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The Canadian Soccer Association says it has suspended a provincial association over its refusal to let turban-wearing children play. … Quebec’s federation says it’s concerned about safety and points out that the rules of the world governing body, FIFA, don’t specifically allow turbans. Critics of the Quebec decision point out that FIFA’s rules don’t explicitly ban turbans, either. …

There is still a long way to go, and things can certainly go wrong. But the United States is in wonderful shape to qualifying for Brazil 2014 and extend that ongoing streak, to find its way into a seventh consecutive World Cup.Given the U.S. history in World Cup qualifiers on home soil – basically, they don’t lose at home – and given that Jurgen Klinsmann’s team has already gained four of a possible nine points on the road, there is no other way to see it.Remember when the CONCACAF draw came out? We all looked at the schedule and, exhaled...

WASHINGTON—Jozy Altidore's drought is over, and the U.S. men's national team has a boatload of momentum heading into three vital World Cup qualifiers later this month. Altidore's first-half goal—his first for the USA in 19 months—set the tone for a 4-3 win over Germany in the Centennial Celebration match in front of 47,359 at RFK Stadium on Sunday. Clint Dempsey scored two goals in the second half to put away the result, as the Americans beat Germany for the first time since the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup. Altidore broke his drought in the 13th minute, hitting a wondrous first-time volley...

Three months after coming out as gay and stepping away from the game, midfielder Robbie Rogers has signed with the LA Galaxy according to multiple reports. MLS rights to Rogers, who previously played in the league for Columbus Crew from 2007 to 2011, were owned by the Chicago Fire, but Rogers didn't want to play for them. So after casually training with the Galaxy over the last several weeks, a trade was finally worked out, sending midfielder Mike Magee to Chicago in exchange for Rogers, who is now the first openly gay player in MLS. And according to ESPN, he...

LONDON (AP) — David Beckham is retiring from soccer, ending a career in which he became a global superstar who transcended the sport. The 38-year-old Beckham, who recently won a league title in a fourth country with Paris Saint-Germain, said Thursday he will retire after the season. ‘‘I'm thankful to PSG for giving me the opportunity to continue but I feel now is the right time to finish my career, playing at the highest level,’’ the former England captain said in a statement. Beckham, whose forays into fashion and marriage to a pop-star wife have made him a riveting international...

Manchester United have confirmed Alex Ferguson will retire at the end of the season after 27 years at the club. Fergie, 71, walks away from Old Trafford having secured United’s 13th Premier League title. Along with 13 league titles, Ferguson also guided United to two European Cups, five FA Cups and four League Cup triumphs. His last last game in charge will be at West Brom on May 19.

'A moment of silence was observed at the Emirates Stadium before kickoff in Arsenal's match against Everton to mourn the 24th anniversary of the Hillsborough tragedy as well as Monday's bombing of the Boston Marathon. Three people, including eight-year-old child Martin Richard, were killed in Massachusetts after explosions at the event's finishing line. Players for both Arsenal and Everton wore black armbands to honor the dead and more than 150 others who were injured in the blasts. The attack came coincidentally on the same day, April 15, as 96 fans were killed at Sheffield Wednesday's ground in 1989, with tributes...

Over here in Europe, we call it "The beautiful game". Okey, nothing much happens for 72 minutes or so, but I'd say this is worth waiting for: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx8qNKbC4go By the way, This player is from the ill-famed Muslim ghetto of Rosengård, Malmö, Sweden. But actually, Ibrahimovic is not a Muslim - he's a Buddhist.

Nationalism will certainly run deep when Mexico hosts the United States in a World Cup qualifier Tuesday night, but the home team’s head coach wants to make sure fans know where to draw the line. “I ask the fans to respect the national anthem of the away team,” Mexico coach José Manuel de la Torre said Monday (via MLSsoccer.com). “It feels very bad to be in an away stadium in another country and not even hear the anthem, so if there is something I can ask, it is to respect the national anthem of the visitors.” “El Tri” have been...

MEXICO CITY — Officially the game ended in a tie. But try telling that to the U.S. and Mexico, which fought to a scoreless draw in a World Cup qualifying match that left both teams heading in different directions. For the U.S., Tuesday's result felt like a win — especially since it came at a sold-out Estadio Azteca, a place where the Americans have never won a World Cup qualifier. Plus it leaves the U.S. in third place three games into the six-nation, 10-game qualifying tournament for Brazil 2014. For Mexico, meanwhile, the tie was as humiliating as a loss....

The Portland Thorns are removing a T-shirt from store shelves and the team's website in response to criticism that its slogan "Feelin' Thorny?" was sexist. The T-shirt was gone in slightly less than 24 hours since the controversy broke on Facebook and was fueled on other social media platforms.

<p>Robbie Rogers, a former midfielder for the United States national team who most recently played in England, had revealed in a blog post that he was gay, too.</p> <p>Robbie Rogers, a midfielder for the Columbus Crew from 2007-2011, revealed Friday that he is gay. He wrote: “My secret is gone, I am a free man, I can move on and live my life as my creator intended.”</p>

The Beitar Jerusalem team has been fined 50,000 shekels by a Football Association court for fans’ recent anti-Muslim chants. In addition, the east seating section at Beitar’s home field in Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem will be closed for the next five games. The team was also given a suspended sentence of a 35,000 shekel fine and five games with no audience if there are additional incidents in which racist calls are heard...

A controversial soccer game between a Jerusalem team and a team from Um el-Fahm ended Tuesday night without incident, with the Jerusalem team winning 5-0. The game was played under the watchful eye of some 600 police officers, who were equipped with anti-riot gear on the possibility that tensions could mount between Jewish fans of Beitar Jerusalem and Maccabee Um el-Fahm. In a game last week, Beitar fans protested against the possibility that their team was rumored to be considering signing two Muslim Chechen players, with fans calling out racist slogans against Arabs. Three Beitar fans were arrested. Beitar initially...

IT’S a photo that will enrage hard-working football fans across Britain. West Brom defender Liam Ridgewell, 28, squats over a toilet and wipes his backside with a wad of £20 notes. Scattered on the floor in front of him are dozens more £20 notes, totalling almost £1,000. The Premier League star, who earns at least £20,000 a week, is apparently using the cash instead of toilet roll. He claims the sick stunt was simply a “joke” to wind up a friend — but it will infuriate more than just his pal. Ridgewell’s weekly wage is equivalent to the average annual...

David Beckham's move to Los Angeles was supposed to transform the status of American soccer. He and his wife Victoria arrived as the UK's biggest celebrities. Now he has played his last US game, did Americans really fall for the allure of Brand Beckham? As he sat on the tarmac at Los Angeles International Airport one evening in July 2007, David Beckham knew what was expected of him. His new employers, the LA Galaxy, had committed a huge sum - reportedly $32.5m (£20m) over the next five years - for the benefits of his footballing services. But it wasn't just...

FULL TITLE: High school soccer coach 'watched boy being sodomized by players then congratulated victim' during hazing ritual A soccer coach witnessed a teenage boy being sodomized by teammates then congratulated the victim, asking 'if it was all good', it has been claimed. The new allegations on Wednesday concern an incident in July involving coach Michael Divincenzo, known to students as 'Divo', who reportedly told older players to assault freshmen. The fresh claim came to light after three boys were allegedly sexually assaulted in a hazing ritual at Maine West High School in Des Plaines, Illinois on September 27. It...

A suit filed Monday against the Maine Township High School District claims three Maine West freshman students were sexually assaulted during a soccer team hazing ritual at the school. The suit goes into details of the hazing that have not been released by either the Des Plaines Police Department or the school district, which have both conducted investigations. Since the Sept. 27 incident, police have charged six students as juveniles while a total of ten students have been disciplined, according to the district. Some of the ten students were barred from playing on the soccer team and one student told...

LARISSA, Greece -- world's oldest profession giving whole new meaning to love of the game. Players on a cash-strapped Greek soccer team now wear pink practice jerseys with the logos "Villa Erotica" and "Soula's House of History," two bordellos it recruited as sponsors after drastic government spending cuts left the country's sports clubs facing ruin. Other teams have also turned to unconventional financing. One has a deal with a local funeral home and others have wooed kebab shops, a jam factory and producers of Greece's trademark feta cheese. But the amateur Voukefalas club -- whose players include pizza delivery guys,...

Hamas has boycotted the Barcelona soccer team over a gift given to Gilad Shalit. Schalit, who was held captive by Hamas for several years, was given a complimentary ticket for a Barcelona game, AP reports. Schalit writes a newspaper sports column for the Hebrew-language daily Yediot Aharonot. Hamas officials confirmed that TV stations in Gaza will not broadcast Barcelona matches, and newspapers in the region will not write about the team. The team is normally very popular in Gaza. A Gaza organization for Arabs jailed in Israel termed Schalit “a murderer and a criminal” and questioned why Barcelona would wish...

Draw for the 2012-13 Champions League group stage, held in Monaco on Thursday: Group A Porto Dynamo Kiev Paris St Germain Dinamo Zagreb Group B Arsenal Schalke 04 Olympiakos Piraeus Montpellier HSC Group C AC Milan Zenit St Petersburg Anderlecht Malaga Group D Real Madrid Manchester City Ajax Amsterdam Borussia Dortmund Group E Chelsea Shakhtar Donetsk Juventus Nordsjaelland Group F Bayern Munich Valencia Lille BATE Borisov Group G Barcelona Benfica Spartak Moscow Celtic Group H Manchester United Braga Galatasaray CFR Cluj

Arsenal have agreed terms to sell their captain Robin van Persie to Manchester United, the two Premier League rivals said on their websites on Wednesday. The Dutch striker, voted the league's player of the year last season, will travel to Manchester on Thursday to discuss personal terms and complete a medical ahead of the proposed move to Old Trafford. No financial details were immediately available from the clubs. Media reports said United would pay 24 million pounds ($37.67 million) for Van Persie who is poised to sign a four-year contract with them.

The average American sports enthusiast typically struggles to come to grips with the fact that "sport" exists outside the realm of the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NCAA.  Check out the reaction every time Forbes throws out a list of the Most Valuable Sports Franchises or Highest Paid Athletes if you don't believe me.  The fact that soccer even makes the list(s) is mind-boggling to some.  Because of that, it should come as no surprise that many just don't get the buzz around Manchester United's latest move; or even know there is in fact a "buzz" in the first place. That aside,...

Yes, General Motors really is giving $600 million to an English soccer club. Actually, as the team involved, Manchester United, is the most valuable team in sports, an investment in the club wouldn't be a bad idea, considering how everything else is going at General Motors. No, the $600 million GM is giving to Man United over the next 7 years is a sponsorship deal. In return, Man United will wear "Chevrolet" on their jerseys and GM will be able to call itself Man United's "global automobile partner." It will immediately have the edge with all those consumers who look...

Abby Wambach tangles with Colombian player, gets punched (Video) 16 hours ago by LBSports Abby Wambach had a memorable day in Glasgow, Scotland on Saturday for multiple reasons. Not only did Wambach become the leading goal-scorer at the Olympics in US women's national team history, but she also ended up punched in the eye after tangling with one of her opponents. During the 39th minute of the US's 3-0 win over Colombia, Wambach tangled with Lady Andrade and ended up punched in the eye. It's difficult to tell exactly what happened, but the two made contact after seemingly fighting for...

Eddie Gaven is in his 10th season of Major League Soccer. His career includes an MLS All-Star Game appearance in 2004 and an MLS Cup victory with the Columbus Crew in 2008. These are impressive accomplishments for anyone, but what makes them even more so is that Gaven is only 25. In 2003, the Hamilton Township, N.J., native was the youngest player up to that point to sign an MLS contract. He was only 16 at the time. While Gaven’s soccer career was pursued with youthful zeal, his Catholic faith was left to decay. The restoration of his faith started...

U.S. women’s soccer player Megan Rapinoe, a midfielder who helped lead the national team to the finals of last summer’s World Cup and will play in this summer’s London Olympics, confirmed to Out Magazine that she is gay.

UEFA Euro Championship: Italy V Spain 230pm EDT ESPN TV.

The image of the night in Warsaw on Thursday wasn’t Mario Balotelli ripping off his shirt and, despite his best efforts, failing to keep an ice-cool straight face after he scored the goal of the tournament to take Italy into the final of Euro 2012. It was following the referee’s final whistle. And it involved Balotelli again — of course — as he buried himself deep into the hug of his adoptive mother, Silvia, her face creased in emotion as he whispered that the two goals to defeat Germany were dedicated to her.

Italy took advantage of some woeful German defending to book a date with Spain in the final of Euro 2012, winning 2-1 in Warsaw Thursday. The Italians went into the game as the underdogs but Mario Balotelli’s clinical finishing in a stunning first half was enough to secure Italy a place in Sunday’s final. Only ineptitude by Italy’s attackers in the second half stopped the game from being a total rout as Germany’s defenders put in a horrible performance. Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Sports/Football/2012/Jun-29/178663-super-mario-downs-inept-germany-sends-italy-to-final.ashx#ixzz1z99bh7hi (The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

This is going to be difficult for soccer traditionalists to swallow, but here goes. Formations in soccer don't matter. Not anymore. Their chief function nowadays is to justify coaches' salaries and make TV commentators sound smart. For some reason, in the run-up to any big match—like Thursday's Euro 2012 semifinal between Italy and the favored Germans—the chatter always centers on the formations each team will employ. Through the first 28 games at this year's Euro, teams used five distinct formations, a greater spread than at any Euro since 1996, according to UEFA, European soccer's governing body. But for all practical...

Jerusalem, June 12 — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tore a tendon and will have to wear a cast for several weeks after he injured himself during a friendly soccer match between Jewish and Arab youths. The soccer match was held in Jerusalem Monday as part of the show "The Royal Tour" that features world leaders acting as tour guides to boost tourism, Xinhua reported. Shortly after joining the match, Netanyahu slipped and tore his tendon. "I hurt my leg during a youth soccer match while I was trying to show Israel's good side," Netanyahu said in a video on...

The European Championship's viewership is up big from four years ago. The average audience in the United States was up 82 percent for English-language broadcasts through the group stage. The 24 matches on ESPN averaged more than 1 million viewers. For Euro 2008, the games were watched by an average of 552,000 people.

“Some people believe football is a matter of life and death,..I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.”... .. I am a German married to an Italian. Germany is a favorite to win the 2012 championship .. The painful fact is that a German victory over the rest of Europe would strengthen a notion that many Europeans harbor already: that the Continent is ruled by a new regional superpower. At its inception, the euro was a condition the French posed to agree to German reunification. Paris believed at the time that a common currency would hold...

A march ahead of the match by thousands of Russian fans to mark their national day had to be halted and some missiles were thrown. Police say they arrested at least 120 people and that 10 people were injured.A heavy police presence was in evidence around the stadium after the match as further clashes broke out.... Controversial historyRussia annexed most of Poland in the 19th Century and ruled it for more than 100 years. The Soviet Union dominated it during the Cold War, after World War II. The conservative Polish opposition condemned the march as a provocation, but it was...

Terms of the five-year deal, announced in Shanghai on Thursday, were not disclosed. GM is hoping to piggyback on Manchester United's fan base of an estimated 659 million people to boost its Chevy brand, especially in such growing Asian car markets as China, where the soccer club has 108 million fans. "If our aspirations are to build global icon status for Chevrolet ... soccer far and away is the world's biggest sport," Paul Edwards, GM executive director of global marketing strategy, said in an interview. "Manchester United stands head and shoulders above the other teams in terms of scale, brand...

G8 leaders watch the Uefa Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Chelsea. They include UK prime minister David Cameron (second from left, standing) with US president Barack Obama (third from left), German chancellor Angela Merkel (fifth from left), EU commission president José Manuel Barroso (seventh from left), EU council president Herman Van Rompuy (third from right), Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev (right) and French president François Hollande (right, seated)

Ahead of Saturday's Champions League final and with Euro 2012 just around the corner, animals of all shapes and sizes are queuing up to succeed Paul the Octopus, the famous clairvoyant cephalopod from the 2010 World Cup. Paul, an octopus who lived at an aquarium in the German city of Oberhausen, rose to fame during the last World Cup for correctly 'predicting' the outcome of eight consecutive matches at the tournament. The tentacled soothsayer, who picked winners by selecting food from boxes decorated with teams' national flags, passed away after the tournament, but there are now plenty of animals bidding...

White House photographer David Souza has done it again. From The White House flickr: Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom, President Barack Obama, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, and others watch the overtime shootout of the Chelsea vs. Bayern Munich Champions League final, in the Laurel Cabin conference room during the G8 Summit at Camp David, Md., May 19, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) Seeing as Bayern Munich lost the shootout, we hope Angela Merkel isn't gong to push for double austerity out of some sense of...

LONDON—Words can barely describe the jaw-dropping season finale staged by England's Premier League last weekend, but that didn't stop every pundit, Twitter wag and pub crawler in Britain from searching many beers into Sunday night for new ways to say "best season ever." The day started at 3 p.m. with seven of the league's 20 teams still playing for something important: not just the championship, but also to secure berths in a prestigious Europe-wide competition and the right to stay in the Premier League at all, under rules that annually demote the weakest teams. It wasn't settled until minutes before...

Oregon public health officials have traced a nasty outbreak of norovirus infections in a group of soccer players to an unlikely source: a reusable grocery bag contaminated with what some experts are calling “the perfect pathogens.” The incident is raising questions, once again, about the cleanliness of the portable shopping bags that many consumers use to avoid the paper vs. plastic impact on the environment. “We wash our clothes when they’re dirty; we should wash our bags, too,” said Kimberly K. Repp, an epidemiologist with the Washington County Department of Health and Human Services in Hillsboro, Ore. Her work is...

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (center) loses her shoe while Houston Mayor Annise Parker (left), Houston Dynamo President Chris Canetti, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Kent Friedman, Chairman of the Board Harris County Houston Sports Authority and El Franco Lee, Harris County Precinct One Commissioner kick soccer balls into the net during the Houston Dynamo and BBVA Compass Stadium ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, May 1, 2012, in Houston. Photo: Mayra Beltran, Houston Chronicle / © 2012 Houston Chronicle ........Unable to secure public funding for a stadium in San Jose or even nearby Fremont, it was only a matter of time...

When Sheffield United footballer Ched Evans was sentenced to five years in jail last month for raping a 19-year-old woman, the backlash was immediate. Fellow footballers called the victim a "slag". Online commenters spewed vile hatespeak, accusing her of asking for it. Who can we now add to that list? The Kremlin's English-language propaganda channel, Russia Today. "Life sucks in a bad way if you happen to live in Britain," begins a column published on the channel's website in the wake of the Evans verdict. "Disclaimer: Only if you are a man of virile age. Being rich and hot-looking makes...

SPANISH SOCCER GIANT FC Barcelona has had a disappointing season, failing to repeat as Champions League winner and facing an all but certain second-place finish in La Liga. But the team's underachieving results are not from a lack of spending. For the second straight year, Barcelona is paying its players the highest average salary in the world at $8.7 million. The findings were revealed in the second annual ESPN The Magazine/SportingIntelligence Global Salary Survey. Full results will be released in conjunction with The Magazine's Money Issue, on sale May 4. The poll encompassed 278 teams, 14 leagues, 10 countries, seven...

BARCELONA, Spain -- Chelsea eliminated defending champion Barcelona and reached the Champions League final with a grueling 2-2 tie Tuesday night, winning the semifinal on 3-2 aggregate despite playing most of the game a man short.

TOKYO (AP) — A teenager who lost his home in Japan's devastating tsunami now knows that one prized possession survived: a football that drifted all the way to Alaska. Officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say the ball with the youngster's name inscribed on it is one of the first pieces of debris from last year's tsunami to wash up on the other side of the Pacific.

Four weeks after Bolton's Fabrice Muamba improbably survived a cardiac arrest on the pitch during an FA Cup match, a similar scenario has played out in Italy -- but this time without the happy ending. Livorno midfielder Piermario Morosini collapsed on the pitch after suffering a cardiac arrest in the 31st minute of a Serie B match against Pescara (as with the Muamba incident, we will not be showing video of this). Medical workers attempted to resuscitate the 25-year-old on the pitch, but according to the AP, a cardiologist at the hospital to which Morosini was taken reported that he...

Video Police released on Tuesday a video of a brawl between a group of Jewish soccer fans and Arab workers in the Malha Mall. The video clearly contradicted reports in Israel's media – and statements by senior security officials – that Jewish fans of the Beitar soccer club attempted to lynch three Arab workers at the mall last week. Instead, the video shows three Arab cleaners take up sticks and began chasing a crowd of soccer fans after a verbal confrontation. A spokesman for Israel Police Commissioner Yochanan Danino said, "a few dozen Beitar fans entered the Malha Mall after...

Former New York Cosmos star Giorgio Chinaglia died of complications from a heart attack Sunday. The Italian soccer great was 65. Chinaglia died at his home in Naples, Fla., his son, Anthony, said through family friend Charlie Stillitano, who was Chinaglia's co-host on a Sirius XM radio show.

An investigation is underway after video shows a teenage girl being assaulted during a high school soccer match. The attack happened during a soccer game between Chester High School and Lewisville High School on Monday evening around 5:30 p.m. The video, which was shot by WBTV's partner CN2 News, shows a player from Lewisville tripping and falling to the ground. The player, later identified as 18-year-old Annette McCullough who is a senior at Lewisville, then gets off the ground and punches a nearby Chester High school player. The teen victim is then dragged to the ground by her hair, while...