will return to...Read more

David Santiago/Miami Herald/TNS

Messi gains two new Inter Miami teammates. Who they are, what they had to say.

Sports / Soccer /

MIAMI — Inter Miami is about to embark on arguably the toughest back-to-back road trips in club history and Lionel Messi will have two newly signed teammates along for the journey, 18-year-old Ecuadorean forward Allen Obando and 21-year-old Argentine midfielder Baltasar Rodriguez.

Obando is on loan from Barcelona SC of Guayaquil and ...Read more