This is becoming an annual occurrence. Every so often, a bit of "kasi flava" in South Africa goes viral and people go off with the power of a thousand Roy Keanes — "IT'S A DISGRACE!" "IT'S NOT PROPER FOOTBALL!" "I'D BREAK THEIR LEGS!"
For the game's great distributors of the ball, there's unfortunately no assist equivalent of the Puskás Award. But maybe we'd do well to highlight the year's best assist with the Pelé-to-Carlos Alberto Memorial Trophy or something. Basically I just think that Giannis Konstantelias needs some form of recognition for what he accomplished in PAOK Thessaloniki's recent Super League victory over AEK Athens.
DORTMUND, Germany - Borussia Dortmund crushed Hertha Berlin 4-1 on Sunday with a goal and an assist from Karim Adeyemi to join leaders Bayern Munich and Union Berlin at the top of the Bundesliga and stretch their winning run in the league to six consecutive matches this year.
Panama secured a 2-0 win over Papua New Guinea in the final qualifying playoffs for the Women's World Cup in New Zealand on Sunday and will face Paraguay, who beat Taiwan 4-2 on penalties in a thrilling game.
With both teams seeking World Cup qualification for the first time, Panama and Paraguay will face off in Hamilton on Thursday.
Cameroon will face Portugal, and Haiti will take on Chile in the other two playoffs on Wednesday for the July 20 to Aug. 20 World Cup in New Zealand and Australia, which will be the first edition to feature 32 teams.
Rodrygo is enjoying his football at the Santiago Bernabéu this season, and a beautiful set of skills against Elche on Wednesday sent us back to the days when another young Brazilian was mesmerizing the Spanish crowd.
The match was goal-scoring fiesta for the Merengues — they managed to score four goals in a league match for the first time since September while keeping a clean sheet. Marco Asensio, Luka Modrić and a Karim Benzema’s double lit up the world champion’s celebratory victory.
Zlatan Ibrahimović is one of the world's most brazenly outspoken footballers, and as a result of that he's also one of the most widely publicized. However, the 41-year-old maintains a largely anonymous private life, spending much of his offseason time in Malmö with longtime partner Helena Seger and their two sons Maximilian (age 16) and Vincent (age 14).
Fulham continue to impress in their return to the Premier League after defeating Nottingham Forest 2-0 on Saturday for the team’s tenth EPL win this season. When the Cottagers were relegated in the 2020-21 season, they only recorded five league victories.
Saturday’s win saw another great shift from American defenders Tim Ream and Antonee Robinson. The American duo have become a wall on Fulham’s left side and kept the seventh clean sheet on the season.
MANCHESTER, England - The title hopes of Manchester United and Arsenal suffered setbacks when they were held to scoreless draws in the Women's Super League on Sunday, allowing Chelsea to replace United at the top of the table after a superb 3-2 win over Tottenham Hotspur.
Manchester United drew 0-0 with Everton in Sunday's early game and Arsenal were shut out by West Ham United in the late match, while in between Chelsea beat Spurs to move to the top of the standings.
The jokes about Gareth Bale playing more golf than soccer during his time at Real Madrid are no laughing matter anymore. Bale retired from professional ball after the World Cup and is now looking to dominate the golf course.
On Thursday Bale was competing in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in California where he hit an incredible trick shot to get on the green.
Multi-sport athlete ⚽️
BRIGHTON, England - Holders Liverpool were knocked out of the FA Cup after losing 2-1 at Brighton & Hove Albion in the fourth round on Sunday as Kaoru Mitoma struck the winning goal in stoppage time.
Harvey Elliott put Liverpool ahead, Lewis Dunk equalized before halftime and the score stayed at 1-1 until Mitoma found the net in the 92nd minute with a fine finish.