On the surface, soccer seems to be strikingly different from other sports such as American football and rugby, but 19th century soccer actually shared more in common with these sports than you might think. Here are five surprising traits from the early version of the game.
1. You could catch the ball
Samuel Eto’o and I first met in FIFA 10. I am not ashamed to say this. I was new to the game and he was really fast and could finish. It was a match made in heaven. Not to mention, that this was before I started to follow professional soccer with the eye of someone who writes about the sport for a living. Little did I know then how much of a baller Eto’o really was in real life. I didn’t know that he was on Barcelona before he won the treble for Inter. I didn’t know that he once lined up along side Lionel Messi and Ronaldinho in attack for Barcelona.
Things are going pretty good for Paris Saint Germain. How good? Well they haven't lost since November 3rd, 2015. They've played 16 matches since then, and have tallied 15 wins and only 1 loss. So this Angel di Maria volley is right the the alley of how things are going for PSG. Di Maria was running right to left when Luca Moura feed him a arching pass. But the Argentina handled it perfectly and caught the goalkeeper off his line, scoring a beauty from 20 yards. Di Maria isn't having too bad a season either.
What were you doing when you were 19? I wasn't doing much. I was probably was sitting around my house in college watching some stupid netflix show. But Dele Alli, now he's doing stuff. The English wonderkid for Tottenham scored an absolute beauty of a goal today. Remember that one Neymar goal? Yeah, I think this one is better.
We all know that Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil can stick the ball to his feet like it’s a bulbous piece of Juicy Fruit, but Adidas’ new skills video may have taken that simile a little too literally.
In the third round of the FA Cup, two prominent Premier League teams duked it out for the right to move on. Son Hueng - min helped out the cause for Tottenham with a stunning strike in the 39th minute. With the likes of Harry Kane and Dele Alli on the bench, Son took full advantage of his start. It looked as if Son wouldn't have a good angle to strike the ball, however his powerful strike left Leicester goalie Kasper Schmeichel helpless.
Not to be confused with another Firmino at Liverpool, but Hugo Firmino of Portugal scored a stunning volley today against Vitoria Guimaraes. With a freekick from close to the corner flag, the striker calmly one timed it into the upper 90 and celebration ensued. Currently plying his trade in the Portugese Second Division for Clube Oriental de Lisboa, the striker has three goals on the 2015/16 season. This goal is one for the books and will certainly bring some attention to the club and the player.
West Ham United was off to a hot start to the 2015/16 Premier League season. They rallied off a 6-3-3 record with the help of Dimitri Payet, who scored 5 goals and tacked on 3 assists. Things were going well for The Hammers, and then Payet went down with an ankle injury and West Ham went on to only win two of their next 9 games, with 5 of those matches resulting in ties. Getting points is always good, but the loss of Payet was affecting the squad in the win column.
HE DID IT. HE DID IT. Wayne Rooney had been stumbling across the desert in dire need of a goal and he finally found the watering hole vs Swansea. The England man had not found the back of the net in a Premier League match since October 17th but that dreadful drought has ended, and he ended it in style with a filthy backheel. The peach of a goal was the 188th of his career in the EPL and the 238th of his Red Devil career. It moved him into second place in all time Premier League goals (Alan Shearer leads with 260) and second place in all time goals by a Manchestesr United player.
We're 6 days into 2016 and Leo Messi has already made the play of the year. In today's Copa del Rey match vs Espanyol, Los Blaugranes secured a 3-1 victory behind the brilliance of La Pulga. Messi netted a brace and added an assist, but his second goal was one that comes with almost complete normalcy for the Argentine. The four time (let's be honest, soon to be five time) Ballon d'Or winner struck a 25 yard free kick off the crossbar and into the back of the net showing us all the brilliance we've been lucky to see for the past 11 years. 2016? More Messi free kick golazos? Can't wait.