The Premier League returns this weekend with the marquee matchup of the opening round of fixtures being Arsenal vs Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium in London. Without waxing too lyrical, it’s an encounter between the most aesthetically pleasing side in the division and a club desperate to return to that echelon.
No club divides opinion in Mexico quite like Club America, but yesterday, the entire country had to be excited about the performance of 18-year-old phenom Diego Lainez.
Since making his club debut as a 16-year-old, Lainez has been touted as one of Mexico’s top prospects. However, the native of Villahermosa had yet to make much of an impact in his brief Liga MX career with America manager Miguel Herrera deploying the winger cautiously.
Pep Guardiola is, in my humble opinion, the best manager in the game right now. There will be others who one day usurp his position as managerial king, but that day shall not arrive for a number of years, even decades.
We saw his genius work for Manchester City last season, as the Citizens reached the 100 point mark as well as setting multiple other records.
While it’s all well and good to sit here and marvel about the product Guardiola produces on the field, isn’t it worth investigating how and why he can garner his team to annihilate every opponent in front of them?
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.
Why soccer players flop. It’s a question that arises every World Cup, every club campaign, every Champions League season. It’s a debate that will rage on until VAR is universal. As we’ll explain, the reason why soccer players flop comes down to one simple factor — but we have three ways to stop the flop.
Flopping, or simulation in official FIFA terminology, is the process of embellishing a foul or pretending to be fouled when none was committed in an attempt to deceive the referee. A referee who spots simulation can punish the offender with a yellow card.
We all love new technology and want to know when flying cars and robot servants will arrive like in the Jetsons. But it’s easy to overlook the incremental changes in technology happening right in front of us, right now. The recent Budweiser World Cup campaign gave soccer fans a glimpse into a future where the packaging of everyday objects — beer in this case — could revolutionize how we interact with brands, the world around us and each other.
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.
A month after Russia thrashed Saudi Arabia to open the World Cup, France took advantage of its chances and was crowned world champions for the second time. Those high-scoring matches bookended a tournament in which there were 169 World Cup goals. With 12 of those resulting from own goals, there were 157 goals where the celebration wasn't marred by an untimely mistake.
Croatia players and manager Zlatko Dalic were gracious in defeat yesterday, admitting that France deserved the victory following second half goals from Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe. However, the likes of Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic still left traces of disgust and defiance in their words when discussing the final’s turning points, particularly the VAR-assisted handball call against Ivan Perisic that sent Antoine Griezmann to the spot in the 38th minute.
The excitement of the 2018 World Cup is already starting to fade a bit and you can’t wait for more soccer of the highest quality. Fortunately, you won’t have to wait long. The 2018-19 UEFA Champions League season has actually already begun. You may have missed it, but fret not. This guide will tell you exactly how the Champions League works, focusing on the European Champions League.