We would like to share with you two moments from the Africa Cup of Nations that made us lean forward in our seat and open our eyes really wide. These happened on different days and in different matches, but they are both glorious.
The first is Burkina Faso's goalkeeper doing his best sweeper-keeper.
Burkina Faso's keeper will soon find himself in a Chinese club's back four on £300k-a-week after this tackle pic.twitter.com/TDgvJnFc3I
U.S. Soccer has announced that they will host the second annual SheBelieves Cup. From March 1-7, 2017, four out of the five top ranked teams in the world will travel to the northeast region of the U.S. to compete. Germany, France and England will join the USA in the most elite international tournament of the year. USA is currently ranked number one in the world, with Germany coming in second, France in third and England in fifth.
Carli Lloyd had quite the year before adding another international award to her name. Early in 2016, Lloyd released her autobiography When Nobody Was Watching: My Hard-Fought Journey To The Top Of The Soccer World. It was a book that reflected on her family falling-out as well as the struggles and sacrifices she encountered as she rose to the top.
Cameroon is very mad at Liverpool because Joel Matip doesn't want to play in the Africa Cup of Nations.
Matip is a senior-capped Cameroon international, has had disagreements with the country's sport governing body before, when he was playing for Schalke, and has evidently decided he just doesn't want to play for them anymore.
Naturally, the Cameroon FA decided that of course Joel Matip wants to play for Cameroon, who wouldn't, and it's all Liverpool's fault he's not going to the African Cup of Nations.
The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations begins on January 14 in Gabon. This will be the 31st edition of the 16-team tournament, with the Ivory Coast serving as the defending champions from the 2015 event.
The Ivory Coast are the early favorites to repeat, but the likes of Senegal, Algeria, Ghana and Egypt are also strong bets with talented squads. What makes the tournament so electrifying is its unpredictability — the 30 previous tournaments have seen 14 different nations crowned champions.
Catalonia, the autonomous community located in the eastern extremity of Spain with Barcelona serving as the capital and largest city, has advocated for its independence since the Spanish Civil War. With some political and cultural autonomy, as well as prevalent use of the Catalan language, it's followed suite that the region has its own national football team.
However, Catalonia is not affiliated with either FIFA or UEFA, disqualifying them from participating in the World Cup or European Championship.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has made it known that he wants to change the World Cup format to allow more teams to compete in the event. As opposed to the current 32 teams, he would like to expand the competition to 48 countries.