Darby Sagala

In Focus | The Regrettable Tale of Uruguay's Supposed Next Great No9. 24 September 2017: A young Uruguayan striker by the name of Maxi Gómez (21) takes La Liga by storm. Celta de Vigo's summer acquisition has scored 5 goals in the first 5 games of the season. Has the next great Uruguayan goalscorer arrived in Spanish football? 24 September 2024: At 28-years-of-age, a once highly-touted prospect is a free agent nearly two months into the season. Maxi Gómez, a No9 with 32 caps for Uruguay, has failed to deliver on his potential in recent years. After an impressive 2-year spell at Celta, which significantly raised his profile in Europe, a move to Valencia was the logical next step in his career. But as the reigning Copa del Rey champions fell off a cliff, so did Gómez. And he kept falling. After scoring an underwhelming 22 goals in three seasons for Valencia, Gómez moved to Turkey to join Trabzonspor. Could a change of scenery relaunch his career? Unfortunately not. After just one season, in which he scored only 7 goals, Gómez returned to Spain. He joined Cádiz on loan. With the Andalusian side fighting against relegation from La Liga, they needed proven La Liga quality players. Gómez theoretically fit the bill, but had become an unknown quantity in front of goals since his Celta days. Could he recover the qualities and form that once made him one of the most feared No9s in Spain? 0 goals in over 1.100 minutes of football answered that question. Now, 7 years on from those very hopeful early days of his European career, dark clouds have gathered around the footballing destiny of Maxi Gómez. As a fan of his, tuning in to watch Celta and Valencia games just to follow him, it pains me to see how his career has unfolded. Will he deliver on those huge expectations created by his early success? It's nearly impossible. I do really hope, however, that he can find a club soon and start enjoying football again. Perhaps at a lower level (Spanish Segunda/Championship). He is still on the 'right' side of 30. Not all hope is lost. You can find happiness on the pitch again, Maxi.

OHL/USHL news - Sometime before the season began both the Youngstown Phantoms and Muskegon Lumberjacks formally approached the OHL about joining the league. No word about where it stands now or how it would/could happen but there were conversations.

You’d think Dan Campbell is an NFC East HC with how much he hates the cowboys and I love him for that

THE SP+ COLLEGE FOOTBALL TOP 764, WEEK 7: * Weekly Kent State-North Central check: Kent -2.5 * Weekly Ohio St-Oberlin check: Buckeyes -145.5 * Harding -2 NMSU * Indiana -52 Indiana (PA) * Va Tech -124.5 Southern Va * Crown College: still last! But the race isn't over yet!

The Tigers have swept a postseason series for the fourth time in franchise history. The previous three sweeps all occurred in the ALCS (1984, 2006, 2012).