Host Australia drawn with South Korea, Iran, Philippines for 2026 Women's Asian Cup
The Matildas, semifinalists at the 2023 World Cup on home soil and Asian champions in 2010, lost to the South Koreans in the quarterfinals in the last contintental championship.
At the official ceremony Tuesday, the Australians were drawn to open the tournament against Philippines in Perth on March 1.
Defending champion China, which rallied from 2-0 down to beat South Korea in the 2022 final, is in Group B with three-time champion North Korea, first-time qualifier Bangladesh and Uzbekistan.
Japan, aiming for a third title, is in Group C with Vietnam, India and Taiwan.
The top two teams in each of the three groups and the two best third-place teams will advance to the quarterfinals. The final is set for Sydney on March 21.
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
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The Province
an hour ago
- The Province
Who is newest Whitecaps star Thomas Müller?
Thomas Müller is a season-changing signing for the Vancouver Whitecaps, a move that locks them into contender status for the 2025 MLS Cup. Get the latest from Patrick Johnston straight to your inbox Bayern's Thomas Müller greets supporters during a match in May. Photo by Matthias Schrader/AP / AP Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. The list of true international star players who have chosen to play for the Vancouver Whitecaps, no matter the league they've been in, over the 51 years of professional soccer in this town is not very long. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors There's Alan Ball, the former England World Cup player who helped lead the NASL Whitecaps to the Soccer Bowl in 1979. There's a second tier of players who have come to Vancouver over the past decade of MLS play — Y.P. Lee, Kenny Miller, Pedro Morales, Fredy Montero, Ryan Gauld — but only Ball really matches the stature of Thomas Müller, who has a been a true international star. He played a decade and a half for Bayern Munich. He was a key player for the German national team. He's not Messi or Ronaldo, but he is still a player that anyone who pays attention to the beautiful game knows. His signing with the Whitecaps is a massive deal. He will bring professionalism of a kind not seen here before, leadership and top offensive quality. This is a move to try to win the MLS Cup this year. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Here's what to know about him as he and the team dot the final umlauts on his contract. He invented a position From just about his debut with Bayern in August 2008, a few weeks shy of his 19th birthday, it was clear he was a unique talent. He would often line up as a striker or an attacking midfielder, but the way he played shirked convention. Soccer players are just as often described by the role they play as where they lineup on the team sheet. In Müller's case, he invented a new role — the Raumdeuter, or 'space interpreter'. Famed coach Pep Guardiola is a great example of what made Müller so great. Between 2013 to 2016, Guardiola was very focused on his team making the defence move through the movement of Bayern players off the ball, seeking to pass the ball as little as necessary. Essential reading for hockey fans who eat, sleep, Canucks, repeat. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Müller scored 79 goals over Guardiola's three seasons in charge of Bayern. 'He's a clever, unpredictable player who always knows where he has to go,' Guardiola said of Müller in 2024. Müller is not the fastest straight-line runner. He's not a fabulous dribbler. He's not a powerful striker of the ball. He's just quite possibly the sharpest player of his generation. His strength is his ability to read the play and anticipate gaps. His runs would drag defenders out of position, opening up gaps for his teammates to run into. That disruption inevitably leads to benefits for him — he hasn't scored 250 goals over his Bayern career by accident. Bayern Munich's Thomas Muller, foreground and Sadio Mane, take part in a training session ahead of the Champions League knock out round, quarterfinals second leg soccer match between Bayern Munich and Manchester City, in Munich, April 18, 2023. Photo by Sven Hoppe / AP The evolution of his game Müller has lined up in a few spots in his career — as an out-and-out striker, on one of the wings, or sitting as the No. 10, the creative play maker behind the striker. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. That's a role that Ryan Gauld has filled with stellar aplomb for the Whitecaps. So how Whitecaps coach Jesper Sorensen will line up his two magicians once Gauld returns to full health will be interesting. Whatever the result, Müller has evolved his game over the years. That is partly an inevitability for a player as he ages, but it's also about shifting his game as the squad — and coaching staff — has evolved around him. Müller explained his own evolution to ESPN in 2021: 'My best position was starting in the middle … during the game, my position changes a lot. I try to get in a nice position to receive the ball, to create space for my teammates who are receiving the ball. In former times, I had a good relationship with someone like Arjen Robben, so when he received the ball, I did my movements to make space for him and sometimes he'd put the ball into the space where I'm running. Then the game changed a little bit — my teammates changed a little bit.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. There is every reason to think they will be a great partnership. Gauld is a player who wants the ball at his feet, who looks to put perfect passes to his teammates. Müller is a dynamic mover off the ball, less a ball-at-his-feet distributor. Big game player Müller's 57 goals makes him the fifth-highest scoring player in Champions League history. He's not a volume scorer like Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, who both scored in about three-quarters of their career Champions League games. Indeed, Müller's strike rate, roughly one goal every three games, is far and away the lowest rate of the top 10 scorers in CL history. But it's still a statement about consistency. He won the Golden Boot at the 2010 World Cup, scoring five times for Germany and adding three assists. That's a big-game player. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. He's not an on-the-ball guy, but he's still a player who racks up the assists. In his prime, he was a threat to score and a threat to create. According to data tracking company OptaStats, since his debut in 2008-09, no player in Europe's top five leagues — Germany, England, Spain, Italy and France — has more assists than Müller. His 756 appearances in all competitions for Bayern is a club record. 'You can't praise him enough with just words,' Bayern sporting director Max Eberl said earlier this year. 'He's had a very unique career.' Eberl took over Bayern last year and admitted the decision he took in March to not offer Muller a new deal was so tough, he didn't sleep for three nights. But the time had come to move on from the veteran and hand his playing time to younger players. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Bayern's Thomas Muller, centre, in action during the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC Bayern Munich and Borussia Moenchengladbach in Munich May 10, 2025. Photo by Matthias Schrader/AP / AP Müller is known for handing out nicknames. Not only did he come up with the name for the role he plays, he has named Bayern teammate — and former Whitecap, of course — Alphonso Davies, 'Roadrunner.' He nicknamed former Bayern teammate Robert Lewandowski, 'Lewangoalski.' Former Bayern assistant coach Hermann Gerland gave Müller a nickname of his own: 'Radio Müller.' That's because the attacker is known for a motor mouth, constantly talking to his teammates on the pitch, as well as haggling with the opposition and putting a word in with the officials as well. 'I'm someone who is more confident in addressing others. I try not to come across as lecturing, but to pass on pertinent information. In general, I try to implement that on the pitch,' he explained to ESPN in 2021. 'There is also positive feedback. I've heard that I infect games with it. I also demand that I get commands from other players.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Thomas Müller is like a third assistant coach,' Kai Havertz, another Germany teammate of Müller's, said in 2021. 'He helps out a lot of players and his communication on the pitch is really important. Playing with him is a lot of fun.' For his part, after Muller's final game for Bayern at Allianz Arena this past spring, he told a joke. 'Humour is very individual,' he announced in German. He said he had been looking for a joke about goodbyes, but couldn't find any that suited him. So instead he looked up spicy jokes about funerals. 'Father is dying at home,' he began. 'His three children are standing at his bedside. Suddenly, the smell of his favourite cake wafts from the kitchen, where the mother is baking it. 'Then he says, 'Son, bring me a piece of my favourite cake. That would be my last wish.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'The son comes back from the kitchen without the cake. The father asks, 'What's going on?' 'And the son replies, 'Well, mom says it's for after the funeral.'' The contract Müller is not going to be a designated player this season because of how the Whitecaps chose to structure their salary cap. But next year he will be, meaning his salary can go far beyond the limits normally dictated by the league's salary cap. For the remainder of the year, it's understood, he will be paid $687,000 US. Next year, he will make, it's believed, $6.8 million US. Both figures are big drops from what he made in his final season with Bayern, which is believed to have paid him more than $19 million US. He signed a short-term deal to play at the recent Club World Cup that paid him a couple of million dollars more. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Müller is expected to be officially confirmed as a Whitecap in the coming days, once all the final details, like his image rights, are sorted out in negotiations between his representatives and MLS, who technically hold all the contracts of players. Bayern lost in the quarterfinals of the Club World Cup, so he has been out of action since July 5. He would need a couple weeks to get back up to speed, but it sounds very possible — assuming there are no hiccups to getting the final contract signed — that he could be ready to make his debut for the Whitecaps' next home game on Aug. 17. pjohnston@ Read More Vancouver Canucks Celebrity Vancouver Whitecaps News Sports
Vancouver Sun
an hour ago
- Vancouver Sun
Who is newest Whitecaps star Thomas Müller?
The list of true international star players who have chosen to play for the Vancouver Whitecaps, no matter the league they've been in, over the 51 years of professional soccer in this town is not very long. There's Alan Ball, the former England World Cup player who helped lead the NASL Whitecaps to the Soccer Bowl in 1979. There's a second tier of players who have come to Vancouver over the past decade of MLS play — Y.P. Lee, Kenny Miller, Pedro Morales, Fredy Montero, Ryan Gauld — but only Ball really matches the stature of Thomas Müller, who has a been a true international star. He played a decade and a half for Bayern Munich. He was a key player for the German national team. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. He's not Messi or Ronaldo, but he is still a player that anyone who pays attention to the beautiful game knows. His signing with the Whitecaps is a massive deal. He will bring professionalism of a kind not seen here before, leadership and top offensive quality. This is a move to try to win the MLS Cup this year. Here's what to know about him as he and the team dot the final umlauts on his contract. From just about his debut with Bayern in August 2008, a few weeks shy of his 19th birthday, it was clear he was a unique talent. He would often line up as a striker or an attacking midfielder, but the way he played shirked convention. Soccer players are just as often described by the role they play as where they lineup on the team sheet. In Müller's case, he invented a new role — the Raumdeuter , or 'space interpreter'. Famed coach Pep Guardiola is a great example of what made Müller so great. Between 2013 to 2016, Guardiola was very focused on his team making the defence move through the movement of Bayern players off the ball, seeking to pass the ball as little as necessary. Müller scored 79 goals over Guardiola's three seasons in charge of Bayern. 'He's a clever, unpredictable player who always knows where he has to go,' Guardiola said of Müller in 2024 . Müller is not the fastest straight-line runner. He's not a fabulous dribbler. He's not a powerful striker of the ball. He's just quite possibly the sharpest player of his generation. His strength is his ability to read the play and anticipate gaps. His runs would drag defenders out of position, opening up gaps for his teammates to run into. That disruption inevitably leads to benefits for him — he hasn't scored 250 goals over his Bayern career by accident. Müller has lined up in a few spots in his career — as an out-and-out striker, on one of the wings, or sitting as the No. 10, the creative play maker behind the striker. That's a role that Ryan Gauld has filled with stellar aplomb for the Whitecaps. So how Whitecaps coach Jesper Sorensen will line up his two magicians once Gauld returns to full health will be interesting. Whatever the result, Müller has evolved his game over the years. That is partly an inevitability for a player as he ages, but it's also about shifting his game as the squad — and coaching staff — has evolved around him. Müller explained his own evolution to ESPN in 2021 : 'My best position was starting in the middle … during the game, my position changes a lot. I try to get in a nice position to receive the ball, to create space for my teammates who are receiving the ball. In former times, I had a good relationship with someone like Arjen Robben, so when he received the ball, I did my movements to make space for him and sometimes he'd put the ball into the space where I'm running. Then the game changed a little bit — my teammates changed a little bit.' There is every reason to think they will be a great partnership. Gauld is a player who wants the ball at his feet, who looks to put perfect passes to his teammates. Müller is a dynamic mover off the ball, less a ball-at-his-feet distributor. Müller's 57 goals makes him the fifth-highest scoring player in Champions League history. He's not a volume scorer like Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, who both scored in about three-quarters of their career Champions League games. Indeed, Müller's strike rate, roughly one goal every three games, is far and away the lowest rate of the top 10 scorers in CL history. But it's still a statement about consistency. He won the Golden Boot at the 2010 World Cup, scoring five times for Germany and adding three assists. That's a big-game player. He's not an on-the-ball guy, but he's still a player who racks up the assists. In his prime, he was a threat to score and a threat to create. According to data tracking company OptaStats, since his debut in 2008-09, no player in Europe's top five leagues — Germany, England, Spain, Italy and France — has more assists than Müller. His 756 appearances in all competitions for Bayern is a club record. 'You can't praise him enough with just words,' Bayern sporting director Max Eberl said earlier this year. 'He's had a very unique career.' Eberl took over Bayern last year and admitted the decision he took in March to not offer Muller a new deal was so tough, he didn't sleep for three nights. But the time had come to move on from the veteran and hand his playing time to younger players. Müller is known for handing out nicknames. Not only did he come up with the name for the role he plays, he has named Bayern teammate — and former Whitecap, of course — Alphonso Davies, 'Roadrunner.' He nicknamed former Bayern teammate Robert Lewandowski, 'Lewangoalski.' Former Bayern assistant coach Hermann Gerland gave Müller a nickname of his own: 'Radio Müller.' That's because the attacker is known for a motor mouth, constantly talking to his teammates on the pitch, as well as haggling with the opposition and putting a word in with the officials as well. 'I'm someone who is more confident in addressing others. I try not to come across as lecturing, but to pass on pertinent information. In general, I try to implement that on the pitch,' he explained to ESPN in 2021. 'There is also positive feedback. I've heard that I infect games with it. I also demand that I get commands from other players.' 'Thomas Müller is like a third assistant coach,' Kai Havertz, another Germany teammate of Müller's, said in 2021. 'He helps out a lot of players and his communication on the pitch is really important. Playing with him is a lot of fun.' For his part, after Muller's final game for Bayern at Allianz Arena this past spring, he told a joke. 'Humour is very individual,' he announced in German . He said he had been looking for a joke about goodbyes, but couldn't find any that suited him. So instead he looked up spicy jokes about funerals. 'Father is dying at home,' he began. 'His three children are standing at his bedside. Suddenly, the smell of his favourite cake wafts from the kitchen, where the mother is baking it. 'Then he says, 'Son, bring me a piece of my favourite cake. That would be my last wish.' 'The son comes back from the kitchen without the cake. The father asks, 'What's going on?' 'And the son replies, 'Well, mom says it's for after the funeral.'' Müller is not going to be a designated player this season because of how the Whitecaps chose to structure their salary cap. But next year he will be, meaning his salary can go far beyond the limits normally dictated by the league's salary cap. For the remainder of the year, it's understood, he will be paid $687,000 US. Next year, he will make, it's believed, $6.8 million US. Both figures are big drops from what he made in his final season with Bayern, which is believed to have paid him more than $19 million US. He signed a short-term deal to play at the recent Club World Cup that paid him a couple of million dollars more. Müller is expected to be officially confirmed as a Whitecap in the coming days, once all the final details, like his image rights, are sorted out in negotiations between his representatives and MLS, who technically hold all the contracts of players. Bayern lost in the quarterfinals of the Club World Cup, so he has been out of action since July 5. He would need a couple weeks to get back up to speed, but it sounds very possible — assuming there are no hiccups to getting the final contract signed — that he could be ready to make his debut for the Whitecaps' next home game on Aug. 17. pjohnston@
Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Carlos Correa is reuniting with the Astros after a trade with the Twins, AP source says
HOUSTON (AP) — Carlos Correa is returning to Houston, giving the Astros a huge — and familiar — boost after they reacquired the shortstop from the Minnesota Twins just before Thursday's trade deadline, according to a person with direct knowledge. The person spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the deal hadn't been announced. Additional terms of the deal weren't immediately available. Correa spent his first seven years in Houston, where he became one of the most beloved players in franchise history, helping the team to six playoff appearances, three American League pennants and its first World Series title in 2017 — a title tainted by a sign-stealing scandal. The top pick in the 2012 amateur draft and 2015 AL Rookie of the Year was part of the homegrown core that helped the Astros go from the league's laughingstock to perennial contenders. Correa has exclusively played shortstop in his 11-year MLB career but will almost certainly move to third base for the AL West leaders with shortstop Jeremy Peña close to returning from the injured list. The Astros need help at third base with All-Star Isaac Paredes out indefinitely with a hamstring injury. Charismatic and an unquestioned leader in the clubhouse, Correa could help galvanize a team that has managed to remain atop the division standings despite dealing with multiple injuries to both its lineup and pitching staff. Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. ___ AP MLB:
