Opinion

Are you sick and tired of seeing the same teams in the same positions every season? Do you want to watch a club that's in the playoff final one year and just above the relegation zone in the next? Do you want a league that's incredibly unpredictable? If your answer is YES to all of the above, then we have just the league for you — the English Championship.

Yep, you heard me. That league below the Premier League and above League One.

“I’m liking what I’m hearing, but I need more,” you may say, so here's a guide as to why you should immediately start following this league.

The one thing missing from Lionel Messi's resume is a major international trophy. He has spurred Argentina to multiple major finals but hasn't been able to get over the hump. Could the 2018 World Cup in Russia turn out different? Can Messi win the 2018 World Cup? Let's break it down.

With just a few weeks remaining in the 2017-18 Premier League season, we are quickly winding down towards one of the most anticlimactic final days of all-time. If Tottenham collapse, Chelsea might yet play themselves into the top four, and Southampton could still manage to avoid the drop — just look at what Newcastle have accomplished over the last four games.

Wolverhampton Wanderers were in League One almost four years ago. Fast forward to today, and they are on the verge of securing a return to the Premier League. How did a club, which was relegated from the Premier League (2011-12 season) and the Championship (2012-13 season) in consecutive years, manage to steady the ship and get itself back on track?

Two words: Jorge. Mendes. Yes, the Jorge Mendes, who is the agent of Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho. It is quite a murky situation in terms of what Mendes’ role at Wolves actually is. 

Cristiano Ronaldo is probably, no, scratch that, he is the most hated player in soccer right now. I challenge you to name me someone more polarising, I dare you. But, what makes him so easy to dislike? 

Well, for starters, the guy has a body that looks as if the Greek god Zeus hand carved it himself. I mean, seriously, I know most of us are out of shape, but there’s no need for Ronaldo to continually take his shirt off in celebration to remind us all of how ridiculously jacked he is. It's not fair. 

We just couldn’t help ourselves. With just over 60 days to go until the release of the most anticipated book since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, we had to celebrate Bruce Arena’s magnum opus, What’s Wrong with US?: A Coach’s Blunt Take on the State of American Soccer After a Lifetime on the Touchline (so blunt), by revisiting the former USMNT manager’s favorite dilemma — the MLS cohort versus their "hotshot" European counterparts. 

Please slow down, all of you. Be patient. Lower your expectations for a bit. You will be happier in the long run, I promise.

Americans spend a lot of time talking about how we are going to unearth the next Messi and be rocketed to soccer-superpowerdom. The reality is, even if the next Messi existed and was eligible for the USMNT and was convinced to play for the USA, the team would probably not be a soccer superpower.

Disney will finally launch its ESPN+ streaming service on April 12. The Netflix-esque service will provide a hodgepodge of sporting events and 30 For 30 documentaries for the reasonable price of $5 per month or $50 per year. But are the ESPN+ soccer offerings worth it for fans of the beautiful game?

ESPN+ has been in the works for a while, as Disney has looked to expand its products into the streaming realm. What exactly the service would entail has remained a bit fuzzy.