After an incessant 19-month news cycle that began on Mar. 31, 2018, with an incredible brace against LAFC and concluded on Oct. 24, 2019, with a playoff defeat to the same team, we’ll admit that we’re already feeling pretty empty without Zlatan Ibrahimović in America.
It's been nearly a year since Miguel Almirón made his big-money move to Newcastle United from Major League Soccer's Atlanta United.
In Atlanta, the Paraguayan scored 22 goals in 68 appearances over the course of two seasons. He was one of the attacking powerhouses of the league and one of the main reasons Atlanta's expansion season in 2017 and title-winning 2018 campaign were both large successes.
Liverpool won its first Club World Cup title with a 1-0 extra-time win over Brazil’s Flamengo on Saturday. It was Liverpool’s first intercontinental title but few in the U.S. were afforded an opportunity to watch it live.
Because Fox still shows a hatred for soccer, as we’ve lamented for more than two years, the American broadcaster chose to show three different college basketball games instead of the Club World Cup on Saturday.
We’re nearing the end of the decade and we here at The18 have watched a whole lot of soccer over the last 10 years. So to commemorate the end of the era, we’ve compiled a best XI of our favorite soccer players — and our least favorite soccer players.
While other outlets are doing Best XIs for the decade, we wanted to go a different route. Anyone can say Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were the two best male players of the decade; who really cares about that? What’s more interesting, to us, is who people choose to like and dislike.
Last Friday, 25-year-old Philly native Lil Uzi Vert released the third single off his highly anticipated second studio album Eternal Atake. The song is entitled “Futsal Shuffle 2020,” which gives us more than enough loosely-based license to discuss it here at The18.
Sergio Ramos has had his best idea since deciding to pull a Panenka on Rui Patrício at Euro 2012. The Real Madrid captain said he believes there should be two Ballon d’Or trophies, thus eliminating that tiresome argument over whether the award should simply be given to the best overall player on the planet (always Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo) or to the player who performed most influentially over the strictly defined duration of a season (usually Messi or Ronaldo, but sometimes a little less clear).
For fans of Major League Soccer, the offseason is entirely too long. It’s a point that Vancouver Whitecaps manager Marc Dos Santos was recently fined for expressing with some decidely colorful language.
“Players at the top level, they have three weeks, one month maximum, on break,” Dos Santos said. “I’m telling you, three months and a half of a break in a soccer season is Mickey Mouse. It’s amateur. It doesn’t happen in the world.”
The biggest news of the Major League Soccer offseason so far has been the Chicago Fire’s new logo. For many, it was a bigger shock to the system than seeing Giovani dos Santos score goals for Club América.
Named for the greatest story our city can tell - its own legend.
Most Major League Soccer teams have been busy negotiating contracts and striking deals across the league . . . but not D.C. United.
Instead, this MLS original has decided to assign every MLS team a type of candy, and well, it's pretty amusing.
Here are some of the best: