Culture

LONDON - Tens of thousands of supporters descended on London's Wembley Stadium on Sunday, kick-starting an alcohol-fueled party hours before England play Italy in the final of Euro 2020.

By lunchtime the pavements around England's national stadium were slick with beer, while supporters sang, chanted and hurled drinks while police looked on. Some climbed on top of buses.

Around two hours before the game, security staff told Reuters that some fans had run past stewards to get into the ground without tickets, forcing officials to halt arrivals briefly.

Leave it to Fox to fuck up the biggest soccer match of the year. The 2021 Copa América final was supposed to be on cable on FS1, a baseball game getting the network broadcast on FOX. But the match was nowhere to be found on FS1 as it kicked off, thrown to the obscure FS2 because of another boring baseball game going long.

Then things really got bad.

England and Italy — two giants of the game — face off to be crowned champion of Europe on Sunday. Two nations soccer fans either love or love to hate will make for an epic finale the entire football world will be watching. But in case you want to rope in your friends who are filthy casuals, we’ve got a Euro 2020 Final drinking game just for you.

Alex Morgan will have a little extra motivation to win gold at this summer’s Tokyo Olympics. After publicly questioning the IOC over whether she would be allowed to bring her young child with her to the Games, the USWNT superstar posted a gut-wrenching farewell to young Charlie Elena Carrasco, vowing to make their absence “worth it.”

Morgan made the trip to Japan with her USWNT teammates this week, leaving behind her 14-month-old baby to go for her second Olympic gold medal. On Thursday, Morgan said goodbye to her child on Instagram.

France’s Clermont Foot is a forward-thinking club. Between 2014 and 2017, the side was managed by the current coach of the women’s national team, Corinne Diacre, making her the first woman to coach a men’s professional team in a competitive match in France.  

After Diacre left to take charge of France, she was replaced by Pascal Gastien. Under Gastien, Clermont finished second in Ligue 2 during the 2020-21 season, achieving promotion to the top division for the first time in its 110-year history.

The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is the forgotten child of the soccer world. The only time fans really hear about the OFC is when it sends New Zealand to a World Cup qualifying playoff that it loses nine times out of ten, or the Oceania team that gets sent to the Confederations Cup.

Anyone else remember when poor Tahiti was forced to play Spain, Uruguay and Nigeria at the 2013 Confederations Cup? It takes a special team to finish with a -23 goal differential after three games.

As many parents strive to watch their kids succeed in everything they do, there's nothing better than getting a little too excited about your offspring playing a sport. Not only is having your child play a sport a great way to keep them active and socialize with other kids, but have you ever thought about the potential income your child can bring in from kicking a ball?

The top 50 athletes in the world combined make nearly $2.8 billion a year. If that does not persuade you to sign your kid up for your local intramural league, then maybe this will.

Christian Pulisic continued his recent transformation into a Florida Man with an epic juggle fail video while out big-game fishing. On vacation after winning a Champions League title with Chelsea and Nations League trophy with the USMNT, Pulisic has been in Florida, taking in MLS thrillers and swimming with the fishes. 

As Pride month comes to an end, there was a moment in Brazil’s second tier I felt was worth highlighting. Vasco da Gama is one of Brazil’s biggest clubs despite being relegated to Brasileirao Serie B last season. The following Vasco da Gama flag celebration definitely falls under the “feel good” category.

On Sunday, the club hosted Brusque in a league game and was all decked out for LGBTQ+ Pride. The corner flags were swapped to the rainbow flags and the home team sported some of the cleanest Pride kits I’ve ever seen.