History and Background
Football hasn’t always been a major sport in Australia. Although the national team was formed in 1922, the country didn’t participate in the first seven World Cups. When they did decide to start participating, they failed to qualify in their first two tries — losing to North Korea in the playoffs for 1966 and Israel in ’70.
History and Background
Like Gary Lineker once said, “Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win.” It’s no surprise that Die Mannschaft are by far the most historically successful team at this tournament, having won four World Cups and three European Championships.
History and Background
Since the Confederations Cup began in 1992, Mexico have only missed out on three occasions — making them joint leaders in participation alongside Brazil with seven appearances. They hosted the tournament in 1999 and ended up winning it, beating their arch-rivals the United States in the semifinals and then Brazil in the final.
We've reached the final match of the 2016/2017 Champions League, which means it's the end of The18's UCL Pick 'Em.
It's been a long and daunting season, but our lively bunch has done a decent job of giving you, the readers, an idea of who will win each Tuesday and Wednesday. Below are some simple answers that you can totally steal and use as your own to make your friends think you know it all. If you need to know how to watch the match, check out this story.
Last week’s NWSL results shortened the gap among the top six teams. The Courage still lead the league, but 6th place FC Kansas City is only four points back. The statement result from week seven was Chicago’s 3-2 victory over the NC Courage. The Red Stars have now won three of their last four and are up into second place in the table.
Meanwhile, the Washington Spirit continue to languish at the bottom of the table, after having made the 2016 NWSL Final. They’ve lost their last three games, and take on fellow bottom table side Houston Dash on Saturday.
It’s been more than a month since Barcelona manager Luis Enrique announced that he would not be renewing his contract (which expires after this season). At this moment, Barcelona sit three points behind Real Madrid in La Liga (Real also have a game in hand), they’ve been dumped from the Champions League by Juventus but they could give Enrique the perfect sendoff by winning the Copa del Rey title.
Club form over the last five games
Bayern Munich - W L W W W
Real Madrid - D W W W W
The Bureau of the FIFA Council unveiled their proposal for the allocation of confederation slots for the 48-team 2026 World Cup today, and the recommendation will almost certainly be ratified by the FIFA Council on May 9th in Bahrain.
Here is the slot allocation as compared to the 32-team format:
I’m Minnesotan so you must forgive me; when the Vikings started 5-0, I thought we were going to win the Super Bowl. We didn’t make the playoffs. When the Timberwolves drafted Kris Dunn and hired Tom Thibodeau, I thought we would win the Finals. We have one of the worst records in the Western Conference. However, I truly believe the Wild will win the Stanley Cup this year and that Minnesota United, in their inaugural MLS season, will probably win the Cup.
There’s no escaping the fact that the draws for the Champions League and the Europa League are ridiculous. These hugely overdone gala affairs take three hours to achieve what could be done in ten minutes. The saving graces - scowling club directors, getting to see Clarence Seedorf again - are vastly overshadowed by the ludicrous complexity of everything and UEFA’s willingness to blow their own trumpet at every conceivable opportunity. The entire event is comical, but it doesn’t really matter.