The almighty FIFA overlords who control the rankings that decide which countries are the best at soccer have spoken. The latest FIFA rankings released on Thursday say that the USA is better than Germany, Brazil is still the best in the world and a whole bunch of other nonsense.
The USA is officially the 13th best nation in the world according to FIFA.
Do you miss the World Cup? Well, you are not the only one.
In terms of spectacle, Qatar 2022 was fun and set an all-time goal-scoring record for the tournament. The 32 teams participating in the event bagged a combined 172 goals, one more than the 171 we saw in France 1998 and Brazil 2014.
That's an average of 2.68 goals per game. Not bad, right?
Argentina’s World Cup victory parade became a bit of a nightmare as an estimated 4 million fans packed the streets of Buenos Aires to celebrate the return of the champions. Argentina’s players had to leave their bus and board helicopters after the bus couldn’t move past the mass of people.
Video also showed several injuries including one Argentina fan falling from a bridge after he tried to jump onto the team bus.
Written by Pardis Mahdavi courtesy of The Conversation
Shortly before Lionel Messi took to the stage to lift up the World Cup trophy, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani put a black cloak, called a “bisht,” over the Argentinian soccer star’s shoulders.
Sergio Ramos, Pepe, Diego Costa and Luis Suárez have all been, at some point in their careers, the most hated soccer player in the world. And after the 2022 World Cup, we may agree that such an infamous honor now belongs to Argentina's goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez.
What a cake!
There's a chance that Martínez is a wonderful person around his family and friends, but on soccer player duties, there is no doubt that he's a massive prick.
At least among those who are not Argentines.
The World Cup has this supernatural power over soccer fans. It fills a void we didn’t even know we had, but now that the tournament is over, this missing piece in our lives is impossible to ignore.
For the past month, we have been treated to endless soccer of the highest caliber. Like babies being fed, we haven’t needed to think about what our next game was going to be. It was always there, waiting for us, and it never disappointed.
Argentina is in a big massive party state right now. Government officials declared a national holiday this Tuesday while thousands of fans are gathering near the Obelisco in Buenos Aires to celebrate the World Cup title next to the players who reached the glory.
But things could have taken a tragic twist Monday night after the national team arrived in Argentina when an overhead cable almost hit five stars of La Albicesleste, including Lionel Messi.
Assists are often overlooked in favor of their more flashy and prominent neighbor, the goal. In many ways, they require more technique and ability than scoring a goal because finding the goal is easy. Knowing where to place a ball to find a teammate while avoiding defenders and keepers, and actually having the technical ability to do it, requires a soccer mind of the highest order. One of the greats, Andrea Pirlo, famously said, "Football is played with the head. Your feet are just tools."
Argentina fans have gone mad after winning the World Cup for the first time in 36 years.
The 3-3 extra time result taken to penalties was a thriller full of comebacks and nail-biting moments that made La Albiceleste’s third World Cup victory even sweeter for fans celebrating around the world.
Karim Benzema is fully fit to get back into the club season.
After leaving France's World Cup squad in November due to an injury, Benzema has had a fairly quick recovery and has been training with normality the past week with Real Madrid. He even played in a friendly.
In Real Madrid training today. pic.twitter.com/bQjmZiE0vc