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Jeff CarlisleNov 25, 2025, 11:45 AM ETCloseJeff Carlisle covers MLS and the U.S. national team for ESPN FC.The 2026 World Cup draw on Dec. 5 will reward the four highest-ranked teams — Spain, Argentina, France and England — which will be placed in separate sections of a new tennis-style seeded tournament bracket.FIFA said Tuesday the top four teams in the latest men’s rankings will, if they finish top of their respective round-robin groups, avoid each other until the semifinals of the June 11-July 19 tournament being co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.Defending champion Argentina with Lionel Messi and…
Nov 25, 2025, 11:41 AM ETArsenal captain Martin Ødegaard could return for Wednesday’s Champions League blockbuster against Bayern Munich.The Norwegian midfielder has been sidelined since early October with a knee injury but is pushing to make his comeback at the Emirates Stadium.Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said: “He was very close for the previous game so we are hopeful that tomorrow he can be in the squad.”A heavyweight showdown sees the teams who began the week as the top two in the Champions League table, both with four wins from four matches, meet under the lights in north London.Arsenal will head…
Cristiano Ronaldo is set to avoid a ban for the start of Portugal’s World Cup campaign despite his red card against the Republic of Ireland.A FIFA disciplinary committee has imposed a three-match ban, but the final two games are suspended for one year provided there is no similar infringement during the probation period. Ronaldo was shown a red card after appearing to swing an elbow at Ireland defender Dara O’Shea during a World Cup qualifier earlier this month. He has already served the one-match suspension, in Portugal’s final qualifier against Armenia.Should Ronaldo commit another offence of a similar nature, the…
Jeff KassoufNov 25, 2025, 11:27 AM ETCloseJeff Kassouf covers women’s soccer for ESPN, focusing on the USWNT and NWSL. In 2009, he founded The Equalizer, a women’s soccer news outlet, and he previously won a Sports Emmy at NBC Sports and Olympics.The United States deaf women’s national soccer team defeated hosts Japan 4-0 on Tuesday to clinch a record fifth Deaflympics gold medal and eighth overall world championship.The USDWNT has not lost a game since officially beginning play in 2005, registering 44 wins and one draw.Forward Emily Spreeman scored a brace in the final to extend her team scoring record…
Western politicians have failed to speak up about the slaughter of civilians in Sudan because the United Arab Emirates has bought and paid for their silence, according to a top Sudanese general. Lieutenant General Yasser al-Atta, a member of Sudan’s governing Sovereignty Council and the military’s second in command, told journalists that UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed has launched a race war against the Sudanese people. He accused the ruler of Abu Dhabi of supporting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which has been carrying out massacres and atrocities across Sudan over the past two and a half years of war,…
Beth LindopNov 25, 2025, 11:07 AM ETCloseBased in Liverpool, Beth Lindop is ESPN’s Liverpool correspondent and also covers the WSL and UWCL.Arne Slot has admitted he feels “guilty” about Liverpool’s poor form and said their recent results have been “ridiculous.”Liverpool’s 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest on Saturday marked their sixth defeat in seven Premier League games, with Slot’s side losing consecutive league games by a three-goal margin for the first time since 1965.It leaves them 12th in the table, 11 points behind leaders Arsenal, with the hopes of the club retaining their title now looking bleak.”It is ridiculous,” Slot said.…
Nov 25, 2025, 11:00 AM ETThe conference semifinals of the MLS Cup playoffs are in the books, and only four teams remain in the quest for the title. Lionel Messi and Inter Miami CF are now the team to beat after steamrolling FC Cincinnati, New York City FC took down the Supporters’ Shield-winning Philadelphia Union, Thomas Müller’s Vancouver Whitecaps snuck past Son Heung-Min and LAFC in a shootout, and the Western Conference No. 1 San Diego FC eked past Minnesota United FC..What stood out from a surprising round of action? ESPN turned to Cesar Hernandez and Joseph Lowery to sum…
Liverpool boss Arne Slot feels guilty for his side’s “ridiculous” and “unbelievable” slump this season.The reigning Premier League champions suffered a 3-0 home defeat by Nottingham Forest on Saturday – a sixth loss in seven league matches – leaving them 11th, the first time in more than a decade the club have been in the bottom half of the table. Then then dropped to 12th following Merseyside rivals Everton’s win over Man Utd on MNF. Ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League home game against PSV Eindhoven, Slot said of their woeful form: “I would describe it as ridiculous, almost. Something I…
Nov 25, 2025, 10:46 AM ETPortugal star Cristiano Ronaldo can play in the first game of the 2026 World Cup after FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee issued him a one-match ban — which he has already served — for the red card he received in his country’s 2-0 loss to the Republic of Ireland on Nov. 13.The superstar had been expected to be banned for at least one more game and start what will be his record sixth World Cup on the sideline.FIFA published a disciplinary verdict Tuesday that imposed a three-game ban, yet with two of those games deferred for a…
Soon after the pro-US, pro-Israel Venezuelan opposition figure Maria Corina Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on 10 October 2025, the Trump administration began boldly to increase its covert and open military aggression against Venezuela. Within a few days, US President Donald Trump ordered the CIA to engage in covert operations in the country. Later in October, reports indicated that US warships were being deployed to the Caribbean near Venezuela. By 13 November, Trump was briefed on military options. A coincidence? Perhaps, or perhaps not. Consider, then, the figure the Nobel Committee chose to honour. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem…