Belgium surprises everyone by naming Roberto Martinez manager

Out of nowhere, with nothing rumored in English-language press in the buildup, Belgium announced on Wednesday that Roberto Martinez will be their new manager. The former Everton manager had been considered one of the front-runners to take over at Hull City.

Asked if he thought his attacking style would fit the team, Martinez said yes, but also noted that they had to be balanced. “We will always work to be on the ball and be an attacking team,” said Martinez, “but you have to be able to defend. We want to play attractive football but we have to win.”

Defending was not Everton’s forte under Martinez, so fans are unlikely to be patient if Belgium is leaking goals early in World Cup qualifying.

Ahmed Musa’s stunning individual run and finish for Leicester against Barcelona. (r/soccer)

Manchester City has signed young Brazilian winger Gabriel Jesus. (Bitter and Blue)

USMNT star Alejandro Bedoya has joined the Philadelphia Union. (Brotherly Game)

Here’s a FIFPro representative who thinks Jose Mourinho should go to jail. (BBC)

Jeremy Menez got a chunk of his ear taken off. (Guardian)

Max Kruse has moved from Wolfsburg to Werder Bremen. (Bundesliga)

Falcao picked up an injury in Champions League qualifying on Wednesday. (ESPN FC)

Zinedine Zidane would like everyone to be patient about Cristiano Ronaldo’s injury. He’s not likely to play in the La Liga opener. (Marca)

Daniel Harris on what Man City is getting in Gabriel Jesus. (Guardian)

Elizabeth Lubowitz on the different kinds of English club nicknames. (Unusual Efforts)

Trevor Murray on AC London, an upstart club with big goals run by a 21-year-old. (These Football Times)

Please don’t take anything in this section too seriously, for your own sanity.

Manchester United is close to announcing Pogba. Really, this time. (Telegraph)

Sunderland and Everton are fighting it out over Christian Benteke. (Mirror)

West Ham wants Andre Ayew, so they’re going to sign his brother first. (Sun)

Colombian teenager Marlos Moreno is likely heading to Manchester City. (Guardian)

Real Madrid isn’t giving up on signing David Alaba. (AS)

Mario Balotelli could be given a shot to revive his career at Ajax. (Football Italia)

Chicharito refuses to rule out a move away from Bayer Leverkusen. (Bild)

The USWNT had no problem winning their Olympic opener.

Marta was great in Brazil’s win, and she’s sick of comparisons to male footballers.

Canada scored the fastest goal in women’s Olympic soccer history.

Men’s Olympic soccer: Eight games (from 12 p.m.) -- Brazil plays at 3, while the best game of the day is probably Mexico-Germany.