To say that Marc Wilmots underperformed as Belgium manager at Euro 2016 is akin to saying the USA men’s basketball team was off the pace at the 2006 Olympics or that the Republican Party hasn’t put their best foot forward for the 2016 presidential election. Wilmots screwed the pooch.
This has been the year of the underdog in soccer. From Leicester City in the Premier League to Wales and Iceland in Euro 2016, upsets have come to the fore.
Soccer is the most democratic sport in the world. Once the players enter the pitch, there’s little the coach can do to upset the proceedings. The nature of the game lends itself to unpredictability — 90 minutes of continuous action where a single mistake or moment of genius can decide the game’s outcome.
Every week, The18 takes the world's most frequently asked soccer questions and attempts to answer them. That way, when that clone of yours turns evil and tries to convince everyone that you're the evil one, your football knowledge will allow your friend to put a slug in his head, not yours. You know. Like in Star Trek. Or The Island. Man, Hollywood has used that plot device a lot. Anyways, this week: Why do soccer players dive?
England took on Portugal today in an internatinoal friendly. The match was really more of a tune-up game for the imminent Euro 2016 tournament than anything else, and so both sides were looking to learn more about their players, try out some new things, and generally just finish off the day better than they started it.
Except for Bruno Alves. Bruno Alves almost killed Harry Kane.
"Forget me," says Abby Wambach in her retirement-celebration commercial, brought to you by Gatorade. "Forget my number. Forget my name. Forget I ever existed."
At the time, I argued that that particular action on the part of the fans was impossible, and Wambach made it even more impossible this weekend when she got arrested for duii (driving under the influence of intoxicants) in Portland.
If you're going to attack a referee, make sure he isn't a terrifying badass first.
Otherwise, you might end up like this dude in the Italian ninth division, who picked the wrong referee to mess with.
The ref's rection reminded us of this scene in the movie Wild Wild West, starring Will Smith. He became that much scarier and tougher by not reacting.
The adventures of Carlos Vela have taken a potentially serious turn for the worse.
Bookmakers in England are sweating the possibility of Leicester City winning the Barclays Premier League title, with some betting outlets facing a payout of more than £5 million ($7.2 million) should Leicester still sit atop the Premier League table come May 16.
Most owners are controversial in their own right. Nobody likes to see their club taken over by people who probably just see it as another item for their financial portfolio.
But next time you start to complain, pause for a second, and be glad your club doesn't have these terrible owners.
5. Maurizio Zamparini - Palermo
So, a match in an Argentinian tournament called the Copa Ciudad de Plata made it to the 93rd minute without incident. And then there was an incident. A flying karate kick incident.
The kicker is Alvaro Pereira, who has played a not-unimportant role for the Uruguayan National Team over the years and had an excellent 2014 World Cup. Here, though, he shows us that he's adept at kicking things other than soccer balls.