Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez has teamed up with Mexican Football Federation President Decio de Maria in a campaign against homophobic and discriminatory chants at soccer matches.
“Abrazados por el fútbol” invites fans to unite in a stance against physical and verbal violence while celebrating the individuality of the Mexican footballing family.
Due to the dawning of the internet, increased globalization and the heavy concentration of players plying their trade in European club football, there are hardly any unknown quantities at the World Cup now. Years back, nations like Panama, Iceland and Peru would’ve left opposing managers scrambling for information, but in 2018, that’s hardly the case.
The Houston Dash cannot catch a break. For the second time in the club’s short history, the Dash acquired a star USWNT player who doesn’t want to play for them. After putting up with an unhappy and unproductive Carli Lloyd for a couple seasons, Houston traded for Christen Press, who refused to report to the squad. The 29-year-old forward instead signed with Göteborg FC in Sweden on Monday.
If last week’s round of Serie A fixtures was dominated by tragedy, then this week’s matches were defined by flashes of beauty peering through the gloom. Across a number of games, there were flashes of brilliance which pierced through the fog for vastly different reasons. Even if, ultimately, the moments meant nothing, the surge of emotion and energy was undeniable.
Let’s begin with the most astounding of all.
When I was growing up playing youth soccer I had teammates whose parents gave them money whenever they scored. They didn’t receive large sums, but maybe $5-10 per goal. When I first found this out I was upset. For one, why wasn’t I making money for scoring? But more seriously, I was concerned that some of my teammates would be more interested in scoring themselves than helping the team score. So should parents pay their kids for scoring goals in youth soccer?
Footballers aren't like regular humans. They live different lives, and operate in completely different planes of existence. To wit: in my capacity as a professional soccer jokester, I have never had to take to social media to deny wiping a booger on the shirt of a professional colleague. Not even at the company Christmas party.
Dani Alves, however . . .
According to the latest rumors from Sky Sports, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez is interested in signing Christian Pulisic from Borussia Dortmund this summer for around $100 million as he “sees the value in having the poster boy for football in America at his disposal.”
Is the move all that far-fetched? No.
Tees of All Time founder Carlos Velasquez moved from Bogota, Colombia, to Los Angeles, California, at the age of 15. Despite growing up in a soccer-mad country, Carlos’s interest in the game only peaked during Colombia's run to the 2014 FIFA World Cup quarterfinals.
We were all wrong. Let’s take a moment to come together, as a community, and admit that we all assumed the appointment of Gennaro Gattuso as AC Milan manager was absurd to the point of hilarity. Our sides were splitting. Our guffaws echoed along the corridors of the internet. We laughed and we laughed and we laughed.
But we were all wrong.
You see, it turns out that Gattuso might just be exactly what Milan needed.
Sepp Blatter, the asshat who once allowed corruption to run rampant as the longtime president of FIFA, spoke out about the 2026 World Cup on Thursday. The man who helped award the next two World Cups to nations with countless human rights violations gave the joint bid from the U.S., Mexico and Canada a boost by saying Morocco is the logical choice to host the tournament in eight years.