As Lionel Messi has grown more adult, so has his hair. Except for that blonde thing a while back. We'll get to that. Anyway, Messi's hair and beard have gradually mutated from a clean-shaven, moppy-haired boyish look to a bearded, crew-cutted mannish look. Let's take a look at how this transformation came about:
Age 21, standing at 6-4 and hailing from Muskego, Wisconsin, you probably think you know the USMNT’s latest salvation at the forward position, Andrija Novakovich. You’ve probably sketched a mental outline of a big, blundering center forward with an affinity for Milwaukee’s Best, but we mustn’t forget that Harry Kane was similarly written off for being a chubby, traveling salesman-looking version of Butt-head.
Aged just 16 years, five months and two days (for comparison’s sake, Lionel Messi was 17 years, three months and 22 days), teenage Catalan phenom Claudia Pina made her league debut for FC Barcelona Femeni Sunday in the club’s 2-0 victory over Zaragoza.
Pina has been a revelation for Barcelona throughout her La Masia rise, and her exploits for Spain at the U-17 level have been remarkable, to say the least.
Just before the new year, Puebla announced the signing of 26-year-old Bolivia international Alejandro Chumacero from La Paz club The Strongest. At 5-4, Chumacero is as diminutive as they come in the midfield/wide areas, but his talent was enough to earn a short-lived spell at Brazilian club Sport Recife at the age of 22.
Back on November 24, 2017, Guadalajara completed a three-goal comeback in the Apertura championship to shock Pachuca in the inaugural season of Liga MX Femenil, the top-flight women’s league in Mexico. Key to Chivas’ triumph was midfield captain Tania Morales, a 31-year-old native of Guadalajara who scored five goals and two assists in the 14-match regular season to lead her club into the playoffs.
Aged 31, Mexico international Andres Guardado recently told FIFA.com that he now prides himself more on bringing “balance to the team” rather than being the “box-to-box player” of old, so the Real Betis midfielder is probably less than pleased with the club’s defensive record this season — they’ve allowed 34 goals in 18 matches, third-worst in La Liga.
It’s not an easy thing to break into the Paris Saint-Germain midfield as an attack-minded 21-year-old. With a guaranteed front three of Edinson Cavani, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe balanced by the automatic midfield selections of Adrien Rabiot and Marco Verratti, there’s only one remaining spot outside of defense for the likes of Angel Di Maria, Julian Draxler, Javier Pastore, Thiago Motta and Giovani Lo Celso (the 21-year-old referenced above) to battle for.
We soccer fans often forget there’s more to life than just the beautiful game. So, please note: this weekend the movie "IT," inspired by Stephen King's eponymous novel, is in theaters. Remember Pennywise, that demonic clown that made us wet our pants as children in the nineties? Well, IT is back.
As it turns out, there's something even more terrifying than IT lurking around soccer fields.
Bayern Munich's greatest talent has the potential to fill the shoes of the retiring Philipp Lahm and then some. Joshua Kimmich will more than likely represent both Bayern and the German national team with as much, if not more, success than his predecessor.
In his storied career, Lahm has amassed an impressive trophy case with almost every accomplishment imaginable. He is a seven-time Bundesliga winner, a six-time German Cup winner, possesses a coveted Champions League title and, of course, the 2014 World Cup title.
Last week, social media erupted amid news that Premier League side Arsenal had attempted to spend a huge amount of money on Serie A’s latest striking sensation, Andrea Belotti. Figures in the tens of millions were bandied about, converted from euros to pounds and back again until it seemed as though Arsenal’s penny-pinching ways had prevented their transfer business yet again.