For many Millennials, the 2006 World Cup represents the zenith of football nostalgia. As teenagers with little meaningful responsibility, we spent that summer month locked into ESPN, agonizing over the United States’ failure, delighting in the majesty of Zinedine Zidane and watching the legendary adidas “José +10” commercial hundreds of times.
I still don’t understand how they got Der Kaiser out there.
For as long as soccer players have had toned, athletic bodies hiding under their shirts, they’ve loved to take off their jerseys to celebrate scoring a goal. But when you really want to make a statement, you need something more than rock-hard abs under your shirt — you need one of these iconic goal celebration shirt messages.
BELFAST, Northern Ireland — Italy missed out on automatic qualification for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar four months on from their Euro 2020 triumph after they were held to a 0-0 draw by Northern Ireland on Monday.
The Azzurri went into their final Group C qualification clash knowing they needed to win by enough goals to stay ahead of Switzerland to claim a place at next year's finals in Qatar.
CAPE TOWN — South Africa will make a formal complaint to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and global soccer governing body FIFA over the officiating in its 1-0 away defeat by Ghana in the African World Cup qualifiers on Sunday.
The result meant Ghana leapfrogged their opponents to take top spot in Group G and advance to the final qualifying stage in March, where they will hope to be one of five teams from the continent to book their place at Qatar 2022.
LISBON - Serbia clinched an automatic berth in the 2022 World Cup finals after a 90th-minute header by halftime substitute Aleksandar Mitrović gave them a comeback 2-1 win over Portugal in their Group A qualifier on Sunday.
The result lifted Serbia into top spot on 20 points, three more than second-placed Portugal who only needed a draw to finish top on goal difference and qualify but will now head into the March playoffs.
United States' Christian Pulisic was on target in Friday's 2-0 win over Mexico, but it was the message scrawled on his T-shirt that made headlines as the winger responded to a pre-match jibe from their North American arch rivals with one of his own.
Second-half substitute Pulisic headed home a cross within five minutes of coming on, while Weston McKennie scored another as a young U.S. team moved to the top of the World Cup qualifying CONCACAF standings.
When the USMNT and Mexico met on Nov. 12 at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati, it marked the 73rd clash between the two giants of the CONCACAF region. On Mar. 24 we’ll do it all again, adding another monumental World Cup qualifying chapter to a rivalry that really doesn’t need any pretense to get the blood boiling.
PARIS - Kylian Mbappé continued his meteoric rise on Saturday with another jaw-dropping performance as France qualified for next year's World Cup with an 8-0 demolition of Kazakhstan.
The Paris Saint-Germain striker became the first player to score four goals for France in a single game since Just Fontaine against Sweden at the 1958 World Cup.
Five weeks before his 23rd birthday, Mbappé has scored 23 international goals from 52 caps — bettering the marks of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo at the same age.
Fue en un torneo amistoso, fue en categoría Sub-20, pero al final del día fue una victoria en un fin de semana gris. México venció a Brasil por 2-1 en la Revelations Cup y lavó un poquito las heridas que dejó entre los aficionados la derrota de la selección adulta ante Estados Unidos.
En plan optimista, además, el partido sirvió para tener una dosis de ilusión en torno al futuro, si es que ese futuro alguna vez llega.