Back in 2001, Major League Soccer almost folded. After six seasons, millions of dollars in operating losses and with two clubs on the verge of contraction (the Tampa Bay Mutiny and Miami Fusion), the league was really only kept afloat by the vision of Lamar Hunt (who owned the Columbus Crew, Kansas City Wizards and Dallas Burn in his lifetime).
When does a celebration get out of hand, forcing the referee to whistle for a restart and allowing the team that just conceded to race down the field and score a goal of its own? It’s an unwritten rule that the euphoria which greets a goal should be given ample time to manifest itself, but who’s to say when enough’s enough?
How do you feel about a short corner? If you’re a Barcelona supporter, you probably adore it; if you support Burnley, you probably think it should be outlawed. But regardless of whether you think it’s more important to keep possession or to simply get it into the damn mixer, we can all agree that this is one of the worst short corners ever.
During a match between the Juventus U-19s and their Sassuolo peers, a Juve youngster played a short corner out for a Sassuolo throw-in. Truly remarkable stuff.
Although Real Madrid entered today’s match against SD Huesca with 10 games still remaining in LaLiga, a 15-point deficit to Barcelona at the top combined with a 10-point lead over fifth-place Alaves has rendered the rest of the season somewhat inconsequential for Zinedine Zidane’s men.
Regardless, it’s interesting to watch how the team performs following the French manager’s return, particularly restored players like Isco and Marcelo as well as the ongoing drama that is Gareth Bale. Extra spice was added today when Zidane elected to start his 20-year-old son Luca in goal.
9+For many years, Carlos Vela toiled at Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal, whether on the bench or out on loan. The Gunners of that era were often derided for trying to “walk it in.” After some good years at Real Sociedad and now thriving at LAFC, this Carlos Vela goal vs San Jose on Saturday gave the Mexican forward a chance to literally walk it in.
Manchester City just released a mashup kit of some of the club’s favorite shirts from the past six years. In short, it looks awful.
Why six years? City recently signed a deal with Puma to be its kit manufacturer from next season onward, but Nike wanted to put out a limited edition kit in reverence to the six-year partnership after replacing Umbro.
Well, reverence may not be the right word after looking at this kit.
Brazilian striker Anderson Lopes played his first match for Consadole Sapporo in the J1 League on Friday, and the attacker came away with four goals and an important lesson in the layout of his club’s home ground, the Sapporo Dome.
With Consadole leading Shimizu S-Pulse 2-1 in the 49th minute, Anderson Lopes scored his second of the match and promptly went to celebrate with supporters behind the goal. Unfortunately, his jump over the advertising hoardings was quickly met with the realization that he faced a 10-foot drop to the hard ground below.
There’s always going to be an emphasis on how Designated Players perform in MLS, that comes with the territory of earning 20 times more than your teammates. And there’s always going to be an extra emphasis on Mexico’s internationals in the league, especially when they’re just 29 and stepping away from three years in the Bundesliga with Eintracht Frankfurt.
It was pissing down snow in Hannover today, particularly at HDI-Arena, which has a much better name sans sponsorship: the Niedersachsenstadion. Hannover 96, staring straight down the double-barreled shotgun that is relegation, welcomed Champions League aspirants Bayer Leverkusen to the Snowmageddon on Sunday, and things started off as you’d expect.
Leverkusen jumped to a 2-0 lead thanks to a first half brace from Kevin Volland. The second was quite nice, and it’ll help you to understand the weather conditions that we’ll be addressing shortly.
Last night, León (The Club That Landon Built) defeated Pumas 3-1 in a match that was played 10-on-10 for 20 minutes. José Juan Macías, Ángel Mena and Vinicio Angulo were among the goals for León, who stayed within touching distance of Tigres and Monterrey at the top of the Clausura table.