America’s relationship with soccer has more steps backwards and forwards than a salsa dance. Christian Pulisic bursts on to the scene in 2016. Yay! The U.S. fails to qualify for the World Cup. Yikes. The collective knowledge of the sport increases with star-studded preseason tours and the MLS’s continued growth. Woo! Famous American actor commits one of the most cringe-worthy soccer crimes possible and films it. Oh no…
It’s a commonly held belief in professional sports that visiting teams automatically have a disadvantage. They have to deal with rowdy crowds who often hate their guts, a dearth of supporters in the stadium, hotel living and sleeping, and the discomfort of planes and buses.
There are a lot of reasons as to why playing an away game is not ideal but just imagine having to play a road game that is 21,303 miles (for our non-American readers, I’ll spare you the mental math calculations and just tell you that’s a whopping 17,142km) round trip.
Last night, Bradley Wright-Phillips became the fastest player to reach 100 MLS goals after he scored what would prove to be the game-winner in just the second minute against DC United. It looks as if BWP had a feeling tonight just might be the night for his historic accomplishment. Take a look at what has to be the most brazen goal celebration in MLS history.
It looks like the Englishman took a page out of Zlatan’s book for this one. When you’ve been tearing up defenses in the way he has for five years, you deserve to pat yourself on the back like this.
So much money has been tossed around already this transfer window, with the five major European leagues combining for over $3 billion worth of transfer fees.
That’s a lot of money.
But, what if we compared the real life transfer prices with everyone’s favorite managerial video game, Football Manager 2018?
At this point, it’s hard to imagine Mo Salah being picked last for anything. He’s already a Liverpool hero having scored 43 goals in all competitions in his first season at Anfield. And, well, Egypt is so obsessed with him after he led the Pharoahs to their first World Cup in 28 years that schools have been renamed after him. If you want to win, if you need a clutch performance, Salah is probably your first choice.
If anyone needs some rest and relaxation after the 2018 World Cup, it’s Neymar. The Brazilian was hacked down more times per match than any other player at the tournament. Fortunately for you, we here at The18 have exclusive footage of what a Neymar vacation probably looks like.
When we think of the Champions League, we think of the best of the best (and well, that catchy, opera-like song that plays before every game which is now sure to be in my head the rest of the day).
You probably know that before the big guys like Juventus and Barcelona kick off their UCL campaigns, there are a series of qualifying rounds that take place in the summer months before most domestic leagues get started.
Arsenal fans are in a weird place right now. Longtime manager Arsene Wenger is gone after 22 years, but a strong roster has been supplemented by positive moves in the summer transfer window under new coach Unai Emery.
There’s the hope new management can propel the talented team back into contention in England and Europe, but also the fear of slipping into irrelevance just as Manchester United struggled after the retirement of Alex Ferguson.
We’ve taken a look at our best lineup from the World Cup, but now we turn our attention to the players that let their country down the most. That’s right people, even during what many consider the greatest World Cup of all-time, there were players and nations that fell flat. Here are our five biggest disappointments of the World Cup.
Back in June we showed you the new FIFA 19 cover for this year’s edition. There are a few different versions of the FIFA video game depending upon how much extra money you want to pay for a few small annual updates, but all three covers have one thing in common: Cristiano Ronaldo. In a Real Madrid uniform.
There’s one small problem: Ronaldo doesn’t play for Real Madrid anymore.