Soccer Jocks with Cristiano Ronaldo and Friends.

Conor Fay

Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristian Brocchi

Carl Hoefkens and Cristiano Ronaldo

Viva Croatia

Michalis Sifakis, Μιχάλης Σηφάκης

Darren Carter

Declan McKenna

Nicolai Mick Jørgensen

Sports Saturday: Full Football Fall

This is the first full weekend of football in the USA.  Friday night lights brighten high school football stadiums from shore to shore.  Saturday afternoons are filled with college football.  This weekend, the NFL takes a knee at the side of their stadiums as they began their regular season of competition.  For fans of American Football, this full return to competition is the start of what, for most of us, is a very short season.  Enjoy it while it lasts... 

Football is quickly coming to an end in  Australia, Aussie Rules Football, that is.  This is a Winter sport in the southern hemisphere, and as their Winter turns to Spring, the Cricket pitches must be cleared for the return of Summer.  The AFL then holds their competitions, leading up to the finals in a few weeks.  This weekend, in the first elimination final, the  Melbourne Demons have already advanced, with a  win over the Geelong Cats, and the Richmond Tigers have advanced with a win over the Hawthorn Hawks.  Today's competitions include the Sydney Swans vs. the GWS Giants, and the West Coast Eagles vs. the Collingwood Crows. 

European Soccer is taking a time out this weekend.  International friendlies are the order of the weekend.  

The inaugural Surf Ranch Pro event is being held today, at Kelly Slater's man-made venue in Lemoore, California.  Julian Wilson, Filipe Toledo and Italo Ferreira have, so far,  two wins apiece through seven tour events.

Sunday Sport: Too much to mention!

Don't miss:

Croatia takes on France in the World Cup finals today.  This soccer fest has been ongoing this month. This year's edition has provided hours of quality association football, and lots of surprises.  

The cobbles are attacked in the Tour de France.  Today's stage ends at Roubaix, just a few hundred metres from the historic Roubaix Velodrome. A favorite today is John Degenkolb, but don't take your eyes off of Peter Sagan and Frenando Gaviria.  Alexander Kristoff is also a contender.

Former Yugoslavia is getting a full workout today, with Croatia in the World Cup and Serb Novak Djokovic playing in the finals at Wimbledon.  He says he has "not much to lose" when he goes for his first Grand Slam title in almost two years against South African Kevin Anderson in the Wimbledon final. Kevin Anderson has a USA connection,  played tennis for the Fighting Illini of the University of Illinois.   Tennis doesn't get much better than this!

Meanwhile, in international cricket, India continues their tour of England and Ireland today.  "How's that?

Sports Weekend: World Cup Final 2018

Olivier Giroud

by Rexswimguy:  

Are you ready for the World Cup Final on Sunday? It will be Croatia's first appearance in the final, and their opponent, France, will likely be considered the favorite by most.

The result will possibly boil down to France's ability to control the pace of the game, which they have had much success at. And, much of the credit for that goes to their veteran #7 Antoine Griezmann. Watch for him and all the great superstars on Sunday.

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2018 FIFA World Cup

Croatia vs. France

Sunday, July 15

11:00 AM (Eastern), FOX

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Sport Sunday: Croatia, Swimming, Roma-Juventus

After two weeks, the FINA Aquatics Worlds competition wraps up today in Budapest, Hungary, with a day which promises lots of exciting action.  Today, the following competitions will be held:  Men’s 400m IM Final, Men’s 50m Backstroke Final, Men’s 1500m Freestyle Final, and the Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay Final, as well as the men's high dive competition.  A surprising duo at this Budapest Worlds have been the Italian "twins" Gabriele Detti and Gabriele Paltrinieri.  They have both been swimming strong during this week of intense competitive swimming, taking gold and bronze in the 800 m.  They will both compete in the 1500 m today.   The two are not, of course, twins, but the Italian press have dubbed them so, given their shared first name, and striking model like resemblance to each other. 

In startling news, in the men's water polo finals last night, Croatia edged host nation Hungary to win men's water polo world title.  Croatia ended host nation Hungary's hopes of a fourth world title in men's water polo with an 8-6 victory in the final on Saturday.  Captain Sandro Sukno, already known to readers of this space,  scored a hat trick for Croatia, which raced into a 4-0 lead as it kept the Hungarians scoreless for a whole quarter for the first time in the tournament.  The stands, packed with fans of the home team, fell into stunned silence until Hungary pulled two goals back through Bela Tarok and Marton Vamos in the second quarter, and more from Balazs Erdelyi and Krisztian Peter Manhercz to tie the match in the third period. 

However, Javier Garcia Gadea replied with two quick-fire goals for Croatia, and Sukno added another.  Martin Vamos, who has appeared in this space frequently,  scored another two for an exciting finale to the world championships, but Sukno sealed it with his third goal of the game.  Croatia had, earlier in the tournament, already taken a shock win over archrivals Serbia, and now reigns as world champions.  Maybe their win earlier should not have been considered a shock.  All Hail Croatia! 

International Soccer fans look towards Foxboro, Massachusetts, today, for the final game of the International Champions Cup.  The ICC is a series of exhibition matches in three countries played in large stadiums. It began on July 18 and ends today, getting everyone back in Europe by the start of August as the competitive campaign looms.  Yesterday, and extra Iberian El Clasico took place in Miami, with Barcelona beating Real Madrid 3-2.  

Today fierce Italian rivals Roma and Juventus face each other in Boston.  The crowning match of the ICC will be held today, the final day of the Cup, at the Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts.  The Cup is a pre-season tournament that has been held every summer since 2013. For the past two years, the ICC has been split into three different regions; the United States, China and Australia. In the two years prior to that, it was held exclusively in the USA.  This year, Australia was replaced by Singapore. China and Singapore hosted seven games in total, while the USA has 12 games on the schedule.    Technically, the tournament is a "friendly" tournament, including this last game between Roma and Juventus, but when was a game between these two teams friendly?  Even Patriots fans may sit up and take notice. 

Aussie Rules Footy fans have any of three matches to follow today, none of which this space cares to comment. 

Pool Time

Aaron Thornton

Adam Peaty

Alan Valdez

 Alen Kostelac Mr. Croatia

 Alex Cairns

Bernardo Velasco

Jiri Borkovec

Bruno Endler

Aleksandr Dorokhov