Serie A has a racism problem. Anyone who has followed the league for any amount of time knows it, with two high-profile instances this year alone with black footballers subjected to monkey noises.
Serie A launched an anti-racism campaign this week to try to fix its image as a backwards league that discriminates against non-white footballers.
Monterrey Femenil claimed the 2019 Liga MX Femenil Apertura title with a 2-1 aggregate win over UANL in front of 38,251 fans on Saturday. Las Rayadas had lost in the 2018 and 2019 Clausura finals before finally earning their first-ever title.
But the celebrations were dulled this week when it became apparent Monterrey would only reward players with iPads instead of a verbally promised financial bonus. Last I checked, you can’t pay rent with a tablet.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has hit Russia with a four-year ban from international sport after a special meeting at the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Switzerland resulted in a unanimous vote to suspend the nation.
The suspension results in Russia being banned from participating at next summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. However, the decision from WADA doesn’t affect Russia’s participation at UEFA Euro 2020 since the tournament isn’t classified as a “major event.”
With a chance to extend its top-four lead with a victory over a listless Everton side that had just fired its manager, Chelsea couldn’t come up with the goods. And a late Christian Pulisic throw-in consigned the Blues to defeat on Saturday at Goodison Park.
Everton beat Chelsea 3-1 behind two second-half goals from Dominic Calvert-Lewin, the Toffees’ first win since Nov. 9. Marco Silva was fired earlier this week after a 5-2 loss to archrival Liverpool, leaving Duncan Ferguson as caretaker manager.
The Portland Timbers Twitter account has won the internet. Everyone else can delete all their social media apps from their phones because there won’t be anything better on there ever.
After Netflix tried to be fun with a leading question seeking clever innuendo, the @TimbersFC admin came up with the best (worst?) reply of them all.
We have two DP slots open.
— Portland Timbers (@TimbersFC) December 6, 2019
Two stats stood out ahead of today’s Premier League match between Sheffield and Newcastle United at Bramall Lane: (1) Andy Carroll was handed his first Newcastle start in almost nine years and (2) Martin Dúbravka was busy making his 65th straight EPL appearance for the Toon, a run which began directly following his move from Sparta Prague back in January of 2018.
Both players played massive roles in Newcastle’s bizarre 2-0 victory.
Seeing Lionel Messi dive is about as rare as seeing the Argentine pick up a red card. It might happen from time to time, but not enough for anyone to legitimately call Messi a flopper.
Don’t tell that to 36-year-old referee Clement Turpin, who officiated Barcelona’s Champions League match against Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday at the Camp Nou.
Imagine you’re in Edinson Cavani’s shoes this morning, strolling around the streets outside the Bernabéu in search of that precious, caffeine-rich mate before tonight’s big Champions League encounter with Real Madrid.
You’re not in the best spirits. You’ve missed a good portion of the season through injury, and in your absence, that goddamn Mauro Icardi has scored 10 goals in 11 games to take your job. Now everyone wants to offer Icardi a permanent contract and is totally fine with yours expiring in the summer!
Diego Maradona is quitting Gimnasia, and we don’t mean the gym. (We’re pretty sure he quit that long ago.)
Rather than stay to fight relegation, Maradona, 59, resigned from Gimnasia La Plata in the Argentine Superliga after just two months as head coach. Gimnasia currently sits in 22nd out of 24 clubs but in worse shape facing relegation. The club lost Maradona’s first three matches in charge but had won three of the last five.
In the 1885-86 Scottish Cup, Arbroath defeated Bon Accord 36-0. In the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the USWNT beat Thailand 13-0. In the 2019 NCAA Women's College Cup, Stanford beat Prairie View A&M 15-0. Throughout the course of history, the trend of scoring an excessive amount of goals has continued to receive backlash from all levels.