MIAMI — On the eve of Lionel Messi’s 39th birthday, more than 60,000 fans at Hard Rock Stadium watched in amazement as his Inter Miami team took a 2-0 lead on Brazilian great Palmeiras, and then held their breath as Palmeiras tied it 2-2 in a thrilling Club World Cup match.

Both teams advanced to the Round of 16 with the draw. Palmeiras ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Members of the Italian soccer team Juventus visited with President Trump in the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon.

Exactly why the gathering took place remains largely a mystery.

Six of the team's players (Weston McKennie, Timothy Weah, Manuel Locatelli, Federico Gatti, Teun Koopmeiners and Dusan Vlahovic), their coach Igor ...Read more

ATLANTA — Lionel Messi fans in pink No. 10 shirts, and some in Argentina’s iconic striped jerseys, showed up at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Thursday afternoon for a chance to see their idol and his Inter Miami teammates play in a pivotal game against Portuguese club FC Porto in the Club World Cup.

They left happy and chanting his name after ...Read more

MIAMI — Al Hilal’s soccer history in Saudi Arabia doesn’t sound like the club should be considered an underdog.

But on the world stage of the FIFA Club World Cup, and against global powerhouse Real Madrid, the 19-time Saudi League champions had the odds stacked against them.

Add to that a raucous Hard Rock Stadium crowd of 62,415, most ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Why is it always the women who stand up first?

That’s a rhetorical question, of course. But it’s one that has a basis in fact because girl power is real.

From Joan of Arc to Cassidy Hutchinson, whenever men have proven too cautious, cowardly or complacent to act, women have had the courage to do the right thing. The latest ...Read more

MIAMI — Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami teammates were back at their training facility on a sweltering Monday morning, beginning preparations for their second Club World Cup game on Thursday in Atlanta against Portuguese team Porto.

Miami finds itself in a better position than many experts predicted, locked in a four-way tie in Group A with ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Two men showed up at Adrien Frier's Beverly Hills home Thursday afternoon and carried an unusual package onto the backyard patio, where a white-clothed table waited.

Frier, France's consul general in Los Angeles, was preparing to host a party and the 25-pound sterling silver objet d'art was the guest of honor. Standing next to ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — They played a soccer game at SoFi Stadium on Saturday.

Not that many people really cared.

Mexico won, beating the Dominican Republic, 3-2, in the first game of the monthlong CONCACAF Gold Cup. Yet even the team's biggest fans found it hard to celebrate given what was going on just a dozen miles away, where hundreds of people ...Read more

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — A sea of red descended on Hard Rock Stadium Saturday night for the highly anticipated Club World Cup opening match, as fans of Egyptian power Al Ahly traveled long distances to see their beloved Red Devils face Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami teammates.

Although the game was being played 21 miles south of Inter Miami’...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — The Club World Cup brings a certain level of excitement for soccer fans. But some are feeling uneasy about the level of security at match venues.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents doubling as security for major sporting events isn’t uncommon. But ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup, which kicked off Saturday in ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The FIFA Club World Cup, which kicks off Saturday in Miami Gardens, Fla., is the largest, richest and most ambitious club soccer tournament in history. The 32 teams will play 63 games across 12 U.S. venues, competing for a share of a $1 billion prize-money purse.

There will be six first-round games played at the Rose Bowl, ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — You’ve heard plenty by now about the fact that Philadelphia will host the men’s World Cup next summer, bringing the world’s most famous sporting event here for the first time.

You also might have heard that this summer, the city will host part of the Club World Cup: eight games in 18 days at Lincoln Financial Field, from ...Read more

MIAMI — The first hint that Inter Miami’s Club World Cup opening match Saturday is much bigger than a typical MLS game was the crowd of international media that showed up at the team’s training site Friday morning.

Club co-owner David Beckham was also there, another telltale sign that the game against Egyptian power Al Ahly at Hard Rock ...Read more

RENTON, Wash. — Plenty of tension is swirling around the debut of the FIFA men’s Club World Cup this weekend.

Obed Vargas and his Sounders teammates have tried to not let it tarnish this moment. The teenaged midfielder still feels the same excitement from last December when he watched the tournament’s draft from his phone in his bedroom, ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The biggest question surrounding the expanded FIFA Club World Cup is why?

Why do we need this tournament? Why is FIFA adding to an international schedule that was already dangerously overcrowded? And why are they doing it less than a year before the 2026 World Cup?

That last question — why now? — is probably the easiest to ...Read more

MIAMI — The casual sports fan may assume that Lionel Messi and his high-profile Inter Miami teammates are locks to advance from a Club World Cup group that includes Al Ahly of Egypt, Porto of Portugal and Palmeiras of Brazil.

But soccer fans who follow the international game are fully aware that although Messi’s No. 10 pink shirt is the ...Read more

SEATTLE — Quick, clear thinking helped Seattle Reign FC forward Jordyn Huitema get to safety during a May home invasion. She said she hid and listened behind a locked door as multiple men ransacked the bedroom she’d exited seconds earlier.

“Just survive,” Huitema said when asked what was going through her mind. “I just hope that they ...Read more

CHICAGO — The NWSL season is long, with games starting in March and rolling through November. The Chicago Stars have found a fun way to release the pressures of the year — and bond.

The soccer players meet up weekly to try their hand at Waddayaknow Trivia, a free event started in 2008 at multiple bars in Illinois to keep family and friends ...Read more