FC Kansas City and Sydney Leroux hadn’t generated much on the attacking end entering Saturday’s match against the Washington Spirit, but a 3-2 victory for Leroux’s side - with the USWNT star scoring a brace - was the perfect remedy before a string of tough matches against the likes of North Carolina, Seattle and Portland.
Chinese club Guangzhou Evergrande, the side that spent a fortune on Colombian striker Jackson Martinez and Brazilian midfielder Paulinho, are through to the AFC Champions League quarterfinals after defeating Japan’s Kashima Antlers on away goals.
Tuesday’s second leg round of 16 match was a decidedly Brazilian-heavy affair, with Guangzhou being managed by Luiz Felipe Scolari and featuring Paulinho, Ricardo Goulart and Alan Carvalho. Kashima featured two Brazilians of their own: Leandro and Pedro Junior.
It had been over 10 years since Chivas last captured a Liga MX title, but the final 20 minutes of the 2017 Liga MX Clausura Final must’ve seemed an even longer period for supporters in Guadalajara.
Much like the first leg, Chivas built a 2-0 lead behind goals from Alan Pulido and Jose Vazquez only to surrender a late goal to Ismael Sosa in the 87th. With the likes of Andre-Pierre Gignac, Jurgen Damm, Javier Aquino and Jesus Duenas desperately searching for a Tigres equalizer, long-suffering fans of Mexico’s most popular team were made to sweat over the match’s final minutes.
Well, that’s that then. Football made a good run at it, but it's over now. Francesco Totti has played in his final professional match, and while it went exactly as Roma had hoped sporting-wise (they achieved direct qualification to next season’s Champions League), it was easily the worst day in the club’s history.
Francesco Totti's lap of honour pic.twitter.com/YhL4SqG1Yz
Arsenal defeated Chelsea 2-1 in the 2017 FA Cup Final after Alexis Sanchez opened the scoring in the fourth minute with a truly awful goal, and Aaron Ramsey secured the victory after Diego Costa had equalized for 10-man Chelsea. Victor Moses was sent off in the 68th minute for a sad, not even remotely believable dive.
One day we’ll look back on the 2016-17 AS Monaco side in disbelief — how did one club house Kylian Mbappe, Thomas Lemar, Bernardo Silva, Fabinho and Tiemoue Bakayoko (all 23 or younger) at the same time? Their Ligue 1 triumph and Champions League semifinal run will live long in the memory, but the dismantling of the most exciting side in European football has begun, starting with 22-year-old Portuguese attacker Bernardo Silva.
Chivas were on the verge of taking a 2-0 lead back to Estadio Chivas for the second leg of the 2017 Liga MX Clausura Final, but Andre-Pierre Gignac scored two remarkable goals, in the 85th and 88th minutes, to level the tie for Tigres.
For Chivas, the first 45 minutes in Estadio Universitario really couldn’t have gone any better. For Tigres and goalkeeper Nahuel Guzman, it was a disaster.
The opening 20 minutes were no indicator of what was later to come as Tigres saw Gignac, Jesus Duenas, Lucas Zelarayan and Ismael Sosa all fire shots at Rodolfo Cota in the Chivas goal.
When you limit your playing career to Manchester United, Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, Milan and Paris Saint-Germain (and represent the English national team for 14 years), you're inevitably going to play alongside some of the world's best players. What's more, if you're a really great passer of the ball, which David Beckham was, you're going to provide a few classy assists for that talent.