Author: Steven Sahiounie

[World Cup: Viewer’s guide | Group previews | Top 30 players | Power rankings]DOHA, Qatar — On the far sideline of the Thani bin Jassim Stadium on Tuesday, six days before the U.S. men’s national team opens its 2022 World Cup, Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie milled about ahead of training. Tim Weah and Gio Reyna chopped their feet through warmup lines. Tyler Adams, Sergiño Dest, Brenden Aaronson and Yunus Musah loosened their limbs.They all prepared for a game that will begin to define their USMNT legacies, on Monday (2 p.m. ET, Fox/Telemundo) against Wales.They also prepared to do something…

The United States men’s national team is back at the FIFA World Cup for the first time in eight years and expectations will be high for arguably the wealthiest crop of young talent the country has ever produced. But what does a successful tournament actually look like for Gregg Berhalter’s side? We asked that question to our World Cup analysts here at FOX Sports. Here’s what they said.What does success look like for the USMNT? How far do you predict they will go in the tournament?Stu Holden: Quarterfinals and Round of 16.Landon Donovan: Getting out of the group is still…

The 2022 FIFA World Cup will be the last international tournament for Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, arguably the most debated players in soccer history. Both players have the surrounding talent to go out with a bang, but which will have the biggest impact on their team in Qatar?Here’s what FOX Sports’ soccer analysts think:Does Messi have the team to win the World Cup this year?Doug McIntyre: Yes. After years of carrying Argentina on his back and a series of near-misses — the Albiceleste reached three consecutive finals (one World Cup, a Copa America and the Copa America Centenario) between…

Here you go, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Here it is. The tiebreaker. The one for all the marbles, and what a set of marbles it is.  When the World Cup begins in Qatar on Sunday, Ronaldo and Messi will be playing for more than the mere matter of the most important trophy in soccer. They will be duking it out for the status, now and forever more, of being the best player of their generation and one of the best in history.  As things stand, it is a push. Everyone has their personal favorite, of course, but opinion is neatly enough divided between Argentina’s…

World Cup 2022 Expert Picks: Golden Boot, Golden Ball and Young PlayerFIFA WORLD CUP 2022WORLD CUP 2022 EXPERT PICKS: GOLDEN BOOT, GOLDEN BALL AND YOUNG PLAYER3 DAYS AGOSHAREshare on facebookFACEBOOKshare on twitterTWITTERshare on redditREDDITshare on linkLINKYou never know who’s going to shine at the World Cup. Yes, you can bet Lionel Messi and Neymar are going to put on a show, but it’s harder to predict who the next Diego Forlan and James Rodriguez will be.Ahead of the tournament, we asked 12 FOX Sports soccer analysts to choose their favorites to win the most prestigious individual awards: the Golden Boot,…

Chinese international Wu Chengshu made her debut in the Australian women’s football top flight on Saturday. Wu helped Canberra United seize a 2-2 draw with Perth Glory in the first round of the new season. On a rainy afternoon, home side Canberra United took the lead twice in the Australian capital, but failed to secure the opening victory in front of the home fans at McKellar Park. Wu hit the bar with a right footed shot from outside the box in the seventh minute. The midfielder also created some chances in the second half. Her debut ended after 70 minutes…

You converted the winning penalty to give your country a first ever continental title and became a national hero. A month later, you repeated the feat in a do-or-die play-off and drove them to a hard-earned World Cup qualification, with your name sung throughout the stadium. At club level, you played an instrumental role in one of the most formidable powerhouses and clinched two trophies at the end of the season in Europe’s most competitive league. You were named the best player in your continent and finished runners-up in the Ballon d’Or, the most illustrious individual award in football. The…

China’s Wang Yidi got past two Japanese paddlers consecutively on Saturday to claim the women’s singles title, while Tomokazu Harimoto of Japan took the men’s singles title at the 2022 Table Tennis Asian Cup. After beating world No. 6 Hina Hayata 4-1 in the semifinal, top-seeded Wang set up a final clash with Mima Ito, who defeated India’s Manika Batra 4-2 in order to advance. Ito, one place higher than Hayata in the world rankings, took the initiative in the final, winning 11-4 in the first set, but Wang quickly responded by taking the second set 11-6. An intense affair…

FIFA World Cup games begin Sunday with about 1.2 million foreign fans expected in Qatar, a conservative Muslim country. Despite Qatar’s poor human rights record and all the controversies surrounding these games, 32 teams from around the world, including Canada, will play 64 games in eight stadiums in and around the city of Doha. Ahead of the tournament, here’s a look at the fans, the teams and more. Team arrivals Canada’s Atiba Hutchinson, left, and Milan Borjan arrive with other team members in Doha on Friday. It’s the first time in 36 years that Canada has qualified to play in the tournament. (Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters) The bus for Team Germany…

Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo believes his country has an excellent group of players and they are capable of doing well in the World Cup in Qatar. Ronaldo said he had dreamt of wining the World Cup, but knows it will be extremely difficult to lift the trophy with teams like France, Spain, Argentina, Germany and Brazil to face. “I am very optimistic. We have a fantastic coach, we have a good generation of football players. I’m looking forward that we’re going to an amazing World Cup,” beamed Ronaldo in the final installment of an interview with TalkTV on Thursday night.…