Fails

The United States are through to the Gold Cup semifinals, but the real story on Wednesday night was the erotic interplay between USMNT striker Jozy Altidore and his tight man-to-man marker, El Salvador’s Henry Romero.

The City of Brotherly Love was truly feeling the heat yesterday evening as Romero pinched and twisted Altidore’s nipple and took a nice little chomp on his shoulder for good measure. Romero was booked in the 81st minute, but he kept Altidore off the scoresheet for 90 minutes, so mission accomplished.

There’s big news coming out of Spain today and it has nothing to do with the transfer market or Neymar. The president of the Spanish Football Federation, Angel Maria Villar, was arrested early this morning after Spain’s National High Court ordered an anti-corruption operation against the Spanish Football Federation. 

Along with Angel Maria Villar, others arrested include his son Gorka, Juan Padron, the economic vice-president of the federation, Ramon Hernandez Baussou, the president of the Tenerife Football Federation and the general secretary of the Tenerife Football Federation.

In an absurd first for major international tournaments (so you know it’s coming by way of the CONCACAF Gold Cup), a competing nation has knowingly and willingly knocked itself out of the competition.

PSG goalkeeper Kevin Trapp makes his living with coordination. His job is to use his superior coordination to stop soccer balls from going into PSG's net.

His bosses, then, will not be happy to see this video of Trapp looking very uncoordinated on a treadmill. PSG's training staff will not be happy either, to be honest.

When Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Marco Verratti was caught smoking while on vacation in Ibiza, the same alarm bells were ringing in everyone’s heads. As a professional footballer, it’s unhealthy, unprofessional and detrimental to both your career and your club. 

As we all know, smoking is detrimental to footballers in every way imaginable, but it’s incredible to see how the perception of this habit has rapidly changed over the last three or four decades in the professional game.