England traveled to Leeds for its World Cup send-off match against Costa Rica Thursday, and 20-year-old Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford wasted no time in delighting a capacity crowd at Elland Road. 

Rashford was just a 16-year-old when Costa Rica and England played to a 0-0 draw in Belo Horizonte back in 2014 (England were already eliminated at that point following defeats to Italy and Uruguay), but the Mancunian played like a man possessed to open the proceedings today.

Hope Solo has often been a figure of division throughout her playing career, and she has only added to that with her latest remarks.

Mexico is through to the final of the prestigious Toulon Tournament, and it’s 19-year-old striker Eduardo Aguirre who’s captured the headlines in France. Only one player has managed more than two goals throughout the tournament, and that’s Aguirre — he’s got SEVEN.

*WARNING: READ THIS OR YOU WILL BE BUTT HURT*

I too know the obvious favorites based off the readily accessible odds that are available to everyone. But upsets do happen at the World Cup. In fact, they happen every single tournament. Every. Single. Time.

So if you want to see traditional power rankings with all the countries lined up entirely how you’d expect them to be, go to ESPNFC or something. Have fun reading that.

In terms of glamour, no group stage game comes close to matching Portugal vs Spain on June 15 at Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi. This is, after all, a meeting between the last three European Champions (Spain in ’08 and ’12, Portugal in ’16), and a clash between arguably the world’s best player, Cristiano Ronaldo, and a who’s who of talent concentrated at the mega clubs of the world’s two best domestic leagues.

When it was confirmed that Russia would be opening the 2018 FIFA World Cup with a match against Saudi Arabia at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, the general response was one of deep cynicism: here was a bit of home cooking on FIFA’s end; certainly this was the worst opening match in the history of the tournament.

Let’s see a show of hands: With the U.S. not participating in the World Cup this summer, how many of you are just interested in seeing who wins? OK, that’s about 15 percent of you. Well you’ll probably be asking yourself: When is the World Cup final? 

The World Cup begins on June 14 and lasts more than a full month. The group stages run through June 28, with the knockout rounds beginning on June 30. So when is the World Cup final?

Germany’s “Snubbed XI” just added one of the most electric talents in all of world football. A few weeks ago, the “Snubbed XI” began assembling itself with a preposterously strong attacking core spearheaded by the dropped Borussia Dortmund duo of Mario Gotze and Andre Schurrle (the two players who expertly combined to sink Argentina in extra time back in 2014).

Last we saw Neymar on the soccer pitch he was crying as he was stretchered off the field in a Ligue 1 match. But the Brazilian is back, and if the Neymar goal vs Croatia is anything to go by, he’s ready for the World Cup. 

The Mexico national dominated in its final match in Mexico ahead of the World Cup on Saturday evening at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City. But despite dozens of chances and a majority of the possession, Giovani dos Santos was the only goal scorer for Mexico vs Scotland in a 1-0 friendly victory.