the-champ Page 8 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Christian Pulisic just made American men’s soccer history — in Europe’s Champions League final
American men’s soccer remains, even with all the growth of Major League Soccer and the rise in popularity of the sport, very much a sleeping giant on the world stage....

It’s the patented Antonio Conte finisher once again
“Antonio Conte is getting that look in his eye! He motions to the crowd! Is it that time?! Are we gonna see it?! YES! Here it comes! No one has ever kicked out of it! It’s the CONTE TAIL LIGHTS!”...

VAR isn’t the problem, the people using it are
The return of supporters to various terraces last week in the Premier League brought back some rites of soccer that we didn’t even realize how much we missed and cherished. The mocking of a shot well over or wide of the goal. The vitriol for a ref after a foul. The applause after a relatively simple...

Leicester found a new way to blow it, and their fans probably won’t care
The warping of European soccer and its priorities make judging Leicester City’s last week of the season decidedly foggy. Twenty years ago or so it would be easy. Win the FA Cup, finish fifth, that’s an unqualified success. But that’s not the world we live in anymore, and that’s what makes it so uncl...

Harry Kane wants out, and the summer striker showcase showdown is on
The rumors started a few weeks ago, but Tottenham’s firing of José Mourinho as manager seemingly has not been enough to keep their favorite son home. Harry Kane has reportedly told Tottenham he wants to move on this summer, to a club where he can win things instead of just waving at them as they go ...

The NHL Playoffs are back and it’s fans-tastic
Look, if there’s an opening to make a Cinderella reference, I’m gonna take it. Just deal with it, and let me have what little I can get. ...

Udonis Haslem joins the greats
Udonis Haslem might have authored one of the best send-offs in team sports history last night....

Man City are the standard, and indeed, built for ‘this’
When it comes to Manchester City, they’ll never be free of the debate or criticism that their success is bought through Saudi oil money. And their counter that they have the best manager in the world in Pep Guardiola will never be enough to convince anyone who focuses on the first point. The truth i...

N’Golo Kante wrecked Real Madrid
When Chelsea were struggling under Frank Lampard, I was one of many who wondered what exactly they could get out of N’Golo Kante at 30. It was fair to ruminate if he could be the one-man typhoon in the center of midfield that he had been for Premier League-winning sides at Leicester and Chelsea. It ...

Joe Rogan is, and has always been, nothin' but a whiner
While he’s tried to couch it in the most macho things he can think of — UFC, scotch, steak, being “manly,” — it’s important to remember that what Joe Rogan has always been is a whiner. And you know that because where he comes from is a bastion of white guys whining, and that’s stand-up comedy. Belie...

Another barrier broken as Jesse Marsch looks set to replace Julian Nagelsmann
It’s Red Bull/Bundesliga manager tilt-a-whirl! Watch it spin! Where it stops...well, we actually have some idea. And where it stops provides yet another landmark for Americans in European soccer, this time the first Yank to manage in the Bundesliga. ...

Super League supernova: Completely oblivious, gutless league pancaking, taking Man U chairman with it
Well, what was your favorite Super League memory?...

Do you smell what Steph Curry is cookin’? W's playoff hopes upgraded to simmering
Draymond Green may think the play-in games to the playoffs are beneath him, but Steph Curry apparently is going to drag Green and the rest of the Warriors there by their collective dick if he has to....

Why the European Super League is terrible for soccer and bad for pro sports
I got a lot of texts and messages last night from my non-soccer initiated friends. It was surprising how big of a story the formation of “The Super League” became on every U.S. outlet. Obviously European soccer has become a big deal on these shores, but that it hit every major website near the top (...
![Here we go with this Superleague nonsense again [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/uwxauevonr0kj9jlvt3u.jpg)
Here we go with this Superleague nonsense again [Updated]
It seems a little more serious this time around. Which means it’s a bigger threat this time around. But the news of the biggest European clubs forming their own sSuperleague” starting in 2022 is more likely to be used as blackmail to UEFA more than it is actual formation.The end goal is for the rich...

Jose Mourinho has broken Tottenham, possibly for good
It’s not a surprise that Jose Mourinho’s tenure at Tottenham Hotspur has gone completely balls up. Anyone who watched the end of his stays at Chelsea (The Sequel) and Manchester United could have told you how this would go. An initial circling of the wagons that yields some promising early results, ...

Bayern Munich did that thing again
It was at the same point last season, though not in the calendar thanks to the pandemic, that this happened. Less than 10 games left in the season, Bayern Munich facing an away date against their closest rival and looking … well, vulnerable is too strong a word. Less godly, let’s say. The chasing te...

COVID could make next FIFA international window a bigger mess than usual
The club vs. country fight is a long and storied one in soccer, with clubs always more than a little peeved about releasing the players they’re paying millions to travel to different training schedules and medical staffs, for games they aren’t compensated for. Players getting hurt on national team d...

Has boring-ass La Liga replaced previous snoozefest Serie A?
It wasn’t a terribly good couple of weeks for La Liga teams in the Champions League. Barcelona got ritually sacrificed by Kylian Mbappe and PSG. Sevilla got an even bigger foot in their ass from Dortmund. Atletico Madrid, the current leader in La Liga, were held at arm’s length by Chelsea and lost 1...

Goalkeeper Blows Game With Enormous Boner In Added Time
Poor Dimitrios Konstantopoulos. It's bad enough the Middlesbrough goalkeeper cost his team a point today against QPR by allowing a goal in the 94th minute, but it's how he did it—by completely whiffing on a clearance and allowing Bobby Zamora the chance to walk in a goal—that is utterly embarrassing...