Soccer Page 181 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
See Messi’s tribute to Diego Maradona
Today FC Barcelona beat perennial La Liga lightweight CA Osasuna 4-nil. But that’s not the important part. Lionel Messi, in the 73rd minute, danced and pranced through a forest of defenders before easily depositing the ball in the upper corner of the net, sort of like another Argentinian superstar u...
WWII bombs found at Roma training ground, Dick Cheney slaps forehead
We’ve seen sports and teams have their normal operations upended and canceled far more the past year than we ever have before. Even the hint of positive COVID tests can sideline not just a whole roster, but an entire organization’s running as headquarters are cleared out. ...
USWNT takes knee, dons Black Lives Matter jackets in solidarity 'to affirm human decency'
Meanwhile, the United States got back into action with its four world championship jersey stars, and every starter except Julie Ertz and Kelley O’Hara took a knee for the anthem, while the whole team wore Black Lives Matter warm-up jackets....
On Maradona, his life, and the most famous two goals in soccer history
This story was taken from an episode of Julie DiCaro’s now-defunct sports history podcast, Stick to Pods, and originally aired on July 13, 2018....
Maradona, the best human to ever do it
When you discuss the greatest to play any sport, there’s definitely a mythical edge to it. Jordan, LeBron, Gretzky, Lemieux, Mantle, Mays, Payton, Sanders, whatever your names are, it always feels like you’re talking about some sort of separate being. Something bestowed upon the Earth, unknowable in...
The Zlatan has AC Milan atop Serie A, and what’s old is new again
There is something about seeing AC Milan in first in Serie A that stirs long dead emotions. At least to those of us of a certain age (namely, those who still listen to GNR). The Rossoneri atop the table harkens back to the last days of Italy being home to the world’s best league, where all the legen...
When did Manchester City get so boring?
Every story about the Premier League, and really European soccer as a whole, has to start off with just how weird the circumstances are. The shortened preseason, the glut of matches in a reduced window of time, the injuries, the positive tests, no crowds, all of it has combined for some truly goofy ...
English soccer player honks opponent’s penis twice, giggles as refs do nothing
You wouldn’t think that anyone would want to join Brad Marchand on the list of athletes who commit in-game sexual assault, but nothing is out of reach by the world these days. Preston North End’s Darnell Fisher has seen Marchand’s mere foreplay of licking people and raised to this direct action on S...
Orlando emergency keeper's game-winning save is soccer's 'position player pitches perfect inning'
Rodrigo Schlegel is a defender for Orlando City SC … and now the most legendary goalie in franchise history....
Leverkusen keeper puts foot in mouth with botched kick leading to hilarious own goal: See it!
Lukas Hradecky is a Slovak-born goalie who plays internationally for Finland and professionally in Germany with Bayer Leverkusen. Isn’t it odd, then, that his problem on Saturday was putting too much English on the ball?...
The MLS playoffs are already borked and they haven’t even started
As if it wasn’t hard enough to navigate a team or sport through a pandemic, and some would rightly suggest it’s impossible and stupid to do so, soccer has to add onto that an international break. So not only do you have strict protocols and testing and basically have to cross your fingers and clench...
Through the fog, there’s finally some light for the USMNT
Maybe having 10 months off from each other is exactly what the U.S. Men’s National Team and their fans needed. The last time we saw the national squad, they were hacking, gagging, and stumbling through the Gold Cup or attempting to play out from the back in another friendly with Mexico with truly di...
Sergio Ramos’s No Good, Terrible, Very Bad Day
Sergio Ramos might be the biggest villain in European soccer, but part of the reason he is that is he’s already won, and you know it. He’s got two European Championship medals, a World Cup, a murder of Champions League trophies, a handful of La Liga titles, and will go down as one of, if not the, be...
Fans finally stick it to The Man
Sports fans have become accustomed, or maybe the better word is resigned, to the idea that they can’t win....
Liverpool and Manchester City play the best game of the year… for 60 minutes
There’s still a perception of Jurgen Klopp that he employs “heavy metal” football, and that before and after the game and during halftime he retreats to his office to blast “Killed By Death” for inspiration. Add in the destruction that Liverpool’s frontline of Mo Salah, Sadio Mane, and Roberto Firmi...
Diego Maradona still kicking, by the Hand of God
Let’s talk about Diego Maradona....
Ajax score freekick from five feet in loin-girding moment
We soccer fans like to think that every goal is unique and different, but every so often you do get to see something rare. I’m a total sucker for indirect freekicks from inside the penalty box, which happens once every comet. An illegal back-pass to the keeper is almost never called, and that’s just...
Paul Pogba has a Manchester United problem, not the other way around
After six Premier League games, being six points off the relegation zone while nine points off the top is not where Manchester United are supposed to be. But it feels like that gets said a lot about United the past couple years. “Not where they’re supposed to be.” ...
In preview of what could lie ahead for MLS and the NFL, USL cancels championship as squad faces COVID outbreak
The USL, the country’s second-division soccer league, canceled its championship game yesterday between the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Phoenix Rising, due to multiple players and staff on Tampa Bay testing positive for COVID-19. The decision was made because of the amount of time and the amount of players...
Can MLS fill your weekday sporting void? A guide to giving it a shot
In the oddest year for every possible reason and facet, American sports fans are facing something they haven’t seen since the first part of the 20th Century. There aren’t any of the four major sports going other than the NFL. The middle of the week is a barren wasteland. In fandom terms, we run from...