Emerson Hyndman left Texas at the age of 15 to join the Fulham youth academy in 2011, but the 22-year-old has yet to really break through with a first team in Britain, having also appeared for Rangers and his current club Bournemouth. But this Hyndman goal vs Levante in a preseason friendly makes a great case for the American to be included in the upcoming Premier League season.
After playing 56 games last season, Liverpool FC basically said to hell with it and just kept playing. The Reds began their 2018-19 fixture list back on July 7 as part of a nine-game preseason tour that includes a trip to Ireland and the United States. This is how Jurgen Klopp ensures that the gegenpressing is still pressing come the 90th minute of matches in May.
Marco Silva’s first match in charge of Everton proved to be quite difficult for the scoreboard operator. The Toffees destroyed Austrian minnow ATV Irdning 22-0 to open the 2018 Everton preseason campaign on Saturday in Austria.
You read that right: 22-0.
Who needs Wayne Rooney?
Unai Emery made his debut on the Arsenal bench as the Gunners routed Boreham Wood 8-0 on Saturday at Meadow Park in London. The match kicked off at the same time as the England-Belgium World Cup third-place match, but the Emery Arsenal debut provided far more action than the Three Lions in Russia.
The World Cup has less than two weeks left, and I’m just about ready to curl up in a ball and cry in the corner for the next four years until Qatar 2022 rolls around. But alas, noone can stay away from the sport for that long. After the World Cup ends (sad, I know), the attention then becomes on the club scene again, particularly the International Champions Cup schedule.
European teams travel all over the globe for some preseason training camps and friendlies. The biggest set of friendlies, however, often happens in the United States.
France kicked off its World Cup campaign with a very unconvincing 2-1 win over Australia. Les Bleus manager Didier Deschamps decided that his entire 23-man squad needed to remain match fit, so he organised a friendly for the players who got a few minutes in the match against the Socceroos as well as players who did not get to play at all. The results were nearly disastrous.
Tobin Heath missed the start of the 2018 NWSL season with an ankle injury and hadn’t played for her country since September. She returned in style, scoring the winner for the USWNT vs China as the U.S. won 2-1 on Tuesday in Cleveland.
The U.S. women have now gone 16 matches without a loss, last tasting defeat on July 27, 2017. China gave the USWNT a run for its money, especially in the second half, and scored an equalizer in the 72nd minute. But Heath scored three minutes later and order was restored.
Heath’s goal itself was a bit goofy.
Back in January of 2016, Tottenham attacker Dele Alli announced his talent to the world by scoring what BBC Match of the Day would later vote Goal of the Season against Crystal Palace. Alli controlled a Christian Eriksen knock-down with his thigh, flicked an audacious sombrero over the head of an onrushing defender, swiveled and struck a 22-yard volley inside the post.
Brazil defeated Austria 3-0 in Vienna on Sunday in the nation’s final warm-up match before opening World Cup group play against Switzerland on June 17. The match was memorable for two reasons: (1) Thank Freddy Adu we’ll have VAR in Russia — Brazil’s opening goal was the sort of break you’d expect the Seleção to get at a World Cup (Gabriel Jesus was four yards offside), but not anymore — and (2) Neymar killed a man.
After calling time on his professional career back in December at the age of 37, Czech midfielder Tomas Rosicky celebrated his 20-year professional career — which included stints with Sparta Prague, Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal — by playing a testimonial match on Saturday featuring a Czech XI and World XI. The likes of Robin van Persie, Cesc Fabregas, Jens Lehmann and Mathieu Flamini were on show, but it was Rosicky’s young son, Tomas Jr, who stole the show.