soccer Page 15 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
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...
MLB cares more about middle relievers — and money — than the fans
No one comes up with a solution for a problem that doesn’t exist quite like MLB. It’s their specialty....
Put Devin Hester in the Hall of Fame, you cowards
Most every time, I don’t care about the Hall of Fame. Any of ‘em. The Baseball Hall of Fame is now just a platform for every voter and commentator to prove how important they think they are or what new metric they say proves all. Everyone gets into the Hockey Hall of Fame as long as they went out dr...
Nepotism in college football hits a new low
Normally, when a football program has a competent coach who’s gone stale, the university will force out whichever coordinator is most responsible for the lack of success. If only life was that easy for the Iowa Hawkeyes. The team is stuck in an offensive malaise (to put it kindly), but can’t oust Br...
Tom Brady's not the only star who couldn't quit the spotlight
For the second straight Feb. 1, Tom Brady retired from the National Football League. His first retirement lasted all of 40 days, coming back to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers minutes after the NCAA Tournament field was chosen on Selection Sunday. He’s now retired “for good” and the entire sports world kno...
The NHL will always be a niche sport — and that’s fine
There is no fanbase that can whipsaw from beseeching the masses to watch their sport to getting pissed off at any mainstream coverage or attention quite like hockey fans. Any discussion of hockey’s ratings and popularity always includes a collection of the same reasons it’s not more popular, along w...
So do Chelsea have a plan?
You have to hand it to Chelsea FC’s new-ish owner Todd Boehly. If you’re replacing Roman Abramovich as owner, and ushering in a new era after the club’s trophy-laden one that the Russian Oligarch oversaw, you can win over the fans by going on a spending binge that would even make Abramovich raise on...
'Visit Saudi' sponsorship furthers FIFA’s tone-deaf record ahead of Women’s World Cup
The Women’s World Cup is nearing, and as is tradition, FIFA marked the occasion with controversy. Host countries Australia and New Zealand are urging the soccer federation to back out of its sponsorship with Visit Saudi. The main issue with the deal is Saudi Arabia’s ever-present, awful record of wo...
Qualifying for Copa America 2024 should only help the USMNT
Here’s a compliment sandwich. The 2024 Copa America, South America’s premier international soccer tournament, will again be played in the United States after America hosted the showcase for the first time in 2016. Despite being the host nation, the USMNT hasn’t directly qualified to play in the even...
The Sports Nihilist: Like life, defense shouldn’t matter
When someone goes for 85 points in an NBA game this season, please don’t downplay the accomplishment. I know Kobe Bryant’s 81 is immortalized, and Lakers fans don’t have much to keep them warm at night nowadays, so they’ll cling even harder, but it feels like someone is going to approach the modern-...
US Soccer is rebooting the USMNT…again
There’s burning the ships, and then there’s this. ...
If only Mike Clevinger had a plate in his leg
It should be said at the top that it’s not clear that there’s too much the Chicago White Sox could have done before signing Mike Clevinger. It’s easy to say that they should have known, and maybe if a team was really looking for reasons to not sign someone they could have found the investigation by ...
Sports networks will invest in just about anything before women’s sports — including pickleball
In a sign that ESPN and other networks can choose to devote broadcast hours to new and emerging sports, the American sports cable channel announced that it was adding pickleball to the lineup....
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 ...
Once again, Dallas Cowboys are overhyped and overrated
It is perfect that the most popular team in Mexico is the Dallas Cowboys, because the Mexican national soccer team and the Cowboys, they’re the same thing. A completely overhyped do-nothing outfit with a fanbase that is convinced of its team’s and their own greatness with absolutely nothing to suppo...
’90s rules, agency wars, and other ideas for an NBA midseason tournament
I know I’m not the only one rolling my eyes at the NBA trying to come up with a midseason tournament format worthy of getting players to compete at the highest level. This is going to be like summer camp for teams once they’re eliminated, and if I was in the league, I’d think about throwing a contes...
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’ ...