As Arsenal and Manchester United’s recent dominance of the FA Community Shield shows (the two clubs had combined to win the event on five of the past six occasions prior to today’s match), England’s annual curtain-raiser is a sign of very little to come in the season ahead.
After selling 19-year-old field general Matthijs de Ligt to Juventus for nearly $85 million, Ajax immediately found a promising replacement in 21-year-old Mexican defender Edson Álvarez. The Dutch club paid América $17 million for his services, and it’s easy to imagine the versatile player excelling in the Eredivisie, much like Héctor Moreno dominated at PSV.
It was the sort of tackle in which the final verdict would be better suited to a courtroom; a straight red card certainly doesn’t seem like enough justice for an act of violence perpetrated with the sole intention of seriously injuring another player.
During yesterday’s “friendly” between Sevilla and Liverpool at Fenway Park in Boston, Sevilla’s Joris Gnagnon was handed his marching orders in the 76th minute for this assault on 18-year-old Liverpool winger Yasser Larouci.
Liverpool fans are on a good one right now coming off a Champions League title, so morale is great. And team morale will no doubt be in good hands as long as Virgil van Dijk is around.
The best defender in the game was caught on Liverpool’s Instagram story showing much love to his teammate Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. The video had roast potential with Van Dijk approaching Ox, who was signing dozens of Liverpool jerseys, and saying that Ox is always late.
However, the Dutchmen could never, and he suddenly felt the urge to appreciate Ox’s hair.
Finally, the Matthijs de Ligt Juventus Transfer is Complete
One of biggest transfer sagas of the summer has come to an end, with the 19-year-old Dutch phenom choosing the warm embrace of the Old Lady over many big clubs across Europe.
After watching LAFC's Mohamed El-Munir steal a goal from Alberth Elis on July 12, we were inspired to create a list of our favorite goal-line clearances (including that stop from El Munir). Here they are.
Heading into the 2019 Women’s World Cup, the consensus was that the USWNT would ship its fair share of goals but overcome that deficiency by winning matches in barnstorming fashion — maybe a 4-2 here, a 5-3 there. This side was supposed to be the antithesis of the 2015 unit that conceded only three goals en route to the title.