When 11-year-old Lexi Walker took to the field at Rio Tinto stadium in 2013, home to Major League Soccer's Real Salt Lake, she was not the viral singing sensation she is today. This was before she covered Idina Menzel's "Let It Go" from the hit Disney movie Frozen. That video alone, released in 2014, has racked up over 75 million views on YouTube.
In your heartwarming news of the day, David Villa is in Portland with New York City FC to face the Timbers this afternoon. That's not the heartwarming part (unless, of course, you're really, really excited about the match). When he saw a homeless dad and son near his hotel, he took a moment out of his day to go to a nearby Starbucks and to buy them some food.
Werder Bremen may sit at the bottom of the table in the German Bundesliga, but they soar high in the hearts of their fans.
The club started the day a point behind Frankfurt and set for relegation from the Bundesliga into the second division of the German football league system. That is, until their fans intervened:
Xavi Hernandez is still making the game of football look effortless in Qatar, and the former Barcelona and Spain star is on the verge of adding another trophy to his cabinet. For those keeping count, this would be number 627.
For those of you wondering how footballers will manage to perform in the sweltering heat of a Qatarian World Cup, Xavi has the answer: slowly but surely.
When talking about Brazilian soccer clubs, the average soccer fan will know a decent amount of them, like Corinthians who stunned Chelsea in the Club World Cup a few years ago, or the Internacional side that took down one of the strongest teams in history, 2006 Barcelona, or even the Sao Paulo squad that defeated Liverpool in the 2005 Club World Cup final.
When I found out that Claudio Ranieri and Leicester City had brought out Andrea Bocelli to serenade the King Power Stadium before Leicester City’s first match as Premier League champions, I got really excited. Not only because Nessum Dorma is one of my favorite songs, or that only a few days prior we at The18 had used it as the soundtrack to a reaction video for Eden Hazard’s goal that won Leicester the title, but because I knew that it would be one of the greatest scenes I would see all year.
Earlier this year many of us heard the heartwarming story of Murtaza Ahmadi – a 5 year old boy from Afghanistan who admires Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi. When pictures of little Murtaza in his homemade Messi “jersey,” made from a blue and white striped plastic bag, went viral Messi and his team took notice. Messi autographed an actual jersey for his young fan and had it delivered to the boy in eastern Afghanistan. A touching gesture that shows the global reach of the beautiful game.
Claudio Ranieri is that nice, sweet, charming uncle that we all wish we had growing up. For those of you who believe that nice guys finish last, that will come as a bit of a shock to you considering that he and his team, Leicester City, are about to win the Premier League this Sunday.
It’s not guaranteed, but if Leicester beats Manchester United on Sunday, or Tottenham loses to Chelsea on Monday, or any combination of Leicester picking up or Tottenham dropping three points occurs throughout the rest of the season, Leicester will be crowned champions.
Riyad Mahrez has officially won the PFA Player of the Year, the award voted on by the players of the Premier League for the best player of the year.
Mahrez’s rise has been anything but obvious. He was bought for £400,000 and brought to a team that just barely escaped relegation last year because of an ironically convincing end-of-season winning streak. This season, Leicester just kept on winning and Mahrez was arguably the most important factor in that.