Youth Soccer

The fact that soccer is a way of life in many if not all countries in the world is no mystery. 

In some places, families bet their savings and livelihoods on the skills of a young Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, hoping that their son will be the next big thing in the ever-changing environment that is the soccer world. 

Most of the time, these bets don’t pay off and many times, especially in countries where soccer is put ahead of school, they even backfire. Nevertheless, there are a few seeds that grow and eventually turn into amazing stories.

The American women’s game has been on a roller coaster of a ride over the last 14 months. From winning the World Cup to individual player scandal; failing to win an Olympic gold for a record fourth time to successfully completing a fourth season of league play for the first time. 

While all of that is happening at the highest level, the NWSL’s Seattle Reign and U.S. Soccer are quietly working to build the next generation of league and USWNT stars. 

In an event that’s hardly newsworthy, Barcelona’s academy is great. They’re so great that they’ve just won the Junior Soccer World Challenge. What’s newsworthy about this match isn't the talent of Barca's U12 team, it's the reaction from their kids towards their extremely distraught opponents.

You can tell what it meant to the Japanese youth side Omiya Ardija Junior to play against Barcelona. They obviously watch a lot of the Barcelona senior side, and the chance to play and defeat their U12s was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the boys.

With a squad containing the likes of Neymar, Renato Augusto, Gabriel Jesus and Rafinha, it was understandable that a huge home crowd booed their own team off the pitch following a scoreless opening Olympic match against South Africa.

Brazil played the majority of the second half with a man advantage following Mothobi Mvala’s dismissal, but they could not find a way past South Africa despite registering 20 shots with seven of those on target.

Arsene Wenger gave Thierry Henry the choice: either he quit his job as pundit on Sky Sports to focus solely on his job as assistant manager of Arsenal’s U-18s, or he’d lose his role within Arsenal’s academy. 

Henry has responded by leaving the club, choosing to maintain his role on television along with its £4 million-a-year paycheck. 

Arsenal’s all time record goalscorer had been completing his UEFA Pro License  at the club, the final coaching qualification available, giving rise to rumors that he'd someday replace Wenger.

The late 19th century to the end of the apartheid era in South Africa saw the rise of townships, urban living areas, built on the periphery of towns and cities. Reserved for non-whites, these sprawling and often underdeveloped slums were contrived as separate living spaces for working class and unemployed black, colored and Indian inhabitants. 

Townships were also referred to as locations or lokasie in Afrikaans. Lokasie gave way to the colloquial term kasi, a word which now encompasses the flavor and distinct style of the townships.