Aston Villa defeated Leicester City 2-1 on Tuesday to advance to the final of the English Football League competition in hopes of lifting the Carabao Cup. The competition has seen many different sponsorships come and go as Carabao, a Thai energy drink, hasn’t always sponsored the competition. There once was a time teams raised the EFL Milk Cup.
Let’s take a walk down memory lane and review some of the fun EFL Cup names.
Ahh soccer. Yes, soccer. Not football, but soccer. American soccer.
Americans who follow the world’s game have it tougher than footie fans just about anywhere else on the planet. In the U.S., soccer isn’t the most popular sport — it’s not even in the top four — providing unique challenges to those who love the beautiful game.
But American soccer fans persist, because our love for the game is greater than any annoyance.
Here are 11 most annoying things about being an American soccer fan:
We've already covered the top questions for Cristiano Ronaldo, so now it's time to delve into what people want to know about soccer’s other great, Lionel Messi. The questions range from his jumping abilities to if Messi is still alive. Instead of the top searches, here's a list with five of the oddest Messi searches.
Video Assistant Referee is now as much a part of soccer as shin guards and blisters. While many (particularly those Luddites in England) wish VAR didn’t exist, we here at The18 embrace video replay. In fact, we want VAR to be used in more than just soccer.
Cristiano Ronaldo is arguable the biggest and most well-known athlete on the planet. He dominates on the field, in business and on social media. On Instagram alone, if Ronaldo’s followers were a country it would be the eighth most-populated country. With such fame comes questions. Here are the most-asked Cristiano Ronaldo questions and some of the answers.
“Variety is the spice of life,” someone once said before doing something obviously stupid and dangerous. But with danger and stupidity comes ingenuity and joy, and that’s the common thread that connects the majority of these bastardized forms of soccer. Here are 10 variants of the beautiful game that are strangely captivating.
#1. Eisfussball
Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen could soon have his wish of leaving Tottenham granted. Eriksen has voiced his displeasure with the club and intends to leave the Premier League to go elsewhere. Serie A side Inter Milan has focused its sights on the 27-year-old and is prepared to offer him quite the lucrative deal. Eriksen could be earning $130,000 a week after taxes according to The Times.
There’s no more compelling story than when a player like Jamie Vardy goes from being released by his club at the age of 16 to suddenly tearing up the Premier League at the age of 28, but the Leicester City striker’s path is a fit-for-Hollywood tale rather than the norm. The truth is that football is now a mega-industry and the reach of its tentacles knows no bounds — in the search for the world’s next great talent, no rock is left unturned and no YouTube highlight video is left unproduced.
Pelé’s always been everywhere. As a player, he appeared at four World Cups spanning three different continents, his Santos side traveled around the world like the Harlem Globetrotters and he even ventured into the backwoods of American soccer with the New York Cosmos.
But he truly achieved an omnipresence after retiring and transitioning into life as the OG Cristiano Ronaldo, hawking goods and services like a door-to-door salesman while collecting honorary degrees for his contributions to the bicycle kick sciences.
The idea of helping youths develop and hone their skills in soccer is appealing to a large number of coaches. In the U.S. alone there are coaches teaching millions of young players how to play the sport.
Coaching, like most things in life, doesn’t come without drawbacks. Whether it’s a player forgetting to bring their shin guards or Karen the Super Soccer Mom complaining about her child not getting enough playing time, the task of coaching can be strenuous. Here is a short list of shortcomings for youth soccer coaches.