Soccer News Headlines

French defender Adil Rami is congratulated by teammates Philippe Mexes (R) and forward Franck Ribery (L) during the friendly football match France vs Iceland, at the Hainaut Stadium in the French northern city of Valenciennes. France won 3-2.

France battled back from two goals down at half-time to beat Iceland 3-2 and avoid a humiliating defeat in the first of three warm-ups for Euro 2012 here on Sunday.

(Reuters) - Six newcomers including high-scoring Sydney Leroux will join a veteran cast as the United States women's soccer team seeks its third consecutive Olympic gold medal, U.S. Soccer said on Sunday. The 18-member squad returns 11 players from the 2008 gold-medal winning Olympic side plus leading U.S. scorer Abby Wambach, …

Aldo de Nigris scored two goals and Mexico, preparing to open 2014 World Cup qualifying next month, blanked Wales 2-0 on Sunday in an international football friendly.

US women's football coach Pia Sundhage named an 18-player lineup for the London Olympics on Sunday, with captain Christie Rampone set for a record fourth Olympics as the Americans try to defend gold.

SCHRUNS, Austria (Reuters) - Striker Roberto Soldado was left out of Spain's squad for Euro 2012 on Sunday, despite his scoring exploits this year, as coach Vicente del Bosque lamented the absence of "irreplaceable" David Villa. There were no major surprises as Del Bosque discarded the younger players who have been part …

Poland manager Franciszek Smuda on Sunday announced the Euro 2012 co-hosts' 23-man squad declaring it the worst moment of a coach's career.

Sevilla striker Alvaro Negredo edged Roberto Soldado for the final striker's spot in defending champions Spain's squad for Euro 2012 announced by coach Vicent del Bosque here on Sunday.

LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal faced a barrage of whistles from their fans after a disappointing 0-0 home draw against Macedonia on Saturday left question marks over the team's form ahead of Euro 2012. Their unimpressive display was livened only by a couple of threatening free kicks from captain Cristiano Ronaldo. Coach Paulo …

ST GALLEN, Switzerland (Reuters) - Adrian Lopez boosted his chances of a place in Spain's Euro 2012 team by scoring on his debut and winning a penalty in the world champions' 2-0 win over Serbia in a friendly on Saturday. For much of the game, Spain's performance was as disjointed as their tournament preparations but a …

BASEL, Switzerland (Reuters) - Switzerland stunned Euro 2012 contenders Germany 5-3 in an entertaining friendly on Saturday with Eren Derdiyok grabbing a hat-trick against a makeshift German defence. The visitors, missing more than half their usual starting line-up with eight Bayern Munich players set to join the squad …

BERLIN (Reuters) - Striker Claudio Pizarro returned to Bayern Munich after a five-year absence, signing a one-year deal to boost their frontline, the club said. Peru international Pizarro, the Bundesliga's leading all-time foreign scorer, joined the Bavarians, who lost in the Champions League final to Chelsea last week …

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine may never recover all of the billions of dollars it has spent to co-host next month's European soccer championship and the outlay might complicate its chances of servicing its debt. The staging of the month-long Euro 2012 tournament - absorbing a total of $13.4 billion including $6.6 billion from …

MADRID (Reuters) - Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas is set to miss a big chunk of Spain's preparations for Euro 2012 after being ruled out for seven to 10 days with a hamstring strain, the Spanish club said on Saturday. Fabregas picked up the injury when he came on for the last 10 minutes of Barca's 3-0 King's Cup final …

JACKSONVILLE, Florida (Reuters) - When German Juergen Klinsmann took charge of the United States national team 10 months ago he promised to bring a change of style as well as results and if Saturday's 5-1 win over Scotland is any measure his influence is bearing fruit. It was only a friendly against a modest team but coming …

JACKSONVILLE, Florida (Reuters) - Landon Donovan struck a superb hat-trick as the United States crushed Scotland 5-1 in a friendly international on Saturday handing the Scots one of their most humiliating defeats. Juergen Klinsmann team's fifth successive win was a sparkling performance against a woeful Scotland team who …

Giovanni Trapattoni will wait until Monday before deciding whether Shay Given and John O'Shea are fit enough to make the Republic of Ireland's squad for Euro 2012.

Roy Hodgson was left sweating on an injury to Gareth Barry after launching his reign as England manager with a 1-0 win over Norway at the Ullevaal Stadium.

A Sheffield United fan looks on during the game against Huddersfield Town during the League 1 Play-Off Final football match between Huddersfield Town and Sheffield United at Wembley Stadium in London.

Germany and the Netherlands, two of the sides widely-tipped as potential Euro 2012 winners, suffered worrying friendly international defeats on Saturday.

Netherlands' Euro 2012 build-up suffered another setback on Saturday when Bulgaria won their friendly clash 2-1 with the defeat coming just four days after losing 3-2 to Bayern Munich.

Republic of Ireland midfielder Keith Fahey has been ruled out of Euro 2012 after failing to recover from a groin injury.

Germany slumped to an error-plagued 5-3 friendly defeat to Switzerland on Saturday, a worrying setback just two weeks out from Euro 2012 where they will be amongst the favourites.