It was a feckless decision from CBS to refuse to show any Champions League group-stage matches on TV. Forcing anyone who wants to watch a match from start to finish to pay for CBS All Access is far shadier than Turner Sports’ cash-grab B/R Live service that bombed harder than Quibi.
It’s nearly a weekly ritual this season. There’s a big slate of Premier League matches on the weekend and NBC decision makers pick which matches go on TV and which matches are thrown into the abyss of streaming services. NBC then posts these spineless choices onto social media and I gawk at the hate-filled comments and replies.
This week, it’s the North London Derby and a Liverpool match that get the shaft, and as usual the fireworks followed.
Liverpool’s midfield was ragged. We’d been high pressing all game and as the second half wore on, it became harder and harder to convince the Reds to jockey an attacker, let alone make a 10-yard sprint. And I do mean physically harder. Soon, PSG’s fresh subs were streaming past their markers and a two-goal lead evaporated in a 2-2 draw. I learned firsthand how PlayStation 5’s new DualSense controller is changing the game in FIFA 21.
National team stadiums are something of a foreign concept in the United States, where both the men’s and women’s sides play matches from Carson, California, to Foxborough, Massachusetts, and everywhere in-between. Other national teams have a similar approach — Germany, Brazil and Spain among them — but there’s something magical about a fixed location, be it the glamor of England at Wembley, the history of Mexico at the Azteca or the ferocity of Argentina at El Monumental.
Soccer hasn't been the same without fans. The emotion just isn't there. The fake crowd noise is mediocre but matches without fan chatter (even the artificial kind) lack the sense of importance that the game is supposed to carry. It is tough to watch at times.
The one positive to empty stadiums? We have unprecedented access to the vocal expressions of the players on the pitch. Every bit of banter, every plea to the referee and every frustrated proclamation is audible to viewers at home.
The adrenaline after scoring a goal is something indescribable, whether it be at your local park or on football's biggest stage. Celebrations have become part of the game now — they get as much coverage as games do nowadays.
Some celebrations have become a staple in a player’s game, such as Cristiano Ronaldo’s emphatic “SIII!” followed by the iconic jump.
By the standards of most clubs, second place in the Champions League group and a slim lead in the domestic table heading into December would represent an unqualified success. Alas, Paris Saint-Germain is not most clubs.
What’s more important: A statement in support of human rights, or a tribute to a fallen star? According to ESPN, it’s the latter.
The USWNT returned to the pitch for the first time in 261 days by beating the Netherlands 2-0 in a friendly on Friday. The replication of the USWNT’s historic win in the 2019 Women’s World Cup final showed that even having not played in eight months, this team is still the best in the world.
Mention Diego Lainez to USMNT supporters and they’ll immediately think of Matt Miazga’s relentless trolling of the diminutive winger back in September of 2018. What they won’t recall is that the then 18-year-old was the best player on the field in Nashville, form which he carried over into the Liga MX Apertura playoffs and a $14 million transfer to Real Betis.