Amazing

“It’s the ones with the strongest mentality who make it.”

This was the quote that kept Alphonso Davies in the game. The Canadian star began gaining traction when he became the second-youngest player to play in MLS at the age of 15. Then, when he was 18, Davies completed a record-breaking transfer to Bayern Munich.

But his life hasn't always been studded in glory. Davies opened up about this in an article called "Moving Past The Doubt." In it, we see where the phenom started. 

Lemme sing y’all a little song about the legend of Michelle Akers, all based entirely on true events ripped straight from her Instagram timeline.

*classic guitar strums*

Once upon a time in the pre-NWSL U.S.,
women’s soccer was dominated by a lanky, curly haired lass. 

Michelle Akers did it all way back when,
she shared FIFA Player of the Century with China’s Sun Wen.

She won two World Cups and one gold medal,
not too shabby for a girl from just outside Seattle.

“Route One Soccer” is a seldom used tactic that happens professionally once every blue moon and actually works even less of the time. The strategy is often seen in U.S. youth games when the goalkeeper punts the ball as far as he can and the fastest kid on the team tries to outsprint all the opponents to the ball. Route One style of play is the exact opposite of tiki-taka.

Nike has released the third part of its "You Can’t Stop Us" campaign and it’s pretty amazing. The campaign itself is geared towards showing the resilience of people around the world. No matter the odds stacked against you, you must always rise above.

The first film in the series was narrated by LeBron James and called "Never Too Far Down." In it, James talked about coming back from defeat. Coming back and fighting with every ounce of strength marks an athlete, and people around the world can learn from that.

Close your eyes and imagine where you were July 29, 1996. I wasn’t born yet, but I like to imagine that I would have been on a plane to a tropical vacation… 

If you were the Baby Faced Assassin, then you would have just joined Manchester United as an underdog who took the Red Devils by storm.

“Obsession is a young man's game, and my only excuse is that I never grew old.” — Michael Caine

So the NWSL Challenge Cup has come to an end … for now. There are some rumors the league is contemplating more games in the remainder of the 2020 season, but nothing is concrete. The final matchup between the Houston Dash and the Chicago Red Stars closed out the impressive four-week tournament.

The Houston Dash won their first NWSL title with a 2-0 victory over the Chicago Red Stars in the Challenge Cup final on Sunday in Utah. Shea Groom, a journeywoman midfielder who joined the Dash in the offseason, was named MVP of the final after scoring the second goal, rounding USWNT keeper Alyssa Naeher to seal the win.

Let’s talk about mental health. It’s just a bit too taboo for my liking. Why? Because if people aren’t in visible physical pain, then they aren’t hurting. And this extends to our beloved footballers, who are expected to be 100 percent at everything they do at any given time. But what do I know, I’m just an intern. 

People around the world are dealing with varying stages of the Covid-19 lockdowns blues. Some places are much worse off than others … not naming names.

December of 2019 feels like a lifetime ago. Kudos to anyone who can remember more than ten things that happened seven months ago. One of the few moments that comes to mind is Son Heung-min’s incredible solo goal for Tottenham against Burnley. 

When the moment happened, The18 was already calling it the goal of the season. BBC Match of the Day confirmed our thoughts and announced that Son earned the award for Goal of the Season.