association-football Page 4 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Real Madrid simply cannot be destroyed
Most every time it’s happened, when Liverpool are up 2-0 at Anfield within a game’s first 15 minutes, especially on a European night, and the stadium is coming loose with noise and the team is swarming, teams tend to fold. That kind of atmosphere once folded Lionel Messi’s Barcelona not so long ago....
MLS doesn’t know what fans want
It tells you pretty much everything you need to know about Major League Soccer that A) the season starts in five days and you likely didn’t know that, and B) with only five days to go is when the league actually finalized what the playoff system for this season will be. That’s right, teams didn’t kn...
Thierry Henry as the USMNT’s next coach isn’t as bad as you think
The direction of the United States men’s national team nearly three months after its World Cup campaign in Qatar began is in flux. The Yanks are at the wheel, but don’t know whether to hit the gas or the brake. The car is in neutral at a time where that’s acceptable, but not ideal. Making the right ...
The fight for equality is not over
Canada’s national women’s soccer team is the reigning Olympic Gold medalist. There is no reason why they should be taking a budget cut. There is no reason that they should be getting paid less than their male counterparts. There is no reason they should not be supported, especially as they are the b...
Arsenal blinked
Arsenal had passed most every test this season. There’s still a hint of wonder/confusion at their place atop the Premier League. While improvement was expected from their fifth-place finish last season, to run through the league for the first half of the season as they have come out of nowhere. What...
Here's what you need to know as the Champions League returns
It only feels like the Champions League is late in returning for its knockout stage, but this is the normal time of year. What isn’t normal is cramming a World Cup in between the group stages and the knockouts, which makes it seem like this season has already gone on forever even when most leagues a...
Please don’t let Jesse Marsch fall upwards into the USMNT job
Jesse Marsch talks a good game. Just ask him. He’s happy to talk to you about how he talks a good game. He’s happy to let everyone watch him talk a good game. He’ll talk about letting people watch him talk a good game. He’s always there to talk and to tell you what he’s doing. He loves talking, espe...
Oh my god, they signed McKennie!
It’s transfer deadline day, and with the news that the USMNT will be in the Copa America (unless there’s some sort of qualifying disaster, which has never happened before, right?), what the members of the team do with their club teams takes on greater urgency. It’s not waiting three years anymore. T...
US Soccer is rebooting the USMNT…again
There’s burning the ships, and then there’s this. ...
Jose Mourinho would be a disaster as USMNT’s next coach
Gregg Berhalter’s days are numbered at the helm of the United States men’s national team. The Yanks didn’t win a knockout stage game in Qatar and Berhalter is under investigation from a domestic violence incident that occurred 31 years ago, where he admitted to kicking his now wife. US Soccer only l...
Serie A has another massive financial scandal on its hands
Maybe you were a wee lad or lass all the way back in…2006? Is that what it says here? OK. Well maybe you were just in high school or college then, and that was the last big Serie A scandal, known as “Calciopoli,” which saw Juventus punted to Serie B and other clubs docked points and money. That was ...
Brian McBride out as USMNT GM, and Gregg Berhalter should be next
Brian McBride, the general manager of the USMNT, is out, per sources. No exact reason has been given. The casual assumption is it had something to do with the drama that came to light after the U.S. was ousted from the World Cup....
There may be no saving Everton now
Perhaps the most damning thing you can say about Everton FC is that most fans probably didn’t know the Premier League had financial fair play rules. It is hard to remember any other club that has come within a mile of being in violation of these rules that no one knows, and seem pretty nebulous when...
A compilation of the most notorious con artists in sports
George Santos, Anthony Devolder, or whatever identity he’s assumed by the time this is published, pulled off one of the most daring cons in U.S. history during the midterm election cycle. In an era of con artists exploring extreme lengths to swindle their way into office, Santos faking a resume, spe...
Napoli are Showtime
While Arsenal have gobbled up most of the world’s oxygen in the “came from nowhere to lead the league” category, there’s another team in Europe that’s outside the usual cast of characters that is destroying the competition. And while Arsenal may be a joy to watch, they’ve got nothing on S.S.C. Napol...
Has Erling Haaland actually made Manchester City any better?
It’s admittedly a convenient time to ask whether or not Erling Haaland has made Manchester City a better football team or not, especially if you’re not of the Citizen persuasion. Though given my incredible motherfuck powers, maybe this is the worst time to ask. ...
Apple’s MLS channel begins to take shape, we’re just not sure what shape
The MLS season always comes out of the weeds in a surprise fashion, mostly due to its placing its start right when the business end of the European season begins (Champions League knockout rounds, closing stages of domestic seasons, etc.). It’s only 44 days until MLS starts its season, and though th...
Paul Riley done with 'political, woke' NWSL after lifetime ban
Even if the egregious quartet of Paul Riley (pictured), Richie Burke, Christy Holly, and Rory Dames never would’ve coached American professional soccer again after their despicable actions towards individual players and teams became widely known, making the official move to ban the foursome from the...
Chelsea and Liverpool have cycled out of the Premier League Big 7
There were many distasteful, if not outright disgusting, angles to the attempted creation of the European Super League two years ago. One of those lurking beneath the destruction of the entire structure of European soccer or the naked and unfathomable greed was the awkwardness of the English clubs’ ...
With Zidane news, US Soccer wags the dog — but that’s okay
We joked a couple days ago that US Soccer had become France without the success, delving into behind-the-scenes drama and parental strife. Little did we know how much like France they reportedly wanted to become. Reports started leaking out over the weekend that Zinedine Zidane had turned down an ap...