Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola defended back-up goalkeeper Zack Steffen, saying he should keep his place despite an error that led to Saturday's 3-2 defeat by Liverpool in the FA Cup semifinal.
Liverpool had a comfortable 90 minutes at Wembley Stadium on Saturday in the FA Cup semifinal vs. Manchester City. The final four minutes of stoppage time weren’t so comfortable as a late City push made for an exciting 3-2 finale victory for Liverpool.
American goalkeeper Zack Steffen can be given a lot of credit for making Liverpool’s afternoon so easy. Steffen had a disastrous first half that saw him concede three goals including an all-time blunder.
American goalkeeper Zack Steffen had an all-time fail in the FA Cup semifinal vs. Liverpool to give the Reds a 2-0 lead early in the game. This is the second year in-a-row that Steffen has gotten the start in a FA Cup semifinal and made a horrible blunder. Here’s Saturday’s Steffen fail vs. Liverpool.
MANE CATCHES ZACK STEFFEN SLEEPING pic.twitter.com/X7GYqHqB04
Western Sydney Wanderers goalkeeper Daniel Margush had a blunder of all blunders on Saturday. With his team up a man and leading 1-0 with only minutes left in the game, the three points were practically guaranteed.
Then disaster struck.
Australia's slog of a World Cup qualifying campaign came to a halt on March 24 after a 2-0 defeat to Japan in the driving Sydney rain meant that after the grind of 18 games over two years, the Socceroos would still need to beat the United Arab Emirates and then Peru in the June playoffs to qualify for Qatar.
Karim Benzema showed the world why he’s one of the best in the world at the moment with a hat trick at Stamford Bridge to see his side defeat Chelsea 3-1 in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals. This was his second hat trick in a row in the Champions League.
Benzema’s third goal was truly bizarre as Chelsea’s star Senegalese goalkeeper Edouard Mendy made an unforced, dreadful error the Frenchman capitalized on.
I've nutmegged rivals, I've been nutmegged and I've watched a fair amount of nutmegs through my life. I've seen nutmegs that were only a display of skills, other ones that were the only option available to maintain the control of the ball and a few others that were just by chance. But, until now, I have never seen a self-nutmeg. Until Thursday night.
It happened during a game in the Chilean First Division between Colo Colo, the most popular team in the country, and Unión La Calera.
Before Portugal’s World Cup qualifying playoff game vs. North Macedonia Cristiano Ronaldo said, “There is no World Cup without Portugal.” Have no fear soccer fans, there will be a World Cup this year courtesy of Portugal defeating North Macedonia 2-0 on Tuesday to secure a spot in the 2022 World Cup.
Christian Pulisic has the USMNT on the verge of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup. With his first career international hat trick, Pulisic helped the Americans thrash Panama 5-1 on Sunday in Orlando, Florida. But that Pulisic celebration after his second goal shows he still has a lot of work to do before he heads to Qatar in November.
Sometimes, the ball knows more than the referee and video replay.
With Portugal nursing a one-goal lead late in its UEFA World Cup qualifying playoff, Turkey was awarded a Charmin-soft penalty. Burak Yılmaz stepped up to the spot, but the ball knew what had to happen.
Yılmaz skied his penalty over the crossbar, Portugal scored a late insurance goal and Cristiano Ronaldo’s side advanced to the qualifying final with a 3-1 victory on Thursday.
Portugal now will play North Macedonia, which stunned Italy 1-0, on Tuesday for the right to go to the World Cup in November.