Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez finally ended his goal drought dating back to October 1st by scoring against Borussia Monchengladbach on Saturday. Chicharito’s sixth goal of the campaign arrived in his 17th league match amidst rumors of a possible January transfer exit.
Juventus defeated Milan 2-1 in the quarterfinals of the Coppa Italia on Wednesday which, unfortunately for Italian football, isn’t really news. Juventus have won five straight Serie A titles, and, even with the higher likelihood of upsets in knockout football, they’ve managed to win the Coppa Italia two straight years.
Their hegemony of Italian football makes a neutral viewer more apt to turn to other competitions, like The Great British Bake Off. But the romance of Italian football can still be found if you know where to look. You should be looking at Carlos Bacca.
Leeds United striker Souleymane Doukara will probably win some awards for this goal, and if he does they will be deserved.
We will break down Doukara's goal using the tactical acumen and soccer insights only we here at The18 possess. Here goes:
They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and maybe that's true. If it is, we bet hell's soccer field is sodded with good intentions.
This video is proof.
This kid on Besiktas' U-12 team scored a goal. It was pretty cool.
Tim Cahill, Mark Viduka and Harry Kewell have combined for 193 appearances for Australia and 76 goals (Cahill, 37, is still going). All three played a vital role in securing Australia’s 2006 World Cup appearance, their first since 1974, with a dramatic playoff victory over Uruguay.
Real Madrid ventured to Celta Vigo’s Balaidos stadium in Galicia needing to overturn a 2-1 deficit to advance to the Copa del Rey semifinals. In the end, Celta held their nerve to secure a 2-2 draw and advance 4-3 on aggregate.
The Celts earned a first half advantage when Danilo turned the ball into his own net, his second own goal in his last three appearances. A shot from John Guidetti was brilliantly saved by Kiko Casilla, but the rebound deflected off Danilo and into the net.
This 1994-95 Ajax team under the management of Louis van Gaal, who would go on to manage Barcelona, served as the blueprint of the short passing, possession-based style that was the philosophy of Johan Cruyff.
To employ such a philosophy, you need talented players. This Ajax side had that in abundance as they would go through the entire Dutch league season without losing a match and defeat AC Milan in the European Cup final.
The Africa Cup of Nations is usually full of surprises, and the 2017 edition of the tournament has been no different. We’ve already seen the hosts, Gabon, eliminated, tournament favorites Algeria sent packing and defending champions the Ivory Coast knocked out during group play.
The Ivory Coast, which featured the talents of Salomon Kalou, Wilfried Zaha, Wilfried Bony, Max Gradel, Serge Aurier and Eric Bailly, were ultimately punished for a slow start to their AFCON tournament on Tuesday.
If Lukas Podolski’s career were ever made into a movie, it’d have to be a trilogy. The director’s cut would probably be thousands of hours long. His career began with a bang at childhood club FC Koln, stagnated at Bayern Munich, was reprieved back at Koln, stalled at Arsenal, almost died at Inter Milan and now continues at Galatasaray amidst interest from the Chinese Super League and Japan.