What's clear in Ken Bensinger's "Red Card" book is that corruption was ubiquitous in soccer long before news of the FIFA scandal made headlines. That won't surprise many fans, but the details of how U.S. law enforcement broke open its case against FIFA and the extent of the organization's corruption are incredibly revealing.
For too many years already, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have absolutely dominated the discussion surrounding who is the best soccer player in the world. The Argentinean and the Portuguese have formed a hegemonic dynasty that's lasted since at least 2008. To find a Ballon d'Or winner other than Messi and Ronaldo, one has to travel all the way to 2007 when Brazilian star Kaká won the prize, and he's now retired.
Last World Cup gifted fans 169 goals in 64 matches. Over three million users voted on FIFA.com and the fans named Benjamin Pavard’s volley the World Cup Best Goal. Relive it here.
The Benjamin Pavard goal vs. Argentina was voted the World Cup best goal.
The splendid strike took place during the France-Argentina match in the Round of 16.
Maybe you’ve heard, but France won the 2018 World Cup. Les Bleus were pretty impressive in Russia, succeeding where Napoleon had failed 200 years earlier. But John Cleese and his big furry hat don’t want France to keep the World Cup trophy.
France and Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Greizmann has made his love for America’s sports culture no secret. Let us remind you of last week, when he interrupted Paul Pogba’s post-World Cup interview to exclaim his love for Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Derrick Rose. Antoine Griezmann interrupted Pogba’s interview to say: “I love Derrick Rose.”
— Footy Jokes (@Footy_JokesOG) July 17, 2018
Mesut Ozil has retired from international football at the age of 29, citing “racism and disrespect” from the German football federation (DFB). Ozil had 92 caps for Germany and helped the nation capture third place at the 2010 World Cup before lifting the trophy in 2014. The Arsenal playmaker issued a detailed statement on Twitter with the main contents concerning the fallout of his meeting with Turkish president Recep Tayyip before the World Cup.
Here are his statements in full, read them (click/tap) before commentating:
Admirers of beauty around the world felt a strong disturbance in the force on Saturday. The mere thought on an Olivier Giroud shaved head will do that.
Some folks are blessed with gorgeous faces, chiseled chins and beautiful hair. Others, like myself, would love to have just one of those traits. Giroud firmly falls into the former category, the Frenchman looking more like a model than a footballer.
You know when you’re a young child growing up and your teachers at school or church tell you everyone was created equally and should be respected as such? Well that’s BS when it comes to World Cup winners.
FIFA has put on 21 World Cups dating back to 1930. In them we’ve had deserving World Cup winners like Brazil in 1970 and Spain in 2010 and some underdog World Cup winners like Uruguay in 1950 or West Germany in 1954.