There are few power couples in sports more accomplished than Pernille Harder and Magdalena Eriksson. There’s Megan and Sue and Mia and Nomar, and after that it’s pretty debatable (sorry Mal and Dansby, you’ve got some catching up to do).
It's been 15 years since news of Italy's major match-fixing scandal shocked the footballing world. Calciopoli, as the scandal became known, involved five Serie A sides (namely Juventus) paying off anyone and everyone to influence things like refereeing selections and calls made on the field.
Gianluigi Buffon, Giorgio Chiellini and Zlatan Ibrahimovic — members of Juventus at the time and all still in Serie A — will certainly remember those dark days of Italian football, as well as the subsequent match-fixing scandal that came to light in 2011.
The first James Rodriguez Qatar goal was scored on Tuesday as the 30-year-old Colombian helped Al-Rayyan to a 4-2 victory in the Qatar Stars League. I still hear Peter Drury’s commentary of “my word this boy’s a star” from when James scored an absolute screamer against Uruguay in the 2014 World Cup echoing in my ear.
In 2014 it felt like James could conquer the Earth. In 2021 he’s scoring his first goal for Al-Rayyan.
One of the greatest players in U.S. Soccer history will sign off on Tuesday. After 16 incredible years on the field with the USWNT Carli Lloyd will hang up her cleats. Fans, players and other athletes are all preparing for the emotional moment when Lloyd plays her final game against for the national team against South Korea Tuesday night.
So how’s everyone enjoying FIFA 22 online then? For the 30,000+ players who were recently issued a seven-day ban for exploiting a FIFA Ultimate Team loophole — giving EA a little taste of its own medicine — I’d venture to say not very much.
Recently, users discovered that quitting a FUT Champions match didn’t result in a loss. EA resolved the issue, identified users who’d consistently quit without suffering a loss and hit them with the ban. Some players complained on Twitter that their ban was a lot longer than seven days — 993 days longer, to be exact.
Incredible goals by young talents are frequently accompanied by the phrase “remember the name,” and that’s the case here for 21-year-old FC Groningen winger Cyril Ngonge.
The Belgium youth international’s star has been steadily rising over the last few years, beginning with a successful loan spell with Jong PSV in the Dutch second division to engineer a move to the Eredivisie’s RKC Waalwijk for the 2020-21 campaign.
Leeds United trailed 1-0 for 84 minutes against Wolves on Saturday before Rodrigo scored a vital penalty kick in stoppage time to grab a point for his team. The Spanish striker couldn’t contain his excitement and took a page out of Jamie Vardy’s celebration book and attacked the corner flag.
Juventus’ 2020-21 season, Andrea Pirlo’s first and only in charge, was a failure by the club’s own lofty standards. Pirlo delivered the Coppa and Supercoppa, but Juve’s nine-year grip on the Scudetto was ended by Inter Milan while Cristiano Ronaldo’s Champions League dream was humiliatingly crushed by Porto in the Round of 16.
The fallout was immense with Pirlo sacked and Ronaldo sold, making the campaign one of Juve’s most dramatic — thankfully, Amazon Prime Video Sport was there filming it all.