Central & South America

Two years ago, Brazilian midfielder Anderson was at the end of his Manchester United career after being frozen out under manager Louis van Gaal. Oddly, Anderson had managed to stay on the Old Trafford books for over seven seasons without ever particularly impressing. He’s a four-time Premier League champion and winner of the 2007-08 UEFA Champions League with United, but he’s still widely regarded as a flop having arrived from Porto for €30 million in 2007.

Since 1987, Argentina side Club Social y Deportivo Liniers have been playing their home matches at “The Bulldozer”, just outside of Buenos Aires. For nearly 30 years they’ve been playing on a crooked, wonky pitch that features one half that’s much shorter than the other.

Google Maps images clearly revealed something not quite right about the pitch, and the Argentina Football Association (AFA) is now threatening the club with closure should they not rectify the field’s blemishes.

One of the major developments in the world of football over the past week has been the deployment of the “green card” in Italy’s Serie B to reward players for acts of virtue, including admitting to having taken a dive in order to win a penalty or free kick.

It’s hard to imagine that only a few months ago we were considering the possibility of Brazil missing a World Cup for the first time since the tournament began back in 1930. 

Well, the tables have turned for the Selecao as well as for everyone else in South America. 

The Chileans looked like the stronghold of the continent after claiming two consecutive Copa Americas. Now their mojo seems to be gone as they have lost two and tied one of their last four matches. 

I love Dinho. You love Dinho. We love Dinho. Everybody loves Dinho. Dinho is good and cool. Dinho is fun. I wish I was as happy about anything as Dinho seems to be about everything.

Dinho played in a charity match for Pope Francis and had lots of fun.

Dinho played keepy-uppy with Francesco Totti and Diego Maradona and had more fun than you or I could even fathom.

55-year-old Diego Maradona had to be restrained by security staff at Pope Francis’ “Match for Peace and Solidarity” after getting into a verbal altercation with Juan Sebastian Veron on Wednesday night.

Bolivia got off to an absolute flyer against Ecuador on Tuesday in La Paz. This shouldn’t surprise anyone as Bolivia’s home gournd, Estadio Hernando Siles at an altitude of 11,932 feet above sea level, is almost a literal deathtrap for CONMEBOL opposition.

La Verde took a fourth minute lead through Pablo Escobar, the 38-year-old attacking midfielder just thrashing a shot from almost 25 yards out. The shot was sensational, flying into the top corner. However, Rodrigo Ramallo also deserves credit for applying the assist from his a**. 

Argentina’s 1-0 defeat at home to Paraguay on Tuesday was a massively damning result for La Albiceleste. Most evidently, it left Argentina in fifth place in the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying table, one point out of the automatic qualification places. While there’s still time to move up the table, there’s also the worrying reality that both Paraguay and Chile are immediately behind them in the table, ready to knock them out of the 2018 World Cup entirely.

GL!!!

Meet the Canarinho.

No, you don't want to meet him, but meet him. 

The name Canarinho (little canary) has been synonymous with Brazil's National Team since 1984, when their yellow kits were adopted. To honor that nickname (Why, we ask, of all Brazil's nicknames, would you choose to honor that one?), Brazil have up and got themselves a new mascot that looks like something teenagers would catapult at buildings on their cellphones.

We love a good mudder.

Colombia and Uruguay drew 2-2 Tuesday in what could only be called a mudder, a World Cup qualifier played in a driving rainstorm in which no player's jersey emerged clean. It was glorious.

Watch these highlights and then meet us on the other side. We're going to talk about mudders some more.