Feel Good

If James Rodriguez is a Golden Boy, then he plays like one as well. We have all heard of a Golden Boy, or Golden Girl, who always did or said the right thing, and more so than that, always did the exceptional thing exceptionally well.

Looking through the honors of James’ on-field career, we see that same ability. He has been voted young player of the year in Argentina, player of the year in France, won the golden boot at the World Cup, and scored FIFA’s goal of the year.

35 years old is a heck of an age for a professional footballer to be. It’s old, in the world of football at least, but at the same time it’s really not. No one in their right minds would look at a 35-year-old and say they are past it outside of the world of sports. It’s a cut throat young man’s game, always has been, always will be. That’s why when 35 year-old Aritz Aduriz’s best goals of 2016 look like this, it’s a big deal. 

First was this bicycle kick against Eibar back in January.

The late 19th century to the end of the apartheid era in South Africa saw the rise of townships, urban living areas, built on the periphery of towns and cities. Reserved for non-whites, these sprawling and often underdeveloped slums were contrived as separate living spaces for working class and unemployed black, colored and Indian inhabitants. 

Townships were also referred to as locations or lokasie in Afrikaans. Lokasie gave way to the colloquial term kasi, a word which now encompasses the flavor and distinct style of the townships. 

Oh, to be German. The land of a healthy economy, delicious beer, and, of course, the World Cup Champions. It’s good to be in German soccer right now. If you are a young German, fans of top flight clubs across Europe melt at the prospect of having you on their team. If you are a veteran, people call you things like Fußballgott (which literaly means Football God). If you are a coach, you are highly respected, and more than likely highly paid.

A heartwarming gesture from Everton supporters has seen nine-year-old George Shaw awarded the January Everton Goal of the Month. Shaw trumped the efforts of Aaron Lennon, Kevin Mirallas and Ross Barkley to capture the prize.

When Robert Lewandowski was 17, he lost his 49-year-old father, Krzysztof, to a heart attack. Shortly after, Lewandowski was told by his youth team, Legia Warsaw, that he would never reach his previous levels of fitness and form following an injury. 

They subsequently released him, the culmination of a terrible year for the young Polish forward. Lewandowski had put football before everything, dedicating himself to the game and he now had nothing to show for it. Forced to grow up quickly in a difficult time, Lewandowski refused to accept Warsaw’s conclusion. 

David Beckham is a legend of the game, who has played for some of the best clubs in the world and has won almost everything there is to win. Yet his actions off the pitch have almost eclipsed his football career. Here are five reasons why he should be ordained as Saint Beckham. 

5. He donated all his PSG wages to charity.

It’s time to settle down and prepare yourself for some emotion, because you are about to watch a man be reunited with a long lost mentor he met as a boy. The fact that it’s set to the music from The Shawshank Redemption is almost unfair. 

Dries Mertens is having a fantastic year, and now he can check “perform heartwarming celebration off of his list.” The Belgian winger is currently one of the best attackers in Italy, and while his goal-scoring record (8 in 22 across all competitions) might not not convince you of this, he has played a large roll in putting Napoli at the top of Serie A.

He and his teammates have scored a league leading 45 goals so far. That’s 6 more than the second leading scoring team, Fiorentina, and firmly establishes Napoli as the most potent attack in Italy.