The fallout from Italy’s shock elimination from the 2018 World Cup at the hands of Sweden has been largely centered around two things: the ongoing Italian footballing apocalypse and the minuscule possibility of 36-year-old Zlatan Ibrahimovic returning to the fold for Zweden.
Sweden National Team manager Janne Andersson would like all of you to know that there is NO WAY Sweden's all-time goalscorer and all-around entertainment generator Zlatan Ibrahimovic is going to play for Sweden at the World Cup, which they just qualified for, much to the chagrin of Italy. So just get that out of your heads. Zlatan, the man who once said "a World Cup without me is nothing to watch" is not going to play in the World Cup. He is retired from international football and currently rehabbing an awful knee injury. IT IS NOT HAPPENING.
People have started to write the obituaries for Italian football.
Italy is a young nation. It has old cities, even older cultures. But, as a country, it was only unified in 1861. That’s only slightly older than the form of codified football we know today. It should be no surprise that Italy has traditionally been so close to football: it’s simply a question of historical proximity.
Following a 1-0 defeat to Sweden on Friday, Italy is on the brink of failing to qualify for the World Cup for just the second time in the national team’s history. Italy must rebound in the return leg on Monday in Milan if the Azzurri want to reach a 19th World Cup.
Christian Pulisic is kind of a big deal, and not just in the United States. He’s one of the few reasons to get excited about American soccer over the next couple years, and he’s one of Borussia Dortmund’s star performers this season. Heck, he recently nutmegged Dutch star Arjen Robben.
For almost an entire year, Argentina’s national team refused to speak with the press. The boycott was the result of a terrible run in qualifying which led to extremely harsh criticism from the media, including an unfounded substantiation that Ezequiel Lavezzi had been dropped for smoking pot after training.
This season, Serie A has been about the top teams beating the bottom teams every week. The five best teams have racked up a huge number of points. So far, Napoli and Inter are unbeaten, while Juventus have only lost one game. Two points separate the top three teams, five points separate the top five.
Between November 9 and November 14, the complete European field for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia will be decided over the course of eight gut-wrenching playoff ties. The two-legged affairs will mark the final cuts in a qualifying marathon that began with 54 hopefuls back on September 4, 2016, and will end with 14 European nations vying for glory next summer.
With only two rounds remaining before the Liga MX playoffs, the competition looks as interesting, uncertain and exciting as ever. Tigres and Rayados, the two teams from the northern city of Monterrey, are heading into the playoffs in fantastic form. But who makes up the chasing pack?
Home