Asia

If you are a Real Madrid or Club America fan you better fear the deer, and I’m not talking about the Milwaukee Bucks. 

Since the dawn of the FIFA Club World Cup over a decade ago, there have seldom been semi-final upsets. In most Club World Cups, the decision of who takes the trophy has featured the UEFA Champions League winner and the Copa Libertadores champion. 

Still, Japanese side Kashima Antlers just joined Congo’s TP Mazembe and Morocco’s Raja Casablanca as the only three teams to knock out a South American representative in the semifinals. 

According to The Telegraph, Chelsea’s Brazilian attacker Oscar is on the verge of completing a historic transfer to Chinese Super League club Shanghai SIPG. SIPG made waves back in June by signing Hulk for a record fee of £47.5 millionNea, but Oscar looks set to join his fellow Brazilian and smash that record in the process.

Kim Jong-Un wants North Korea to have the most powerful national soccer team in the world, and, if he and his youth academy coach are to be believed, that will happen sooner rather than later.

They say they're creating players better than Messi. Really.

From Marca:

"We train our youngsters to become more talented players than even Lionel Messi," said Yu He, coach of the International School of Pyongyang Football.

Life is a cruel, cruel mistress. One second you’re rolling nothing but sevens and 11s at the craps table, your fellow bettors chanting your name as you bestow precious monetary gifts upon one and all. The next you’re crapping out, broke as the cellphone that you’ve just managed to drop into the toilet, and boarding your flight home from Vegas with nothing but a scant recollection of what personal pride feels like.

Andre Villas-Boas has never lasted more than two seasons at any particular club, but he’s just landed another monster paycheck out in China with Shanghai SIPG, becoming the third highest paid manager in the world.

The Chinese club will pay him almost $14 million a year for two years, and that’s following a contract with Zenit Saint Petersburg that earned him over $23 million for two years of service.

Tim Cahill can’t stop, and he won’t stop. The 36-year-old returned to his native Australia to finish his career, but it looks as if he’s only just getting started. 

His storied career includes successful stints with Millwall, Everton and the New York Red Bulls, and his return to Australia with Melbourne City has been one of the major talking points of the new A-League season.

Cahill has collected 94 caps and 48 goals for Australia, including clutch 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying goals against Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.

We really don't know much about Gervinho's time in China thus far, but if this video is any indication, it's not gone well.

The former Arsenal and Roma player, who may or may not have once demanded a helicopter as part of a transfer deal, got a little, uh, overexuberant during a challenge and stomped the bejeezus out of an opponent.

Mexico's gole medal defense is finished after a 1-0 loss to South Korea eliminated El Tri. Mexico needed to either win outright or tie and have Germany beat Fiji by less than four goals.

Instead, this happened:

South Korea holds on against Mexico they will go through and win their division. Lead 1-0. pic.twitter.com/ABGQlfG30K

— Mo Tafolla (@MoTafolla) August 10, 2016