Excitement for the new season is rising and with preseason friendlies unable to fill the void, we turn to fantasy football to try and feed our insatiable addiction.
Though fantasy teams are intended to be season-long commitments, there are enough Jose Mourinho quotes and halftime shirt swapping scandals to fully occupy our time once the season gets going again. So here’s a guide to building a fantasy team and then forgetting about it in about two months.
With Iker Casillas out of the picture, Keylor Navas is getting his chance as Real Madrid’s No. 1 and he’s going hard to prove himself. Perhaps a little too hard.
During Real’s friendly against Man City in Australia, Navas attacked the ball, but ended up smashing into Yaya Toure instead. He then landed on top of Sergio Ramos. He seems to have taken the Miley Cyrus song “Wrecking Ball” a bit too literally.
This has been the Dirty Tackle of the Day: a chronicling of unfortunate events.
Manchester United have spotted and nurtured many great players over the years, but Louis van Gaal has identified the greatest yet: Mystery Striker. Combining everyone’s love for mysteries and transfer rumors, Mystery Striker is the world’s first perfect transfer target.
Here’s the controversial penalty call as Roman Torres is called for handball. #GoldCup2015 http://t.co/4aSShYi9SP
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) July 23, 2015
You know that feeling when no matter how bad your day goes, you know you’ve got some pizza and cake in the fridge back home and that will make everything all better? Well that must be how Mexico have felt during their last two Gold Cup matches.
Jamaica beat the U.S. 2-1 in the Gold Cup semifinals to reach the final for the first time in the nation’s history (their previous best finish was fourth in 1998). Though the U.S. were undoubtedly favorites not only in this specific match, but to go on and win the competition for the fifth time in the last eight stagings of it, the result shouldn’t be the shock that some fans and pundits are making it out to be.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s working relationship with new Real Madrid manager Rafa Benitez seems to be off to a bumpy start. You might remember that Ronaldo was against the club’s decision to sack Carlo Ancelotti, so when Benitez (who managed Liverpool when Ronaldo was with rivals Manchester United) arrived, they were already on the wrong foot. And the relationship only appears to be getting worse during Real Madrid’s preseason tour of Australia.
Pablo Martel, manager of Union de Santiago, decided to take matters into his own feet during a match against Comercio in the Argentine fourth division after a hard foul on one of his players. The referee let play continue, though, and as the Comercio player dribbled down the touchline, Martel came out of his technical area and kicked his legs out from under him.
This led to a standoff between the two managers and the police had to intervene, but cooler heads prevailed. But the referee did act this time, sending Martel off for his vigilantism.
This has been the Dirty Tackle of the Day: a chronicling of unfortunate events.
Now that all your favorite players have been sold to other clubs and you’ve burned all the shirts with their names on the back, your summer wardrobe needs replenishing. Thankfully, DT is here to help.
We’ve teamed up with Art of Football to give away a few of their beautiful and unique T-shirts. To enter, all you have to do is subscribe to our daily email newsletter with Howler Magazine, The Goalmouth, which sends all the best stories of the day from around the football world, along with my dumb commentary on them, right to your inbox (if you’re already subscribed to The Goalmouth, you’re already entered).
We’ll choose the winners on Thursday, July 30, 2015. So once you sign up, check out their website and choose a favorite design (see their full collection, depicting great moments for a variety of club and national teams here: www.art-of-football.com). Here are a few of mine…
Calling one of their own players the wrong name is embarrassing enough, but when they’re sitting right next to you when you do it and have to correct you in front of a room full of reporters, it becomes far, far worse. That’s what happened to Louis van Gaal, when he called Chris Smalling “Mike Smalling,” leaving Chris/Mike to correct him.
Raheem Sterling scored just two minutes into his Manchester City debut against Roma in Australia. Naturally, this was a moment that Liverpool fans embittered by the 20-year-old’s prolonged and hostile move away from their club were happy to ignore. But Mario Balotelli wouldn’t let them do that.