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South Africa is entering a Golden Era as they prepare to participate in the 2025 AFCON and 2026 World Cup after a long barren spell of failures and disappointments. With Banyana Banyana and Amajita winning silverware, and Amajimbos showing promise and the PSL title race tightening up, it's easy to get excited about local soccer right now.

Piers Morgan loves to massage Cristiano Ronaldo's ego. The outspoken British journalist is an insatiable status hunter, and reeled in his biggest fish some time ago with endless public declarations of admiration, eventually building a bromance that has earned him exclusive access to a footballing icon. But it is not one built on the foundation of truth.

The controversy over the midfielder's yellow card saga is more than a passing embarrassment, it exposes a troubling culture of carelessness within the South African football administration. A single moment of negligence nearly derailed Bafana Bafana’s World Cup hopes, and someone must take responsibility.

GOAL brings you the latest on the British players who are thriving away from home, as several stars choose to make a living in Europe and even beyond. The Premier League is still obviously one of the world's most entertaining divisions and the Championship can prove fantastic for development, but there are more options out there.

The weekend before an international break always feels significant. Pick up a positive result and the only thing a manager really has to worry about is players suffering injury while representing their countries. A defeat, though, results in two torturous weeks as the result is pored over in the press while the coach waits for the opportunity to make amends.

Since Pep Guardiola won his first Premier League title back in 2018, only two teams have been able to compete with Manchester City: Arsenal and Liverpool. The Gunners led the way for the majority of the 2022-23 season before they were overhauled by Guardiola's treble-chasing juggernaut, while only two points could separate them in 2023-24, when City won a fourth successive title.

GOAL reviews the key takeaways from Americans playing in Europe, with Pulisic featuring for Milan after recovering from injury.

Barcelona continued to play their role as La Liga’s entertainers as they beat Celta Vigo 4-2 on Sunday to move within three points of leaders Real Madrid. Celta were a constant threat on the counter, catching out the Blaugrana high line constantly, but the Barca attacking trifecta of Marcus Rashford, Robert Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal proved too strong for Os Celestes.

When the Buccaneers announced the Moroccan tactician as Jose Riveiro’s successor at the beginning of the season, many were left unconvinced. The lanky former defender had big shoes to fill, replacing a man who had won the hearts of the ‘Happy People’ after bringing much-craved success.

Jeremy Doku ripped Liverpool to shreds in one of the great individual displays this fixture has seen as Manchester City outclassed their rivals in a dominant 3-0 win. The Belgian winger gave Conor Bradley a living nightmare throughout the time he was on the pitch, but no visiting player was safe from Doku, and after monstering the Reds he topped his performance off with a fittingly brilliant goal.

Liverpool saw their mini-revival come to an end as they lost 3-0 against Manchester City in the Premier League on Sunday. The Reds were unable to build on their victories over Aston Villa and Real Madrid in a sluggish performance which saw Erling Haaland, Nico Gonzalez and Jeremy Doku put them to the sword during Pep Guardiola’s 1,000th-game as a manager.

Real Madrid endured a miserable afternoon against Rayo Vallecano on Sunday as they offered little attacking threat on their way to settling for a frustrating 0-0 draw. The high-powered attacking corps of Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Jr and Jude Bellingham were kept quiet in a frustrating contest for manager Xabi Alonso as Los Blancos failed to bounce back from their midweek defeat to Liverpool.

Manchester City capitalised on Chelsea's draw with Arsenal 24 hours earlier to go top of the Women's Super League after a closely contested 2-1 victory over Everton on Sunday. The visitors were made to work for all three points, but good finishing by Vivianne Miedema and Khadija Shaw, coupled with some smart stops by Ayaka Yamashita in between the sticks, ensured City would leave Merseyside with the win.

Lionel Messi scored twice and added an assist, while Tadeo Allende bagged a brace as Inter Miami thumped Nashville 4-0 to reach the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Herons were dominant throughout, leaning on their star man to cruise past their opponents, with Jordi Alba also providing an assist as Miami sealed their first-ever playoff series win.

Chelsea made it back-to-back league wins at the expense of managerless Wolves on Saturday night as the Blues cruised to a 3-0 victory on home turf. The win lifted the west London side up into second and closed Arsenal's lead at the top to six points. The result, meanwhile, leaves Wolves rooted to the foot of the table with just two points from the opening 11 games.

Sunderland dealt Arsenal a blow in the title race as Brian Brobbey bagged a sensational late equaliser in a 2-2 draw at the Stadium of Light. The Gunners looked to be home and dry before the Dutch forward popped up in the dying moments, ensuring Mikel Arteta's side failed to take all three points and fully capitalise ahead of title rivals Manchester City and Liverpool doing battle on Sunday.

The Buccaneers have been excellent in domestic competitions, where they are chasing a quadruple after the CAF Champions League exit. After winning the MTN8, the Sea Robbers are in the Carling Knockout final following their success this weekend in the semi-final staged at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.

The former Portugal junior international has hit top form for Amakhosi and that has drawn comparisons with the Nigeria and Galatasaray forward. This comes after Da Silva has scored four goals in five Premier Soccer League games for Amakhosi. His goal-scoring exploits come as the Soweto giants have been looking for a prolific scorer, the type of player they have been struggling to find.

Matthijs de Ligt scored a 96th-minute equaliser as Manchester United managed to snag a 2-2 draw from their trip to Tottenham, snapping a run of four successive losses to Spurs. Thomas Frank's side trailed for much of the game but a late turnaround saw them close in on three points, only for Ruben Amorim's men to claw back at the very last and enact at least some sort of revenge after losing last season's Europa League final.

Alessia Russo's late goal kept Arsenal's Women's Super League title hopes alive in a controversy-riddled 1-1 draw with Chelsea. Alyssa Thompson gave the visitors the lead before Stina Blackstenius' strike was ruled out for a questionable handball. Russo then delivered the crucial equaliser before even more late drama, as Frida Maanum had her stoppage-time winner chalked off for offside.

Chelsea equaled the longest unbeaten streak in Women’s Super League history as they were held to a controversial 1-1 draw with title rivals Arsenal on Saturday afternoon. Alyssa Thompson’s opener was cancelled out by Alessia Russo's late strike in a breathless match which saw Sonia Bompastor’s Blues match their own 33-game unbeaten league run at the Emirates Stadium.

Manchester United suffered their first defeat of the WSL season, falling 1-0 to a spirited Aston Villa side. The visitors broke the deadlock in the 35th minute, with Miri Taylor firing in from the edge of the box for her first goal as a professional. The Red Devils were uncharacteristically listless in attack as Mark Skinner's side failed to score for the first time in the 2025-26 season.

Erling Haaland needed less than four minutes to score his first ever goal against Liverpool. Aged just 19 at the time, he had started on the bench for RB Salzburg's Champions League visit to Anfield in 2019, despite scoring a hat-trick on his competition debut against Genk. He was introduced by coach Jesse Marsch with his side in the middle of a comeback from three goals down and duly made it 3-3.

The Herons might miss the Uruguayan when they take on Nashville Saturday night, yet his absence could offer some answers as to how they function going forward

GOAL looks at the biggest storylines among Americans Abroad, including reports of Pulisic's return for AC Milan.

The Carling Knockout Cup semi-finals promise tension, theatre, and legacy-defining football. On Saturday, the Buccaneers revisit the Natal Rich Boys with revenge in their veins. On Sunday, Abafana Bes’thende and Bahlabane Ba Ntwa collide in a clash of ambition and grit. Two days. Four teams. One golden ticket to the final.

The Buccaneers coach continued with his rotation policy in Wednesday's Premier Soccer League clash against Golden Arrows at King Zwelithini Stadium. He opted to rest central defender Mbekezeli Mbokazi, who has been a regular starter since March. In his place, captain and experienced defender Nkosinathi Sibisi was handed a start. The coach has been trying to keep his squad fresh and competitive in a move that also underlines depth within the Buccaneers camp.

Sweden has a proud modern history of producing elite strikers, from Henrik Larsson and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, to Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyokeres. If the hype is to be believed, then 16-year-old Kevin Filling is the latest sensation off that conveyor belt of talent, and the AIK prospect is already being linked with a transfer to one of the Premier League's big hitters.

It's been impossible to escape the storm surrounding the release of Mary Earps' new book this past week, with the former England No.1 making headlines aplenty for her comments on Sarina Wiegman and Hannah Hampton in particular - and not in a good way. Earps has since said she "never intentionally" meant to "hurt" anyone, but it's hard to imagine that Hampton has not been negatively impacted by everything that has unfolded over the course of the last seven days.