How mad would you be if you were bounced from a major international tournament by the likes of Bahrain? Let's ask the USA men's U-19 team, which lost 3-1 to Bahrain in the COTIF tournament, ensuring their exit from the competition.
Well that escalated quickly. They appear to not be psyched about it. (The USA is in the dark-colored jerseys and Bahrain in the white, by the way.)
When we last reported on Charlie Davies back in April, it was to celebrate his remarkable recovery from a 2009 car accident that could’ve claimed his life. The subject of an ESPN documentary entitled “The Unrelenting Charlie Davies”, the New England Revolution forward was looking forward to a successful 2016 MLS season.
Didier Drogba is usually in the news for scoring a cool goal, or scoring a buch of goals or refusing to play in artificial turf, but this weekend he made headlines for doing a very stupid thing in Montreal's 1-1 draw with DC United. Every dirty player knows you have to be aware of where the ref is at all times. Drogba must be out of practice.
Sebastian Giovinco is putting the pain of being omitted from Italy’s Euro 2016 squad firmly behind him by recapturing the form that saw him named the 2015 MLS MVP. His performance in Toronto's 3-0 victory over Columbus was one of the best we've seen in 2016.
This season will be a pivotal one for Julian Green. The 21-year-old USA international will not play for Bayern Munich's reserve team, and will insead try to break into the first team.
Saturday, in Bayern Munich's International Champions Cup pre-season friendly against Inter Milan, Green began making his case for first-team minutes, scoring a hat trick in the first 35 minutes of the match.
Christian Pulisic only made his debut for Borussia Dortmund back in January 2016. Since then, we’ve learned that the 17-year-old is an absolute gem of a player. In seven months time he became the youngest player to score two goals in the Bundesliga, made his USMNT debut in March, scored against Bolivia and represented the USA three times at the Copa America Centenario.
He’s been called the Chuck Norris of football. He’s referred to as a lord and “The Powerhouse”. Likened to “a blunt instrument with which to bludgeon defenses”, Emile Heskey changed the way we viewed the forward position during his playing days.
Heskey burst onto the scene with Leicester City back in 1994, and he reached his pinnacle with Liverpool during the 2000-01 season after scoring 14 Premier League goals in 36 matches.
Through the first 30 minutes of the 2016 MLS All-Star Game, there was an interesting contrast between the midfields of Arsenal and the MLS All-Stars. Andrea Pirlo anchored the setup for MLS, in tandem with Kyle Beckerman and Kaka, while Arsenal chose the strength of Francis Coquelin and Mohamed Elneny to support Jack Wilshere.
The average age of the duel was 24 for Arsenal and 35 for MLS, but one couldn’t help but be in awe of the play of MLS’s old guard — particularly the sumptuous, metronomic style of Pirlo.
USWNT defender Becky Sauerbrunn took some time out from preparing for the Olypics to play "fair or foul" with The Players Tribune. She gave her opinion on studs-up challenges, artificial turf, Harry Potter, crunchy peanut butter, beards and more. She was spot on about crunchy peanut butter and beards.
It’s been over two years since Julian Green introduced himself on the largest of international stages with that fantastic goal against Belgium in the World Cup round of 16. Now, it finally looks as though he’s ready to progress at the club level with Bayern Munich.