Leg 2 of the Europa League's last 32 teams happened today, and while there were some great goals and stories, Hakan Calhanoglu's goal for Bayern Leverkusen stood out during the day. His volley in the 87th minute was the nail in the coffin for Sporting Lisbon. With the 3 - 1 victory, Leverkusen advance on aggregate to the Round of 16 in Europa League.
Xabi Alonso, you 34-year-old dog you. So are you resorting to only scoring goals as far out as your age? Because this 30+ yard cracking volley is pure greatness. That touch to kill the clearance, and then the approach on the bouncing ball that resulted in the back of the net. Your greatness will never be forgotten and we at The18 thank you for giving us this gem of a goal. Keep being you Xabi.
Ireland hadn't been in a major tournament since 2002, but now thanks to Shane Long's Goal vs Germany, the Irish are close to solidifying their spot in their second straight Euro Cup. The lads from the Emerald Isle beat the defending world champions in Dublin yesterday and we couldn't be more excited about how close they are to qualifying for the Euro. They haven't sealed the deal yet, as they have a match with Poland on Sunday. With a win, the Irishman will officially qualify for the Euro. With a loss, they will enter a playoff match to decide their fate.
With Lionel Messi out with a knee injury, Barcelona needed someone to step up, and they got just that with this Suarez goal vs Leverkusen in the second round of Champions League group matches. The Uruguayan executed a perfect finish off of a pass from Munir El Haddadi, who weaseled his way through the Leverkusen defense. Barcelona were not playing very Barcelona like during the match. They were out possesed and out shot, but come the 82nd minute Suarez stepped up to the plate and cracked a perfectly placed right footed shot into the upper corner.
Everyone, Robert Lewandowski scored 5 goals in 9 minutes. Now there are a lot of things that can happen in 9 minutes, but scoring 5 goals in a Bundesliga match against a top opponent in the league is about as much an anomaly as Donald Trump leading the primaries for the GOP. But both things are happening, and the goal explosion has spurred something special for Lewandowski. The Polish player has been on an absolte tear since the 5 goal performance. Since then he has added 7 more goals in the following three games after arguably the best 10 minute soccer performance of all time.
Ok, seriously guys, what is happening with the world? The United States was not supposed to be this good, this quickly. Jurgen Klinsmann wasn’t supposed to be finding kids practically off the street — or Straße, in this case — and turn them into world beaters. We shouldn’t have been up 2-1 at any point against Portugal in the World Cup. We shouldn’t have pulled off that ridiculous comeback against the Dutch last Friday.
So apparently Germany broke the World Cup trophy. This isn’t the first time a team has broken their championship hardware. Sergio Ramos dropped the Copa del Rey trophy, Billy Donovan and the Florida Gators dropped the NCAA's crystal basketball, and who knows what really happens to the Stanley Cup every year...and those are just a couple.
How many Euros does it take to put a German soccer icon in prison? 27.2 million at last count. That’s how much Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness admitted to evading in taxes. Now the powerful figure has been found guilty and was sentenced to three and a half year in prison. Hoeness can only hope the warden will let him catch a World Cup game from behind bars.