8:54 AM ET Sam Marsden Moises Llorens Lionel Messi and Barcelona have reached an agreement for the forward to sign a new five-year deal with the Catalan club, sources have confirmed to ESPN. Sources added Messi has accepted a significant wage reduction to prolong his stay. Messi was a free agent after his contract at
Football
12:45 PM ET Outside Red Bull Arena, the clinks of Coronas, a blaring Bad Bunny track and the anxious frenzy of juggling circles score the dusk. Inside, a sprite with copper-tinged hair skates around his contemporaries in hot pink cleats: Sporting Kansas City midfielder, Gianluca Busio, still weeks shy of his 19th birthday. Sporting KC
4:00 AM ET Gianluca Vialli made me choke up. And to think, this wasn’t my first rodeo. Between World Cup finals, Champions League finals and Europa League finals, playoff finals, domestic cup finals, European Championship and Copa America finals … I’m well north of 60 in a professional capacity. When you have the privilege of
8:45 AM ET Eric GomezMexico writer The Mexican men’s national team can make a case that it is the most popular soccer team in two countries. So it is jarring to consider that fan allegiance to a controversial stadium tradition could ban El Tri from next year’s World Cup and strip Mexico of co-hosting duties
3:54 AM ET Ian DarkeESPN.com writer Close Darke, who called games for the network during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, is ESPN lead soccer voice in the United States. He has covered the Barclays Premier League and the Champions League since 1982, and has one of the world’s most recognizable soccer voices.