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Nicolás Ladislao Fedor Flores, otherwise known as Miku, spent six years at Valencia, making a grand total of two appearances and scoring exactly zero goals with the La Liga side from 2004-2010. In three matches with Bengaluru FC, Miku already has three goals, including two on Thursday. For the second, he played a pass to himself before dribbling past three defenders.

Even though Bengaluru FC lost 4-3 to FC Goa, the second Miku goal was easily the highlight of the match. 

Iraqi soccer doesn’t exactly get a lot of exposure in the English-speaking world, but Friday’s Iraqi Super Cup between Baghdad rivals Al-Zawraa and Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya in Karbala was absurdly ludicrous and ludicrously absurd. It was a match you had to see to believe. 

Most readers will probably never have heard of Al-Zawraa and Al-Jawiya so we’ll spare you the details and get right to the silliness. 

And so it’s settled. On November 15, Peru claimed the final spot in the 32-team field for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, bringing us to the final event before the June 14 kick off at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow: the draw to determine the eight groups of four for the finals.

The eyes of the footballing world are set on Lima, Peru, today with only one spot at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia still up for grabs. That ticket will be punched tonight when Peru hosts Oceania representative New Zealand at 9:15 ET on beIN SPORTS. 

After a 0-0 first leg draw in Wellington, Peru (the 10th ranked side on the planet) will be heavy favorites in the return leg, but New Zealand (ranked 122nd) know they are just one vital away goal from causing los Incas all sorts of trouble.

Australia captain, defensive midfielder and rugged bearded hero Mile Jedinak had the game of his life, scoring a hat trick to propel the Socceroos to the 2018 World Cup with a 3-1 defeat of Honduras on Wednesday in Sydney. Jedinak scored on a free kick and two penalty kicks before Honduras’ Alberth Elis scored a consolation goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time. The first leg of the intercontinental playoff was a 0-0 draw in Honduras.

Radamel Falcao is back to his brilliant best for both club and country, and he’ll surely lead the line for Colombia in Russia. Accordingly, Los Cafeteros could very well match or better their 2014 run to the quarterfinals — the country’s best-ever World Cup finish — which Falcao missed because of a knee injury.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has come through on his promise to make the World Cup bidding process more transparent and open to scrutiny after the fallout following the 2010 vote which saw the 2018 and 2022 World Cups handed to Russia and Qatar. 

On June 13, 2018, 211 member federations and the 38-person FIFA council will decide who’ll win the right to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and all of those votes will be open to public viewing. 

At least the U.S. still has one national team that can kick ass. The USWNT stars came out to shine in a 3-1 victory over South Korea on Thursday at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. Julie Ertz, Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe all found the back of the net in a comfortable win over the 15th-ranked team in the world. 

While the USMNT won’t make the Men’s World Cup next summer, the reigning Women’s World Cup champions are still going strong, winning their fifth straight and moving to 10-3 in 2017.