Louisa Thomas

The Yanks won their first knockout-round match in more than twenty years. But, after a controversial red card, they will be down their breakout star in the round of sixteen.

The video was clear; the moment rarely is. In the sixty-fourth minute of the U.S. men’s national team’s game against Bosnia and Herzegovina, Folarin Balogun, the U.S.’s breakout-star striker, who, in the first half, had scored the lone goal of the game to put the hosts up 1–0, lunged for a loose ball up the left sideline, jostling for position with Tarik Muharemović, Bosnia’s center back. Balogun splayed his legs to keep his balance, and his right foot raked down the back of Muharemović’s calf before landing on Muharemović’s ankle.

Despite a strong start to the tournament, and an egregious intervention by President Trump into FIFA 's suspension of its star striker, the U.S. men's soccer team couldn't keep up with Belgium.

The match began as a snooze, then became a romp. But the brilliance of the French team, and of its biggest star, Kylian Mbappé, shone through.

Lamine Yamal, the team's wonderkid, is thrilling, but discipline and patience have seen them through to the final.

Tell the old story for our modern times. Book I Every translator of the Odyssey faces the same problem at the start: how to characterize its hero?

Gianni Infantino’s scheme to put the World Cup up for sale backfired—but the commodification of soccer is already well under way.

Teams get hot, then cold; they get lucky, then unlucky. Records rarely paint a full picture of a season—especially for fans determined to believe in another comeback story.

Teams get hot, then cold; they get lucky, then unlucky. Records rarely paint a full picture of a season—especially for fans determined to believe in another comeback story.

The W.N.B.A. has never attracted more attention. But, increasingly, the conversation around the league can overshadow the game itself—and its players.