soccer Page 38 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Diego Maradona still kicking, by the Hand of God

Let’s talk about Diego Maradona....

NWSL dramatically expands TV audience as women’s sports leagues see viewership growth

When we talk about “sports ratings” being down, let’s start adding a “men’s” before the phrase....

European soccer isn’t clear of Coronavirus either

It was likely that at some point last spring or over the summer, all the North American sports that were so desperate to return looked at European’s soccer reemergence in May and June, and figured if they could do it, we should too. Of course, everyone on this side of the Atlantic ignored the ways i...

Sergino Dest’s move to Barcelona continues the Yanks’ storming of the castle

It wasn’t that many years ago that the push from a large swath of US Men’s National Team observers was to get more players out of MLS and to Europe. ...

Gareth Bale and Tottenham Deserve Each Other

It can be startling to remember that Gareth Bale has only been something of a punchline for two seasons. And we should all be so lucky to be considered a joke when making over $37 million per year to live in Madrid and not do a whole bunch. We’d all accept a pretty healthy share of laughs at our exp...

Let's Enjoy the Celtics' Implosion. Plus, the Yankees Continue Hitting Homers Like Crazy

The Celtics’ season is going down the toilet....

Christen Press and Tobin Heath are the Latest to Head for Blighty

It might seem like an exodus, and it sort of is. If reports are true, then Christen Press and Tobin Heath will become the third and fourth members of the World Cup-winning US Women’s squad to head for England’s WSL this season. ...

U.S. Soccer Could Learn Something from England and [Checks Notes] Brazil (!) on Equal Pay

Pep Guardiola Overthought It Again and City Are Out on Their Ass

We’ve all had to deal with a lot of our rites of spring being moved to another location on the calendar or lost to the pandemic altogether. Opening Day, Memorial Day blockbuster movies, Derby parties, all of these and more were lost or moved to an unfamiliar spot in life’s routine. Oh, and Pep Guard...

Sarri’s Not Enough: Juventus Boots Manager as Champions League Drought Continues

It is strange for a club to fire its manager after winning the league. It’s not unheard of, as Real Madrid once fired Vicente Del Bosque after he’d won both the Champions League and La Liga twice, but it’s still strange. To do it in two consecutive years however suggests a nutty desperation, a flail...

Iceland’s New Crest Will Make You Want to Fight the Nearest Bear

The Football Association of Iceland released its new crest today, and to describe it “as the most metal thing you’ve ever seen” does it an injustice. From now on, any heavy metal song will now be described as, “That’s Iceland’s crest.”...

USA Doesn’t Have a Monopoly on Racially Coded Language in Sports

Baseball is America’s national pastime, but the use of racially coded language when referring to players is not a phenomenon that’s specific only to baseball. Certainly, if you’ve heard about an NFL cornerback with “deceptive speed” or an NBA guard with “outstanding leadership qualities,” you can ma...

The NWSL Takes a Knee

Twenty-two starters clothed in Black Black Lives Matter T-shirts from the North Carolina Courage and Portland Thorns knelt during the national anthem before the National Women’s Soccer League kicked off their first game of the Challenge Cup Saturday. ...

Serie A Returns to Plague-Ravaged Italy, Possibly With an Uncomfortable Champion<em></em>

It’ll be everyone into the pool at the weekend, as Serie A returns to the soccer scene as the last of the major European leagues to play behind closed doors. It’ll come back with a very tight title race, but one possible champion that would lead to a lot of collar-tugging around the world. The other...

Champions League Will Return, in a Can

The multiple and concurrent method of competitions in world soccer was always going to be a challenge to restart after the coronavirus shutdown. European competitions, i.e. the Champions League and Europa League, had the added challenge of dealing with multiple restrictions on safety and travel acro...

Bayern Munich Waltzes to Another Title, Providing the Coldest of Controls in This Variable World

It’s hard to believe that early on in the Bundesliga season, there was actual mystery as to who would win the title. Maybe that’s partly due to 2020’s jet-fueled, monkey-navigated car crash into the darkest abyss, making September and October seem an archaeological dig ago. But in the fall, each of ...

Premier League Returns: How to Watch, and Everything Else You Need To Know

If it feels like the sporting world is at that point where all the people who were really excited to drink for free are showing up too early to the party, that’s because it kind of is. A month after the German Bundesliga kicked things off by helping to set up the food and arrange the furniture, and ...

Spanish Weeks in my Disco Casino: What to Expect When Liga Returns

The Bundesliga in Germany will no longer have the stage to itself (with all apologies to Poland’s Ekstraklasa). Thursday afternoon, the Seville Derby between Sevilla and Real Betis will announce La Liga’s return to the soccer and sporting scene. So let’s catch you up on where we are in Spain and whe...

Is It A Guten Idea To Restart Soccer In Germany?

I’ll give you all a bit of a glimpse behind the scenes here. We’ve soured on “possible reopening plan” stories. We’re pretty much against running them until something is concrete. You’re probably sick of them, too. They’re just trial balloons or fingers in the wind. They all follow the same formula,...

Legal Setback Or Not, Equality For Women’s Soccer Is Inevitable

Don’t be fooled....