On June 24, Lionel Messi celebrates his 33rd birthday. From a purely sporting perspective, one of the great injustices of the pandemic is depriving us of precious Messi time — after all, conventional wisdom tells us that the Argentine’s peak is now well behind him. Of course, actually watching him tells you something completely different.
While many professional athletes have used this recent downtime from sports to relax, hang out with family and stay out of the limelight, one soccer star is doing just the opposite. More than perhaps any athlete over the last two months, Megan Rapinoe has been raising her profile in nearly every way possible.
At this rate, she might just become the next Oprah.
Despite the fact that no soccer is being played right now, our annual pre-game playlist is now ready for when the sport returns. The Fall 2019 playlist served us well, but 2020 has already produced some quality songs.
At the turn of the century, Sporting Lisbon was home to three of the most exciting teenage prospects Europe had ever seen.
The 2001-02 campaign saw Sporting capture its 18th Primeira Liga title (a number they haven’t added to since) and the Taça de Portugal. Two of the three aforementioned prodigies played massive roles in that campaign: the 17-year-old duo of Ricardo Quaresma and Hugo Viana.
Let’s end the week with some good great news: Introducing, the two newest members of the USWNT: twin Hope Solo babies.
Hope Solo gave birth to twins on March 4. This week, Solo introduced her babies to the world for the first time, via LeBron James’ platform Uninterrupted. Arguably the greatest goalkeeper in the history of the game, Solo thanked all of the nurses and doctors who helped her and her new infants — they were in the NICU — and have battled COVID-19.
The NWSL would’ve started its eighth season last weekend, but like everything else in the sports world, the preeminent women’s soccer league has been forced into hiatus amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Messi venía.
Por primera y única vez, salvo un traslado grisáceo al Inter de Miami, el mejor futbolista de la historia iba a jugar partidos competitivos en suelo americano. El hecho de que fuera la Copa América, una gran competición que convocaba a los espectadores de Zizinho, Javier Zanetti y Carlos Valderrama, lo hizo aún más fantástico. Por todos los derechos y definiciones, el torneo ni siquiera pertenecía aquí.
These are weird times in which we live. Soccer as we know it has come to a screeching halt, people are dying by the thousands to a highly contagious disease and we’ve all been forced to shutter up inside and stay away from our friends and family in order to protect those most vulnerable.
But life goes on, even in this oddly troubled world. USWNT superstar Alex Morgan, for one, is fulfilling a lifelong dream, one that will shift into a different dream any day now.
In what feels like the Stone Age now, there used to be a time when not everyone owned a PlayStation or Xbox to play FIFA. Instead, people played Flash games on popular sites like Miniclip and AddictingGames.
Since everyone is stuck inside with not much else to do, perhaps some old Flash games will help pass the time. Here's a list of the top 10 best soccer Flash games. Links to all of the games are provided.
Before Cristiano Ronaldo made his name at Manchester United, the Brazilian OG Ronaldo left his mark at Old Trafford. A stunning Ronaldo hat trick vs Manchester United in 2003 saw the Real Madrid star given a standing ovation by the opposition fans as 17 years ago.
While football is on hiatus amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, clubs around the world are looking back on memorable moments, reliving old glories while the pursuit of new ones is on hold.