The refrain around this season's AC Milan team is that it's built different. After capturing its last league title in 2011, the club's rot — falling from second-place in 2012 to as low as 10th in 2015 — had turned the Rossoneri from European titans to a collection of disbelievers.
The soccer landscape has seen some major changes over the past couple decades. A Millennial reflecting on their soccer days will have some entirely different stories than a kid playing soccer today.
Here are some of those similarities between what a Millennial player and what someone from Gen Z playing today might experience.
Win at all costs. Even if you're playing for Balkan Botevgrad in the South-West division of Bulgaria's Third Amateur League, the mantra doesn't change.
Even if you're entirely safe from relegation and not chasing promotion, which is the current scenario for Balkan Botevgrad, you've got to have the garra charrua inside you.
What if the MetroStars still existed with their name and logo? What if the New York Red Bulls were as much a figment of our imagination as the U.S. winning a men’s World Cup? Such was the premise many members of The18 staff took and ran with, spending their most productive hours of the day creating New York/New Jersey MetroStars memes.
After a nerve-wracking 4-3 victory over Tokyo Verdy, Albirex Niigata reached 29 points last weekend and became one of the three leaders in the J2 League, the Japanese second division.
Despite there still being two-thirds of the tournament ahead, fans are already excited about a possible promotion, and players can't hide their joy either. In fact, once the game ended, the squad celebrated the victory and the chemistry created around in a sui generis way: becoming a human bowling alley and portraying a perfect strike.
On Tuesday morning we finally got "here we go" confirmation of Erling Haaland spurning the wandering eyes of Liverpool, Barcelona and Real Madrid and electing to join Pep Guardiola's Manchester City with the Premier League side activating his $63 million release clause.
Haaland officially joins on July 1 on a five-year contract that pays him $462,000 per week ($24 million a year).
After miraculous comeback victories over PSG and Chelsea in previous rounds to reach the Champions League semifinals, you'd think Real Madrid supporters would wait around until the final whistle against Manchester City despite needing two goals as we entered the 90th minute.