Former USMNT player and current Fox Soccer commentator Stuart Holden will host the Kick In For Houston celebrity soccer match on Saturday to raise money for Hurricane Harvey relief funds through Dynamo Charities. The match will be at 6 p.m. (central) at the Houston Dynamo’s BBVA Compass Stadium.
Lionel Messi was never a little-known quantity. When he scored nearly 500 goals for Newell’s Old Boys as a young boy, people took notice. That’s why Barcelona made the highly unusual decision to sign a 13-year-old foreign player. That’s why, aged 17 years, three months and 22 days, he became Barcelona’s youngest-ever representative in an official competition. It’s why he represented La Albiceleste, the two-time world champions, at 18.
With Manuel Neuer still recovering from a metatarsal fracture, Christian Fruchtl out with an ankle injury and Sven Ulreich injured in the warm-up ahead of today’s match against Eintracht Frankfurt, Bayern Munich were forced to turn to 36-year-old Tom Starke in goal today.
Starke had previously announced his retirement from professional football back in May before going behind the scenes at Bayern as the club’s academy goalkeeper coordinator.
AS Roma’s 1-0 victory over Qarabag in Champions League group play put the finishing touches on a remarkable progression for the Eternal City club. Coupled with Chelsea’s 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid in Tuesday’s other Group C match, Roma now finish atop the group and will face a runners-up opponent in the Round of 16.
A Cologne striker has finally scored — a role in a new movie. Peruvian Claudio Pizarro voices a character in the German-language version of the new animated Pixar film “Coco,” which is out now in a Kino near you (assuming you live in Germany).
Pizarro is an old man nearing the end of his career on the pitch. He may have found a new calling with his voiceover role in “Coco,” which is about a young Mexican boy who is transported to the Land of the Dead during Día de los Muertos. The 39-year-old voices a skeleton who desperately wants to watch a soccer match.
AC Milan’s Gianluigi Donnarumma, Toulouse’s Alban Lafont, Benfica’s Mile Svilar and Glenavon’s Conner Byrne: while all are teenage goalkeepers playing senior football in Europe, only one stands alongside Freddy Adu as having made their professional debut at age 14 (and perhaps as also having an insatiable thirst for Sierra Mist, but that’s totally unfounded at this point).
Three years ago, Beats by Dre won the advertising battle at the World Cup without even sponsoring the event. With the likes of Neymar, Chicharito, Cesc Fabregas and Luis Suarez all rocking the headphones, FIFA was forced to ban the noise canceling contraptions to protect the event’s official audio sponsor, Sony.
Even still, Beats by Dre’s “The Game Before The Game” advert was probably the best spot at the World Cup.
You could forgive Stefan Frei for suffering from a professional hangover following his heroics in the 2016 MLS Cup final. The 31-year-old native of Switzerland's legend is forever woven inside the fabric of the league following that save on Jozy Altidore in the second half of extra-time, one of seven saves for Frei in a performance that saw him named MLS Cup MVP.
Valencia and Barcelona are set to battle it out this evening in a top-of-the-table clash. Valencia fans are certainly acting accordingly.