Back in 2001, Major League Soccer almost folded. After six seasons, millions of dollars in operating losses and with two clubs on the verge of contraction (the Tampa Bay Mutiny and Miami Fusion), the league was really only kept afloat by the vision of Lamar Hunt (who owned the Columbus Crew, Kansas City Wizards and Dallas Burn in his lifetime).
After leading Dorados to the final of the 2018 Apertura, things are going just as swimmingly on the pitch for manager Diego Maradona during the Clausura half of the season. However, things are just as erratic and honestly quite concerning off it.
When does a celebration get out of hand, forcing the referee to whistle for a restart and allowing the team that just conceded to race down the field and score a goal of its own? It’s an unwritten rule that the euphoria which greets a goal should be given ample time to manifest itself, but who’s to say when enough’s enough?
Cagliari should be ashamed of its football club, its fans and its club president. What happened Tuesday night was another deplorable, disgusting display of racism from a group of fans, acts that should be unacceptable in society.
And yet, Leonardo Bonucci, whose teammates were the victims of the racial abuse, seems to be the one receiving the most backlash in the fallout.
How did this happen?
To start, let’s set the scene.
Jordan Pickford has had his fair share of the limelight lately, and maybe not for the best reasons. The England goalkeeper made himself an annoyance against Newcastle, goading the Newcastle fans after Everton’s second goal. As a former Sunderland player, Newcastle fans did not take kindly to his antics.
Good thing for Newcastle though, Pickford gave up three goals after that and the Toon picked up three points. Everton fans were less than pleased that day, and for good reason.
How do you feel about a short corner? If you’re a Barcelona supporter, you probably adore it; if you support Burnley, you probably think it should be outlawed. But regardless of whether you think it’s more important to keep possession or to simply get it into the damn mixer, we can all agree that this is one of the worst short corners ever.
During a match between the Juventus U-19s and their Sassuolo peers, a Juve youngster played a short corner out for a Sassuolo throw-in. Truly remarkable stuff.
After eight hugely successful weeks on trial with Australia’s Central Coast Mariners, the secret was out: Usain Bolt is a raw talent, but the greatest sprinter of all time can also do work on the football pitch.
Apparently FC Barcelona saw enough to take a chance on the Jamaican, and the 32-year-old has now touched down at the Camp Nou on a three-year contract as the ideal longterm replacement for Luis Suárez.
Cardiff City sat third bottom of the Premier League table and, coming into Sunday, had eight games to go to claw its way out of the relegation zone. Cardiff’s schedule seems daunting, having to play Chelsea, Manchester City and the team above them, Burnley, in its upcoming three matches.
Chelsea arrived in Cardiff today looking for what was supposed to be three easy points. To be fair to Cardiff, it seemed like a match that would not be won. But that wasn’t necessarily the case.
Southampton coach Ralph Hasenhüttl isn’t a particularly old man. At 51, he had just turned 20 when the original NES was released in Europe.
But he’s acting like a curmudgeonly old man — and clearly has no idea how to deal with young people.
In a recent news conference, Hasenhüttl told reporters he blocks the Wi-Fi at the team hotel on the nights before matches.
What. A. Jerk.
Last night, a crowd of 50,000 watched Mexico defeat Paraguay 4-2 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, to make it two wins in two matches for new manager Gerardo “Tata” Martino.
During a space of 18 first half minutes, El Tri posted three on the South American side to effectively put the game to bed. LA Galaxy midfielder Jonathan dos Santos scored his first international goal in his 40th appearance, Gustavo Gomez put one into his own net and then Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez slotted home the third with only 24 minutes on the clock.