Premier League clubs have voted to close their transfer window prior to the start of the season rather than a few weeks into it. Will other major leagues do the same?

I decided to write this article the moment I finished watching Costa Rica beat the USA, 2-0, so it was written before the Honduras-USA game. The USA might have beaten the Catrachos, tied them or lost to them. The content and the realities of this article will not be changed with one game.

Germany's odds of becoming the first repeat World Cup champion since Brazil in 1958/62 are looking better thanks to wave of promising young talent -- the most intriguing of which is 21-year-old Timo Werner -- a goalscorer.

Syria, which has never played in the World Cup, kept its hopes alive with a dramatic 2-2 tie at ally Iran, getting the tying goal in the 93rd minute.

Staggering outlays for Neymar ($256 million) and Kylian Mbappe ($216 million) have prompted UEFA to launch a formal inquiry as to whether French club Paris St. Germain can abide by the break-even rules specified in its Financial Fair Play (FFP) policies