Manchester City worked tirelessly on Tuesday to break through Atlético Madrid’s defense to earn a 1-0 victory in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarterfinal. The game was advertised as an unstoppable force meets immovable object, and Atlético Madrid delivered in terms of dropping everyone into defense.
While everyone's been wasting their time arguing over the tactical masterplans of Pep Guardiola and Diego Simeone in the build-up to Manchester City and Atlético in the Champions League, a better philosophical discourse has been raging in the bottom half of the Premier League table, where Brighton manager Graham Potter is urging supporters to stop yelling "shoot" at his players while Burnley boss Sean Dyche is playing the devil's advocate by instructing his men to "kick it in the net."
I have a serious bone to pick with the Concacaf Nations League after Monday’s draw revealed the two nations in the USMNT’s group: El Salvador and Grenada.
The issue isn’t the league itself — I think it creates great opportunities for the lower teams in Concacaf — my problem is that in one of the final two international breaks before the World Cup the USMNT will be forced to play against El Salvador and Grenada.
When it comes to the most underrated players in the English-speaking world, you could certainly make a case for Brazil's Rivellino — a fantasy footballer with pioneering dribbling skills, an outrageous free kick arsenal and a left foot like a field howitzer. Rivellino was hugely admired by Pelé and inspired both Diego Maradona and Ronaldinho, but these names have largely superseded Rivellino's own in football lore.
The World Cup draw has been completed, and USMNT fans now know their team is going up against England, Iran and the winner of Ukraine/Scotland vs. Wales. The U.S. will need to be at its best to come out of this group, and this way too early USMNT World Cup roster can get the job done.
This mock USMNT World Cup roster is taking several things into account, including that every available American player is healthy and predicting how players will perform with their clubs over the next seven months.
The World Cup groups are ready to go and boy oh boy are there some tantalizing games awaiting the soccer world this winter. In case you missed the draw, here is how the eight groups look.
Wolrd Cup group stage official draw #WorldCup #WorldCupDraw
Who’s gonna win? ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/wt8v2pccTY
No, this isn’t some cruel April Fools’ Day joke. The USMNT World Cup group really is one perhaps the most interesting possible group the Americans could have drawn on Friday.
The U.S. will play England, Iran and the winner of the European playoff — Ukraine, Scotland or Wales — in the 2022 World Cup starting in November. It’s a fascinating group for many reasons, and one from which I think most USA fans will expect their team to advance.
Group B is set:
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"Absurd" was the word Italian defender Leonardo Bonucci used to describe the UEFA World Cup qualifying process after his team fell to North Macedonia in a single-leg playoff last week.
"You have to play a single game in which anything can happen as we have seen," the veteran center back said. "There are teams that qualified after losing four or five games; we are at home after losing only one in the 92nd minute. It is truly madness."
Hay un nuevo servicio de streaming en la ciudad. Su nombre es ViX y asegura traer "la mayor oferta de entretenimiento, noticias y deportes en español". Y con deportes, obviamente, hay mucho fútbol incluido. ¿Qué partidos y ligas de fútbol están en ViX? Aquí estamos para responder a la pregunta.
Four years ago, Taylor Twellman went down in U.S. sports media history with his epic rant screaming “WHAT ARE WE DOING?!” to anyone who would listen after the USMNT failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. On Wednesday night, the sports media reaction to the Americans returning to the World Cup was far more muted, almost apathetic in many cases. SportsCenter in particular buried the news deep in its flagship Scott Van Pelt broadcast.