Despite president Gianni Infantino’s last-ditch visit to Kuwait in an attempt to coerce the nation into co-hosting the 2022 World Cup with Qatar in order to expand the field from 32 to 48 teams, FIFA has now admitted failure in its expansion plan.
The next World Cup will remain a 32-team affair taking place between Nov. 21 and Dec. 18 solely in Qatar.
Remember Mix Diskerud?
What the heck has he been up to lately?
The USMNT midfielder with 38 caps (and six goals) to his name, made splashy headlines when Manchester City signed him from sister club New York City FC. He’s more or less disappeared from the face of the earth since then.
But fear not, friends, Diskerud has been sighted once more!
One of the greatest midfielders of his generation, Xavi has announced that he'll retire at the end of the season to pursue a coaching career. The maestro spent 17 years in Barcelona before moving to Al-Sadd in Qatar in 2015.
As a graduate of Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy, Xavi made his first team debut for Barcelona in 1998 at just 18 years of age. Playing at Barcelona for over 17 years, Xavi was an integral part of the midfield three, playing brilliant through balls and very rarely losing possession.
Late work in the visual arts, like those of Rembrandt, can often showcase an artist at their most profound. What’s revealed is the certainty of a master — the piece stands apart from the contemporary and proclaims its own thingness. With that being said, have a look at what Xavi’s aging right foot is up to.
It painted a stunning work in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on Tuesday during Al Sadd’s Asian Champions League group stage match against Pakhtakor.
In the sixth minute of the match, here’s the 39-year-old going top bins after ambling his way to the top of the box.
Who doesn’t love a good Hulk smash?
No, not the radioactive green behemoth from the comic books, good old Givanildo Vieira de Sousa, better known as Hulk, the Brazilian beefcake renowned for his muscular appearance and ridiculously strong left peg.
Hulk, formerly of Porto and Zenit St. Petersburg, is in his fourth season in China with Shanghai SIPG in the Chinese Super League. He scored his first goal of the new campaign on Friday and it was classic Hulk.
Brazilian striker Anderson Lopes played his first match for Consadole Sapporo in the J1 League on Friday, and the attacker came away with four goals and an important lesson in the layout of his club’s home ground, the Sapporo Dome.
With Consadole leading Shimizu S-Pulse 2-1 in the 49th minute, Anderson Lopes scored his second of the match and promptly went to celebrate with supporters behind the goal. Unfortunately, his jump over the advertising hoardings was quickly met with the realization that he faced a 10-foot drop to the hard ground below.
Son Heung-min is one of the most popular footballers in the world. A superstar in Asia and beloved in Europe, the 26-year-old Tottenham forward is at the top of his game right now with 16 goals on the season.
Just don’t expect him to settle down and get married anytime soon.
We’re now just a few months away from the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France, and the hype is starting to build apace. Here at The18, we’ve already covered 18 players to watch at this summer’s tournament, but here are five coaches that are worth following come June. Some have served as pioneers of the women’s game, while others are taking their respective countries to new found heights.
The Australian A-League is in the midst of its 14th season, and although there are plans to expand the league by two teams by the start of the 2019-20 campaign (Macarthur South West United and Western United FC), attendance numbers remain a concern.
Much has been made over Qatar being awarded hosting rights for the 2022 World Cup. Whether you felt it was earned fairly or not (it wasn’t), at the time everyone agreed the 2022 host would be the worst ever in terms of footballing quality. Then again, maybe not based on the latest Qatar FIFA ranking.