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LYON, France — Lyon finally prevailed in a 1-0 win over 10-man Marseille thanks to a late own-goal from Leonardo Balerdi in the French league on Sunday. Lyon substitute Nicolas Tagliafico struck the crossbar and teammate Pavel Šulc’s pressure forced the despairing Balerdi on the line to bundle the ball into his own net in the 88th minute. Lyon had two goals ruled out in the first half, and Marseille had defender CJ Egan-Riley sent off in the 29th for taking down Malick Fofana when he was through on goal. The visitors improved after the break despite their numerical disadvantage. Hamed Junior Traoré and Pierre-Emile Höjbjerg both missed good chances for Marseille. It’s Marseille’s second loss from three league games so far this season. Lyon was without star player Georges Mikautadze, who has been linked with a move away to alleviate the financial situation at the club. The seven-time French champion was in June demoted to the second tier because of financial irregularitie...

BRIGHTON, England (AP) — Rodri insists his return to fitness will not automatically turn Manchester City into the dominant force of old. “I’m not Messi,” the Ballon d’Or winner said after making his first Premier League start for City in 11 months in the team’s 2-1 loss at Brighton on Sunday. Rodri was out for eight months with an ACL injury, then suffered a setback in his bid to recover full fitness by sustaining a groin injury at the Club World Cup. He was a second-half substitute against Tottenham before starting against Brighton. City lost both games. In the 2023-24 season, City didn’t lose any of the 34 Premier League games that Rodri played in as it won the title for a fourth straight year. “I’m not going to come back and make the team win and win,” he said. “This is a collective. When we won in the past, I needed all my teammates. “For sure I have to recover my best level … Hopefully after the (international) break we can come back much better.” City opened the Premier Le...

BARCELONA, Spain — Vinícius Júnior and Arda Güler scored back-to-back goals to help Real Madrid rally for a 2-1 win over Mallorca and make it three wins in as many games in the Spanish league on Saturday. Xabi Alonso’s team saw three newcomers make key plays in the victory at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. Mallorca struck first when Vedat Muriqi muscled Dean Huijsen out of the way to reach a corner kick by Pablo Torre, redirecting the cross with the back of his shoulder past Thibaut Courtois in the 18th minute. The 20-year-old Huijsen played a part in leveling in the 37th. The new Madrid central defender headed a cross from a set piece across the goalmouth for Güler to smash home. Vinícius only needed another minute to put Madrid in front after Mallorca lost the ball in midfield. The Brazil forward had room to romp forward before cutting back to his left foot and firing in his second goal of the campaign. Mallorca pressed for the equalizer in an open second half. Midfielder Sergi ...

ROME — Italian Cup winner Bologna bounced back from an opening defeat by beating big-spending Como 1-0 in Serie A on Saturday. Riccardo Orsolini scored near the hour mark with a deflected shot after also threatening early on. Bologna, which lost its opener at Roma, earned its first points of the season. For Como, it was a setback after impressing in a 2-0 win over Lazio. Owned by Indonesian tobacco billionaire brothers Robert Budi Hartono and Michael Bambang Hartono, Como has spent 104 million euros ($121 million) in the current transfer market — the fifth most in the league. Bologna was without Ciro Immobile, the four-time Serie A scoring leader it recently signed, who is out for an estimated two months after injuring his right leg last weekend. Atalanta struggles without Gasperini With coach Gian Piero Gasperini having departed for Roma after a nine-year tenure, Atalanta again struggled in a 1-1 draw at Parma. Mario Pasalic put Atalanta ahead with ...

HAMBURG, Germany — Hamburger SV’s first home game in the Bundesliga since 2018 ended in disappointment on Friday as the host went down to archrival St. Pauli 2-0 in front of a full Volksparkstadion. Goals by Adam Dźwigała and Andreas Hountondji gave the visitors all three points in what was the first Bundesliga clash between the sides since the 2010-11 season. The game between clubs whose clash of styles and ethos have long marked the derby out as one of the world’s most interesting began to a raucous backdrop in front of 57,000 fans. The home side was on top early but St. Pauli took the lead after 19 minutes. Polish centre back Dźwigała got on the end of Pereira Lage’s cross and his shot was too strong for the outstretched hand of goalkeeper Heuer Fernandes. The home fans exploded three minutes into the second half when Ransford Königsdörffer appeared to score an equalizer but the goal was chalked off for offside. Things got worse barely 10 minutes later. Joel Fujita’s defence-s...

Toronto FC and CF Montreal face off Saturday knowing both could be mathematically eliminated from MLS playoff contention by the end of day. The two rivals stand 12th and 13th in the Eastern Conference with Toronto (5-13-9) one point ahead of Montreal (5-15-8). The ninth-place New York Red Bulls currently occupy the last playoff spot in the East, 15 points above TFC. Montreal will be eliminated with a loss or draw at BMO Field or a Red Bulls win over visiting Columbus. A Montreal win coupled with a Red Bulls victory would end TFC’s playoff hopes. So wins by the Red Bulls and Montreal would leave both Canadians teams on the post-season sidelines. TFC has not made the playoffs since 2020. Montreal reached the post-season last year for the first time since 2022 but lost a penalty shootout to Atlanta United in a wild-card game While both teams have stopped their slide of late, the damage was already done. Montreal, under interim coach Marco Donadel, is coming off a 3-2 win over visit...

ROME (AP) — Giovanni Leoni, the 18-year-old Liverpool centre back, was one of three players given their first national team call-up by new Italy coach Gennaro Gattuso on Friday. Also named to the Azzurri squad for the first time were Inter Milan forward Francesco Pio Esposito and Bologna midfielder Giovanni Fabbian. It’s the first time Gattuso has named his squad since taking over for the fired Luciano Spalletti in June. Facing the prospect of failing to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup, Italy has no room for errors in qualifiers against Estonia in Bergamo next Friday and against Israel in Hungary three days later. Italy has three points from two matches. Norway, which has played four matches, leads Group I with 12 points, and Israel is next with six points from three matches. Leoni transferred from Parma to Liverpool this month but has not played for the Premier League champion yet. Atalanta forward Gianlunca Scamacca has returned to the squad after a series of injuries...

Forward Tani Oluwaseyi has joined fellow Canadian international Tajon Buchanan at Spain’s Villarreal CF. Oluwaseyi’s transfer from Minnesota United was confirmed Friday with the 25-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., signing a five-year contract with the team known as the Yellow Submarine for its distinctive yellow kit. The Nigerian-born Oluwaseyi, who moved to Canada when he was 10, has won 15 caps for Canada with two goals. He joins Buchanan and Mallorca’s Cyle Larin as Canadian attackers in La Liga. Minnesota selected Oluwaseyi in the first round (17th overall) of the 2022 MLS SuperDraft out of St. John’s. He went on to appear in 62 matches, including 34 starts, for the Loons across all competitions with 20 goals and 14 assists. In a statement, Oluwaseyi said he was grateful for his time in Minnesota. “From a 21-year-old kid in a new city with all the aspirations, to a 25-year-old man leaving now, the support has always been immense,” he said. “This team and this city will always...

MONACO — Good luck Manchester City, Tottenham, Juventus and Monaco — one of them will have to travel north of the Arctic Circle in mid-January to play a Champions League game. All four were drawn Thursday as away opponents for Norwegian champion Bodo/Glimt, whose 8,000-capacity Aspmyra stadium is located farther north than soccer’s top club competition has ever been. And Real Madrid’s team of superstars is going farther east than the Champions League has ever been, to play at Kairat Almaty in Kazakshtan near its border with China. That is a flight of about 6,420 kilometres (4,000 miles) across three time zones from the Spanish capital. Thursday’s draw only paired teams with their opponents but did not determine the dates of any of the games, so it’s still unclear which teams will be making those trips in the middle of winter. The temperature in Almaty, a city that once bid to host the Winter Olympics, can drop to minus-20 C (minus-4 F) in January. Visitors to Bodo/Glimt could...

In July and August, online rumours suggested organizers of the 2026 FIFA World Cup planned to relocate games from the United States to Canada amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. While some advocacy groups urged FIFA to ask the U.S. government to reverse its recent immigration measures, FIFA did not commit to doing so, nor did it move any games to Canada. THE CLAIM As Canada joins the United States and Mexico in hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup, rumours are circulating online about the impact U.S. immigration measures could have on next year’s cup schedule.  “Canada TAKES U.S. spot as FIFA RELOCATES World Cup Matches – Billions in Revenue LOST” reads the caption on an Aug. 14  TikTok  with more than 100,000 plays.  The video mentions U.S. President Donald Trump’s  travel ban imposed on 12 countries in June and various  visa restrictions as possible reasons FIFA is supposedly considering relocating World Cup games to Canada.  ...

BERN, Switzerland — Swiss federal prosecutors finally ended their case against former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and former UEFA president Michel Platini on Thursday after 10 years and acquittals after two trials. The office of Switzerland’s attorney general said it would not appeal against acquittals for both men in March at an appeal court. The first trial was in 2022 on charges of fraud, forgery, mismanagement and misappropriation of more than $2 million of FIFA money in 2011. Both men denied wrongdoing and claimed it was delayed payment for contracted work done as a FIFA advisor during Blatter’s first term as president through 2002. ”Following the failure of the criminal proceedings, the defense will now analyze how to take legal action against those responsible for initiating the proceedings,” Platini’s lawyer, Dominic Nellen, said in a statement.  The payment of FIFA money to France soccer great Platini emerged in 2015 during federal investigations of the governing ...

LONDON — A man has been arrested by police officers investigating online abuse against England defender Jess Carter during the Women’s European Championship this summer. Lancashire Police arrested a 59-year-old man from Great Harwood on Thursday “on suspicion of malicious communications in relation to some of the messages.” He has since been released under investigation. “The messages directed towards Jess Carter were appalling and I would like to commend her for standing up to this abuse and assisting with our investigation,” said Cheshire Constabulary Chief Constable Mark Roberts, the National Police Chief Council lead for football policing. “Nobody should be subjected to such disgusting abuse, and I expect that today’s arrest will be the first of many over the coming months.” Carter, who has an African American father and plays her club soccer for Gotham FC in the U.S., revealed last month during the tournament in Switzerland that she was racially abused online while a...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Lionel Messi scored twice in his return and Inter Miami beat Orlando City 3-1 on Wednesday night to advance to the Leagues Cup Final. Inter Miami will be on the road to face the LA Galaxy-Seattle winner in the final Sunday. Messi was back for the second time in two weeks after a setback in his recovery from a hamstring injury. Marco Pašalić opened the scoring for Orlando just before halftime, with the play surviving a VAR review for a possible handball. Messi tied it in the 77th, converting from the penalty spot after Tadeo Allende was pulled down in the box. It was more Messi magic in the 88th when he combined with Jordi Alba to put Miami ahead. Then, to finish it off in very similar fashion to Messi’s second goal, Telasco Segovia gave the ball to Luis Suarez and got it back to put the finishing touch on the victory. “We are always excited to win and now we have an opportunity to take home a trophy,” assistant coach Javier Morales said. Head coach Javier ...

GRIMSBY, England — Manchester United sank to a new low under Ruben Amorim by getting eliminated by fourth-tier Grimsby Town after a marathon penalty shootout in the second round of the English League Cup on Wednesday. Grimsby won 12-11 on spot-kicks at 9,000-capacity Blundell Park on England’s east coast, with Bryan Mbeumo missing the decisive penalty. United needed late goals by Mbeumo and Harry Maguire just to salvage a 2-2 draw in regulation, having trailed 2-0 at halftime. It will go down as one of the most embarrassing results in United’s history and leaves the team winless in three games so far this campaign, after a woeful 15th-place finish in the Premier League last season. Grimsby’s jubilant fans stormed onto the field to celebrate with the players after Mbeumo’s spot kick rebounded off the crossbar to seal United’s fate. “It’s an amazing feeling, one that will live on forever,” said Grimsby’s Charles Vernam, who scored one of the team’s goals. Grimsby is curre...

BRAUNSCHWEIG, Germany — Stuttgart’s German Cup title defence started with a drama-filled 8-7 win on penalties over Eintracht Braunschweig on Tuesday after their game ended 4-4 following extra time. New signing Lorenz Assignon struck Stuttgart’s winning penalty – the 20th of the shootout – after Alexander Nübel had already saved three for the visitors. “I think the fans enjoyed it more than we did on the field,” said Stuttgart forward Ermedin Demirović, who scored two goals in normal time as well as a penalty in the shootout. Braunschweig, which made a good start to the second division with two wins from three games, showed straight away it was not overawed by the defending champion. Sven Köhler put the home side ahead early with a strike from distance that Nübel should have kept out after getting his hands to the ball. Demirović replied four minutes later with a diving header to Maximilian Mittelstädt’s cross that went in off the far post and made it 2-1 on the hour-mark. But Fab...

West Ham’s miserable start to the season continued Tuesday with a 3-2 loss at Wolverhampton in the second round of the English League Cup. Jørgen Strand Larsen scored in the 82nd and 84th minutes, soon after coming on as a substitute, to turn the game around for Wolves at Molineux and consign West Ham and under-pressure manager Graham Potter to a third straight defeat to open the season. The Hammers have already lost to Sunderland and Chelsea in the Premier League, conceding eight goals in the process. After the match, West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen appeared to try to approach a fan after the team’s players went over to applaud the travelling contingent. Two of Bowen’s teammates were seen pulling him away from a potential flashpoint. Wolves had also lost its first two games in the league, so the League Cup match was important for both teams. Rodrigo Gomes put Wolves ahead before goals by Tomas Soucek and Lucas Paqueta gave West Ham the lead by the 63rd minute. More from...

Of the many assignments tasked to Canadian men’s head coach Jesse Marsch, creating a strong leadership group was perhaps not front and centre when he took the helm. Early results and a superb Copa America propelled the various narratives to skew extremely positively. Marsch’s decision to hand the captain’s armband to Alphonso Davies before Copa was questioned in some quarters, but was generally accepted as typical of modern football: Give the big name the job, he’ll be the face of the team, it makes sense.  Given the team’s performance at Copa, the choice was vindicated.   But ahead of next month’s friendly window, when Canada meets Wales in Swansea and Romania in Bucharest, Marsch has suddenly pushed the leadership situation to the forefront. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Marsch’s feelings were clear. “We have a lot of really good, talented, established players in the national team now, but we need more big leaders that understand what the best games are abo...

Canada Soccer has named its men’s under-18 roster for a camp in Finland ahead of games against Finland on Sept. 5 and Switzerland on Sept. 7. The friendlies in Eerikkilä are described as “an important step in preparing for the next FIFA U-20 World Cup cycle,” with qualifying beginning in 2026 at the U-19 level. “This will be a first event for the 2007-born generation and an opportunity to assess the talent pool prior to integrating some of Canada’s top 2008 performers at the U-17 World Cup this November,” Andrew Olivieri, Canada Soccer’s men’s Youth Excel director, said in a statement.  “With the increase in youth camps across our programs, we’re creating more opportunities than ever for players to grow within our environment and be ready for the challenges ahead.” The Canadian camp opens Saturday and runs through Sept. 8. The roster includes Canadian Premier League talent in goalkeeper Emmanuel Marmolejo and defender Zayne Bruno from Forge FC and midfielder Emrick ...

MILAN, Italy — Inter Milan got its Serie A campaign off to the perfect start when Marcus Thuram scored twice in a comfortable 5-0 win over a dismal Torino on Monday. Alessandro Bastoni glanced a header home from a corner kick after 17 minutes and Thuram added a second 18 minutes later. Lautaro Martínez took advantage of a defensive mistake to make it 3-0 early in the second half, and Thuram made it four just after the hour mark. Ange-Yoan Bonny completed the scoring after another defensive mix up. The result delighted new Inter coach Christian Chivu and the fans hoping the team can put last season’s poor finish behind it. Inter narrowly lost the scudetto to Napoli and succumbed to Paris Saint-Germain in a one-sided Champions League final. Udinese draws with Verona Earlier, Udinese and Verona completed a tepid 1-1 draw. Both teams finished on 44 points last season and there was nothing between them in their season opener. Both goals also came from second-half corners. Udinese ...

It appears Napoli is closing in on a major addition. The Serie A champions look to be close to securing striker Rasmus Højlund from Manchester United on loan with the chance to make the move permanent, according to multiple reports. Sky Sport Italia and insider Fabrizio Romano report that negotiations are progressing in terms of a loan agreement and personal terms between the player and club. The total transfer fee is expected to reach about 45 million euros (C$72.5 million) with the option potentially becoming an obligation under certain conditions. The move comes as Napoli attempts to find a replacement for Romelu Lukaku, who is going to be sidelined for months with a thigh injury. Højlund’s situation at Old Trafford has been unsettled since United reshaped their squad this summer. Despite flashes of promise since his arrival from Atalanta in 2023, he has struggled for consistency in front of goal and has found himself pushed down the pecking order. Multiple clubs ha...

Samantha Chang capped a two-goal effort with the game winner as Vancouver Rise FC held off Ottawa Rapid FC 3-2 on Sunday in Northern Super League action at TD Place. Chang, who opened the scoring in the 24th minute, netted the winning goal in the 89th minute, just one minute after Julia Benati tied it at 2-2 for Ottawa. Holly Ward’s goal in the 75th minute gave the Rise a 2-1 edge. Delaney Baie Pridham, the league’s leading scorer, scored her 15th of the season in the 56th minute to get the Rapid on the board and tie it at 1-1.  The win allowed Vancouver (7-5-5) to leap past Ottawa (7-6-4) into third place in the league standings. The Rise will next host Montreal Roses FC on Saturday while the Rapid welcome Halifax Tides FC on Thursday. More from Sportsnet Rise surprise AFC Toronto with NSL road win Roundup: Allen scores first NSL goal to help Tides net tie with Roses

CF Montreal survived a late surge from Austin FC to record a 3-2 victory at Stade Saputo on Saturday night. Hennadiy Synchuk, Dante Sealy and Prince Owusu all scored for Montreal (4-15-8), which won just its second Major League Soccer game at home this season, while Myrto Uzuni and Owen Wolff scored for Austin (9-8-8). “To create the winning mentality, and today you could see the boys left everything on the pitch and for that, we got a well-deserved win,” said Owusu, who’s worn the captain’s armband and could be seen coaching his teammates from the bench after being substituted off. “(We are feeling) relief, for sure. We were very close to having that feeling we had today, a couple of weeks before. There’s a feeling of relief but also a feeling of ‘we want to have it again.’” Facing the second-best defence in MLS did not seem to intimidate Montreal, which immediately took the game to Austin, pinning the Texas side back in their own end and creating several chances. After just 10 m...

German soccer icon Thomas Muller is set to get his first start in Major League Soccer tonight as his Vancouver Whitecaps host St. Louis City SC. The 35-year-old attacking midfielder played his first game for the ‘Caps (13-6-7) on Sunday, coming on in the 61st minute.  He scored minutes later but the goal was quickly called offside and Vancouver settled for a 1-1 draw with the visiting Houston Dynamo. Muller signed with the Whitecaps earlier this month after playing 17 seasons for Bayern Munich in the German Bundesliga. He scored 250 goals across all competitions and helped the club to 33 titles, including 13 league championships.  The Whitecaps head into tonight’s game sitting third in the Western Conference, six points behind San Diego FC with eight games to go on the regular-season schedule.  More from Sportsnet Whitecaps draw Dynamo in Thomas Muller’s MLS debut German star Thomas Muller focused on winning titles with Vancouver Whitecaps

BARCELONA, Spain — Barcelona fought back from a two-goal deficit to win 3-2 at Levante with a late own-goal by the hosts in the Spanish league on Saturday. Defending champion Barcelona needed Pedri González and Ferran Torres to score early in the second half to equalize after the newly promoted Levante had rolled to a surprise two-goal lead at halftime. Lamine Yamal then helped to produce the winning goal when he curled a cross into the six-yard box and Levante’s Unai Elgezabal headed into his own net. Levante striker Iván Romero earlier struck from a counterattack in the 15th minute that started with a ball lost by Yamal. José Luis Morales made it 2-0 in first-half injury time by converting a penalty after a video review called a handball by Alejandro Balde when he blocked Morales’ shot. But Pedri started the fightback in the 49th when he received Yamal’s pass well outside the area, picked his spot in the corner of the net and blasted in a shot from long range. Ferran, who had hi...

BERLIN (AP) — Hoffenheim spoiled Erik ten Hag’s Bundesliga debut as Bayer Leverkusen coach by coming from behind to defeat his team 2-1 in Leverkusen on Saturday. Tim Lemperle scored the visitors’ winner early in the second half to get a new-look Leverkusen after a summer of change off to a disappointing start. Ten Hag, who took over from the Real Madrid-bound Xabi Alonso, had three new signings in his starting lineup including goalkeeper Mark Flekken, young forward Ibrahim Maza, and defender Jarell Quansah. The latter headed Leverkusen into an early lead, but Fisnik Asllani leveled in the 25th and turned provider for Lemperle in the 52nd. The summer departures of key Leverkusen players like Florian Wirtz, Granit Xhaka, Jeremie Frimpong and former captain Jonathan Tah was evident as the home team failed to mount a response. Ten Hag was just one of four coaches making their Bundesliga debuts with new teams – six altogether this weekend. Former Germany assistant Sandro Wagner got o...

BERLIN — Harry Kane scored a hat trick as Bayern Munich started its Bundesliga title defence with a 6-0 demolition of Leipzig on Friday. The Bavarian powerhouse dominated with the exception of a 15-minute spell after halftime when Antonio Nusa went close for the visitors. Nusa, who also had a goal ruled out, served to only rile more goals from Kane, who was supported by the outstanding Michael Olise, who scored two, and Luis Díaz, who got the other goal and set up two on his Bundesliga debut. “We wanted to come out with a statement and that’s exactly what we done,” Kane told Sky TV. “Leipzig are a good side but today we was on top in all areas and we was clinical when we needed to be, so we can enjoy this.” Olise broke the deadlock in the 27th minute and Díaz had the home fans celebrating again five minutes later when he rifled the ball in off the underside of the crossbar after a well-worked move involving Kane and Serge Gnabry. Gnabry laid the ball off for Díaz with his heel. Ol...