At the office of The18, we take our foosball pretty seriously. Although the incessant banging of ball against High Pressure Laminate walls isn’t conducive to maintaining a train of thought (don’t blame me for all the nonsense I write), the call of the 2-5-3 formation is too strong to ignore. For some, that call has turned into an obsession — these are the professional foosballers among us.
Will all due respect to Christian Pulisic and Diego Lainez, it’s a Canadian who is the best young North American playing in Europe right now. There can be no debate after this Alphonso Davies goal vs Nurnberg on Saturday.
There’s no more compelling story than when a player like Jamie Vardy goes from being released by his club at the age of 16 to suddenly tearing up the Premier League at the age of 28, but the Leicester City striker’s path is a fit-for-Hollywood tale rather than the norm. The truth is that football is now a mega-industry and the reach of its tentacles knows no bounds — in the search for the world’s next great talent, no rock is left unturned and no YouTube highlight video is left unproduced.
Though they’re third and fifth in the Premier League, the gulf between Manchester City and Manchester United is vast. City is 15 points ahead of its rival in the league and now two goals ahead after a 3-1 victory over United in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semifinals on Tuesday at Old Trafford.
The eighth episode of The Players’ Tribune series “Bad as a Mother” starring USWNT forward Sydney Leroux and her husband Dom Dwyer dropped on Dec. 31, and it was a captivating finale with the proud parents bringing home newborn daughter Roux. (This actually happened on June 28, 2019.)
It’s been nearly 14 years since Zinedine Zidane felled Marco Materazzi with a forehead to the solar plexus, but that moment from the 2006 World Cup Final still reverberates through time.
Crystal Palace defeated West Ham 2-1 on Thursday thanks to an incredible solo effort from Jordan Ayew at the death. Ayew had provided the assist on Cheikhou Kouyaté’s equalizer for Palace in the 68th minute, but he saved his ultimate contribution for last.
It has happened plenty of times before: a player thinks he or she can get to a ball and ends up making a terrible tackle.
This definitely is not the case.
In the Ukrainian lower division, it looks like one player makes a genuine effort to kill the guy on the ball with a tackle that ends up coming close to his armpit.
Meanwhile in Ukraine.. pic.twitter.com/E64987Y5dC
Last week, Manuel Neuer provided another example of his unique ability to excel outside of the box. While others attempt to emulate his brazen style of play, few can replicate his skill as a sweeper keeper. Schalke’s goalie, for one, provided an example of how not to play sweeper keeper, resulting in a deserved Alexander Nübel red card for one of the most violent tackles you’ll ever see on the pitch.
Mohamed Salah is starting to catch fire. The second Mo Salah goal vs Watford on Saturday may have been his best yet.
The Egyptian wonder had a goal and an assist against Bournemouth last weekend and a goal against RB Salzburg in the Champions League during the week. Salah scored twice in Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Watford at Anfield that sent the Reds 10 points ahead of second-place Leicester City.
Salah’s first was a beauty in its own right. The winger who highly favors his left foot showed he can also score curlers with his right to open the scoring in the 38th minute.