Ricardo Pepi won’t be playing in Major League Soccer for much longer. The 18-year-old American phenom has requested a transfer from FC Dallas and is being eyed up by some of Europe’s biggest clubs. In an interview with 90 Minute Football, Pepi revealed that his dream is to play for Real Madrid. That begs the question; has an American played for Real Madrid?
An incredible Portland Timbers bicycle kick goal from Dairon Asprilla rocked Providence Park on Wednesday night as his side defeated San Jose 2-0.
Asprilla’s goal instantly went viral. A bicycle kick from outside of the penalty box is a rarity in soccer and quickly was featured on SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays.
Incredible goals by young talents are frequently accompanied by the phrase “remember the name,” and that’s the case here for 21-year-old FC Groningen winger Cyril Ngonge.
The Belgium youth international’s star has been steadily rising over the last few years, beginning with a successful loan spell with Jong PSV in the Dutch second division to engineer a move to the Eredivisie’s RKC Waalwijk for the 2020-21 campaign.
Carli Lloyd will play one final game with the USWNT on Tuesday against South Korea as the national team says goodbye to one of its greatest ever players. Lloyd — as has been the case since 2008 — will wear the No. 10 on her jersey for her sendoff.
The best players in the history of the sport have worn the iconic number ten. Marta, Pelé, Messi and Maradona are fitting company for Lloyd. The 39-year-old has been the USWNT’s No. 10 for almost 14 years. Before Lloyd, Aly Wagner wore the number and Michelle Akers before her.
Take a look at a list of Belgian First Division title winners and you'll find some familiar names at the top. Anderlecht leads the way with 34 league crowns, followed by last year's winner Club Brugge with exactly half as many titles.
But in third place is a club that even ardent fans of European soccer will struggle to recognize: Royale Union Saint-Gilloise (Union SG for short).
Located on the outskirts of Brussels, Union SG won six straight Belgian First Division titles between 1903 and 1910, plus another five over the ensuing two decades or so.
No slouch herself, Tobin Heath has played with some giants of the game. She’s called the two greatest goal scorers in the history of international soccer teammates, plus a few of the most iconic USWNT players of all time. But this week she revealed the best footballer she’s ever played with, and her answer might surprise you.
The 2009 Confederations Cup was simultaneously the closest the USMNT has come to a major international trophy and a near abject failure. Bob Bradley’s Americans were extremely lucky to escape the group stage but then came within a Lucio header of global glory. A dozen years later, where are those USMNT players? Many of them remain fixtures on our TVs — not all as players, but as pundits. Others now fill the ranks of coaching and technical staffs at clubs around the world.
For more than three decades, Coventry City was one of the cornerstones of the English top-flight. The Sky Blues were consistently a lower mid-table team (think Crystal Palace), but they were FA Cup winners in 1987 and an inaugural member of the Premier League in 1992.
Everyone is well-versed in Alphonso Davies’ game-changing pace and ability to dice any defender on the planet off the dribble, but it’s his increasing effectiveness in the final third that makes the 20-year-old standout as one of football’s brightest talents.
That’s not to say it’s a new development in his game. At the tender age of 17 Davies was already one of Major League Soccer’s most devastating players in attack, scoring eight goals and providing 10 assists in 31 games to help facilitate his $11 million move to Bayern. (He’s now valued at $155 million.)
As a program that’s helped launch the careers of players like Newcastle United’s Santiago Muñoz, Necaxa’s Jonathan González and Holstein Kiel’s Nico Carrera, the Alianza de Futbol tour acts as the biggest showcase and scouting program for Latinx soccer players in the United States.