May 8: Sir Alex Ferguson announces his retirement as manager of Manchester United and coaches his last match for the 2012-13 Premier League champions shortly thereafter. He appoints Everton's David Moyes to succeed his 27 year managerial run, an era that saw him coach 1500 matches and win the club's 20th Premiership title in his ultimate season as boss. Supporters across the globe, Red Devils and otherwise, congratulate, appreciate, and thank one of football's most-respected sons for his contributions and successes at the helm of English football. May 11: In a 2-1 thriller versus Aston Villa, Frank Lampard edges out Bobby Tambling's record with his 203rd goal in a Chelsea shirt, rendering him the club’s highest all-time goalscorer. After 12 years in a Blue shirt, the goal earns him the title of the Premier League's highest-scoring midfielder, as well. Chelsea fans present for the historic moment clamber onto the Villa park pitch and join in with Chelsea players to congratulate their beloved Super Frank. May 11: Less than one month after eliminating reigning FA Cup champions Chelsea FC in the semifinal round, Manchester City fall in the FA Cup final to Wigan Athletic before a Wembley crowd of over 86,000. 81st-minute substitution Ben Watson's 91st-minute header is enough to earn the club their maiden FA title and deny the Citizens in their tenth final in history. With their victory, Wigan become the first team ever to win the FA Cup and suffer relegation from top-flight play within the same season. May 15: After an early elimination from the UEFA Champions League, Chelsea FC end their intercontinental season sweetly by winning the Europa League final against Benefica, thanks to a last-minute header from Blues right-back, Branislav Ivanović. The Blues become the first British club to win all three of UEFA's club competitions, as well as the first club in history to ever hold both of Europe's major trophies simultaneously. For ten days (May 15-25), Spain and Chelsea attackers Juan Mata and Fernando Torres are the only players in history to hold the UEFA Champions League, World Cup, UEFA European Cup, and UEFA Europa League at the same time. May 16: Juan Mata is named Chelsea’s Player of the Year, becoming the only player in Blues history to claim the award in his first two consecutive seasons. Only Frank Lampard, Chelsea's all-time leading goalscorer, has won the award more than twice (3 times), and Mata sits at joint-second along with other Chelsea greats such as John Terry and Gianfranco Zola. The young Spaniard's role in the Blues squad is more than eminent, as he participated in 64 matches during the Blues' 2012-13 run, and finished the season with 19 goals in all competitions, second only to the tally of his compatriot Fernando Torres, who found the net 23 times. May 16/May 18: Footballing legend, David Beckham, announces that he will retire from football following the 2012-13 season with his club, Paris Saint-Germain. His announcement is received with a great amount of melancholy and congratulations from the entire sporting world, and comes only two days prior to the final match of his playing career, against Brest, the penultimate match of PSG's 2012-13 Ligue 1 season. The 38-year-old takes his bow from The Beautiful Game as a victor, as PSG claims the the 2012-13 Ligue 1 title. May 21: The MLS announces expansion from 19 to 20 teams, with the addition of New York City FC (NYCFC), in affiliation with Manchester City of the Barclay's Premier League. NYCFC, who will play their home games at MLB's Yankees Stadium beginning in 2015, is announced just four days prior to Manchester City's exhibition match-up against Chelsea at the esteemed stadium. May 23: Olympique Lyonnais suffer a shocking defeat to Wolfsburg in their fourth consecutive trip to the UEFA Women's Champions League final, uncharacteristically failing to score a goal across the ninety minutes of regulation play, and succumbing to a fatal conception in the 73rd minute by Wolfsburg's Martina Müller. The match is the first women's football competition to ever be held at Stamford Bridge, home to Chelsea FC, and draws in a crowd of over 19,000. May 23/25: Chelsea FC visit St. Louis and New York City for Part I of their 2013 Summer U.S. Tour, facing Manchester City in both matches, but falling just short to the BPL runner-ups in each match, losing 4-3 and 5-3, respectively. Highlights of the tour include César Azpilicueta recording his first [unofficial] goal in a Blue shirt in front of the St. Louis crowd, a brace from Ramires in New York, and a dazzling, signature Juan Mata freekick in front of nearly 40,000 at Yankees Stadium. May 25: Bayern Munich is victorious against their compatriot rivals, Borussia Dortmund, in the first-ever, all-German Champions League final. Held in England's Wembley Stadium, the final is won by midfielder Arjen Robben's 89th minute goal, sealing one of five major trophies for the Munich team in 2013. | June 20: Abby Wambach becomes the highest-scoring international footballer in the history of The Beautiful Game in unbelievable prestige, after clinching her 157, 158, 159, and 160th goals (all before halftime) against South Korea. She breaks the record of her former teammate, Mia Hamm (158), in front of a crowd of nearly 19,000 at New Jersey's Red Bull Arena, and becomes football's most prolific international scorer, out of male and female competitors, at only 33 years of age. June 2: The USMNT defeat 2nd-ranked Germany 4-3, claiming their third-ever victory over a top-2 ranked side, while the USWNT is victorious in Canada, defeating their northern rivals 3-0 with second-half goals from Sydney LeRoux and Alex Morgan to celebrate 100 years of U.S. Soccer in the peak of style. The victories come on the 100th Anniversary of U.S. Soccer; the matches mark the peak of the American federation's centennial celebrations, which last throughout the year, with several tour matches from both the women's and men's national teams along the way. June 30: Brazil dampers La Roja’s victorious era in world football in an exhilarating 3-0 victory that sees next years Copa do Mundo hosts clinch the Confederations Cup at home, inspiring an atmosphere and anticipation amongst supporters across the globe merely one year ahead of the 2014 Brazil World Cup. Despite the Canarinhos’ impressive victory, Spain’s Fernando Torres continues to silence the opinions of the media by winning his second consecutive golden boot award in a major international competition. |
July 17 (first match): José Mourinho returns to Chelsea FC on June 3 as First Team manager, six years after his departure in 2007, with the intent of establishing a new, Blue era. He leaves behind several achievements with his former side, Real Madrid, including the 2011 Copa Del Rey and La Liga, and the 2012 Spanish Super Cup, and finds himself reuniting with players such as Petr Čech, Ashley Cole, John Terry, Frank Lampard, and others from his initial managerial tenure, upon his return to London. July 28: A 69th minute wonder-goal from Brek Shea crowns the USMNT victorious over Panama in the final of a CONCACAF Gold Cup run that sees the return of Landon Donovan, the cup-typing of Norwegian-American standout midfielder Mix Diskerud, and the return- and subsequent loss- of midfielder Stuart Holden, to yet another, atrocious knee injury. The match takes place in front of over 57,000 spectators, and marks the first Gold Cup final since 2005 to not feature the Mexican national team, who were previously eliminated from the tournament. July 28: Germany battle for their eighth crowning as champions of Europe, denying an impressive Norwegian side for the UEFA Women's EURO title. The tournament draws in over 216,000 spectators to seven designated host cities across Sweden, and is determined the last tournament to be played with its diminished number of 12 teams, as UEFA looks to expand to 16 teams, the number of sides participating in the 2012 men's competition. (scroll over the images above for captions) | August 2: USMNT captain, Clint Dempsey, signs with the Seattle Sounders to complete his return to the MLS, much to the shock (and delight) of many American football fans. Dempsey's return to the American-Canadian league sees him join the likes of U.S. teammate Eddie Johnson at one of the most supporter-influenced clubs in the MLS, after spending several years in the Premier League, at Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur. August 9: A Miami crowd of 67,237 gather in SunLife Stadium to watch as Real Madrid defeat Chelsea 3-1 to claim the inaugural International Champions Cup, an American-hosted, semi-competitive summer tournament. The tournament featured seven of Europe's finest teams, including AC Milan, Inter Milan, Chelsea, Everton, Valencia, Real Madrid, and Juventus, as well as the Los Angeles Galaxy; the only competing American side. August 23: Real Madrid legend, Raúl, returns home to the Bernabéu for a testimonial match in his honor; he plays the second half of the match for his current Qatari side Al-Sadd, but only after spending the first 45 minutes back in his royal white number '7' shirt, alongside his Madridistas. His first-half goal erupts the Bernabéu into choruses of emotional sentiments, and helps his former side to a comfortable 5-0 victory. August 29: France and Bayern Munich midfielder, Franck Ribéry, wins the UEFA Player of the Year award and continues to leave his ever-growing mark on European football. His club, Bayern Munich, continue to go unbeaten in the Bundesliga, and he finds himself named to the FIFA Ballon d’Or shortlist months later, alongside four-time winner, Lionel Messi, and 2008 winner, Cristiano Ronaldo. August 30: Chelsea FC return to London from Prague's Eden Arena thinking of missed opportunities after falling to UEFA Champions League victors, Bayern Munich, in the UEFA Super Cup. The Blues looked to earn the victory over the German side, whom they'd won the Champions League over just one year precedent, but a single, missed, sudden-death penalty from Romelu Lukaku saw the dominant German side crowned European champions once more. August 31: The Portland Thorns are triumphant in the inaugural season of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). They defeat regular-season champions, Western New York Flash, 2-0 in the final, with goals from Tobin Heath and Christine Sinclair. The NWSL draws over 375,000 fans in the inaugural season, showing obvious signs of the growing market for women's football in the United States, and the league makes plans for expansion to nine teams for the 2014 season. |