COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Former Denmark captain Simon Kjaer formally retired from soccer Monday despite offers to continue playing since he left AC Milan as a free agent last year.
Kjaer will perhaps be best remembered as the captain who rushed to Christian Eriksen's aid and then led teammates in shielding him from view on the field after the star playmaker collapsed because of cardiac arrest during a European Championship game in June 2021. Kjaer also consoled Eriksen's partner on the field.
Kjaer, along with the Denmark team and medical staff, later won the FIFA Fair Play Award for their actions in Copenhagen.
Eriksen resumed his career, with Denmark and now Manchester United, and only his record 140 appearances is ahead of Kjaer’s 132 in national-team history.
The 35-year-old Kjaer told Danish broadcaster TV2 he had the chance to sign for Champions League clubs but did not get the “once-in-a-lifetime” offer to continue his career.
A tough central defender, Kjaer started with Danish club Midtjylland and later played in Italy, Spain, Germany, France and Turkey. He won a Serie A title with Milan in 2022.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
FILE - England's Harry Kane, 2nd left, hands to Denmark's Simon Kjaer an English shirt with the name of Denmark's Christian Eriksen before the Euro 2020 soccer championship semifinal match between England and Denmark at Wembley stadium in London, Wednesday, July 7, 2021. (Catherine Ivill/Pool Photo via AP, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House rejected a resolution Thursday requiring President Donald Trump to withdraw U.S. forces from the war with Iran unless Congress authorizes military action. It was the latest such vote that fell short of passage as Republicans largely continue to support Trump's operation.
Democrats voiced concern that the United States is becoming further entrenched in another lengthy conflict in the Middle East. They promised to keep raising the issue through more war powers votes in the coming weeks.
The 213-214 vote came one day after a similar effort failed in the Senate. The U.S. and Israel struck Iran on Feb. 28, and a fragile ceasefire is now in its second week.
Democrats overwhelmingly supported the attempt to rein in Trump's use of military force.
“We're standing at the edge of a cliff and Congress must act before the president pushes off,” said New York Rep. Gregory Meeks, the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. “Every day we delay, we inch closer to a conflict with no exit ramp.”
Republicans tried to cast the effort as hypocritical.
Florida Rep. Brian Mast, the committee chairman, said Congress never voted on a war powers resolution when the U.S. attacked Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen in 2024 while Democrat Joe Biden was president.
“When Joe Biden was responding to merchant marine vessels being attacked, it was OK. No war power needed. It went on for about a year,” Mast said. “President Trump responds — war power, war power, war power. ... That's the hypocrisy.”
Under the War Powers Act of 1973, Congress must declare war or authorize use of force within 60 days — a deadline in the Iran war that will arrive at the end of April. The law provides for a potential 30-day extension, but lawmakers have made clear that they want the Republican administration to soon lay out a plan for the war's end.
While the House vote failed, it gave Democrats an opportunity to highlight some of the most negative effects of the war: the billions of dollars spent, the death of at least 13 service members, the soaring gas prices and fissures with long-standing allies who do not support Trump's actions.
“Gas prices at home are up to $7 in my home state, and families are hurting," said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash. “Another 10,000 U.S. troops are being sent in to join 50,000 already stationed in the Middle East with absolutely no strategy, no plan and no exit.”
Republicans defended Trump as taking decisive action against an Iranian government that has long terrorized the Middle East and its own people.
“President Donald Trump has sent a message that those who threaten the United States and our partners will be ultimately held accountable," said Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C.
In Thursday's vote, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky was the only Republican to cross party lines and vote for removing U.S. forces from the war. Rep. Jared Golden of Maine was the only Democrat to vote against the measure.
The first House vote to curb Trump's miliary action with Iran failed in early March, 212-219.
FILE - The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier leaves Naval Station Norfolk, June 23, 2025, in Norfolk, Va. (AP Photo/John Clark, File)
FILE - A thick plume of smoke rises from an oil storage facility hit by a U.S.-Israeli strike in Tehran, Iran, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
