One of the biggest struggles in American soccer, both at the amateur and the professional level, is the lack of quality, soccer-specific fields.
The only options are sharing a field with every other notable mid-level sports team in the city or playing on a forsaken piece of grass with significant wear and minimal seating.
And yet we wonder why we struggle to produce high-quality soccer players.
No sport punishes players for in-game infringements more harshly than soccer. Imagine if American football, basketball or baseball forced a team to play a man down because one player made an ill-advised foul or lost his cool at the wrong time. It all makes the most bizarre red card I’ve ever seen all the more painful, especially since it was kind of my fault.
After a 2020 season that was hugely disrupted by COVID-19, resulting in both the men’s and women’s College Cup finals being played back on May 17, the 2021 NCAA Division I soccer season marks a return to normalcy as we’re now almost two weeks into the fall campaign.
It’s early doors but we’ve already seen some spectacular play around the country, so much so that SportsCenter’s Top 10 has already featured a couple stunning goals.
I can’t imagine the pressure of being the son of two world-famous celebrities. No matter what Romeo Beckham does with his life, it will be nearly impossible to live up to his dad, legendary footballer David Beckham, or his mother, famed Spice Girl/fashion icon Victoria Beckham. You gotta give Romeo credit for trying to follow in his father’s footsteps, even if he’s getting a bit of help from dear old dad in the process.
When you hear her teammates talk about her, Olivia Moultrie isn’t just a 15-year-old gimmick, she’s a contributing member of the Portland Thorns. And now that the NWSL has allowed her to become the youngest player in league history, she’s making an impact on the pitch.
In her first career start, Moultrie provided the game-winning assist, sending in a peach of a cross for Simone Charley to head home as Portland held off Washington 1-0 on Saturday night.
No one in the world has won more men’s soccer trophies than Dani Alves. You’d never know it from how he celebrated his first Olympic gold medal on Saturday.
The 38-year-old Alves helped his country to a repeat gold at the Olympics as the Seleção beat Spain 2-1 in extra time. When the final whistle blew, Alves broke down in tears of joy.
¡Un título más para @DaniAlvesD2 !
Japan was five minutes and penalty kicks away from reaching the gold medal match against Brazil as the host nation of the 2020 Olympics. Then Marco Asensio did Marco Asensio things.
Asensio, the 25-year-old Real Madrid winger and the oldest player on Spain’s roster, came off the bench to score a beautiful curler in the 115th minute to send Spain past Japan 1-0 in extra time of their Olympic semifinal on Tuesday, setting up a dream final against Brazil on Saturday.
TOKYO — Host Japan displayed nerves of steel as it edged out New Zealand 4-2 in a penalty shootout to reach the men's Olympic soccer semifinals on Saturday, while Spain survived a scare in an extra-time win over Ivory Coast.
After a goalless 120 minutes at the Ibaraki Kashima Stadium, New Zealand full back Liberato Cacace's penalty was saved by Kosei Tani and midfielder Clayton Lewis blasted his spot kick over the bar.
Mexico is one win away from its second Olympic medal in soccer after thrashing South Korea 6-3 on Saturday in Yokohama. A tight game burst into a rout after a stunning Luís Romo volley, and Sebastián Córdova put the game out of reach with a long-range golazo.
Mexico won gold in 2012 but failed to reach the knockout rounds in Brazil five years ago, heading home after a 1-0 defeat to South Korea in the final group-stage match. El Tri wasn’t about to bow out with another loss to South Korea.
HONG KONG - With crucial goals in each of Japan's three group games, Takefusa Kubo is delivering on his potential, as the Olympic Games hosts step up their chase for a place on the podium for the first time in over half a century.
Just as he had done in group phase wins over South Africa and Mexico, the 20-year-old opened the scoring for Japan in Wednesday's 4-0 victory over France to set up a quarterfinal meeting with New Zealand on Saturday.
Takefusa Kubo Goal Vs. France