In the United States, it’s ubiquitous. Whether it’s the Super Bowl or a high school basketball game, the national anthem will be played before a sporting event. So why don’t European soccer teams play the national anthem before matches? The answer lies in the history of America’s own devotion to the Star-Spangled Banner.
So this is it. The 2017 portion of Paris Saint-Germain’s 2017-18 season boils down to Wednesday’s match against Bayern Munich at the Parc des Princes, followed by their clash on December 5 at the Allianz. Will Neymar do enough in those two matches to kick-start his campaign for the 2018 Ballon d’Or?
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have proven once more that they are not only great on the field, but also off it. Both stars have reached out to express their solidarity with and condolences to Mexico with regards to the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that struck central Mexico last Tuesday.
Arsenal’s Nacho Monreal is an example for younger generations. He miraculously saved a header in the game against West Brom.
The list for the players with the most official appearances in the history of soccer stretches from players who played in the 1940s to the present day. Goalkeepers like Iker Casillas and Gianluigi Buffon have both entered the top 20, but there are still many players ahead of the two active legends.
According to Footballdatabase.eu, English goalkeeper Peter Shilton has accumulated the most official appearances with 1,390.
There was a time, in the mid 2000s, when the sight of Samuel Eto’o running in behind your defense was just about the scariest thing imaginable. The Cameroonian scored more than 100 goals in five seasons with Barcelona. He won two Champions League titles with Barca and another with Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan. His pace was terrifying, his runs incisive, his finishing clinical.
It’s time to talk about Paulo Dybala. Actually, it was probably time to talk about Dybala two months ago, when he was rightly titillating the interest of the Barcelona board, possibly plugging a recently-emerged Neymar-sized hole in their starting XI. But even since then, Dybala has gone to a whole new level. Is it time to start talking about Dybala as being one of the very best in the world?
Conditions conspired to give us a glimpse of a rarely used, outdated tactic on Saturday: an authentic and faithful use of man-marking during Girona’s hosting of Barcelona at the Estadi Montilivi. What this means is that Girona defender Pablo Maffeo was entirely sacrificed to negate the influence of Barcelona’s Lionel Messi — wherever Messi went, there was Maffeo. When Girona were in possession, Maffeo continued to mark Messi. In fact, Maffeo was substituted in the 78th minute after recording only 10 touches.
The Steel City Derby was played for the first time in more than five years as Sheffield United beat Sheffield Wednesday 4-2 on Sunday at Hillsborough behind two goals from Leon Clarke. One of the more underrated European rivalries returned to the English Championship for the first time since 2010 and the Steel City Derby fans were more than ready for the occasion.
Manchester City's offense is on fire. In their last three Premier League matches, City beat Liverpool 5-0, Watford 6-0 and Crystal Palace 5-0. They've scored 21 goals in six league matches, good for 3.5 per match. The current EPL goal record is 103, held by the 2009-2010 Chelsea squad. Manchester City are on pace for 133 goals this season.