Game Recaps

Sunderland is one match away from leaving its Dark Ages and returning to better times.

The 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup is only 25 days away, and the USWNT is showing how prepared it is to defend the title. In its first Send-Off Series match against South Africa on Sunday night in Santa Clara, California, the USWNT struggled to find the back of the net until the 36th minute.

Samantha Mewis took matters into her own hands when she beat a South African defender at the top of the box and put the U.S. on the scoreboard. 

The 2018-19 Premier League title came down to the final match day. Manchester City, on 95 points, needed to take care of business away to Brighton and Hove Albion, who had ensured their own Premier League survival the previous weekend. At Anfield, Liverpool, on 94 points, needed to overcome seventh-place Wolverhampton Wanderers while simultaneously praying for a Brighton miracle at the Amex.

Here’s how the final day of action in the Premier League played out. 

SIMULTANEOUS KICK-OFFS AT ANFIELD AND THE AMEX 

Everyone knows the famous boxing photograph of a victorious Muhammad Ali towering over the vanquished Sonny Liston. It’s an image that screams pride, power and the futility of attempting to fight the sport’s GOAT. During today’s Europa League semifinal second leg between Chelsea and Eintracht Frankfurt, we got a recreation of that famous moment, except Ali was substituted for Kepa Arrizabalaga (who refuses to be substituted himself) and Liston for a soccer ball.

(This article contains Game of Thrones spoilers up to Season 8, Episode 4.)

Down two goals, three on aggregate, with 45 minutes to play, Tottenham Hotspur looked at Champions League death and said: “Not today.”

When everything looked bleak, with no hope of survival, Lucas Moura, the quick, crafty Brazilian winger, often overlooked, dragged Spurs back into contention with two goals in four minutes.

With Mohamed Salah ruled out of Tuesday’s Liverpool-Barcelona Champions League semifinal second leg with a concussion, maybe Jordi Alba thought he was in for a beautiful stroll across the lovely confines of Anfield. Maybe, looking across at replacement Xherdan Shaqiri, he thought, “Hell yeah, I might be marginally taller than this dude.” 

Or perhaps he thought he’d simply feed it to Lionel Messi (as has been the case on three occasions in LaLiga and twice in the UCL this season) and let him do the rest. 

Manchester City looked destined to stumble to a 0-0 draw with Leicester City on the penultimate match day to hand control of the Premier League title race back to Liverpool ahead of the final round of games next Sunday. Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers, formerly of Liverpool, set up the 2015-16 champions immaculately, highlighted by dominant performances from center defensive midfielder Wilfred Ndidi and goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel. 

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.

Forget all the complaints about which team had more rest or which team has more money — the first leg of the Champions League semifinals between Ajax and Tottenham was everything you want in a big match. 

Full of attacking intent from both sides, neither of which backed away from a single challenge, Ajax turned 30 minutes of first-half dominance into a 1-0 victory, a third-straight away win in the knockout rounds for the Amsterdam side. Spurs, meanwhile, suffered back-to-back defeats at the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.

The stumble for fourth place in the Premier League continued apace today with Arsenal getting thrashed 3-0 by Leicester City before Manchester United and Chelsea settled for a share of the spoils at Old Trafford following a 1-1 draw.

Coming into the match on the back of three straight defeats, United started strongly with both Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford looking extremely sharp in attack. The Red Devils’ deserved opener arrived in the 11th minute with the aforementioned Lukaku playing a big role.