One of the biggest stories in the soccer world in 2013 is not who is playing, but who will not be.
On Saturday, David Beckham played the final soccer game of his career with Paris Saint-Germain. Beckham, a 38 year old midfielder, considered by many to be one of the greatest midfielders in soccer during the prime of his career, played 523 games professionally for Manchester United, Real Madrid, the Los Angeles Galaxy and Paris Saint-Germain, and scored 97 goals. He also scored 17 goals in 115 games for the English national team in international play.
But it is Beckham’s financial wealth that has brought him into the spotlight. According to Great Britain’s The Sunday Times, Beckham, who is also married to Spice Girl Victoria, has an estimated worth of $125 million.
Beckham’s retirement follows a pretigious list of soccer stars who have retired in 2013. The list includes English striker Michael Owen, English midfielder Paul Scholes, American women’s star Heather Mitts and Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson.
This week on (the award-nominated) 15MOF we watch the Edmonton Oilers slip further down the standings and try to figure out what’s wrong, we look at a couple of big streaks in the NHL & the NBA (one of which just came to an end), and we look ahead to the main event at UFC 158 between Georges St. Pierre and Nick Diaz.
In the GABBYs: Canadian baseball, bees, Brittney Griner, Brett Cook, Cuneyt Cakir and Beitar Jerusalem. The Punchline this week is the Indoor Football League!
There was a monumental upset in Barcelona, Spain on Tuesday. Chelsea defeated FC Barcelona 3-2 on aggregate to advance to the Champions League Final in Munich, Germany on May 19.
Chelsea, which led 1-0 heading into Tuesday’s action, seemed to have their chances of qualifying in the championship game diminished when they fell 2-0 and saw captain John Terry red carded for a first half foul.
But Chelsea showed an enormous amount of resiliency with one man down. Ramires put Chelsea in the driver’s seat with a goal right before half time. With this goal, Chelsea tied the two game total point series at two, but gave Chelsea the edge because they scored more road goals.
After FC Barcelona dominated the second half, Fernando Torres scored on a breakaway in injury time to give Chelsea the 3-2 win.
It is interesting because even though FC Barcelona dominated the play over the 180+ minutes, Chelsea’s roster is strong. In addition to Torres and Terry, they have Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and Peter Cech.
This week on 15 Minutes of Fame: The Eskimos fall to pieces against the BC Lions; will they be ready for the Stampeders? After the recent deaths of two NHL tough guys, is it time to think about taking fighting out of hockey? Also: Sidney Crosby isn’t ready to go yet, Chris Drury hangs ‘em up and The Hockey News predicts a last place finish for the Oilers (do you agree?).
In the GABBYs: Jim Thome, Dan Uggla, the Texas Rangers, El Clasico, Desmond Bishop and Terrelle Pryor!
There’s more footy drama in Spain, after another heated meeting of the country’s top two teams!
Leo Messi scored twice for Barcelona on Wednesday in a 3-2 win over Real Madrid as his side claimed its third consecutive Spanish Supercup – but, of course, that’s not what people are talking about today!
Barca newcomer Cesc Fabregas fell victim to an ugly challenge from Madrid defender Marcelo during the 94th minute, which resulted in a second yellow for the Brazilian and kicked off a “brawl” or a “huge melee” (depending on who you ask) between the two clubs!
Now, before you get too excited, keep in mind that the phrase “bench clearing brawl” means something a little bit different when we’re talking about anything but hockey – in this case when the benches cleared, there was a lot of pushing and shoving and holding each other back, as players shouted insults back and fourth. Let’s take a look, shall we? (more…)
Now that the NFL has wrapped up a long-winded work stoppage, it looks like it’s time for the other football to get in on the action!
Players in both Spain’s La Liga and Italy’s Serie A are threatening strike action over two very different issues, with the regular season set to open in both leagues over the next two weekends. In Spain, the dispute is over money, while Italy’s impending work stoppage is an old fight that has to do with player rights.
Let’s start out in La Liga, where the start of the season is being threatened by an issue that really speaks to the financial climate of the last few years, and what’s projected for the near future: ESPN reports the players want something in place so that they still get paid if a club goes into administration.
I’m not sure how often clubs in Spain are going under these days, but reports say over $5.6-million worth of player wages went unpaid in the Segunda Division last year until another strike threat led to an agreement being reached. A Different League writer David Redshaw says there’s a big meeting on Wednesday where the two sides will try to hash out a deal, though there isn’t a whole lot of optimism that it’ll get done… (more…)
This week on 15 Minutes of Fame: The Edmonton Eskimos drop two straight, but can they get back on track against BC? The Toronto Blue Jays get some solid contributions from a top prospect in a week where they’re accused of “stealing signs,” and a couple of former Oilers move on from the NHL for very different reasons.
In the GABBYs: Real Madrid, Oscar Pistorius, Eri Yoshida, the Lake County Fielders, the US ski team and Tiger Woods.
The preseason fundraisers, I mean tournaments, continue around the world this week for many of Europe’s top soccer teams, and it seems to have been an especially bloopery few days!
To give you an idea of where some of the big clubs are playing at the moment: Manchester United, Man City and Real Madrid are three of the teams taking part in the Herbalife World Football Challenge, a tournament that pits some of the top sides in the world against a handful of Major League Soccer teams. Barcelona is about to join the WFC after winning the Audi Cup over in Germany, while Chelsea is spending the summer over in Asia, battling for the Barclays Asia Trophy.
Sure, fans around the world have been treated to some great soccer so far, but they are also getting to see their fair share of flubs as well! Why don’t we let Chelsea’s Yossi Benayoun kick things off for us…(After the Jump: Crazy soccer bloopers!) (more…)
For most North American sports fans, the off-season is a fairly boring period where the best you can hope for is a big trade or signing, or perhaps a new collective bargaining agreement.
If you’re a soccer fan though, the off-season apparently just means more highlights! I’m not even sure that there is an off-season for soccer fans, because when your European league of choice closes shop for the year, there is always Major League Soccer, which plays on an opposite schedule!
This year, while NFL & NBA fans sweat their respective lockouts and NHL fans get overexcited about player movement, the “off-season” for soccer fans has been jam packed with action. First, there was the Women’s World Cup, which really showed us all how far women’s soccer has come. Then we’ve got the Copa America, which has featured some massive upsets so far, and finally, the Herbalife World Football Challenge is now in full swing.
I know what you’re saying: “Kerrzy, the World Football Challenge is just a series of money-making friendlies where they make 10 subs at half time!”… (more…)
Another week has come and gone in the world of sports, which has given us plenty of material for another episode of “15 Minutes of Fame!”
This week, Geoff Driscoll & I discuss another crushing defeat for the Washington Capitals in the NHL playoffs and what it might mean for that team in terms of personnel changes, as well as what the Philadelphia Flyers needs to address during the offseason and the latest in the Phoenix Coyotes saga.
In the GABBYs: MLB no-hitters, rock solid goalies, NBA awards and soccer theatrics!
Want an .mp3 version of this week’s video? Here you go!
Subscribe to our podcast! It’s an audio version of our video for those who can’t watch YouTube videos at work, or who want to hear us on your portable music devices.
Jose Mourinho was nowhere to be seen on Tuesday at the Camp Nou in Barcelona, Spain, but his words from a week earlier resonated as the final whistle sounded.
With their coach serving what many likely saw as an unjust ban, Real Madrid played to a 1-1 draw with Barcelona in the second leg of the all-Spanish Champions League semifinal, a result that sent Barca through to the big dance for the second time in three years. Did they deserve to go through though?
Probably – there’s no question that the Leo Messi led team is one of the world’s most elite clubs, stocked to the brim with extreme talent. That said, I could hardly watch as they played their own brand of “negative football” to perfection and, to boot, once again benefited from a suspect call by the referee that changed the course of the action. (more…)
Pedro Rodriguez Ledesma (Daniel Cort, Wikimedia Commons)
In an all-Spanish UEFA Champions League semi-final, FC Barcelona tied Real Madrid 1-1 this afternoon to win 3-1 on aggregate.
FC Barcelona had defeated Real Madrid 2-0 last week in Madrid to win the two game total point series.
Forward Pedro Rodriguez Ledesma of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain scored in the 54th minute to put Barcelona up 1-0 in the second game before Marcelo notched a goal for Real Madrid.
FC Barcelona had complete control of the game. Knowing they needed to completely self destruct in order to not advance to the final, FC Barcelona played a very strategic ball possession game (64%) in the pouring Barcelona rain.
We all expected a show, and boy did we get one this week – the latest clash between Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid was so good, the fireworks are still flying days later!
If you missed it: the first leg of their Champions League semifinal featured sideline scuffles, fouls (and dives) and a straight red card, which was followed by a pair of magnificent goals to give Barca a 2-0 road win. Leo Messi was the star of the game, but it was Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho stealing the show afterwards!
“The Special One” was all wound up about the Pepe red card in the 61st minute of what was then a 0-0 game. The Brazilian defender lunged for the ball with his studs up and appeared to clip Barca’s Dani Alves, who had to be taken off on a stretcher, but we’ll get to the foul itself in a moment…(After the break: VIDEO of the Pepe foul/dive, plus a Danish coach hits a reporter & more!) (more…)
The same week he called his job “thankless,” Colin Campbell is out with another head-scratcher!
The NHL’s head disciplinarian went off on TSN Radio about how he feels a bit disrespected by all of the criticism he is facing, especially now that we’re into the playoffs. I can kind of see why he’d be rattled because he has definitely been active in punishing players who break the rules lately, handing out five suspensions in the last week and a half or so. That said, I think we’re all a bit miffed about a few of his calls so far.
Case and point: the Raffi Torres hit on Brent Seabrook…(After the jump: The latest NHL suspension, Real Madrid puts their mark on the Spanish Cup & MORE!) (more…)
There’s more footy drama in Spain, after another heated meeting of the country’s top two teams!
Now that the NFL has wrapped up a long-winded work stoppage, it looks like it’s time for the other football to get in on the action!
The preseason fundraisers, I mean tournaments, continue around the world this week for many of Europe’s top soccer teams, and it seems to have been an especially bloopery few days!
Jose Mourinho was nowhere to be seen on Tuesday at the Camp Nou in Barcelona, Spain, but his words from a week earlier resonated as the final whistle sounded.
Chumpions League?
Loading ...
