FIFA Men's World Cup

The England National Team's Wayne Rooney era appears to be drawing to a close after interim manager Gareth Southgate announced the captain would be dropped against Slovenia.

After a performance from Rooney against Malta that involved a lot of standing around and not very much doing things, Southgate must have felt he had no choice in the matter, even though Sam Allardyce and Roy Hodgson had been cowed into keeping Rooney in their respective England teams. Southgate appears to have followed the example set by Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho in dropping the player.

Paul pogba is one of those players who can change a match with one kick, seemingly out of nowhere. Here's proof:

That was too much boom for Stekelenburg to handle. #Pogboom #WCQ https://t.co/5uMFtoYabo

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) October 10, 2016

By any measure, Gerard Pique is one of the best central defenders ever, an omnipresent force in the back lines of Champions League-winning Barcelona sides and World Cup and European Championship-winning Spanish sides. Pique announced his decision to retire from the latter following the 2018 World CUp in Russia, and now everyone is talking about his shirts.

The pre-match team photo is so innocuous and brief that it hardly even registers when watching it take place. Like players holding the hands of little child mascots when entering the field, it's just one of those things that happens. Don't question it, don't even think about it, let's just get it over with.

The starting XI gets in two balanced rows, the players in the back drape their arms over one another and everyone stares blankly into the camera for a moment. What’s the point of the exercise? Where does the photo end up? Who’s getting any joy from this photo op?

After three consecutive major final losses, Argentina decided to rebuild their squad. Edgardo Bauza became their third coach in just over two years, and everybody is hoping for a fresh start after their heart breaking loss to Chile in the Copa America Centenario.

Neymar’s match against Bolivia contained parts of the good, the bad and the ugly. The good was a goal and two assists which helped the Selecao to a 5—0 rout of Bolivia in Natal, Brazil. 

The bad was a 36th-minute yellow card that means he’s suspended for Brazil’s October 11th qualifier away to Venezuela. However, given that Venezuela currently dwell at the bottom of the CONMEBOL WCQ table with two points from nine matches, Neymar’s absence shouldn’t be a factor.

CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying grew in legend with another improbable incident during Thursday’s match between Ecuador and Chile.

With Ecuador holding a 3-0 advantage over Chile at the Estadio Olimpico Atahualpa in Quito, Ecuardorian international Enner Valencia, who plays his club football for Everton in the Premier League, allegedly faked an injury to evade police capture in the 82nd minute.

Throughout the tenure of Jurgen Klinsmann as the head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team, American soccer fans have watched the team take steps forward, as they did by advancing out of the group of death at the 2014 World Cup, only to also watch them take steps back, as they did by losing in the semifinals of the 2015 Gold Cup. 

The positive atmosphere surrounding Clint Dempsey’s return to light training on September 14th has been dashed following the devastating Seattle Sounders’ announcement that the 33-year-old forward will not return in 2016.

Sam Allardyce’s managerial record with the England National Team stands at a perfect 100 percent, and it may well end that way. A series of discussions with undercover investigative reporters from the English newspaper The Telegraph posing as Far East businessmen has shaken Allardyce’s position to the core. It remains to be seen whether the Football Association, England’s governing body, deem Allardyce’s role as untenable.