Lionel Messi scored twice in Argentina's 2-0 win at Peru in a World Cup qualifier on Tuesday, playing the entire match for his national team. The 36-year-old appeared fit after he was sidelined for several matches with his club Inter Miami because of muscular pain

Also Tuesday, Brazil — the archrival of the defending World Cup champion — took two serious blows at Uruguay. Brazil lost 2-0 to the hosts, its first defeat in 37 World Cup qualifying matches, and saw its star Neymar leave the Centenario Stadium in Montevideo on crutches with a left knee injury.

Lionel Messi's involvement in a 1-0 win over Paraguay last week doesn't necessarily mean he'll be fit for Argentina's next game in World Cup qualifying against Peru.

Messi played most of the second half against Paraguay last Thursday despite struggling with muscular pains in the weeks leading up to the game.

The English Football Association will pay tribute to the Israeli and Palestinian victims of the war in the Middle East when England hosts Australia in a friendly match at Wembley Stadium on Friday.

Plans, however, do not include lighting up the national stadium's iconic arch in the colors of Israel's flag, despite increasing calls to do so, the FA said Thursday.

Cristiano Ronaldo is on the brink of leading Portugal to another major football tournament less than a year after his international career appeared to be over.

It wasn't clear what the future held for the five-time Champions League winner when he walked away from Manchester United last November and was then dropped by his country as it made an early exit from the World Cup in Qatar.

Lionel Messi has been picked for Argentina's next two World Cup qualifying matches despite muscular pains that have kept him off the field for two weeks.

The 36-year-old Messi has missed five of Inter Miami's last six matches. The Argentina captain also missed his national team's 3-0 win at Bolivia on Sept. 12.

Four Paris Saint-Germain players have been handed a one-match suspended sentence by the French league's discipline commission for offensive chants aimed at bitter rival Marseille after a league match last month.

Ousmane Dembélé, Achraf Hakimi, Randal Kolo Muani and Layvin Kurzawa were questioned by the commission after they were filmed using insults while celebrating at the end of a 4-0 win against Marseille. The four players issued apologies.

South Korea's under-24 players are preparing for the biggest game of their careers on Saturday, but standing between Asian Games gold and military exemption is traditional foe Japan.

The Asian Games, being staged in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, a year later than scheduled due to China's strict pandemic lockdown policies in 2022, has brought the two rivals together in the final for the second successive tournament.

Chinese swimmer Wu Shutong took Asian Games gold Friday in the 10-kilometer race, finishing seconds ahead of her competition from Japan in the more-than two-hour race, which she swam just days after her 18th birthday.

"I find it a little hard to believe," she said.

If Saudi Arabia could have designed a process for choosing future World Cup hosts, it might look similar to what FIFA unveiled this week for the 2030 and 2034 men's soccer tournaments.

The Saudi Arabian soccer federation became the favored — and possibly only — candidate to host the biggest event in the world's favorite sport in 2034.

Barcelona may be without Robert Lewandowski on Sunday as it turns its focus back to the Spanish league after putting itself in a good position to advance in the Champions League following two early eliminations.

Lewandowski received a knock on his ankle in the first half of the team's 1-0 win at Porto on Wednesday and is doubtful to make the trip for the league match against Granada on Sunday. Barcelona enters the weekend one point behind Spanish league leader Real Madrid, which hosts Osasuna on Saturday.