With the Super Bowl chalking up its lowest-scoring game in history, it’s only fitting that Sunday’s European football action was dominated by some equally adept defensive displays (apart from Manchester City’s dominant, 19-shot performance vs. Arsenal).
Pep Guardiola will not have enjoyed this.
Last season, the Manchester City boss escaped his first-ever trip to St James’ Park with the narrowest of 1-0 victories. “We did absolutely everything but it is difficult to play when the other team doesn’t want to play,” said Guardiola after that one.
Newcastle put 10 men behind the ball at all times, and City could’ve easily been up 4-0 inside 30 minutes, but a draw was almost snatched by Rafa Benitez’s men in the final five minutes. That particular footballing lesson stayed with Guardiola until today’s encounter.
We entered the FA Cup Fourth Round with three massive underdogs to cheer for — fourth division sides Newport County and Oldham Athletic and fifth division Barnet, the only non-league side remaining in the competition. Unfortunately, Oldham got dumped out by Doncaster, but Newport forced a replay against Middlesbrough.
With the latest reports saying there’s no hope that Cardiff City striker Emiliano Sala and pilot Dave Ibbotson will be found alive after their Piper Malibu light aircraft went missing Monday night over the Channel Islands, the footballing world is beginning to pay its respects to the 28-year-old Argentine.
The FA Cup is always full of surprises. Liverpool visited Wolves for a Third Round clash tonight, and we saw more of the same. Coming off a loss to Manchester City, Liverpool looked to bounce back and continue its hunt for trophies. Wolves needed a big result to get through to the next round. For Liverpool, it was an evening to forget. For Wolves, it was an evening to celebrate.
Although we still have a few replays to settle, the FA Cup Third Round is pretty much done and dusted, giving us time to look at the darlings of the competition with 32 clubs remaining.
The usual favorites are all there — Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Spurs — but we also have three clubs that standout at the opposite end of the spectrum. Barnet, playing in the fifth tier, is the lowest ranked remaining club and the only non-League side left.
Another day, another piece of evidence to file into the women’s soccer folder titled: “The World Is Catching Up With The USWNT.”
Germany’s inexplicably poor calendar year came to a close today with another bad result — Die Mannschaft drew with the Netherlands 2-2 in Gelsenkirchen after holding a two-goal lead through the 84th minute.
What’s more, although Germany already knew it’d be playing in UEFA Nations League B after suffering relegation this time around, the final match of the campaign represented an opportunity to deprive the Dutch of a spot in the Nations League Finals, however, Virgil van Dijk’s 91st-minute equalizer sends the Oranje to Portugal next summer.
Even before fifth-place AC Milan and first-place Juventus kicked off at the San Siro on Sunday night, we were treated to an already excellent weekend in Serie A action.
On Saturday, Napoli kept the pressure on Juve after defeating Genoa 2-1 at the Marassi. The match was pretty much played underwater, giving extra significance to the three points for the Neapolitan side. Here’s a little sampling of the play out there:
Real Betis became the first side to score four at the Camp Nou in league play since 2003, and the Seville-based club registered its first victory at the legendary stadium in two decades during Sunday’s rip-roaring 4-3 encounter in Catalonia.
Betis raced to a 2-0 first half lead, and every time Barcelona managed to pull a goal back in the second half, the Béticos found a response.