It’s that time of year again, when football’s biggest stars trapeze around different Spainish isles, drop anchor off the coast of Ibiza and sleep on the streets of Tenerife. One of these days, The18 staff is going to invest in some large dolphin floaties and report live from the Mediterranean Sea while sipping on Skittles vodka, but today is not that day.
Spain and Colombia both scored goals in the first half that shouldn't have been let in. Falcao scored a great header in the 54th minute. After an incredible season, winning the French Ligue 1 with AS Monaco, Falcao's swagger and confidence are reminiscent of his Atletico Madrid days.
The biggest takeaway from this game is that Radamel Falcao is a testament that 31 is the new 25. Don't hang up your boots anytime soon, Monaco is begging you.
Reuters reported that Brazilian police are investigating the whereabouts of the body of Garrincha, the Brazilian legend who died in 1983.
Reports claim the dribbling wizard's body has been exhumed from one of two family plots where Garrincha is said to have been buried, and cemetary officials have admitted they don't know which grave his remains are/were in.
Soccer referees do not generally get the better of their opponents during fights. This can be chalked up to referees rarely fighting, preferring to try to calm a situation down even when sucked into a violent confrontation.
This referee in Argentina, though, is a bad ass mother who don't take nothing off of nobody. He red cards a player, who takes offense and starts swinging. The referee coolly ducks then squares up and hits back.
(the fight starts just after the 5:00 mark)
Do you know what is better than a first division soccer team? A team of superheroes. Even if that team of superheroes is actually a fourth division soccer team dressed up like superheroes, superheroes always win.
Argentinian fourth division side Sacachispas know this, which is why they dressed as superheroes before their Copa Argentina match against first division club Arsenal de Sarandi.
With four points from the opening four matches of their debut Copa Libertadores campaign, Chapecoense traveled to Argentina to face Lanus, the 2016 Primera Division champions, needing perhaps the most famous result in the club’s history to continue their improbable quest for the competition’s round of 16.
After Wellington Paulista, on loan from Fluminense, gave Chapecoense an unexpected early lead, Lanus equalized from the spot with only 10 minutes remaining. But the moment of magic arrived for Chape through Luiz Otavio, a defender who’s on loan from Luverdense.
Losing a World Cup final in extra time is brutal and tough to come back from. Losing a Copa America final on penalties the subsequent year is a kick to the teeth. Losing yet another Copa America final the following year, to the same team and in the same manner, is practically a kill shot to any footballer’s professional hopes and dreams.
Folks associated with Brazilian club Chapecoense haven't had something to smile about in a long time. In November, more than 70 players, training staff members and journalists were killed when the plane taking the team to a Copa Sudamerica match crashed in Colombia.
On Sunday, Chapecoense won their first trophy since the dreadful accident, picking up the Santa Caratina state championship. Although it's just a preseason tournament, the trophy no doubt put smiles on faces that hadn't hosted that particular facial expression in quite some time.
Lionel Messi's four-match ban for allegedly insulting a referee has been overturned by FIFA. Messi sat out one match, a 2-0 loss to Bolivia in La Paz, before the FIFA appeals committee made its ruling.
This is good news for Argentina, for whom qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia is still up in the air. La Albiceleste sitting fifth, in the play-off spot, one point behind Chile and Uruguay and two points ahead of Ecuador. They cannot afford any slip-ups, which are much more plentiful when Lionel Messi is not in the lineup.
You know that scene in various movies in which a character either fakes his or her own death or is otherwise presumed dead but actually alive, and that character watches his or her funeral from behind a tree while wearing sunglasses? Ricardo Oliveira came about as close as you can get to that experience in real life.