Football

5:00 AM ET Thirty years after its inaugural season, the Premier League can rightly celebrate its status as the world’s most popular football league. There’s not one factor behind it; there are many, and you might be familiar with them. In no particular order, you might cite the following: heritage (the game was invented here,

4:39 PM ET England will be relegated to the second tier of the UEFA Nations League after their poor form continued with a 1-0 defeat to Italy at Milan’s San Siro on Friday. In a game of few chances, Giacomo Raspadori scored the only goal with a stunning strike in the 68th minute to leave

3:56 PM ET DUSSELDORF, Germany — United States men’s national team manager Gregg Berhalter conceded that his side has “work to do” ahead of the World Cup following a 2-0 friendly defeat to Japan in which the Americans struggled against the Samurai Blue’s press. Japan applied pressure throughout the opening 45 minutes, limiting the U.S.

11:06 AM ET DUSSELDORF, Germany — With the World Cup less than two months away, the United States men’s national team was hoping to sharpen up its game against Japan, but if anything, it was the Samurai Blue who looked more ready for the showpiece tournament, riding goals either side of halftime from Daichi Kamada

11:36 AM ET COLOGNE, Germany — United States manager Gregg Berhalter has said Arsenal goalkeeper Matt Turner will start in Friday’s friendly against Japan, and he will be joined by center backs Aaron Long of the New York Red Bulls and Nashville SC’s Walker Zimmerman. “Aaron and Walker are going to play, going to start,

1:15 PM ET Cesar Hernandez Only two months separate the Mexico men’s national team from their World Cup group-stage opener against Poland on Nov. 22. Before the trip to Qatar, El Tri have two upcoming friendlies in California, against Peru (Sept. 24) at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena and against Colombia (Sept. 27) at Levi’s

10:22 AM ET In less than two months, the 3,065-day wait between World Cup matches for the United States men’s national team will come to an end. Only tuneups against Japan in Germany (Friday, 8:25 am ET on ESPN2/ESPN+) and Saudi Arabia (on Tuesday in Spain) remain before the Nov. 21 group-stage opener against Wales

2:56 PM ET Sam Marsden Moises Llorens Barcelona have threatened to take legal action against a Spanish newspaper that leaked details of the club’s contract negotiations with Lionel Messi in 2020. On Wednesday, El Mundo released a series of requests Messi made to the club to renew his deal at Camp Nou as he moved

7:30 AM ET Rob DawsonCorrespondent Phil Jones was one of only five players picked to represent England at both the 2014 and 2018 World Cups, but when Gareth Southgate sits down to select his squad for Qatar 2022, he won’t be anywhere near the conversation. 2 Related The 30-year-old defender can’t play for Manchester United

10:28 AM ET The days are counting down to the start of the World Cup in Qatar, with the host nation kicking it all off on Nov. 20, when they take on Ecuador. – Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, MLS, more (U.S.) All 32 finalists are making their closing plans for the tournament, hoping that

3:43 PM ET DOHA, Qatar — The 2022 World Cup is just two months away. Twelve years after being awarded the rights to host the tournament, the tiny Gulf state of Qatar has built the stadiums, opened five-lane highways and a $36 billion Metro system, and undertaken a huge construction effort on a grueling timeline

3:40 PM ET United States star Christian Pulisic has criticized his former Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel, saying he was left “dumbfounded and very disappointed” by the decision not to start him in the Champions League semifinal second leg against Real Madrid in 2021. Pulisic started and scored Chelsea’s goal in a 1-1 draw in the

6:19 AM ET Chelsea are continuing to pursue an agreement to appoint Christoph Freund as their new sporting director despite FC Salzburg‘s reluctance to allow him to leave, sources have told ESPN. The 45-year-old has held a series of talks with Chelsea, who have identified several candidates including Bayer Leverkusen‘s Tim Steidten and Paris Saint-Germain‘s

11:24 AM ET Lionel Messi and Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni have their sights set on the World Cup Gustavo Pagano/Getty Images When Argentina take on Honduras and Jamaica in upcoming friendlies, there will be few changes to the Albiceleste squad that has not lost a match in more than two years. And why should there be?

9:58 AM ET Harry Maguire is at the beginning of the biggest week of his career. The Manchester United captain has two games for England, against Italy and Germany in the UEFA Nations League, over the next seven days that will shape his season and show whether he can emerge from a nightmare 12 months

10:50 PM ET MLS said it will investigate the alleged use of a racial slur in Sunday’s match between Inter Miami and D.C. United, in which it is alleged that DCU forward Taxi Fountas directed the N-word at Inter Miami defender Damian Lowe. “MLS has zero tolerance for abusive and offensive language and we take

6:35 PM ET Ahead of the FIFA international break, some prominent clubs (looking at the ones from Bavaria and Turin) are already facing some questions so early in the season. And at other sides, it could mean see some managers being replaced before league action re-starts in less than a fortnight. Meanwhile, we saw some

5:24 PM ET Alex KirklandESPN FC MADRID — If you hadn’t known that Sunday’s match between Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid was “El Derbi Madrileño” you still might’ve guessed something was up. – Report: Atletico Madrid-Real Madrid | LaLiga table | Upcoming fixtures A tense, chippy affair ended in a 2-1 win for Real Madrid,