It was one of those matches where you wondered if the manager would get away with resting some of his big stars on the bench. It was one of those matches where you always felt the team in the lead would regret not adding a second or third. It was one of those matches where you weren’t shocked at all to see the road underdog score an equalizer to steal a point.
A meeting between third and fifth in La Liga turned into a rout inside the first half with Real Madrid racing to a 5-0 lead on Sevilla inside the match’s opening 42 minutes. Nacho got the first, Cristiano Ronaldo added a brace on the day his fifth Ballon d’Or trophy was presented to the Bernabeu crowd, Toni Kroos struck the fourth and 19-year-old Achraf Hakimi scored his first La Liga goal for the club.
Toronto FC avenged their 2016 final defeat to Seattle by defeating the Sounders in a rematch at MLS Cup 2017, 2-0. Jozy Altidore scored the game-winning goal in the 67th minute off a Sebastian Giovinco through ball, and Toronto’s historic Supporters’ Shield season was given the famous ending it deserved.
In the fourth-minute of second half stoppage time, Victor Vazquez added Toronto’s second, capping a sensational first season for the Spaniard in MLS.
Let’s get straight to it. You’ve seen a goal like this before; it’s definitely Marco van Basten-esque. Seasoned Bournemouth striker Jermain Defoe utilized nearly 20 years of professional experience to produce the work of a master goalscorer on Saturday, hitting this instinctive but technically perfect half-volley against Crystal Palace in Premier League play.
Matchweek 16 of the English Premier League kicked off Saturday morning with relegation candidates West Ham shocking defending champions Chelsea 1-0 at the London Stadium. David Moyes’ first victory as Hammers boss was secured by Marko Arnautovic, the $27 million man who’d yet to score following his summer move from Stoke City.
But Moyes suddenly seems like the right man for the job with Arnautovic finding net and West Ham climbing to 18th in the table, with just their horrific goal difference of minus 18 keeping them from safety.
Evolution does not stand still, unlike these Almeria defenders. Evolution moves inexorably forward, like Granada’s Darwin Machís. In a Spanish Segunda División match on Friday, Machís showed the next step forward in evolution with a thrilling solo goal.
Machís fooled one defender, took a ride on the HMS Beagle for about 20 yards and curled in a beautiful finish to double Granada’s lead early in the second half against Almeria, the goal nestling into the back of the net by the width of a finch beak.
It’s a goal every soccer player dreams of scoring. Ball comes in, chest it up into the air and bicycle kick it into the back of the net. But not even Branislav Ivanovic could believe it when he scored his incredible goal for Zenit St. Petersburg against Real Sociedad in the Europa League on Thursday.
What do you do in life? How do you make the most out of life? I don’t know. Maybe the best advice comes from golfer John Daly: grip it, rip it and sip it. Konyaspor’s Mehdi Bourabia knows what I’m talking about.