In the end, Netherlands and FC Barcelona attacker Lieke Martens was the deserved recipient of 2017’s The Best FIFA Women’s Player award (an accolade presumably named by a toddler or Sepp Blatter). But the three-woman shortlist for the prize continues to flip the bird at anyone who wishes to try and make sense of it all.
Being a referee is a difficult, thankless job. No ref will ever get every call right (or wrong) but it’s always important to remember that 99.9 percent of referees are just trying to facilitate a fair match between two teams. Unfortunately these refs in New Delhi, India, were attacked for doing their job.
A Russian Second Division match (the third level of Russian football) between Tekstilshchik and FC Torpedo Vladimir (that’s a pretty badass sounding club) descended into absolute farce when the referee, Pyotr Miroshnichenko, failed to award Vladimir a penalty after two scandalous decisions within the space of 60 seconds.
FC Dallas has been in a free fall in recent months. The club has won just once since a 2-1 win over Montreal on July 22 saw FC Dallas briefly move to the top of the Western Conference, a span of 12 matches that included more than bad losses. It could get even worse after an apparent illegal substitution late in Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Orlando City.
So you think you know all about Narcos just because you’ve watched all three seasons of the eponymous Netflix show? Well, think again. There are likely still a couple things you don’t know about the link between soccer and drug trafficking, with major drug kingpins linked to soccer stars.
Languishing in last place in the German third division and trailing Meppen 2-0 on Saturday, Carl Zeiss Jena scored the kind of goal that only a club staring relegation square in the face could appreciate.
Sadio Mane earned straight red Saturday after going studs up against Manchester City keeper Ederson. It was a tough call for the refs to decide whether Mane deserved red, or perhaps a deeper shade of red than usual.
Sadio mane like this is Sparta !pic.twitter.com/tiKIRhfHa5
— Delfim Mendes (@fimfim7) September 9, 2017
Zinedine Zidane is now as famous a manager for Real Madrid as he was a player for the club and the France National Team. He is also infamous for ending his international career with a headbutt on Italy's Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup final.
It has been over a decade since that incident, but it's clear it still weighs on Zidane's mind in terms of both what it means for his legacy and the example it sets for young fans. Of course, this is to be expected when you ram your head into another man's solar plexus with a few million people watching.
Last week, Jonjo Shelvey revealed himself to be the thinking man of the Premier League when he stomped on Dele Alli's ankle in plain sight of the referee, presumably after running the idea by his good friend Potato Brain. It was a true display of intellect, the likes of which we thought we would never see again.
Oh happy day, we were wrong.