Videos

Apparently, Manchester City and the Gallagher twins rubbed off on Edin Dzeko. The Bosnian striker, who spent from 2011-2015 at City and plays for A.S. Roma now, received his first red card ever when he told an Italian ref that he didn't like the cut of his jib. Well, actually he just told the ref to "f**k off, yeh?" Which apparently was not a suggestion the ref took very well. Or, if he did, then maybe he was trying to high five Dzeko when he accidentally pulled this red card from his pocket.

I want to believe in the integrity of the game. I really do. I want to believe that players go out every game with the intention of winning, that managers select players with the same intention, and that referees call a fair game. Sadly I know that this is not always the case, that across the world there have been numerous confirmed instances of bribery, match-fixing, and general corrupt behavior on and off the field. But this, this is on a whole different level. You are about to watch what might be the worst referee decision ever.

What Ronaldinho can accomplish in a commercial, James Jeggo is capable of conjuring in the middle of a professional match. Channeling the great Dinho, Jeggo performed his own personal crossbar challenge while an Australian A-League game took place around him.

With the score level at 0-0 in the 61st minute, Jeggo smashed an unstoppable drive against the crossbar before receiving the ball again, this time making no mistake as he unleashed a venomous rip which found the back of the net. Spectacularly, all of this took place in the space of less than five seconds.

Arnold Fabián Peralta Sosa and his wife were out buying baby clothes for their three-month-old daughter in his home town of La Ceiba, Honduras.  While the details of the case are still to be resolved, Peralta was subsequently shot dead, having suffered numerous cranial injuries, in the parking lot outside the shopping mall.

Some say that stopping a penalty in soccer is the hardest thing to do in sports. There is no real penalty saving trick. The net is so large, the ball so small, and the shot is coming from such a close range that keepers must guess which way they are going to dive before the ball is hit to have a chance at saving it. Even if they dive in the correct direction it is unlikely they’ll be able to stop it. If they’re unlucky and dive the wrong direction, well, let’s just say that every keeper in the world has been left on the proverbial other side of the coin. 

Where counterattacks are concerned, the keeper's job is distribution. Get the ball, get it to one of the field players, put everything in motion then get back in your goal. 

This is not what Nacional's U-14 goalkeeper, Guillermo Centurion (what a name!) had in mind when he intercepted a corner kick. 

Instead of distributing to a field player, he distributed to himself. Then he led the counter, dribbled the length of the field, embarassed the other team's keeper and coolly slotted the ball home.

Carles Puyol embodies all of the characteristics of a defender you fear: he’s strong, he’s aggressive, he’s got hair to put Tarzan to shame, he just might be an animal of a man. You are used to him scoring goals off of set pieces, but that’s about it when it comes to Carles Puyol skills. He’ll pass around the back like all world-class center-backs do. He’ll have the odd long ball forward.