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BARCELONA, Spain — Lamine Yamal put on another show as he scored Barcelona’s opener and tormented defenders all game long to spearhead the La Liga leader to a 3-1 win at Elche on Saturday. Yamal scored in the sixth minute and passed for Marcus Rashford to put the victory beyond doubt late in the second half. Elche pulled level briefly in the first half before Ferran Torres re-established a 2-1 advantage just before halftime at Martínez Valero Stadium. Their goals let Barcelona open a four-point gap over second-placed Real Madrid before it hosts Rayo Vallecano on Sunday. It was a third game in a row that Yamal has scored for Barcelona. The 18-year-old Spain star also found the net in a 3-0 win over Real Oviedo last weekend and in a 4-1 victory over Copenhagen on Wednesday to propel his team into the Champions League round of 16. Barcelona coach Hansi Flick praised Yamal, saying he still “has potential to reach another level.” Elche has surprised in its return to ...

MILAN — AC Milan secured the long-term future of Mike Maignan after the goalkeeper signed a new deal through 2031 on Saturday. Maignan had an immediate impact after joining Milan from Lille in 2021 to replace Gianluigi Donnarumma, who left for Paris Saint-Germain. The French international helped Milan win Serie A in his first season and was named Serie A goalkeeper of the season. “(He) quickly established himself as one of the team’s key figures, standing out for his leadership, reliability and selfless attitude,” Milan said in a statement. “His constant growth saw him become club captain and a central presence within the squad, as well as a mainstay for the French national team.” The 30-year-old Maignan has made 188 appearances for Milan.

PARIS — Marseille followed its embarrassing Champions League exit by throwing away a two-goal lead in a 2-2 draw at Paris FC in Ligue 1 on Saturday. Players stood with hands on hips at the final whistle after yet another sloppy performance where poor defending resurfaced. Marseille’s 3-0 loss at Club Brugge on Wednesday, coupled with Benfica’s remarkable injury-time goal against Real Madrid, sent coach Roberto De Zerbi’s side into the Champions League elimination zone. De Zerbi’s side took an early lead at Paris FC thanks to a Mason Greenwood penalty and the English forward set up veteran striker Pierre-Emerick to make it 2-0 in the 54th. Then it went wrong for Marseille, which has long been hindered by a lack of composure. Paris FC winger Jonathan Ikoné scored in the 82nd and midfielder Ilan Kebbal equalized with a stoppage-time penalty, after goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli clumsily fouled a player when claiming a high ball. Marseille was six points behind second-placed Pari...

BARCELONA, Spain — Espanyol was stunned by visiting Alaves 2-1 to extend its run of winless games to five in La Liga on Friday. Lucas Boyé finished from close range a counterattack to complete a comeback by the visitor. Roberto Fernandez headed in the opening goal for Espanyol and Alaves captain Antonio Blanco equalized with a deflected left-foot shot from outside the area. Espanyol was fifth but the loss was a blow for its European hopes with Real Betis and Celta Vigo trailing by two points. Alaves was previously just a point outside the relegation zone and has jumped to 10th in the table.

COLOGNE, Germany — Cologne beat Wolfsburg 1-0 and ended a 13-game streak without a clean sheet in the Bundesliga on Friday. Linton Maina scored with a deflected left-foot shot from the edge of the area in the first half to mark his 100th Bundesliga game. It was the first win for Cologne over Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga since September 2022 and the first home victory over Wolfsburg since January 2020. Cologne moved to ninth in the standings in a boost ahead of a tough series of six games in which it faces four of the top five. The Wolves were 12th, only four points above the relegation zone.

The Vancouver Whitecaps have acquired attacking midfielder/forward Aziel Jackson on loan from Polish side Jagiellonia Bialystok through June 2026, the Major League Soccer club announced Friday. The loan agreement includes an option to purchase. Jackson will officially join the club pending receipt of his international transfer certificate, work permit, and medical. The 25-year-old from West Orange, N.J., made 11 appearances across all competitions for Bialystok, competing in the top level of Polish soccer and the UEFA Conference League. He joined Bialystok after spending a season and a half in MLS with Columbus, helping the Crew to the Leagues Cup 2024 title.  Jackson started 14 of his 31 appearances across all competitions for the Crew, recording four goals and five assists. He has also spent time with St. Louis and Minnesota in MLS, and played in France as a youth with the under-17 side of Toulouse FC and fourth-tier Blagnac FC. Jackson has made one appearance fo...

LOS ANGELES — In a year when much of the focus will be on the U.S. men’s team and this summer’s World Cup, the women’s team is gearing up for its turn in 2027. The United States wrapped up its January training camp with victories over Paraguay and Chile as the team prepares for qualifying in November for the Women’s World Cup in Brazil. The team is still going to depend heavily on familiar faces like Trinity Rodman, Naomi Girma and Lindsey Heaps while it looks to add a fifth World Cup title to the collection, but coach Emma Hayes has expanded her player pool. The emphasis of the camp and the two friendlies was clearly on youth, with all the players coming from the National Women’s Soccer League. Players from Gotham FC who were in London for the semifinals of the first Women’s Champions Cup weren’t able to attend. European-based U.S. players — like Heaps and Girma — also remained abroad to focus on their club seasons. Forwards Mallory Swanson and Sophia Wilson are...

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose Earthquakes acquired forward Timo Werner from German club Red Bull Leipzig and signed him to a designated player contract through June 2028 on Thursday in one of the biggest acquisitions in the MLS club’s history. The 29-year-old Werner, whose deal is pending receipt of his visa and international transfer certificate, also has played for Stuttgart, Chelsea and on loan to Tottenham during a decorated career in which he’s helped to hoist trophies in the Champions League, the Europa League, the UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup. He also has appeared in 57 games and scored 24 goals while representing Germany in international competition. “It’s always a big decision to go to America, but everything is there to be successful,” Werner said in a statement. “The stadium and the facilities are beautiful. Also, it really impressed me that an experienced manager like Bruce (Arena), who has had so much success in the league, flew over here to Germany to talk t...

The Vancouver Whitecaps are lending defender Joedrick Pupe to Belgian club Sint-Truidense V.V. The Major League Soccer team announced the move Thursday, saying the loan will last through June and includes an option to purchase.  Vancouver picked up the 28-year-old Belgian from F.C.V. Dender in Belgium last August after the ‘Caps lost centre backs Sam Adekube and Ranko Veselinovic to season-ending injuries.  Pupe arrived in Vancouver with a hamstring injury that took longer than expected to heal, and he did not play for the Whitecaps until Oct. 26 when he came off the bench in the club’s playoff win over FC Dallas.  He also came in as a substitute in the MLS Cup final, where the ‘Caps fell 3-1 to Inter Miami.  The Whitecaps are currently holding training camp in Marbella, Spain, and will play their first game of the year on Feb. 18 when they visit Costa Rican side C.S. Cartaginés in CONCACAF Champions Cup play. More from Sportsnet Whitecaps captain Ryan Ga...

BARCELONA, Spain — Despite a coaching change and some poor play that irked its fans, Real Madrid returned to the top of La Liga after Klyian Mbappé scored a brace in a 2-0 win at Villarreal on Saturday. Mbappé scored early in the second half and added an injury-time penalty to ensure Madrid rose two points above Barcelona, which will need to beat bottom side Real Oviedo at home on Sunday to reclaim first place. Those were Mbappe’s La Liga-leading 20th and 21st goals in 20 appearances by the France star. Madrid has stayed close to Barcelona even though it has not been playing up to the standards of its demanding club executives and supporters. The club fired coach Xabi Alonso after it lost to Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup final two weeks ago, only for the team to also endure an embarrassing exit to a second-tier team in the Copa del Rey in the debut of his replacement, Álvaro Arbeloa. The sudden coaching change and poor play sparked fan protests during Madrid’s l...

LORIENT, France — The French Ligue 1 club Lorient announced Wednesday that the Black Knight Football Club group had become its sole shareholder. The Black Knight consortium fronted by American businessman Bill Foley, which owns the Vegas Golden Knights in the NHL, acquired a minority ownership interest in Lorient in January 2023 as part of its multi-club ownership strategy. BKFC also owns Premier League side Bournemouth, Moreirense FC in Portugal and Auckland FC in New Zealand. Lorient said in a statement that Wednesday’s move follows “a strategic agreement aimed at strengthening the long-term development of FC Lorient in an increasingly competitive football environment.” BKFC is bringing more than $550 million in equity, Lorient said. It added that president Loïc Féry would retain his position and become a BKFC shareholder alongside Foley. “We are delighted to take this next step with FC Lorient and to welcome Loïc to BKFC,” Foley said. “With Loïc, we will ensu...

BIRMINGHAM, England — Premier League title contender Aston Villa will be without Belgium midfielder Youri Tielemans for eight to 10 weeks, manager Unai Emery said on Wednesday. The 28-year-old Tielemans was injured in the 74th minute of the 2-0 victory over Newcastle at St James’ Park on Sunday. The win moved third-place Villa within four points of leader Arsenal. Wednesday’s announcement came amid other midfield injury worries for Emery, with Boubacar Kamara expected to miss the remainder of the season and captain John McGinn also currently unavailable. On Thursday, Villa hosts Salzburg in its final group match in the Europa League. The English club and Lyon are the only two teams to have directly secured a spot in the round of 16 with a game to spare.

The Vancouver Whitecaps will be without captain Ryan Gauld to start the 2026 Major League Soccer season.  The club has announced the Scottish midfielder had a arthroscopic debridement procedure done on his left knee in Innsbruck, Austria, on Tuesday. Whitecaps sporting director Axel Schuster says in a statement that the club believes Gauld will make a full recovery by April.  The news comes after Gauld suffered a knee capsule sprain and bone bruise to the same knee last March, an injury that sidelined him for more than six months.  He finished the season with 15 appearances across all competitions, and tallied three goals and three assists.  The Whitecaps are currently holding training camp in Marbella, Spain, and will play their first game of the season on Feb. 18 when they visit Costa Rican side C.S. Cartaginés in CONCACAF Champions Cup play. They’ll kick off their MLS campaign at home against Real Salt Lake on Feb. 21.  More from Sportsnet Austin ...

Canada Soccer has named a 24-player roster for a February camp in Spain ahead of the CONCACAF Women’s U-17 Championship Qualifiers in March. Melyna Alexis, Gabriela Istocki, Lacey Kindel and Reed Tingley return from the squad that made the quarterfinals of last year’s U-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco before losing to Brazil in a penalty shootout. Alexis, from Mascouche, Que., was just 15 at that tournament.  Kindel, meanwhile, comes from a B.C. sporting family. Father Steve Kindel and mother Sara Maglio both played soccer for Canada, while Lacey’s brother Ben is a rookie forward with the Pittsburgh Penguins. The roster, which includes two training players, draws on players born on or after Jan. 1, 2009.  The Canada camp, which runs Feb. 2-14 in Salou, will include three international matches at Futbol Salou Stadium. The young Canadians will face Andorra on Feb. 7 before facing Finland twice, on Feb. 10 and 13. Jesse Acteson will lead the team, stepping in while head coa...

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter on Monday backed a proposed fan boycott of World Cup matches in the United States because of the conduct of President Donald Trump and his administration at home and abroad. Blatter was the latest international soccer figure to call into question the suitability of the United States as a host country. He called for the boycott in a post on X that supported Mark Pieth’s comments in an interview last week with the Swiss newspaper Der Bund. Pieth, a Swiss attorney specializing in white-collar crime and an anti-corruption expert, chaired the Independent Governance Committee’s oversight of FIFA reform a decade ago. Blatter was president of the world’s governing body for soccer from 1998-2015; he resigned amid an investigation into corruption. In his interview with Der Bund, Pieth said, “If we consider everything we’ve discussed, there’s only one piece of advice for fans: Stay away from the USA! You’ll see it better on TV anyway. And upon a...

LIVERPOOL, England — French striker Thierno Barry scored his fourth goal in five games to give Everton a 1-1 draw at home to Leeds on Monday. Leeds was dominant in the first half and took the lead in the 28th minute when Anton Stach’s low cross from the right ran across the 18-yard box to James Justin, who stormed in at the far post to score with a low shot. Dominic Calvert-Lewin almost doubled Leeds’ lead three minutes later but hit the post from about four meters out. Leeds’ early superiority was highlighted by the visitors having more shots in the first half — 10 — than in any league game since September 2021. However, Everton coach David Moyes changed to a back three for the second half and his side came right back into the game. Leeds goalkeeper Karl Darlow denied Barry an earlier equalizer and Iliman Ndiaye, back in the side after winning the Africa Cup of Nations with Senegal, also came close for Everton. But it was Barry who got the equalizer 14 minutes from time. The big...

PARIS — Loan signing Ethan Nwaneri scored a fine goal early into his club debut as Marseille beat Lens 3-1 to creep tentatively back into the Ligue 1 title race on Saturday. Marseille’s victory ended Lens’ 10-game winning streak in all competitions and stopped the northern side from reclaiming top spot from Paris Saint-Germain. Third-placed Marseille moved five points behind Lens and remained seven behind PSG before their clash at Parc des Princes on Feb. 8. A day after joining on loan from Premier League leader Arsenal, the 18-year-old Nwaneri took just 13 minutes to score. The way the winger took the goal validated Marseille coach Roberto De Zerbi’s decision to put him straight into the starting lineup. Collecting the ball in midfield, Nwaneri drifted effortlessly past a player by cutting inside to the left, and then calmly curled a pinpoint shot from 20 meters into the bottom corner. The highly rated Nwaneri became the youngest player in Premier League history at 15 ye...

Wrexham’s bid for a fourth straight promotion and a place in the Premier League is gaining steam. A dramatic 3-2 win at Queens Park Rangers — courtesy of two stoppage-time goals — lifted Wrexham, the Welsh club co-owned by Hollywood celebrities Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, into sixth place in the second-tier Championship on Saturday. The top-two finishers secure automatic promotion and the teams who finish third to sixth will qualify for the end-of-season playoffs for the one extra promotion spot. It’s the first time this season that Wrexham has ended a round in the playoff places. Wrexham has played 29 of its 46 games in its first second-tier campaign since the 1980s following an unprecedented three straight promotions. Its surge up the English soccer pyramid, fuelled by the cash injection by Reynolds and McElhenney since buying the club in 2020 and documented in the Emmy-winning “Welcome to Wrexham” TV series, began in 2022 with promotion from the non...

HAMBURG, Germany — St. Pauli and Hamburg drew 0-0 in a lacklustre derby that lifted St. Pauli off the bottom of the Bundesliga on Friday but did little to animate a dismal run of one win in 15. The match between the two biggest teams in Germany’s second city failed to spark, particularly in a first half that saw just one shot on target, and that in stoppage time. There were a few more chances in the second 45 minutes but no one with the composure to stamp his mark on the game. The result moved St. Pauli from last to third to last. Mainz was in last place. Hamburg has gone five games without a win but climbed one place to 13th, five points ahead of St. Pauli. More from Sportsnet German soccer official urges World Cup boycott over Trump Kenneth Heiner-Moller rejoins Canada Soccer as sporting director

Bradley Barcola scored his second goal in two games to give Paris Saint-Germain a late win over lowly Auxerre and return to the top of Ligue 1 on Friday. Barcola rescued PSG when, with the match heading to a 0-0 draw, he finished a counterattack in the 79th minute and squeezed the ball over the advancing goalkeeper. Until then, second-to-last Auxerre had frustrated second-from-top PSG without threatening to score. Auxerre did not have a shot on target all night at Stade de L’Abbé-Deschamps. Barcola’s sixth goal of the season capped a fine performance, although the winger will rue missed chances that could have secured the three points earlier. The result took PSG two points ahead of surprise pace-setter Lens, which faces a difficult tie at third-placed Marseille on Saturday. Auxerre remained above only last-placed Metz on goal difference.

Former Canada women’s coach Kenneth Heiner-Moller has been named to the new role of sporting director, national teams, at Canada Soccer, essentially becoming the top soccer dog in the organization. “Reporting to the CEO, the sporting director is the senior executive responsible for the management of Canada Soccer’s national teams and high-performance initiatives,” says the official job summary. While Heiner-Moller will report to CEO Kevin Blue, national team coaches Jesse Marsch and Casey Stoney will report to Heiner-Moller, according to a Canada Soccer spokesman. “Kenneth is an internationally respected technical leader, and we’re excited to welcome him back to Canada Soccer,” Blue said in a statement. “His familiarity with our environment, combined with his diverse global experience as an executive and coach, will be vital as we strengthen our sporting structure and prepare for a crucial time in our organization’s history and the management of post‑World Cup growth.” The 55-year-...

Jadon Sancho scored his first goal for Aston Villa to lift his new club past Fenerbahce 1-0 and into the Europa League round of 16 on Thursday with a game to spare. Lyon also clinched a last-16 spot with a 1-0 victory over Young Boys in Bern, and Freiburg joined them by beating Maccabi Tel Aviv by the same score. Lyon and Villa are level on points (18) with six wins and a loss atop the standings with one game to go the in the league phase. Freiburg is one point behind in third. Like in the Champions League, the top eight finishers advance automatically after eight rounds to the round of 16 while the teams placed from nine to 24 enter a two-leg playoff to progress. Sancho, who joined Villa on a season-long loan from Manchester United in September, met a deflected cross from Matty Cash to hand Villa the victory. Villa manager Unai Emery had a string of injured players unavailable, including captain John McGinn and defensive midfielder Boubacar Kamara. Emery...

MANCHESTER, England — Casemiro will leave Manchester United at the end of the season, the Premier League club said Thursday. The Brazil international’s contract will expire after four years at Old Trafford in which he won the FA Cup and English League Cup. “I will carry Manchester United with me throughout my entire life,” Casemiro said. “From the first day that I walked out at this beautiful stadium, I felt the passion of Old Trafford and the love that I now share with our supporters for this special club.” The 33-year-old midfielder joined United from Real Madrid for $60 million in 2022 after winning three Spanish titles and five Champions Leagues. He never managed to repeat his finest performances from Madrid in the Premier League but scored a goal in United’s League Cup final triumph over Newcastle in 2023. He has played 146 games and scored 21 goals for United so far. Casemiro did not say what his plans are beyond the end of the season when he w...

MEXICO CITY — Right wingback Richard Ledezma has switched allegiance from the United States and will play for Mexico’s national soccer team. The 25-year-old Ledezma, who was born in Phoenix to Mexican parents, played for the United States at the U-20 World Cup in Poland and had one appearance with the senior squad in a friendly match against Panama on Nov. 16, 2020. The Mexican soccer federation made the announcement late Tuesday. The switch is on the FIFA Change of Association platform. Ledezma was included on Mexico’s 27-man roster that was called up by coach Javier Aguirre last week to play friendly matches against Panama on Thursday and Bolivia on Sunday. After playing six seasons with Dutch club PSV Eindhoven, Ledezma signed earlier this year with Mexican team Chivas, where he has started in the first three matches of the Clausura tournament. Ledezma has a realistic chance to make the Mexican team for this year’s World Cup because Aguirre has struggled with the right wingback...

Canadian defender Nikola Markovic, the first overall pick in the December MLS SuperDraft, has signed a three-year contract with D.C. United through the 2028-29 season, with options for 2029-30 and 2030-31. The 21-year-old from Gatineau, Que., who made 39 appearances in two seasons with North Carolina State, had signed a Generation Adidas contract with Major League Soccer prior to the draft. On Tuesday, D.C. United confirmed details of that contract. Generation Adidas, a joint program between MLS and Adidas, provides contracts to elite collegiate underclassmen and youth national team players. Generation Adidas players sit on a club’s supplemental roster, meaning they do not count against the salary cap until the end of the guaranteed term of their contract (up to three years). “We are thrilled to have signed such a young and exciting talent in Nikola, following an impressive season with N.C. State,” Erkut Sogut, D.C. United’s managing director of soccer operations, said in a statemen...

Manchester City slumped to one of the most humiliating upsets in Champions League history, losing to a 3-1 at tiny Norwegian club Bodø/Glimt on Tuesday. The second-half sending-off of Rodri completed a miserable evening for big-spending City in Bodø, a fishing town with a population of around 55,000 and located north of the Arctic Circle — more than 1,000 kilometres north of Oslo. Kasper Høgh scored close-range goals in the 22nd and 24th minutes to set Bodø/Glimt — a tournament debutant this season — on its way to its first-ever win in the competition. Jens Petter Hauge sent the home fans wild inside the 8,000-capacity Aspmyra stadium by curling into the top corner in the 58th to make the score a scarcely believable 3-0. City replied through Rayan Cherki in the 60th but hopes of a comeback were damaged by Rodri — the Ballon d’Or winner in 2024 — getting sent off in the 62nd minute for collecting a second yellow card in quick succession. More from Sportsnet Toppmoller out as ...

Toronto FC leaves the cold and snow of Toronto for the warmth of Spain on Tuesday, still missing a marquee attacker but with a sense of optimism going into the 2026 season. Head coach Robin Fraser, starting his second year at the helm, has liked what he has seen to date in training camp. “I feel like the intensity and engagement is probably the No. 1 thing that I’m encouraged by so far,” he said Monday. “Today we just played 10 vs. 10, with some specific requirements defensively, and the pace of it was unreal. “And I said it to them afterwards … at that level of engagement that we saw here today on Day 5, 6 of training, if that’s there every day, we’ll end up where we want to. But that needs to be a constant.” Captain Jonathan Osorio, just back from Canada’s camp in California, was also impressed by what he saw in Monday’s training under the bubble. “There’s a good feeling within the group,” he said. “I’ve heard that training has started off really well and the training, the level...

The Canadian men have dropped two places to No. 29 in the latest FIFA rankings, despite not playing a Tier 1 international since the last ratings were released. Canada was overtaken by Nigeria (No. 26, up 12 places) and Algeria (No. 28, up six) after their performances at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). Nigeria, which finished third, and Cameroon (No. 45, up 12), which lost to eventual runner-up Morocco in the quarterfinals, were the biggest movers in the new rankings.  The Canadian men’s only action since the last ratings came out Dec. 19 was a 1-0 win Saturday over Guatemala in a B international in Los Angeles, which did not count in the FIFA rankings. Guatemala remained unchanged at No. 94. There were no changes in the rankings’ top seven with Spain ahead of Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal and the Netherlands. Morocco returned to the top 10 for the first time since April 1998, climbing three places to an all-time-high of No. 8. Belgium, Germany and Croatia eac...

Senegal leaving the field to protest referee decisions before winning the Africa Cup of Nations title amid shocking chaos was “unacceptable,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said Monday. Infantino criticized the Senegal coaches, players and some fans for their behavior at the end of regulation time against host nation Morocco, which was astonishing for the final of an international competition. “The ugly scenes witnessed (Sunday) must be condemned and never repeated,” the FIFA leader posted on his Instagram account after attending the game in Rabat. “I expect that the relevant disciplinary bodies at CAF (the Confederation of African Football) will take the appropriate measures,” Infantino wrote. CAF also described the incidents as unacceptable in a later statement, and said it is “reviewing all footage and will refer the matter to competent bodies for appropriate action to be taken against those found guilty.” That legal path was not enough for the Moroccan socc...

RABAT, Morocco — Senegal has won the Africa Cup of Nations for the second time. Pape Gueye scored in extra time for the Teranga Lions to beat host Morocco 1-0 in a chaotic final on Sunday, which at one point saw Senegal’s players leave the field to protest a penalty decision. After a 14-minute delay, Édouard Mendy saved Brahim Díaz’s Panenka penalty in the last kick of normal time. Gueye then scored the winning goal in the first half of extra time. More from Sportsnet Senegal players walk off field to protest penalty at AFCON Final South Africa, Ivory Coast, Senegal secure World Cup spots

BERLIN — Substitute Jeong Woo-yeong scored a late equalizer as Union Berlin snatched a point with a 1-1 draw at Stuttgart in the German league on Sunday. Chris Führich had put the hosts ahead near the hour-mark before Jeong’s equalizer in the 83rd minute extended Union’s unbeaten run to five matches. Stuttgart missed the chance to move into the top three. Sebastian Hoeness’ team is fourth in the standings, level on points with third-placed Hoffenheim, which has one match in hand. The hosts dominated early on — with Union threatening on the break — and took the lead when Ramon Hendriks set up Führich, who slotted home with right-footed strike. Jeong came on in the 75th minute and the South Korea midfielder scored against his former club with a precise finish into the top corner. Bayern Munich, which routed Leipzig 5-1 on Saturday, tops the standings with an 11-point lead. Second-placed Borussia Dortmund scraped past St. Pauli 3-2 on Saturday after letting a two-goal lead s...

FRANKFURT, Germany — Dino Toppmöller paid the price for Eintracht Frankfurt’s leaky defence as he was fired Sunday ahead of two crucial games that will decide whether Frankfurt avoids an early exit from the Champions League. Toppmöller had been with Frankfurt since 2023 and led the team back to the Champions League after finishing third in the Bundesliga last season. The club said in a statement their working relationship ended with immediate effect. His last game was Frankfurt’s 3-3 draw with Werder Bremen on Friday, which took the team’s winless run to four games. Frankfurt has conceded 39 goals in 17 Bundesliga games. “We in the sporting management and collectively on the board have come to the conclusion that we need a fresh impetus due to the downward trend in recent weeks,” said sporting director Markus Krösche. “So far this season, we have not lived up to the ethos of Eintracht Frankfurt standing for dynamic, aggressive and compact football.” U21 coach Dennis Schmi...

Canada coach Jesse Marsch liked what he saw from a handful of veterans and a lot of newcomers. The makeshift combination produced a 1-0 win over Guatemala on Saturday in a men’s soccer friendly downgraded to a B international, meaning it would not count in the FIFA rankings and players involved would not get senior caps. Jacen Russell-Rowe broke the deadlock in the 66th minute, heading home a perfect cross from substitute Malik Henry. Canada could have won by more had it not been for Guatemalan goalkeeper Kenderson Navarro. Given the game did not fall during a FIFA international window, Marsch opted for players out of season, with all but one based in North America. “This was a pretty complete performance, from a bunch of new guys,” said Marsch. “In all ways I think that this has definitely helped us take a good first step in 2026 for what we know will be a big year and big summer,” he added. Canada had 57 per cent possession and outshot Guatemala 12-6 (7-3 in shots on target) wi...