When Cheltenham Town hosted Manchester City in the FA Cup Fourth Round in January 2021, victory was all but assured for the Premier League club.
The Robins — who would go on to win League Two that year — were no match for a Man City side that sat atop the English football pyramid. Yet early in the second half, the match at the Jonny-Rocks Stadium was still scoreless.
Ghana and the United States men’s national team have a rich history of meeting at the World Cup. The African nation knocked out the USMNT of the world’s biggest tournament in 2010 and 2006 and the Americans got revenge in 2014. Both teams failed to make the 2018 edition and now the question of will Ghana make the World Cup looms after the latest World Cup qualifying draw.
The past decades of war and terror in Iraq have taken a toll on the beautiful game in the country. FIFA has routinely imposed bans on hosting international games in Iraq over security and safety concerns.
The last non-friendly game played in the country was a World Cup qualifier in 2011. The capital, Baghdad, hadn’t hosted Iraq’s national team for nine years until Friday. The cities of Basra, Karrbalaa and Erbil were the only three hosting games.
When it comes to Premier League records, the focus is always on the best of the best. Whether it be Manchester City's quest for 100 points or Arsenal's Invincibles season, people love the pursuit of perfection.
But at the other end of the table is a whole other set of records waiting to be broken, ranging from discouraging to downright embarrassing.
Francisco "Paco" Gento, one of Read Madrid's greatest players and a European champion with Spain, has died at the age of 88, the club said on Tuesday.
As one of the most successful soccer players in Mexican history, Javier Hernández is always in the news because of his goals, his presence or absence from the national team and things that are not related to soccer at all. Of course, one of those things is his romantic life, such as speculation over who is the latest Chicharito girlfriend.
And, boy, he has been in the pages of la prensa del corazón quite a lot.
In 1986, Diego Armando Maradona was on top of the world. With five goals and five assists, El Pibe de Oro led Argentina to an impressive World Cup victory. The stat that really shows how great Maradona was that summer in Mexico wasn’t his goals, assists or record number of dribbles — it was the record he set for most fouls suffered in a men’s World Cup.
Perhaps more so than any other type of soccer, international football lends itself to the hero forward who saves the day with a miraculous goal. Whether it’s Pelé dominating the men’s World Cup, Michelle Akers scoring at will at the Women’s World Cup, Landon Donovan’s unforgettable finish against Algeria or Carli Lloyd’s midfield bomb in 2015, there’s something about the international game that loves a star goal scorer.
LAFC will introduce former United States men's national team defender Steve Cherundolo as their next manager on Monday, ESPN reported.
Cherundolo, 42, replaces Bob Bradley, who left the team after his contract expired at the end of the 2021 season. Bradley was later named the head coach at Toronto FC.
Cherundolo managed the Las Vegas Lights, LAFC's USL Championship affiliate, last season.
After a 2020 that was, in many ways, a lost year for international soccer, the U.S. women’s national team went into 2021 with high hopes. The year ended with feelings of missed opportunities and the need for a rethink moving forward less than 20 months away from the next Women’s World Cup.