World Football

The United States Women's National Team started 2025 off with a win.

The Americans defeated Colombia 2-0 in the 2025 SheBelieves Cup on Thursday at Shell Energy Stadium in Houston. It was the first game for both sides of the 10th annual edition of the tournament, and Catarina Macario and Ally Sentnor found the back of the net for the team playing on its home soil.

It was business as usual for the USWNT, which has won seven of the previous nine SheBelieves Cups and each of the last five.

This year's tournament also features Japan and Australia, and the teams will face each other over the course of a six-game, three-matchday format. Whichever side accumulates the most points (three for a win, one for a tie) will be the champion.

Macario and Sentnor made sure the Americans earned three points right out of the gates. While they were the goal scorers, 17-year-old Lily Yohannes also stood out in the middle of the field with her precision passing and ability to control the pace.

There was no shortage of social-media reaction for the overall performance:

Historically, the USWNT has enjoyed nothing but success against Colombia considering it entered play with an 11-0-2 record in 13 matchups. However, Colombia is trending in the right direction with appearances in the quarterfinals of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup and the 2024 Olympics.

What's more, many of the household names who have defined recent eras of American soccer were not on the field for Thursday's contest.

But that didn't stop Macario from setting the tone in the early going with her first international goal since 2022. Yazmeen Ryan set Macario up with a centering pass in the box, and the forward buried it to open the scoring in the first half.

Ryan and Macario got credit in the box score with the assist and goal, but it was the perfectly placed long pass from Yohannes that started the scoring opportunity.

The scoring wasn't done, as Sentnor dribbled through multiple defenders and unleashed a rocket from outside the box to give the Americans some breathing room in the second half.

It was a deserved second for the victors, as they controlled the majority of possession throughout the game and cut off any chance at a comeback with their strong defense and midfield play.

As a result, they head into Sunday's game against Australia with plenty of momentum as they look to take another step toward winning another edition of the SheBelieves Cup.

After the knockout phase of the Champions League playoffs wrapped up on Wednesday, the latest round of the draw has taken place to set up the matchups for the round of 16.

Under the new format, the top eight teams in the league phase received an automatic berth to the round of 16. The next 16 teams were then drawn into the knockout phase playoffs that took place over two weeks on Feb. 11/12 and 18/19.

The draw for the round of 16 is now official, with dates for the matchups taking place on March 4/5 and 11/12.

Here are the results from Friday's draw for the Champions League round of 16:

Liverpool v. Paris Saint-Germain

Aston Villa v. Club Brugge

Atlético Madrid v. Real Madrid

Arsenal v. PSV Eindhoven

Inter Milan v. Feyenoord

Bayer Leverkusen v. Bayern Munich

Lille v. Borussia Dortmund

Barcelona v. Benfica

The top eight seeds that received automatic bids to the round of 16 were Liverpool, Barcelona, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Atlético Madrid, Inter Milan, Bayer Leverkusen and Lille.

Among the eight teams that advanced from the knockout phase, PSG put together arguably the best performance. The Parisians won 10-0 on aggregate against Brest, including a 7-0 victory in the second leg on Wednesday.

PSG's reward for that effort is a showdown with Liverpool. These two teams last met in Champions League play in 2018 when they split two meetings in the group phase.

In terms of the marquee matchups from the previous round, Real Madrid kept its hopes of repeating as Champions League champion with a 6-3 aggregate victory over Manchester City.

Kylian Mbappé put together one of the best individual performances in the previous round with a hat trick in the second leg of the Whites' victory. If he is able to continue playing anywhere close to that level going forward, Real Madrid could cruise to its 16th all-time Champions League title.

The path for Real Madrid won't be easy with Atlético Madrid standing in the way.

All of the action gets underway with the first leg of the round of 16 on March 4 and 5, followed by the second leg on March 11 and 12. The semifinals will be played on April 19 and 26, leading into the Champions League final on May 31 at Allianz Arena in Munich.

A Spanish court found Luis Rubiales, the former president for Spain's football federation (RFEF), guilty of sexual assault in connection to when he kissed Jenni Hermoso without her consent following the 2023 Women's World Cup final.

According to ESPN, Rubiales received a fine of more than €10,000 ($10,434.00), but prosecutors were unsuccessful in their attempt to have the High Court issue a prison sentence.

Rubiales faced widespread condemnation when his actions took the spotlight away from the first World Cup triumph for the Spain women's national team. Following the 1-0 win over England, he and Hermoso embraced on the medal stage before he grabbed Hermoso by the head and kissed her on the lips.

Rubiales received more criticism for his response to the outcry. He labelled his detractors "idiots and stupid people." He also said he had no plans to resign from his position and called the kiss a "consensual peck."

The 47-year-old did step down in September 2023.

During his trial, Rubiales told the judge he had asked for and received Hermoso's consent prior to the kiss.

"Hermoso knows that I asked her and she contested me," he said. "I apologized for my behavior because it was not adequate. Being in that position I should have had cold blood and not let myself be taken away by emotions. Surely I should have behaved more in an institutional plan."

In a statement she posted to social media last August, Hermoso denied consenting to the kiss.

Alexia Putellas and Irene Paredes, two of her teammates on the national team, testified during the trial about her state of mind in the immediate aftermath of the kiss.

"Jenni was worried, she was upset,” Paredes said, per the Associated Press. "She cried as she told us what was happening because it was becoming too much for her when all she wanted to do was celebrate what we had achieved."

Putellas said Hermoso cried when the team was traveling home from Australia because Rubiales was allegedly suggesting they appear in a video together to address and play down the situation.

The Spanish court found Rubiales, along with former Spain coach Jorge Vilda, former sporting director Albert Luque and former head of marketing Rubén Rivera not guilty of coercion.

As part of the court ruling, Rubiales is prohibited from coming within 200 meters of Hermoso or contacting her for one year.

The final 16 teams in the 2024-25 Champions League campaign are finally set with Wednesday's conclusion of the knockout playoffs.

Real Madrid saw off Manchester City 3-1 thanks to a hat trick from Kylian Mbappé in the most anticipated match on Wednesday. The Frenchman's adjustment into the star-studded Madrid squad hasn't gone totally according to plan, but these are the kinds of performances that remind everyone why he was brought in in the first place.

PSV and Juventus combined for the most dramatic fixture of the round, with the former overcoming a 2-1 deficit from the first leg.

PSV midfielder Ismael Saibari scored in the 74th minute to bring the club level 3-3 on aggregate after American striker Timothy Weah had given Juventus the lead.

Defender Ryan Flamingo was in the right place to poke the ball home in the 98th minute, putting PSV up 3-1 on the night in Eindhoven. From there, the Eredivisie club fended off a furious fight back from Juve.

That put the button on a disastrous playoff for Serie A, which saw all three of its clubs come up short.

Here are the full aggregate results from the eight matches:

Champions League Knockout Playoff Results

Feyenoord def. AC Milan, 2-1

Club Brugge def. Atalanta, 5-2

Bayern Munich def. Celtic, 3-2

Benfica def. Monaco, 4-3

Borussia Dortmund def. Sporting CP, 3-0

Paris Saint-Germain def. Brest, 10-0

Real Madrid def. Manchester City, 6-3

PSV def. Juventus, 4-3

The draw for the round of 16 is Friday at 6 a.m. ET (11 a.m. GMT) in Nyon, Switzerland. These are the potential matchups for the eight winners in the playoff:

Champions League Round-of-16 Matchups

Paris Saint-Germain vs. No. 1 Liverpool or No. 2 Barcelona

Club Brugge vs. No. 7 Lille or No. 8 Aston Villa

Real Madrid vs. No. 5 Atlético Madrid or No. 6 Bayer Leverkusen

PSV vs. No. 3 Arsenal or No. 4 Inter Milan

Feyenoord vs. No. 4 Inter Milan or No. 3 Arsenal

Bayern Munich vs. No. 6 Bayer Leverkusen or No. 5 Atlético Madrid

Borussia Dortmund vs. No. 8 Aston Villa or No. 7 Lille

Benfica vs. No. 2 Barcelona or No. 1 Liverpool

The fact Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City all failed to finish in the top eight of the league phase points to how wide open this year's competition could be. In the case of City's elimination Wednesday, one of the top favorites coming into the season is already out.

Another strong contender will be sent packing in the quarterfinals with PSG getting drawn against one of Liverpool or Barcelona.

The Reds are sputtering in the Premier League, while Barcelona closed the UCL knockout phase with a frenetic 5-4 win over Benfica and a 2-2 draw with Atalanta. Either could be ripe for the picking for Paris Saint-Germain, which is still looking to lift its first European Cup.

Bayern Munich and Real Madrid both paid a costly price for failing to secure a bye in the playoff. Their reward for advancing is a date with Bayer Leverkusen or Atlético Madrid.

Atlético are just one point off first-place Barcelona in La Liga and played Real Madrid to a pair of 1-1 stalematess this year. Eight points separate Leverkusen from Bayern in the Bundesliga table, but the reigning German champion was unlucky to only draw 0-0 with the Bavarians this past weekend.

Atlético Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen will both be underdogs in their respective matches regardless of how the round-of-16 field shakes out, and they could both pull off big upsets in the next stage.

Team USA and AC Milan star Christian Pulisic says it's "funny" to hear fans call him "the LeBron James of soccer."

"I've heard it a lot. When we were in Saudi, a random kid shouted it to me, but that's just typical," Pulisic told Sports Illustrated (1:25 mark of the video below.)

"If anyone thinks that people are being serious, and the people that wanted to be like, 'Oh, he's nowhere near where LeBron is'— I don't think that either, so it doesn't bother me. To me, it's a funny meme, and that's it."

Pulisic and James have been fans of one another for years. Pulisic wore a Cleveland Cavaliers James jersey to the 2018 NBA Finals, to which James responded by posting an Instagram photo of himself in a Team USA Pulisic jersey months later.

This specific comparison between the two goes back to a 2021 episode of Pawn Stars in which an appraiser tried to guess the value of one of Pulisic's signed Chelsea FC jerseys.

"This guy's, like, the phenom guy, right? He's like the LeBron James of soccer?" the appraiser asked in the episode.

Pulisic previously addressed the reference in a December interview with GQ Sports' Jack Holmes.

"It's funny, I'll be traveling across the world and you'll hear a random person shout that, and you're just like, 'There’s no way that has become a thing,'" Pulisic told Holmes. "LeBron was one of my favorite athletes growing up, too. The people that get offended by it, saying, “Don't even compare those two!” It's a joke. It's a meme. People need to lighten up. I don't think I'm the LeBron James of soccer. That's why it's funny, because the guy that said it I'm sure isn’t that knowledgeable about soccer."

When asked if he believed he could someday become as famous as James, Pulisic told Holmes no, but added that he believes he "can be a big part of helping the sport grow and helping our national team grow and creating a whole culture around the sport."

After Pulisic scored 12 goals and nine assists in 30 games for AC Milan this season, the Serie A team is "closing in" on an extension that would keep him with the club through 2028 or 2029, according to Fabrizio Romano.