With a victory over New Zealand on Thursday afternoon, Cameroon would secure passage to the Round of 16 at the Women’s World Cup. They got there with the last kick of the match — Ajara Nchout’s improbable winner lifted her nation to a 2-1 victory after a calamitous 80th-minute own goal had threatened to ruin it all.
By holding World Cup host France to a draw today, Nigeria could’ve secured passage to the Round of 16 for the first time since 1999. For close to 80 minutes, that looked like the Super Falcons destiny.
Step forward the VAR.
First, the referee looked at the monitor to review a collision in Nigeria’s box between Ngozi Ebere and Viviane Asseyi. The ref decided it was a penalty and sent Ebere off for her second bookable offense.
Up stepped Wendie Renard for the spot kick. Her initial attempt clipped the outside of the post and went directly behind for a goal kick.
Over the course of his first four seasons in the English Premier League, Sadio Mané’s best goalscoring total was the 13 he scored during his first year with Liverpool. So while many credited Liverpool’s improvement this past season to newer faces like Virgil van Dijk, Alisson, Andrew Robertson and Fabinho, Mané’s ability to elevate his own game and score 22 goals — good for a three-way tie with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and teammate Mo Salah for the EPL’s Golden Boot — was equally as instrumental in a historic year for the Reds.
The first details of FIFA 20 have been confirmed by EA SPORTS, including a release date of September 27 and a new gameplay mode called “VOLTA Football” — which is “an authentic street football experience” wherein you can “build your player, pick your gear, and express your own personal style.”
For many Americans, win = good and loss = bad. It’s ingrained in the psyche of a sporting nation that values hundreds of points in a single game — the highest entertainment consisting of a series of start-stop mini games that bear no resemblance to the intricate processes that dictate the 90 minutes of play on a soccer field.
The 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup is only 25 days away, and the USWNT is showing how prepared it is to defend the title. In its first Send-Off Series match against South Africa on Sunday night in Santa Clara, California, the USWNT struggled to find the back of the net until the 36th minute.
Samantha Mewis took matters into her own hands when she beat a South African defender at the top of the box and put the U.S. on the scoreboard.
When you’ve recently churned out talent like Marco Reus, Mario Götze and Christian Pulisic, people get a bit more interested in the next generation of young lads at the Hohenbuschei training ground in the quiet Dortmund suburb of Brackel.
When does a celebration get out of hand, forcing the referee to whistle for a restart and allowing the team that just conceded to race down the field and score a goal of its own? It’s an unwritten rule that the euphoria which greets a goal should be given ample time to manifest itself, but who’s to say when enough’s enough?
We’re now just a few months away from the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France, and the hype is starting to build apace. Here at The18, we’ve already covered 18 players to watch at this summer’s tournament, but here are five coaches that are worth following come June. Some have served as pioneers of the women’s game, while others are taking their respective countries to new found heights.
Lions are one of the world's most majestic animals, but also known for their aggressive nature. However, getting up close and personal with a giant cat was an opportunity freestyler Séan Garnier could not resist. The Frenchman prides himself on maintaining his panna king status, no matter what the risk.
He got the privilege of traveling to Dubai and visiting a wild animal farm. While denying a matchup against a tiger because of the villain tiger in The Jungle Book, he chose a less dangerous animal: A lion. Jokes.