worldcup Page 2 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Soccer’s had load management for some time — now there just might be more of it
As if on cue, one of soccer’s biggest stars on one of the world’s biggest clubs went down with injury in the Africa Cup of Nations. While there’s not a diagnosis yet, Mohamed Salah limped off just before the half in Egypt’s draw against Ghana on Thursday. This comes a day after Kylian Mbappé warned ...
This year’s Australian Open is drunk
The Australian Open is already kind of geared for weirdos, at least on these shores, given that you have to sacrifice sleep and any usefulness the next day to enjoy it. But this year’s edition has been off the rails, making it even more worth it for those of us who are prepared to throw ourselves of...
Mbappe bemoans lack of 'load management' in European soccer
Ligue 1 and the NBA are two leagues that usually don’t go together, but French soccer superstar Kylian Mbappé is worried that European soccer is starting to mimic professional basketball in one very specific way....
Barcelona are selling its LGBTQ+ fans down the river
Ah, yes, we’ve gotten to that point in the European football season where most everyone asks themselves, “Why are these teams in Saudi Arabia?” before quickly correcting themselves....
Sick, Sad World of Sports: Jumbo holiday edition
The holidays are a stressful time for everyone, including criminals, athletes moonlighting as criminals, and criminals moonlighting as athletes. ...
May old acquaintance be forgot: The notable athletes who retired in 2023
As the curtain falls on 2023, the sports world bids adieu to a tapestry of legends and underdogs across all sports. We highlighted the legacy names who decided to hang it up in 2023. Many on this list are cemented in record books and in the hearts of their die-hard fanbases. Let’s pour out a drink a...
Turns out, the Super League is only mostly dead
If the image of Real Madrid president Florentino Perez and Barcelona president Joan Laporta taking a fireplace bellows to the Super League this morning makes you giggle, just know to get it in now because it’s going to get a lot more annoying at some point in the future. Yes, the Super League, that ...
It’s fun to watch MLS get smacked down
We get pretty used to sports leagues doing whatever they want, and whatever they want is usually not in any interest of the fans. It’s almost always about control and profit, which runs in direct opposition to fans’ desire to see competition, accessibility and the game we remember that got us all he...
Halfway point for the Premier League can only mean a couple (or a million) things
We’re now into the Premier League fan’s favorite time of year and it’s symmetrical that it lines up with a child’s favorite time of year, given both’s penchant for inexplicable screaming and crying. It’s holiday time, which means children and fans alike don’t have to do anything but sit around, neve...
In Gaza, one organization struggles to keep children playing
“Now, everything is completely gone,” Tamara Awartani tells me of the afterschool programs her organization, Palestine Sports for Life (PSFL), had established in Gaza for young children (especially girls) who otherwise had no access to football or physical education. “I was able to check on one girl...
An open invitation for Buster Posey to screw off
As we mentioned last night, the San Francisco Giants are in full ass-covering mode after missing out on their third prime free agent. They whiffed on Arson Aaron Judge, couldn’t get over Carlos Correa’s ankle, and then Shohei Ohtani figured out life is pretty easy when you don’t have to move and you...
The USWNT was the most harassed group in sports in 2023, and this, sadly, should surprise no one
On Monday, I wrote a column about being sick of the Kansas City Chiefs. As far as the things I write go, it was fairly light-hearted. No one was accused of anything heinous, it was mostly me whining about Patrick Mahomes throwing a fit at the end of Sunday’s game and how it’s impossible to avoid Tra...
USMNT gets an OK Copa America draw
Every tournament draw show is just about the biggest, “This could have been an email” event on the planet. Yes, the World Cup, Copa America or the Euros only come around every four years so they want to stress their significance by having as much pomp as they can. But anyone watching the Copa Americ...
Paul Pogba's career could be done after 4-year doping ban
Juventus midfielder and French National team player Paul Pogba’s future career remains uncertain after Italy’s national anti-doping prosecutors requested a four-year ban from soccer after testing positive for testosterone in September. ...
Gary Bettman teases NHL changes
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman addressed the media at the conclusion of the NHL’s Board of Governors’ annual meetings. Bettman teased some big changes to the league in the near future, the biggest of which would be an in-season international tournament....
How to hate-watch the rest of the NBA's In-Season Tournament, Part I
The NBA In-Season Tournament’s single elimination stage tips off this week. Human nature drives us to dump on new things and the IST has inspired a whole host of reasons to hate it. There’s a lot not to like. The scoring differentials playing a role in who advances, the personalized courts playing l...
From Christian Pulisic to Gio Reyna, we rank the US men's soccer team
Chaos is a ladder, said Lord Baelish. Especially when it comes to international soccer, where injuries, manager changes — both with country and club — a bad transfer or run of form can shift a player’s standing with his national team within a week or two. Getting together only every month or longer ...
Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers are putting on a show
It’s the season of giving and the Indiana Pacers have one man to be thankful for their early season prosperity. Tyrese Haliburton has given the league whiplash leading Indiana’s turnaround in the second year of his stint in Indiana. No offense is more captivating to watch or more dynamic than Indian...
The Cardinals appear to want to assemble the worst starting rotation
The 2023 season for the St. Louis Cardinals was an absolute disaster. Though they entered it as the NL Central favorites, even if by default, they lost 91 games as pretty much everything went wrong. The epicenter of their collapse was their starting rotation, which contained pitchers that couldn’t s...
The NHL is pawing at international competition again
While admitting I’m completely clueless as to the detailed logistics of constructing an international hockey tournament, the overall idea of it isn’t complicated. While the actual hockey is probably better before the NHL season when players are fresh and teams have a chance to practice and shape the...