Celtic’s Karamoko Dembele, the 13-year-old prodigy who made headlines when making his debut for Celtic’s U-20 side, has triggered an international arms race between England and Scotland as both countries look to secure his services at the youth level.
The FA, in its infinite wisdom, has decided there needs to be more girls playing the beautiful game in England. This in and of itself is a reasonable thing to want. Gender equality is good and the FA should want that.
What is not reasonable or good is the document they made full of suggestions on how to get more females playing soccer.
Specifically, these suggestions were clearly not written by women, or girls, or anyone who has ever met a woman or girl.
Jamie Vardy’s dismissal on Saturday for his lunge on Mame Biram Diouf was predicated on everything but the tackle itself. Having lost the ball to Glen Johnson in the buildup, that particular spirit that invokes images of Skittles Vodka and murmurs of “Chat Shit Get Banged” could be felt through televisions around the globe: Vardy, looking like Pokemon’s Rattata with Red Bull coursing through his mouse veins, was probably about to do something he’d regret.
We know what you're thinking: how did a random soccer fan leave a match with half a player’s official uniform, specifically the bottom half?
The Merseyside derby was today. It had everything you'd expect from such an occasion: tackles, fouls, more fouls, lots of fouls, all the fouls, every foul, grabbing, holding, kicking, Ross Barkley doing something extremely stupid, Jordan Henderson stomping around with his chest puffed like a guy who's had a few too many and thinks everyone is looking at his girlfriend, more fouls and exactly one goal.
But what a goal.
West Ham fans are devoted, rowdy and funny as hell. This isn’t based solely off of Green Street Hooligans, it’s a verifiable truth. For a club that’s never finished higher than third in England’s top tier and whose last major triumph came in the 1980 FA Cup, it’s remarkable that they still draw nearly 60,000 fans a game at the London Stadium.
Some weeks, there is nothing to write about. As much as the constant churn of the news cycle demands fresh content, the available information turns up nothing much. Then, hours are spent trying to find a new angle on why Atalanta are doing pretty well or why Sassuolo are struggling. If there’s really nothing, then just write about the latest stupid thing Inter have done. But this week is different.
Ilkay Gundogan. Gone but not forgotten.
The German midfielder's teammates paid a touching tribute to their fallen comrade before their match against Arsenal Sunday. Gundogan figured to be a big part of Manchester City's title challenge this season before he was stricken down.
Kevin De Bruyne registered his ninth assist in 16 Premier League matches by smashing a no-look, cross-field volley straight at Raheem Sterling, allowing the Englishman to beat Petr Cech at his near post for Manchester City’s go-ahead goal on Sunday.
Raheem Sterling comes up clutch! #PLonNBC pic.twitter.com/JmCcac2X57
A meeting between two clubs sitting side-by-side in the Premier League table turned out to be a thoroughly one-sided affair, Manchester United traveling to the Hawthorns to play West Bromwich Albion and comfortably winning 2-0.
The gap between the top six sides in England and the rest of the division appears to be pretty large on the evidence of Saturday’s match between the Red Devils and the Baggies. United are now unbeaten in eight consecutive EPL matches, and they’ve drawn level, at least momentarily, with Tottenham, who have a game in hand.