Russia’s entire 2014 World Cup team is under investigation for doping

Ahead of the 2016 Summer Olympics, Russian athletes were implicated in a massive doping scandal that affected the ability of some athletes to compete at those games. Russian anti-doping officials have since admitted an “institutional conspiracy” regarding the country’s doping program for the Sochi Olympics in 2014. And now the soccer team is getting caught up in it.

This weekend, reports emerged that Russia’s entire 2014 World Cup squad is under investigation for doping. Five of the players under investigation were on Russia’s team for this month’s Confederations Cup.

If you’re wondering how this might affect Russia hosting the 2018 World Cup, it seems unlikely to influence anything at all. FIFA prefers to ignore problems whenever it can. But this investigation raises some serious questions about doping in soccer, however uncomfortable those questions might be.

Clint Dempsey’s last-minute equalizer for Seattle Sounders against Portland Timbers. (Sounder at Heart)

Chicharito trained away from the Mexico squad on Monday due to a muscle injury. He’ll have some trouble starting the Confederations Cup semifinal. (ESPN)

The San Jose Earthquakes have fired head coach Dominic Kinnear. (Center Line Soccer)

Here’s the USMNT squad for the Gold Cup. Notably, Bruce Arena can make up to six changes for the knockout stage.

Frank de Boer is the new manager of Crystal Palace.

Nice has signed Mario Balotelli to a new contract. (Nice)

And Bobby Wood has a new deal with Hamburg. (Bundesliga)

The Lionel Messi Foundation operated for years without a license and might have been used to hide income. (AS)

Just one link today, but it’s a big one. In Bed With Maradona has 13 articles that tell the story of soccer in Buenos Aires.

Manchester United wants Harry Kane, and that’s likely to cost them in excess of £100m. (Telegraph)

Florentino Perez is talking to Kylian Mbappe about getting him to Real Madrid. (Marca)

Arsenal is getting serious about buying Alexandre Lacazette and might sell Olivier Giroud. (Standard)

Liverpool wants Naby Keita, but RBL wants £70m for him. (Guardian)

With Tiemoue Bakayoko incoming, Chelsea looks willing to sell Nemanja Matic to Manchester United. (Mirror)

Barcelona is, strangely, trying to buy Paulinho from Guangzhou. (Sport)

After some drama with social media posts and alleged hacking, Gianluigi Donnarumma and AC Milan are talking again. (ESPN)

Milan is also trying to sign the free-kick god, Hakan Calhanoglu. (Gazzetta)

Borussia Mönchengladbach would like to sign Vincent Janssen from Tottenham. (Bild)

Spurs are trying to convince Barca B star Carles Aleña to join them instead of renewing with Barcelona. (AS)

Kostas Manolas and Leandro Paredes might move from Roma to Zenit for €70m. (Football Italia)

You’ve got to see this bicycle kick by center-back Ike Opara.

Germany beat Cameroon with the help of VAR to win their Confederations Cup group.

Australia played a great game, but Chile did enough to advance past them in second place.

Mexico struggled in the first half against Russia but put together an excellent second half to knock out the hosts.

Portugal had absolutely no problem dispatching of New Zealand.

Highlights of all this weekend’s MLS games are here. (MLS)

And highlights of all the NWSL games are here. (NWSL)