Top games to watch this week
Friday, July 16
Guadeloupe vs Jamaica (Gold Cup)
Suriname vs Costa Rica (Gold Cup)
Saturday, July 17
Grenada vs Qatar (Gold Cup)
Panama vs Honduras (Gold Cup)
New York RB vs Inter Miami (MLS)
Toronto FC vs Orlando City (MLS)
Sunday, July 18
USA vs Canada (Gold Cup)
Martinique vs Haiti (Gold Cup)
Mexico vs El Salvador (Gold Cup)
Guatemala vs Trinidad & Tobago (Gold Cup)
Portland Thorns vs Orlando Pride (NWSL)
León vs Cruz Azul (Liga MX)
Tuesday, July 20
Costa Rica vs Jamaica (Gold Cup)
Suriname vs Guadeloupe (Gold Cup)
Honduras vs Qatar (Gold Cup)
Panama vs Grenada (Gold Cup)
Fluminense vs Cerro Porteño (Copa Libertadores)
Atletico Mineiro vs Boca Juniors (Copa Libertadores)
Racing Club vs Sao Paulo (Copa Libertadores)
Wednesday, July 21
Barcelona vs Vélez Sarsfield (Copa Libertadores)
Palmeiras vs Universidad Católica (Copa Libertadores)
Flamengo vs Defensa y Justicia (Copa Libertadores)
Argentinos Jrs vs River Plate (Copa Libertadores)
Great Britain vs Chile (Olympics Women)
China vs Brazil (Olympics Women)
Sweden vs USWNT (Olympics Women)
Japan vs Canada (Olympics Women)
Zambia vs Netherlands (Olympics Women)
Australia vs New Zealand (Olympics Women)
Thursday, July 22
Egypt vs Spain (Olympics Men)
Mexico vs France (Olympics Men)
New Zealand vs Korea Rep. (Olympics Men)
Cote d'Ivoire vs Saudi Arabia (Olympics Men)
Argentina vs Australia (Olympics Men)
Honduras vs Romania (Olympics Men)
Japan vs South Africa (Olympics Men)
Brazil vs Germany (Olympics Men)
Internacional vs Olimpia (Copa Libertadores)
Querétaro vs América (Liga MX)
What are the must-watch games this week?
USMNT take on Canada on Sunday at 5 p.m. ET in crunch Gold Cup Group B showdown live on Fox Sports, TUDN, and Univision
The final matchday of the 2021 Gold Cup group stage will treat fans to a juicy encounter, with the U.S. men's national team taking on North American rivals Canada in Group B. This tie is crucial for one key reason: the winner of this showdown will top the group. Both sides are currently tied on six points, with both the Stars and Stripes and Les Rouges having won their opening two games. Canada hold the advantage, boasting a superior goal tally over Berhalter's side, meaning the onus is on the six-time Gold Cup champions to win the game. The USMNT endured a shaky start, registering an unimaginative 1-0 victory over Haiti, but have since found their groove, thrashing Martinique 6-1 in the following round. Sunday's highly-anticipated clash will also be aired on U.S. streaming television services fuboTV and Sling TV, as well as SiriusXM FC.
Fox Sports continues Gold Cup coverage as Mexico face El Salvador on Sunday live at 10 p.m. ET in Group A decider
The Gold Cup excitement does not end with USA vs Canada, with Mexico gearing up for a crucial fixture later on Sunday. El Tri will lock horns with El Salvador during the weekend in their last attempt to win Group A. The goalless draw with Trinidad and Tobago on the opening day means that Tata Martino's side trail El Salvador, the group leaders, by two points and as a result, the defending champions could snatch the top spot away from Los Cuscatlecos' jaws on the final matchday. Thankfully for Mexico, they bounced back from their disappointing stalemate, beating Guatemala 3-0 on matchday 2 thanks to a brace from Rogelio Funes Mori. Can the Monterrey forward guide his nation to victory? Catch this game live on Fox Sports, TUDN, Univision, fuboTV, Sling TV, and SiriusXM FC to find out the answer.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Football Tournament kicks off this midweek, with Brazil vs Germany live on USA Network headlining the opening round
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Football Tournament gets underway this midweek, with some of the best national teams across the globe kicking off their campaign to win the highly-coveted gold medal. The event will be aired live in the United States across the NBC family of networks—NBCSN, Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA, GOLF Channel, Peacock, and NBCOlympics.com to name a few. Brazil vs Germany is the standout fixture of the opening round, with this clash between these two footballing giants set to kick off on Thursday at 7:30 a.m. ET live on USA Network. Elsewhere, Pedri's Spain take on Egypt four hours before the aforementioned tie while Mexico lock horns with France, led by Tigres UANL striker Andre-Pierre Gignac, at 4 a.m. ET live on USA Network. Elsewhere, the Tokyo 2020 Women's Olympic Football Tournament kicks off a day earlier.
Speaking of the Tokyo 2020 Women's Olympic Football Tournament…
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USWNT kick off Tokyo 2020 campaign vs Sweden on Wednesday at 4:30 a.m. ET live on USA Network
All eyes will be on the U.S. women's national team as the Tokyo 2020 Women's Olympic Football Tournament gears up for its kick off this Wednesday. The four-time champions embark on their campaign for a fifth Olympic gold medal, with their first match set to be a juicy encounter with Sweden. Rapinoe and Co. have a deep history with the Scandinavian giants, having faced off at six FIFA World Cups and twice at the Olympics. The last time these two nations met at the Olympic Games, the USWNT were handed a quarterfinal defeat at Rio 2016, the first time the North American heavyweights failed to make the gold medal game. Vlatko Andonovski's side will be out for revenge! This tie will also be aired on Telemundo as well as American streaming television services fuboTV and Sling TV.
Portland Thorns vs Orlando pride at 10:30 p.m. ET on Paramount+ (USA) & Twitch (international)
Can't wait till the midweek? Want some women's soccer action this weekend? Then Portland Thorns vs Orlando Pride is the must-watch game as the 2021 Challenge Cup champions look to get better of their rivals. Providence Park will be the venue for this clash as the third-placed hosts aim to leapfrog Marc Skinner's side, who sit in second despite boasting an identical points tally. Who will win this fixture? Paramount+ will broadcast this game in the United States while international fans can tune in to Twitch to catch the action live.
Biggest stories of the week
Transfer: Barcelona and Atletico 'agree' to Griezmann-Saul swap deal
Barcelona and Atletico Madrid are reportedly on the verge of completing a swap deal involving French attacker Antoine Griezmann and Spanish midfielder Saul Niguez ahead of the start of the new season. The rumored deal is increasingly becoming a possibility with the former looking to offload some of its stars in order to balance the books.
According to the Catalonia-based newspaper Sport, Barcelona want 15 million euros in addition to Saul for Griezmann, who they are eager to get off their wage bill. The former has already expressed desire to secure a new adventure elsewhere so agreeing to personal teams as well as lesser salary is expected to be easy.
Italy vs Argentina in a tournament final? It's possible - and not necessarily just at the World Cup
Could we see a very interesting inter-continental clash with Italy and Argentina on the horizon? Perhaps. And we're not talking about the World Cup, either. According to The Times, UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin thinks that this certainly is a reality and not just a pipe dream.
And as per Čeferin, UEFA and CONMEBOL, Europe and South America's football governing bodies, would be able to work out the details without FIFA getting involved.
The only question is when this proposed match would take place. With the UEFA EURO 2020 tournament pushed back to this year due to COVID-19, there's less than two years between this year's competition and the upcoming World Cup. So far, reports have claimed that the match will take place next year - but it will be interesting to see how they'll be able to squeeze that in among club and international football.
Could we see a clash between the Euro 2020 winners and 2021 Copa America champions?
More controversy from Perez's leaked audios as Real Madrid president insults Cristiano and Mourinho
El Confidencial are back again, releasing more leaked audios from Real Madrid president Florentino Perez after his unflattering and controversial comments on Iker Casillas and Raul. The two figures to have been berated by the Bernabeu executive are none other than Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho.
After labelling Casillas as "one of the biggest scams in Real Madrid history" and claiming "Raúl is really bad as a player", some thought it couldn't get any worse for the mastermind behind the European Super League. Unfortunately, it has.
Two scandalous conversations regarding Cristano and Mourinho have now been published, with the remarks dating back to October 2012, a time when these two iconic Portuguese men were together at Los Merengues. Perez did not hold back with his choice of words, ripping apart the five-time Ballon d'Or winner for being an "idiot" while bashing the pair for being "abnormal" and "egotistic".
"[Ronaldo] is crazy. The guy is an idiot, he's sick," Perez said.
"You think this guy is normal, but he's not. If he was, he wouldn't do all the things he does.
"The last stupid thing, which everyone in the world saw... why do you think he'd do something so stupid?"
"[Jorge] Mendes has no control over [Ronaldo] and it's the same with Mourinho - none at all," the Blancos president continued.
"Even for interviews, they don't listen to him. These are two guys with terrible egos, spoilt the pair of them, who don't see the reality because they could both earn a lot more money if things were different.
"They are both abnormal because we are talking about a lot of money in terms of image rights. And with that face they have, that challenging glare, the fact that no one likes them... if the publicity was different, everything changes."
Harsh words from the Real Madrid president for their all-time top scorer and six-time Ballon d'Or winner...
Other key headlines from the world of football
Barcelona and Messi set to continue together after big development in contract saga
According to reports, the Argentinian ace, who also ended his long wait for a national team title as La Albiceleste beat Brazil in this summer's Copa America final, will be staying on at Barcelona for years to come. The Blaugrana were panicked at the prospect of losing their all-time top goalscorer after his contract expired on June 30th, thus making him a free agent.
Barcelona's debt crisis - to the tune of a whopping $1.5 billion - had executives really nervous as to whether they'd be able to hang on to the six-time Ballon d'Or winner. Due to COVID-19, they also had to reduce their salary cap from approximately $800 million in 2019 to just $454 million, and with the signings of players like Sergio Aguero and Memphis Depay, plus an inability to move on some other high-earning personnel, their hopes of keeping Messi at the Camp Nou were looking increasingly grim. Despite selling Jean-Clair Todibo, Carles Alena, Juan Miranda, and Junior Firpo to raise funds, none of those players were exactly household names and thus didn't command hefty fees.
However, Messi and Barcelona now have come to a crucial agreement. Not only will the 34-year-old sign a new five year contract, but he's expected to slash his earnings in half in order to make sure Barcelona are able to keep him at the Camp Nou.
Italian Football Federation set to present bid to host 2030 World Cup
The impact of Italy's UEFA Euro title last Sunday could have a positive effect on the country and its involvement in international competitions, as the Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio (FIGC) has openly named their intention to host either the UEFA Euro 2028 or the 2030 FIFA World Cup.
Speaking after a ceremony where Gabriele Gravina congratulated members of the Azzurri team that won the title on Sunday, the FIGC president hinted that his country could still bid for any of those competitions to take advantage of the great impulse Italian football could have after their moment of glory in the Euro.
"This win will give us a big momentum to restart social and economic life in Italy. This will give our country great confidence and it can only make us proud. We will evaluate presenting a bid for the UEFA Euro 2028 of to host the 2030 World Cup, the one where the tournament's centennial will be celebrated. But let's play the first of those events and then we can think about what's next," Gravina said.
UEFA women's football competitions secure historic sponsorship deal with Grifols
According to Sports Business, the deal between Grifols and UEFA women's football, which runs through 2025, will see the company sponsor several tournaments, including the women's Champions League and Euro competitions, among others as the "Exclusive Healthcare Company Partner" of UEFA women's football.
Grifols will thus be involved in various branding and other promotional activities, and this partnership is even more interesting given that the company has women making up about 60 percent of their workforce. In fact, the Spanish firm was included in early 2021 as part of the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index for its commitment to promoting women in the workplace.
This will be the biggest sponsorship deal for Grifols in history, but it's not the first time the company has been linked to working closely with the sports world. Back in 2018, their name popped up as a potential naming rights partner for Barcelona's famous Camp Nou stadium, but nothing came to fruition. Grifols becomes the sixth company to link up with UEFA Women's football, following in the steps of well-known brands like Visa, Pepsi, Just Eat Takeaway.com, Hublot and Euronics.
