By: Pwe Doh Gay

One of the most popular sports in the world is soccer. This sport is enjoyed by millions of people worldwide, both as players and spectators. However, where did soccer originate? When did it begin? How does the World Cup stages work? Who is the best soccer player?

Soccer, also known as football in other parts of the world, originated in ancient Rome and China. Soccer balls were first created from animal hide and other materials in the area where they originated. Cuju in ancient China and harpastum in Rome are early ball sports with similarities to modern soccer. In 1863, the Football Association, FA, established the official soccer rules, known as the no hands.

Professional soccer, however, began in England in the nineteenth century and has since spread throughout the world. The first international soccer match took place in 1872 between England and Scotland. Then, in 1904, FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) appeared and began to take over, and in 1930, FIFA hosted a party, the World Cup, which has since become an important aspect of soccer and occurs every four years.

The World Cup begins with the group stage, which consists of 32 teams divided into eight groups of four teams each. The top two teams from each group advance to the knockout stage; followed by the round of 16, which consists of 16 teams divided into two groups of eight; the quarter-final, which consists of eight teams; the semi-final, which consists of four teams; and finally the finals, which consist of two teams.

As the sport progressed, further rules were established, such as the penalty kick in 1891 and the yellow and red cards in the 1970 World Cup final.

Pele and Zinedine Zidane are soccer icons because they performed moves that no one else had done and set records. There are numerous discussions over who is the best soccer player in the world. But players like Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, Roberto Baggio, Pele, and Diego Maradona make it on almost every list.

For more information, please visit:

• https://www.bundesliga.com/en/faq/all-you-need-to-know-about-soccer/the-history-of-soccer-10560
• https://www.rookieroad.com/soccer/history
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Cup?scrlybrkr=2d30de68#:~:text=The%20final%20tournament%20format%20since,groups%20of%20four%20teams%20each.

By: Jafar Abdi

The UCL (UEFA Champions League) is the biggest club tournament in the soccer world. Held every year, it starts in a group stage with 32 (8 groups of 4) different teams until every team has played 6 games. The games follow a point system, all teams in the same group would play each other twice. A win is 3 points, a draw is 1 point, and a loss is 0 points. The top 2 teams go on to play in a 2 legged draw for the knockout round. The 3rd team would go straight to the same knockout style of play, but in the UEL (UEFA Europa League), and the last team would be eliminated.

In the past few years, the Spanish and the English teams have been dominating the competition. Ever since 2000, the 2 countries have combined for 28 finalists. The team with the most titles has been the Spanish giant, Real Madrid, ever since the competition has been around. In fact, most records for the UCL have something to do with the club. The top scorer and assistant leader is Cristiano Ronaldo, a former Real Madrid player. He also has the most appearances, wins, and goals in 1 season by any player. He truly is the tournament’s most valuable player and for good reason.

This year’s iteration has already been through the group stages. There are a lot of heavy hitting teams in the knockouts including last year’s winner and this year’s favorite: Manchester City. Real Madrid are also going through, but they aren’t nearly as good as they were at their peak. This team, as well as several others, are going through many injuries to their best players, but it is no excuse as health is part of the game.

Overall, this is the most prominent and exciting time of year and I truly love this game. Personally, I do think that Manchester City will take it home again but I am a Real Madrid fan myself. HALA MADRID!!

By: Brennan McMahon

On Friday, October 6, both of the varsity soccer teams got the opportunity to play at the Allianz Stadium in St. Paul. This was a very cool opportunity for both teams because they got to play where the Minnesota Loons our professional soccer team plays.

The game is something that the Loons set up every year. Each year two of the seven SPPS schools get to play in the game which is named “The St. Paul Cup”. The team that we got paired up to play against is our biggest rival: Central High School. This caused it to be a very fun and exciting game.

None of this would be possible if the Minnesota Loons had not been willing to let teens get opportunities like this. The Minnesota Loons also donated $2,500 to each of the teams for them to buy things like new soccer balls and nets that we desperately need.

The girls game was very close and both Highland and Central did very well and the first half ended in a tie. The second half was also very exciting with both teams having many scoring opportunities, but both goalies played very well and didn’t let any goals in.

The game ended with a score of 0-0. The game then went to a penalty shootout which was very close, but Highland managed to win 3-2 with goals from Ellery, Greta, and Ava.

The boys game was very close and in the 38 minute, number 12 scored a free kick for Central, putting them in the lead 0-1. That was the only goal in the first half. Jonah Wriggly, one of the Highland goalkeepers, played a super good half.

In the 55 minute, Ayub scored for Highland on a penalty kick. Sadly, Central scored with 10 minutes left in the second half and won the game. Isaac Rappe, the other Highland goalkeeper, played really well also.

By: Brennan McMahon

On the first day of school the Highland soccer teams played the Central soccer games.

The B team had a rough game with no ref so the Central coach was reffing the game. This resulted in there being a lot of bad calls that went in the Central teams favor. The end result of the game was 1-4 in Central’s favor with Edward Fuentes scoring for Highland.

The JV game went a lot better than the B game. The JV game had a ref, and they managed to score 3 goals. Sadly, they were not able to tie the game before time ran out. The team tried their very best and got very close to tying up the game. The game ended with a score of 3-4.

The varsity game was very close and with 15 minutes left the score was still 0-0. The last 15 minutes got very chippy from both teams with multiple fouls for both teams.

The Central team got a rebound goal and were winning 0-1. The Central team started to slow the game down and run down the clock, but the Highland team was so close to getting the tying goal. There were many scoring opportunities and not much time left.

Central got the ball and one of their strikers shot the ball from midfield and it barely slipped past Highland’s goalkeeper. The final score of the game was 0-2 but the Varsity team tried their best and it was a very close game.

The Varsity and JV teams have home games tonight, and B team has a game on Saturday.

Please come watch and cheer on the teams!