We’re 68 minutes into last night’s MLS meeting between the New York Red Bulls and Real Salt Lake at Red Bull Arena with the home side leading 3-0. It’s a fairly innocuous time in the grand scheme of things, but MSG Network broadcaster Shep Messing — who covered the ’86, ’02 and ’06 World Cups for ESPN — is about to drop an absolute bombshell on viewers with regards to the USMNT at the 2014 World Cup.
Paul Pogba is a polarizing figure at Old Trafford.
When Manchester United bought him from Juventus in 2016, he was largely anticipated to be the spearhead of Manchester United’s title charge. But that hasn’t been the case, especially this past season.
Even though Pogba has scored 13 goals and assisted nine in the Premier League, he is the team's most-maligned player. The way he carries himself, his style of play and his character in the dressing room have all been brought into question. Despite his stats this season, Paul Pogba has been poor.
This is Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s dark period. Like Francisco Goya before him, he’s probably living in near-solitude outside Lose Angeles in a farmhouse, painting haunting themes concerning his bleak outlook on VAR and retrospective fines from Major League Soccer.
It’s been 227 minutes since his last goal in MLS, a stretch that’s included three straight defeats for the LA Galaxy. When considering his exploits so far this season — nine goals and two assists in 10 games — this current run of form is apocalyptic.
Last night, D.C. United defeated the Columbus Crew 3-1 at Audi Field thanks to goals from Luciano Acosta, Wayne Rooney and Paul Arriola, but the complexion of the match would’ve been wildly different had the Crew’s 22nd-minute opener been allowed to stand.
With the score level at 0-0, referee Ted Unkel got mixed up in the play with United in possession. A pass intended for Acosta never reached its mark because of the ref’s interference, and Wil Trapp immediately released Pedro Santos going the other way. Santos hammered home his finish, 1-0 to the Crew.
PSG has endured quite the torpid spell in its last matches of the season. From bowing out of the Champions League to Manchester United, to losing the Coupe De France to Rennes on penalties, there hasn’t been much joy for Les Parisiens, spare eventually securing the Ligue 1 title.
The misery was compounded Tuesday as PSG traveled to Montpellier.
Borussia Dortmund and Schalke are heated rivals, but nothing excuses what happened to Jadon Sancho during the Revierderby on Saturday at Signal Iduna Park.
The home side went in the lead in the 14th minute when Sancho’s delicious lob into the box was headed home by Mario Götze.
After the goal, the Dortmund players celebrated together in the right corner. Soon after, Sancho was requiring medical attention, holding his right eye.
Things went from bad to worse last night for the New York Red Bulls when the club allowed victory to escape its grasp by virtue of an 88th-minute Sporting Kansas City equalizer at Children’s Mercy Park, leaving the Red Bulls — last season’s Supporters’ Shield winners — with only one win from its opening six games.
To compound matters, Alejandro Romero Gamarra, better known as Kaku, was given a straight red in the fourth minute of second half stoppage time for smashing the ball into the face of an SKC supporter from point-blank range.
Football is the world’s game. But the world, unlike football, doesn’t have straightforward rules. For this reason, there are countless soccer clubs around the world competing in leagues that geographically or politically don’t make much sense at first glance.
These are the weirdest football clubs in terms of the leagues in which they play.
Mentally, Diego Costa isn’t entirely there. Look at the 26 yellow cards he received over his three-year Premier League stay for ample evidence of the striker’s propensity to be a mad lad.