Opinion

We need to talk about the Kanye West Messi lyric on his song “Off The Grid” from his new album, Donda. While it’s special to see one of the world’s largest artists nod at the planet’s most popular sport, the bar about Lionel Messi is subpar.

Before I continue, I would like to make it clear that I actually quite enjoy “Off The Grid.” My bone to pick is with this Messi lyric.

The Panama World Cup qualifying campaign is smooth sailing after the first three games. This is the exact opposite of what we predicted here at The18.

In our Concacaf World Cup qualifying predictions, six out of seven people predicted the Panamanians to finish dead last in the group of eight teams. Only one person had Panama finishing higher than eighth. That individual had the Central American country finishing seventh.

Imagine after a bad day at the office you get questioned on what went wrong and then have some random person run up to you begging for a photo. Everyone will react differently, but I personally would react the same way that Virgil van Dijk did after his Dutch side drew with Norway 1-1 on Wednesday in World Cup qualifying.

Van Dijk’s day could have gone smoother as the big man had his finger dislocated trying to stop Erling Haaland’s opening goal.

One of the greatest stories in sports right now belongs to Major League Baseball, where the New York Mets have collapsed throughout August to piss away a spot in the playoffs. The fans at Citi Field in Queens have voiced their displeasure by booing the players, but players have responded by jeering their own fans.

After hitting a home run last Sunday, Javier Báez gave the fans a double thumbs-down gesture when crossing the plate — an action that was repeated by teammates Francisco Lindor and Kevin Pillar.

As the holder of the Nations League, Gold Cup and a new world ranking of 10th, the USMNT approaches World Cup qualifying at its highest level of confidence in five years — since John Brooks destroyed the house that Ecuador built at the Copa América.

But the formula for success in CONCACAF never changes: try to win at home, try to draw away. Get that done and you’re going to Qatar; experiment with the formula like Jürgen Klinsmann and you’ll kill Taylor Twellman.

For whatever reason, little kids don’t seem to be too enthused over the idea of watching 22 people chase around a ball, largely fruitlessly, for an hour and a half. They’re still into being carefree, happy and imaginative rather than screaming at Federico Fernández to “f***ing get rid!” every weekend. They don’t know what they’re missing out on.

But one thing that unites all sons, daughters, nieces and nephews is their love for LEGO, and let’s be honest, that also unites all fathers, mothers, uncles and aunts. 

An unapologetically American league, MLS has always set out to be different from European soccer competitions, and the All-Star Weekend Skills Challenge is no different.

Including such events as the most powerful shot, soccer tennis and an Olympico corner kick challenge, the skills challenge was played from 1998 until 2001 and provided a unique flavor to what can often be a dull All-Star Game.

The competition took a hiatus for nearly two decades before returning in 2019 with noticeably tamer events and even less focus on one position group in particular: goalkeepers.