As the world heals from the pandemic, pick-up matches are on their way back as well. Pick-up matches exemplify all the best parts of soccer: intense rivalries, healthy competition and the opportunity to sharpen your skills.
If FIFA gave out an award each year for the least-hated player, then N’Golo Kanté would win every year. The Al-Ittihad midfielder simply has no haters due to how humble he is. With the man being so loved worldwide, it makes the Kanté birthday story even sadder.
Felipe Saad, one of Kanté’s former teammates on Ligue 2 side Caen, told Brazilian outlet Uol Sport a heart-tugging story about one of his interactions with the Frenchman.
Chile and Inter Milan midfielder Arturo Vidal is recovering in hospital after contracting COVID-19, the Chilean national team announced on Tuesday.
A statement said that the 34-year-old tested positive for the virus after initially being hospitalised with severe tonsilitis.
The Netherlands left first choice goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen out of their European Championship squad after he tested positive for COVID-19 with coach Frank de Boer not prepared to risk how long he needs to recover.
Cillessen tested positive in a control test last week and has gone into self-isolation, missing out the week-long training camp in Portugal where the Dutch are preparing for their Group C matches against Austria, North Macedonia and Ukraine.
Manchester City playmaker Kevin De Bruyne fractured his nose and a bone around his left eye socket in Saturday's Champions League loss to Chelsea, the 29-year-old said on Sunday.
The Belgium international had to go off on the hour mark with a concussion injury in City's 1-0 defeat at Porto's Estádio do Dragão after an accidental clash with Chelsea defender Antonio Rüdiger left him on the ground.
An American is guaranteed to win the men’s UEFA Champions League for the first time ever on Saturday, but they won’t do it as starters. Both Christian Pulisic and Zack Steffen were left on the bench to start the match between Chelsea and Manchester City, which kicks off at 3 p.m. ET from Portugal.
No, he’s on the bench.
It was a foggy Saturday morning soccer match and I was defending the goal spectating the action going on the field. I had stopped a few shots earlier in the match and my confidence was quickly rising. Thoughts raced through my head, realizing that I was about to officially record my first clean sheet of the season. Then as clear as day the ball was passed to me, and as I went to stop it with my foot it slowly but surely skipped right below my outstretched foot and into the awaiting net behind me.
On Sunday, beIN SPORTS broadcast its final LaLiga matches. Next season, ESPN will take over the U.S. TV rights to Spain’s top flight, ending a nine-year stretch where beIN SPORTS was the only way to watch Lionel Messi every week in the States. More than that, it’s the end of an era for Ray Hudson, who remains the only person who has yet to run out of words to describe Messi’s indescribable brilliance.
MADRID — A 14-year-old Atletico Madrid fan died after he hit his head on a wall while leaning out of a moving van in central Madrid on Saturday, emergency services said.
The boy suffered a cardiac arrest and despite efforts to revive him, he was declared dead an hour after the accident occurred at 9:20 p.m. local time, a source from the Madrid emergency services said.
The teenager was travelling with family and friends when the accident happened.
The 2020-21 season was a banner year for Americans abroad. USMNT players have been winning trophies all over Europe, including regulars at Barcelona, Juventus and Borussia Dortmund; in a week, we’ll see an American win the Champions League for either Chelsea or Manchester City. But Saturday was not a great day for keeping U.S. internationals in Europe’s top flights, with a number of Americans relegated to lower tiers or unable to gain promotion.