Author: Brooks Peck

U.S. beat Germany with late stunner, become Friendly Champions of the World

Proving that the scare they gave Germany in the last World Cup was no fluke, the United States beat Germany 2-1 in Germany to become the Friendly Champions of the World. Bobby Wood scored the winner in the 87th minute, giving the 22-year-old his second late winner in as many matches after doing the same to the Netherlands last in a 4-3 friendly win last week. And by the way, those happen to be his first two international goals, as well.

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Man United to offer XXXXL shirts by popular demand, Spurs still offer bigger

To match the size of their record deal with new kitmaker Adidas, Manchester United will offer XXXXL shirts next season. Their shirts for the 2014/15 season, the last made by Nike, were only available to more rotund fans up to size XXXL. But thanks to Adidas, supporters can now spend the summer keeping hydrated exclusively by drinking melted ice cream and still fit into a top originally intended to be worn by a world-class athlete.

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Xavi gets underwhelming reception at Qatar airport

Wasting no time after Barcelona’s treble celebrations, Xavi has already arrived in Doha for his presentation as an Al-Sadd player on Thursday. Normally when a player of Xavi’s caliber moves to a place unaccustomed to hosting superstars, there’s an untamable mob of giddy fans filling an airport terminal beyond capacity. But this is World Cup 2022 host nation Qatar.

Though there were some fans and club officials awaiting his arrival, it was all very orderly and far from overwhelming. Which is probably a sensation he should get used to over the next two years since Al Sadd have an average attendance of about 6,000.

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Sepp Blatter’s preview of the 2015 Women’s World Cup

Since I, Sepp Blatter, am the godfather of women’s football, there is no one more qualified to tell you everything you need to know about the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup!

Even though the tournament has not yet begun, people are already talking about it with so much excitement that you might think it started last Saturday. That’s how far I have brought women’s football! And that’s one of many reasons why the American authorities should not arrest me.

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Megan Rapinoe scores twice, mocks referee to help U.S. beat Australia

Megan Rapinoe became the first United States player to score to score two goals in one Women’s World Cup match since 2007, helping her side overcome an ugly first half to beat Australia 3-1 in their Group D opener. She also burned the ref after getting booked in the 64th minute.

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DTotD: Maradona kicks his grandson

Six-year-old Benjamin Aguero, son of Man City striker Sergio, knocked down Grandpa Maradona’s shot in a little game of backyard one-v-one and then tried to show the old man how it’s done. But Maradona doesn’t believe in going easy on the opposition, even when the opposition is his six-year-old grandson.

So when the kid tried to cut past the portly 54-year-old World Cup winner, Maradona kicked him in the leg and brought him down. But Benjamin quickly popped right back up, leaving Grandpa Maradona in his dust before getting past the last man dog and scoring with a tidy finish.

And that’s why Benjamin isn’t getting any Christmas presents from his grandfather this year.

This has been the Dirty Tackle of the Day: a chronicling of unfortunate events. 

All the reasons why Barcelona won the 2015 Champions League final

Barcelona completed a perfect end to the season by beating Juventus 3-1 in the Champions League final to win their second treble in six years and fourth European Cup in 10 years. For a club that has supposedly been in crisis every other week for the last three years, that’s quite impressive. But for a club with three of the best players in the world scoring goals by the bushel for them, it also makes complete sense.

Though that last fact might seem like enough to put Barca past Juve, there was actually much more to it. These are all the reasons why Barcelona won…

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