Javier “Chicharito” Hernández’s time in MLS hit a new low on Sunday night as Mexico’s all time leading scorer was benched in favor of Colombian journeyman Yony González.
To make matters worse, Chicharito finally appeared in the 50th minute but failed to make an impact, taking his scoreless streak to 422 minutes which dates back to the only goal he’s scored in his MLS career.
An opulent spa town in North Yorkshire might not be the leading location for an up-and-coming football club, but one League Two side is set to dissuade those beliefs.
Nicknamed the Sulphurites for the town's healing sulfur springs, Harrogate Town will be playing in the Football League this season for the first time in its 106-year history. And the man responsible for this transformation also happens to be the longest-serving manager in English football.
I don't care how sophisticated of a model you have, nothing could've predicted some of the events that unfolded in Week 4 of the Premier League. And honestly that's a big part of what makes sports, and soccer in particular, so much fun. A huge part of the game is due to luck and random chance — two things any statistical or machine learning model (or human gut feelings for that matter) can never account for.
The El Clasico history and corresponding rivalry between Barcelona and Real Madrid is entirely without equal in the world of sports. To say otherwise is to be completely ignorant of the animosity between these two clubs forged over conflicts of identity, philosophy, civil war and the simple fact that these two great cities frequently house the best football teams on the planet.
Like many American soccer fans, I got a huge kick out of the Ted Lasso commercials NBC created in 2013 to advertise its Premier League coverage. Jason Sudeikis, of SNL fame, played an American football coach hired to manage Tottenham Hotspurs. The parody was great, Sudeikis was hilarious and it promoted NBC’s soccer coverage before everything turned into a competition to see how much money the broadcaster to make off Peacock.
Last night I was fucking pissed. All I wanted to do was get one more win online and go to bed, but I was getting absolutely hammered by everyone I faced. The wine wasn’t helping, but damnit I wanted to keep playing until I won.
It was then that I realized, for the first time in years, this FIFA had me hooked, for better or worse.
20 years from now, the only piece of nostalgia that I’ll wax lyrical on is the old CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying process. Put simply, it’s the perfect blend of skill, savagery, emotion and history. There’s really nothing like it on the planet.
That’ll all change next cycle when the 2026 World Cup qualifying process expands to allow 48 teams into the final (including six from CONMEBOL), and I’m already learning to say goodbye the hard way with Fanatiz currently charging $30 to view a qualifying match.
As major clubs watch their fan bases increase exponentially around the world, lower league clubs are often forgotten. Everybody is a Chelsea fan, a Manchester United devotee or a Real Madrid supporter. They would probably associate Fleetwood with the famous band and not the League One side.
But supporting a small European club from the other side of the pond has to be the most testing of fandoms. The matches are rarely televised (even in the age of ESPN+), highlights are difficult to find and most of the people in your life probably haven't even heard of the team.
The English soccer season has not yet completed its first month, yet it has already produced the highest scoring weekend in the Premier League era.
10 games
44 goals
0 drawsOfficially the highest scoring Premier League weekend in the 20 team era pic.twitter.com/Rn8oQ0Uy3i— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) September 21, 2020