New USWNT manager Vlatko Andonovski begins his reign tonight with a friendly against Sweden at MAPFRE Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, and I’ve got to say, he’s already impressed me with his training methods.
Let me show you Exhibit A and then I rest my case.
The weather in Boulder, Colorado, where The18 is headquartered, has been nothing short of miserable this week. Since a snowstorm blew in on Sunday, the temperature hasn’t gone above freezing, with windchills dipping below zero. Boulder has received 16 inches of snow since Sunday in an unusually cold end to October. (Thanks climate change!)
But soccer stops for no Old Man Winter.
If you’ve got 15 minutes to spare during today's commute or lunch break (you know what, it’s a Monday, just watch it at your desk), you should spend it watching this short film entitled “Nefta Football Club” by Yves Piat.
It’s got everything: comedy, suspense, soccer and a brilliant ending. The film was released back in 2018 but it’s just come out on Vimeo. To date, it’s scored nearly 50 prestigious film awards, including a silver medal at the Manhattan Short festival and the Best Comedy prize at Aspen Shortsfest.
The discussion from social media and various news sources over the past couple weeks has been high praise for a group of female soccer players from Jordan’s Shabab Al-Ordon Club.
In the middle of a recent match, the Jordan club sportingly defended its opponent from the Amman Club and kicked the ball away when that player suddenly had stopped playing because her hijab was falling off.
Yeah, telling your kids that you’ll give them $20 if they score a goal is cool, but have you ever made a bet with your child that puts more on the line than just $20?
Well, one father made a bet with his son that if he hit the crossbar three times in a row, he would buy him a brand new PS4 gaming system. In something the father doubted his son in — since he was about 20 yards away from goal — the son effortlessly nailed the first crossbar, then the second and then the third as he celebrated his way to a new PS4.
It’s not been the best week for Neymar. On Monday, the Brazilian missed out on the 30-player shortlist for the 2019 Ballon d’Or award. On Tuesday, he missed PSG’s 5-0 beatdown of Club Brugge due to a hamstring injury he picked up on international duty.
Colorado native Lindsey Horan recently shared her story about how she started her journey to achieve her dreams with The Players’ Tribune. Horan had her goals set from a young age, when she dreamed of being the best football player in the world. Her mindset remains the same today, except now she’s living out her dream.
Megan Rapinoe was named Team Sportswoman of the Year by the Women’s Sports Foundation on Wednesday night, becoming the fifth USWNT player to earn the annual honor that dates back to 1993. Marta, meanwhile, became the second footballer to win the Wilma Rudolph Courage Award.
It’s been exactly 15 years to the day since Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini hopped off the bench in the 82nd minute of Barcelona’s 1-0 derby victory over Espanyol to mark his LaLiga debut. The 17-year-old replaced midfield maestro Deco and gave a tantalizing glimpse of what was to come.
What followed, in league play, is currently 453 more appearances, 420 goals, 164 assists and 10 titles. You could say that things have gone well.
On Wednesday morning, Canadian residents awoke to extensive coverage of the massive sporting news: Toronto had defeated Minnesota 4-2, the Habs lost to Tampa Bay 3-1, Winnipeg succumbed to Arizona 4-2, Calgary thumped the Flyers 3-1 and the Canucks battered the Red Wings 5-1. What’s more, Donald Trump had welcomed a heavy concentration of Canadians to the White House on Tuesday in the form of the Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues.
Trump congratulated the Blues on the stock market being way up, an agriculture deal with China and a Mike Pence trip to Turkey.