Soccer

Aston Villa sealed its place in the Championship playoff final after holding Middlesbrough at bay in a tense 0-0 draw at Villa Park on Tuesday that sent the Midlands club through 1-0 on aggregate. Steve Bruce's side will face Fulham in the final at Wembley ...

Kazuyoshi Miura said Tuesday he can still recall playing in the J. League opener, as the professional league marked its 25th anniversary. The 51-year-old Yokohama FC forward, who is in his 33rd season as a professional soccer player, was a key member of the Verdy ...

Peru captain Paolo Guerrero was banned from playing at the World Cup because of a positive doping test he said was caused by contaminated tea. The Court of Arbitration for Sport said on Monday it upheld an appeal by the World Anti-Doping Agency to extend ...

Roberto Mancini has been confirmed as Italy's new coach. The Italian Football Federation made the announcement late Monday, saying Mancini will be introduced on Tuesday but without providing contract details. Mancini replaces Gian Piero Ventura, who was fired in November after the Azzurri failed to qualify ...

The Japan Football Association has chosen not to publicize its preliminary list of 35 players for the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia after submitting their names to FIFA by the deadline early Tuesday. Several countries released their preliminary lists following the May 14 deadline ...

Records fell on the final day of the Premier League season on Sunday as Manchester City beat Southampton 1-0 to become the first team to reach 100 points and Mohamed Salah established a new Premier League goalscoring mark as Liverpool clinched a top-four spot. Despite ...

Japan winger Shoya Nakajima will complete a full transfer from FC Tokyo to Portuguese first-division side Portimonense, the J. League club announced Monday. The 23-year-old, who made his senior Japan debut in March, notched 10 goals and 10 assists in 32 league and cup appearances ...

Urawa Reds dominated possession but lacked a finishing touch Sunday as they were held to a 0-0 draw by visiting Sagan Tosu in the J. League. Urawa came into the match on the edge of the relegation zone on 15 points with just one league ...

First-half goals to Kazuma Watanabe and Wellington gave Vissel Kobe a 2-0 win away to Jubilo Iwata on Saturday and secured their first J. League victory in five matches. Vissel, who denied reports earlier in the week that they were set to sign star Barcelona ...