It’s easy to say now, sure. Now that his trophies are won, his legacy cemented, Diego Maradona has no problem supporting VAR. Video Assistant Referees can’t review his past indiscretions.
In an attempt to curry favor for its VAR system, FIFA posted an interview with Maradona and his views on VAR. Unsurprisingly, he's in favor of VAR.
Mexico defeated Honduras 1-0 to advance to the Gold Cup semifinals behind an early goal from Rodolfo Pizarro, and they’ll now play Jamaica in a rematch of the 2015 final at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
The greatness of Lionel Messi may never be understood. If you’ve seen him run circles around defenders like they're cones or just taken a glance at the numbers that define his career, you're probably asking yourself “How does this man do it?”
Though we may never fully know the answer, when a specimen like Messi comes around, we want to analyze every aspect of his or her existence to figure out what makes them unstoppable. How do they train? What were their parents like? Do they like flipping their pillows onto the cold side before they go to bed?!
No disrespect to Lionel Messi, but if your 10-year-old kid started doing this one day in the backyard, would you think “Gee, little Jimmy’s sure showing an inclination towards soccer” or would you think “Gee, little Jimmy may literally be the Devil incarnate”?
Based on a genetic family history more prone to madness than to footballing excellence, I’d opt for the latter. No disrespect to Messi, but if my son were doing this, I’d check for a weird birthmark and ask my local priest for seven sacrificial daggers.
The United States are through to the Gold Cup semifinals, but the real story on Wednesday night was the erotic interplay between USMNT striker Jozy Altidore and his tight man-to-man marker, El Salvador’s Henry Romero.
The City of Brotherly Love was truly feeling the heat yesterday evening as Romero pinched and twisted Altidore’s nipple and took a nice little chomp on his shoulder for good measure. Romero was booked in the 81st minute, but he kept Altidore off the scoresheet for 90 minutes, so mission accomplished.
Anibal Godoy had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad two minutes. The Panamanian midfielder committed a foul to earn a yellow that would keep him out of the next match should his team advance, then seconds later made sure his team wouldn’t advance.
Costa Rica beat Panama 1-0 thanks to a Godoy own goal in the Gold Cup quarterfinals on Wednesday in Philadelphia. Los Ticos will play either the U.S. or El Salvador in the semifinals on Saturday.
There’s nothing wrong with spending your vacation time eating, drinking and seeing the sights. But if you want to make a vacation truly memorable, it’s always a good idea to throw a live event into the mix, and nothing beats going to a match abroad.
It’s a giant party/social event before and after the game and in between you get to watch an enthralling 90 minutes full of skill and drama. While the 2018 and 2022 World Cups are undoubtedly the biggest events on the footballing calendar in the near future, here are five more dream vacations that you could begin planning for now.
For those not old enough to have witnessed Pele’s pomp during the late 50s, 60s and early 70s, our understanding of the Brazilian icon is almost conditioned. We know he was great for three main reasons:
Panama-Nicaragua was the 2017 Gold Cup in 90 minutes.
After a first half full of crap offense, crap defense took over in the second half and sparked the match to life.
Poor play on both ends typified what has been an underwhelming and CONCACAF’y Gold Cup with many of regions best players watching from home.
Ultimately, Panama pulled out a 2-1 win in what was quite literally an opening act for the USA-Martinique match.
Watching the Gold Cup the last couple of days, you feel a bit like Scooter Braun accidentally clicking on a YouTube video of a tween musician.
Not since Justin Bieber was discovered at age 12 in 2007 has Canada had such a precocious young star in the making. Alphonso Davies may have only become a Canadian in the last couple months, but if he keeps scoring at this rate, he’ll soar to Bieber-esque heights.
Davies scored the opener in Canada’s 1-1 draw with Costa Rica on Tuesday, the 16-year-old’s third goal in two Gold Cup matches.