The United Bid Committee, the organizers of the joint 2026 World Cup bid from the United States, Canada and Mexico, announced the 49 stadiums and 44 cities across the three countries that are currently being considered for the event. With 20-25 venues anticipated in the final decision, there’s certainly a lot for the committee to consider before submitting their final bid by March 16, 2018.
Friday was the deadline for FIFA to accept bids to host the 2026 World Cup, the first to be awarded since scandal rocked the organization following Russia and Qatar controversially winning the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, respectively. The U.S. had already turned in a joint bid with Mexico and Canada that’s expected to win easily, but at the last minute Morocco decided to throw its hat into the ring.
Anyone who ever watched a match with Edgar Davids knows he’s one of the most recognizable players to ever grace a pitch. With his magnificent dreadlocked mane and iconic goggles, Davids was steam punk before steam punk was cool. He was a pretty damn good footballer too, playing for clubs like Ajax, AC Milan, Juventus, Barcelona, Inter Milan and Tottenham while representing the Netherlands 74 times and making some kickass commercials. Paul Pogba’s got nothing on Davids.
Newly appointed Argentina manager Jorge Sampaoli has wasted no time putting his own stamp on the national team by recalling once-exiled Inter Milan striker Mauro Icardi and dropping the oft-criticized Gonzalo Higuain for crucial upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay and Venezuela.
Icardi is joined in Argentina’s attack by Lionel Messi, Paulo Dybala, Joaquin Correa and Sergio Aguero, who was left out of Sampaoli’s first Argentina squad for friendlies against Brazil and Singapore back in June.
Iran is one of three clubs to have qualified for the 2018 World Cup, but that could be in jeopardy.
According to the latest FIFA World Rankings, Switzerland will approach the 2018 FIFA World Cup bracketed amongst the traditional favorites of Brazil, Germany and Argentina. Those are the only three nations above them in the latest August rankings. It’s easy to laugh at the Swiss opening up a sizable gap over the traditional European powers of France, Spain, Italy and England, but there’s no reason to not have them pegged as dark horses in Russia.
After a tournament that was the opposite of the 2016 Men's Euros in terms of entertainment value, the Netherlands have come away from Euro 2017 victorious. A six-goal thriller is exactly the type of thing we like to see in an international final, and Holland and Denmark did not disappoint.
Two goals after halftime put the 4-2 scoreline in the Netherlands' favor after falling behind 1-0 in the sixth minute and entering halftime tied 2-2.
It was an especially sweet victory for the Dutch, as it came on home soil.
The U.S. women faced off against Japan on Thursday in their last game of the Tournament of Nations. Japan-U.S. has become a particularly heated affair in recent years with the two meeting in three of the last four major finals. USWNT fans will not easily forget the heartbreaking loss to the Japanese at the 2011 FIFA World Cup nor Carli Lloyd’s rampage to win the trophy four years later.
Holland defeated England 3-0 in the semifinals of Euro 2017 in front of a packed house of over 30,000 at the Grolsch Fortress in Enschede on Thursday night. Although Holland had the backing of a vociferous home support, England entered the match as favorites after defeating France in the quarters.
As opposed to the 2015 World Cup, when England defied the odds to reach the semis before a heartbreaking defeat to Japan, the Lionesses approached this match with the burden of expectation. With Denmark awaiting the winner, England's path to a first major international trophy was clear.
Austria and Denmark played Thursday for a spot in the Women’s European Championship final. Neither team scored in regulation. Most of the match looked like this.