Underdogs

After a long time away from home, Mark Uth is thriving again in Cologne.

In the summer of 2018, Uth moved to Schalke from Hoffenheim, where a series of injuries saw him unable to maintain any sort of form. FC Köln manager Markus Gisdol, who worked with Uth for six months at Hoffenheim, decided to bring him to 15th-placed Köln on loan in January. Since his return to his boyhood club, no Schalke player has scored as many goals or provided as many assists as Uth (four apiece). 

The Zambia women’s national team has made history by qualifying for the 2020 Olympic Games after upsetting Cameroon in the final of the CAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament. 

After defeating Botswana in the quarterfinals and Kenya in the semis, Zambia entered the final a full 57 spots below Cameroon in the FIFA world rankings. What’s more, Cameroon’s program had the experience of qualifying for London 2012 followed by back-to-back Round of 16 appearances at the 2015 and 2019 Women’s World Cups. Zambia, on the other hand, had never qualified for the Olympics or a World Cup.

Over the past six months, Atalanta fans have been living the American soccer dream. The Bergamo-based club, despite tracing its existence back 112 years, has experienced a litany of firsts, bounced around different grounds and put its supporters through a sustained period of isolated loneliness. In the United States, we call this the New York City FC experience. 

Despite Real Madrid’s 2-0 victory over Barcelona in El Clásico last weekend, everyone knew there’d be more twists to come in LaLiga, but nobody expected Real to hand control back to Barça just days later. 

Juventus president Andrea Agnelli has questioned whether their smaller rivals Atalanta should have a right to play in the Champions League, saying they lack international history. His comments drew a blunt response from the mayor of Atalanta's home town Bergamo who said the team had earned their place with "sweat and imagination." 

Raúl Jiménez scored his 13th Premier League goal of the season on Sunday (equalling his total from last campaign with 10 games remaining), and it was an all-important match-winner as Wolves defeated Tottenham in North London. With the victory, Wolves moved above Spurs and into sixth-place. The club’s now level on points with fifth-place Manchester United and only three behind Chelsea in fourth.

It had been 422 days since last Liverpool had lost a Premier League match. The Reds were thought to be infallible. Saturday’s Liverpool-Watford match proved otherwise.

Not only did Watford defeat Liverpool, it beat the hell out of the Reds at Vicarage Road. A spectator with no prior knowledge of the teams would have thought it was Watford on an 18-game winning streak and Liverpool winless in its last five.

The Hornets opened up the flood gates in the second half on the league leaders, courtesy of abysmal Liverpool defending on a throw-in.