Crystal Palace has played six, lost six, conceded 13 goals and scored none. That’s 540 minutes of English Premier League football without scoring, a record for longest goalless streak to start a season. In other words, one epic dry spell. But even if Crystal Palace manages to score this weekend against Manchester United, the Eagles will still hold the record for longest EPL scoreless streak.
Conditions conspired to give us a glimpse of a rarely used, outdated tactic on Saturday: an authentic and faithful use of man-marking during Girona’s hosting of Barcelona at the Estadi Montilivi. What this means is that Girona defender Pablo Maffeo was entirely sacrificed to negate the influence of Barcelona’s Lionel Messi — wherever Messi went, there was Maffeo. When Girona were in possession, Maffeo continued to mark Messi. In fact, Maffeo was substituted in the 78th minute after recording only 10 touches.
The National Football League returns to England on Sunday as the Baltimore Ravens face the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium, a now biannual feature as the league is desperate to gain British NFL fans. Meanwhile, soccer leagues across Europe are considering bringing regular-season games to the U.S.
Amid strong interest from clubs in Major League Soccer, it was with a view towards the 2018 World Cup that Andres Guardado decided to join Real Betis and continue pushing himself at the highest level in La Liga. After three starts for the Seville-based club, it’s apparent that the 30-year-old made the right decision. This is obviously his level.
Gareth Bale has done it again. Perhaps best known for his stunning sprint against Barcelona in the 2014 Copa del Rey Final (one that had Usain Bolt saying: “It’s a goal any sprinter in the world would like to score one day. He’s the fastest footballer in the world at the moment.”), Bale has scored another scorching effort for Real Madrid.
Christian Pulisic, born on Sept. 18, 1998, turned 19 on Monday. In the first 18 years of his life, he has already been called the greatest American soccer player of all time. But how does he compare to Landon Donovan at the same age?
There’s an immediate hot take available here that I just can’t commit myself to: the departure of Neymar from Barcelona has had an uplifting effect on 33-year-old midfielder Andres Iniesta, and El Ilusionista is about to enjoy the consummate season because of a mixture of peak footballing intelligence and a proverbial unchaining on the left-hand side of Barca’s midfield.
Timo Werner is rapid. As demonstrated in RB Leipzig’s 2-0 victory over Hamburg on Friday, the German international is a devastating one-man counter attack. Like Wayne Rooney in his pomp, Werner is unabashedly direct.
Up until their quarterfinal defeat to Brazil, no side was more thoroughly entertaining at the 2014 World Cup than Colombia. James Rodriguez was the tournament’s standout performer and plenty of additional firepower was provided by the likes of Juan Cuadrado, Jackson Martinez and Teofilo Gutierrez.
You can tell it's going to be a special season for Real Madrid. One stat proves everything:
Real Madrid have scored in 69 consecutive games in all competitions.
Most exciting attack in the #UCL? pic.twitter.com/O7lYaUO4Kl— Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 22, 2017