National Teams

What’s in a name?

For Nigerian-born striker Isaac Success, everything. But while the Granada CF star’s name – and personal style – are attracting attention, it is his play that has opened eyes and provided potential for a promising future.

It's been a good stretch for Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez recently, award-wise. He was named the Bundesliga Player of the Month for November, then named the Bundesliga Player of the Week for the first week of December.

And now he has been named CONCACAF's Best Male Player for 2015, beating out Costa Rica's Bryan Ruiz and fellow Mexican Andres Guardado.

Chicharito's biggest performance in a Mexico jersey came in Mexico's 3-2 win over the United States in the Confederations Cup playoff in October, in which he scored Mexico's first goal.

One of the coolest engineering/humanitarian projects in recent memroy is being primarily led by R&B singer Akon.

Go ahead and digest that sentence for a little bit. Chew on it, see how it makes you feel. We'll wait.

He and Shell have built a soccer field in Africa that uses solar and kinetic energy to power itself.

It's part of a project called "Akon Lighting Africa," which uses solar energy to provide electricity in Africa.

Real Sociedad has had a gem in their midst since 2011. A gem that Arsene Wenger failed to recognize at Premier League giants, Arsenal. Carlos Vela has had a tumultuous professional career thus far. He’s been one of Mexico’s shining lights in Europe ever since he finished top-scorer in Mexico’s U-17 World Cup win back in 2007. That light has dimmed every once and a while and most recently has been shining bright at Real Sociedad. The Cancun native has had 167 appearances for Sociedad and has scored 59 goals since his loan from Arsenal became permanent at the La Liga side.

Yaya Touré blasted the African confederation for not awarding him the African Player of the Year award, the Ivory Coast starlet finishing second to Gabon and Borussia Dortmund striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. 

In a startling outburst, Touré reportedly labelled the decision as “pathetic”, “indecent” and one that “brings shame” to Africa.

Prior to her final game, Abby Wambach drummed up her best Donald Trump impersonation, including both his political xenophobia and TV-like firings. By now you know what she said. If not, listen to the podcast here.

Initial reactions criticised Wambach almost for taking any sort of position on the matter rather than the appropriateness of her comments. Wambach has never been a quiet leader. She notoriously drops the F-bomb to fire up her team.

USWNT standout Carli Lloyd was named U.S. Soccer female player of the year, for three very obvious reasons. She scored a hat trick in the Worl Cup final, but besides, that, she was the USWNT's rock all through the tournament. This is an honor she fully deserves. Here's a big reason why:

USA first goal by Carli Lloyd vs Japan in World Cup final: http://t.co/RYOocaDMCF via @YouTube

Since May, the U.S. federal prosecutors have disclosed several invesigations of corruption by officials and partners related to FIFA, leading to the arrest of very important names from the confederations of CONCACAF, CAF, and CONMEBOL.

According to former best player in the world Ronaldinho, the best player in the world on current form isn't Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. 

No, Ronaldinho told English newspaper The Daily Mirror that his pick for best player in the world right now is fellow Brazilian international Neymar.

"Neymar, currently on form, is the best player in the world," Ronaldinho said.