ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle and Kyle Bonagura have revealed some of the most insane U.S. Soccer drama. The parents of U.S. phenom Gio Reyna — National Soccer Hall of Famer Claudio Reyna and his wife Danielle — were the ones responsible for allegedly blackmailing Gregg Berhalter during the World Cup about a domestic violence incident from 1991.
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.
PARIS - France striker Kylian Mbappé has shrugged off Argentina keeper Emiliano Martínez's taunts after the World Cup final, saying he did not "waste energy on such futile things" as he awaited the return of Paris Saint Germain teammate Lionel Messi.
Mbappé became the second player to score a World Cup final hat-trick as he dragged his country back into the match with a late second-half double and an extra-time penalty, which was still not enough as Argentina prevailed in a shootout.
Brazil and Paris Saint-Germain superstar Neymar has many haters for one simple reason: he dives a lot. Those haters had their prayers answered on Wednesday during PSG’s 2-1 victory vs. Strasbourg when Neymar was red carded for diving.
OK, so technically it was a second yellow card, but either way the referee sent Neymar off for simulation.
His two yellow card offenses happened in less than two minutes during the second half. The first yellow card in the 61st minute was for him accidentally catching an opponent’s face with his hand. Then 85 seconds later Neymar did this.
What we call "shithousery celebrations" might start becoming a trend in the world of soccer, and you can probably thank Emiliano Martínez for that.
In a Saudi Arabian King Cup of Champions round of 16 clash between Al-Ittihad and Al-Shabab, a penalty kick miss that defined the winner of the game gave us perhaps the most brutal celebration to an opposing player we’ve seen this year.
This time around, it was directed to an Argentine by a Brazilian.
Assists are often overlooked in favor of their more flashy and prominent neighbor, the goal. In many ways, they require more technique and ability than scoring a goal because finding the goal is easy. Knowing where to place a ball to find a teammate while avoiding defenders and keepers, and actually having the technical ability to do it, requires a soccer mind of the highest order. One of the greats, Andrea Pirlo, famously said, "Football is played with the head. Your feet are just tools."
Lionel Messi showed the world once again that he’s in arguably the best form of his career. Aging like a fine wine, Messi got a goal and an assist vs. Croatia in Argentina’s 3-0 World Cup semifinal victory on Tuesday.
His goal came from the penalty spot in the 34th minute, but the assist. Oh, that glorious assist. That one came in the 69th minute.
Leading 2-0, Messi and Julián Álvarez put the nail in the coffin with about 20 minutes to go. The 35-year-old maestro looked like he was a young 20-something again with a dazzling run.
The rumored tension between USMNT manager Gregg Berhalter and precocious talent Giovanni Reyna was confirmed with the final call, as the old horror movie cliché goes, coming from inside the house: Berhalter provided all the saucy details and headline leading quotes during a *checks notes* HOW Institute for Society's Summit on Moral Leadership.
Football won’t be coming home in 2022 for England as France defeated the Three Lions 2-1 on Saturday in the World Cup quarterfinals.
England will be regretting not taking advantage of a so-so French performance. The biggest moment came in the 84th minute when Harry Kane failed epically on a penalty kick by blasting the ball over the bar to the 10th row.
Argentina and the Netherlands delighted the globe with one of the greatest World Cup quarterfinals of all time on Friday. Argentina took a 2-0 lead with Lionel Messi providing an outrageous assist before converting from the penalty spot and that advantage remained until the 83rd minute.