Youth Soccer

This article was written at a time when Paul Pogba and Juventus were struggling. Those struggles got worse before they got better, but Juve have now won 15 straight Serie A games, find themselves in first place, and Pogba is playing with all of the confidence and leadership one could hope for. This article sheds some light on how Pogba got out of an unencouraging start to the season with some help from his manager, Massimiliano Allegri.

So, it turns out that when Barcelona isn’t kicking out it’s youth prospects because of it’s shady dealings, those youth prospects have an absolute blast playing soccer. And who wouldn’t when, at the age of 11, you can already do cooler s*** on the pitch than the vast majority of the world? 

We have never seen anything quite like this. The concentration involved in this video of a boy juggling a soccer ball while solving a Rubik's cube is simply staggering. 

And here we are having trouble patting our heads and rubbing our stomachs at the same time.

Seriously, someone give this kid a job. If he has the powers of concentration to do what he does in this video, he can surely revive America's stumbling economy or cure cancer or something. Child labor laws be damned, we are looking at the savior of humanity here. Or he's just a kid who can do a cool trick.

The warm and salty air of Porto, Portugal welcomes travelers to one of the country's oldest cities. The city, located right next to the North Atlantic Ocean, is home to the Primeira club F.C. Porto. The Dragoes, as they are known, are one of Portugals most well-known soccer clubs. The club’s players and fans are always fighting tooth and nail for the Primeira championship against S.C. Benfica, one of their bitter rivals and the other character in the O’Classico derby.

Apparently, a young Finnish striker named Eero Markkanen was released by Real Madrid Castilla because he entered preseason camp 18 kg (40 lbs) heavier than he was last season.

40 lbs in gained weight is nothing so scoff at. That’s like a third or a fourth of a person that this guy tried to walk into camp with. I don’t care if he’s 6’ 5” and his nickname is “The Tank” — he is and it is — that’s ridiculous.

Markkanen responded to being let go on Twitter. 

La Liga started last weekend. It is a brand new 2015-16 season, but as Real Madrid played against Sporting Gijon it showed the same old problems of the preseason, and even the Carlo Ancelotti era: lack of goals.

You could say that the last great Real Madrid offensive show was in April 29, 2014 against Bayern Munich in the Champions League semifinal. Madrid scored four times against Bayern and eliminated them.

It seems with each passing game the USMNT acquires a new potential savior, the athletic, skilled player that will become a superstar and lead the U.S. to glory and cement America as a world power. Right now, fans are bandying about around five potential saviors, and we have uptades on all of them (except for maybe John Brooks, but whatever).

Bobby Wood

Memphis Depay’s confidence has been evident ever since he had his first official press conference for Manchester United. He owned the podium that day. “We have to play for the trophies,” he said, like he had to get so many loafs of bread. And that’s not to say he came off as arrogant, quite the opposite: he alternated often between admitting he needed to work hard and listen to his manager.

When we were 12 years old, we were just satisfied with putting the ball in the back of the net, no matter how it happened. Honestly, we were six years away from playing soccer like bees play tag. In the rare instance that one of us scored something that took any amount of skill, we we’re f***ing pumped.

After a disappointing loan spell at Hamburg SV in the Bundesliga, American 20-year-old Julian Green will give it another go at Bayern Munich in 2015/16.

He will start out in the U23s, where he will attempt to establish himself in the first team, and help the side win promotion to the German 3rd division.