Seattle downs Angel City 3-2 for 3rd straight win amid playoff push

Ji So-Yun scored the go-ahead goal in first-half stoppage time and the Seattle Reign held off Angel City 3-2 on Friday night for their third straight victory. Seattle (5-9-5) is undefeated in seven straight games as the team pushes for a playoff spot. Ji's goal put the Reign in front 2-1 before the break and Tziarra King extended the lead with another in the 58th. Angel City appeared to score twice in the second half but both goals were ultimately disallowed. Sydney Leroux broke through for Angel City with a stoppage time goal.

Rodrygo scores and Brazil beats Ecuador 1-0 in South American World Cup qualifying

Real Madrid star Rodrygo scored a goal in the first half and Brazil defeated Ecuador 1-0 to end a three-match losing streak in South American qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The 23-year-old Rodrygo scored with a shot from outside the box that was deflected by a defender to the right post in the 30th minute. Five-time world champion Brazil had consecutive losses to Uruguay, Colombia and Argentina at the end of last year. In other regional matches Friday, Uruguay and Paraguay finished scoreless in Luis Suarez's final match for Uruguay, and Colombia and Peru played to a 1-1 draw.

Friday's Scores

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Alex Morgan leaves women's soccer 'in an amazing place' to focus on expanding her family

Alex Morgan is retiring from a brilliant 15-year professional soccer career because she's pregnant with her second child. She'll play one final game on Sunday for the San Diego Wave at Snapdragon Stadium. It'll likely be emotional. When she walked into her retirement news conference, she was greeted with an ovation from her teammates. Morgan helped the United States win one Olympic gold medal and two World Cup titles. She also helped lead the fight for equal pay and advancements for the women's game.

Getting bypassed by US Soccer not on Jesse Marsch's mind going into Canada's match vs. Americans

Jesse Marsch has said several times he was unhappy with his treatment by the U.S. Soccer Federation when he interviewed last year before Gregg Berhalter was rehired. That won't be on Marsch's mind Saturday when he coaches Canada against the United States in a friendly. Marsch is a 50-year-old Wisconsin native and Princeton graduate who has coached in the Premier League and Bundesliga. He was hired by Canada in May. Berhalter was fired in July after the U.S. was eliminated in the Copa America first round. Mikey Varas is the interim American coach while the USSF negotiates a deal with Mauricio Pochettino.

Haaland kept scoreless by Kazakhstan's five-man defense in Nations League; Italy and Belgium win

Maybe the English Premier League teams struggling to contain Erling Haaland should consider employing the 5-4-1 formation that Kazakhstan used against Norway. Kazakhstan's yellow-clad defenders swarmed around Haaland for the full 90 minutes of a 0-0 draw in the Nations League and kept the striker scoreless on Friday following his consecutive hat tricks in the Premier League. Haaland failed to hit the target with any of his four shots during a match in which Norway held 65% of the possession and produced 19 shots to Kazakhstan's four. Haaland has seven goals in three Premier League matches for Manchester City this season. Italy won 3-1 at France and Belgium beat Israel 3-1.

UEFA fines Roma $2.2M and warns Basaksehir of European ban in latest club finance rulings

UEFA has fined Roma 2 million euros ($2.22 million) and threatened Istanbul Basaksehir with a one-year ban from European competitions in the latest rulings by club finance investigators. Aston Villa and Marseille must pay fines of tens of thousands of euros for late delivery of accounts for the monitoring system once known as "Financial Fair Play." The system was approved in 2009 to promote financial stability in top-level European soccer by evaluating revenue and spending by clubs which qualify for its competitions. UEFA required clubs last season to limit spending to 90% of revenue on wages and transfer fees.

German police investigate reports of alleged match-fixing in lower-league soccer games

Police in Germany are investigating potential match-fixing in lower-league soccer games after a newspaper reported that the scores of allegedly fixed games may have been sold online for betting purposes. The Hamburger Morgenpost newspaper reported Friday that message logs detailed the apparent sale on the "dark web" of information about up to 17 games ranging from the third division to regionalized fifth-tier competitions. Police in the southwestern state of Saarland said they were investigating one game which had taken place there. Police in the state of Hesse told news agency dpa they were examining two more.

Tiny San Marino celebrates its 1st ever competitive win in international soccer

The 19-year-old who scored in the San Marino national soccer team's first ever competitive victory wasn't even born the only other time that the tiny republic nestled in central Italy won a game. That's because the 1-0 victory over Liechtenstein in the Nations League on Thursday came two decades after San Marino beat Liechtenstein by the same score in a friendly. San Marino soccer federation president Marco Tura says "we didn't sleep last night." He adds that "during the celebrations there those who screamed and those who cried." San Marino hadn't won in 141 previous competitive fixtures.

2024 Paralympics schedule Sept. 7: wheelchair basketball and blind football top final weekend

It's almost time to say goodbye. After years of planning and months of hype, the Olympic and Paralympic journey of the city of Paris is almost over as the 2024 Paralympic Games enter their final weekend. But there is still plenty to see, with team finals and medals awarded in 13 sports on Saturday. Among the top choices are blind football, featuring Argentina vs. France, and men's wheelchair basketball, with the United States taking on Great Britain. Organizers also say ticket sales have broken the 2.4 million mark.

Bergwijn hits back at Netherlands coach Koeman: 'You don't treat players like that'

Steven Bergwijn has hit out at Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman for shutting the door on his international career because of a move to Saudi Arabia. The 26-year-old forward was accused by Koeman of lacking "sporting ambition" after leaving Ajax for Al-Ittihad on Monday, and won't be considered for selection. Bergwijn has played for the Dutch national team since 2018 and was part of the squad for the recent European Championship. He saw Koeman's critical comments on the television and was hurt by them. Bergwijn tells Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf: "You don't treat players like that. I have always considered it an honor to play for the Dutch team, but under this coach I no longer want that."

England interim coach may only have two games to prove he's up to the job

A new era for England's soccer team begins on Saturday. How long it will last is unknown. Interim head coach Lee Carsley takes charge of his first game against Ireland after Gareth Southgate stepped down following the European Championship. Carsley stepped up from coaching the under-21s and has the role for UEFA Nations League games against Ireland and Finland. But he could remain in position for longer if the search for Southgate's permanent successor extends beyond the next international break in October.

Chinese soccer appears to be getting worse despite President Xi's pledge to make it better

Japan defeated China's men's national team 7-0 in a World Cup qualifier in Saitama, Japan, a brutal loss that came against one of China's biggest sporting and geopolitcal rivals in Asia. The loss on Thursday was China's most lopsided against Japan, and a historic loss in World Cup qualifying. China's national team coach Branko Ivankovic of Croatia called it a "most difficult night." China has nine more matches to qualify for the 2026 World Cup. It has only qualified for one World Cup. That was in 2002 when it lost all three matches and failed to score a goal.