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.

The small island kingdom of Bahrain won its 10th gold medal Thursday at the Asian Games as runner Eunice Chebichii Paul Chumba took first place in the women's marathon.

Chumba was only a few seconds in front of silver medalist Zhang Deshun at 35 kilometers, but broke away to finish 1 minute, 41 seconds ahead of her in a winning time of 2:26:14.

The 2030 men's soccer World Cup is set to feature games in six countries on three continents in a unique format that will allow the tournament to celebrate its 100th anniversary in Uruguay.

FIFA reached an agreement Wednesday between soccer's continental leaders to accept a bid spearheaded by co-hosts Spain, Portugal and Morocco as the only candidate for the hosting rights. The agreement also includes staging games in South American countries Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, which had earlier promoted a rival co-hosting bid.

Two years after being bought by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, Newcastle pulled off the biggest win of its new era by beating Kylian Mbappé and Paris Saint-Germain 4-1 on Wednesday in the English club's first Champions League home game since 2003.

The scorers on one of the great nights at St. James' Park were Miguel Almiron, Dan Burn, Sean Longstaff and Fabian Schär — players who are far from the "galácticos" many thought Newcastle might be signing under the richest owners in soccer.

Neymar has scored his first goal in his fifth appearance for Al-Hilal as the Saudi Arabian club beat Nassaji Mazandaran 3-0 in Tehran on a calmer day in the Asian Champions League.

Just 24 hours after another Saudi team, Al-Ittihad, left Iran without taking the field against Sepahan, four-time continental champion Al-Hilal was too strong for the Iranian hosts at the Azadi Stadium.