If you were busy and couldn't catch the last seven months of the MLS season, here’s what you missed: LAFC and NYCFC crushed it, Cincinnati did the opposite and everyone else was more or less the same, which is why 60 percent of teams make the playoffs. You also missed some fiendishly good goals and saves.
Not to worry: MLS released its nominees for both the AT&T Goal of the Year and the Allstate Save of the Year on Wednesday.
Everton fans hate Liverpool. They’re too flashy, they think they have a monopoly on bad singing and they just win too damn much.
The Merseyside Derby, unlike many of the world’s great soccer rivalries, is different because of the proximity of the two clubs — Anfield and Goodison Park are a literal stone’s throw from each other. This intimacy engenders deep resentment between the two clubs — Everton fans jealous of Liverpool’s money and success and Liverpool fans jealous of actually attracting fans from Liverpool instead of abroad.
Real Madrid fans are unique. As supporters of the most successful club in the history of Europe — if not the world — they look down on all others, especially that pesky club from Catalonia.
The only club that can really challenge Los Blancos’ superiority in Spain is, of course, Barcelona, so the rivalry is understandable intense. No other team brings out the best (or worst) in Real.
In Felipe’s case, it was the worst.
Guadalajara vs. Club América, Chivas vs. Las Águilas, El Súper Clásico — because that tame El Clásico over in Spain isn’t super enough.
Two of Mexico’s biggest clubs are also two of Liga MX’s biggest rivals, not just because they’re constantly going head-to-head on the pitch but because they have two distinct styles of going about their business. One’s called the Millionaires, the other the Goat Gang.
El Clasico is a match like no other. The passion, love and hate between Real Madrid and Barcelona fans is unrivaled and the two clubs define Spanish football.
But what if a Barcelona fan had to say something nice about Real Madrid? Could he do it?
That was the task assigned to Will for our latest edition of Rival Reviews with World Soccer Shop.
Manchester United and Liverpool have dominated English football for decades. Liverpool was the dominant team for years, only for Sir Alex Ferguson to lead the charge to overtake the Reds as the winningest club in England.
The rivalry runs deep between the country’s two most successful clubs; the North West Derby dwarfs all other derbies in the soccer-mad nation.
Full disclosure, I’m a FIFA person. My first taste of the game was World Cup 98, and I’ve been steadily wasting my own money since World Cup 2002. That’s not to say I wholeheartedly believe FIFA to be a superior product to Pro Evolution Soccer. In fact, when some gamers tell me that PES is superior to FIFA, I genuinely believe them. Why shouldn’t I? FIFA can be really annoying.
Finding a good soccer children's book can be difficult for true fans of the beautiful game. You want something easily accessible for a youngster, but you don’t want something condescending or trifling.
Fortunately, there’s “G is for Golazo: The Ultimate Soccer Alphabet,” a kid’s picture book released Tuesday by Triumph Books.
“G is for Golazo” is a follow-up to “B is for Baller,” a similar idea for basketball. In this soccer children's book, author James Littlejohn pulls into more than 100 years of soccer references to go through the English alphabet.
We had a lot to be thankful for in 2018 — a World Cup, a historic Real Madrid three-peat, the remarkable seasons from Luka Modric, Mohamed Salah and Kylian Mbappe, other things that I’m forgetting because I'm a goldfish boy.
Here are 10 trends that I’ve managed to remember in the footballing calendar year of our Lord Gourav Mukhi 2018.
#1. Wall Tactics to the Fore
Marcelo Brozovic's sliding stop.
To coincide with The Guardian’s excellent list of the 100 best male footballers in the world — compiled by a panel of 225 experts from 69 nations — we here at The18 have compiled our own list over the last couple years. There are no experts involved, there’s no rhyme or reason for anything, but we do hope you’ll join us on this adventure into the bowels of the beautiful game.
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