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 1 – International players union FIFPro and the ICSA, the UK governance institute, have become supporting partners of the first edition of the Tackling Matchfixing conference to be held at the Chelsea Harbour Hotel in Chelsea, London, March 9-10.
March 1 – The head of Asian football has called on FIFA to lift its ban on Iraq being allowed to host competitive international matches after three decades.
March 1 – German football may consider ditching Monday night league games following a string of protests by fans who have voted with their feet and stayed away, according to Borussia Dortmund’s chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke (pictured).
March 1 – A judgement by the Lahore High Court (LHC) reinstating Faisal Saleh Hayat as the president of the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) may lead to the lifting of the FIFA ban imposed on Pakistan in September 2015.
March 1 – A normalisation committee imposed in Cameroon by FIFA to try and bring an end to years of internal rifts has reportedly been extended for another six months.
March 1 – IMG and Perform have named their South American joint marketing agency venture FC Diez Media. The new company will advise CONMEBOL on their commercial rights for club competitions from 2019-22.
March 1 – Brazil’s Federal Police are claiming the price tag of Salvador’s Fonte Nova stadium, a 2014 World Cup venue, was inflated by as much as $130 million. Seven arrest warrants have been issued in connection to the investigation, including for the former governor of Bahia Jaques Wagner.
March 1 – Los Angeles’ hopes of being one of the host cities for the 2026 World Cup should the US-led bid win the vote appears to be back on track.
March 1 – Any slight chance the world’s most expensive player had of making his club’s most important game of the season has been ruled out with the news that Neymar will have surgery after suffering a fractured metatarsal and sprained ankle.
March 1 – Budweiser will step in to fill the official beer partnership slot of the England Senior Men’s team after Carlsberg end their 22-year association after the Russia 2018 World Cup.
March 1 – Last night’s FA Cup replay at Wembley’s 90,000 capacity stadium drew just 24,627 spectators for Tottenhams 6-1 thrashing of Rotherham in the snow. A far cry from the full house Wembley saw last Sunday for the Football League’s Carabao Cup final that saw Manchester City beat Arsenal 3-1.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 28 – Morocco looks to be closing the gap on its United States-led rival in the race to land the 2026 World Cup with the outcome in June by no means as clearcut as a few weeks ago, according to an ESPN report.
By Paul Nicholson
February 28 – Focus this weekend will inevitably be on the game changing decisions regarding video assistant referees at the meeting of FIFA’s rule making committee. But on Friday the governing body addresses arguably even more important and potentially life changing issues with its 4th Conference for Equality and Inclusion at FIFA House in Zurich.
February 28 – Spanish giant Real Madrid has launched its own 360° and virtual reality channel in The Dream VR app that has more than 2 million downloads in over 180 countries.
February 28 – The North American Soccer League (NASL) has cancelled its 2018 season with three of its six clubs shifting to the National Premier Soccer League which kicks off this April.