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See Pep Guardiola describe how he approached the game against Real Madrid in the semifinal of the Champions League soccer in this video from The Guardian.

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Pictures of big moments in Euro 21 soccer round of 16 matches from FR24 including Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema together after the France game with Portugal.

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England make it to the semifinals of Euro Cup soccer 2024 with a 2-1 win over Slovakia. Jude Bellingham's overhead kick puts England ahead.

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This story in The Times shows how Gareth Southgate has rebounded from a penalty miss in Euro Soccer 1996 playing for England. After 25 years Southgate is back inspiring his players to take the English team to the quarter finals of Euro Soccer in 2021, and with a win against Ukraine can put it in the top 4 teams. He is shown as a learner with humility and respect for other people who helped him develop as a person and a player. He is seen as someone who believes in sharing success with others who helped make it happen and unlike  other egocentric coaches. 

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US beat Japan 1-0 with a goal from Trinity Rodman to make it to the semi finals of Women's soccer at the Paris Olympics 2024.

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Trinity Rodman made her US senior national soccer team debut in Feb. 2022 and had 2 goals and 3 assists in 17 games. She plays for the Washington Spirit in the National Women's Soccer League, and the youngest at 18 years to be drafted. She attributes her speed to her mother who was a sprinter as an athlete, and her success to her mother and her siblings.

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Minnesotan Franz Gastler sets up a soccer league for girls in the less developed northeastern Indian state of Jharkhand. It is called Yuwa, the Hindi word for youth. He put up some of his own money to pay for uniforms, equipment, and travel for the matches. Gastler got the idea while working for Krishi Gram Vikas Kendra, a nongovernmental organization focussed on economic development in Jharkhand. One day a girl told Gastler she wanted to learn to play soccer. Gastler thought this was an opportunity to teach young girls in a grass roots manner about things that would help them lead productive lives, and give them a sense of being able to accomplish things, build teamwork, confidence and a feeling of equality with men. It did not start out this way. Gastler, a 29 year old Boston University graduate, started out working for the Confederation of Indian Industry in New Delhi, as a consultant in corporate responsibility, but after 6 months decided to join Krishi Gram Vikas Kendra.

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The performance of Morocco, Senegal, Japan and South Korea, show a new popularity of soccer in Asia and Africa, and teams that can compete with the best in Europe.

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Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona who died at 60 after health problems. Many controversies surround Maradona, unlike Messi and Reynaldo, two of the prominent players at this time from Argentina and Portugal. Unlike the period when Pele and Maradona dominated, today there are many good players and many good coaches such as the coaches of Liverpool and Manchester City teams from Germany and Spain, each having made soccer the single largest worldwide sport in history. New younger players are also taking the place of older players as seen in the Spanish and German teams in the Nations League soccer games. Coaches and team owners shun the publicity that drives the cost of players up and prefer to give younger unknown players a chance, which is itself a good thing for the game.

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Spain makes it to the semifinals of the Euro Cup soccer in June 2024 with a 4-1 win ove Georgia. Goals from Fabian, Rodri, Williams and Olmo for Spain.

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Peop Guardiola has never lost a game 4-0 in his soccer coaching career. Tottenham Spurs beat Manchester City 4-0 and City have now lost 3 games in succession.

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The danger from filled stadiums in Europe for Euro soccer 2021 leads to an outcry in Germany from Merkel, members of the European parliament, that "UEFA is endangering lives."

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Uruguay, Ghana and Germany exit. South Korea and Portugal advance after a 90th minute injury time goal by South Korea. Brazil loses to Cameroon but advances. World Cup soccer with surprises.

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The best Swedish soccer coach ever who was England's first overseas manager.

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Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro is lit up in the national colors. Brazil declares 3 days of national mourning. A look at the extraordinary soccer career of Pele for Brazil.

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Manchester City is questioning the Founder's Agreement of 1990 that set up the Premier League in the UK and brought billionaires and Gulf kingdoms to the soccer game's commercial aspects.

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Leah Williamson is the author of the new book You Have the Power with Guardian football writer Suzanne Wrack. It is a motivational story of England's European cup soccer winning team from 2022 for girls ages 10 to 14 years. Its subtitle is Find Your Strength and Believe You Can. Leah says this is the age group that struggles the most in terms of who we want to be as young women. It is also the age when young girls decide to drop out of sport. What has made a difference for Leah is that her mother was a footballer playing for Milton Keynes and her grandmother played badminton competitively. She remembers going to Arsenal for games with her mom and grandmother at an early age. By age 7 she was playing competitively and she was scouted for Arsenal girls. She has played for Arsenal since then. She started on boys team when there were no teams for girls. A confident attitude came naturally to her and once she decided to play soccer competitively it did not matter that professional soccer for women did not exist when she joined Arsenal girls. ...

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Two goals in 10 minutes including a dramatic hit from distance by Olga Carmona puts Spain into the finals of the women's World Cup soccer in Australia. Spain wins over Sweden 2-1.

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After the pandemic and during high inflation, economic troubles and having to turn to the IMF for conditional loans, Argentines find cause for celebration for their performance at the World Cup Soccer Final in December 2022.

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The Guardian's John Brevin looks at the best soccer players this week in the Champions League including Phil Foden of City, Vitinha and Mbappe of PSG, and Valverde of Real Madrid.

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In a high energy game with Liverpool constantly on offense in the second half, the Manchester city Liverpool soccer match ends at 1-1. Kevin Bruyne, Haaland and Foden could not make headway against Liverpool's energetic play.

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Richard Williams looks at Pele's long career playing for Santos and Brazil in The Guardian. Pictures show him radiating the simple joy of the game in a way that few soccer players had done before and since then.

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With Mikel Oyarzabal's late goal in the 87th minute Spain wins Euro Cup 2024. Spain is now the only team that wins Euro Cup soccer 4 times, in 1964 then waiting 44 years till 2008, then 2012 and now 2024.

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With withdrawal of AC Milan, Inter Milan, Athletico Madrid and 6 Premier League Clubs, one of the originators of the plan for a Super League of soccer teams, Mr. Agnelli, thinks the plan cannot proceed. There is strong opposition from the Tory government in Britain to the plan, and soccer fans are critical of it.  Agnelli had clearly not thought of the fans response as the plans he had for a Super League remained a business concept and missed the fans who are what makes soccer what it is- a global sport with enormous enthusiasm of the people. AC Milan and Inter Milan in withdrawing cited fans and said we have to be sensitive to fan sentiment. Athletico Madrid referred to coach Simeone of Argentina, who said there had to be harmony between the fans and the club. Simeone said he backed fans saying "sporting merit has to be above any other criteria." The strongest response had come from Boris Johnson in Britain who within hours of learning about fan and public sentiment said there was no way this was going to happen. During this pandemic the sport of soccer has kept up a positive feeling for billions of people around the world who watch the sport on television. Why some of the best clubs failed to grasp the fan sentiment is hard to understand. ...

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The poor kid from Sao Jose Dos Campos 150 miles northeast of Sao Paulo makes it against all odds to play soccer in Sao Paulo. Steve Lowe of the Guardian does this wonderful interview for soccer fans with Casemiro the defensive midfielder for Real Madrid.  Casemiro is all humility, hard work down to the kind of details soccer coach Jurgen Klopp loves to pay attention to in practice, and never forgets the values his mom taught him about not being too loud. And to remember where he came from, to always look for ways to help other kids like him aspiring for a better life. Casemiro says he plays strong and even aggressive, but it is always about using your head in the game, the key was thinking ahead, being better positioned, seeing the move before it takes place. It cost 3 euros per week to practice at a club 6 mile walk away which he could not afford once he came to Sao Paulo. Mr. Moreira who ran the club paid for his boots, food and the fees. When he says he gives 200% Casemiro is speaking with authenticity because it was hard in Brazil for kids from poor families aspiring to make it in club football. He loves to learn, listens well, and he says he watches the errors, thinks like a coach, always trying to read the game, the other team's mind, their coach, what they were trying to get get done. He sees it as his work and does this in a disciplined manner. Casemiro may now be the top player in world soccer today as Real Madrid head to Manchester City under coach Zinedin Zidane. Zidane meant a lot to Casemiro as inspiration in the early days he played in Brazil.   ...