2018 Fifa World Cup

Writer: David Seastrunk III

The 2018 FIFA World Cup kicked off with the home team, Russia, taking on Saudi Arabia. It was an astounding victory for the home team as they dismantled the Saudis in a 5-0 victory. This is the dream start to the 2018 World Cup that the Russians were hoping for. On Friday, Ronaldo lead his squad by completing a hat trick against the former World Cup Champion, Spain, but it was not enough to push them over the top as they tied 3-3. Stay tuned for updates on all the action here on The Drive.

Odds to win: Brazil (highest odds to win), Germany, & Spain.

Group Stages

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D	Group E	Group F	Group G	Group H
Uruguay	Spain	France	Argentina	Brazil	Germany	Belgium	Columbia
Russia	Portugal	Denmark	Croatia	Switzerland	Mexico	England	Poland
Egypt	Morocco	Peru	Nigeria	Serbia	Sweden	Tunisia	Senegal
Saudi Arabia	Iran	Australia	Iceland	Costa Rica	South Korea	Panama	Japan

Upcoming Games (Times P.T.)

Saturday 6/16

Group C France v. Australia – 5:00 am

Group D Argentina v. Iceland – 8:00 am

Group C Peru v Denmark – 11:00 am

Group D Croatia v. Denmark – 2:00 pm

Lionel Messi Best of Our Generation?

Writer: David Seastrunk

With the World Cup inching closer and closer one of the 2014 finalist’s found themselves on the outside looking in. That was until the likes of Lionel Messi had yet another hat trick and yet another performance that couldn’t have been scripted more beautifully.

Argentina was on the brink of elimination and with one game remaining to qualify for the 2018 World Cup they were to face that of a lesser opponent in Ecuador. Or so they thought, with only 38 seconds gone by Ecuador had already found the back of the net and Argentina was staring elimination dead in the eye. Argentina needed a win to advance and only a win. Quickly coming to reality the heroics of Lionel Messi decided to write his own history books.

12 minutes later Messi nets the equalizer on an assist from Angel Di Maria. With the fate of an entire nation on his back he nets home another just 9 minutes later.

(Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images)

Yet another masterpiece by the great Lionel Messi. Forcing his way into the conversation of the greatest player of all time. Are his career accomplishments enough to crown him the greatest? Does he still need a World Cup title to ultimately give him that crown. With the likes of Pele winning 3 World Cup titles and Diego Maradona, fellow Argentinian legend, winning one. Many critics want to see Messi win a World Cup. Messi led his team to the World Cup final in 2014 and with his squad not playing as well as they did then it is going to be tough to replicate that outcome.

It’s tough to say if he is the greatest of all time because the era’s of world soccer are different in many ways but I think it is safe to say of this generation he is the greatest. Compared to his closest competitor and La Liga rival Cristiano Ronaldo. Here is a list of stats comparing the two over their careers. (Including Friendlies)

	Goals	Assist	Games Played	Ratio Goals Scored to Matches Played	Ballon d’Or
Messi	583	235	719	.81	5
Ronaldo	615	200	874	.70	4

Statistically Messi has proven he’s been slightly better. Where he separates himself from other players is the ability to create and make everyone around him so astoundingly better. He has won 29 trophies with Barcelona, including 8 La Liga titles, 4 UEFA Champions League titles, and 5 Copas del Rey. Ronaldo has won 13 trophies, including 2 La Liga titles, two Copa del Rey titles, 3 Champions League titles and 2 UEFA Super Cups.

With the upcoming 2018 World Cup this could possibly be their last chance at getting a championship. The two will give it their all in hopes off winning for their countries and cementing their name in history for the only thing they’ve yet to accomplish.

USMNT FAILS AGAIN

Writer: Anthony Aleman

The United States men’s soccer team had what might have been the worst game in the federation’s history Tuesday night, losing to Trinidad and Tobago 2-1 and failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup for the first time since 1986. The United States had a 93 percent chance of qualifying before the night started. 93 PERCENT. The United States could only be knocked out of qualifying if one of twenty-seven outcomes occurred, and guess what: it happened last night as the US lost, Mexico lost to Honduras, and Costa Rica lost to Panama. This loss came as a stunner to many due to the fact that Trinidad was the worst team in qualifying and literally had nothing worth playing for. The fact that the United States could not even tie Trinidad just shows how this team really did not deserve to go to Russia and play against the best in the world. Bruce Arena told reporters last Thursday that he hadn’t even prepared to play Trinidad and Tobago, and if that’s something that the United States soccer federation is okay with allowing then the United States does not deserve a place in the biggest soccer tournament in the world. Excuses such as field conditions does not matter in this scenario; even if it was at a high school stadium that was not of the best conditions, the team just flat out failed. The United States team forgets there are other countries in the world playing on worse fields and conditions then them, this team has to grow up and stop making excuses for constant failure. It starts from the top down with federation president Sunil Gulati, who will now almost certainly be voted out in the elections of next February, and it ends with the “elite” youth soccer coaches this country has throughout its fifty states. The federation must make changes, the country has invested more than enough money in the development of the soccer programs, however it is not working. The new president must rework the structure of us soccer and make a change to be competitive, if that means allotting money in different areas of the soccer program well then by all means do it. The United States must also make players better than just MLS level. The MLS is a great mid-level league, but in order to be able to compete with the best nations in the world the United States must have more players who are training and playing for elite level international teams such as Barcelona, Real Madrid, and many others. Once the United States can send players there who constantly play then they can pull them for international games and expect better results than losing to Trinidad and Tobago. The MLS level standard must go, everyone from the youth level all the way to the professionals must shoot for European level talent in order to get even CLOSE to winning a world cup. The men’s team also must begin to qualify for the Olympics in soccer, as this is a crucial event for younger players to gain great in game experience against other top countries best youth players. Once the united states can get away from relying on older players who are in the latter stages of their career, then the US will finally rise to levels rarely ever achieved. A total rebuild is needed, and hopefully bringing in a better president and better coaching staff will allow for change to happen. Hiring an international coach with international success seems to be the best idea, as Bruce Arenas tenure has gone awful compared to his predecessor Jurgen Klinsmann. The United States can get to the level of brazil, Spain, and other powerhouses, it will just take a different approach towards the way things are currently set.

World Soccer Transfer Market Recap

Writer: Elijah Folsom

Summer Transfer Window Recap

This year’s summer transfer window in international soccer was absolutely insane. There was over 4.7 billion dollars spent internationally on players. Most of these purchases were from small scale teams that never have a chance at playing in the Champions League, but even the smallest amount of money can help these teams win.

ESPN

We saw that, last year, Paul Pogba was purchased by Manchester United from Juventus for a record shattering 105 million British pounds, which equates to just over 140 million U.S. dollars. This blew soccer fans’ minds. To think that a team would actually pay over a 100 million British pounds for a player was insane. So, you could imagine how crazy it was when PSG purchased Neymar From FC Barcelona for over 263 million dollars. Neymar is one of the greatest soccer players in the world today and could lead PSG to win multiple titles and potentially a spot in the Champions League final. He is considered to be the third best player in the world at the moment, and it doesn’t look like he’s going anywhere only being 25.

Neymar was a huge loss for Barcelona, breaking up the great trio of Messi, Suarez, and Neymar. Without him it leaves a huge gap at the left-wing position for Barcelona. Who better to fill that gap than another young wing that can produce like Dembele. Barcelona also got a “deal” on him by only paying a little over a hundred million dollars for him. He is only 20 years old and has made a huge splash in world soccer already by starting for Dortmund last season. He scored 6 goals in 22 games on one of the biggest stages in the world against some of the best competition in the world.

Another massive transfer was between two premier league clubs, Everton and Manchester United. Romelu Lukaku has emerged as one of the best strikers in the world. Last year, for Everton, he carried the offensive firepower for the team and was the third top goal scorer in the league last year. He is a nightmare matchup that no defense wants to mark.

All of the money spent this year will make a huge difference in the win column around the globe, and world soccer has big change coming this season.