Men

Luis Suarez’s blatant handball from the 2010 World Cup continues to be a subject of debate amongst soccer’s lawmakers. Suarez committed the offense in the closing stages of a quarter-final match against Ghana, giving Uruguay the slightest hopes of staving off elimination.

Asamoah Gyan sent the resulting penalty over the bar for Ghana, and Uruguay went through to the semis after a shoot-out victory. The International Football Association Board (IFAB) is now looking into ways to prevent that situation from ever occurring again.

In an interview with ESPN, Lionel Messi detailed his ambitions for the remainder of the club season. Messi and Barcelona will be looking to capture two titles in the space of a week — a victory over Granada on May 14 will see them capture the La Liga crown, while Sevilla await in the final of the Copa del Rey on May 22.

After a slow start to his professional career, Jordan Morris is now officially more lit than Dubai. Morris scored his fourth goal in as many games on Saturday, tying a rookie record for the longest MLS goal-scoring streak.

Morris was named on Jurgen Klinsmann’s preliminary 40-man roster ahead of the Copa America, and his exploits with Seattle mean that he’s highly likely to make the final list of 23 players.

Barcelona is back on track to retain their La Liga crown after they handed out a 5-0 thrashing to city rival Espanyol in the Derbi Barceloni on Sunday. The victory was especially sweet for Barcelona, as during the last meeting between the two clubs, Espanyol keeper Pau Lopez stomped on Messi after the Barca star went down in front of the goal.

January 6, 2016 – Copa del Rey: Pau Lopez Stomps On Messi

When the Brazilian Federation announced that Neymar would be representing his national team at the Olympics and not the Copa America Centenario this summer, soccer fans in Pasadena, Orlando and Foxborough released a collective groan. 

Without their star player, will Brazil still be "can’t miss" as a traveling spectacle? Formerly descending upon cities like the Harlem Globetrotters with their dazzling array of tricks, skills and household names, you can’t help but feel that this Brazilian squad is comparatively poor. 

Looking back, Gareth Bale’s first year at Real Madrid was a resounding success. He scored 22 goals and provided 19 assists in 44 matches in 2013/14, won the Copa del Rey, and the Champions League. He lived up to his billing as the most expensive footballer on the planet, but it didn’t always look like he would.

Let’s just get this out of the way: it is unlikely that Lionel Messi will end his career in China. He has gone on record multiple times saying that he wants to end his career at Barcelona, with the only other possibility being a return to his native Argentina. But should the landscape of Lionel Messi’s life change enough, and not in unheard-of ways, it is possible for him to move to China at the end of his career.

Earlier this year many of us heard the heartwarming story of Murtaza Ahmadi – a 5 year old boy from Afghanistan who admires Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi. When pictures of little Murtaza in his homemade Messi “jersey,” made from a blue and white striped plastic bag, went viral Messi and his team took notice. Messi autographed an actual jersey for his young fan and had it delivered to the boy in eastern Afghanistan. A touching gesture that shows the global reach of the beautiful game.

Yaya Toure’s UEFA Champions League testimonial match went off without a hitch on Wednesday, the Manchester City midfielder ponderously strolling around the Bernabéu pitch and gently reminding his teammates not to forget his going away cake.

Like Ernest Hemingway’s aging Cuban fisherman Santiago, it almost certainly would've taken 85 days of play before Toure could've netted a goal against Real Madrid.