Europe

In the past couple of days, reports have surfaced that arguably the best soccer player in the world, Lionel Messi, could leave his club since boyhood, F.C. Barcelona. Or he couldn’t, you all know how these things go. 

Only a united UEFA has the power to bring about change within Sepp Blatter’s FIFA, but it’ll never happen

Xavi Alonso was recently quoted in the Spanish newspaper Marca saying that Manuel Neuer is the best goal keeper he has ever played with, and that it would be “absolutely fair” if he won the Ballon d’Or. It certainly is hard to argue with him.

The Faroe Islands upset Greece in a EURO 2016 qualifier.

It is a typical morning in Joensuu, a moderately-sized college town in Finland. There is a slight chill in the air of this industrial city on the Pielisjoki River as 23-year-old American Nathan Stockie wakes up and plans out his day. He has plenty of time to kill, as he does not have to be at work until 4:30pm that afternoon. What type of work does an American do in a Finnish town that does not require him to be there until 4:30? Bartender? Bouncer? Not quite. You see, Nathan is a professional footballer.

During Real Madrid’s fairly pedestrian demolition of newly promoted Elche last Tuesday, Cristiano Ronaldo scored his second hat trick in as many games for Los Blancos. Ronaldo actually scored four goals against Elche, but, you know, he scored a hat trick along the way. Enough semantics though.

It may seem like Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been in the dark just because Sweden didn’t qualify for the World Cup (although we had plenty of Virtual Zlatan during ESPN's coverage of the World Cup). Ibrahimovic was a little salty after their 3-2 loss to Portugal in their World Cup play-off.