Inspiring

The 2009 Confederations Cup was simultaneously the closest the USMNT has come to a major international trophy and a near abject failure. Bob Bradley’s Americans were extremely lucky to escape the group stage but then came within a Lucio header of global glory. A dozen years later, where are those USMNT players? Many of them remain fixtures on our TVs — not all as players, but as pundits. Others now fill the ranks of coaching and technical staffs at clubs around the world.

For more than three decades, Coventry City was one of the cornerstones of the English top-flight. The Sky Blues were consistently a lower mid-table team (think Crystal Palace), but they were FA Cup winners in 1987 and an inaugural member of the Premier League in 1992.

Everyone is well-versed in Alphonso Davies’ game-changing pace and ability to dice any defender on the planet off the dribble, but it’s his increasing effectiveness in the final third that makes the 20-year-old standout as one of football’s brightest talents.

That’s not to say it’s a new development in his game. At the tender age of 17 Davies was already one of Major League Soccer’s most devastating players in attack, scoring eight goals and providing 10 assists in 31 games to help facilitate his $11 million move to Bayern. (He’s now valued at $155 million.)

The Hammarby vs AIK attendance during Sunday’s Damallsvenskan set a record for the largest turnout during a women’s game in Sweden. A total of 18,537 fans packed into Tele2 Arena.

The Stockholm derby saw Hammarby jump to fifth in the league while AIK sits second from the bottom after a 4-1 victory for Hammarby.

There wasn’t any trophy on the line or battle for key spots, fans simply turned out for their women’s teams.

Warning: The following Ted Lasso Season 2 finale recap includes major spoilers for “Ted Lasso” through Season 2.

Season 2 of “Ted Lasso” opens with a closeup of Nathan Shelley’s eyes, the assistant coach watching with youthful enthusiasm as his team earns a late penalty against Nottingham Forest. Season 2 ends with a closeup on Nate, hair turned completely gray, the sparkle completely gone from his eyes. 

Nathan Shelley is now the villain of “Ted Lasso” — he is now the rival coach on Rupert Mannion’s West Ham. Season 3 is gonna be fun. 

Anyone who knows anything about Ricardo Pepi knows how much his family means to him. When he left his hometown of El Paso, Texas, at the age of 13 to pursue his soccer dreams with FC Dallas, it was his family he missed the most. 

“I love you all,” Ricardo told his father, according to a recent ESPN article. “But this is my dream and I’m going to stay. I’ll miss all of you.”

TURIN, Italy - Brothers Lucas and Theo Hernández were named in France's starting lineup for Thursday's Nations League semifinal against Belgium, the first time siblings will play together in the national team since the Revellis in the 1970s.

The winners of the clash at the Juventus Stadium will face Spain in Sunday's final at the San Siro after the Spaniards beat Italy 2-1 on Wednesday.

Hervé and Patrick Revelli played together against Romania in March, 1974.

Believe it or not, there exists a population of humans who have never seen a single episode of “Ted Lasso.” If you belong to such a group, let me tell you now is the best time to get into Ted Lasso.