Marseille returned to action after the World Cup break Thursday and hammered Toulouse 6-1 to climb to third in the Ligue 1 table. Marseille's third straight league win was secured with goals from Valentin Rongier, Rasmus Nicolaisen (OG), Sead Kolašinac, Dimitri Payet, Cengiz Ünder and Nuno Tavares.
Erling Haaland is back. The Norwegian spent his World Cup break acting as groundskeeper at the Etihad and dressing up as club mascot Moonchester, but Haaland was back to doing what he does best Wednesday: scoring goals for Manchester City in the Premier League.
Brazil and Paris Saint-Germain superstar Neymar has many haters for one simple reason: he dives a lot. Those haters had their prayers answered on Wednesday during PSG’s 2-1 victory vs. Strasbourg when Neymar was red carded for diving.
OK, so technically it was a second yellow card, but either way the referee sent Neymar off for simulation.
His two yellow card offenses happened in less than two minutes during the second half. The first yellow card in the 61st minute was for him accidentally catching an opponent’s face with his hand. Then 85 seconds later Neymar did this.
Christian Pulisic was cooking for Chelsea on Tuesday after being given a rare start during the Blues’ 2-0 Premier League victory against Bournemouth. After several quality performances at the World Cup, Chelsea boss Graham Potter rewarded Pulisic with a start at his preferred left wing position.
Pulisic was involved in all the USA’s goals at the World Cup scoring one and assisting the other two.
He continued his fine form against Bournemouth and had two controversial moments in the first half go against him.
Erling Haaland is back ladies and gentlemen. The 22-year-old Norwegian superstar has spent the last month patiently waiting for the club season to resume. His last game for Manchester City was on Nov. 12 in which he failed to score.
That wouldn’t be the case against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup on Thursday.
Do you miss the World Cup? Well, you are not the only one.
In terms of spectacle, Qatar 2022 was fun and set an all-time goal-scoring record for the tournament. The 32 teams participating in the event bagged a combined 172 goals, one more than the 171 we saw in France 1998 and Brazil 2014.
That's an average of 2.68 goals per game. Not bad, right?
Raúl Jiménez volvió a hacer un gol. Veinte días demasiado tarde, pero volvió a hacer un gol.
Después de un Mundial para el olvido junto a la selección mexicana, y al cual quizás no debió haber ido al no estar físicamente al ciento por ciento, el delantero abrió los caminos de la victoria en el 2-0 del Wolverhampton sobre el Gillingham en la Carabao Cup.
El aporte de Jiménez ante la portería rival vino al minuto 77 de partido y a través de uno de los métodos más comunes del delantero mexicano por estos días: el punto penal.
Assists are often overlooked in favor of their more flashy and prominent neighbor, the goal. In many ways, they require more technique and ability than scoring a goal because finding the goal is easy. Knowing where to place a ball to find a teammate while avoiding defenders and keepers, and actually having the technical ability to do it, requires a soccer mind of the highest order. One of the greats, Andrea Pirlo, famously said, "Football is played with the head. Your feet are just tools."
Francia se quedó con las manos vacías y sin poder convertirse en el primer bicampeón del mundo desde la Brasil de Pelé, luego de caer en penales frente a la Argentina del gran Lionel Messi.
ARGENTINA ES CAMPEÓN DEL MUNDOOOOOOOO
ARGENTINA ES CAMPEÓN DEL MUNDOOOOOOOO
ARGENTINA ES CAMPEÓN DEL MUNDOOOOOOOO
Emiliano Martínez didn’t have a single shot come toward his goal until the 71st minute. From that moment on he became one of the key figures in Argentina’s 4-2 penalty shootout victory vs. France in the World Cup final after the game finished 3-3 at the end of extra time.
Martínez was one of the most polarizing characters at the 2022 World Cup. His haters despise him for his gamesmanship, taunting and excessive celebratory body gyrations. Martínez’s critics have one other thing to deal with: he’s a DAMN good goalkeeper.