Honduras snatched Concacaf’s final spot at the Olympics away from the USMNT in March. Four months later, Los Catrachos did the USMNT proud by dominating a game against Romania and still finding an incredible way to lose 1-0. I’m sure that USMNT players are punching the air while watching the Honduras vs Romania highlights.
Let me remind you why the USMNT isn’t at the Olympics.
For over half a decade now, Jordan Pickford has been billed as the next great English goalkeeper.
He represented the national team from the U-16 side onward, was playing senior football at age 17 and became a Premier League starter by 22.
Pickford was Sunderland's best performer in his first season as a regular in 2016/17, and he was even named to WhoScored?'s EPL team of the season in spite of the Black Cats' relegation.
International tournaments often seem like a red carpet event for the biggest names in world football, yet often the most intriguing players on the pitch are the up-and-coming stars, the b-listers of the footballing world, if you will.
Euro 2020 introduced us to a wide range of talented young players. Some were familiar by name and statistical output, but this was the first chance for them to prove themselves on such a large stage. Others were relative unknowns, ony entering the public footballing consciousness within the last month.
The USWNT defeated Mexico 4-0 during an international friendly in the pouring rain of Hartford, Connecticut on Thursday night to extend the team’s unbeaten streak to 43 games. The matchup was one of two games the U.S. and Mexico will play as a send-off for the Olympics later this month. The USWNT vs Mexico highlights and takeaways include the return of Tobin Heath, Christen Press continuing her insane form and lots and lots of rain.
The18’s renowned data scientist introduced the team to an API (application programming interface) that gave predictions for games in the European Championship. We naturally took that as a challenge to see if we could predict the outcomes of games better than the algorithm. We’ll show the results from the Round of 16 before sharing our Euro 2020 quarterfinal predictions.
Five of our staff, including Grant the data scientist, took the challenge to outsmart the algorithm. After eight games in the Round of 16, this is what the leaderboard looks like.
If it seems like there have been a lot of own goals during Euro 2020, it's because they have been occurring at a rate unlike anything seen at an international tournament before.
The first European Championship was contested in 1960, and in the 15 tournaments up to now, there have been nine own goals. Through the first 41 matches at this summer's European Championship there have been nine own goals.
Euro 1960-2016: 9 own goals
Euro 2020: 9 own goals
With less than a minute left in the season, Diego Simeone's Atlético Madrid was within touching distance of the league title.
Atlético Madrid had held on to first place in LaLiga for 29 of the previous 30 match weeks and was leading Valladolid 2-1 in a must-win match. Anything less than three points and Atlético's hated crosstown rival Real Madrid would take the title.
Wipe the sweat off your palms, Portugal fans, your team survived the group stage.
The rematch of the Euro 2016 final between Portugal and France proved infinitely more entertaining five years later. Cristiano Ronaldo bagged a brace with two kicks from the penalty spot to tie the men’s all-time international scoring record and confirm Portugal’s place in the knockout stages.
This list for the players with the most international goals in the history of soccer stretches from players who played in the 1940s to the present day. Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi score at an incredible rate for Portugal and Argentina, respectively, but there are those from history who boast an even more impressive rate of scoring.
After three months of bold predictions, shifting power rankings and in-depth sleuthing on who could possibly make the final 18-player USWNT Olympic roster, it’s safe to say that was all a waste of time.
