In one of the biggest controversies in U.S. soccer history, Jurgen Klinsmann infamously left out USMNT stalwart Landon Donovan from his 23-man squad for the 2014 World Cup. Donovan, who was 32 years old at the time, would have been looking at participating in his fourth World Cup, but sadly it was not to be.
So we’re 10 match days into Serie A action and the stupid levels of excitement coming out of Italy show no signs of abating. After Wednesday’s midweek matches, we find Napoli at the top of the table with INTER MILAN two points back. Right behind them we have six-time defending champions Juventus and then Lazio. We’d be remiss not to mention Roma as well — they still have a game in hand on the clubs above them.
The 2017-18 season is young, but dribbling is a young man’s game. According to WhoScored.com, these are the 10 players that, on average, are completing the most dribbles per game (minimum of five league matches). While you’ll find many of the usual suspects off to a flying start with regards to ending defenders’ careers, there are also some of the hottest young prospects in the world here.
It’s time to talk about Paulo Dybala. Actually, it was probably time to talk about Dybala two months ago, when he was rightly titillating the interest of the Barcelona board, possibly plugging a recently-emerged Neymar-sized hole in their starting XI. But even since then, Dybala has gone to a whole new level. Is it time to start talking about Dybala as being one of the very best in the world?
Newly appointed Argentina manager Jorge Sampaoli has wasted no time putting his own stamp on the national team by recalling once-exiled Inter Milan striker Mauro Icardi and dropping the oft-criticized Gonzalo Higuain for crucial upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay and Venezuela.
Icardi is joined in Argentina’s attack by Lionel Messi, Paulo Dybala, Joaquin Correa and Sergio Aguero, who was left out of Sampaoli’s first Argentina squad for friendlies against Brazil and Singapore back in June.
Argentina’s new sensation has proven time and again how talented he is on the biggest stage for Juventus. It looks like no matter what the circumstances are, Dybala finds a way to shine.
In a charity match in his hometown of Laguna Larga, the 23-year-old was faced with a seemingly insurmountable task - put the ball in the back of the net with 18 defenders and two goalkeepers in the way, many of whom were hanging from the crossbar to further block his path.