Page 5 - Monthly Archives: August 2015

UEFA has officially announced the shortlist for the 2015 "Goal of the Season" award, choosing 10 goals from UEFA competitions (including the Europa League, the Champions League, and U-17 or U-19 tournaments) for contention. We've highlighted each of the nominated goals for the UEFA Goal of the Season 2014 - 2015 award below, as well as a link where you can vote for the goal as your favorite of the season, and UEFA's own description of the goal in italics.

"Kobin's Brilliant Bicycle Kick"

Legia Warszawa v FC Metalist Kharkiv

Vasyl Kobin scored this brilliant acrobatic goal for Metalist, one of only three goals the Ukrainian side would register in their 2014/15 UEFA Europa League campaign.

We don't see bicycle kicks nearly enough, even at the highest levels of professional football, but when a well-executed one comes along, it's tough not to recognize it as one of

Well it's official: Angel Di Maria's days at Manchester United are over. Just one season into a five-year contract with the Red Devils-and one year after the 27-year-old Argentine was thought to be the key to the football club's renaissance - Angel Di Maria transfers to Paris Saint Germain for a £44.3 million fee. That fee is a big downgrade from the £56.7 million Louis van Gaal paid to bring Di Maria to Manchester United. That transfer fee was and is the highest ever paid by an English club.

The Right Choice, or a Horrible Mistake?

For months now, it's been clear that Angel Di Maria wasn't going to be playing another season at Manchester United-let alone four more years. It would be easy to look at Di Maria's freshman season at the soccer club and call it a disaster. In 32 appearances (overall), the winger and attacking midfielder only scored four goals for the Red Devils. A glass-half-empty type might say that Man United

10th August 2015.
On August 27^th, ahead of the group stage draw for the 2015 2016 Champions League, UEFA will announce the winners of the Goal and Save of the Season awards. We will also do a rundown of the nominees for Goal of the Season, but today, we're taking a look at the goalkeepers who have been nominated for the UEFA Save of the Season 2014 - 2015 Prize. Of course, similar to Goal of the Season, the nominees for Save of the Season are all moments that took place in UEFA competitions during the 2014 2015 season-so Europa League and Champions League matches, Euro qualification fixtures, U19 or U21 games, and more.

So, without further ado, the nominees! Note that the hyperlinks provided on the names of the goalkeepers take you to UEFA's page, where you can vote for the goal in question as your "Save of the Season."

The Goalkeeper: Sergio Rico, of Sevilla FC

The Game: The Europa League final, between Sevilla

While Schalke 04 ended up in sixth place on the 2014 2015 Bundesliga, qualifying for the 2015 2016 Europa League, and even beating the previous season's runner-up, Borussia Dortmund, it was still a rocky year for the football club. On October 14^th following a loss against Hoffenheim, Jens Keller, head coach at Schalke 04, was sacked by officials. Keller had only been with the club since 2012, but he had enjoyed some decent results, including a third place finish in 2013 2014, and a fourth place finish the year before.

Keller was replaced by Swiss coach Roberto Di Matteo, but Di Matteo couldn't turn things around, and resigned at the end of the season. In the final 10 games of the season, Di Matteo's soccer squad had only managed to tally two wins, costing them a place in the Champions League, and making Schalke 04 arguably the second biggest letdown of the 2014 2015 Bundesliga, after Borussia Dortmund.

Now, another new manager is setting up shop at Veltins-Arena:

Aside from maybe Liverpool FC, no Premier League club has been as active on the transfer circuit this summer as Aston Villa. New manager Tim Sherwood is really shaking things up at Villa Park, to the point where the Claret and Blue squad will be tough to even recognize when the new Premier League season gets started. But will all of the new blood help turn the Lions into a winning side for a change? Or will they struggle to rise above last season's 17^th place finish? It's been an exceptionally busy summer transfer window 2015 for Aston Villa, but has arrived, who has left, and what will the net result be?

On one hand, fans may have a reason or two to feel concerned that Sherwood is jettisoning the few things that did work about Aston Villa's soccer game last season. For instance,

In past years, the International Champions Cup was just one tournament, played in the United States to give American audiences a chance to see some of the biggest soccer clubs in the world in action. This year, the 2015 International Champions Cup tournament expanded to include three editions: one in Australia, one in China, and one in North America and Europe. Real Madrid won the event in both Australia and China, and now, Paris Saint Germain have clinched the larger North American/Europe incarnation of the competition. They follow in the footsteps of Real Madrid and Manchester United, who won the ICC in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

Where the Australia and China versions of the 2015 ICC only featured three teams apiece, the North America/Europe event was more intensive, featuring 10 different soccer teams. The participants for the event came from all over, with football clubs hailing from Spain, England, France, Mexico, Portugal, and Italy all in attendance.

We haven't seen much of Lionel Messi or Neymar this pre-season: the two missed FC Barcelona's campaign at the 2015 International Champions Cup in North America, taking some time to rest following the 2015 Copa America in Chile. On Wednesday, August 5th, they made their return to Barca for the annual Joan Gamper Cup-and did so in style. As FC Barcelona win Joan Gamper Cup, is this a prediction of the season to come?

Indeed, it became clear quite early on in Wednesday's match that the Messi-Neymar partnership hasn't lost any of its lust in the months since the two South American football stars helped FC Barcelona secure a 2014 2015 triple. Both men scored in the first half en route to Barca's 3-0 win against this year's Gamper Cup opponents, AS Roma.

Barcelona Shirts

A History of Success

Zenit St. Petersburg won the 2014 2015 Russian Premier League handily, besting their closest competitors-runners-up CSKA Moscow-by seven points in the final league standings. Now, three weeks into the 2015 - 2016 Russian Premier League season, the Anti-Aircraft Gunners haven't wasted any time returning to the top of the table. Both Zenit St. Petersburg and CSKA Moscow have started the season with three wins in a row, making them two of the five football clubs in the league with undefeated records, and the only two with a trio of wins.

Zenit's Perfect Season Start

The Anti-Aircraft Gunners have looked particularly unstoppable since first donning the Zenit St Petersburg home jersey 2015 2016 on July 19^th. That date saw a home match against Dynamo Moscow, which the St. Petersburg squad won 2-1.

Hulk, who was the Russian Premier League's top goalscorer last season, was the star of this opening match as well.

In 2014 2015, Juventus won their fourth title in a row in the Italian Serie A, clinched the Copa Italia, and landed five players on the shortlist for the UEFA Best Player in Europe Award. Needless to say, the Zebras are one of the best football clubs in the world, and are tough to criticize from either an offensive or defensive standpoint. Yet despite Juve's incredible streak of success over the past few years, at least one benchmark of football dominance continues to elude them: a trophy at the UEFA Champions League. So Juventus at the UEFA Champions League, what is their history, and what can they do to succeed in 2015/16?

Juventus Football Kit

Juve's UCL Victories

That's not to say that Juventus have never won the UCL. On the contrary, they've hoisted the trophy twice, winning

Getting antsy without consistent La Liga matches to watch or game outcomes to monitor? Can't wait for when FC Barcelona and Real Madrid get back into weekly action? You're in luck: we're less than a month away now, from the August 23^rd commencement of the 2015 2016 La Liga season, and on July 15^th, the La Liga 2015 - 2016 opening day fixtures were officially announced.

Who will win? Who will lose? Which football clubs will establish themselves as clear contenders for the season to come? Read on for our preview of La Liga's 10 opening day soccer matches!

Official Football Kits

The Big Games

As with every other football division, the Spanish La Liga has some top-tier teams that everyone will be
paying attention to on opening day-regardless of club allegiance.

The most obvious of these