KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Sunny Shahdadpuri packed a suitcase for a three-week trip to America. He stuffed it with the usual — clothes, personal items, international soccer jerseys and his camera — and then added a prized possession he’d been dying to wear for three years.

A Patrick Mahomes jersey.

Shahdadpuri lives in Spain and had never ...Read more

DENVER — For too long, men’s soccer looked like a left-handed portrait. It was interesting, but awkward to watch without heavy doses of scoring and violence.

There were bursts of popularity, like in 1994 and 2002, followed by apathy.

But as legendary Colorado Rapids and international player Marcelo Balbo watched the U.S. men’s national ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Say this for Argentina. The defending FIFA World Cup champion knows drama.

Argentina is moving on to the semifinals after a 3-1 triumph over Switzerland in a quarterfinal match at Kansas City (Arrowhead) Stadium on Saturday.

The game-winner was a rocket shot from Julian Alvarez from a few feet beyond the box, a ball that ...Read more

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — “Hey Jude” was the song of the night at Miami Stadium.

England midfielder Jude Bellingham, who England fans serenade with The Beatles’ 1968 hit, scored twice to send England to the World Cup semifinals with a 2-1, extra-time victory over upstart Norway.

Bellingham has four goals in England’s last two matches.

...Read more

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The night before Saturday’s World Cup quarterfinal match in Miami, along Ocean Drive in nearby Miami Beach, hundreds of reveling and daresay imbibing England soccer fans had been serenading the Atlantic Ocean to the Beatles’ Hey Jude late into the night. Call it a coincidence — or a tribute, one night early, to ...Read more

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Spain’s 2-1 victory against Belgium in the World Cup quarterfinals played in $5.5 billion stadium in Southern California might have been decided by research a few months earlier inside a closed-circuit, low-speed, low-turbulence wind tunnel at the University of Tsukuba in the Ibaraki prefecture of central Japan.

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SEATTLE — Imagine competing in a soccer tournament like the FIFA Men’s World Cup that’s been playing out in Seattle and across North America this summer.

The badge on your jersey. The ball at your feet. The smell of the grass. The roar of the crowd. For most young soccer players, it’s just a dream.

But for Zjada Baydass, it’s a real ...Read more

MIAMI — After five World Cup matches involving South American teams, South Florida will be treated to what should be a riveting All-European quarterfinal as England faces Norway at Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday at 5 p.m.

The game features a showdown between Norwegian star Erling Haaland and England captain Harry Kane, both of whom have been ...Read more

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Belgium became the first team to beat Spanish goalie Unai Simón on Friday. But they couldn’t beat his team, with second-half substitute Mikel Merino scoring in the 88th minute to lift Spain to a 2-1 victory in a World Cup quarterfinal before a sold-out crowd at SoFi Stadium.

The win, which extended Spain’s unbeaten ...Read more

SEATTLE — On the internet, they call it “the rule of cool.”

The concept is simple. In sports, if a play is cool enough — a poster dunk, a buzzer-beating 3-pointer, a one-handed catch straddling the sideline, a bicycle kick pummeled between the posts — its coolness should outweigh everything else. Like whether the tip of a football ...Read more

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — When the United States last hosted the World Cup in 1994, Major League Soccer hadn’t even kicked off yet.

The league began play in 1996 with 10 teams, building on the momentum of the 1994 tournament. Everything was built from scratch as MLS tried to carve out a spot in an American sports landscape enthralled by Michael ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — The U.S. men’s soccer team set another viewership record in its loss to Belgium, despite the lopsided 4-1 defeat.

A combined total of 45.986 million viewers watched on Fox (33.006 million) and Telemundo (12.9 million), whether via traditional television or online streaming.

It is the biggest audience for a television event ...Read more

MIAMI — While Argentina’s storied soccer team has reached the World Cup quarterfinals, federal authorities have been investigating the Argentine Football Association for possible fraud and money laundering stemming from hundreds of millions of dollars in bank transactions linked to the United States, according to two law-enforcement sources ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — There’s another World Cup team in Kansas City, as Switzerland landed Wednesday ahead of its historic match.

When Switzerland takes the field Saturday at Kansas City Stadium (aka Arrowhead), it will be the 10th team to play a match in KC. Add in England’s base camp at Swope Park and roughly a quarter of the teams in the ...Read more

FOXBORO, Mass. — With the World Cup matches wrapping up in Foxboro, the soccer world says there is a clear winner of the premier global tournament — and it’s not one of the final teams standing.

“I think Boston won the World Cup,” Revolution President Brian Bilello told the Boston Herald inside a packed Boston Stadium amid France’s ...Read more

FOXBORO, Mass. — Yassine Bounou did everything he could.

The Moroccan goalkeeper stood on his head to keep the vaunted French attack at bay, making three first-half saves, including on a penalty kick to deny superstar striker Kylian Mbappé.

But in the end, Les Bleus était inévitable.

Facing off in a rematch of the 2022 World Cup ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — StubHub is getting a red card from some World Cup fans

Two World Cup customers are suing the New York-based ticket-selling company, alleging "false and misleading" advertising that left them without tickets or a refund for the World Cup games they paid to attend.

In federal court in New York last week, two Californians — ...Read more

NORFOLK, Va. — Thank you, World Cup. Thanks for the late-game madness, charming underdogs and unfailing stars. Thanks for the obsessive, face-painted and occasionally intoxicated fans, and for even the suspect whistles, comical flopping and administrative meddling.

In short, thanks for being college football on steroids.

Long infatuated by ...Read more