As a new MLS season approaches, we've been informed of some points of emphasis that league officials will look to clamp down on in 2017. The Professional Referee Organization (PRO) general manager Peter Walton said that the four points of emphasis that MLS referees will focus on for the upcoming season are: holding and pushing in the penalty area, acts of visual dissent, delayed restarts and persistent infringement.
Sunday’s match between Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven was a meeting of first and third in the Dutch Eredivisie table. With the scores level at 1-1 in the 82nd minute, the big winner would be second place Ajax. But Feyenoord's Jan-Arie van der Heijden was credited with a winner in one of the most important and ridiculous demonstrations of goal-line technology.
Mark Clattenburg, England's most famous referee, is leaving England to become the head of refereeing for the Saudi Arabian FA, where he will replace his countryman Howard Webb.
Clattenburg will be remembered for being a pretty good referee, England's go-to man for big matches and also UEFA's go-to man, possibly because no English teams seem to play in big European matches anymore (ha ha! I jest). Mostly, though, Clattenburg will be remembered for doing a weird tongue thing while an Atletico Madrid player was writhing on the ground in the 2016 Champions League final.
Central America is a place full of magic and wonder. A first-division match in Honduras produced a moment that has to be seen to be believed.
My head is spinning. Where did he get the soccer ball? Did he forcibly remove it from a ballboy? Was it just laying around? Did he bring his own?
Match fixing has rocked international soccer to a disturbing degree. The 2006 Italian football scandal will forever remain a dark mark on the histories of clubs like Juventus and Fiorentina, among others. Portugal, Germany and Brazil have also had their league's sporting integrity compromised by corrupt referees.
Everyone, in lazy idleness, allows their mind to drift. You might start thinking about what a cat’s face might look like on the body of an elephant or if we had arms where our legs should be and legs for arms. The mind just wanders into strange territory.
Ashton Surber, a footballer who was born and raised on Guam and, according to an article on FIFA.com from 2013, serves in the US Air Force, achieved the remarkable hat-trick of scoring a bicycle kick, proposing to his now fiancee and receiving a caution for removing his shirt.