The Premier League returns this weekend with the marquee matchup of the opening round of fixtures being Arsenal vs Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium in London. Without waxing too lyrical, it’s an encounter between the most aesthetically pleasing side in the division and a club desperate to return to that echelon.
The FA Community Shield doesn’t count for much. Last season, Arsenal won it thanks to contributions from Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Olivier Giroud. Not one of those players was even at the club come February. We can, however, surmise from the 2018 edition that Manchester City is really good.
I think they earned the right to that plaudit last season.
How fast is Raheem Sterling? Sterling has one of the more inimitable running styles in the game. It’s definitely a unique stride, so much so that it’s been captured in the FIFA 18 video game and replicated by Eden Hazard during warmups. However, as Pep Guardiola realized at Manchester City, deployed on the right wing of the attack, it’s absolutely devastating.
America’s relationship with soccer has more steps backwards and forwards than a salsa dance. Christian Pulisic bursts on to the scene in 2016. Yay! The U.S. fails to qualify for the World Cup. Yikes. The collective knowledge of the sport increases with star-studded preseason tours and the MLS’s continued growth. Woo! Famous American actor commits one of the most cringe-worthy soccer crimes possible and films it. Oh no…
Every professional footballer on the planet wants to train under Pep Guardiola (apart from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Yaya Toure). His approach to playing the game has revolutionized football and brought unmitigated success to Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City. Now, thanks to Amazon Prime Original docuseries “All or Nothing: Manchester City”, we get a behind-the-scenes look at Guardiola and total access to City’s stable of world-class footballers.
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.
Manchester City, Real Madrid and Barcelona will be the top clubs at World Cup 2018, sending 16, 15 and 14 players, respectively. Even with Leroy Sane and Aymeric Laporte finding themselves among the most valuable World Cup snubs, Man City still managed to eclipse the two Spanish giants as the most-represented club in Russia.
Former Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has dropped some serious allegations against Pep Guardiola, who managed the Ivorian at both City and Barcelona, in a recent interview with France Football.