Opinion

The expectations for the United States women’s national team are about as high as they get for any team. The best evidence of the astronomically high bar for the USWNT is the coverage of their 2023 SheBelieves Cup triumph.

Despite getting three-straight wins against No. 6 Canada, No. 11 Japan and No. 9 Brazil while only conceding once, the consensus is that there’s still lots of work to do and roster spots to figure out.

Polarizing soccer pundit Alexi Lalas ruffled feathers in the USMNT sphere after sharing his opinion about the midfield duo of Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie. Lalas doesn’t seem to be a fan of their physical approach in the Premier League.

Adams and McKennie have only played four EPL games together at Leeds United and have already earned a name for themselves. We at The18 refer to them as the ‘Premier League Bad Boys’ due to their hard tackles and how they never back down from a fight.

Major League Soccer's ambition of being a true player in the world's club game by the 2026 World Cup is slowly being realized. 

The league's 28th season kicks off Saturday with a new team (St. Louis City SC), a new 10-year partnership with Apple TV (worth $250M per season) that's available in over 100 countries and Tuesday's announcement of a three-year extension with Audi that pays a multimillion-dollar fee annually.

This is becoming an annual occurrence. Every so often, a bit of "kasi flava" in South Africa goes viral and people go off with the power of a thousand Roy Keanes — "IT'S A DISGRACE!" "IT'S NOT PROPER FOOTBALL!" "I'D BREAK THEIR LEGS!"

Now that almost every team has released its new jerseys, it's clear that this year is going to be special. From California to Chicago and DC to Dallas, every single team has produced some magic making a list like this almost impossible. Honorable mentions must go out to Columbus, New England and Real Salt Lake who all just missed out but undoubtedly deserve recognition for creating spectacular kits for their cities. These ten were just a step above. 

The 2023 Major League Soccer season kicks off on Saturday, Feb. 25, and there's plenty of excitement heading into the new campaign. Apple’s mega 10-year, $2.5 billion deal with MLS means fans can watch every game on MLS Season Pass without blackouts.

Topping last season’s drama will be a tall order for the 2023 edition. In 2022 Los Angeles FC and the Philadelphia Union played arguably the greatest MLS game ever which saw LAFC win their first MLS Cup.

In life we have those rare instances that become so engrained in the memory they become "where were you when..." moments. One of those instances was Steven Gerrard's infamous slip against Chelsea that cost Liverpool the 2013-14 Premier League title.