We've already covered the top questions for Cristiano Ronaldo, so now it's time to delve into what people want to know about soccer’s other great, Lionel Messi. The questions range from his jumping abilities to if Messi is still alive. Instead of the top searches, here's a list with five of the oddest Messi searches.
Video Assistant Referee is now as much a part of soccer as shin guards and blisters. While many (particularly those Luddites in England) wish VAR didn’t exist, we here at The18 embrace video replay. In fact, we want VAR to be used in more than just soccer.
I’ll never forget the buildup to Chipotle’s first restaurant in London. I was studying there at the time and the “COMING SOON” signage on Charing Cross Road would hit hard around lunchtime on a Saturday afternoon. A cohort of Americans would stand outside the scaffolding and strain to see inside the darkened edifice for any signs of that spar, industrial interior design coming together. It’s hard to tell how much progress is being made when the piping is always exposed.
“Variety is the spice of life,” someone once said before doing something obviously stupid and dangerous. But with danger and stupidity comes ingenuity and joy, and that’s the common thread that connects the majority of these bastardized forms of soccer. Here are 10 variants of the beautiful game that are strangely captivating.
#1. Eisfussball
The 1958 World Cup Final remains an iconic match due to the fact that a 17-year-old Pelé spearheaded Brazil’s 5-2 beatdown of host nation Sweden with two fantastic goals. But rather than turn the page there, why not take a closer look at the Seleção’s first-ever world title?
Having just watched the entire 90 minutes for the first time myself, I’m happy to report that the showpiece event of the sixth World Cup definitely didn’t disappoint. It was a different era — one full of strange skills, uplifting sportsmanship and a certain nostalgic sense of the human collective.
Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen could soon have his wish of leaving Tottenham granted. Eriksen has voiced his displeasure with the club and intends to leave the Premier League to go elsewhere. Serie A side Inter Milan has focused its sights on the 27-year-old and is prepared to offer him quite the lucrative deal. Eriksen could be earning $130,000 a week after taxes according to The Times.
At the office of The18, we take our foosball pretty seriously. Although the incessant banging of ball against High Pressure Laminate walls isn’t conducive to maintaining a train of thought (don’t blame me for all the nonsense I write), the call of the 2-5-3 formation is too strong to ignore. For some, that call has turned into an obsession — these are the professional foosballers among us.
Well, that didn’t take long. In his first start since returning to AC Milan, Zlatan Ibrahimovic netted a well-taken goal to help his side beat Cagliari 2-0 on Saturday.
Ibrahimovic scored 56 goals in 85 appearances for the Rossoneri from 2010-12. Back with the club, following stops at PSG, Manchester United and the LA Galaxy, Ibrahimovic has already changed the way the team plays.
We all get creeped out from time to time when we go to Google to search for something and after three letters it already knows you’re wondering “how fast is mbappe” or “why is my poop green.”
But sometimes we get creeped out by what others are searching for, and as it turns out, soccer fans are searching for some fucked up shit.
Nearly every FIFA video game player can recall one moment they wanted to rip their hair out and throw the controller out the window. The reasonings may differ, but the majority of the time it’s because of the most blasphemous and ridiculous spell of play that leads to conceding.
The majority of these instances are defended with “that would never happen in a real game” or “a real life player would never make that mistake.”