MLS Soccer – Worldwide Sports News

January 19, 2023

Former Tottenham defender Anton Walkes dies in boat crash at age of 25

Player was preparing for new MLS season with Charlotte FC
Local reports say Walkes was involved in boat collision

Former Tottenham and Portsmouth defender Anton Walkes has died at the age of 25.

Charlotte FC, who Walkes represented in the 2022 Major League Soccer season, confirmed his death on Thursday in south Florida. The Miami Herald reported that Walkes was found unconscious after two vessels collided near Miami Marine Stadium on Wednesday afternoon. He received CPR and was taken to hospital but later died. Wilkes was in Florida with Charlotte FC for a preseason training camp, according to the Charlotte Observer.

January 11, 2023

CF Montréal fire coach one day after hire due to assassination tweet

Former MLS player called Quebec separatists ‘hillbillies’
Club said they wanted to give Sandro Grande a second chance

Sandro Grande was fired as coach of Montréal’s under-23 team on Tuesday – a day after his hiring was announced – because of comments he made following a 2012 shooting at an election event attended by Pauline Marois, the then leader of the separatist Parti Québécois.

The 2012 post on Grande’s Twitter account said: “The only mistake the shooter made last night was to miss his target!!! Marois!!! Next time buddy! Hopefully!” While Grande claimed his account had been hacked, the former Montréal Impact midfielder did admit to calling separatist voters “hillbillies” and “stupid.”

January 9, 2023

Joy of the playground defined Gareth Bale more than records or trophies

Wales forward retires with a glittering CV but it was his breathtaking style which truly set him apart from the rest

For Gareth Bale, the pitch and the playground may as well have been the same thing. Watch back some of his greatest goals and you can almost glimpse the school tie flapping behind him as he runs, a battered sponge ball sticking to his feet, the cautious teacher carrying a tray of orange squash across the penalty area.

Of course Bale always played to win. But in the 30-yard screamers and lightning bursts of speed, you can spot something else there too: a young man playing for the sake of playing, for the thrill of solving a new problem, playing to feel. What was the point in running unless you were going to do it as jaw-droppingly fast as possible? What was the point in taking a free-kick unless you were going to leather it into the top corner? And what was the point of being a footballer at all if you didn’t try these things?

January 9, 2023

Gareth Bale announces retirement from football: ‘I have realised my dream’

Wales international calls time on career at age of 33
‘Football has truly given me some of my best moments’

Gareth Bale, Wales men’s all-time leading goalscorer and a five-time Champions League winner with Real Madrid, has announced his retirement from football. Bale, one of Britain’s most decorated players, has stepped away from the game midway through his contract at Los Angeles FC, which was due to expire this summer.

Bale’s decision comes little more than a month after he vowed to continue playing after Wales’s disappointing group-stage exit at their first World Cup finals tournament for 64 years. Bale captained Wales on his first appearance at a World Cup finals.