Grumblings of an early crisis on Tyneside appear to have been hugely premature on the back of another Newcastle United victory on Saturday, their third straight in the Premier League. With a 2-1 win against Stoke City, Newcastle climbed into the Champions League places and confirmed their finest start to life in England’s top division in six years.
Those mostly meaningless FIFA rankings will become more meaningful than ever at next summer’s World Cup. FIFA announced Thursday the 2018 World Cup draw will seed teams into four pots based on FIFA rankings at the end of October.
Alexi Lalas brought it up; we’re here to answer it. Is Tim Howard still the right man in goal for the U.S. Men’s National Team?
Three years ago Tim Howard was the meme king of the World Cup, dual-handedly keeping Belgium at bay for 90 minutes while his USMNT teammates flailed around defensively. Howard made a World Cup record 15 saves that day, ultimately allowing two goals in extra time in a 2-1 loss that would have been a 1-0 win had Chris Wondolowski been able to put a shot on target from six yards out.
Christian Pulisic is the most talented player in USMNT history, and he is just 18 years old (19 later this month). Given how good Borussia Dortmund's player development is, he is only going to get better. Cross your fingers and hope we get to watch Pulisic for a long time.
But.
What now seems meant to be almost wasn't. A few years ago Croatia, which Pulisic was eligible for because of his Croatian grandparents, made overtures Pulisic's way. He politely turned them down and turned into a soaring eagle for the USA.
But.
According to an ESPN FC source, 20-year-old Sporting Kansas City defender Erik Palmer-Brown will sign a four-and-a-half year contract with Manchester City in January after the expiration of his contract in MLS.
Move aside Sydney Leroux and Dom Dwyer, Jozy Altidore and Sloane Stephens are the new hot couple in American sports.
The two childhood friends have reportedly been dating for at least a couple months and both had big wins on Saturday. Stephens won her first grand slam by taking down Madison Keys 6-3, 6-0 in the U.S. Open. Altidore scored a brace in Toronto FC’s 4-0 victory over San Jose.
The story of Sunday night’s 1-1 draw between Seattle and Los Angeles wasn’t Lamar Neagle’s 85th minute equalizer for the Sounders, nor was it Gyasi Zardes actually doing a goal for the Galaxy. It was provided by FS1 broadcaster Alexi Lalas after the match had concluded. Lalas has some opinions on the USMNT, and he brought them. He brought them hard.
If we were to compare soccer to handwriting, we would say Germany plays like Catholic nun schoolteacher handwriting, with neat little letters, nothing out of place, everything in line.
Spain plays like cursive, with little loops and swooshes you barely notice until you see the bigger object and marvel in its beauty.
Brazil plays like graffiti letters, big and colorful and saying more than the words themselves could.
The United States came into this international break hoping to get at least four points, maybe all six from two matches against Costa Rica and Honduras in World Cup qualifying. You wouldn’t blame the Americans for their confidence, coming into the break with a 14-match unbeaten streak. That confidence is in tatters now thanks to some USMNT defensive struggles, which proved to be contagious for the rest of the team.