Reports of Neymar bringing death and destruction to Brazil by way of a 500-person super spreader event lasting for five consecutive days inside a soundproofed dungeon have been greatly exaggerated.
The rivalry between Mexico and the United States is one of the best in the world and the greatest in Concacaf. A match between these two national teams always draws in a crowd and is guaranteed to be a vehement encounter.
Over the decades since the first edition was released, EA Sports has crafted the FIFA series into the most realistic soccer video game available. The accuracy with which players are recreated in game highlights the age-old EA Sports motto: “If it’s in the game; it’s in the game.”
Spotify Wrapped dropped this month, showing listeners what songs and artists they looked up and listened to the most (my number one artist was Don Toliver if you’re curious). If Google had a similar wrapped project, I guarantee you that “crazy soccer flares” would’ve been in my top 100 searches for all of the past five years.
There’s something about a wall of fire that is exceptionally intimidating to look at. Any time — prior to 2020 that is — I see fans of South American or European clubs ignite their flares and sing rapturous chants I get envious.
Multiple Premier League clubs welcomed back fans into the stands over the weekend, a move that helped some home teams earn impressive results.
For the neutral, there could be no victor in Wednesday’s win or go home meeting between Ajax and Atalanta at Johan Cruijff ArenA (although a draw would suffice for the Italian side).
Ajax’s run to the semifinals of the 2018-19 tournament is already the stuff of legend, while Atalanta’s own trip to the quarters last season was just as improbable, and likewise ended in heartbreaking added-time defeat.
It was a feckless decision from CBS to refuse to show any Champions League group-stage matches on TV. Forcing anyone who wants to watch a match from start to finish to pay for CBS All Access is far shadier than Turner Sports’ cash-grab B/R Live service that bombed harder than Quibi.
It’s nearly a weekly ritual this season. There’s a big slate of Premier League matches on the weekend and NBC decision makers pick which matches go on TV and which matches are thrown into the abyss of streaming services. NBC then posts these spineless choices onto social media and I gawk at the hate-filled comments and replies.
This week, it’s the North London Derby and a Liverpool match that get the shaft, and as usual the fireworks followed.
Liverpool’s midfield was ragged. We’d been high pressing all game and as the second half wore on, it became harder and harder to convince the Reds to jockey an attacker, let alone make a 10-yard sprint. And I do mean physically harder. Soon, PSG’s fresh subs were streaming past their markers and a two-goal lead evaporated in a 2-2 draw. I learned firsthand how PlayStation 5’s new DualSense controller is changing the game in FIFA 21.