Monday’s match against Tunisia was England’s best performance at a major international tournament for close to a decade. After trying and failing and trying even more desperately and then failing even more stupendously than ever before, the Three Lions finally have an opening game in which they can take great pride.
Consider Peru coach Ricardo Gareca the foil to Morocco coach Hervé Renard. As much as Twitter loved Renard on Friday, the lovely people of the internet were not so kind to Gareca on Saturday.
Renard was the lone bright spot for his country in a disappointing 1-0 loss to Iran on Friday, winning fans over across the globe with his undeniably good looks.
Morocco opened the World Cup with a match that, on paper, appeared the least interesting of Friday’s matches. But that was before the internet set sights on Morocco coach Hervé Renard.
Zinedine Zidane stepped down from the lofty perch he created with Real Madrid on Thursday. After two-and-a-half seasons as coach in which he won three Champions League titles, the 45-year-old Frenchman will not return to go for an unprecedented fourth straight crown. But exactly why Zidane quit Real Madrid could have more to do with Cristiano Ronaldo than anything else. And why we should care goes far beyond the local impact in Madrid.
Soccer field dimensions are anything but straightforward. Unlike the playing surfaces for football, basketball, hockey, tennis and most other sports, not all soccer pitches are created equally. FIFA does not stipulate the specific size of a football pitch, instead allowing a range of lengths and widths.
That said, there are requirements that must be met for every soccer pitch, many of which are more specific when it comes to international matches.
Kevin Tomlinson, a seemingly die-hard Bluenose fan, promised he’d tattoo Birmingham City manager Garry Monk’s face on his bum if they beat Fulham to escape relegation out of the English League Championship. Monk paid for the tattoo after the match.
It’s only a matter of time until the power vacuum kicks in following Arsene Wenger’s leave from Arsenal’s managerial spot, which he’s graced for over two decades. Along with this yet to be filled spot, we have an impressive roster of soccer coaches salivating for Arsenal’s boss position and as we all know to be true in the world of soccer: with great team comes great responsibility.
Danny Gildea set a goal. He had seen others have success with soccer training videos online and didn’t see any reason why he couldn’t do just as well, if not better. So he set a target of 30-40,000 followers and created @gps_soccerassassins on Instagram.
He now has more than 450,000 followers and has worked with some of the biggest soccer companies in the world, including Adidas. For comparison, USMNT captain Michael Bradley has 97.5K followers on Instagram, Jozy Altidore 207K and Landon Donovan 165K.
Twenty-two years after the Frenchman picked up the mantle at Arsenal FC, Arsene Wenger is leaving with the grace and integrity of the proper gentleman that he is. By leaving at the end of the season, the 68-year-old leaves a power vacuum in his departure — one that Arsenal needs to fill immediately.
During a press conference for UEFA’s Match for Solidarity, former Chelsea FC boss Carlo Ancelotti expressed his interests in running the Gunners.
Longtime Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger announced he will step down as manager at the end of the season on Friday. In the short term, it means an end to the Wenger In/Out meme. In the long term it means figuring out what’s next for Arsenal and Arsene. We have one suggestion for Wenger's next job: USMNT coach.