Source: PokerStars Tens of thousands of Portuguese crowded the Marques de Pombal square throughout the night to celebrate the country's first European Cup, 12 years after suffering the Euro 2004 final loss against Greece on home soil.   Passionate fans chanted "Portugal Allez" (Go Portugal), sang the Portuguese national anthem and emulated Ronaldo's characteristic "siiuhh" when he w...

Former Brazilian President Lula with football star Ronaldinho. Wikimedia Commons Brazilian soccer great Ronaldinho said FC Barcelona super-striker Lionel Messi was not in crisis and that, although there has been much speculation about his future, the fact remains that he is the "best in the world." "It's hard for the best in the world to be in crisis," the 36-year-old former Camp Nou talism...

Source: UEFA Another unforgettable Antoine Griezmann match: two goals, a powerful presence on the pitch, precise dribbling and top speed. He was the star behind every goal opportunity and the player who propelled France to the Eurocup Final with a 2-0 score against a Germany that succumbed to the sensational forward. The final awaits him Sunday at the Saint Denis stadium against Cristian...

Source: UEFA Cristiano Ronaldo scored one goal and set up the second here Wednesday as Portugal beat Wales 2-0 to advance to the 2016 Euro final. The loss ended a fairy-tale run for Wales, who had never before gone so far in an international competition, while the 31-year-old Ronaldo can look forward to what might be his last chance to win a trophy with the national side. With this loss,...

Messi Poster in Buenos Aires A Spanish court has sentenced FC Barcelona star Lionel Messi, along with his father, on Wednesday to a prison term for tax fraud committed between 2007 and 2009. The Barcelona Provincial Court ruled that Messi and his father, Jorge Messi, had committed three counts of tax fraud that were punishable with 21 months (one year and 9 months) in prison. In Spanish ...

Source: Pixabay Commons Just like during the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Brazil is ready to receive thousands of athletes, journalists, athletic support staff, sports fans, and sexual tourists. The occasion this time happens to be the already controversial 2016 Olympics, which will be held in Rio de Janeiro, a city that has become synonymous with sexual tourism in the Americas. According to a rece...

Serena Williams. Source: Wikimedia Commons U.S. star tennis player Serena Williams has defeated Germany's Annika Beck on Sunday 6-3, 6-0 in 51 minutes in the third round of Wimbledon, which is also the 300th Grand Slam victory for Williams throughout her career. Following Sunday's victory, Williams still has six Grand Slam wins to make in order to equalize the record of Martina Navratilova....

Source: UEFA Wales has advanced to the semifinals of a major tournament for the first time with a come-from-behind 3-1 victory Friday night over Belgium, which paid dearly for its careless play on defense. With this victory, Wales is the last National Team from the United Kingdom remaining in the Euro 2016 tournament. Various football analysts had predicted an early "Brexit," for Englan...

Wikimedia Commons Body parts from a murder victim were found Wednesday near the spot on Copacabana beach where the beach volleyball competition will take place when Brazil's second city hosts the 2016 Olympics in August, Jornal do Brasil reported. Authorities have not yet determined the age or sex of the victim, the daily said on its Web site, citing Rio de Janeiro state police. A forens...

https://vimeo.com/171124011 Meet Andre Moreno Hamm, an elite skier who aims to represent Costa Rica at the 2018 South Korea Winter Olympics. A Costa Rican skier? That’s right. This 20-year-old slope style skier for the Costa Rican Olympic Committee will embark on the World Cup circuit in January to qualify for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. Raised in Boulder, Colorado, Andre divides hi...

Source: UEFA Iceland made history here Monday with an astonishing 2-1 win over heavily favored England to claim a berth in the quarterfinals of the 2016 European Championship. Not content with merely qualifying for the knockout stage, the squad representing the island nation of some 300,000 people thoroughly dominated an English side stocked with highly paid stars. With England and North...

Messi Poster in Buenos Aires Soccer star Lionel Messi said he was retiring from the Argentine national team after suffering yet another defeat in a final, this time a 4-2 loss to Chile in a penalty shootout at the Copa America. "I thought a lot about it in the locker room, and I think that I'm done with the (national) team. It's over," the Argentine national team captain said after Sunday n...

Wikimedia Commons Costa Rica pulled off a major upset at the NORCECA Women’s Continental Cup as they defeated favourite Cuba 3-2 moving closer to the single ticket on hand to the Olympic beach volleyball tournament in Rio de Janeiro. The duo of Karen Cope and Nathalia Alfaro beat Lianma Flores and Leila Martinez 15-9 in a “golden set” to break a 2-2 tie in the country versus country semifin...

Source: UEFA The UEFA subjected 10 players from the Spanish national team on Saturday to doping tests at a hotel on the island of Re, France, where the Euro 2016 is being held. Urine and blood samples were taken without any problems, according to the official website of the Spanish national team. The players subjected to the tests were not identified. Spain midfielder Sergio Busquets ...

Wikimedia Commons While political analysts are nervously waiting on the results of a crucial referendum for the United Kingdom to either leave or remain in the European Union, sports analysts note that there was no “Brexit” from the UEFA Euro 2016 Championship. After the first round of the Euro 2016, three national teams of the United Kingdom –England, Northern Ireland, and Wales- advanced ...

Wikimedia Commons OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, JUN 20 (EFE; betting context by IDSca.com). — LeBron James led the Cleveland Cavaliers to their first National Basketball Association title with a 93-89 win over the Golden State Warriors. James had 27 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in Sunday night's deciding Game 7 of the NBA Finals. The win gave James his third title in the six straight NBA Fi...

One of hundreds of memes related to the infamous goal The celebrated National Football Team of Brazil has not been able to shake off its prolonged slump that started with the humiliating 1-7 loss against Germany during the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which the South American spiritual home of football hosted. At the impressive Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts, Brazil faced off against Peru, a nat...

Pixabay Commons Striker Johan Venegas from Costa Rica scored the best goal thus far in the 100th anniversary of the world's oldest football tournament at the federation level, but the victory against Colombia was hardly a cause for celebration. The National Men's Football Team of Costa Rica, affectionately known as La Sele, obtained its sole victory at Copa America Centenario against one of...

Twitter photo by Deric Ó h'Artagáin, Ireland TV3 Presenter Marseille, France, Jun 11 (EFE).- A 50-year-old English man is battling for his life at a hospital in this southeastern French city after being beaten by a group of Russian fans Saturday ahead of a Euro 2016 Group B game between England and Russia, Marseille's police prefect, Laurent Nunez, said. The man, who had suffered a heart at...

Source: UEFA Saint-Martin-de-Re, France, Jun 9 (EFE; betting context by ISDca.com).- Spain's national soccer team, winners of the last two European Championships, began training in France on Thursday as they set their sights on an unprecedented third straight title, and sportsbooks in Costa Rica are prepared to take wagers on this exciting football tournament. As in previous international t...

Wikimedia Commons Cleveland, Jun 9 (EFE; odds by IDSca.com).- Superstar forward LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers finally got on the board in the NBA Finals after two discouraging away losses, routing the defending champion Golden State Warriors 120-90 in Game 3. James scored 32 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out six assists for the Cavaliers, who controlled Wednesday night's...

Pixabay Commons Pasadena, California, Jun 8 (EFE).- Star midfielder James Rodriguez overcame a shoulder injury to lead Colombia to a 2-1 victory over Paraguay and a berth in the Copa America Centenario knockout phase, while the host United States got back on track by routing Costa Rica 4-0. Colombia grabbed the lead in its Tuesday night Group A round-robin game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena ...

Source: FEDEFUTBOL CR One of the most anticipated matches of the Copa America Centenario, which is currently unfolding across the United States, will take place on Tuesday, June 7th at the magnificent Soldier Field in Chicago. The National Men's Football Teams of Costa Rica (La Sele) and the United States (Team USA) are both in tight spots within Group A, which analysts believe is the most ...

Pixabay Commons Santa Clara, California, Jun 4 (EFE; odds by IDSca.com).- Cristian Zapata and James Rodriguez scored first-half goals to lead Colombia to a 2-0 victory here over the host United States in the opening match of the Copa America Centenario. Friday night's win at Levi's Stadium was a critical one for Colombia in Group A, which also is made up of Costa Rica and Paraguay and has b...

"Stephen Curry 2" by Keith Allison from Owings Mills, USA - Stephen Curry. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons Oakland, California, Jun 3 (EFE).- The defending champion Golden State Warriors showed off their vaunted depth in a 104-89 victory here over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, cruising to the win despite uncharacteristically poor performances by their t...

Source: NORCECA GROS ISLET, St Lucia, May 29, 2016 - Costa Rica swept Guatemala 3-0 to claim first place at the NORCECA Inter Zonal Men’s Beach Volleyball Tournament, the third round of the Continental Cup towards the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.   Nicaragua, U.S. Virgin Islands, El Salvador and Trinidad & Tobago completed the top six countries qualified to the final round to b...

The Sweet Science Press Release - LAS VEGAS, NV (May 28, 2016) – Reigning WBO World Female junior middleweight champion HANNA GABRIELS meets KATIA ALVARINO in a unification match on June 18 at Domo Jose Maria Vargas de la Guaira in Maiqueita, Venezuela. The 10-round contest is sanctioned for Gabriels WBO title and for the vacant WBA World super welterweight title. The 33-year-old Gabriels (15-1...

Source: Wikimedia Milan, May 28 (EFE; additional reporting by The Costa Rica Star).- Real Madrid captured an unprecedented 11th Champions League title with a victory here Saturday night on penalties over crosstown rival Atletico Madrid, which had rallied to tie the final at 1-1 late in second half. In a rematch of the 2014 final of Europe's biggest club competition, the same team came out o...

Source: FEDEFUTBOL CR The National Men's Football Teams of Costa Rica and Venezuela played their final match before the Copa America Centenario at the Chinese-donated National Stadium in La Sabana Metropolitan Park. It was an exciting, though rain-soaked match for both national teams, and it was a considerable improvement over their previous friendly encounter in Venezuela, which was an ugl...

Wikimedia Commons Cleveland, May 26 (EFE; odds by IDSca.com).- The Cleveland Cavaliers pummeled the Toronto Raptors 116-78 to take a three-games-to-two lead in the Eastern Conference Finals and move within one win of trip back to the championship round. After losing the two previous games at Toronto's Air Canada Centre, which will be the venue for Friday's Game 6, the Cavaliers dominated fr...

"Stephen Curry 2" by Keith Allison from Owings Mills, USA - Stephen Curry. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons Oklahoma City, May 25 (EFE).- The Oklahoma City Thunder continued to dominate their matchup against the Golden State Warriors, winning Game 4 118-94 to take a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference Finals and put the defending champions on the verge of elimination. Supers...

2016 Rio Olympics Logo LOS ANGELES--(Business Wire)--Global nutrition company Herbalife announced today it will be the official sponsor of the Costa Rican, Israeli, Italian and Vietnam National Olympic Committees all traveling to the Rio 2016 Olympics and Paralympic Games. Herbalife will also support more than 50 athletes and 19 Paralympians from over 16 countries. These Olympic athletes will...

Flickr Commons London, May 21 (EFE; betting context by IDSca.com).- A remarkable goal by Jesse Lingard in the second half of extra time gave Manchester United a 2-1 victory here Saturday over Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final, the Red Devils' record-tying 12th title in soccer's oldest tournament. After a first half short on excitement at Wembley Stadium, Marouane Fellaini and Anthony Marti...

Wikimedia Commons Cleveland, May 18 (EFE).- Star point guard Kyrie Irving and do-it-all forward LeBron James combined for 51 points to lead the red-hot Cleveland Cavaliers to a 115-84 shellacking of the Toronto Raptors in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Irving scored 27 points, while James contributed 24 points, grabbed six rebounds and handed out four assists in Tuesday night's co...

Source; FEDEFUTBOL D.C. United forward Álvaro Saborío has been named to Costa Rica's roster for the Copa America Centenario, joining four other MLS players in the 23-man final selection. Saborío, 34, recently moved into a tie for fourth among active players with his 71st career MLS goal. He opened the scoring against the New York Red Bulls on Friday, May 13, in the 20th minute. The Costa Ri...

Source: Facebook Club Sport Herediano (CSH), a professional football club in the First Division of Costa Rica, obtained its 25th championship in its history, which dates back nearly 100 years. The final match of the summer tournament took place at the Eladio Rosabal Cordero Stadium in the city of Heredia. CSH routed Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (LDA) by 3 - 0 on Saturday night. CSH receive...

2016 Rio Olympics Logo Washington, May 12 (EFE).- The World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization on Thursday asked pregnant women not to travel to Rio de Janeiro or to other parts of Brazil where the Zika virus is present as part of their recommendations for the Olympic Games in August. In a joint communique, the two affiliated organizations acknowledged that athlete...

San Antonio Spurs AT&T Center., Wikimedia Commons San Antonio, May 11 (EFE).- The Oklahoma City Thunder moved within one victory of a berth in the Western Conference Finals with a 95-91 victory here over the San Antonio Spurs, who were unable to contain point guard Russell Westbrook in the final minutes of the contest. Westbrook scored 35 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out nine ...

Club Sport Herediano On Monday, May 9th, the first round of the First Division Summer Tournament Finals will be played at the Alejandro Morera Soto Stadiumn in the city of Alajuela, province of the same name. The most storied clubs in the history of professional football in Costa Rica will repeat the May 2015 finals, when Club Sport Herediano (CSH), a legendary club owned by an association ...

Source; FEDEFUTBOL FIFA Press Release - Between 8 and 15 May, hosts Costa Rica and seven other national teams will compete in the CONCACAF Futsal Championship and, at stake, are the final four available berths for the FIFA Futsal World Cup Colombia 2016. The identity of all eight competing nations was completed on 5 May, Canada clinching their involvement via a shock 9-7 aggregate win over ...