Author: Steven Sahiounie

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.…

it really is a sign of our turbulent times that the UK has had more prime ministers in three months than the All Blacks have played England in eight years. Almost as striking is the fact that Britain was firmly in the EU and David Cameron was still in Downing Street when Eddie Jones began his Twickenham tenure. When people question England’s lack of oval-ball consistency it is a clearly relative observation. Amid the political and economic maelstrom, however, some things never change. The All Blacks still despise losing to England and memories of the sides’ last meeting, in the…

Which two teams will reach the final – and who will win? Brazil v France – a repeat of 1998 – looks more than possible, but the outcome will be reversed this time. Nick Ames A South American showdown: Argentina v Brazil, and Brazil to win. Ben Fisher Brazil over Belgium. The Seleção’s embarrassment of attacking riches – headlined by Neymar, Vinícius Jr, Gabriel Martinelli, Rodrygo and Raphinha – will break Europe’s two-decade stranglehold and plant the flag for another Brazilian dynasty. Bryan Armen Graham Brazil v France with Tite’s favourites avenging their country’s defeat in the 1998 final. Andy Hunter Brazil to beat…

It’s getting safer and safer to say that Cristiano Ronaldo’s career at Manchester United is over. The club is reportedly looking to terminate the star striker’s contract in the wake of Ronaldo’s statements about the team and its management in a pre-World Cup interview. Ronaldo, 37, made disparaging remarks about Manchester United and manager Erik ten Hag, saying that United had made “zero progress” over the last decade and that he didn’t respect the manager. United said in a statement on Friday that it has “initiated appropriate steps in response to” the interview. According to ESPN FC, United has even asked…