soccer Page 15 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Dillon Brooks’ admiration for Kyrie Irving can’t be just about basketball
The recent rise in profile for Dillon Brooks is a credit to him. In the current landscape of the NBA, new stars are rising with LeBron James and Kevin Durant getting older. Luka Dončić, Nikola Jokić, and Giannis Antetokounmpo are firmly among the best needle-movers in The Association. Brooks isn’t c...

Antonio Conte wants to get fired more than anyone has ever wanted to get fired
It only takes a matter of hours after becoming a soccer fan to hear the term, “Spursy.” It only takes a couple more after that to completely understand that. It refers to Tottenham Hotspur and that no matter the situation, or the seeming unlikeliness, something weird will happen to the club, and in ...

It’s been another banner week for FIFA
The election of a FIFA president is probably as close as we can get to a world president, as being the governor of the world’s most popular sport certainly allows one to wield an insane amount of power and influence. What exactly Gianni Infantino has done to earn a second term is anyone’s guess, oth...

Barcelona in yet another mess — another mess of their own doing
What FC Barcelona will tell you is that their comfortable lead atop La Liga at the moment (nine points) is indicative of being recovered from their years in financial hell. That all the levers they pulled (and the symbolism of Barca constantly talking about pulling their levers is hard to miss) have...

Turns out the Nikola Jokić kicks a LOT of balls
Nikola Jokić possesses the most versatile skill set in the entire league. Assists — he’ll dish him. Points — he’ll score ‘em. Rebounds — he’ll grab ‘em in droves. His defensive impact is questionable, despite what metrics might imply, but there’s one area where his game-changing skill has translated...

The 2026 World Cup is swole as fuck
Despite being shoved into the middle of the season and in a country that was in no way up to the standards of hosting such a thing, the last World Cup ended up being a hit for what went on on the field. Exciting conclusion to the group stages, classic games in the knockout stages, and a memorable wi...

Claudio Reyna sounds like a real hoot
It is so perfect it hurts that US Soccer has been tied up in knots recently, mostly due to a parent of a player bitching about his kid’s playing time and threatening everyone within shouting distance about it. But apparently, US Soccer has been dealing with that kind of thing from Claudio Reyna for ...

Does the US have anyone who would stand up like Gary Lineker?
The farcical idea that sports and politics don’t mix has once again been shaken to its cardboard foundation with what’s been going on in the UK with Gary Lineker and the BBC (every time I hear or see “BBC” I can’t help but shout it like Austin Powers during the end credits of the first film, but tha...

Team USA loses exhibition to 3-9 San Francisco Giants
Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, Trea Turner, Nolan Arenado, Pete Alonso, Paul Goldschmidt, Kyle Schwarber. With a roster like that, you’d expect Team USA Baseball to dominate every game they play. They’re totally going to destroy Great Britain this Saturday in their first game of the World Baseball Classi...

Ukrainian tennis star Marta Kostyuk refuses to shake hands with Russian opponent after win
As her father and grandfather remained trapped in Kyiv with war raging around them, Ukrainian tennis star Marta Kostyuk was making headlines, taking down Russian competitor Varvara Gracheva in the finals of the ATX Open on Sunday. After winning the match in two sets (6-3, 7-5), Kostyuk shook the ump...

Now is the time to buy a women’s professional sports franchise
Last month, the WNBA’s Seattle Storm was valued at a record $151 million as reported in the Wall Street Journal. The team isn’t for sale, but investors can purchase one of 15 shares of the team, as it looks to finance a $64 million practice facility....

Deadspin’s 2023 Men's NCAA Tournament Automatic Bid Tracker
The Men’s NCAA Tournament is just over the horizon and as its 32 automatic bids are earned in rapid-fire over the next week, it can be too much to track on your own. That’s what this space is for. One of these 32 automatic bids from a smaller conference is likely to become a Cinderella, but first ga...

Mallory Swanson can win the World Cup on her own, and she may have to
It is certainly a wonderful place to be, and a comment on what the USWNT has built over generations, that they can win three straight games over three decent-to-good teams in the SheBelieves Cup, conceding only one goal, and the overriding emotion is still more apprehensive than swagger. That is the...

These are the most obnoxious fan bases in sports (and pop culture)
The easiest way to protect yourself from outside criticism is to critique others. Negativity begets negativity, and I don’t even know where this is going because I’m here to tell you about insufferable fan bases....

Billie Jean King reminds us how far women's sports have come — even if the progress has been slow
Billie Jean King and Ilana Kloss both spoke at Seton Hall University last week. The discussion kept coming back to money — from the one dollar that started the WTA Tour back in 1970, to the $50 million to buy a National Women’s Soccer League team, to the ratings for live women’s sports that keep goi...

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...

This is the best idea to solve the NBA’s midseason lull
After throwing slop at a wall like everybody else trying to figure out the best route for the NBA regular season and All-Star break to matter, I have the ultimate solution. There is no better idea, and even though it won’t happen, the potential to overwhelm the news cycle is so alluring that Adam Si...

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...