#www.espn.com soccer

[wosobronze]

so we was right, we saw Lucy whisper into Ona’s ear after she spoke to Sonia LOL

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/40836112/lucy-bronze-wants-sixth-champions-league-chelsea-move

that’s crazy that they literally had that chat on the pitch after she’d just won a champions league with barça😭

here’s a video that’s also linked with this interview for anyone who wants to see💕

[didalexiabreakupwitholgayet]

Que piensas de lo que dice Aitana aquí?https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/41340163/barcelona-aitana-bonmati-liga-f-needs-follow-wsl-lead

jaja, todas dijeron lo mismo, no? pues, ella tiene razón!

so here's the original article between aitana and the athletic's laia cervelló herrero that came out today in which aitana criticises liga f and says that she would have left the league had it not been for barça. let's look at what she says exactly:

that's a pretty strong statement by aitana. and she says that the league is stagnating. aitana also says that they should be humble look to other leagues for inspiration as well as at the national team level to see what works and doesn't work. 100% agreed with what she says, and this is consistent with what other barça and ex-barça players have said before. aitana also calls out the lack of main sponsor, which i've mentioned on my blog. it's ridiculous and a shame!

and this is the exact same thing that patri has said before. there are too many teams in liga f, and it makes spanish league players disadvantaged compared to players in other leagues. again, 100% agreed with this statement.

so yes, aitana is essentially saying the same things that everyone else is saying, and we really need the powers that be in liga f to take these complaints seriously!

[uswnt5]

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/40933449/christen-press-transformative-journey-back-injury

[i-am-mr-k]

Rehab, setbacks and long-buried grief: Press' transformative journey back from injury https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/40933449/christen-press-transformative-journey-back-injury

[meademalove]

From here https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/40500013/vivianne-miedema-man-city-transfer-prioritising-myself

Thank you Anon!

[the-rookies-playbook]

What's Overtime?

September 9,2024 Rookie's Playbook

In last week's blog, I spoke about women in soccer, and while I know much about women, I don't know anything about soccer. This week, however, I thought we would dive into football, which I know even less about. I came from a very football-orientated family, so it’s safe to say my dad was heartbroken AND that you would think I would have picked up some knowledge through the years. Well if you believe that, you would be very much wrong! Today is the day I have decided to learn football rules starting with its, apparently, ever-changing overtime rules. Upon reading trusted ESPN I have found an article (https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39111637/what-nfl-rules-regular-postseason-play) depicting most of, if not all the rules that I need to familiarize myself with. The first thing that I am starting to learn is that there are two sets of overtime rules: regular season and post-season. I’m a big coin tosser, I even tossed a coin to pick my major, so I was surprised I had never heard of a coin toss being in the NFL rules. The rule, coming from the regular season, is a referee with toss a coin, and the visiting captain will call it (so polite!) to determine who will have the ball in overtime. Boom! Check! I’m already an NFL genius. Another rule from Regular that caught my eye is sudden death play! My instinct when hearing this seems unethical. I assumed that you would just play until someone is greatly injured in some kind, thankfully this is not the case. The rule means the game will continue in overtime until the winner is determined from any score. This part confuses me no matter what though because scoring is the point of the game. Duh, that is how the winner is decided. Switching over to the post-season rules, they are slightly different here because the game cannot end in a tie (unlike soccer). The first rule grab me is the loser of the coin toss in the first overtime can either decide to possess the ball or which goal to defend. I don’t mean to seem like a hater but this rule seems stupid to me. The obvious answer to me is to possess the ball because at least you now have the ball. The point of the game is to defend your goal, so why would it matter which you pick? My last rule for this riveting blog is that if the score is still tied at the end of the overtime period, then you keep playing overtime periods until a winner is determined. Now, for me, I find this unfair and reckon we should just call a tie. You are not going to see your players at their best if you just keep running them until something happens. I know we can’t have a tie but I think soccer is right in that department is all I’ll say. Maybe that’s why you just keep playing, so you can play on your opponent's weakness and be the hero. As I have stated many times, I am not interested in football and have no knowledge of it whatsoever. However, this has piqued my interest in some ways, I think my curiosity just wants to see if I can see the rules on the field and recognize them. This might be the year I might sit down and watch a match with my dad.

[ikram1909]

https://www.tumblr.com/ikram1909/752646032587948032/httpswwwtumblrcomikram1909752644139258118144

Luka Modric isn’t even that well-liked in Croatia because of his connection to this really corrupt guy, Zdravko Mamic, who got convicted of embezzlement and tax evasion. Here’s an excerpt from an ESPN article about more stuff Mamic did:

‘Mamic provided initial financial support in return for a proportion of the player's later earnings, and would be represented by his son Mario, a licensed agent. Clauses would be inserted into their contracts which stated the players would be due a cut of the transfer fee should they ever be sold. They would then use that money to pay their obligations to Mamic. In Modric's case, when he moved to Tottenham in 2008 he received €10.5million of the fee, but around €8.5million of that went to Mamic and his family. The trouble came when Mamic was accused of inserting those clauses after the players — including squad members Dejan Lovren, Sime Vrsaljko and Mateo Kovacic, along with Modric — had been sold.’

It’s also because of Modric’s connection to Mamic that he got charged with perjury in the first place. Here’s another excerpt from the same article:

‘So where does Modric come in? In June 2017 he, along with Lovren, testified in Mamic's trial. Modric said he "couldn't remember" basic details like how much he earned in his early days at Dinamo and when he made his international debut. Crucially though, he claimed that the contract clauses in question were already in place before his sale to Tottenham in 2008. However, that seemed to contradict earlier statements, which eventually led to him being charged with perjury in March of 2018.’

Here’s the article where I got my information if any of you want to read more about it:

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/37499647/luka-modric-potential-world-cup-winner-yet-many-croatia-hate-him

P.S. this is my second time sending this ask, it’s because my internet is bad and I didn’t know if it sent the first time. So, sorry if you’ve already seen it. Although, I did add a little more additional information this time.

Oh wow I didn't know all these details what the hell... Thank you for sending this so more people can be informed ❤️

[donfermin]

https://www.tumblr.com/donfermin/748663597584007168

Tebas is an actual dumbfuck. I can only imagine how exhausting it’ll be on the players to have travel from Spain to America for league games, but also the idea is just overall stupid. Not to mention that this whole endeavor probably isn’t cheap, but Tebas would rather do something dumb like expand LaLiga which is Spanish football into America, like where’s the correlation? Over spending the money to get goal line technology. It’s not even the first time he brought up this stupid idea, however, the first time around it was shut down by the RFEF and FIFA.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/40016223/laliga-play-fixtures-us-soon-2025-26-tebas

We live in a capitalistic world, so of course money > logic. Unfortunately for the whole world, the North American market is indeed very profitable and, since their own league is basically a retirement home, they need to buy another league and ruin all the fun for everyone else.

It just doesn't make any sense, not even from a logistic point of view. Traveling back and forth between Europe and the USA on a regular basis (even once every two months) is not feasible and it will put players at risk of injuries and extreme fatigue. We are talking about a 10-12-hours flight, not to mention the different time zones and weather conditions that can have an impact on a person's health. It's just not safe for the players. Especially for teams in the top 4, since they have to compete in CL as well.

I also think this will not work, because yes, many people would love to see clubs like Barça or Atletico, let alone a real El Clasico and not a friendly one, but who would want to go to a Cadiz vs Getafe or an Almeria vs Rayo Vallecano in America? Nothing against these clubs, but Americans don't even know who they are...

Unfortunately, we are in the hands of a psychopath who would even sell his mother for a few pennies, so I don't have any hopes for the future 😭

[saywhatiwants]

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/38403657/bellingham-told-greenwood-play-laliga-getafe-manager

Girl you think this true?

was expecting no one to send this since I’ve seen and spoken bout it on twitter so I can enjoy my peace here😭😭😂 but tbh no cause those two aren’t friends, never played together, unfollowed Mason soon as the whole abuse thing came about from what I’ve been told. Jude also hasn’t even been in Madrid for 4 months to be recommending a club he don’t know about to that disgusting individual this has PR written all over it cause why wait till he has a week before he makes his debut at the club to put out something like this United and getafe knows what their doing especially with all the shit that their dealing with…managers tends to use other players names a lot for PR and we’ve seen how Jude’s name has been used since he joined Madrid and especially that whole made up BILD article about him from Dortmund so hope he debunks this one also cause this is huge and can ruin his reputation and I said before that all eyes is on him there are bound to be lots of shits coming his way especially when ur in a big club as Madrid but u always have to remember we don’t know these people that we like and support behind our screens at all we see what we see from what they give us so we never know truly.

[wosobronze]

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/40844980/big-sister-lucy-bronze-chelsea-mentoring-helping-wsl-grow

this is the most lucy quote ever😭

[lovethelifeyoulive123]

I think this article sums up the midfield in this game well

https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-states-usaw/story/4882297/uswnt-beat-japan-but-midfield-still-a-problem-for-world-cup

Pretty close actually.

[uswnt5]

A good old and long interview about our lil sap

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/37573207/blink-uswnt-star-tobin-heath-nutmeg-hot-second

[kjanus03]

Everyone is going to play - a statistical analysis of FIFA World Cup formats and participation.

Throughout the history of the FIFA World Cup, the number of teams participating has gradually increased. In the first edition of the tournament, held in 1930, only 13 teams participated with no qualifiers held before the tounrament. Each country that played has been invited by FIFA. This number increased to 16 in the 1934 tournament, and then to 24 teams in the 1982 edition. Noticable outlier in the chart below is the 1950 tournament in Switzerland - 15 countries met the requirements to play with Japan unable to participate due to failing to fulfill their payment duty.

If you have watched the World Cup lately, there is a good chance that it has been played by 32 teams in eight groups of four teams each. This format has been in place since 1998, and the tournament has been held in different countries every four years. In total, 64 matches are played during the tournament, with the top two teams of each group advancing to the knockout stage.

In 2026, the Football World Cup is set to be expanded to 48 teams, with the tournament being hosted by Canada, Mexico, and the United States. This will be the first time in the tournament's history that three countries will co-host the event. The tournament is said to be played in three team groups, with a total of 80 matches being played. This format however is not formally approved as of now and FIFA are considering alternative approaches, one of them is dividing the teams into 12 groups of 4, and having the 8 best third-placed teams andvance alongside the top two teams from each group.

The "best third places advancing" wouldn't be a new approach in a World Cup. The 1982-1994 editions were played similarly to how UEFA Euros are played today - 24 teams in 6 groups with 12 teams advancing by being in the top 2 of their group and 4 best third placed team advancing alongside them.

Earlier competitions did not have a set-in-stone approach to deciding how group when two or more teams were tied on points. In the 1958 tournament hosted by Sweden two teams could play against one another in the group stage more than once (!). Three play-offs were played between teams that were tied on points.

Overall, the argument for expansion of the Football World Cup to 48 teams is that it will provide more opportunities for countries to participate in the tournament which may result in a larger and more exciting competition for fans around the world. One of the main criticisms of the expansioln is that it will result in a less competitive and less exciting tournament. With an additional 16 teams participating, there will be more matches and more teams advancing to the knockout stage. This could potentially lead to having to sit through 16 groups of 3 with weaker squads before finally getting to watch the latter stages of the tournament. Sceptics also mention that 3-team would group stage would require one team in each group to watch the other two teams play, instead of participating in a game themselves. In a 4-team group stage, all teams would have the opportunity to play and compete in every matchday, with the last two games being played simultaneously.

Charts made with: Python Seaborn & Matplotlib Modules.

Sources

https://www.espn.com/soccer/fifa-world-cup/story/4825387/fifa-could-abandon-three-team-groups-for-2026-world-cup

https://www.kaggle.com/datasets/piterfm/fifa-football-world-cup?resource=download

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Cup

https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/mens/worldcup/1958sweden

[alexbkrieger13]

Wow ESPN definitely managed to not be biased towards the US here 😅 otherwise obviously nothing too serious, but I liked looking at it

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/40576221/ranking-top-25-women-soccer-players-21st-century

[pensat-i-fet]

https://www.tumblr.com/pensat-i-fet/753299836852420608/httpswwwtumblrcompensat-i-fet753294502020759

modric has actually been charged with perjury twice, although he was never convicted.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/37499647/luka-modric-potential-world-cup-winner-yet-many-croatia-hate-him

https://apnews.com/article/modric-croatia-real-madrid-lovren-0ddbffee249664ea18b17a27f42de0ab#:~:text=ZAGREB%252C%2520Croatia%2520(AP)%2520—,tax%2520fraud%2520in%2520a%2520multi%252D

modric also invited a controversial singer who’s allegedly written songs with links to neo-nazism and that also glorify the world war ii nazi-affiliated dictatorship, the ustashe, to sing a song during croatia’s 2018 World Cup celebration for getting 2nd place. thompson the singer, who’s real name is marko perkovic, was already at the celebration if i’m not mistaken but modric wanted him to perform.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/07/31/in-croatia-nazi-sympathizers-are-welcome-to-join-the-party-thompson-ustashe-fascism/

also the whole croatian national team at that time got in trouble because there was a video of them singing one of marko perkovic’s songs, and like i said, a lot of perkovic’s songs have alleged links to neo-nazism. perkovic also has a lot of fans who are ultranationalists, so…

https://dohanews.co/backlash-after-video-surfaces-showing-croatian-players-celebrating-world-cup-with-neo-fascist-song/

So the usual footballer shit. I should have guessed half of it at least. But it isn't something I've ever heard from the press.

I guess he gets on well with Carvajal then. Seems like they have a lot in common.

[ikram1909]

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/40001064/transfer-talk-bayern-getting-de-jong-depend-salary

As much as it might be beneficial to sell Frenkie, I somehow don’t see this transfer progressing very far. As it states in the article, his absolutely astronomical salary is a major turn-off for clubs.

Only us are dumb enough to pay him all that 😭😭 Bartomeu Will answer for his crimes one day trust