The long, grueling road of Asian qualifying for the 2022 World Cup began back in June with the first round and continued today with the start of the second round of proceedings. A massive fixture went down this morning in Central Jakarta, pitting fierce rivals Indonesia against neighbors Malaysia.
Arsenal’s business in front, party in the back squad met Tottenham’s unsettled ensemble on Sunday, and a 2-2 finish to the North London derby only cemented those thoughts of self-hatred rather than illuminating a way forward for either club.
While Liverpool and Manchester City again look a cut above the rest in England, there’s every indication that a club outside the “Big Six” may yet disrupt the hegemony and finish in the Champions League places. This morning saw a clash between two such sides — Everton and Wolves — at Goodison Park.
Borussia Dortmund suffered a shock defeat to Bundesliga newcomers Union Berlin on Saturday. Dortmund lined up with Julian Brandt, Marco Reus, Jadon Sancho and Paco Alcacer leading the attack; on paper, this match should be won by Dortmund every time.
But a win for Dortmund was not in the cards. Union struck first via Marius Bulter’s low strike. Alcacer equalized for Dortmund three minutes later to breathe some life back into the match.
After coming within a whisker of reaching the 2019 Champions League final, Ajax needed some brilliance on Wednesday just to reach the 2019-20 Champions League group stage.
That brilliance was supplied by 18-year-old American defender Sergiño Dest, who earlier in the day was called up for the senior USMNT for the first time.
Last night in Atlanta, Minnesota United became a truly Minnesotan franchise. It’s got to mean more than an expansion love-in and a celebration of soccer stadia specificity — it’s got to hurt, and Tuesday had that Sisyphean quality that encapsulates everything Minnesota teams try their hand at.
Barring a meeting in the 2019 MLS Playoffs — please let that happen — LAFC’s wait for a victory over El Tráfico rivals LA Galaxy will go into a third season. On Sunday night at Banc of California Stadium, the two clubs played to a frantic 3-3 draw after an early Zlatan Ibrahimović brace was answered by two from LAFC’s Latif Blessing. Cristian Pavón and Carlos Vela would also exchange goals.
With Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez and Ousmane Dembélé all sidelined through injury, new signing Antoine Griezmann took center stage in Barcelona’s 5-2 victory over Real Betis at the Camp Nou on Sunday night.
After losing their season opener last Friday against Athletic Bilbao, Barça’s nightmarish start continued when Nabil Fekir opened the scoring for Betis in the 15th minute.
After a fifth-place finish last season led to the resignations of head coach Gennaro Gattuso and sporting director Leonardo, AC Milan’s opening fixture of the 2019-20 Serie A campaign outlined just how difficult the task of improving on that record will be for replacements Marco Giampaolo and Paolo Maldini.
Udinese, 12th-place finishers last year, recorded a shock 1-0 victory over Milan at the Stadio Friuli on Sunday, condemning the Rossoneri to an opening day defeat for the fifth time in the past eight seasons.
Liverpool defeated Arsenal 3-1 in an early first-vs.-second Premier League battle on Saturday at Anfield. The final result wasn’t really a surprise for anyone who has paid attention to the Premier League the last few years, even if the Gunners had looked improved in their first two matches of the season.
But Arsenal did manage to end one of the most impressive stats in the Premier League.