Alejandro Pozuelo wasn’t a splashy signing like many in the recent years from Toronto FC. The former Real Betis, Swansea and Genk midfielder didn’t have the name recognition of a Michael Bradley, Jozy Altidore or Sebastian Giovinco, the man he was brought in to replace after Seba was sold to Saudi Arabia.
But Toronto FC’s new No. 10 is quickly winning over fans north of the border.
Last night, the Liga MX Clausura playoffs began with quarterfinal first leg matchups between top-seed León and Óscar Pareja’s Tijuana, while second-seed Tigres traveled to Estadio Hidalgo to play Pachuca.
After setting a record when rattling off 12 straight victories to finish as superlíder, León expectedly took care of business in the first leg by posting three away goals on Xolos at Estadio Caliente.
Everything and everyone contrived against Vincent Kompany scoring the winner with a 30-yard bomb against Leicester City on Monday night. First off, the man’s own muscles, which have contrived to deprive him of less than 20 league starts in each of the last four campaigns. Monday marked his 12th appearance in an EPL starting 11 this term.
Manchester City looked destined to stumble to a 0-0 draw with Leicester City on the penultimate match day to hand control of the Premier League title race back to Liverpool ahead of the final round of games next Sunday. Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers, formerly of Liverpool, set up the 2015-16 champions immaculately, highlighted by dominant performances from center defensive midfielder Wilfred Ndidi and goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.
Last Wednesday, Lionel Messi recorded his 600th goal for Barcelona during his club’s 3-0 Champions League semifinal first leg victory over Liverpool. It was an astonishing free kick, the 42nd of his Barça career, that venomously flew right past Joe Gomez’s face before curling into the top corner from 35 yards out.
Christian Pulisic returned to the Borussia Dortmund starting lineup for the first time since March 16 on Saturday against Werder Bremen. Injuries and the form of Jadon Sancho had kept the 20-year-old American out of the first XI for about six weeks, but he returned in some style, scoring a marvelous goal in the sixth minute.
Initial team sheets suggested Pulisic might be starting at right back, prompting plenty of social media mavens to criticize Lucien Favre.
Liverpool has had a tough week.
First, Liverpool fans were criticized around the globe as a few jackasses acted like assholes while visiting Barcelona before the Champions League semifinal first leg. Then Liverpool played well but lost 3-0 in that match because Lionel Messi. On Friday, the Reds found out Naby Keita is out for two months after picking up a knock against Barça.
While the Premier League overseas actually has an exciting title race for once, the best race of 2019 might be across the pond in Major League Soccer. We’re less than 10 games into the season, but the 2019 MLS Golden Boot race is shaping up to be something special.
Case in point: Wayne Rooney’s free kick against Columbus on Wednesday night.
The opening seven seconds of today’s Premier League fixture between Europa League hopefuls Watford and relegation-threatened Southampton DID NOT DISAPPOINT. A lot of supporters inside Vicarage Road hadn’t even made it to their seats by the time Shane Long opened the scoring for the Saints. Clocked at just seven seconds, it’s the fastest goal in Premier League history.
The previous mark was held by Tottenham’s Ledley King, who scored with a deflected effort against Bradford back in 2000 inside 9.7 seconds.
This past Sunday night the Orlando Pride faced the Seattle Reign in Tacoma, Washington, where the Pride picked up its first point of the 2019 NWSL season after drawing 1-1 at Cheney Stadium.
Orlando took an early lead after being rewarded a free kick outside the box in the sixth minute. Australian defender Alanna Kennedy gave the Pride the upper hand when she casually hit a perfect bicycle kick inside the box. Although the Pride didn't ultimately get all three points, if there were points awarded for style they definitely would have won by a landslide.
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