Twitter handles are like facts: Everyone has their own and some are better than others. The English Premier League follows this model. Some EPL Twitter handles are instantly recognizable, like @ManUtd with its 14 million followers and @Arsenal with another 11.3 million. Some, like @htafcdotcom, leave you scratching your head as to whether you’re following an English Premier League club or a realty website.
The story of Sunday night’s 1-1 draw between Seattle and Los Angeles wasn’t Lamar Neagle’s 85th minute equalizer for the Sounders, nor was it Gyasi Zardes actually doing a goal for the Galaxy. It was provided by FS1 broadcaster Alexi Lalas after the match had concluded. Lalas has some opinions on the USMNT, and he brought them. He brought them hard.
With only a handful of matches remaining in World Cup qualifying, it’s become clear which nations are in serious danger of missing out on Russia next summer. While all will become clear in October, here are 25 global superstars who, if World Cup qualifying ended today, would either fail to appear at the tournament or would need to navigate a playoff to qualify.
Transfer deadline day is one of the most confusing days of the year for soccer fans. So much information is flying around, it's difficult to keep track of it all. Have my club signed a player? Have they not signed a player? Have they given up? Are they still negotiating? I don't know! No one seems to know!
To help sort through the confusion, we came up with five handy ways to tell if your club has ACTUALLY, signed that big name, or if the signing is just a rumor blowin' in the wind.
The world has changed a lot since the U.S. Men’s National Team last lost a match on Nov. 15, a dark time for America. For starters, the United States saw a great man who has accomplished so much throughout the world replaced by a goofy New Yorker with awful hair. We’re talking about Jurgen Klinsmann making way for Bruce Arena, of course.
The closing of the transfer window sees various plot lines reach a unifying crescendo: Leicester City, with their Premier League title and Champions League adventure now firmly behind them, are about to be torn apart. Monaco, already torn apart, are subject to further tearing. Barcelona still have Neymar cash to flush, and they’re giving any wide player that scored more than 10 league goals last season the eye.
While the U.S. seems pretty confident it’ll lock down the bid to host the 2026 World Cup along with Mexico and Canada, never count out FIFA’s ability to shun the responsible decision by opting for the absurd. How else do you explain Russia and Qatar hosting the next two World Cups? Or these five awful hosts?
With that in mind, here are five places that FIFA is probably considering for the next few World Cups.
Six years ago today Arsenal suffered perhaps its most embarrassing defeat ever as Manchester United hammered the Gunners 8-2. Yesterday, Arsenal was throttled 4-0 by Liverpool. Nothing much has changed since 2011.
But what if Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke gave a f*ck? What if the Arsenal board decided, hey, maybe we don’t want to lose by six goals? What if Arsene Wenger was fired in August 2011?
FIFA doesn’t have a good record of awarding World Cups to the best countries, instead opting to award the world’s premier sporting event to nations with questionable backgrounds, from Mussolini’s fascist Italy to Argentina’s military junta.
Barring nuclear war, the 2018 World Cup will be hosted by Russia, a nation that has in the last decade invaded multiple countries, illegally annexed territory, led insurrections in border nations, murdered opposition journalists and denied rights of the LGBT community. Oh and that whole U.S. election thing that has yet to be sorted out.
Some referees will let you get away with murder. Others will send you off for bad breath. Getting a grasp on what a ref will and will not allow is vital in every match for those who like to push the line, but getting a grasp on what the following refs were thinking is beyond our abilities.
We’ve compiled a list of the players who've been least deserving of being sent off, juxtaposed against players who were most deserving of seeing red but were allowed to stay on the pitch.