Inspiring

Things started inconspicuously enough for Clint Dempsey following his $4 million January move from New England to Fulham back in 2006. However, the slow start was entirely forgiven when the 22-year-old bundled home his first goal for the club (the first strike in the video above) against Liverpool at the tail end of the season. The goal was momentous, saving the club from relegation and guaranteeing its place in the top flight for the 2007-08 season.

What’d you think about that, eh? Absolutely unreal from Internacional’s Nico Lopez. The lad’s got some chutzpah, and it’s awesome to see the now 24-year-old doing his thing in Brazil’s Serie A. 

Lopez, nicknamed “El Diente” (“The Tooth”) because he’s got one helluva overbite, rose to international prominence after making his senior debut for Montevideo’s Nacional at the age of 17. Shortly after, he’d transfer to Italy and join Roma under the tutelage of “Soccer’s Jedi,” Zdenek Zeman.

Andres Iniesta was never going to have a Zlatan Ibrahimovic-esque debut in the J1 League. The 34-year-old schemer is a much more subtle player and has never been one to stuff the stat line. Last Sunday, he made his debut for Vissel Kobe and played the final 31 minutes of his side’s 3-0 defeat.

After his break following a World Cup with Spain, the former Barcelona midfielder looked a little rusty — every pass just seemed a fraction too far for his teammates, perhaps an indication of the new level of play that he’ll need to adjust to.

Every professional footballer on the planet wants to train under Pep Guardiola (apart from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Yaya Toure). His approach to playing the game has revolutionized football and brought unmitigated success to Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City. Now, thanks to Amazon Prime Original docuseries “All or Nothing: Manchester City”, we get a behind-the-scenes look at Guardiola and total access to City’s stable of world-class footballers.

Trevor Noah is African; he is also a soccer fan. On an episode of The Daily Show With Trevor Noah this week, the comedian celebrated a World Cup victory for Africa, because many of France’s players are of African descent. But the Trevor Noah France comments did not go over too well with everyone, including French ambassador to the U.S. Gérard Araud. 

“I said Africa won the World Cup,” Noah said. “I was shocked at how angry a lot of French people got.”