Opinion

The U.S. announced on Monday a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, a response to China’s many human rights abuses. Soccer fans across the country are now wondering: What about Qatar?

STATS! They can be used in all manner of ways. In the right hands, they can provide you with some excellent insight into the best women's goalkeepers in the world right now. In the wrong hands, you end up with some diabolical shitposting that's effectively ESPN FC's Twitter account. 

Rumors of a UEFA Super League have become increasingly prevalent in recent times as larger clubs look for ways to earn a buck any way they can. An official announcement of a Super League even came earlier this year before being trounced by fans across the continent.

Big clubs loathe the current Champions League format because it limits matchups against other big clubs and forces them to share the prize money, while smaller clubs believe the format is slanted against them.

To Argentina’s reserve league we go for a Thursday morning match between Racing and Huracán, the site of two very good goals for the Avellaneda-based club.

The first was scored by 18-year-old Nicolás Meaurio. It’s a scorpion kick that takes on the form of a BMX Superman trick. It might lose a style point since the goalkeeper got his hand to it, but you can tell that the total unreasonableness of the effort caught him completely by surprise.    

On Thursday, the Colorado Rapids hosted the Portland Timbers in a Western Conference semifinal at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado. It was the first-ever MLS Thanksgiving game — I really hope it’s not the last.

In the U.S., Thanksgiving is a time for American football. It’s the Lions and Cowboys; it’s a college football game or two. But let’s be honest, the Lions suck, everyone hates the Cowboys and college football has been garbage on Thanksgiving since Texas refused to continue its rivalry with Texas A&M. 

For the second time in the men’s program’s history, the University of New Hampshire Wildcats have reached the NCAA Tournament Round of 16. The feat was accomplished Sunday after a 4-1 victory over North Carolina with every goal being scored in the first half.

New Hampshire defender Bridger Hansen opened the floodgates in the 23rd minute with one of my favorite bicycle kicks of all time. I’ve seen hundreds over the last few years — each one exhilarating in its own right — but I’ve never seen one that begins with the high-stepping of a prone defender. Style points achieved.