Culture

Ask any Newcastle United supporter to identify a player synonymous with the penny-pinching reign of Mike Ashley and there's a good chance you'll hear "Joselu" as the reply.

Fresh off winning the Championship and promotion, secure in the services of beloved manager Rafael Benítez and dreaming of a splashy return to the 2017-18 top flight, Toon supporters were left frustrated by a summer transfer window in which Joselu's $6 million purchase represented the biggest upgrade to the attack.

Since Jesse Marsch brought Wilfried Gnonto to Leeds United on deadline day in August, the young Italian has been a fan favorite. It wasn’t long after the young Italian made his debut in late October that the Elland Road faithful rewarded him with his own song. Unfortunately, the chant has quickly become a source of embarrassment for the club from West Yorkshire. 

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.

The global 2023 soccer calendar just doesn't relent from month to month with the usual suspects (Premier League, Champions League, etc.) demanding and receiving our attention, but a few soccer-centric things have flown under the radar in the new year. 

Update your Google Calendar, set a reminder with Alexa or just make a mental note of these five happenings.

After losing in the final stages of the World Cup and then suffering a first Ligue 1 defeat of the season this past Sunday, PSG teammates Kylian Mbappé and Achraf Hakimi quickly used their time off to get as far away from the sport as possible.

With the France and Monaco stars unlikely to feature whatsoever in Friday's Coupe de France Round of 64 match against third-tier Châteauroux, Mbappé and Hakimi departed for the United States and made a surprise appearance at Brooklyn's Barclays Center for an NBA game between the Nets and San Antonio Spurs on Monday night.

Soccer has a unique power. It brings people together and unites communities for the love of the game. It can be easy to forget about the humanity of a crowd when watching from afar. The match takes center stage and suddenly, the massive crowd in attendance is nothing more than a backdrop for the commentary crew to reference periodically. 

Not in Sevilla. Not for the fans of Real Betis.