Sporting Kansas City and Colorado Rapids clinched play-off spots while New England Revolution secured the Supporters Shield as the top team in the MLS regular season Saturday. 

Johnny Russell s 79th-minute goal gave Sporting KC a 2-1 win away to Seattle Sounders, locking up a play-off spot for the second-placed team in the Western Conference table as Russell netted for the seventh straight game.

Colorado also are in after defeating Portland Timbers 2-0 behind golas from Dominique Badji and Diego Rubio. 

The Seattle loss ensured New England, who face Orlando City on Sunday, will finish atop the overall table. The Revs are on 69 points, 20 points clear of Philadelphia and Nashville in the Eastern Conference and 11 clear of Seattle overall. 

JOHNNY S SEVE…

An all too rare sight

It was nice to see Michael Owen come on to the pitch for Manchester United at Newcastle on Tuesday. It must have been great for the thirty-one year old striker to get a rare taste of first team football, even if it was only as an eighty-first minute substitute in a disappointing 0-0 draw.

Burst

The man who burst onto the scene at Liverpool as a seventeen year old in 1996 and then the world stage with that fantastic goal against Argentina in the World Cup of 1998, has had a miserable time of it with injuries and faces being released by United at the end of the season after playing just twenty-eight Premier League games in two injury hit years. In fact, after playing two hundred and sixteen league games for Liverpool in eight years, he has play…

Jan Oblak believes Atletico Madrid s supporters deserve so much more after Los Rojiblancos were eliminated from the Champions League on Wednesday.

Atletico bowed out in the group stage for the first time in five years following a 2-2 draw with Bayer Leverkusen at Civitas Metropolitano, where Yannick Carrasco s last-gasp penalty was saved by Lukas Hradecky.

Oblak insisted the team take full responsibility after Porto s earlier 4-0 thrashing of Club Brugge meant only a victory over Leverkusen would be enough to maintain their hopes of progressing from Group B.

[It is] a very cruel way [of being eliminated]. It s football, the goalkeeper told Movistar+. We have done everything to win, but the previous games have punished us. We have not had the little bit of luck t…

Former-Arsenal great Patrick Vieira has retired after being released by Manchester City earlier this summer.

The 35 year-old former-midfielder had spent 18 months at City and helped the club to a FA Cup victory and Champions League berth last season.

Sad

The former-French international told the clubs official website: It was something I was preparing for in my head and I think it was the right time.

It s a sad day and a sad moment but overall I ve enjoyed the years I ve spent in football. Football has brought me a lot.

I think it will be difficult to find a job that will give me as much satisfaction as football has given me but I just want to give back to society and give back to football what it has given to me. And what a fantastic club for …

Queens Park Rangers have completed the signing of goalkeeper Brian Murphy on a free transfer from Ipswich Town.

Murphy, 28, left Championship club Ipswich in May after rejecting a new contract.

Following a spell on trial with QPR, he agreed a two-year deal with the west London club.

Murphy will compete for a place alongside Paddy Kenny and Radek Cerny during QPR s first season in the English Premier League since 1996.

You need three senior keepers for the Premier League and we ve got that now, QPR manager Neil Warnock said.

He is a very capable understudy to Paddy; him and Radek will offer great competition for the coming season.

Murphy began his professional career with Manchester City in 2000, joining Swansea in 2003 and then League …

Borussia Monchengladbach attacking midfielder Thorgan feels his brother Eden remains one of the best players in the world and is keen to play alongside the Chelsea man and younger brother Kylian at some stage in the future.

Eden has been struggling to find his best form at Chelsea this campaign after an impressive 2014-15 season that saw him win the PFA Player of the Year award.

The former Lille playmaker has scored just two goals for Chelsea this season, but Thorgan who joined Chelsea along with Eden in 2012 but never played alongside his sibling in an official game   believes his older brother still holds the edge over him.

I hope one day we can all play in the same team, Eden, [Ujpest midfielder] Kylian and I, that would be great. I don t know if it will b…

that Bournemouth are keen on signing Reading midfielder Oliver Norwood.

The twenty-five year old has been one of the stand-out performers for the Royals this season, racking up forty-eight appearances in all competitions so far, scoring three goals and making eight assists.

His form is likely to land him a staring role for Northern Ireland at this summer’s European Championships, where he will hope to add to his twenty-nine senior caps.

Norwood began his career at Manchester United but moved to Huddersfield Town in 2012 having not played a single game for the Red Devils, via loan spells with Carlisle United, Scunthorpe United and Coventry City.

He spent two seasons with Huddersfield before switching to the Madejski Stadium in 2014.

Eddie H…

Bayern Munich great Lothar Matthaus has blamed Carlo Ancelotti for Thomas Muller s ongoing malaise.

Germany forward Muller was named on the bench for the Bundesliga champions 2-0 win over Werder Bremen on Saturday, coming on in the 73rd minute after Robert Lewandowski netted the first of a second-half brace.

The 27-year-old told ARD after the match that his qualities seem not to be 100 per cent in demand under Ancelotti, who praised his cameo but explained a desire to control central areas while retaining the dual wing threat of Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery lay behind Muller s omission.

Matthaus feels a more rigid team structure under Ancelotti is hindering Muller, who only scored five Bundesliga goals last term having hit 32 in all competitions under Pep Guard…

Lyon have denied a French newspaper report that they have approached Laurent Blanc to replace under-pressure coach Bruno Genesio.

President Jean-Michel Aulas last week revealed that the club will not offer Genesio a contract extension before the end of the season, having been prepared to give him a two-year deal had the club reached the final of the Coupe de France.

However, Lyon were beaten 3-2 by Rennes at home in a thrilling semi-final, meaning Genesio did not meet the requirements for an extension, which were a place in the Stade de France showpiece and a top-three spot in Ligue 1.

Lyon are in third, six points clear of their nearest challengers and rivals Saint-Etienne in the race for Champions League football. 

French newspaper L Equipe suggested t…

Youssoufa Moukoko chalked up a Bundesliga record as he became the youngest player in the competition s history to reach 10 career goals – and number 10 was something special.

At the age of 17 years and 350 days, Moukoko showed why he is so highly regarded as his dazzling double helped Borussia Dortmund win 3-0 against visitors Bochum on Saturday.

Moukoko hit the opener in the eighth minute, fending off a challenge outside the penalty area before crashing a 22-yard strike with his left foot that arrowed just beneath the crossbar.

That took him to double figures, and an 11th Bundesliga goal for Moukoko followed shortly before half-time when he caught goalkeeper Manuel Riemann well off his line and lobbed in from close to 35 yards.

Between those goals, Gio…