Highlights

Argentina’s opening match of the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico was against a South Korean side that was participating in the tournament for the first time since 1954. Argentina’s 1982 World Cup campaign, after having won the 1978 edition on home turf, had been a disaster. 

It had been Maradona’s first World Cup and defeats against Italy and Brazil had offered a glimpse of how to disrupt the Argentinian star: aggressively man-mark and foul the Argentine No. 10.

Christian Pulisic only made his debut for Borussia Dortmund back in January 2016. Since then, we’ve learned that the 17-year-old is an absolute gem of a player. In seven months time he became the youngest player to score two goals in the Bundesliga, made his USMNT debut in March, scored against Bolivia and represented the USA three times at the Copa America Centenario. 

The prevailing wisdom is to never look too far into preseason matches, but when those matches are repeatedly beating you over the head with the obvious, you should probably take notice.

Last year, under the guidance of Steve McClaren, Newcastle recorded just two victories in seven matches. They were defeated by Club Atlas, the Portland Timbers reserve squad and League Two side York City F.C. 

That disastrous preseason form led to an opening run of eight Premier League games without a victory. In hindsight, the club was doomed for relegation as early as October 3rd. 

A little while ago, I wrote about Andrey Arshavin and his slow and painful descent into obscurity. To summarize, having failed to make an impact at Arsenal after three years, the Gunners shipped him back to Zenit, where he effectively did nothing. He was then handed off to Kuban Krasnodar, where he continued to be pretty much useless.

Barcelona just make it all look so easy. When Lionel Messi elected to pass when taking a penalty shot last February, Luis Suarez easily capped off the audacious ploy as Barcelona destroyed Celta Vigo. It looked so simple, and everyone around the world wondered why that’s not done more often.

Riyad Mahrez scored a brilliant goal for Leicester City during their preseason friendly against Celtic, but Arsenal are reportedly set to sign the 25-year-old Algerian in the upcoming days.

The International Champions Cup (ICC) is upon us! While the safe money is on Leicester City to win the competition which “revolutionized the international soccer landscape”, Australia’s Melbourne Victory and Italy’s Juventus took to the Melbourne Cricket Ground to stake their own claims on winning the competition’s historic fourth edition.

No one told Carlos Blanco that it was a meaningless preseason game — the guy apparently lives for the ICC. 

The surreal run of Ecuadorian club Independiente del Valle almost came to an end in Quito on Wednesday. There’s still another leg to play in Medellin, but a loss at home would’ve almost certainly doomed del Valle. That wasn’t in the cards — the fairy tale added another chapter when Arturo Mina Meza snatched an 87th minute equalizer against Colombia’s Atletico Nacional. 

The first leg draw means that del Valle need a win in regular time, extra time or penalties in Colombia to be crowned Copa Libertadores champions. 

The Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah bore witness to one of the most audacious game-winning backheel goals the sport has ever seen. In fact, it might be the only one the sport has ever seen.

With the friendly match between MLS’s Real Salt Lake and Serie A’s Inter Milan tied at 1-1 in stoppage-time, Inter’s Stevan Jovetic pulled of an absurd piece of skill to decide the match.

The Homeless World Cup, which took place in Glasgow this year, finished up on Saturday. Mexico won both the men's final and the women's final, as the men coasted by Brazil 6-1 while the women beat Kyrgyzstan 5-0. 

At this point, you might be asking yourself: "Wait. What's a Homeless World Cup?" Allow us to enlighten you.