Someone, somewhere must've officially declared this week "World Heart-Attack-Inducing Stoppage Time Goal Week." Matias Vecino’s 92nd strike to seal Inter's comeback victory over Tottenham; Roberto Firmino’s one-eyed 91st minute winner that crushed PSG hearts; Niko Vlašić’s 95th minute goal that salvaged CSKA Moscow a point in the Czech Republic against Viktoria Pl
While we should probably wait to see what Cristiano Ronaldo offers after he gets his first for Juventus, this early September strike from Sampdoria’s Fabio Quagliarella could easily fit the bill for the 2018-19 Serie A Goal of the Season.
The 35-year-old is in the midst of a career renaissance after scoring a personal-best total of 19 goals in 35 matches last year, and he’s now off the mark this season with one of the best goals of his legendary career.
This world-class bit of instinctive finishing put the final touches on Sampdoria’s 3-0 win over Napoli today.
It was just one of those days for Manchester United; one of those days were crosstown rivals Manchester City absolutely decimated an opponent to climb to the top of the table while United reverted to the slapstick pantomime version of the world’s biggest club.
A late Paul Pogba penalty made the scoreline much more respectable, but Brighton fully deserved its 3-2 win over Jose Mourinho’s men at the Amex Stadium.
In what can only be described as absolutely nuts, Zenit Saint Petersburg defeated Belarusian side Dinamo Minsk 8-1 to win 8-5 on aggregate in its Europa League qualifying match, constituting the biggest Europa League comeback in 33 years. Dinamo Minsk had won the first leg 4-0 at its home ground, Traktor Stadium.
Latest scores:
AS Trencin 4-0 FeyenoordDinamo Minsk 4-0 Zenit St Petersburg
The Croatia World Cup final vs. France is definitely something historic for the Balkan country.
Not many countries have had the honor of reaching that stage.
This has all the more merit considering how young the country is — Croatia was formed as a nation state in 1991 after the dissolution of Yugoslavia.
Japan’s entire 2018 World Cup cycle was something of a bitter complaint. Yes, the Samurai Blue qualified for a sixth straight tournament, but manager Vahid Halilhodzic was fired ten weeks before the finals for doing things like losing to the UAE and drawing with Iraq. To begin World Cup play, Japan recorded a 2-1 win over Colombia but somehow managed to look second-best despite playing 87 minutes with a man advantage.
Spain controlled nearly 80 percent of possession, out-passed Russia 1,005 to 191 and attempted 24 shots compared to Russia’s seven, but all those stats are so entirely meaningless in the face of what’s transpired today: Russia has stunned Spain on penalties thanks to the heroics of goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev.
Russia, with 80,000 countrymen cheering them on in Moscow, were stone cold in the shootout, burying all four kicks form the spot. Spain, on the other hand, saw Rodrigo’s shot saved before Akinfeev denied Iago Aspas with a wonder stop.
Who could have foreseen this? Germany, the defending champion, had never been knocked out in the group stage, advancing in its previous 18 tournaments. Die Mannschaft won the 2017 Confederations Cup with ease. All that was needed was a win for Germany vs South Korea and Joachim Low’s men would have moved on to the next round.
Instead, it was a tepid 2-0 loss for Germany vs South Korea, sending the 2014 World Cup champion home with a last-place finish in Group F.
So, who could have foreseen this? Anyone who learns from history.
Mexico’s deserved 3-0 spanking at the hands of an exceptional Sweden side doesn’t matter. El Tri’s through to the Round of 16 thanks to one of the greatest upsets in the history of the World Cup. The defending champions are out, and they’ll long have nightmares of South Korea goalkeeper Cho Hyun-woo, who made six saves on the day.
Group B went batshit crazy on Monday, but when the dust settled and the VAR screen had been flicked off, nothing had changed over the course of 90 overly dramatic minutes in Russia: Spain finish top and will play Russia, Portugal finish runners-up and take on Uruguay. One major talking point is that the European champions could’ve been preparing for that game without Cristiano Ronaldo, who was given a VAR-inspired yellow card for an off-the-ball elbow.