Lists

The writing’s on the wall for Newcastle United under the direction of Steve Bruce: 2021-22 will mark the third time in 13 seasons that Newcastle finds itself in the Championship. 

Tuesday’s 2-1 home defeat to Leeds United marked a fifth straight league defeat for Newcastle, a feat that even Kevin Keegan/Chris Hughton/Joe Kinnear/Chris Hughton again/Alan Shearer couldn’t match in 2008-09, nor could Steve McClaren/Rafael Benítez in 2015-16. 

Soccer is one of the very few sports that boasts competitions where small, local sides are able to face off against the best teams in the country. These matchups capture the imagination while providing a sense of hope and magic to a small group of supporters.

Domestic cups have long provided smaller clubs with the opportunity to prove their mettle by facing nationally recognized sides, and while major upsets are rare, just the slightest hope of an improbable win is enough to cause local pandemonium and stir significant interest among neutral supporters.

The majority of youth soccer parents support their children to the ends of the Earth. Seeing your child score their first goal or make a great save is an indescribable feeling. That being said, there are still moments when you really wish you could be anywhere else than a U-11 boys soccer game.

Unless waking up at the crack of dawn to drive two hours and sit in a field full of goose shit is your kink, being a youth soccer parent can be a pain sometimes.

Here are five thoughts that youth soccer parents have had that they definitely won’t tell their children about.

In recent weeks, winter storms throughout Europe have given us snow games in England, Spain and Turkey.

Almost 365 days later and we’re still in quarantine — oh, the look on your face if I could’ve told you this last March. But don’t fear, good TV is still here! The best soccer movies and TV shows promised in 2021 are compiled below. We’ll update this list when we hear of more.

Best Soccer Movies 2021

Sonsational

Few things in sports are as difficult as predicting results of future games. According to Chris Anderson and David Sally, authors of The Numbers Game, soccer is 50 percent luck and 50 percent skill. Add in an overwhelming number of professional leagues and players and the low-scoring nature of matches, soccer is one of the most unpredictable sports. 

Occasionally sport coughs up the sort of matchup that you cannot tear your eyes from — not so much a David vs. Goliath battle as it is a 50-car pileup on the highway. We’re talking “how the hell did they find themselves here?” sort of situations. 

These were the games that stayed with you, the games that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. 

The Best Underdog Stories In Sports History 

The Korea women’s ice hockey team at the 2018 Winter Olympics