Funny

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?

It hasn’t been the dream beginning that many anticipated following three straight victories to open their 2016-17 Premier League campaign, and many within the Manchester United camp are already beginning to feel the heat.

Wayne Rooney has been in dire form, and his inclusion in the starting XI has been relentlessly questioned. Zlatan Ibrahimovic hasn’t scored a Premier League goal since September 10th. Paul Pogba has hardly justified his gargantuan transfer fee, and Jose Mourinho’s personnel choices, including the ostracizing of Bastian Schweinsteiger, have been criticized.

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.

Do me a favor, try to remember the last time you heard a Joey Barton story that was about his performance. You probably can’t because despite his long, above average career, he has gotten into trouble almost as often as he has scored goals; sometimes even managing to get into trouble when he was already under scrutiny for something else.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s Pestana CR7 hotel has opened in Lisbon, and, in the timeless words of Chingy, one thing leading to another let the party begin.

The Pestana CR7 Lisboa offers “total digital comfort, premium rooms and service, as well as a sophisticated ambience to spend a few days with a difference in a true CR7 lifestyle.”

Ghana's coach thinks his team isn't good enough, and the reason for that is his players are having too much sexy time with the ladies.

Here's what Malik Jabir had to say in Diario AS:

There is nothing worse from a football supporters’ perspective than not knowing how to find your side’s game on television. Perhaps it’s a sign of the times that with a click of the remote or a flick of one’s fingers on the keyboard, you’re immediately given access to a global range of football matches. 

Long gone are the days of pouring through websites in Russian or staying up until the early hours of the morning to catch a game on tape delay. Soccer has truly arrived — unless of course you’re a Newcastle United supporter and want to watch the English League Championship.