Good news: Beavis & Butthead has finally caught on in England. We know this has happened because in a Championship match between Bolton Wanderers and Leeds United Leeds midfielder Connor Shaughnessy gave away a penalty when he demonstrated his Beavis & Butthead fandom by turning Bolton's Gary Madine into The Great Cornholio.
My hero, My mate, Big Gary Madine #bwfc pic.twitter.com/rFCR6lrUm7
I have some thoughts on goalkeepers taking penalties. Goalkeepers taking penalties is a net positive from an entertainment standpoint. Goalkeepers taking penalties is a net negative, from a soccer standpoint.
Sure, there have been goalkeepers who double as penalty specialists and they are professional footballers, so they can be expected to have enough skill to score from the spot when called upon. On the other hand, hello Thibaut Courtois in the Community Shield:
ABBA is no longer just the greatest export of Sweden.
Arsenal defeated Chelsea 4-1 in a shootout following a 1-1 draw in the Community Shield on Sunday at Wembley Stadium in London. The match itself was nothing special but the ABBA format for shootouts made its debut in England.
The Champions League and Europa League have used end-line assistants for a few years now. The Confederations Cup used VAR this summer, and Major League Soccer will start using video review on Saturday. The English Premier League has popularized goal-line technology and this year will have a panel to suspend those who dive or feign injury.
It’s taken a while, but soccer is finally getting its shit together when it comes to officiating the game.
Let’s set the stage here: On July 1, 2010, Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez is officially unveiled as a Manchester United player. After scoring against the MLS All-Stars, Chivas and the League of Ireland XI in consecutive preseason friendlies, England is abuzz with ChicaGol mania.
If Reiss Nelson played for Monaco, he’d probably be worth $60 million. But Nelson, 17, is on the Arsenal books and hasn’t seen much first-team playing time. Until this preseason.
Nelson impressed during preseason friendlies and sent Emirates Stadium into a frenzy on Thursday during an open training session. The winger scored an absolutely filthy goal that included a nasty nutmeg.
Easy 1-2 pic.twitter.com/72sfwHitf5
I don't know what will become of Portsmouth following its acquisition by former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, but I can't help but hope it turns out exactly like this:
Some players just have a gift. The ability to see a play develop before it happens. The audacity to attempt maneuvers others wouldn’t dare to try. The composure to pull off moves with the weight of the world watching.
Danny Welbeck, as this recent highlight video shows, is one of those supremely talented footballers who just stands above the rest.
Danny Welbeck's vision is in 3074 while we're all in 2017. Unreal assists. pic.twitter.com/RWGfXzO5Bn
No one knows more about parking the bus than Jose Mourinho. Though in England he’s often credited with coining the phrase as a derisory comment about Tottenham playing defensively in 2004, Mourinho is a manager who is not afraid to go all-out defense to get a result.
On Wednesday, someone parked Mourinho’s bus.