Australia edges Peru on penalties to qualify for World Cup
Australia qualified for a fifth straight World Cup after a 5-4 penalty shootout win over Peru in their intercontinental playoff on Monday. The teams failed to score in regulation and extra time at Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, and goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne, sent on as a substitute for captain Mat Ryan in the dying seconds of extra time, proved to be the star for Australia by saving the last penalty from Alex Valera. “I’m not a hero,” Redmayne said.
news.yahoo.comPeru, Australia ready to playoff for a World Cup spot
Australia and Peru, which both qualified for the last World Cup via intercontinental playoffs, are ready to play off for a spot in Qatar when soccer’s marquee tournament kicks off in November. Back in 2017 Peru beat Oceania champion New Zealand and Australia beat Honduras to book their places in Russia. Unlike those home and away encounters, this is a one-off, winner-takes all match in Al Rayyan, Qatar late Monday.
news.yahoo.comPanama replaces Iran as Canada opponent in World Cup warmup
Panama has replaced Iran as Canada's opponent for a World Cup prep exhibition on Sunday in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Canadian Soccer Association announced Iran as the opponent for the friendly on May 12, then canceled last week following criticism by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
news.yahoo.comUruguay emerges at center of 2030 World Cup bidding projects
As the 2030 World Cup hosting race takes shape, South American soccer officials said Friday they are still working on a four-nation bid that would celebrate the tournament's 100th birthday in its first home in Uruguay. The emotional pull of playing games in 2030 at the Centenario Stadium in Montevideo that hosted the 1930 final — won by the home team — is an advantage for South American soccer body CONMEBOL, its president Alejandro Dominguez said in Qatar. Respect for Uruguay’s place in World Cup history is reflected by speculation in Europe that UEFA’s expected 2030 co-hosting bid from Spain and Portugal could also include games in the South American country.
news.yahoo.comBrazil, Argentina look like World Cup contenders again
Brazil is about to overtake top spot in the FIFA rankings and Argentina hasn't lost a single match in 1,000 days. It's clear the two South American soccer powers have more than just Neymar and Lionel Messi going for them as they head to the World Cup in Qatar hoping to end 20 years of European domination. Brazil has already broken the points record in South American qualifying with 45, six points ahead of second-place Argentina — even before the two meet for a final game that was suspended last year.
news.yahoo.comPulisic has hat trick in 5-1 win, US on brink of World Cup
Christian Pulisic scored his first international hat trick, leading the United States to the brink of returning to the World Cup with a 5-1 rout of Panama on Sunday night. Pulisic converted two penalty kicks during a four-goal burst in the first half that also saw Paul Arriola and Jesús Ferreira score, then boosted the lead to 5-0 on memorable goal with two brilliant touches that evaded a pair of defenders. With fans still fretting after the Americans' failure to reach the 2018 World Cup, the U.S. assumed a commanding position to qualify for the November tournament in Qatar.
news.yahoo.comLionel Messi ponders future after Argentina beats Venezuela
Lionel Messi says he will reconsider his future in soccer later this year but said it's likely “many things will change" after the World Cup in November and December in Qatar. Messi's comments came after Argentina beat Venezuela 3-0 on Friday in the remaining match of the penultimate round of South American World Cup qualifying.
news.yahoo.comWith dazzling 14-touch run, Reyna shows promise, frustration
All at once, Gio Reyna showed the promise of the U.S. national team’s future and the frustration of its present. Just back from a hamstring injury that sidelined him for more than half a season, the young American midfielder entered Thursday night's World Cup qualifier in the 60th minute. In the match's most memorable moment, the 19-year-old ran onto a ball poked loose by Walker Zimmerman outside the U.S. penalty area and sprinted half the length of the field on a dazzling run of 14 touches.
news.yahoo.comWill the U.S. men blow their chance for a World Cup spot, like they did for the 2018 event?
Nearly five years after the United States men’s national soccer team famously blew a spot in the 2018 World Cup by losing to a vastly inferior Trinidad and Tobago squad in October of 2017 in the final game of qualifying, the moment of redemption has finally arrived for the Americans.
Josh Sargent not on US roster for World Cup qualifiers
The team made the unusual annoucement Wednesday, a day before U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter is scheduled to issue his roster. "Josh Sargent has been named on the reserve list for the USA’s upcoming World Cup qualifying matches," Norwich tweeted. A 22-year-old from O'Fallon, Missouri, Sargent was on the roster for the first three qualifiers in September, starting at El Salvador and Honduras, and appearing as a second-half substitute against Canada.
news.yahoo.comShiffrin scores rare downhill win to extend World Cup lead
Mikaela Shiffrin increased her lead over Petra Vlhová in a close race for the overall title by winning the downhill on Wednesday at the World Cup Finals. Shiffrin had barely raced downhill this season — two World Cup events in December and then last month's Beijing Olympics. The American put down a clean run on the new Eclipse course to earn the victory and 100 World Cup points.
news.yahoo.comNorway ski body says Russians not welcome to compete there
Russian skiers are not welcome to compete in Norway because of “violations of international law and attacks on the Ukrainian people,” the Nordic country's ski federation said Saturday. “The Norwegian Ski Federation’s message to Russia and Russian athletes is crystal clear; We do not want your participation!” it said in a statement. Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine since Thursday requires “international condemnation and sanctions,” the Norwegian federation said.
news.yahoo.comFIFA dismisses Jamaica protest of 1-1 qualifying draw vs US
FIFA has dismissed a protest filed by the Jamaica Football Federation over its 1-1 draw with the United States in a World Cup qualifier on Nov. 16. In a 34-point, eight-page decision, FIFA's disciplinary committee said Jamaica failed to notify the match commissioner of the protest and failed to make a payment of 1,000 Swiss francs (then $1,075) to accompany the protest. Jamaica said Costa Rican referee Juan Gabriel Calderón improperly failed to call a hand ball in the first half, when Reggae Boyz claimed Chris Richards should have been penalized for a ball that struck him in the penalty area.
news.yahoo.comOlympians worry as 'Winter' disappears from Winter Games
Ski racers settling into the start gate for Alpine World Cup events in the Rocky Mountains in early December squinted through sunshine that carried the temperature toward 50 degrees and glanced down at a course covered with pristine — and manufactured — snow. If they looked up and across the way, beyond the finish line, they saw adjacent hills that were brown and barren as can be, with nary a trace of powder or any indication that this was a setting for athletes who would be heading to the Beijing Olympics that begin Feb. 4. It is a troubling reality and — given their own reliance on the production of snow, continent-hopping flights powered by diesel fuel and other environment-unfriendly offshoots of their careers — hard-to-reconcile push-and-pull for many of those who will be competing in Alpine skiing or freestyle skiing or snowboarding or Nordic combined events or other outdoor sports that helped put the disappearing “Winter” in Winter Games.
news.yahoo.comSouth Korea, Iran set to qualify for soccer World Cup
Asia could confirm its first participants in the World Cup — along with host Qatar — on Thursday with Iran and South Korea both within reach of securing their places. Iran is on top of Group A with 16 points from six games with South Korea two points behind in the second of the two automatic qualification spots, eight ahead of United Arab Emirates (UAE) in third. Only the top two are guaranteed a place at the World Cup that kicks off in November.
news.yahoo.com