CONCACAF aficionados have long watched the development of Joel Campbell with bated breath (what else are we supposed to do?). The Costa Rican international has routinely punished the United States in international competition, and he seemed to come of age at the 2014 World Cup after scoring against Uruguay.
The 2017 Copa Libertadores round of 16 wrapped up last Thursday, and among the advancing quarterfinalists will be some of the usual South American powers. Traditional favorites will be three-time winners River Plate and Santos, two-time champions Gremio and 2014 victors San Lorenzo.
But four remaining sides have never captured the Copa Libertadores trophy in their history: Brazil’s Botafogo, Argentina’s Lanus, Ecuador’s Barcelona and Bolivia’s Jorge Wilstermann.
Newly appointed Argentina manager Jorge Sampaoli has wasted no time putting his own stamp on the national team by recalling once-exiled Inter Milan striker Mauro Icardi and dropping the oft-criticized Gonzalo Higuain for crucial upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay and Venezuela.
Icardi is joined in Argentina’s attack by Lionel Messi, Paulo Dybala, Joaquin Correa and Sergio Aguero, who was left out of Sampaoli’s first Argentina squad for friendlies against Brazil and Singapore back in June.
Barcelona hosted Chapecoense at Camp Nou in the Joan Gamper Cup in a celebration of the Brazilian club, which was devastated by plane crash in November that killed 71 of the 77 passengers, including most of the squad and staff. An emotional first kick from survivors Jakson Follmann and Neto had some holding back tears but when the match began, there was no holding back Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and the Catalans in a 5-0 victory for Barcelona on Monday.
Barcelona, a club not used to losing star players, accepted the largest transfer fee of all-time as Paris Saint-Germain funded the release clause for Brazilian striker Neymar on Thursday. The $263,480,000 fee didn’t just shatter the old record, it eviscerated it, more than doubling the $117.6 million Manchester United paid for Paul Pogba.
He came, he saw, he conquered (in the name of global peace). Ronaldinho partook in a friendly match for peace in Honduras on Sunday, and the 37-year-old played a remarkable role in the buildup to one of his side’s goals. While his ability to get up and down the pitch is gone, his preposterous touch and sense of invention remains world-class.
It was a peaceful, all-conquering trip to Central America for the Great ‘Dinho, expect for when one crazy stole his classic over-sized beanie.
Dogs are good. Soccer dogs are especially good. A soccer team walking on the field with soccer dogs instead of children as mascots is just so incredibly good we can't even contain ourselves.
Chilean side Colo Colo walked out with some soccer dogs looking to be adopted before Colo Colo's match against Antofagasta. The match ended in a 0-0 draw, but my guess is no one noticed because they were entranced by the good dogs.
We all know that Pele loves nothing more than a bit of Pele. There’s nothing wrong with that. If you spent over 50 years fielding questions exclusively about yourself to an adoring audience, you’d probably think you were the world’s greatest too. It's either that or you have a massive mental breakdown in the face of the enormity of the lie that is your life.
Now, some shenanigans from the Brazilian lower leagues.
Jaja, a forward for Tupi, danced around the America Miniero keeper and instead of a simple toe poke, he went for glory, winding up for a back-heeled finish. Fellow forward Flavio Caca-Rato had other ideas, however, and decided to completely steal his teammate’s thunder. Watch him ruthlessly rob poor Jaja of a goal.
Former Chapecoense goalkeeper Jackson Follmann, one of three players to survive the LaMia Flight 2933 disaster, shared an Instagram video on Monday celebrating a remarkable milestone in his recovery process. Follmann had his right leg amputated because of the accident, but he’s now running again with the use of a prosthetic.