Most people remember Simone Zaza for what was probably the worst moment of his life. Left for dead after a pedestrian loan spell with West Ham, the Italian forward is reinventing himself with Valencia, having scored eight goals in nine La Liga appearances this season, second only to Lionel Messi’s 11.
FIFA actually got something right on Monday when it awarded Cristiano Ronaldo The Best FIFA Men’s Player of 2017 at the FIFA award show. Lieke Martens was named The Best Women’s Player while Olivier Giroud claimed the Puskas Award for the best goal.
Ronaldo won the honor as best men’s player for the second year in a row and was also named to the FIFA FIFPro World XI alongside four of his Real Madrid teammates.
You could forgive Bill Hamid for electing to stay with DC United for the rest of his playing career — he’s got a pretty good thing going in the nation’s capital. Having risen through the ranks of the club’s youth system, Hamid established himself as the team’s No. 1 over the course of eight stellar seasons, including a 2014 campaign that saw him named MLS Goalkeeper of the Year.
The largest Premier League attendance of all-time — 80,827 spectators inside Tottenham’s temporary Wembley Stadium home — witnessed a hugely absorbing encounter between Spurs and Liverpool on Sunday with the home side ultimately registering a comprehensive 4-1 victory. Liverpool’s defense, particularly center half Dejan Lovren, was an absolute shambles, and Tottenham were cruising at 4-1 by the match’s 56th minute thanks to a brace from Harry Kane and additional goals from Son Heung-Min and Dele Alli.
Hirving “Chucky” Lozano signed with PSV Eindhoven last June looking to cement his growing reputation in Europe and follow in the footsteps of players like Arjen Robben, Memphis Depay and Georginio Wijnaldum — all former PSV talents that honed their skills there before moving to some of Europe’s biggest clubs.
Back in August, Juan Mata used The Players’ Tribune to announce his commitment to Common Goal, a collective fund that supports football charities around the globe. Mata’s pledge was to donate 1% of his salary to the NGO streetfootballworld.