SAN DIEGO — The first question about any new sports franchise is whether its games can be entertaining enough to attract and retain fans.

San Diego FC, the new soccer squad in town, has gone for broke on the pitch since the first whistle blew. That style earned respect. But, without special talent, tactical gusto goes only so far.

Turns out,...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Saturday's women's soccer friendly between the U.S. and Brazil was billed as a rematch of last summer's Olympic final. That was a bit of a misnomer since two-thirds of the women on the 23-player U.S. roster weren't in Paris last August.

Even the uniforms weren't the same.

As for the result, only the score was different, with ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Trinity Rodman is taking a coffee break.

Not a break for coffee. A break from coffee. Specifically espresso.

Last summer Rodman and teammates Mallory Swanson and Sophia Wilson (née Smith) combined for 10 goals and five assists to lead the U.S. to its first Olympic title in women's soccer in a dozen years. One of the three had ...Read more

Café Bustelo is one of Inter Miami’s sponsors, and fans may want to drink a cup of Cuban coffee Wednesday night to make sure they are awake to watch the road game against Los Angeles FC in the first leg of their Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal.

It is a highly anticipated matchup that kicks off at 11:30 p.m. Eastern time. Fans will be ...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Even when he doesn’t start, and enters a game in the second half, it usually doesn’t take Lionel Messi long to find the back of the net.

On Saturday night, it only took him two minutes.

Messi began Inter Miami’s matchup against Philadelphia on the bench.

He entered in the 55th minute. By the 57th minute, Messi ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — Major League Soccer newcomer San Diego FC showed Sunday it can hang with Austin FC in the Texas heat.

Though the 2-1 loss was deserved, the San Diego newbies won in possession by more than 50 percentage points. They didn’t let the 87-degree heat and Texas humidity crush them.

But there’s an area where SDFC doesn’t and ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Mauricio Pochettino’s first major test as coach of the men’s national team ended in disaster Thursday when Cecilio Waterman scored deep into stoppage time to give Panama a 1-0 victory in the CONCACAF Nations League semifinals before a tiny crowd at SoFi Stadium, where the Americans will play two of their three group-play ...Read more