The long-range specialist. No defensive tactic in the world can stop Johnny Howitzer from beaming up that special sauce and unleashing his fury from 30 yards out. Goalkeepers hate them, video editors love them and your parents wish you could be them.
If you’re having a bad day, just remember that at least you’re not the goalkeeper for Italian minnow Auronzo di Cadore.
The big, bad boys from the Serie A came to the little commune of just 3,671 in Italy’s Belluno region today. And Lazio did just what you might expect they might do against a tiny side like Auronzo. They won handily. 16-0. Not a very nail-biting performance.
Mino Raiola, the architect of Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan's moves to Manchester United last summer (and Romelu Lukaku's this summer!), is about one thing only: getting his clients (and by extension himself) that money.
As we traverse the long, hot and boring summer, we find ourselves lost amid a desert of dullness — a boring expanse of time in which no football is actually played. No club football. No proper international tournament. Even the youth football has finished. Teams are barely beginning their preseason. Quite literally, there is no football to talk about. But the machine never ceases. Which brings us to the transfer market.
Following their sixth straight Serie A title, it’s difficult to imagine the Italian top flight playing out any differently this upcoming season. Former Italian international and Inter Milan legend Christian Vieri admitted he thought as much when speaking with Corriere dello Sport on Monday.
These days, the match-day experience is pretty swell. You can buy all the merch you want, stuff your face with high-cholesterol food and drink beer until you’re sick.
But you can’t get a lap dance — for now.
Carlo Tavecchio, president of the Italian Football Federation, wants to change that. He said he’d like to see stadiums fulfill other “social activities” outside of hosting matches once every other week.
He’s got a point, and many modern stadiums in America are being built with that in mind.
Last campaign, Roma set a club record in Serie A for most points in a season. They had never reached 87 points before, even when winning the Scudetto. So, obviously, the summer has consisted of parting ways with the manager, the sporting director, the legendary club captain, their most productive attacker and at least one of their coveted center backs. Of course, looking at the departures on an individual basis, they sort of make sense. But it’s still a weird summer for Roma.
Former Italian international and Juventus star Alessandro Del Piero, now aged 42, made a viral return over the weekend by doing what he does best: he scored a sensational goal. Representing C.S.D. Municipal in a friendly in Guatemala City, Pinturicchio used his creativity to create some space and then he sent a trademark effort into the corner.
Good ol' Alessandro Del Piero at a charity match, showing he's still got it... pic.twitter.com/JgohSPaYB3
Suffering from Champions League withdrawal?
It’s been less than a month since Real Madrid thrashed Juventus to claim the crown of top club in Europe, but teams are about to begin the quest to take away that crown.
The first qualifying round for the world’s premier club competition (go away, FIFA Club World Cup, no one cares about you) begins Tuesday and Wednesday.