YouTube

In between bashing the American president and delving into the North Korea problem, late night host John Oliver presented a segment that was actually useful to Americans on his Last Week Tonight program Sunday night. The HBO show illustrated how Univision Deportes announcer Luis Omar Tapia makes everything more exciting — robot soccer included. 

When it comes to football advertisements, few have come close to matching Nike’s “Take It To The Next Level” commercials from 2008. The first-hand perspective ads put you directly in the shoes of an up-and-coming footballer, brushing shoulders with the likes of Arsene Wenger, Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ronaldinho.

With 19 league assists in 30 matches, no player in Europe’s big five leagues had more than RB Leipzig’s Emil Forsberg last season. The 25-year-old Swedish midfielder was one of the breakthrough players in Europe in 2016-17, firing his club to an unexpected second place finish in the Bundesliga.

For a bit of context, Luis Suarez provided the second most assists in Europe’s big five leagues last season. His total was 13. 

There was a moment in the Copa America Cenenario when I saw 11 men realize the true meaning of fear. It was in the semifinal between the United States and Argentina. Argentina were up 1-0 and had just won a free kick in a dangerous area. Lionel Messi stood over the ball as Brad Guzan set up his wall. Then Messi bent down and tied his shoes. It was the most terrifying thing I've seen in my life. You knew right then that he was going to score and there was nothing the USA could do about it.

In the summer of 1998, Nigerian wizard Jay-Jay Okocha arrived at Paris Saint-Germain for an exceptionally large fee of $18 million, making him the most expensive African player at the time. World renowned for his creativity, dribbling and playmaking, PSG’s capture of Okocha was not unlike this summer’s signing of Neymar.