Neymar was the first to score in Brazil’s 5-0 win over Bolivia, but he was also the first to bleed profusely from the head. In the second half, Neymar took an elbow from Yasmani Duk, which ended up making him look like Ric Flair in a steel cage match.
Like many people, Kazakh journalist Peter Volikov thought Andrei Arshavin was all washed up when he arrived at FC Kairat, so he made a bet with the lovable former Russia international: if Arshavin scored eight goals in his first season with the club, he could shave Volikov’s head.
After playing the entirety of West Ham’s 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough, the last thing Michail Antonio probably wanted to do was get in the car and drive two hours from London to Birmingham. But when he realized he had promised a signed shirt to a charity event there and it was too late to send it, he made the drive to hand deliver the shirt and keep his word.
Three of CONCACAF’s last four presidents currently face criminal charges from the U.S. Department of Justice (the fourth was merely banned from all football activities for trying to overstep his authority), so the North and Central American governing body’s new president, Victor Montagliani, thinks it’s time to sweep all of their dirt back under the rug with a rebrand.
As a young, rapidly growing league that seeks to position itself among the world’s best, MLS often struggles reconciling its caviar dreams with its Big Mac realities. While world famous players like David Villa and Kaka make millions, the league’s minimum salary for players under 25 years old is still just $36,500.
Given the more “average Joe” wages of the lower end of the league’s talent and the minuscule salary cap of $3.49 million per team, it might make sense that MLS clubs fly commercial — something that LA Galaxy coach Bruce Arena finds embarrassing. So embarrassing that he tells his players not to wear team apparel in airports so as not to draw attention to their commoner status.
Sexist comments about a lineswoman have resulted in two Sparta Prague players spending a few days training with the club’s women’s team.
First Pep Guardiola took away his players’ pizza privileges, which was heartless but perhaps necessary. Now he has entered Kim Jong-un levels of tyranny, though, as Pablo Zabaleta reveals that Guardiola has disconnected the WiFi at Man City’s training base.
Normally footballers are only tasked with scoring over human sized walls, but during a Bayern Munich training session, Arturo Vidal proved that he can score over extra tall metal ones too. It’s hard to say when this skill would come in handy during an actual match, but if Bayern ever face a team of Godzillas, they’ll want Vidal taking the free kicks.
After a brief hiatus, The Goalmouth, our daily email newsletter in partnership with Howler Magazine, has returned. And now DT and Howler have teamed up with Total Soccer Show to give it a brand new podcast companion. Each day, hosting duties will rotate between Daryl Grove, myself, George Quraishi, Taylor Rockwell, and Ryan Bailey for a brief rundown of top stories.
You can find The Goalmouth podcast on iTunes and the Google Play store and you can subscribe to the email newsletter here.
This is just the first a few big announcements DT has coming up in the near future, so stay tuned!
For general thoughts on FIFA 17 and first impressions of The Journey, see this post from August.
Upon completing FIFA 17’s new single-player, story driven game mode, The Journey, my first thought was about how EA Sports could build on it. Though addicting (it was the first thing I tried upon receiving the game and it remained the only game mode I played until completion), it definitely feels like it’s just a starting point. Like EA wanted to gauge the level of interest in it before building it out to the degree that it could be built out to.
