Sebastian ‘El Loco’ Abreu, who is 39 years old, began his pro career 22 years ago, in 1994. Abreu’s towering height initially had him practicing basketball until he was 18 years old. However, problems with coaches and an increased interest in football saw him dedicate himself to the world’s game.
Abreu was also extremely interested in journalism, once interviewing himself for a local newspaper.
In many ways, the Copa America Centenario resembled an A-Plus B-movie; an event so bizarre that it couldn’t help but capture the imagination.
From Brazil’s decision to essentially forfeit before the matches had even kicked off, to the final drama of Lionel Messi retiring from international football after missing a decisive penalty kick, the 2016 Copa America was camp to the extreme — it had a certain self-acknowledged theatricality.
Bolivia were done and dusted before the match even started. Chile, the defending Copa champions, were determined to make the world’s 82nd ranked side suffer. It was all Chile could do to make up for their disappointing defeat to Argentina.
Chile spent the first hour of the match accumulating almost 80% of possession while limiting Bolivia to a single shot. In the 58th minute, Bolivia introduced little-known playmaker Jhasmani Campos. Campos must not have been following or paying attention to the script, because he immediately turned the game on its head.
The United States were punished 2-0 by Colombia on Friday night to open the 2016 Copa America Centenario. A heavily pro-Colombian crowd in Santa Clara, California, watched as Geoff Cameron carelessly allowed Cristian Zapata to put his side ahead early before James Rodriguez capitalized from the spot on a sophomoric handball from DeAndre Yedlin.
Sergio Aguero's younger brother Gaston del Castillo made his debut for Independiente on Saturday versus San Lorenzo. "Kuncito," as Argentine news outlet Ole affectionately named him, was promoted to the first team in August 2015, but he has had to wait for a while to get his first senior appearance.
The world seems to be at Paulo Dybala’s feet. The 22-year-old Argentine is lighting up Serie A to the tune of 14 goals and eight assists in 29 games. That is a staggering sum considering his age, and that he is in his first year at a new club, Juventus.
The admiration and mutual respect that Philippe Coutinho and Neymar have for each other’s game is no secret. They’ve been close friends for almost 10 years now, their friendship dating all the way back to the time of embarrassing bathroom selfies, a formative point for anyone in their awkward teenage years.
So, a match in an Argentinian tournament called the Copa Ciudad de Plata made it to the 93rd minute without incident. And then there was an incident. A flying karate kick incident.
The kicker is Alvaro Pereira, who has played a not-unimportant role for the Uruguayan National Team over the years and had an excellent 2014 World Cup. Here, though, he shows us that he's adept at kicking things other than soccer balls.
Kaka is two goals away from becoming Brazil’s all-time leading scorer in World Cup qualifiers, but his toughest obstacle will not be Venezuela.
In order to surpass Zico and Romario, both with 11 goals, the Orlando City player will have to persuade Brazil coach Dunga into letting him play.
The Brazilian manager called up Kaka to replace Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho, who got injured before he could make his debut in World Cup qualifiers. The other main absence in Brazil’s squad is the team’s star, Neymar.
James Rodriguez made a big splash at the 2014 World Cup, prompting Real Madrid to spend a boatload of money to buy the Colombian attacking midfielder from Monaco. We went through Rodriguez's transfer histry to figure out how much he cost each time he was bought and sold throughout his career.
