Next season is the last thing on Liverpool supporters’ minds at the moment with the club through to the Champions League semifinals (where they’ll meet Lionel Messi’s Barcelona) and involved in one of the most exciting Premier League title run-ins ever. However, New Balance launched Liverpool’s jersey for the upcoming season today, and it draws influence from both the past and future of the historic club.
Sometimes a miss can be just as beautiful as a goal. I once compiled a list of my favorite almost goals (which you can find here), but a lot of them include the football cracking off the post in a totally satisfactory way (large ping included) or Zinedine Zidane “Zidane Turning” his way beyond defenders before languidly spooning a shot into the heavens.
Euro 2020 will be an historic tournament. With 12 cities in 12 countries hosting matches, the 60th anniversary event will be a romantic show of how football brings the world together.
When it comes to bringing the world together, the only thing that might compare to soccer is Game of Thrones. The HBO show, which debuts the final season on Sunday, brings fans of beheading, incest and dragons together to borrow their parents’ HBO passwords like nothing else in the world.
At the 1970 World Cup, Gordon Banks made what is often considered to be the greatest save of all time, denying a header from Pelé that seemed destined for the goal. Nearly 50 years later, this David de Gea save vs West Ham looks remarkably similar — and was, perhaps, more important.
Gordon Banks was a legendary goalkeeper for England and Stoke City, winning the World Cup in 1966. Four years later, he made what British-centric football fans view as the greatest save ever:
Nicolas Belvito is the definition of a journeyman.
The 32-year-old striker has played for 12 different clubs over his 14-plus year career, all in France.
Now playing for Grenoble in Ligue 2, he may have scored the best goal of his career on Friday.
The match was tied at a goal apiece when Belvito decided to take matters into his own hands (feet).
Trevor Noah is a soccer fan, this much we know. He made some great jokes about World Cup commentators last summer and followed it up with some powerful words on the Africanness of the French national team that won the tournament.
On Tuesday night, Liverpool saw off Benfica 2-0 in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal. It was fairly routine for the Reds, who could have scored more but also could’ve conceded a couple. Regardless of the final result, Liverpool was a bit lucky the Mo Salah tackle on Danilo Pereira did not draw severe punishment.
Remember the name: Matheus Cunha.
The 19-year-old Brazilian arrived at RB Leipzig from FC Sion last June for $17.1 million, but he’s been brought along slowly in the Bundesliga with 15 of his 21 appearances coming from off the bench.
However, on Saturday, Cunha scored his second league goal of the season, and my word. The Brazil U-20 forward pulled off a ridiculous Zidane turn to eliminate two Bayer Leverkusen defenders before seamlessly transitioning into a delicate chip over Lukáš Hrádecký.
Who doesn’t love a good Hulk smash?
No, not the radioactive green behemoth from the comic books, good old Givanildo Vieira de Sousa, better known as Hulk, the Brazilian beefcake renowned for his muscular appearance and ridiculously strong left peg.
Hulk, formerly of Porto and Zenit St. Petersburg, is in his fourth season in China with Shanghai SIPG in the Chinese Super League. He scored his first goal of the new campaign on Friday and it was classic Hulk.