Edition: U.S. / Global

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Soccer

Record Chelsea Win Prompts Talk of Another Title Run

By REUTERS

Chelsea earned its biggest Champions League victory, 6-0 over Maribor at Stamford Bridge, with a performance that underlined the belief that the team is a real contender again.

Ruthless Bayern Destroys Roma

By REUTERS

Bayern Munich scored five goals in the first 35 minutes on the way to a 7-1 demolition of A.S. Roma in the Champions League.

Records Fall as Adriano Scores Five Goals in Shakhtar Romp

By REUTERS

The Brazilian striker Luiz Adriano became the first player in Champions League history to score four goals in an opening half as Shakhtar Donetsk trounced BATE Borisov, 7-0, in Group H.

Manchester City Stumbles Again With Draw Against CSKA Moscow

By REUTERS

CSKA Moscow staged a stirring comeback from a 2-0 deficit in a Champions League clash played behind closed doors.

Pep Guardiola expects the proper level of intensity from his Bayern Munich team.

7-Goal Outburst Wasn't a Fluke, but a Warning

By ROB HUGHES

Bayern Munich crushed Roma in the Champions League, 7-1, sending a message that it might be more formidable than it was when it won it all two years ago.

Louis van Gaal before Manchester United's match against West Bromwich Albion on Monday.

Replacing Alex Ferguson Proves Tough

By ROB HUGHES

After Ferguson retired, Manchester United struggled under his replacement at coach, David Moyes. This year, under Louis van Gaal, United is not doing much better.

Manchester City's Sergio Agüero after scoring his third goal against Tottenham Hotspur.

Frequent Flier Finds the Back of the Net — Four Times

By ROB HUGHES

Sergio Agüero returned from Beijing and Hong Kong with the Argentine national team to score four times in Manchester City's 4-1 home romp over Tottenham.

Columbus Crew Tighten Playoff Race With Win Over Red Bulls

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Aaron Schoenfeld scored twice, and the Crew beat the Red Bulls, 3-1, on Sunday to move into a third-place tie in Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference.

Roundup
Manchester City’s Sergio Agüero after scoring his third goal during a 4-1 victory over visiting Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.

Southampton Wallops Sunderland, 8-0

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Southampton crushed visiting Sunderland, 8-0, in one of the biggest wins in the Premier League’s 22-year history, overshadowing Sergio Agüero’s four-goal haul in Manchester City’s thrashing of Tottenham on Saturday.

Stefan Mitrovic, a defender on Serbia's soccer team, pulled down an Albanian banner carried by a drone flying above his team's game with Albania on Tuesday.

Drone Stunt at Belgrade Soccer Match Stirs Ethnic Tensions

By DAN BILEFSKY

An Albanian nationalist banner flown over a stadium in the Serbian capital ignited a brawl on the field and went on to provoke a full-scale diplomatic incident.

News From A.P. and Reuters »

Seeding the Field
Qatari Soccer Empire Buys a Foothold in Europe
By SAM BORDEN, STEVE EDER, JACK WILLIAMS and CHRISTOPHER HARRESS

Through a program called Aspire Football Dreams, the Qataris had scouted hundreds of thousands of young African players; needing a place where the best youths could play professionally, they found it in a team in a small Belgian town.

Editors' Picks
Sports of The Times
Alecko Eskandarian, the top draft pick in M.L.S. in 2003, led D.C. United to a title in ’04, but later was forced to retire because of multiple head injuries.

FIFA’s Dazed and Dated Attitude

By JULIET MACUR

Soccer’s governing body has taken a misguided approach to concussions in large part because of the sport’s substitution rules, which allow for only three replacements per game.

On Soccer
After a largely successful World Cup, Sepp Blatter, FIFA's president, must face criticism regarding player safety, match-fixing allegations and possible corruption in the bidding process for future Cups.

Ugly Reality Intrudes On World Cup’s Glow

By SAM BORDEN

The 2014 World Cup was a runaway success, but significant issues like match fixing, player safety and the Cup bidding process need to be confronted.

On Soccer
Fans on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro watched the final match between Germany and Argentina.

Success for Brazil, Just Not on the Field

By JERÉ LONGMAN

Its team suffered a humiliating semifinal defeat, but Brazil is taking comfort in its success as host of the World Cup and in its archrival Argentina’s loss in the final.

Biggest Scorer in World Cup? Maybe Univision

By JONATHAN MAHLER

The huge exposure Univision received from the World Cup showed how the growth of America’s Hispanic population has reshaped the media landscape.

The Upshot

Best of the World Cup, From The Upshot

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

A collection of our interactives and analysis.

Multimedia
Interactive Feature
Spot the Ball: The Winning Goal
By THE NEW YORK TIMES

To say goodbye to the 2014 World Cup, we’ve put together a special round of Spot the Ball, featuring five views of that tournament-winning goal by Germany. See if you can guess where the ball went.

Video
After the World Cup, Glory and Heartache

Soccer fans in Berlin and Buenos Aires during the final match of the World Cup.

Photographs
The Redeemer’s View of Rio
Photographs by ALEXANDRA GARCIA

A panoramic view of the city of Rio de Janeiro.

Lens Blog
Soccer in Brazil, and Outside the World’s Glare
By DAVID GONZALEZ

Mauricio Lima went to remote villages, up the river and even to a prison, to document his countrymen’s passion for the sport, as well as their lives, during the World Cup.

Times Journeys