Raissa's Blog - Best of Sports, Culture, and Entertainment

Luka Modric, the 32 year old Croatian midfielder has impressed football lovers a countless number of times, but his extraordinary performance at the World Cup further highlights what a special player he is. The five-foot-eight player is remarkably athletic in addition to his technical qualities, as he has covered a staggering 63km (39.1 miles) in this World Cup, and has played the most minutes - 604. Luka Modric is an excellent ball distributor who keeps the ball moving. Croatia's midfield general has been nominated (by FIFA) Man of the Match in three of Croatia's six World Cup games.  Former Brazil and Real Madrid star had the best to say about Luka Modric - Croatia's captain - ahead of the final to be played today between France and Croatia today. Kaka played alongside Modric for one season before leaving Real Madrid for AC Milan in 2013. Kaka told Omnisport,  "Luka [Modric] shows us that it's easy to play. Believe me it's really really hard to play ...

Ronaldo has just recently been transferred from Madrid to Juventus and the internet is breaking lose! The announcement was made on July 10, 2018 with Real Madrid confirming that they had agreed to sell Ronaldo. An announcement was later made by Juventus of the four-year contract signed by Ronaldo with the club. "He's called Cristiano Ronaldo and he's now officially a Bianconero," read the prime announcement on Juventus' website.  Ronaldo's departure from Real Madrid has reportedly been fueled by strained relations with the club's president (Florentino Perez). Many thought that Ronaldo would return to Manchester United if he were ever to leave Real, making his Juventus transfer a big surprise. In his nine years at Real, Ronaldo has had four UEFA Champions League wins, two La Liga trophies, three FIFA Club World Cups, two Copas del Rey, two UEFA Super Cups and two Spanish Super Cups. The cost of his transfer - with taxes and player wages ...

The super talented Brazilian striker Neymar disappointed a multitude of football fans with his embarrassing theatrics at the knockout round of 16 game against Mexico. Despite scoring a goal and assisting in another, which earned Brazil a ticket to the quarter-finals, the Brazilian striker has come under heavy criticism for clearly irrelevant play-acting. He was by turns brilliant and ridiculous during the game in Samara. Neymar rolled around uncontrollably, in a dumbfounding theatrical display following slight contact from Mexico's Miguel Layun - Layun trod on Neymar's ankle in the 73rd minute. Former Denmark keeper Peter Schmeichel is one of the many who have been appalled by Neymar's behavior on the pitch throughout this World Cup. He believes FIFA should sanction Neymar's play-acting accordingly. In his post-match analysis, Schmeichel congratulated Brazil for their qualification before proceeding with a criticism of Neymar's behavior. "First of all,...

photo credit - Getty Images The FIFA 2018 has offered us the biggest shocks in the football world but divorces weren't among - at least until the month of July. A Russian couple ended their 16 year old marriage over an argument on who the better footballer is between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. They fell in love when watching the 2002 World Cup - hosted by Korea/Japan - at a bar in 2002. The couple, only identified as Arsen and Lyudmila had a quarrel when the husband, Arsen celebrated Argentina's victory over the Super Eagles of Nigeria. Lionel Messi's La Albiceleste drew against Iceland in their first group stage game against Iceland, and lost to Iceland 0-3 in their second game. His wife Lyudmila kept insisting after the game that Ronaldo is better than Messi. Those words were unbearable to Arsen who decided to pack his things and leave. Leaving wasn't enough as Arsen reportedly filed for divorce the next morning in the courts of the city of ...

Andres Iniesta, the midfielder who gave La Roja the winning goal in the 2010 World Cup final, has announced his retirement from international football following Spain's exit against Russia. This announcement came in as a confirmation as he had said in May that he would likely retire after the World Cup, later saying that he couldn't rule out a return. Iniesta's final kick for Spain was a goal against Russia at the penalty shootout in the last 16 game on Sunday. Host nation Russia took the day as Spain lost 4-3 in a dramatic penalty shootout.  Fernando Hierro, manager of Spain's national team described Iniesta as " one of the greatest players in our history ".  " The way he played on the pitch when he substituted on was like he was playing in his first cap and I want to thank him whole-heartedly ," he asserted. Iniesta played all 3 games of the group stage with Spain full time but came in as a replacement at the 67th minute in the knockout ga...

Fans called Cristiano "classy" for helping injured Edinson Cavani off the pitch as Uruguay defeated his team. Cavani went down in what seems to have been a hamstring injury 17 minutes before the final whistle. Another wing of Twitter users claim that the referee had to ask Ronaldo to help Cavani as he limped off. Cynics suggest he helped Cavani in order to save precious time for his losing side.    Cristiano Ronaldo, 33, raged at referee Cesar Arturo Ramos after Ricardo Quaresma was denied a free-quick for a perceived Uruguay foul in the last minutes of the Sochi game. Quaresma and Ronaldo confronted the Mexican official, who was unmoved by their rants. Viewers believe Ronaldo said "F**k you" to the referee. The referee gave Ronaldo his second yellow card of the tournament for verbally abusing the referee.   Uruguay held on to their 2-1 edge over Portugal till the final whistle of the match was blown. Two goals scored by Edinson Cavani - before and af...