National Teams

After Antonio Conte’s sacking as Chelsea manager, owner Roman Abramovich summoned the Dark Lord himself to choose the next victim. With careful consideration, or possibly none, former Napoli manager Maurizio Sarri has been chosen as the next sacrifice, I mean manager.

The 58-year-old started his managerial career in 2005 with Pescara and continued managing another six minor Italian clubs before his move to S.S.C. Napoli in 2015. With “the Little Donkeys,” Sarri revived the almost forgotten club by reforming the playing methods that Rafael Benitez established before.

The Guillermo Ochoa Silver Glove award is a deserved recognition to one the most underrated goalkeepers in the planet.

The former Club América star made 25 saves in four World Cup matches, averaging 6.25 per game, more than any other goalkeeper in Russia.

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Pussy Riot, the notorious Russian punk rock activist group, staged a show of defiance during the World Cup final between France and Croatia on Sunday. Four of the group’s members, one man and three women disguised in police uniform, ran onto the pitch during the 52nd minute of the second half before being chased and dragged out by security.  

Croatia players and manager Zlatko Dalic were gracious in defeat yesterday, admitting that France deserved the victory following second half goals from Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe. However, the likes of Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic still left traces of disgust and defiance in their words when discussing the final’s turning points, particularly the VAR-assisted handball call against Ivan Perisic that sent Antoine Griezmann to the spot in the 38th minute. 

That was a really ridiculous World Cup final. After getting extra time and a total of four goals at the last three World Cup finals, the 2018 event was a bit of magic theater. (“Not for everybody.”)

19-year-old France forward Kylian Mbappe put the finishing touches on a blistering World Cup campaign Sunday after scoring his fourth goal of the tournament — the PSG phenom entered the competition with just four international goals to his name. 

With his strike long-range strike against Croatia in the 65th minute, Mbappe joined Pele as the only teenager to have scored in a World Cup final. Pele, at the age of 17, scored a brace as Brazil defeated Sweden 5-2 in the final of the 1958 World Cup. 

Here’s the goal from Mbappe that effectively buried Croatia today. 

With France ceding 66 percent of possession to Croatia in the World Cup final, it should come as no surprise that the top five players in the match with regards to touches were all Croatian. It perhaps goes some way towards explaining the general belief that Croatia looked better than France for large swaths of the game given the amount of influence that both Luka Modric (89 touches) and Ivan Rakitic (85) had on the game.

If those two are allowed space and time on the ball, Croatia's going to look really, really good.

With France nursing a 2-1 lead at halftime of the 2018 World Cup Final, Croatia was forced to go in search of an equalizer against the planet’s premier counter attacking side. 

N’Golo Kanté is, in many respects, the best defensive player in the world because of the amount of turf the midfielder covers, combined with his tactical acumen, speed and tackling ability. But the Ivan Perišić goal vs France made Kanté look like a schoolboy.