With this week's Champions League matchups done and dusted, you might be tempted to think European football is finished until the weekend. Well think again! The Europa League kicks of today and there are a ton of matches worth getting excited about. Here are the 10 I'm most excited about, and my corresponding predictions for each match.
Basel vs. Krasnodar
In today’s world of inundating social media feeds, labyrinthine methods of escapism and banging SoundCloud profiles, it’s not enough to throw a jersey on your club’s star player and expect to move units. You gotta get all the world’s most innovative brand specialists together and hit the people with something so profound that it’d seduce your dad quicker than Billie Eilish working the register at a Bass Pro Shop.
Major League Soccer announced a multi-year partnership with BodyArmor on Tuesday, making the brand the Official Sports Drink of MLS beginning in 2020. So instead of the customary Gatorade shower, Adrian Heath will be doused in a premium blend of coconut water-infused Knockout Punch after Minnesota United wins the MLS Cup next year.
The world’s greatest club tournament demands the world’s greatest Champions League predictions, and The18 is here to bring you just that.
You’ll want to bookmark this page and check back every match week for our updated Champions League predictions for the 2019-20 season.
Last year, Liverpool took the UCL title but, more importantly, Connor Fleming claimed The18’s Champions League predictions title with a not-too-shabby 65-60 record predicting win-lose-or-draw for every match.
It’s been an eventful week for building from the back. It began with Mexico’s beatdown of Gregg Berhalter’s longterm vision for the USMNT in East Rutherford, a result which led to a cry for abandoning the philosophy.
Things reached a crescendo yesterday with Arsenal — the masterful architects of their own downfall in recent times. Sokratis Papastathopoulos showed exactly why 2-0 is the most dangerous lead in football by passing the ball straight to Gerard Deulofeu in his own area.
Jimmy Conrad has transitioned nicely from a career as 2005 MLS Defender of the Year to a prominent YouTuber. Though 42, he’s got the content creation skills of a 20-year-old Twitch streamer, which is a compliment.
Did the start of the new season catch you off guard? Did you find yourself out on the pitch last weekend without any shoes on? We’ve all been there. Not to worry, the adidas Input Code pack was launched on Tuesday, and you’re going to look resplendent in these, like a Christmas ham.
First up is the Predator, which is blue and solid goooold. Look at the chrome soleplate; you could bring that into Gringotts Wizarding Bank and be treated like royalty by all the goblin tellers.
Those shouting at your screen after reading the title because we are only four games into the season, because you don't like Kevin De Bruyne or for a number of other reasons, I get it. Believe me, I do, I’ve been there. Just hear me out.
Warning: It’s come to my attention that this goes hard, but that’s how three points are earned, right? With distorted basslines and hi-hats. So with the coming of a new fall season comes a new playlist to break the bricks off the locker room walls. This is the best soccer music playlist out there (according to me). Here’s the full track list and the Spotify playlist comes after that.
When it comes to touchline fashion, the game runs a pretty wide gamut from the track suits favored by the likes of Maurizio Sarri to the beloved hooded cardigan of Pep Guardiola. I believe, however, that we’re on the verge of another major transformation in managerial style — one that would require André Villas-Boas to swap his preferred trench coat for a bean-bag onesie.