The main talking point from yesterday’s Premier League encounter between Liverpool and Brighton — outside of further confirmation that Trent Alexander-Arnold is one of the brightest young full backs in world football and Mohamed Salah’s finely taken goal — was undoubtedly Alisson’s flick over Anthony Knockaert at the edge of his own box in the 69th minute with the Reds nursing a slender one-goal advantage.
Beijing Guoan continues to set the pace in the Chinese Super League following Tuesday's 5-2 win over Dalian Yifang, and it’s pretty easy to understand why. The five-star performance was spearheaded by a brace from former Villarreal star Cedric Bakambu, a goal from Spanish international Jonathan Viera and another by the man capped 31 times by Brazil, Renato Augusto.
The 30-year-old Augusto — who scored Brazil’s lone goal in the 2-1 defeat to Belgium during the quarterfinals of this summer’s World Cup — is a class apart when it comes to midfielders in the CSL.
What’d you think about that, eh? Absolutely unreal from Internacional’s Nico Lopez. The lad’s got some chutzpah, and it’s awesome to see the now 24-year-old doing his thing in Brazil’s Serie A.
Lopez, nicknamed “El Diente” (“The Tooth”) because he’s got one helluva overbite, rose to international prominence after making his senior debut for Montevideo’s Nacional at the age of 17. Shortly after, he’d transfer to Italy and join Roma under the tutelage of “Soccer’s Jedi,” Zdenek Zeman.
For clarification, the Balotelli Challenge does not refer to a competition in which you try to piss your coaches and teammates off with questionable behavior on and off the pitch. Nor does it mean trying a fancy finish when you’re clear on goal or wielding goal celebrations that are nearly obnoxious enough to get you punched in the mouth. Ah, enough I suppose. Mario Balotelli has been through the ringer these past few years.
First things first, I’m not 100 percent certain we’ve agreed on a term for this particular skill. Is it a piece of back heel control? A rabona touch? An inverse rabona? A Nasty Neymar? From henceforth, it should be known as the Ballad of Ahmadzadeh Farshad.
After playing 56 games last season, Liverpool FC basically said to hell with it and just kept playing. The Reds began their 2018-19 fixture list back on July 7 as part of a nine-game preseason tour that includes a trip to Ireland and the United States. This is how Jurgen Klopp ensures that the gegenpressing is still pressing come the 90th minute of matches in May.
Throughout the entirety of the France vs Belgium semifinal, you could do nothing but watch and wonder when Eden Hazard and Kylian Mbappe got on the ball. How is it possible that these two are this good? The pair's simply unplayable when on form, and both have clearly been at their best in Russia.
In the first half, Hazard went off on a terrorizing run after doing in Benjamin Pavard. His flurry of feet to then ruin Pavard again and drift inside Paul Pogba was poetry in motion.
Portugal struggled to break down the stout defense of Team Melli for about 45 minutes. Then came the absurd Ricardo Quaresma goal vs Iran to flip the tie on its head.
In February, we crowned Quaresma the King of the Trivela. The Besiktas winger brought his beautiful technique with him to Russia and scored what may be the most sumptuous goal of the World Cup thus far.
What a weekend of goals we had! Lost in all the hullabaloo surrounding Gareth Bale’s remarkable bicycle kick and Loris Karius’ equally brilliant goofs, Major League Soccer threw up an insane solo effort from the Portland Timbers’ Samuel Armenteros.