Theo Walcott can’t help Sven-Goran Eriksson’s strange decision to include him in England’s 2006 FIFA World Cup squad. The cruciate ligament rupture he suffered in 2014, resulting in a 280-day spell on the sideline, was equally unavoidable.
While Walcott’s progress from young phenom to seasoned veteran has been hindered by an assortment of shoulder, abdominal and groin injuries, it’s often forgotten that he’s only 27 years old.
Noticing the talent of Christian Pulisic and believing he’ll have a great career should no longer be classified as jumping on the hype train. The term 'hype train' is like the plans for a high-speed rail in the United States, a theoretical concept that’s been touted since 1965 but has never materialized. 'Hype train' infers that nothing is settled, that everything is still in the balance.
Chicharito scored a hat-trick this weekend in the Bundesliga, so we were on the edge of our seats with regards to what he might do in the Champions League.
He delivered with a goal.
Make it 4 goals in 4 days for @CH14_, and since he moved to Europe! https://t.co/uISlpAcf1k
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) September 27, 2016
On paper, Celtic don’t stand much of a chance against English giants Manchester City on Wednesday night in their UEFA Champions League group stage match.
But, as the old saying goes, the game won’t be played on paper, but on grass — specifically Celtic Park grass, where the Hoops have a history of pulling off the odd upset.
Coming off a 7-0 loss at Barcelona in the opening match of the group stages, the Bhoys will need a result to keep their faint hopes of advancing to the knockout round alive. However, they can draw on these momentous results for inspiration:
The UEFA Champions League is supposed to be the best club competition in the world, and an elusive competition where the best of the best would compete. However, that hasn’t been the case for a while now. At least not in the group stage.
We’ve seen too many one-sided results lately, such as Barcelona putting seven past Celtic, Borussia Dortmund dominating Legia Warsaw by six, and Bayern Munich hammering FC Rostov by five. The competition was losing its appeal and UEFA had to do something about it.
Another match, another flag controversy for the UEFA Champions League — and this time Celtic supporters were innocent bystanders.
Legia Warsaw’s Champions League opener against Borussia Dortmund couldn’t have gone any worse for the Polish club. On top of being defeated 6-0, they’ve been retroactively charged by UEFA with six offenses stemming from crowd trouble.
Fireworks, allegations of racist chanting and ultras armed with pepper spray all contributed to the charges. Warsaw ultras were captured on camera trying to break into the away section armed with pepper spray. Their attempt was rebuffed by stadium security, but the stewards tasked with holding the ultras back suffered the brunt of the violence.
Tuesday’s 1-1 Champions League draw between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal yielded two story lines which have gone on to dominate this morning’s headlines. It’s just a matter of perspective: either David Ospina, selected to start over normal Arsenal No. 1 Petr Cech, earned Arsenal a point, or PSG striker Edinson Cavani squandered all three for the home side.
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