Preseason training is in the past, school is in session and the new season is now in full swing. 

When you think about what you want to accomplish over the coming months, there's a lot that's out of your control — things that are dependent on your coach, the opponent, etc. — but you can give yourself the best possible chance of success by maintaining a routine that keeps you prepared, elevates your performance and ultimately reduces your risk of injury. 

There is no greater spectacle in the history of humanity than the FIFA World Cup as billions of people tune in to see which nation has the best soccer team in the world. With the 2022 World Cup nearly upon us, many will be thinking about hosting watch parties. Unless you’re just hosting some friends at your home, you’ll want to be aware of certain legal issues. The18 spoke with a lawyer to find out some dos and don’ts of how to host a World Cup watch party (legally).

The Premier League is back for the 2022-23 season, and that means it’s time for us Americans to set those weekend alarms for way-too-early a.m. and get the TV ready for the world’s most popular soccer league. There will be a few changes to this year’s EPL TV lineup, so here’s a quick refresher on how to watch Premier League in the U.S. for 2022-23. 

Yellow cards — the fine line between professional or consistent fouls and a sending off — are a part of almost every match, especially at the World Cup when the stakes are highest. Accruing yellow cards will get a player suspended, leading to the question: When are yellow cards wiped in World Cup 2022? 

Heads or tails? Usually, the choice doesn’t matter too much in soccer. Because of the inherent fairness of a football match, there’s no real advantage to kicking off in the first half vs. the second half or which end you defend (barring an extreme weather event). So should you call heads or tails in a coin toss in soccer?

Romelu Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne go together on Belgiums attack like peanut butter and jelly coming together to make the most timeless sandwich ever. Each player has built out their own impressive careers with their separate clubs but when they come together there is little a team can do to stop them. Having so much success between them, the two had to create a celebratory handshake to go alongside it.

There are only minutes left in the game and your team is trailing by one goal. A loss for your team would mean elimination. Your team is building an attack and is in the final third of the opponent’s territory. You halt your run at the top of the 18-yard box, unmarked. A teammate seeks you out and slips the ball to your feet. Will you get a shot on target and save your team? Or will the ball fly 20 yards over the crossbar because you haven’t practiced your shooting? Hopefully you utilized these best soccer shooting drills.

Juan Roman Riquelme, the legendary Argentinian midfielder, replied once on TV when asked about Leo Messi: “I’m not completely sure Messi is human. I have never seen a person that runs faster with the ball at his feet than without it. Messi does. How can you do that? Think about it, it doesn’t make sense.”

How many times have we heard things like this?

When I was growing up playing youth soccer I had teammates whose parents gave them money whenever they scored. They didn’t receive large sums, but maybe $5-10 per goal. When I first found this out I was upset. For one, why wasn’t I making money for scoring? But more seriously, I was concerned that some of my teammates would be more interested in scoring themselves than helping the team score. So should parents pay their kids for scoring goals in youth soccer?