Opinion

The use of Video Assistant Referee finally arrived in England this season, with the Premier League finally joining the rest of the world in embracing video replay. But why does VAR suck so much in the Premier League?

This past weekend saw a number of high-profile VAR decisions in the EPL, almost all of which seemed to be wrong. Why does the VAR in England seem to get things so wrong when the rest of the world has introduced replay with far fewer complaints?

When Pep Guardiola signed his contract with Manchester City, shockwaves were sent through English football. The tiki-taka that Pep employed at Barcelona and Bayern Munich was finally making its way across the channel and would completely change the way football was played in England. Rondos, playing out of the back and short passes became the norm at the youth levels and quickly made their way up the ladder to the Premier League.

One of the fastest rising profiles in the game today is OGC Nice and Algeria right back Youcef Atal. The 23-year-old arrived at the French club from Belgian side KV Kortrijk in the summer of 2018 for a modest fee of $3.42 million, but he’s reportedly being closely tracked by Chelsea, Tottenham and PSG.

If you’re curious what gameday might entail, we've got you covered. We put together four itineraries that start at different points in the city so fans from every neighborhood can get inspired. Or, try them all and experience everything the Windy City has to offer. No matter what, these gameday itineraries deliver a 100 percent Chicago-style soccer experience and end with your home team playing under the bright lights at Soldier Field.  

It's no secret that the Seattle Sounders have been one of the best MLS teams of the past decade: The Sounders have collected the most points out of any team since joining the league in 2009, and they've made the playoffs each season.

But over the course of the club's first seven seasons in MLS, Seattle was known for having great regular seasons (picking up four U.S. Open Cups and a 2014 Supporters' Shield) followed by an annual collapse in the postseason.

Decision Day (or as some of the players call it, Judgment Day) is one of the best days of the year for MLS fans. Similar to Championship Sunday, every game kicks off at the same time while teams try to grab a playoff spot or jostle for home-field advantage in the postseason.

While some teams were already eliminated before Sunday's concluding matches, there was only one game that didn't affect playoff births and positionings across the league.

Liverpool won its 17th straight Premier League match with a 2-1 victory over Leicester City on Saturday at Anfield. The Reds are eight points clear of Manchester City, which plays Sunday.

The Anfield faithful went wild as James Milner scored the match winner in the 95th minute, ensuring a perfect eight-from-eight start to the season. Jurgen Klopp’s postgame celebrations showed just how difficult the match was for the home side.

Coaching soccer can be quite fun.

I know this because I am a soccer coach. It’s especially rewarding when players, especially the younger ones, have that lightbulb moment where things start to click about what they’re supposed to be doing on the field and they do it well.

In today’s world of inundating social media feeds, labyrinthine methods of escapism and banging SoundCloud profiles, it’s not enough to throw a jersey on your club’s star player and expect to move units. You gotta get all the world’s most innovative brand specialists together and hit the people with something so profound that it’d seduce your dad quicker than Billie Eilish working the register at a Bass Pro Shop.