Soccer

Reminders of Lionel Messi and the 2022 World Cup are not hard to find in Qatar. “Last chance” tournament souvenirs greet visitors on arrival at Doha's Hamad International Airport.

Laurent Courtois is already seeing progress within his CF Montreal squad just over two weeks into his tenure as head coach. “They're way in advance on stuff that we've experimented together,” Courtois said over a video call Friday.

MADRID (AP) — Samuel Omorodion scored two and made another as Alaves beat Almeria 3-0 in the Spanish league on Friday.

MANCHESTER, England — Manchester City’s losing run at Tottenham is over. Its defense of the treble is very much alive. Nathan Ake struck in the 88th minute to secure a 1-0 win in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Friday.

PARIS (AP) — Rennes scored three times in a blistering first half and held off Lyon’s second-half fightback to win 3-2 in a French league thriller on Friday.

ROME (AP) — First-half goals from Duván Zapata and Samuele Ricci helped Torino defeat Cagliari 2-1 in Serie A on Friday. Torino was in 10th place.

BERLIN (AP) — Mario Götze scored deep into the second half for Eintracht Frankfurt to beat Mainz 1-0 in the Bundesliga on Friday. Mainz started the night third from bottom in the standings.

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — Egyptian soccer officials have sacrificed a cow in a bid to bring the national team more luck at the Africa Cup of Nations.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Bay FC of the National Women's Soccer League has acquired attacking midfielder Deyna Castellanos via transfer from Manchester City, the expansion team announced Friday.

TORONTO — The opening blows have been delivered in a court battle that could have major implications for how Canadian soccer fans view the domestic brand of the beautiful game.