After announcing that Lionel Messi would no longer grace the cover of EA Sports’ FIFA franchise, a global vote was conducted to determine the FIFA 17 cover and the new face of the game.
3.1 million votes were cast to decide between Manchester United’s Anthony Martial, Real Madrid’s James Rodriguez, Chelsea’s Eden Hazard and Borussia Dortmund’s Marco Reus.
In April of 2013, Mario Gotze became the most hated man in Dortmund after it was announced that Gotze, a product of Dortmund’s youth academy, would be transferring to fierce rivals Bayern Munich.
The timing of the announcement did little to help Gotze’s cause — it emerged on the eve of a momentous Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid. Munich had met Gotze’s release clause of €37 million and the midfielder was keen to play under Pep Guardiola, much to the annoyance of then BVB manager Jurgen Klopp.
Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez is more than happy to stay at Bayer Leverkusen and help the club make an impact in the Champions League according to coach Roger Schmidt. And why wouldn’t he be?
Chicharito flourished in his first real opportunity to start week in, week out in Europe. The Mexican striker scored 26 goals in all competitions for Leverkusen, the most he’s scored since his early days in Guadalajara.
RB Leipzig is a German club newly-promoted to the German Bundesliga. Red Bull Salzburg is an Austrian club that won the Austrian Bundesliga this season.
They are not the same team.
Looking at their jerseys, though, one could be forgiven for thinking they are.
Nike, apparently, made the jerseys for RB Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg and made them nearly identical. The crest is slightly different (because the team names are different).
Landon Donovan has returned to the public spotlight with a couple of high profile appearances in the last week. On Monday, Donovan took part in Major League Baseball’s All-Star festivities by participating in a celebrity softball game. The USA’s all time leading scorer hit an inside-the-park home run that showed off the 34 year olds still electric pace.
Thomas Muller is one of the most dangerous attacking players in the world. He's deceptive on the ball, tricky in the box and lethal on goal.
Which sounds weird, because Thomas Muller is the crazy uncle of international soccer. Thomas Muller is international soccer's crazy uncle because he behaves exactly like your crazy uncle.
Your crazy uncle isn't crazy, per se, but he's definitely a little . . . touched. He "marches to the beat of his own drummer", or whatever.
The 2015-16 European league season will be remembered for a number of reasons: Leicester City’s improbable Premier League title, Real Madrid’s dramatic Champions League triumph and the brilliant return to form of Mexico’s Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez.
The 28-year-old striker enjoyed his finest season since erupting onto the world’s radar with Manchester United in 2010-11. Following four frustrating seasons of being used sparingly as a substitute for both United and Real Madrid, Chicharito seized his opportunity as a regular starter with Bayer Leverkusen in the German Bundesliga.
The build up surrounding Poland’s Euro 2016 Championship campaign has been relatively quiet, and the Poles and their captain Robert Lewandowski certainly won’t be bothered by that. After capturing third place at the 1982 World Cup in Spain, this is a country that has had very little success on the biggest of international stages.
When Manuel Neuer continuously came hurtling out of goal against Algeria at the 2014 World Cup, most experts questioned the sanity of such a tactic. Obviously Germany would eventually be punished for holding such a preposterously high defensive line and for allowing their goalkeeper so many touches of the ball.