Passing

After his injury hell, Daryl Dike scores and creates in West Brom's comeback win

Men's club football is slowly returning with the World Cup ending Sunday, and the first signs of life are in the EFL Championship.

One man who's clearly benefited from the break is 22-year-old American Daryl Dike. The start of his 2022-23 campaign with West Brom was a 12-minute substitute appearance on opening day, and then he missed the next 19 matches with a thigh injury.

Messi provides one of the greatest assists of his career in World Cup quarterfinals

When the Netherlands ceded possession to the United States in the World Cup Round of 16, it was a departure from football history but a masterstroke from the Dutch: they knew the U.S. wouldn't have the quality to find that final pass in the attacking third and that they'd slice the Americans apart going the other direction.

A similar approach could be seen by the Netherlands at the start of its quarterfinal match against Argentina. Playing in a 3-4-1-2, the Dutch packed the middle of the park and said there's no way you're finding joy centrally.

13-year age gap no problem for France's deadly striking duo

DOHA - Thirteen years separate France strikers Kylian Mbappé and Olivier Giroud but their devastating double act in the 3-1 last-16 defeat of Poland at the World Cup on Sunday showed the age gap is no barrier to a flourishing relationship.

Giroud, at 36, brings experience and guile to France's attack, while Mbappé, 23, is blessed with pace so explosive that the screens at the Al Thumama Stadium showed him hitting a top of speed of 22 mph as he tormented Poland's defense.

Watch: Serbia briefly turn into prime 2010 Spain and score beautiful tiki-taka goal

Serbia and Cameroon arguably played the best game of the 2022 World Cup on Monday with a six-goal thriller that ended 3-3. The game also saw a Serbia tiki-taka goal that honestly looked like it could have been scored by that legendary 2010 Spain squad.

The Eagles of Serbia were soaring after scoring two goals in first-half stoppage time to take a 2-1 lead. Playing with supreme confidence, Serbia scored one of the prettiest team goals of the tournament in the 53rd minute.

Look at this string of passes from the Serbs.

Spain scores 7, takes 82% possession and completes 1,043 passes to end Costa Rica

Tiki-taka (the lethal variety) is back. Spain was greatly helped by Costa Rica's decision to grant mobile brain-in-a-jar Sergio Busquets freedom of the park Wednesday, but to downplay La Furia Roja's 7-0 World Cup victory over Los Ticos is like throwing mashed potatoes at a Van Gogh.

This was always the danger for Old Man Costa Rica: 35-year-old Keylor Navas, 34-year-old Celso Borges and 33-year-old Óscar Duarte getting torn apart by 22-year-old Ferran Torres and Barcelona teenage prodigies Pedri and Gavi. 

Beware Spain! Costa Rica beat Nigeria with fantastic display of TICO-taka

Barcelona and Spain's national team popularized tiki-taka in soccer. But their hypnotic passing style — when a squad tries to control the ball and dominate its opponent — is not alone . In Costa Rica there exists the tico-taka, which was on full display during a 2-0 win over Nigeria on Wednesday night. 

It's true we're used to seeing Costa Rica with a more rough and raw style of play, but from time to time they show they can produce beautiful and poetic moments of fútbol. And that's when this tico-taka appears. 

Pulisic returns to Chelsea XI and plays big role in reaching UCL round of 16

Chelsea travelled to Red Bull Arena and beat Salzburg 2-1 Tuesday night to clinch passage to the Champions League Round of 16 for the fourth straight year.

Christian Pulisic, making his first start since scoring against Wolves on Oct. 8, played a role in both goals, although they were spectacularly finished by Mateo Kovačić and Kai Havertz.   

Rafael Leão Has Turned A Simple Stepover Into The Game's Most Devastating Move

Another match, another $10 million added to Rafael Leão's constantly rising market value.

On Wednesday in AC Milan's Champions League group stage encounter with Dinamo Zagreb at the San Siro, Leão was again the Rossoneri's catalyst in a 3-1 victory. The 23-year-old drew the foul that led to Olivier Giroud's opener from the spot, and then he burst past his marker and clipped a cross into the area that was met by Alexis Saelemaekers for Milan's second.

Australian Semi-Pro Team Goes Full Arsenal To Make History And Reach Cup Final

Sydney United 58 FC — a semi-professional club that plays in the third divison — made history Saturday by reaching the Australia Cup final with a dramatic 3-2 extra time victory over the A-League's Brisbane Roar.

In a back and forth affair, Riku Danzaki opened the scoring for Brisbane, but Sydney's Matthew Bilic leveled before halftime. 33-year-old Englishman Charlie Austin restored normality with a 63rd-minute penalty, but Patrick Antelmi kept the "cupset" alive with one in the 71st to knot the match at 2-2.

Watch: Unreal Linkup Between Messi, Neymar Gives PSG 1-0 Win

PARIS — Paris St Germain forward Neymar scored his eighth Ligue 1 goal of the campaign as the champions overcame Brest 1-0 at Parc des Princes on Saturday to extend their unbeaten start and reclaim top spot in the standings.

The result, secured after Gianluigi Donnarumma saved a late Islam Slimani penalty, means Christophe Galtier's side have 19 points from seven matches, two more than second-placed RC Lens who led the table after a 1-0 win over Troyes on Friday.

Olympique de Marseille can go level on points with PSG if they beat visitors Lille later on Saturday.

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