If last week’s round of Serie A fixtures was dominated by tragedy, then this week’s matches were defined by flashes of beauty peering through the gloom. Across a number of games, there were flashes of brilliance which pierced through the fog for vastly different reasons. Even if, ultimately, the moments meant nothing, the surge of emotion and energy was undeniable.
Let’s begin with the most astounding of all.
This Francesco Totti goal will bring nostalgic tears to your eyes. Remember that majestic Italian player who retired only recently?
Francesco Totti was one of those players who gave the beautiful game all of its romantic allure.
Totti never played for another team different than Roma. He holds the record of most appearances for the club with a total of 786 in all competitions, 619 of them in Serie A.
Moreover, he was unquestionably one of the most talented players of his generation.
The Greek Superleague has been suspended after a match between PAOK and AEK Athens briefly turned into an episode of Justified.
PAOK owner Ivan Savvidis ran on the field to protest a call the referee had made, and guess what, he had a gun on him.
We are not making any of this up.
Former USMNT striker Charlie Davies has called time on a once hugely promising career that was devastated by a serious car accident in 2009 and a subsequent 2016 cancer diagnosis. Davies' 10-year career included stints in Sweden, France, Denmark and with D.C. United, New England and Philadelphia in MLS, as well as 17 appearances and four goals with the USMNT between 2007 and 2009.
Since the horrific tragedy of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting on February 14, we’ve come to learn that two students — 14-year-old Alyssa Alhadeff and 15-year-old Anthony Borges — shared a deep love for the sport of soccer.
Cape Verdean defender Fernando Varela joined Greek club PAOK FC in July of 2016, and the club’s website says that the move was predominantly made for family reasons. Varela, age 30, married his wife Andreia at 18, and the transfer allowed them to settle in Thessaloniki with their sons Gustavo, Tomas and Lourenço.
FIFA is an addictive game. After every match of digital football you want to play just one more. If you lose, you don’t want to end on a sour note. If you win, you want to keep that hot streak going. It’s a testament to how fun the game is that you want to keep playing. But, as one Redditor recently highlighted, there’s another aspect of FIFA that is dangerously addictive: the FIFA microtransactions.
These Carlos Tevez career highlights are wild. He is just too strong, too potent, too accurate. In one word: uncontainable.
The Argentine turned 34 on Monday and we thought it was worth remembering some of his best goals and plays.
El Apache started his professional career playing for Boca Juniors in 2001. He was only 16 years old.
It’s called the beautiful game for a reason. It has the power to unite millions of people with 90-plus minutes of magic.
At its highest level, the practitioners of this magic are superstars like Messi, Ronaldo, Ramos, Iniesta and many more – household names, heroes to many and icons to the world. But football runs much deeper than this, into the lives of anyone with a ball and a dream. And, thanks to La Liga, today we have new heroes who are living their dreams in La Liga Genuine.
On Sunday night, sporting power couple Zach and Julie Ertz were both in action — Zach with the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship game and Julie with the USWNT in a friendly against Denmark. With the NFL game kicking off at 6:40 p.m. ET and the women’s match beginning at 7:30, the two went about their business without knowing what was transpiring across the country.
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