While Pelé is often considered the greatest goal scorer of all time, he does not top the charts on any one league’s all-time scoring list. Lionel Messi hasn’t been able to equal Pelé or Diego Maradona by winning a World Cup, but he does sit on top of the all-time scoring list for one of the best leagues in the world.
We're all bummed the USMNT didn’t make it to the World Cup. Many Americans are still recovering from the emotional blow suffered last week. There are those who just want to forget about everything soccer until 2022. Others are looking for new national teams to root for next summer.
Here’s a thought. American fans should support Mexico. Am I serious? Yes! Here’s why:
It’s been nearly 15 years since Marvin Lee last took a breath on this planet. Once a captain of the Trinidad and Tobago youth national team, Lee died at the age of 21 at his home in Arima after suffering a career-ending neck injury from a collision with U.S. legend Landon Donovan two years earlier.
In 2001, Trinidad and Tobago was at its footballing zenith, ranked No. 25 in the world, the highest it would ever get. Marvin Lee was a defender on the U-20 squad. Some of his teammates would go on to take the Soca Warriors to their first and only World Cup appearance in 2006.
Christian Pulisic, born on Sept. 18, 1998, turned 19 on Monday. In the first 18 years of his life, he has already been called the greatest American soccer player of all time. But how does he compare to Landon Donovan at the same age?
When the United States began their Gold Cup campaign last Saturday I was in a bar. I was there to watch this game, but somewhere around the 30th minute I started to drift. I was like a pass from the American midfield — serenely floating here and there without any purpose or sense of direction.
Dom Dwyer’s opening goal sent the bartender on a rambling ode to Sydney Leroux that lasted until tonight’s match against Nicaragua, a week-long sonnet on unrealized love.
Landon Donovan posted a video of his son Talon scoring a goal in his backyard, and little Talon looks like he's on the fast track to the USMNT. His dad posted the caption, "He's going to kill me for this when he gets older. Oh well."
The United States has appeared in 10 FIFA World Cups, including the last seven straight. Out of those 10 appearances, they've fallen at the first hurdle on five occasions. The most notable exceptions include the first-ever World Cup in 1930 when the side finished third in the 13-team tournament and their run to the 2002 quarterfinals in Japan and South Korea.
In 2011 FOX bid more than $400 million to secure the US rights for the 2018 and 2022 Men’s World Cup (as well as the Women’s 2015 and 2019 World Cups). [Note: Telemundo also bid over $600 million for rights for those tournaments as well.] Now just over a year away from the kick-off, FOX appears to have chosen their three-man announcer booth to headline the network’s World Cup coverage.
When you limit your playing career to Manchester United, Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, Milan and Paris Saint-Germain (and represent the English national team for 14 years), you're inevitably going to play alongside some of the world's best players. What's more, if you're a really great passer of the ball, which David Beckham was, you're going to provide a few classy assists for that talent.
Every club that’s had an extended run in the Premier League is a perfect example for the transitive property (If a=b and b=c, then a=c) that affects modern football: