One player dominated the headlines after Manchester United's match against Newcastle on Saturday: Cristiano Ronaldo. His two goals, thanks to two mistakes from Newcastle keeper Freddie Woodman, ensured a story book ending for his Old Trafford return.
The allure of the Premier League is in its blood and thunder approach. The incredible noise from the stands is replicated with a frantic energy on the pitch, where some of the players with the most red cards in Premier League history are also some of the most celebrated for their brave defending, box-to-box midfield play or aggressive attacking.
Manchester United is filthy. Filthy filthy filthy. The Red Devils defeated Newcastle 4-1 on Saturday in a wildly entertaining match that featured the homecoming of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Old Trafford gave the warmest of welcomes to Ronaldo who started his first game for Manchester United in over a decade.
"NUMBER SEVEN, CRISTIANO RONALDO!"
The noise inside Old Trafford as Ronaldo's name is announced in Manchester United's starting XI pic.twitter.com/fivRej0qs5
FIFA 22 announced the full list of squads available in the latest edition of the world’s preeminent soccer video game. Sadly, EA Sports has once again failed to put any real effort into the women’s portion of the game, which remains a sad little diversion instead of a meaningful game mode.
No sport punishes players for in-game infringements more harshly than soccer. Imagine if American football, basketball or baseball forced a team to play a man down because one player made an ill-advised foul or lost his cool at the wrong time. It all makes the most bizarre red card I’ve ever seen all the more painful, especially since it was kind of my fault.
In August, we put out a guide for how to watch USMNT World Cup qualifiers in the United States. Based on Twitter replies to the @USMNT account, it seems we need to revisit, specifically how to watch USMNT Honduras on Wednesday, Sept. 8. Even USMNT players can’t figure out how to watch the game.
While the USMNT is dealing with the travails of Concacaf World Cup qualifying, MLS play continues on, because international breaks are for the weak, or something. But MLS is still seeing its share of Concacafy nonsense, if this Henry Kessler time wasting is anything to go by.
I love all things “Ted Lasso.” I don’t go to church, but if I did, I’d go to the church of Ted Lasso. Hell, it’s better for you than most organized religions. I watch each episode as they’re released at midnight ET to stay fully abreast of the series and avoid spoilers. So I was shocked this week to see a conspiracy theory sweeping across the internet, with people legitimately wondering: Is Roy Kent CGI?
My Spanish is a little rusty, but here is a snippet from a conversation overheard between a few El Salvadorian fans shortly before the country's World Cup Qualifier against the USMNT on Thursday:
Guy No. 1: "OK, here's the plan: step one — get a ladder. Step two — carry the ladder into the stadium."
*Pause*
Guy No. 2: "What's step three?"
Guy No. 1: "What do you mean step three? That's the whole plan, we take the ladder and bring it into the game. That's it."