CELEBRITY
Liberia are out of World Cup, but President Weah’s son is propelling US to qualification
Liberia have already crashed out of the qualification for the World Cup. But elsewhere, the son of the Liberian President George Weah, Tim Weah is making waves, propelling the US team as they continue in the qualification for a place at the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
According to reports from USA Today, Tim Weah scored in the 11th minute, and the U.S. men’s national soccer team hung on for a 1-1 tie over Jamaica in World Cup qualifying on Tuesday. The Americans caught a break when Jamaica’s would-be game-winner in the 84th minute was waved off for interference.
“Jamaica is a physical team. They were in desperation mode to get a point if not three,” U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter said. “It was good to limit them to a point.”
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The USMNT dropped to second in the Concacaf standings, a point behind Canada after Canada upset Mexico 2-1 at Edmonton’s Estadio Iceteca. But with six qualifiers left, just two points separate the top four teams.
Concacaf’s top three teams will automatically qualify for next year’s World Cup in Qatar, with the fourth-place team going to a playoff.
“We don’t take anything for granted,” Berhalter said. “The next window is going to be important.”
The Americans played their best game in years in Friday night’s win over Mexico. Berhalter and his players had all talked about the young team not having a letdown against Jamaica, especially since they were short-handed.
Weston McKennie and Miles Robinson were unavailable because of yellow card accumulation, and Christian Pulisic was on limited minutes again as he comes back from a sprained ankle that kept him out for two months.
If not quite a letdown, it wasn’t the sharpest the U.S. men have looked.
They started strong with Weah, who Berhalter called his man of the match Friday, continuing to show he’s a force to be reckoned with.
He was able to fight off a double-team in the box, and his left-footed shot froze Jamaican goalkeeper Andre Blake just long enough. Blake, who was on one knee and leaning to his left, tried to shift his weight and threw out his right arm in hopes of getting a piece of the ball, but it rolled beneath him to give the USMNT a 1-0 lead in the 11th.
It was Weah’s second goal with the USMNT, and came in the country where his mother, Clar, was born.
“It felt good being back. Happy to get the goal against them but unfortunately we didn’t get the full points,” Weah said. “But we take the one point and we continue.”
The Americans threatened to add another goal five minutes later, with Blake having to deflect shots by Ricardo Pepi and then Brenden Aaronson.
The saves proved huge in the 22nd, when Michail Antonio beat Tyler Adams and unleashed a banger from 34 yards out that Zack Steffen had no chance of stopping. Of the 53 goals Antonio had scored previously, for both club and country, all had come from inside the box.
Momentum shifted with the goal, and the Americans were lucky to escape with the draw. Bobby Reid missed a sitter, and the USMNT caught a huge break in the 84th, when Damion Lowe’s would-be game-winner was called off.
Replays showed Lowe had a hand on Walker Zimmerman as they jockeyed for position in front of the goal during a corner kick.
“It was all in our hands,” Jamaica coach Theodore Whitmore said. “The guys kept their head, stayed in the game, managed to equalize and I think we could have gone on and won the game. Numerous opportunities presented itself, but we didn’t capitalize on it. Such is the nature of the game.”
Former England soccer captain David Beckham and actor Gary Oldman were knighted in King Charles’ annual birthday honours list on Saturday, while sculptor Antony Gormley was made a Companion of Honour.
Beckham, 50, joined Manchester United as a trainee in 1993, going on to make almost 400 appearances for the club where he won a string of titles and cups.
He subsequently played for Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, and Inter Milan, as well as captaining his country 58 times and making 115 appearances.
His marriage to fashion designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham in 1999 cemented a celebrity status which went far beyond his sporting exploits.
Oldman, 67, started his career on the stage, where he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, before rising to prominence in film. He won the best actor Oscar for playing Winston Churchill in the 2017 drama “Darkest Hour”.
He also had roles in the “Dark Knight Trilogy” and the “Harry Potter” movie series and more recently starred in the TV spy drama “Slow Horses”.
Other famous names receiving honours included damehoods for musical theatre star Elaine Paige, novelist Pat Barker and ceramics maker Emma Bridgewater.
Roger Daltrey, lead singer of rock band the Who and a patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust, received a knighthood for services to charity.
More than 1,200 people received honours for their achievements, with a particular focus on those who had given their time to public service, the government said.
King Charles’ official birthday will be celebrated with the annual “Trooping the Colour” military parade in London on Saturday. His actual birthday is on November 14
-Reuters
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One of three judges in Diego Maradona’s closely scrutinized homicide trial in Argentina resigned on Tuesday amid a scandal triggered by the alleged filming of an unauthorised documentary, bringing uncertainty to the future of legal proceedings.
The high-profile trial over the death of soccer star Maradona began on March 11 in the South American country where the World Cup winner is still revered.
-Reuters
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For the third year in a row, and the fifth time overall, Cristiano Ronaldo is the world’s highest-paid athlete.
But at age 40, the Portuguese soccer superstar is reaching new highs.
Over the past 12 months, counting both his playing salary at Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr and his off-field business endeavors, Ronaldo collected an estimated $275 million before taxes and agent fees—the third-best year by an active athlete ever measured by Forbes.
On that all-time list, Ronaldo is surpassed only by boxer Floyd Mayweather, who earned $300 million in 2015 and $285 million in 2018.
And when it comes to the 2025 leaderboard, Ronaldo has a $119 million advantage over No. 2, Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry.
The League of Wealthy Sportsmen
The gap is especially impressive considering that Curry’s $156 million total is also a record for his sport, beating the NBA mark of $128.2 million set last year by LeBron James.
And there are plenty of other eye-popping paydays among this year’s 10 highest-paid athletes, starting with James, who notched a personal-best $133.8 million to land at No. 6. Meanwhile, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (No. 4, $137million) and New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto (No. 7, $114 million) broke records for the NFL and MLB.
Combined, the 10 highest-paid athletes brought in $1.4 billion, up slightly from last year’s $1.38 billion and the largest total since Forbes began ranking athlete earnings in 1990.
This year is also only the second time, after 2024, that every member of the top 10 made at least $100 million.
In fact, heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk ($101 million) and golfer Jon Rahm ($100 million) reached the milestone, too, without managing to crack this list.
For the third year in a row, and the fifth time overall, Cristiano Ronaldo is the world’s highest-paid athlete.
But at age 40, the Portuguese soccer superstar is reaching new highs.
Over the past 12 months, counting both his playing salary at Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr and his off-field business endeavors, Ronaldo collected an estimated $275 million before taxes and agent fees—the third-best year by an active athlete ever measured by Forbes.
On that all-time list, Ronaldo is surpassed only by boxer Floyd Mayweather, who earned $300 million in 2015 and $285 million in 2018.
And when it comes to the 2025 leaderboard, Ronaldo has a $119 million advantage over No. 2, Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry.
The gap is especially impressive considering that Curry’s $156 million total is also a record for his sport, beating the NBA mark of $128.2 million set last year by LeBron James.
And there are plenty of other eye-popping paydays among this year’s 10 highest-paid athletes, starting with James, who notched a personal-best $133.8 million to land at No. 6. Meanwhile, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (No. 4, $137million) and New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto (No. 7, $114 million) broke records for the NFL and MLB.
Combined, the 10 highest-paid athletes brought in $1.4 billion, up slightly from last year’s $1.38 billion and the largest total since Forbes began ranking athlete earnings in 1990.
This year is also only the second time, after 2024, that every member of the top 10 made at least $100 million.
In fact, heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk ($101 million) and golfer Jon Rahm ($100 million) reached the milestone, too, without managing to crack this list.
World’s Highest-Paid Athletes 2025
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