The winter-break period separating the first half and the second half of the season in Europe’s top five leagues is a great time for clubs to reflect on a club's season (although winter break doesn’t exist in England). Even before Christmas, but Europe’s top clubs are preparing for their second half of the season push. Here are some New Year's resolutions for Europe’s top clubs in the big five leagues.
The Champions League Round of 16 draw results are in, and although we have to wait until mid-February to get started, some things are too tasty to be left on the back-burner for that long. Here’s a look at all eight matchups, and an incredibly scientific ranking of which ties get us all hot and bothered.
Spectacular. The round of 16 draw
The World Cup has less than two weeks left, and I’m just about ready to curl up in a ball and cry in the corner for the next four years until Qatar 2022 rolls around. But alas, noone can stay away from the sport for that long. After the World Cup ends (sad, I know), the attention then becomes on the club scene again, particularly the International Champions Cup schedule.
European teams travel all over the globe for some preseason training camps and friendlies. The biggest set of friendlies, however, often happens in the United States.
After calling time on his professional career back in December at the age of 37, Czech midfielder Tomas Rosicky celebrated his 20-year professional career — which included stints with Sparta Prague, Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal — by playing a testimonial match on Saturday featuring a Czech XI and World XI. The likes of Robin van Persie, Cesc Fabregas, Jens Lehmann and Mathieu Flamini were on show, but it was Rosicky’s young son, Tomas Jr, who stole the show.
In "Masters of Modern Soccer," Grant Wahl talks with some of the world’s best players about how they strive for excellence in a game that continues to demand more of them.
Wahl covers each position with interviews of Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez, Christian Pulisic, Xabi Alonso, Vincent Kompany and Maneul Neuer. In addition, he profiles Belgium National Team manager Roberto Martinez and Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc.
The18 spoke with Wahl to learn more about the book and its cast of characters.
Like a super blue blood moon eclipse, everything lined up just perfectly for Arsenal at the end of the transfer window on Wednesday. The club signed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, one of the most fearsome strikers in the world, nailed down Mesut Ozil to a contract extension and shipped off the now-superfluous Olivier Giroud to ensure the former deal went down. The Arsenal Aubameyang deal came at just the right time for the struggling Gunners. Now if they could just beat Swansea.
Compared to the pain of missing the event entirely, the tale of the USMNT’s 2006 World Cup can now be viewed in a more favorable light. However, after reaching the quarterfinals of the 2002 competition and subsequently breezing through CONCACAF qualifying for the ’06 tournament in Germany, it was with huge belief and soaring naivety that we approached the world’s biggest stage.
Most years the Europa League is barely given a second thought this time of year. Sure it might be worth watching as the competition draws to its climax, but the Round of 32, not to mention the Europa League draw itself, typically doesn’t register highly on the mainstream soccer watch list.