One of my first memories of watching soccer with a non-soccer fan involves a friend asking why one team just kicked the ball out of bounds for no reason. The answer, of course, was sportsmanship. For decades, players who saw an opponent injured would kick the ball out of bounds so they could receive treatment.
Earlier this year, I watched part of the NCAA football title game on an alternate ESPN2 broadcast featuring coaches from Texas A&M talking about the game. It was garbage television, and I’m an Aggie. When I saw the NCAA women’s basketball title game Sunday night had an alternate broadcast on ESPN2, I was initially skeptical, but I’m so glad I watched.
"Absurd" was the word Italian defender Leonardo Bonucci used to describe the UEFA World Cup qualifying process after his team fell to North Macedonia in a single-leg playoff last week.
"You have to play a single game in which anything can happen as we have seen," the veteran center back said. "There are teams that qualified after losing four or five games; we are at home after losing only one in the 92nd minute. It is truly madness."
There's a new streaming service in town. Its name is ViX and claims to bring "the world's largest offering of Spanish-language entertainment, news and sports content." And with sports, obviously, there's a lot of soccer implied. What games and leagues are on ViX? Here we are to answer the question.
Four years ago, Taylor Twellman went down in U.S. sports media history with his epic rant screaming “WHAT ARE WE DOING?!” to anyone who would listen after the USMNT failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. On Wednesday night, the sports media reaction to the Americans returning to the World Cup was far more muted, almost apathetic in many cases. SportsCenter in particular buried the news deep in its flagship Scott Van Pelt broadcast.
Over the weekend I found myself watching a meaningless friendly between England and Switzerland, two countries that already qualified for the 2022 World Cup.
I considered turning the game off, but I found myself mesmerized by Swiss winger Xherdan Shaqiri, who continuously danced around English defenders, played inch-perfect passes and was in general an attacking menace. One of those delightful balls even assisted Switzerland's only goal.
Chelsea star and France international N’Golo Kanté turned 31 years old on Tuesday while on duty with his national team. France — already qualified for the World Cup — is playing some friendly matches during the international window. Before France’s game vs. South Africa on Tuesday there was a Kanté birthday cake surprise.
After a three-year delay, the most prestigious competition in American soccer is finally back. Now in its 107th iteration, the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is older than the Coupe de France, Coppa Italia, NFL and NBA.
It features 91 semi-pro and professional American soccer teams from four divisions and seven leagues, plus a further 12 amateur clubs — good for a total of 103 entrants.
The U.S. men’s national team competes in World Cup qualifying from September 2021 to March 2022, and fans are both excited by the squad’s results this summer and nervous about getting their hearts broken again. Here’s everything you need to know about how to watch USMNT World Cup qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup.