Columbus Crew clinched their second MLS Cup and first since 2008 with a 3-0 win over the Seattle Sounders on Saturday.
Lucas Zelarayan and Derrick Etienne scored during a dominant first half by the hosts at MAPFRE Stadium, where the former sealed the win in the 82nd minute.
Seattle – playing their fourth MLS Cup in five years – improved in the second half, but Crew were too good.
Columbus, in their first decider since 2015, became the seventh team in history to win the MLS Cup more than once.
Crew made the stronger start and Gyasi Zardes forced an excellent reaction save from Stefan Frei in the 17th minute.
Just eight minutes later and Crew went ahead, Zelarayan squeezing a volley under Frei after Harrison Afful s cross from the right.
Goals from Kai Havertz, Christian Pulisic and Armando Broja gave Chelsea a 3-0 win over Wolves at Stamford Bridge in Graham Potter s first home league match in charge.
A much-changed Chelsea dominated the opening 45 minutes and took the lead in first-half injury time when Havertz nodded home Mason Mount s cross.
Mount then had a big hand in the second, playing in Pulisic to dink over Jose Sa, before substitute Broja raced through to add a late third as Chelsea beat Wolves for the first time in four attempts.
The Blues move up to fourth as Potter earns an important first home league victory after making seven changes.
The hosts started brightly with Conor Gallagher and Havertz both going close in the early minutes, though Daniel Podence headed just wide at…
Stefano Pioli insists Milan are focusing only on the first leg of their Europa League tie with Red Star Belgrade, despite a huge derby with Inter coming up this weekend.
The Rossoneri have slipped off top spot in Serie A, with Saturday s surprise loss away to Spezia allowing their city rivals to take over at the summit.
Next up in the league is a showdown with Inter at San Siro on Sunday, though not before Milan travel to Belgrade to continue a European campaign that began way back in mid-September of last year.
Milan had to come through qualifying in the Europa League, needing a penalty shoot-out success over Rio Ave to make it to the group stage, and Pioli is determined to extend their run beyond the last 32.
No one can ever forget…
Both St Mirren and Motherwell gatecrashed the top three places in the cinch Premiership after the third weekend of the season.
The Buddies should be topping the table but were denied a hat-trick of league wins by Aberdeen striker Bojan Miovski’s penalty equaliser 10 minutes into stoppage-time amid VAR controversy.
Here are five things we learned from the latest fixtures.
All’s not well at Celtic
Celtic went two domestic games without scoring for the first time since May 2018 after a flat display in a goalless draw with St Johnstone. Manager Brendan Rodgers incurred the wrath of a section of fans afterwards and attacker Sead Haksabanovic later appeared to imply he was keen to move on amid a lack of starts. Daizen Maeda this weekend admitted previous manager A…
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Looking to sign off the 2023/24 campaign with a final weekend statement, Barcelona will travel to the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan when they meet Sevilla on Sunday night.
Sevilla
Starting with the hosts, while Sevilla might have marked their return from March’s international break with their sights set on mounting a genuine top-half charge, Los Nervionenses are limping their way over the finishing line. Last seen putting in another downbeat performance as they slumped to a 2-0 defeat away at Athletic Bilbao, Quique Sanchez Flores’ men have lost all of their previous three La Liga appearances. With their recent issues underlined by a shock 1-0 loss at home against Cadiz on May 15th, the former Watford boss will have an extended headache …
Although it might be the international break that steals most of this weekend’s headlines, we are still treated to a string of eye-catching domestic affairs. With another stacked schedule from across Europe throughout Saturday, we have found a trio of helpful tips that are worth taking note of.
Saturday September 9th
BST 15:00 Exeter vs Leyton Orient
While Exeter might have been disappointed after only mustering a bottom-half finish last season, Saturday’s hosts have certainly come flying out of the traps this time around. Last seen putting in another rugged display as they landed a 1-0 victory away at Burton, it is no secret that Gary Caldwell’s men have their sights set on securing a shock Championship ticket in 2024. With the mood around St. James’ Park a…
Italian authorities on Tuesday expressed their satisfaction following a meeting with UEFA delegates to discuss the country s candidature to host the 2016 European Football Championships.
Gianni Letta, the undersecretary to the Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, praised the country for its togetherness.
Italy s candidature is serious, harmonious and unique. We also think that the archaeology, landscape and climate adds extra value, he said.
All this, added to our sporting merits, can show the country in a good light.
UEFA are currently studying the Italian dossier and will give their assessment in mid May, but Italian Football Federation president Giancarlo Abete insisted that he was feeling positive.
Italy last hosted a major tournament in 1990…
Bologna have confirmed the appointment of Vincenzo Italiano as the club s new head coach, with the former Fiorentina boss succeeding Thiago Motta.
Italiano has put pen to paper on a two-year deal with the Rossoblu, who will play in the Champions League next season following a fifth-place finish in Serie A.
The 46-year-old departed Fiorentina at the conclusion of the 2023-24 season, after guiding La Viola to successive Europa League Conference finals during his three-year spell.
However, the Florence club suffered heartbreak on both occasions; losing to a last-minute winner from West Ham s Jarrod Bowen in 2023, while Ayoub El Kaabi struck in extra-time to clinch a dramatic victory for Olympiacos the following year.
Italiano also led Fiorentina to the 2022-…
Arsenal are interested in signing Murillo from Premier League rivals Nottingham Forest in the summer transfer window, according to . The report has claimed that Arsenal Sporting Director Edu is personally pushing for a deal to be done.
Football Transfers has noted that Tottenham Hotspur are also interested in Murillo. Forest are not unwilling to sell the defender, but the Premier League club will ask for around £60-70 million for the 21-year-old Brazilian central defender. It will be interesting to see if Arsenal or Spurs are willing to pay that much for the defender.
Murillo has been on the books of Forest since the summer of 2023 when he joined from Brazilian club Corinthians. The defender was one of the better players for the Reds last season. The youngster made 32 …
Marquinhos believes the strength of Brazil s squad will allow them to stay at this level even as Neymar misses Monday s game against Switzerland through injury.
Brazil impressed in beating Serbia 2-0 in their World Cup opener, but they lost Neymar to an ankle injury following a brutal 80 minutes in which he was fouled nine times.
While the Paris Saint-Germain forward has not been ruled out of the remainder of the tournament, he will not feature in the Selecao s next match.
An injury to Neymar in the 2014 World Cup was followed by Brazil losing 7-1 to Germany, but Marquinhos believes this team – the tournament favourites – can cope with his absence.
[We are] 100 per cent confident, the defender said.
We wish we could have Neymar playing with …