If U.S. striker Bobby Wood gets on a scoring roll, the 24-year-old Hawaii product will become a hero in Hamburg, Germany's second largest city. Because Hamburg SV, the only team that has played in the Bundesliga every season since the league's inception in 1963, needs his goals badly.

While many players have spoken out about President Donald Trump, until now there has not been a lot of comment from soccer officials. But an interview by UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin with the New York Times raises the issue of how international sports views Trump.

The callous sacking of Claudio Ranieri by Leicester City, unfortunately, puts him in very good company. Four of the five previous managers to win the English Premier League title either left at the end of the following season, were sacked during that season, or in the case of Sir Alex Ferguson, retired.

I started my organized adventure with the beautiful game of soccer at the age of 13 as a goalie. Since I had very limited foot skills and I was in love with game, I started wearing the goalie gloves. Actually very few players wanted to play goalkeeper, so I had very little competition. At best, I was a mediocre goalkeeper.

Gianni Infantino ran for FIFA president on a platform that included an expansion of the World Cup. Other than more money -- also on the Infantino platform -- nothing gets the attention of FIFA members more than increased World Cup spots.

Manchester City trailed twice, threatened to go down by two goals when it conceded a penalty kick in the second half, but rallied to beat Monaco, 5-3, in a wondrous game of attacking soccer. And City manager Pep Guardiola promised more in the second leg of their Champions League round-of-16 series. Too bad fans will have to wait three weeks.

More than a decade ago, Keith Alexander managed Lincoln City through a bleak financial crisis to the brink of promotion from League Two. He died in 2010 and is being honored this week in the run-up to the Imps' improbable appearance in the FA Cup fifth round against Premier League club Burnley.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino got his wish for a 48-team World Cup in 2026 and now he wants a co-hosted tournament. That increases the likelihood that the USA will share the 2026 hosting rights with Mexico and Canada.

Arsenal fans have seen this movie before. The Gunners reach the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League -- like they've done the previous 13 years -- and then exit almost as quickly as snowdrops arrive in London, signaling the end of winter.

Arsene Wenger arrived in Munich aiming to break Arsenal's six-year run of being eliminated in the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League -- and once again facing questions about his job security with the Gunners.

Paris St. Germain has dominated French soccer, winning four straight Ligue 1 titles and all four domestic trophies in the last two seasons, but it has exited in the Champions League in the quarterfinals in each of the last four years. Unai Emery was hired to end that.

Assessing why defending champion Leicester City has skidded so close to the relegation spots may start with the loss of N'Golo Kante, but many more factors are in play.

U.S. Soccer's Youth Development Initiative is a mandate to crack down on the "win at all costs" sporting culture of our country, which is being fueled by the pay-to-play system. When you crack down on any established system, the system will resist the change. Unless the body that mandates the change enforces it, the established system will win eventually.

While there's been a lot of attention to the recent January camp and new national team coach Bruce Arena's look at a host of MLS players, several overlooked by Jurgen Klinsmann, a core of players for the March qualifiers against Honduras and Panama could come from Germany, where Klinsmann championed their careers.

Claudio Ranieri, recently the world's most celebrated coach after engineering the Leicester City fairy tale -- its first top-flight title in its 133-year history -- got the dreaded vote of confidence from his bosses on Tuesday. But he doesn't see it that way.