Rafael Márquez set a new World Cup record on Sunday. The legendary Mexico defender became the third player to appear in five World Cups when he came in for Andrés Guardado in the 74th minute for El Tri against Germany. More impressively, by taking the captain’s armband from Guardado, Rafa Márquez became the first player to captain five teams at the World Cup.
Every once in a while it pops back into Omar Gonzalez’s head. A night of terror for all U.S. soccer players and fans.
Omar Gonzalez was on the field the night the USMNT shockingly lost 2-1 to Trinidad and Tobago and — thanks to results elsewhere — failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1986. It was off his leg that the Soca Warriors scored their first goal, one of the flukiest own goals you’ll ever see.
The German Bundesliga is home to some brilliant attackers, from Timo Werner and Christian Pulisic to just about everyone on Bayern Munich. But none of those forward managed to snag the 2017-18 Bundesliga Goal of the Season. That honor belongs to a defender.
Fans were asked to vote on their favorite goal from the season, with American Christian Pulisic in the running. Pulisic was the only player with two goals nominated for Bundesliga Goal of the Season, which perhaps explains why the greatest player of all time of the last year and a half failed to win the final vote.
Early in the second half of Saturday's Champions League final, Liverpool fans were still hot over Sergio Ramos' controversial tackle that knocked Mo Salah out of the game. Ironically, the focus on Salah might have detracted from the attention given to a Sergio Ramos elbow on Liverpool keeper Loris Karius.
Brazil, a 4-1 favorite for the World Cup, has been dealt a significant injury blow with its opening match against Switzerland only 37 days away.
For all of Toronto FC’s financial ambition, signing players like Sebastian Giovinco, Jozy Altidore, Michael Bradley, Gregory van der Wiel, Ager Aketxe and Victor Vázquez in recent years, the club hasn’t focused on one vital position: center back. And thus, with recent injuries to regular defenders, an intriguing new Michael Bradley center back experiment has unfolded at BMO Field in recent weeks. And it’s something the next USMNT coach might want to consider.
A vintage N'Golo Kante tackle prevented the world's most feared counterattack from delivering. Liverpool's triumverate of Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino has been devastating on the counter all season, and it looked as if they would break through first on Sunday with Sadio Mane charging at a retreating Gary Cahill.
Then N'Golo Kante tracked back and snuffed out the attack.
When Bastian Schweinsteiger first burst onto the world scene at the 2006 World Cup, the precocious 21-year-old was a winger with a bag of tricks. By 2014, when he helped Germany hoist the World Cup trophy, he was a veteran defensive midfielder, a calm and composed presence.
But Bastian Schweinsteiger in 2018 with the Chicago Fire has taken on an entirely new role: sweeper.
Fire coach Veljko Paunovic has moved the aging but gifted player from the heart of his team to the heart of his defense, lining the German up at the middle of a three-man defense in a 3-5-2.