Opinion

Karim Benzema, Alexia Putellas win Ballon d'Or awards for best players in the world

PARIS - Real Madrid's France forward Karim Benzema won the 2022 Ballon d'Or award for the best men's player in the world on Monday, while Barcelona's Spain midfielder Alexia Putellas won the women's award for a second time.

Benzema, who played a pivotal role in Real's run to the Champions League title last season, is the first French player to win the trophy since Zinedine Zidane in 1998 and the fifth after Raymond Kopa, Michel Platini and Jean-Pierre Papin.

The most underrated Premier League XI

How does one define an underrated player? Is it their performance in relation to their transfer value or their expectations from the fans? How do statistical expectations and statistical overperformance come into play?

Whatever metric you want to use, it comes down to this: underrated players don't get the credit they deserve. In the modern Premier League, where getting good value from players is paramount, these players are of the utmost importance.

Here's our list of Premier League players who've consistently been the most overlooked.

Team-by-team guide: 2022 Mexico World Cup preview

To prepare you for the tournament, The18 has launched team-by-team previews for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Here’s the Mexico World Cup preview. El Tri will play in Group C against Argentina, Poland and Saudi Arabia.

Mexico World Cup Preview 2022

World Cup appearances: 17th

Best binish: Quarterfinals (1970, 1986)

Latest FIFA rankings: USMNT anxiety reflected in fall from top 15

The final FIFA rankings before the 2022 World Cup were released Thursday, revealing a top five that's largely in line with what the odds makers have for the tournament in Qatar. 

Brazil rightfully holds the top spot and is seen as the favorite after turning its qualifying campaign into a program on Joga TV, while the Seleção's eternal rivals, Argentina, sit third riding a 35-match unbeaten streak.

Is the Liga MX format garbage or the key to soccer's future success?

A few days ago, ESPN stats man Alexis Tamayo — known online as Mr. Chip — said the Liga MX format "is garbage." His opinion sent shockwaves across the Mexican soccer universe and the discussion was on. 

As a guest on the Werevertumorro's YouTube channel, Mr. Chip pointed out that he doesn't understand how "a tournament in which consistency should be rewarded" also has something like playoffs. He also blamed the format as one of the culprits behind the lack of success among Mexican players on the international stage.

Ricardo Pepi scores his second goal for Groningen — too little too late for World Cup roster spot?

Ricardo Pepi scored Groningen’s sole goal in a 4-1 defeat to top Eredivisie side AZ Alkmaar on Saturday. This was the second Ricardo Pepi Groningen goal in the club’s previous two games.

Before the international break Pepi scored in Groningen’s game vs. Sparta Rotterdam to end his 345-day goal scoring drought. Despite a poor showing during the U.S. friendly vs. Saudi Arabia, Pepi didn’t let that affect his club form.

USMNT striker Power Rankings ahead of the World Cup

The worst case scenario heading into September's international window, given the argument over Jordan Pefok's omission despite his incredible start to life in the Bundesliga, was that all three of Gregg Berhalter's selected strikers would fail against the modest defensive challenges posed by Japan and Saudi Arabia.

Wow, the USMNT is really REALLY bad — three takeaways from baffling 0-0 draw with Saudi Arabia

Gregg Berhalter and his United States men’s national team are on a one-way collision course with a nasty ass kicking in Qatar at the World Cup. On Tuesday the USMNT played its final friendly before the World Cup and pathetically tied lowly Saudi Arabia 0-0.

There are few words that can accurately describe how poor the U.S. has looked in the last two friendly games vs. Japan and Saudi Arabia. With no words to summarize these poor performances let’s just let one stat in particular speak.

USMNT vs. Saudi Arabia player ratings: Let's do this quick and forget it ever happened

Oh boy. After getting played off the pitch against Japan last Friday, our USMNT vs Saudi Arabia player ratings from Tuesday's friendly in Spain aren't much better. 

Saudi Arabia entered the match having recently gone goalless against Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador, and that lack of a cutting edge was evident against the U.S. — although the Americans did take it in turns to gift opportunities to the Green Falcons.

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