Poor Sven. All he wanted to do was hang out on the Bayern bench and rack up trophies, but then Manuel Neuer had to go and get injured in September. Now, after another Sven Ulreich howler against Real Madrid on Tuesday, the Bayern Munich backup is making a name for himself in all the wrong ways.
In today’s youth sports, there exists a certain type of parent, the parent we know all too well. The asshole parent. Soccer parents gone wild.
The asshole parent comes in three varieties. The raging critic, whose sole objective is to criticize his or her child until he or she runs off the field in tears. The argumentative screamer, spewing insults at the other team. And finally there's the hostile screamer, provoking brawls with anyone on the opposing side, whether parent or coach.
Donald Trump put the joint 2026 World Cup bid from the United States, Mexico and Canada in jeopardy on Thursday with an ill-advised social media post. The Trump soccer tweet was an overt threat to all nations who refuse to support the united bid — and a direct violation of FIFA’s code of ethics (if that still means anything).
Fox gave a giant middle finger to all English-speaking U.S. soccer fans on Wednesday. The Fox World Cup coverage will be called almost entirely by announcers in Los Angeles — and in case you forgot, the tournament is being played in Russia.
Fox, which paid FIFA $400 million for the exclusive English-language rights to broadcast the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in the U.S., couldn’t be bothered to spend enough money to send its announcers to Russia, a huge insult to soccer fans in America.
Brazilian club Corinthians debuted a major innovation in their match against Fluminese — their sponsor on the front of the Corinthians jersey would be revealed by the players sweating on the field. It is a pretty neat and interesting way for a sponsor to be shown off to the rest of the world.
When we think of Barcelona, we think of the way they play and some of the greats that have donned the blue and red stripes — Lionel Messi, Ronaldinho and Johan Cruyff. But what you didn’t know was that once upon a time, Barça was a team full of savages and psychopaths (including Cruyff). Don’t believe me? I don’t blame you, but take a look at this video showing the European Cup (as it was known before it became the Champions League) semifinal match between Barcelona and Leeds United in 1975.
Sepp Blatter is a douchenoggle, I believe we can all agree on this. The former FIFA president oversaw decades of corruption in football’s world governing body before eventually being banned from the sport. But this dude can’t stay out of the limelight, as evidenced by another absurd Sepp Blatter tweet on Thursday.