Soccer is easily one of the world's most physically demanding sports. The game's strenuous mixture of long-distance running, intermittent sprinting, explosive change of direction and physical contact combines to exact a heavy toll on players. To perform at their best, soccer players need to have a balanced diet that provides them with the necessary nutrients and energy.
Despite only beginning the club's sixth season in Major League Soccer, LAFC have already begun tapping into the hot bed of talent in Southern California with exciting homegrown players like Erik Dueñas, Christian Torres, Nathan Ordaz and Tony Leone all on the roster.
Contrary to the spectral presence its name implies, the Nike Phantom GX is an omnipresent force at the highest level of the game as the preferred boot of Kevin De Bruyne, Lautaro Martínez, Phil Foden, Ella Toone, Rodrygo, Eduardo Camavinga and Grace Geyoro.
I've seen enough. I'm declaring 17-year-old AZ Alkmaar phenom Kees Smit the winner of the 2023 Golden Boy Award, and there's nothing some preciously talented La Masia graduate at Barcelona can do about it.
Over a month ago, the Netherlands youth international came to my attention with an incredibly inventive goal during an indoor match. It's as beautiful as a Rembrandt.
The United States have earned a spot at this year's U-17 Men’s World Cup with a hard-fought 5-3 win against Guatemala in the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF U-17 Championship. It took four goals to defeat the tournament’s hosts in an extremely hostile home atmosphere.
We got a good one brewing! Keyrol Figueroa’s leads the #CU17C with 6 goals ⚽️
Today’s heroes in Guatemala are looking set to be tomorrow’s golden boys. The U-17 USMNT is in the midst of its Concacaf Championship campaign and has gotten off to about as good of a start as possible. Saturday’s comprehensive 5-0 drubbing of Barbados was followed by another dominant performance and a 3-1 win over Trinidad and Tobago on Monday night.
GOAALL
We have discovered the next Alisson Becker — it's 18-year-old Braga prospect João Carvalho, who makes Alisson look about as talented as Loris Karius in comparison.
On Tuesday, in Portugal's Liga Revelação U-23 division, Carvalho took possession in the 89th minute with his Braga side holding a slender 2-1 advantage over Rio Ave. In this situation you're supposed to "GET RID!" by smashing the ball 30 yards out of play, but Carvalho is built different.
In 2020 my creative juices were flowing as I penned three award-nominated (not actually nominated) horror stories about youth soccer.
The São Paulo Youth Football Cup, known as the Copinha, is a world-renowned staging ground for some of Brazil's most prodigious U-20 talents. Monstrous footballers like Endrick, Kaká, Neymar and Vini Jr have all shined in the competition, and we learned a new name on Tuesday: Dieguinho.
The 19-year-old plays for Hercílio Luz's U-20 team, and they went up against Capital CF during the group stage of the competition.
If you've played indoor soccer before, you've undoubtedly been left mad as hell at your goalkeeper for making a total mess of harmless balls smashed off the walls. The corner is a particularly dangerous area for keepers with zero foot skills, but we've also all probably seen a traditional outfield player being forced into the keeper role and getting beat by the softest of efforts.
What I've never seen before is this: a player understanding all the angles, all the realities, and purposefully hammering one off the wall to outfox a keeper coming out to usher away a chance.