Striker could be fit for home game against Everton Lisandro Martínez to train with Argentina’s squad Benjamin Sesko will miss Slovenia’s games against Kosovo and Sweden owing to the knee injury sustained at Tottenham, but Manchester United are hopeful that he may be available for Everton’s visit after the international break. The striker was forced off after 87 minutes of the 2-2 draw with Spurs on Saturday after being introduced on 58 minutes for Noussair Mazraoui. Ruben Amorim admitted concern after the game and Sesko has withdrawn from the Slovenia squad. Continue reading...

Lionel Messi scores two and assists two in 4-0 win Cincinnati eliminates Columbus on late Brenner goal Dayne St Clair scored and Andrew Thomas hit the crossbar in a penalty-kick shootout that was decided by the goalkeepers in the 11th round, and Minnesota United staged a shorthanded rally to beat the Seattle Sounders on Saturday in the rubber match of the best-of-three first-round series for the MLS Cup after a 3-3 tie in regulation Thomas, who replaced starter Stefan Frei in the 89th minute with a shootout looming, appeared to injure a finger on a miss by Joaquín Pereyra to begin the shootout. He finished with a heavily taped hand. Continue reading...

South Korean forward joined Los Angeles FC this summer Thomas Müller earns $1.4m annually in Vancouver Los Angeles FC forward Son Heung-min tops Major League Soccer’s summer signings with an annual salary of $10.4m and total compensation of $11.2m, becoming the second-highest-paid player behind Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi. Son joined LAFC in August after more than a decade at Tottenham and scored nine goals in 10 regular season MLS matches. Continue reading...

Inter Miami star delivered remarks in an NBC interview Messi reiterated his desire to play in the 2026 World Cup Lionel Messi said that MLS must loosen its spending restrictions in order to become a top league in the world of soccer and said that he is hopeful that he will be physically able to contribute to Argentina at next summer’s World Cup. In a rare interview with an American outlet, Messi sat down with NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Llamas at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In the interview, Messi was asked if he felt that soccer could become as popular in the US as American sports like football, baseball, and basketball. Messi said he thinks the sport could get there, but that teams need to have more freedom first. Continue reading...

The Argentine has been as excellent as ever in his later years, but his presence and performance has yet to push MLS into the US mainstream OK, show of hands. How many of you knew that Lionel Messi – a global superstar who has committed to spend his next three years in the United States – just completed the best individual season in Major League Soccer history? Be honest. Continue reading...

Messi won MLS MVP in 2024, is favored to repeat Deal will keep him in Miami for new stadium opening Lionel Messi has signed a multi-year contract extension with Inter Miami, sealing a deal that will keep him in South Florida until the end of the 2028 MLS season. The contract is expected to be the last of his professional career. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed in Miami’s announcement on Thursday, but Messi has been MLS’s highest-paid player by a distance since joining the club in the summer of 2023. His first deal paid him over $20m per year in guaranteed compensation – more the total payroll of about two-thirds of the 30-team league in 2025. His deal also includes equity in the club upon his retirement as a player. Continue reading...

Morocco want to be a "strong contender" at all levels of global football after beating Argentina to win the Under-20 World Cup for the first time.

The Argentine is widely expected to win league MVP Playoffs begin with wild-card matches on Wednesday Lionel Messi left no doubt on Decision Day. The Argentine icon scored a hat-trick in a 5-2 victory over Nashville on Saturday night to wrap up Major League Soccer’s Golden Boot award with 29 goals this season. Continue reading...

Seven Conmebol members do not support expansion Impact on World Cup qualifying cited as main factor The proposed expansion of the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams is facing opposition from within Conmebol, the South American confederation that would benefit from staging the extra matches. The Guardian has learned that seven out of the 10 Conmebol members have expressed concerns about the expansion plan, which is being driven by the federations of Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. Continue reading...

Third-choice goalkeeper Abdelhakim El Mesbahi emerged as Morocco’s unlikely hero on Wednesday, saving the decisive penalty to seal a dramatic 5-4 shootout victory over France and send his nation to its first-ever Under-20 World Cup final. Coming off the bench in the dying minutes of extra time, El Mesbahi — armed with intel on France’s penalty takers — delivered the clutch moment that capped a tense semifinal, setting up a historic final showdown with Argentina.

The club will finally begin playing in Miami next season. For local fans near Chase Stadium there are mixed emotions From an abandoned and derelict symbol of failed efforts to establish professional football in south Florida, to the arena where Lionel Messi has dazzled MLS while attracting visitors from around the globe. It has been a unique journey for the site where Fort Lauderdale’s Lockhart Stadium once stood. “Even after all these years it’s so funny to me that Lionel Messi, one of the most famous faces in the history of mankind, is not only playing for our club but playing in this stadium that was abandoned,” said Nico Abad, a member of The Siege supporters’ group and a native of Broward County, where Chase Stadium stands on the former site of Lockhart. “It’s where kids would go to do doughnuts and to smoke and drink.” Continue reading...

Friendly against Puerto Rico moved to Fort Lauderdale Game will now take place at Chase Stadium A soccer match between Argentina and Puerto Rico, originally scheduled for next week in Chicago, has been relocated to Florida amid the immigration crackdown in the city, a person familiar with the decision told the Associated Press on Wednesday. The friendly match was supposed to be played on 13 October at Soldier Field in Chicago but will be moved to Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, the home stadium of Argentina and Inter Miami star Lionel Messi. Continue reading...

Any questions about how the Gabon international would gel with Son Heung-min have been put to rest after a historic scoring run When Son Heung-min arrived at Los Angeles Football Club last month, there was a huge sense of excitement: here was South Korea’s most popular athlete and one of the best Asian footballers in history. In a city with the largest South Korean community in the United States, there was also a belief that – just as with Lionel Messi and Miami – the diaspora would create a strong bridge between club and city. But this was also about LAFC itself. Undoubtedly, there was much Son could offer to Steve Cherundolo and a squad that was already blessed with attacking talent, including Denis Bouanga, the 30-year-old France-born Gabon international. Just before Son’s debut for LAFC on 9 August against Chicago Fire, Bouanga – a three-time All-Star – had 13 goals in the league and had long served as the main goal threat for the club, who at the time were sixth in the Western Conference. Continue reading...

President met South American powerbrokers in NYC World body would face opposition to 64-team plan Fifa is not planning to expand the men’s World Cup to 64 teams for the centenary edition of the tournament in 2030, despite its president, Gianni Infantino, meeting a delegation of South America leaders to discuss the idea in New York. Infantino met the Uruguay and Paraguay heads of state, the president of South American confederation, Conmebol, as well the presidents of the Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay federations at Fifa’s offices in Trump Tower on Tuesday for the first formal discussions about a proposal that was raised informally by the Uruguayan Football Association at a Fifa Council meeting last March. Continue reading...