Opinion

YouTube soccer thumbnails are one of the greatest art forms to ever grace the internet. Nearly every soccer fan has found themself on their phone at one in the morning watching a “worst ever tackles” or “strangest EVER occurrences on the pitch” compilation.

The videos themselves are quality content, but the real treasure is the hyperbolic thumbnail that made you click on the video in the first place. You don’t remember the time the Lionel Messi got tackled by six players at once???

Here are my personal top 10 favorite YouTube soccer thumbnails.

There’s no disputing the fact that the game’s brightest young talent is heavily localized in South America. If you’re looking for the best young players in FIFA 22 Career Mode, chances are you’ll just send a scout off to Brazil to find a technically gifted phenom that’ll recreate Ronaldinho’s impact at PSG.

But thanks to a historic Copa Libertadores final four that includes three clubs from Brazil — Palmeiras, Atlético Mineiro, Flamengo — and Ecuador’s Barcelona SC, it’s an easy enough exercise to pinpoint the prodigies that’ve shone brightest in 2021.

Some eyebrows were raised in the soccer video game community last month when Konami announced some major changes to its Pro Evolution Soccer franchise.

Not only was the franchise renamed to eFootball, but the base version will also be released for free. As time goes on, Konami will then release paid modules that provide access to other game modes — all of which will feature cross-play on its available platforms

Matías Zaracho and Atletico Mineiro booted River Plate out of the Copa Libertadores in style Wednesday night. This Zaracho goal vs. River Plate was the opening strike of the game and is one of the best seen in 2021 so far.

A silky move from Hulk, the Chinese Super League legend, gave him space to cross it in toward Zaracho, who pulled off one of the most amazing goals ever seen.

Zaracho Goal Vs. River Plate

WHAT A GOAL!

What a meeting we had in the Champions League playoffs on Wednesday. Portuguese giant Benfica, a two-time winner of the contest, against the Dutch behemoth PSV, winner in 1988. 

How would PSV navigate a trip to the formidable Estádio da Luz in Lisbon? Would Mario Götze orchestrate a vital away goal? Or would Nicolás Otamendi inspire the all-important clean sheet?! My brain whirled and reeled with all sorts of prognostications.

When it comes to attack-minded players, the USMNT has never been more exciting. Christian Pulisic, Gio Reyna, Weston McKennie, Brenden Aaronson and Konrad de la Fuente are all footballers that bring you to your feet when in possession around goal, but they all share two common traits: (1) they’re not strikers and (2) they’re young.

These are important points because now we’re going to move on to talking about USMNT strikers who, for the most part, are all also fledglings.

Goalscoring may have been the focus of the opening weekend of the Premier League season, as Manchester United's five-goal total against Leeds and West Ham's six-goal thriller against Newcastle both delighted EPL fans, but for goalkeeping fanatics, the real story was the all-around poor play between the sticks from some of the EPL's top keepers. 

The Premier League is almost upon us as we get ready for another great season full of soccer. After all of the transfers and signings throughout the league the landscape of the Premier League might look a bit different. Here are my five bold predictions for the upcoming 2021/22 Premier League season.