Prodigies

Mateo Messi was born on September 11, 2015. The youngest child of Lionel Messi and Antonella Roccuzzo, the 1-year-old is three years younger than his older brother, Thiago.

Generation Z has officially landed in the UEFA Champions League, and Moise Kean displayed an attention span lasting much longer than a few seconds during his six minutes on the pitch. 

The 16-year-old came out sans a mobile device, belying his status as a young consumer and digital native. While some might claim that, in accordance with the desires of his fellow post-millennials, Kean’s debut was just a bit of instant gratification following his Serie A debut on Saturday, the forward is actually a pretty special and unique individual, just like everyone else in the iGeneration.

Just a few days ago Celtic’s Karamoko Dembele was merely the club’s “other Dembele”. Even when he made his debut for the Hoops’ U-20s against Hearts last Wednesday - as a substitute in the 81st minute - he was still second fiddle to first-teamer Moussa Dembele, the recent scorer of a spectacular brace against Manchester City in Champions League play.

The accolades for 15-year-old Vancouver Whitecaps forward/winger Alphonso Davies continue to stack up. The Liberian-born Davies, who has represented Canada at the under-20 level, became the youngest player to score a goal in USL history on May 15, 2016. In July, he became the third youngest player of all-time to sign an MLS contract. He’s appeared in eight matches for Vancouver this season, including two starts.

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.

Christian Pulisic will eventually be crowned the USMNT’s best player ever.

This hot take is backed with circumstantial evidence in the form of raw talent, technical superiority and a nurturing environment for tactical growth. 

The Russia 2018 World Cup may be a somewhat sad and empty affair. Lionel Messi announced his retirement from the Argentina National Team (whether he means it or not remains to be seen), Zlatan Ibrahimovic has officially retired from Sweden, Cristiano Ronaldo will be 33 and Wayne Rooney will be 32. The traditional stars of the world's game are fading away, and Russia will probably be the first tournament where that truly sinks in. 

It’s the kind of popular legend that is usually attributed to a “friend of a friend” and rooted in invention and fantasy, a cheap tale to explain the otherworldly. When professional football freestyler Billy Wingrove met Ronaldinho as part of Nike’s Joga Bonito advertising campaign, he said: “I’ve got two questions. One, is there a heaven? Two, how did he [Ronaldinho] get this good?”

Xavi Hernandez is a Barcelona legend. While in the Blaugrana, he won damn near everything there is to win. He retired on top, having been an integral part of Barca's treble win. This begs the question, though, now that Xavi is comfortably living out the early stages of his retirement in the Qatari league, where is the next Xavi? How will Barcelona replace one of the best players in its history?