Marcus Rashford has got it. That "it" is the unexplainable quality that makes you standup every time he’s on the ball. He’s going to do something or try something positive, he’s going to take on his defender and it’s going to work. But this season, it just hasn’t come off as often as it should.
For any of us of a certain age, we all remember where we were when the space shuttle Challenger broke apart right after liftoff. Unexpectedly, however, a piece of that ill-fated mission has — 30 years later — made it to Earth’s orbit.
A soccer ball had been on the space shuttle because of Ellison Onizuka. He had brought it with him because his daughter was a soccer player at Clear Lake High School (CLHS) in Houston, Texas. After the disaster, the soccer ball was found floating in the ocean with other pieces of the wreckage.
The growing concern over artificial turf fields and their possible connection with cancer has led to more significant research, including a recent study by the Washington State Department of Health and researchers at the University of Washington, but their findings have concluded that the field surface is not linked to an increased rate of cancer.
The conversation about technology in soccer reached a fever pitch following FIFA’s use of Video Assistant Referees at the Club World Cup. Video replay technology has long been an area of fierce debate, but it’s finally beginning to make headway after the unmitigated success of goal-line technology.
Everyone seems to be aware of the rise of concussions in major sports like American football and hockey, but many don’t realize that the risk of concussions has also started manifesting itself in other sports, including soccer.
A recent youth soccer study published in the Journal of Pediatrics indicated that between 1990 and 2014, soccer-related emergency room visits have increased by 111%. Of those, more than 7% were concussions and 23% fractures.