The Mars Pathfinder launched on Dec. 4, 1996, NASA’s first attempt to land a rover on another planet. Since then, the U.S. has landed more rovers on Mars than the USMNT has World Cup wins. That’s where we’re at as a country after the rover Perseverance landed successfully on Thursday.
Not long ago, the American soccer landscape was a barren wasteland devoid of talent. Americans either played for boring MLS teams or obscure European clubs, always moving laterally and rarely improving.
Kids these days have Christian Pulisic at Chelsea and Sergiño Dest at Barcelona. We had a promising central defender at Birmingham City that now works at a financial company. Man, they have it easy.
Christian Pulisic is better than Landon Donovan. That’s not my opinion — that’s Landon Donovan’s. At the age of 22, Pulisic has established himself at Chelsea. Donovan, at 22, was experiencing one of his least productive MLS seasons with an average San Jose Earthquakes team.
I can’t think of a more terrifying proposition in football than lining up as a right back against Kylian Mbappé. Sergiño Dest found out just how quickly things can turn as the young American was subbed out after Barcelona conceded three straight goals in a 4-1 defeat to PSG on Tuesday.
After the brutal police murder of George Floyd on May 25 in the Powderhorn Park neighborhood of Minneapolis, daily protests turned into nightly riots that shook large sections of the Twin Cities for three straight days.
The message could be heard loud and clear from protesters — “No justice, no peace” — and read on the graffiti scrawled across Target stores — “Merchandise can be replaced. Black lives can not” — as the worst imaginable provocation coalesced with centuries of repeated injustice to trigger an outpouring of rage and grief.
As a player whose obsession with football has only increased over the course of a glittering 17-year career, Cesc Fàbregas never grows tired of learning. That’s why, after a career spent entirely in England and Spain, the World Cup winner opted to give France a try by signing for Monaco back in 2019.
After playing 11 full seasons in the Premier League and three in LaLiga, the 33-year-old admits that the differences in Ligue 1 were pronounced.
It’s been 10 years since Lille OSC captured its last Ligue 1 title, but one look at the table sees the club from northern France setting the pace ahead of last season’s Champions League semifinalist Lyon and, of course, three-time defending champion Paris Saint-Germain.
If it’s a position that Lille didn’t anticipate being in with just 14 matches remaining, 20-year-old American forward Timothy Weah isn’t letting on to any sense of disbelief.
Scoring a goal against Mexico is a dream for every American soccer player. Clint Dempsey’s 57 goals for the USMNT is tied for the most in history, but none of those 57 came against America’s rival down south.
When Dempsey stepped up to take a penalty against El Tri in 2013, every fan expected him to bury it, right? This wasn’t the case, as one of the greatest players in U.S. history lasered his shot six yards wide of the goal. Why would Dempsey do this? We have a pretty good idea.
Date: Sept. 10, 2013
An FA Cup last-16 tie between Premier League leaders Manchester City and Championship promotion hopefuls Swansea took on significant importance stateside on Wednesday as USMNT No. 1 Zack Steffen started in goal for City while Seattle Sounders loanee Jordan Morris got his first Swansea start and D.C. United loanee Paul Arriola made his debut off the bench.
Most American soccer fans will remember Jay DeMerit for playing every minute for the USMNT at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, but before DeMerit even dreamed of an international call-up, he overcame imposing odds just to become a Watford player.