Guatemala 0-1 Panama:
June 20 – Friday night at Q2 Stadium bore no resemblance to the venue that hosted football just 24 hours earlier. The transformation was complete, and the catalyst was simple: unbridled passion provided by the hordes of Guatemala supporters who descended on Austin. Stark contrast to the lack of interest shown by US fans on Thursday.
March 6 – Just when English football authorities appeared to have learned from the lessons of the past in terms of embarrassing gaffes, so another one has hit the headlines, this time involving Football Association chief executive Martin Glenn.
March 6 – Italian football is breaking with tradition and going down the English road of playing over Christmas and New Year.
March 6 – Now that FIFA have changed the rules on what the two bidders for the 2026 World Cup can and can’t do to promote their credentials, Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) President Fouzi Lekjaa has wasted no time rallying support from within his own confederation.
March 6 – Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has accepted a Football Association charge over “wearing a political message” during matches, specifically a yellow ribbon in support of jailed pro-independence politicians in his native Catalonia.
March 3 – Tributes will be paid before Champions League and Europa League games this week in honour of Davide Astori, the Fiorentina defender and former Italian international who died tragically at the weekend aged 31.
March 6 – CONCACAF has unveiled its first ranking of national teams in the North, Central America and Caribbean region. Mexico are ranked top, the USA, despite not qualifying for Russia 2018, are second, and Costa Rica third.
March 6 – The first ever Women’s Football Symposium for the whole of African football has opened in Marrakech designed to chart a new course for the development of the women’s game.
March 6 – Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez has signed up to the ‘Athens Principle for the right to play sport’. Pérez was on hand for a signing ceremony that also saw the Euroleague (basketball) president Jordi Bertomeu sign the accord.
March 6 – The latest CIES Football Observatory data report looks at the clubs with the best ratios between shots taken and conceded from inside the box during the current domestic league season.
March 5 – Just days after the head of Asian football, Shaikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa, called on FIFA to lift its ban on Iraq being allowed to host competitive international matches, two Asian Champions League games have been postponed until April in the hope that FIFA heeds the request.
March 5 – The whole of Italy and the footballing world beyond has registered its collective shock and disbelief after the sudden death overnight on Saturday of Fiorentina captain and Italian international defender Davide Astori at just 31 years of age.
March 5 – Mexico’s football federation (FMF) president Decio de Maria (pictured) has resigned and will leave his post after the 2018 World Cup. Yon de Luisa will take his place.
By Samindra Kunti in Zurich
March 5 – Russia 2018 anti-discrimination chief Alexey Smertin has reiterated that LGBT fans will be welcome at the World Cup this summer. Rainbow flags will be allowed to fly at stadiums during the tournament.
March 5 – Premier League Burnley have denied that they are the subject of a £180 million takeover attempt by competing American and Middle Eastern investors. But a club statement said that they are always open to investment.
By Samindra Kunti in Zurich
March 5 – Former Tottenham, West Ham United and Sevilla striker Frederick Kanouté has called for a level playing field in football by developing local African leagues.