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Since the advent of the sport in the 1800s, England and football have been intrinsically linked. This bond started with schoolboys on muddy fields, with the objective to get the ball from one end of the field to the other by any means necessary — no rules, no limit on numbers, only brute force.

Football has now evolved into an organized game; manicured, well-lined pitches, tidy uniforms, and 11 players on each side. Kicking the opponent was outlawed and shinguards were installed should a stray boot make contact with the tibia.

When not disrupted by big daddy Omicron, college football bowl season is one of the greatest times of the year. There’s something about your team playing hundreds of miles away against a random opponent with an even more random brand slapped on to the name that brings so much joy. Who doesn’t love the Dollar General Bowl?

What if this wonderful season of sport was transferred to European club soccer? We could see magnificent spectacles like this in Europe if we went through with this idea.

If the EFL Championship last year was a volcanic explosion, then this year is the spreading and settling of the lava flows.

No team this year will approach the 97 points earned by Norwich or the 91-point total of Watford last year. In fact, Brentford's 87-point, third-place finish from a year ago could be enough to win the league this year.

Are you the kind of person who prefers to respond to emails and texts with GIFs instead of having to type something out? Do you also love the USWNT? If you answered “yes” to either of these questions, then you or a loved one may be entitled to a plethora of new USWNT GIFs.

As a sendoff for 2021, the USWNT social team decided to do its version of Spotify Wrapped in GIF form. You might want to put a few of these in your back pocket for a rainy day.

The USWNT released 18 total GIFs for your viewing pleasure. The18 (see what I did there?) USWNT GIFs are as follows.

In Europe there's a pretty established pathway to becoming a professional footballer: get signed to the academy of a professional club at an early age and hope that one day you're good enough to make the first team.

For an American with European dreams, the route is similar: either have a rich family that can send you abroad or hope that a European club somehow spots you.

Barcelona played Boca Juniors in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday in a friendly dubbed The Maradona Cup, with all proceeds going towards paying Philippe Coutinho's salary. The match also served as a second club debut for 38-year-old right back Dani Alves, who signed as a free agent after last playing for São Paulo with nothing but goodwill in his heart and a somewhat good feeling in his feet.

After a software malfunction rendered the hugely anticipated Champions League Round of 16 draw void (as well as a clash between Lionel Messi's PSG and Cristiano Ronaldo's Manchester United), we finally know the last-16 matchups and can make our terrible Champions League predictions after a redraw was held nearly two hours after the event started.