5:54 AM ET Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk; two world-class goalkeepers in Ederson and Alisson; and arguably the two leading coaches in the game in Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp. With so much A-list talent and winning pedigree between Manchester City and Liverpool, Saturday’s Community Shield clash (stream live
Football
5:50 AM ET LaLiga president Javier Tebas has said he would welcome the return of Cristiano Ronaldo to Spain following reports linking the Manchester United forward to Atletico Madrid. Ronaldo, 37, held talks with United’s hierarchy this week over his future after he told the club he would like to leave earlier this summer. –
7:16 PM ET Alexandra Popp missed the last two Women’s European Championships through injuries, but the Germany captain has more than made up for it with six goals in this edition following a double in Wednesday’s semifinal win over France. Eight-time champions Germany beat France 2-1 with Popp scoring the opener in the first half
9:28 PM ET Orlando City SC rode a hot second-half start to a 5-1 win over the New York Red Bulls at Exploria Stadium on Wednesday night and spot in finals of the U.S. Open Cup. Cesar Araujo scored twice and Mauricio Pereyra, Facundo Torres and Benji Michel all added goals for Orlando, while Lewis
5:27 PM ET Kathleen McNamee When Alex Popp scored her first ever Euros goal against Denmark in Germany‘s opening group stage game, she dropped to her knees with tears in her eyes. Her teammates gathered around her and lifted her to her feet, knowing what it meant to her to be appearing in her first
4:52 PM ET Germany will play hosts England in the final of the 2022 Women’s European Championship after two goals from Alexandra Popp gave them a 2-1 victory over France in Wednesday’s second semifinal in Milton Keynes. After her first-half goal had been almost immediately canceled out by an unfortunate own goal by Germany goalkeeper
3:01 PM ET Sam Marsden Moises Llorens Barcelona have beaten Chelsea to the signing of defender Jules Kounde after agreeing a fee of around €55 million with Sevilla, sources told ESPN on Wednesday. Kounde, 23, was the subject of several bids from Chelsea last summer, and reports suggested he was close to a move to
3:55 PM ET FC Salzburg held off a furious finish from Liverpool to come out 1-0 victors in their preseason friendly at the Red Bull Arena on Wednesday night thanks to a lone goal from Benjamin Sesko. Liverpool’s new arrival Darwin Nunez looked threatening in the opening 25 minutes, but could not find the back
2:43 PM ET United States men’s national team defender Chris Richards has signed for Premier League side Crystal Palace from Bayern Munich, it has been announced. Richards, 22, moved to Bayern’s under-19 side in 2018 on loan from FC Dallas, before a permanent move in January 2019. Richards played 23 times for Bayern’s U19s, and
2:50 PM ET The IFAB has updated its offside guidelines after a number of controversial goals and incidents in recent seasons where a striker benefitted from being in an offside position. The most high profile incident came last October, with Kylian Mbappe‘s winning goal for France against Spain in the final of the UEFA Nations