Modern football is dominated by attacking players.
There are the creators. Mo Salah, Timo Werner, Richarlison. Guys who can generate something from nothing but are average finishers that need a lot of the ball to score.
Then there are the finishers. Romelu Lukaku, Aleksandar Mitrović, Chris Wood. They aren't productive 40 yards from goal but give them one chance inside the 18 and they'll take it.
It was a massive week in U.S. soccer viewership with everyone taking time off for Thanksgiving and hunkering down to watch to incessant onslaught of the Premier League, the start of the MLS Cup playoffs and the business end of the Liga MX Apertura liguilla.
In terms of English-language broadcasts, the highest-rated event between Nov. 23 and Nov. 29 was last Sunday’s dire 0-0 draw between Chelsea and Tottenham at Stamford Bridge. An audience of 744,000 tuned in on NBCSN to have their spirits crushed by José Mourinho.
When Kevin Davies took the field for Bolton Wanderers, the action on the pitch often resembled a barroom brawl rather than a soccer match.
Under manager Sam Allardyce, Davies consistently led the league in both fouls committed and fouls received, setting multiple records along the way.
Everton's in-form striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin netted a brace and midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure scored his first goal for the club as they beat Fulham 3-2 to return to winning ways in the Premier League on Sunday.
Brazilian forward Richarlison, returning from a three-match ban, picked up a loose ball and ran wide to cross for Calvert-Lewin who tapped in his ninth league goal of the campaign 42 seconds into the contest.
It is fair to say that money controls the Premier League. Money is the reason Manchester City and Liverpool are title contenders, while Brighton and West Brom languish near the bottom of the table.
Soccernomics co-authors Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski calculated that 90 percent of variation in league position in the Premier League is determined by a club's wage bill.
When the USWNT defeated the Netherlands in the final of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, a broadcast average of 14.27 million and peak audience of 20 million — along with a 10.0 overnight metered market rating — showcased the unifying power of the team over the course of an unforgettable month in France. A captivated nation tuned in to watch back home, creating an event that performed 22 percent higher than the 2018 men’s final.
Former Iran striker Ali Daei has said he would be honored to see Cristiano Ronaldo break his record for the most goals in international soccer as the Portugal forward moves closer to his tally of 109.
Ronaldo, the only other centurion in the men's international arena, has scored 102 goals in 168 appearances since his debut in 2003.
Speed is an unteachable attribute that every athlete, no matter the sport, desires. Everyone wants to know who is the fastest. When it comes to women’s soccer, finding the answer to this question isn’t so simple. Top sprint speed is a niche statistic that isn’t tracked too often in the women’s game. With the data that is available, here is a list of some of the fastest women's soccer players.
A stat crossed my timeline the other day showing that Lionel Messi has 35 goals from direct free kicks for Barcelona over the last decade. That in and of itself is impressive, but perhaps even more extraordinary is the fact that Messi's free kick total is higher than any other club in Europe's top five leagues during that span.
The 2020 Liga MX Apertura regular season (renamed Guardianes to honor healthcare workers) came to a close on Sunday to finalize positions for the reformatted liguilla.
The number of teams that qualify for the playoffs has been raised from eight to 12 due to the shortened season, although the top four teams still qualify directly to the quarterfinals whereas seeds five through 12 must now navigate a single-leg play-in round to make up the last eight.