55-year-old Diego Maradona had to be restrained by security staff at Pope Francis’ “Match for Peace and Solidarity” after getting into a verbal altercation with Juan Sebastian Veron on Wednesday night.
Bolivia got off to an absolute flyer against Ecuador on Tuesday in La Paz. This shouldn’t surprise anyone as Bolivia’s home gournd, Estadio Hernando Siles at an altitude of 11,932 feet above sea level, is almost a literal deathtrap for CONMEBOL opposition.
La Verde took a fourth minute lead through Pablo Escobar, the 38-year-old attacking midfielder just thrashing a shot from almost 25 yards out. The shot was sensational, flying into the top corner. However, Rodrigo Ramallo also deserves credit for applying the assist from his a**.
Mexico’s final tune-up before their World Cup qualifying clash with the USA on November 11th ended in a 1-0 victory over Panama.
For spectators at Toyota Park in Illinois, it was a relatively uneventful night with a largely experimental Mexico side grafting out a victory.
The highlight of the beginning proceedings was probably a mariachi version of “The Star-Spangled Banner”.
Mariachi version of the US anthem.
Very well received by Mexico fans.
Julian Green is yet to play a minute in the Bundesliga this season. His only appearance for the Bavarian giants was as a substitute in the DFB Pokal. For the USMNT, Green’s last start prior to this October call-up was back in 2014 — the same year he’d scored his lone, albeit unforgettable, USA goal.
Think about this number: 8.1 seconds. Chances are, your car goes zero to 60 slower than that, but that's how long it took Christian Benteke, who is not renowned for his speed, to score against Gibraltar.
Benteke's goal is the fastest goal in World Cup qualifying history, scored against a team that features just a few true professional soccer players. It just came together perfectly, although if you had asked us who would score the fastest goal in World Cup qualifying history, we would not have picked Christian Benteke. Good for him.
Cristiano Ronaldo added to his four-goal tally against Andorra on Friday by scoring a belter against the Faroe Islands. Portugal finished their October World Cup qualifiers by defeating their opponents by a combined scoreline of 12-0.
For Ronaldo, he’s now scored 40 goals in 43 games for club in country during 2016. He’s almost a certainty to win the FIFA WOrld Player of the Year following his triumph with Real Madrid in the Champions League and Portugal at Euro 2016.
Sunday’s National Women’s Soccer League final put the finishing touches on a wild 2016 NWSL playoffs in which all three playoff games went into extra time. With the matched tied 2-2 after extra time, penalty kicks where needed to decide the outcome between the Western New York Flash and the Washington Spirit.
The scoring started early on as the Washington Spirit scored their first goal in the ninth minute. Five minutes later, the WNY Flash returned the favor and scored their opening goal.
Neymar’s match against Bolivia contained parts of the good, the bad and the ugly. The good was a goal and two assists which helped the Selecao to a 5—0 rout of Bolivia in Natal, Brazil.
The bad was a 36th-minute yellow card that means he’s suspended for Brazil’s October 11th qualifier away to Venezuela. However, given that Venezuela currently dwell at the bottom of the CONMEBOL WCQ table with two points from nine matches, Neymar’s absence shouldn’t be a factor.
Barcelona missed a chance to climb to the top of the La Liga table with a shock 4-3 defeat to Celta Vigo on Sunday. With Celta Vigo in the bottom half of the table, a Barcelona squad without the injured Lionel Messi was still expected to emerge with three points in Galicia.
However, notable mistakes from goalkeeper Marc-Andre ted Stegen, defender Jeremy Mathieu and midfielder Sergio Busquets essentially handed the victory to the home side.