It was going to be a tall task for Leicester City to go into Vicente Calderón Stadium and come away with a victory, it will be even harder if the referee is giving away penalties.
With the referee trailing closely, Antoine Griezmann made a run down the left side when Marc Albrighton clipped the Frenchman clearly outside the box. But the referee thought otherwise and awarded Atletico a penalty.
Barcelona's slim chances of winning La Liga took another hit Tuesday when it was announced Neymar's rumored ban for sarcastically clapping at an official after he'd been sent off against Malaga had been made official.
The Brazilian attacker will miss three matches: April 15 against Real Sociedad, April 23 against Real Madrid and April 26 against Osasuna. Barcelona were already in dire need of a win against Real Madrid in El Clasico to keep their La Liga hopes alive, and missing 1/3 of their attacking buzzsaw will make their task that much more difficult.
In a game with massive implications at both ends of the table in the English Championship (Newcastle United aiming for promotion and the title, Burton Albion trying to avoid relegation), match referee Keith Stroud simply and utterly messed up. He and his assistants, for whatever reason, didn’t know the rules and for a long period of time chaos reigned at St. James’ Park.
With the scores level at 0-0 in the 30th-minute, Stroud pointed to the spot after Dwight Gayle was tripped in the area.
Soccer fans are the best fans in the world — unless they decide to actually disrupt the game.
An international friendly took place in Paris on Monday, March 27th between African rivals Senegal and the Ivory Coast. The match was cut short after fans invaded the pitch and confronted the players on the field. The group of spectators made their way into the stadium by climbing over security fences and running past guards.
Lionel Messi has been suspended from four Argentina World Cup qualifiers (one has already been played) for saying something really bad, either (if FIFA is to be believed) to an assistant referee or (if Messi is to be believed) to the air. Argentina's World Cup qualification may hinge on Messi's excuse holding water.
Well, here's the video, so you can decide for yourself:
We want to start with an apology. Maybe two.
When we first saw this clip of Nemanja Nikolić scoring his first goal for the Chicago Fire, we were so certain he was offside we would have been willing to bet the farm, if we owned one. Since we don't, we settled for screaming with reckless abandon at the television. We may have insulted the ref. We certainly scared the children. The dog still hasn't come out of hiding. Sorry on all fronts.
We all spend hours debating and arguing why a particular handball was called or not, especially when it happens in the 18-yard box. Looking at FIFA’s Laws of the Game, the handball rule is written as followed:
FIFA Laws of the Game P. 82: Handling the ball
Handling the ball involves a deliberate act of a player making contact with the ball with the hand or arm.
After his trials and tribulations at Liverpool, Mamadou Sakho has been granted a new lease on life at Crystal Palace. He’s playing like a madman, helping Palace to two straight wins, two clean sheets and a rise out of the relegation zone.
Sakho is clearing anything and cleaning out anyone that comes his way. Just look at this from the Frenchman.
Sakho takes off on a Beckenbauer-esque run after taking the ball off his own teammate. He knows he’s in a blind alley, so he turns and side foots it backwards.