National Teams

Harry Kane, wearing the armband, sent England to the World Cup with a 94th minute winner against Slovenia Thursday.

In a move that’s been coming for some months, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay officially announced their bid to host the 2030 World Cup on Wednesday in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Argentina and Uruguay have been indicating a joint bid since July and Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez wore jerseys promoting the bid before recent World Cup qualifiers. Paraguay only recently hitched onto the bid process. 

Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski is now Poland's all-time leading scorer after nailing two free kicks in the first half of a World Cup qualifier against Armenia Thursday, plus a tap-in in the second half. Lewandowski's hat trick gives him 50 international goals, including 15 in the current World Cup qualifying campaign.

First, Lewandowski lined up a superb free-kick to put Poland up 2-0.

Syria salvaged an improbable 1-1 draw with Australia in the first leg of their qualifying playoff to keep their World Cup dream alive, but the Socceroos are still in control of this tie having scored a vital away goal ahead of the return leg in Sydney on Tuesday, October 10.

Perhaps more than any other weekend every four years, this upcoming (extended) weekend from Thursday to Tuesday defines a nation’s success on the world football stage. Playoffs aside, this is the final week of World Cup qualifiers, and it’s going to be absolutely bonkers.

There is so much at stake for so many countries from traditional powers (Argentina, Netherlands) to the incredible underdogs (Syria, Iceland) and everyone in between. Only a handful of teams have already qualified and an incredible amount are still in the running. 

Tomorrow night, Argentina host Peru at La Bombonera in Buenos Aires knowing that victory will send them above the visitors and into CONMEBOL’s automatic qualifying places before their final match away to Ecuador on Tuesday. All eyes will be on Lionel Messi and the ever-improving Paulo Dybala as La Albiceleste attempt to safely navigate an unfathomable disaster, but Argentina’s entire World Cup qualifying campaign shows that nothing will go according to script.

The United States has qualified for every World Cup since 1990. Only once in that span did the Americans need a result on the final day of qualifying. That came in 1989 when the U.S. traveled to Trinidad and Tobago needing nothing less than a win to procure a trip to the 1990 World Cup. The USMNT again travels to Trinidad and Tobago on Oct. 10 needing a result to extend its streak to eight straight World Cup appearances.

October 6 and 10 could very well define our 2018 without having even celebrated the turning of the new year. Matches against Panama in Orlando and Trinidad & Tobago in Couva will decide the USMNT’s fate with regards to the world’s biggest sporting event. For those that like to measure the time between their birth and death with the probabilities of how many more World Cups they’ll be able to enjoy, failure to take anything less than four points could prove catastrophic.

Gerard Pique has never been one to shy away from his political views. An outspoken supporter of Catalan independence, Pique has drawn a lot of ire from fans of the Spanish National Team, especially with Catalonia trying to vote on a referendum to decide whether to declare independence from Spain.

Pique's stance on the referendum will have no effect on Pique's role with Spain, said Spanish National Team manager Julen Lopetegui. 

If you pay $1 for a cheeseburger, you don’t expect a gourmet experience. If you buy a $600 car, you shouldn’t be surprised if it dies before the next oil change. If you spend $30,000 on a house, it’s probably a fixer-upper. If you put down $5 million for a striker, you won’t win the Premier League.

If you spend $20 on match fixing, you can’t expect to win the match. Nchalo United in Malawi found that out the hard way.