Opinion

You’ve likely heard that Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United are, after 13 Premier League matches, further down the EPL table than they were during the dog days of David Moyes and Louis van Gaal. You’ve also probably been told that Mourinho has won as many games (six) in his last 20 EPL fixtures as Sean Dyche, Sam Allardyce and, yes, David Moyes. And all this after spunking a bajillion of the late Malcolm Glazer’s hard earned dollars all over the summer transfer market.

Following every weekend, when discussing Serie A, there's a temptation to focus on Juventus. As the long-time reigning champions, it's clear why the Turin side garners a huge amount of attention. But the best stories are not always found at the top of the table.

Celtic may have had a roller-coaster week, what with their being eliminated from European competition with a loss to Barcelona mid-week before coming back to defeat Aberdeen 3-0 in the League Cup final on Sunday.

The Olympics and the World Cup are arguably the two greatest sporting occasions on the planet. What makes them so special is that they only come 'round once every four years, but there are a great deal of differences among these two giant competitions.

In the grand scheme of things, the simple fact is this: the Olympic Games mean way more to athletes than the World Cup does to footballers. Now, that wasn't always the case, but over time it has certainly developed into being that way, and it isn't really a surprise.

Serie A had an exciting time this past weekend. Fiorentina managed to flip from atrocious attrition into smooth ruthlessness. Teacher’s pets Sassuolo dirtied their report card yet again by letting another two goal lead slip. Joe Hart’s Torino™ (and Andrea Belotti in particular) continue to raise expectations purely so they can shoot them down a week later.

Juventus managed to extend their lead to seven points. but lost another striker in the process, Gonzalo Higuain now out and set to miss important games. But, truth be told, everyone’s attention was always in Milan.

At the risk of showing too much disrespect to Leicester City, they were awarded a thoroughly easy Champions League group this season. Although they have done brilliantly in terms of their results, it is no secret that Porto, Club Brugge and Copenhagen have not provided the sternest of tests.

That will likely all change for them in the knockout stages, but as a fun exercise we've decided to look into the only five things in football easier than the Foxes' UCL opponents thus far.

Losing To Manchester City

Jurgen Klinsmann was handed the keys to the USMNT on the backend of an exhilarating 4-2 loss to Mexico in the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup Final. The defeat in front of over 93,000 at the Rose Bowl clearly didn’t sit well with U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati, who used the pretense of throwing away a two-goal lead to sack Bob Bradley and bring in the man he’d long coveted, Klinsmann.

It's been 15 grueling, agonizingly long days since we last saw the MLS Playoffs. The international break served as a welcome rest for some teams, while it was a frustrating gap for others — especially the fans. Tonight, the Conference Finals kick off. Here is a breakdown of each match and what you need to know. 

2016 MLS Eastern Conference Finals

The wait is finally over!

It’s a @BacardiCanada matchday!