Humor

You can't play soccer when you're dead ... or in Spain.

In a story that seems right out of a James Joyce novel, Dublin-based amateur club team Ballybrack FC, which plays in the Leinster Senior League, was forced to apologize recently after a match against Arklow Town was postponed because of the death of one of Ballybrack's players, Fernando Nuno La-Fuente. Apparently, club officials had informed the league that La-Fuente had died in a traffic accident on Nov. 22.

There’s a lot of things that've felt not quite right about Qatar hosting the 2022 World Cup. The feelings of uneasiness began many years ago when accusations of corruption and money laundering ran rampant upon the Arab country being awarded the tournament in 2010.

Since being instilled as manager of Ascenso MX side Dorados de Sinaloa back in September, Diego Maradona has gone on to record his finest achievement in professional coaching — even greater than when Argentina secured 2010 World Cup qualification on the final matchday and Maradona celebrated by telling reporters to “suck it and keep on sucking it” — by leading the second division side to the Apertura final. 

Anyone who follows The18 knows Patrice Evra is a must-follow on Instagram. But this Patrice Evra Thanksgiving post takes things to a new level, for better or worse.

There was, admittedly, very little footballing action on Wednesday. Qatar shocked Switzerland 1-0 in an international friendly and the U-17 Women’s World Cup continued in Uruguay (the U.S. beat nine-woman Cameroon 3-0), but that was about it. 

Oh, and there were a couple of matches in Ascenso MX, Mexico’s second division — namely one involving Diego Cam.

I’m sure you already know this, but we should all aim to be more like Shakira. Alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Vin Diesel, she’s among the only three people on the planet to have amassed over 100 million Facebook followers, but that doesn’t stop her from going absolutely mental during El Clásico like the rest of us plebeians.  

We could make references to Samson and his hair or joke about awful World Cup hairdos of the past, but really, what’s even the point anymore. Almost a year to the day since Kyle Beckerman lost his dreads, the iconic Marouane Fellaini hair is no more.

On Monday, FC Cincinnati took the next step toward its inaugural 2019 MLS season by unveiling an overhaul to the crest it’s been using since the club’s 2016 debut in the United Soccer League.

The rebrand was headed by Interbrand, the same firm that accounted for the much-debated modernizing of Juventus’s crest.

Out with the old.

In with the new.