On Wednesday, Wayne Rooney scored an incredible long-range goal for Everton against West Ham. On Saturday, Hoffenheim's Serge Gnabry showed that he watches veteran players and copies them when he dropped a ridiculous chip into the back of RB Leipzig's net.
SERGE GNABRY! FROM WAY DOWNTOWN! https://t.co/SzIeDY23Zt
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) December 2, 2017
A Cologne striker has finally scored — a role in a new movie. Peruvian Claudio Pizarro voices a character in the German-language version of the new animated Pixar film “Coco,” which is out now in a Kino near you (assuming you live in Germany).
Pizarro is an old man nearing the end of his career on the pitch. He may have found a new calling with his voiceover role in “Coco,” which is about a young Mexican boy who is transported to the Land of the Dead during Día de los Muertos. The 39-year-old voices a skeleton who desperately wants to watch a soccer match.
Crossbar challenges are good fun, a nice way to show off soccer skills. But Jean-Philippe Gbamin is taking the idea a bit too far. The Mainz center back launched a 60-yard lob off the post on Saturday — during a Bundesliga match against Freiburg.
Marcos Antonio's Bundesliga debut for Nurnberg in 2012 against Stuttgart was so bad the Brazilian defender was substituted after 16 minutes and never played for the club again (granted, a big part of that was injuries). It was one of just two appearances Antonio made for the club, the first coming in the DFB Pokal against TSV Havelse.
Scrutinizing the goalkeeper position, more so than any other, requires us to expand the metric of analysis to incorporate the one asset that’s valued above all others in a shot-stopper: consistency. That’s why, although a plethora of recent statistics might tell us otherwise, many would still pony for Gianluigi Buffon over, say, Marc-Andre ter Stegen as the world’s finest keeper. One’s been at the top of his craft for over 20 years, the other for just a few.
Borussia Dortmund has not had a great month and a half, but maybe the club can take solace in the impressive teamwork that led to a goal Friday — even if that goal was scored by Stuttgart. As the Bundesliga returned from the international break, Dortmund defender Marc Bartra and goalie Roman Burki combined to great effect to allow Chadrac Akolo to score in the fifth minute.
German media is speculating that Aubameyang was suspended by Borussia Dortmund for a clandestine trip to Barcelona. However, Aubameyang himself claims his suspension is due to turning up late for training.
Punctuality is extremely important for some people. Recently, a Japanese rail company apologized after a train left 20 seconds early.
Everyone ages. Aging is a necessary consequence of being alive, and should be accepted. That said, entire industries are propped up by folks looking to avoid aging. Footballers, with their combination of being rich, in the public eye all the time and having so many people fawn over them they inevitably become vain, are some of the most common indulgers in these industries.