Humor

The two surprise packages of the Premier League season met at St James' Park on Sunday with Newcastle United and Fulham both challenging for the European places.

Newcastle was looking to improve on scoreless draws against Leeds United and Arsenal, but they ran into Tim Ream and couldn't craft a clear opening in the first half. Then, against the run of play, Fulham earned a penalty with just over 20 minutes remaining in the match.

Serie A leaders Napoli torched Juventus 5-1 on Friday with Victor Osimhen scoring a brace. The Nigerian forward put the hurt on Juve metaphorically and literally.

In the 47th minute Osimhen accidentally landed a perfect uppercut on Manuel Locatelli. The Napoli No. 9 had already burned Juventus in the first half, so Alex Sandro was hassling and grabbing at him right as the second half began.

Osimhen threw his arms up in protest after being dispossessed of the ball but little did he know Locatelli was right next to him. What followed was something straight out of UFC.

Sydney Leroux has a history of going after trolls on the internet. Whether she’s making fun of former high school soccer boys on Instagram or responding directly to haters, she doesn’t let much slide.

In 2020 my creative juices were flowing as I penned three award-nominated (not actually nominated) horror stories about youth soccer.

Nottingham Forest and Wolverhampton’s League Cup quarterfinal, in terms of entertainment, exceeded expectations Wednesday night.

The match was a classic game of English soccer: cold and rainy but with a great atmosphere nonetheless. Wolves (with the goalscoring return of Raúl Jiménez) and Forest both managed to get on the scoreboard, but the game stood level at 1-1 after extra time so a winner had to be determined from the spot.

BERLIN - Germany's World Cup winner Lukas Podolski has long dazzled crowds with his power and speed but he left fans at a charity match on Sunday speechless when he was sent off for dissent.

The 37-year-old former Bayern Munich and Arsenal forward, who now plays for Poland's Górnik Zabrze, was given his marching orders after he brought down an opponent in the indoor arena at Gummersbach during a charity match under his auspices.

He got up and walked to the referee, speaking to him and then coming face-to-face as he kept addressing him.

Atlético Madrid's slender hopes of catching Barcelona and Real Madrid at the top of the table took a massive hit Sunday when Barça travelled to the Metropolitano and emerged with a 1-0 victory, opening up a 14-point gap between the teams after 16 games.

It was all too predictable from this Diego Simeone side with the João Félix and Antoine Griezmann led attack failing to breakthrough and the midfield unable to gain much of a foothold against Sergio Busquets, Gavi and Frenkie de Jong.

Ángel Correa couldn't even connect on an attempted shot aimed at the linesman.

Kylian Mbappe took himself a couple of vacation days after practically jumping on a plane from Qatar to PSG’s training ground to restart the 2022-23 campaign.

Yet, after a more than draining couple of months that were topped off with a loss in the World Cup final against Argentina, Mbappé was reminded and taunted by a couple dozen of Argentina fans that were just in the right place at the right time.

After finishing his professional career on Nov. 8 with a red card and the infamous last words of "I s**t on your prostitute mother!" aimed at the referee, Gerard Piqué has returned to the limelight with his latest business venture, serving as the president of the Kings League in Barcelona.

With the USWNT just months away from defending its World Cup title out in Australia and New Zealand, it's only fitting that some of the team's stars should feature in ESPN's first ‘This is SportsCenter’ ad since 2019.

The beloved campaign returns this week with spots being shown throughout college football bowl games on ESPN. This one — featuring Megan Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn, Sophia Smith, SportsCenter anchor Nicole Briscoe and Syracuse mascot Otto the Orange — debuts Friday night during the Capital One Orange Bowl between Tennessee and Clemson.