With the 2016-17 season at an end, we look back on five clubs that were expected to do so much but ended up underachieving. To be clear, this list doesn’t just include sides that were expected to win trophies, it also includes clubs that many thought would at least make a title challenge, qualify for European competition or do something notable in the Champions League. We’ll start at the bottom and work our way to the top.
Clint Dempsey is one goal away from tying Landon Donovan's USMNT scoring record. He is two goals away from breaking that record. On current form, he is creaky and looking awfully like he will never get to do either of those things.
On Thursday against Trinidad & Tobago, Dempsey looked out of sync with the rest of the team. He looked, and I really hate to say this, like the game had passed him by. Dempsey's replacement, Bobby Wood, looked much more dangerous. On Saturday, Dempsey didn't play.
The ghost of Sergio Ramos climbed the podium at the Millennium Stadium and provided one of the greatest feel good stories of 2017 by somehow lifting the UEFA Champions League trophy despite being a completely immaterial spirit.
In one of the most tragic and horrific incidents in Champions League history - although justice was properly and promptly administered by German referee Felix Brych - the Real Madrid captain passed into the afterlife before our very eyes after Juan Cuadrado’s HORROR TAP combusted his back, legs and face.
It doesn’t count on the scoresheet, but there’s something entirely satisfying about seeing an absolute crack smash off the woodwork. As humans, we like loud noises, and nothing makes us ooh and aah more than football’s own version of fireworks — the ball crashing into the crossbar from distance and flying into the heavens.
Apart from that spectacle, great goals can be denied for a myriad of other reasons: sometimes it’s the referee, sometimes it’s a curmudgeonly defender or goalkeeper and sometimes it’s that idiot Nani.
The 2016-17 European club season brought many surprises. There were several teams that nobody expected much from, but they managed to prove us all wrong by either winning a title, qualifying for European competition or doing something notable in the Champions League. Let’s take a look at five clubs that provided a bit of magic this season.
This week, most people will be reading, talking and writing about Francesco Totti, who has now retired after playing his final game for Roma. But while everyone’s focused on Totti, let’s consider the rest of the season, indulging in one of the favorite pastimes of the calcio connoisseur: going over every detail of the previous 38 matches and putting people and teams in ranked lists.
There will be plenty of time to dissect Totti’s career in the future. Right now, we need to think about who has really impressed us this season and (more importantly) who has failed to impress.
According to the ScotlandsDNA project, only 0.6% of the world’s population has red hair. Chances are, you’ve known a few gingers in your life, and maybe you’ve even taken a moment to stop calling them Carrot Top, Mr/Ms Weasley, Chucky, Big Red, Ginger Balls and/or Strawberry Shortcake and gotten to know them as unique individuals that aren’t defined by the color of their drapes, you damn bully.
Every season brings a new sense of hope and fear for fans across the world. For some supporters and teams, the quest to be promoted to the top flight of football is the main goal. For others, the fear of getting relegated to a lesser league looms.
The comparison will always be between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. We’ve all accepted that, we all read endless articles about it — content to feed the beast that compares and contrasts two players that are hugely different in almost every area besides their unparalleled success and unmatched statistics.
As I followed the fortunes of both Arsenal and the New York Knicks this season, I realized I had seen this movie before. The two organizations struggled through campaigns that mirrored each other. Fans of each team have experienced similar trauma over the past decade and the similarities became uncanny this year.