Sports

By Priscilla Alvarez, Kyle Feldscher, CNN (CNN) — The Iranian men’s soccer team’s quick departure from Los Angeles following its opening World Cup match was always the plan, according to the US government, despite complaints from the team. Iran’s coach and players made it clear they were upset with having to fly back to their

By Ben Church, CNN (CNN) — Note: This is story first appeared in The Beautiful Game by CNN Sports, our daily newsletter on all things World Cup. To subscribe, click here. It’s a big day in North America It’s the day after the night before and, if you listen carefully, you can probably still hear

CNN By Ben Church, CNN (CNN) — Note: This is story first appeared in The Beautiful Game by CNN Sports, our daily newsletter on all things World Cup. To subscribe, click here. It’s a big day in North America It’s the day after the night before and, if you listen carefully, you can probably still

By Ben Church, CNN (CNN) — Espen Undheim smiles as he recalls the early training sessions where he first met Erling Haaland. The superstar striker wasn’t anywhere near the physical specimen he is today, but his former coach remembers seeing flashes of potential in the “skinny” kid, who had such a burning passion for the

By Ben Church, Patrick Sung Cuadrado, CNN (CNN) — At just 18, soccer superstar Lamine Yamal has won more than most players ever do in their entire careers. He’s already a three-time La Liga winner for Barcelona, a European champion with Spain and now, if you ask the bookmakers, he’s highly-tipped to add a World

By Kathleen Magramo, Fred He, CNN (CNN) — World Cup team send-offs are usually a grand event. Rigorously selected players dressed in dapper suits, waving at fans before they board a plane to represent their countries at one of the biggest sporting events held every four years. But not for China this year. The country’s

By Hannah Keyser, CNN Brooklyn (CNN) — Early in the Eastern Conference Finals, as the New York Knicks pulled off miraculous comebacks and marched to unprecedented blowouts, I noticed that the official watch parties outside Madison Square Garden had become meta funhouse mirrors of phone screens. Semi-professional streamers encouraged antics for cameras suspended on gimbals,

CNN By Ben Church, CNN (CNN) — Note: This is story first appeared in The Beautiful Game by CNN Sports, our daily newsletter on all things World Cup. To subscribe, click here. The first games of the World Cup always seem to have a little shock in them. On Saturday, Switzerland, Brazil and Turkey found

By Ben Church, CNN (CNN) — Note: This is story first appeared in The Beautiful Game by CNN Sports, our daily newsletter on all things World Cup. To subscribe, click here. The first games of the World Cup always seem to have a little shock in them. On Saturday, Switzerland, Brazil and Turkey found that

By Don Riddell, CNN (CNN) — Nobody can predict how the 48 teams will do at the FIFA World Cup this summer, but if you wanted to gamble on Japan being the tidiest team, you’d surely clean up at the bookies. Thanks to a societal expectation of all Japanese people, you’d never know they were

By Julia Vargas Jones, CNN Moorpark, California (CNN) — The crest is red, white and green – the colors of the Iranian flag. Nader Adeli, the 65-year-old captain of Arya Football Club, holds up the jersey and laughs: “We are Iranian! We are Aryan, alright?” All 11 Arya FC players on the field are Iranian