Amazing

Speed is an unteachable attribute that every athlete, no matter the sport, desires. Everyone wants to know who is the fastest. When it comes to women’s soccer, finding the answer to this question isn’t so simple. Top sprint speed is a niche statistic that isn’t tracked too often in the women’s game. With the data that is available, here is a list of some of the fastest women's soccer players.

Riyad Mahrez scored an absolute stunner in Algeria’s 2-2 draw with Zimbabwe to ensure his country’s qualification for the African Cup of Nations on Monday. The Mahrez goal vs Zimbabwe even has some people daring to utter the word “Puskás.”

This goal might not be the best of 2020, but you won’t see a better goal scored this week.

With Algeria leading 1-0 midway through the first half, the Desert Foxes only needed one long ball to their star player to spring the counterattack. The rest, and one Zimbabwe defender’s ankles, is history.

San Marino, ranked last place in the FIFA World Rankings, recorded a historic 0-0 draw against Gibraltar in UEFA Nations League play on Saturday. The tiny minnows of the world recorded consecutive draws in competitive play for the first time in their history. The moment made defender Dante Rossi cry tears of joy during a post-match interview.

To Group C4 of the UEFA Nations League we go for a meeting between promotion hopeful Albania and relegation candidate Kazakhstan. 

Sokol Cikalleshi opened the scoring in the 16th minute for Albania before Ardian Ismajli doubled the advantage in the 23rd, but Kazakhstan’s response was literally immediate. Straight from the ensuing kickoff, Aybol Abiken pulled one back with a spectacular effort that left Etrit Berisha — a 31-year-old veteran with 59 caps who’s played for Lazio, Atalanta and now SPAL — flailing between the posts. 

We have ourselves a potential Puskás candidate. An insane moment took place in the Danish Cup on Wednesday when Lyngby defender Nicolai Geertsen scored a goal that words can not describe.

OK, maybe words can describe this goal. Geertsen defied all the odds as he self-assisted himself with a bicycle kick that hit off the crossbar which he then volleyed into the goal. Quite a mouthful, no?

A stat crossed my timeline the other day showing that Lionel Messi has 35 goals from direct free kicks for Barcelona over the last decade. That in and of itself is impressive, but perhaps even more extraordinary is the fact that Messi's free kick total is higher than any other club in Europe's top five leagues during that span.

This Messi stat is insane  pic.twitter.com/RZpCyf5tXl

Georginio Wijnaldum captained the Netherlands in a friendly against Spain on Wednesday, the day he said goodbye to his 20s. The now-30-year-old played 45 minutes of the 1-1 draw, which was in all fairness a fairly drab exhibition. In fact, the most notable moment was watching Wijnaldum left hanging by teammate Memphis Depay.

Memphis was subbed out in the 79th minute and gave fist bumps to all his teammates as he made his way to the socially distanced benched. Well, all but Wijnaldum.

An Israeli striker put on one of the most impressive displays in modern history of being so bad that he’s good. 

Eli Elbaz had the most ridiculous five minutes of his career on Monday in the second division of Israeli soccer. With his team Sektzia Ness Ziona, which he had just joined on Nov. 2, leading 1-0, Elbaz was brought on as a substitute in the 81st minute to put the nail in the coffin.

After a 2018 World Cup qualifying cycle that included seven draws, four defeats and the necessity of a Lionel Messi hat trick on the final day to secure passage to Russia, Argentina won’t give a damn that the 2022 cycle began with narrow one-goal victories over both Ecuador and Bolivia back in October. 

Messi was the hero against Ecuador with a game-winning penalty kick, and he was the hero against Bolivia after dropping a concha tu madre on the opponent’s physio and mercilessly reminding him of his baldness. The Estadio Hernando Siles brings out the demon in all of us.