I Watch Atlético For The Bench-Clearing Brawl And 90th-Minute Red Card. They Always Deliver
There's nothing better than a well executed slow burn.
Analysis
What We Learned From USWNT Curb-Stomping Uzbekistan 18-1 (It Wasn’t Totally Useless)
In September, the USWNT crushed Paraguay in back-to-back friendlies by a 17-0 aggregate score. This past week, the USWNT crushed Uzbekistan in back-to-back friendlies by an 18-1 aggregate score. While the September matches felt mostly a waste of time, the April matches felt instructive and useful, for both Vlatko Andonovski’s plans moving forward and U.S. fans trying to figure out those plans.
Berhalter Says Mexico's Fear Factor Is Gone And Calls Out MLS Media For Negativity
U.S. Soccer released the eighth (and final?) episode of the Gregg Berhalter Podcast (hosted by former FC Dallas midfielder Bobby Warshaw) on Tuesday. The USMNT manager spent a lot of time discussing the intense final window of qualification, reflecting on "The Ocho" as a whole and how all that shapes his decision making going toward the World Cup.
Robert Lewandowski Could Be On His Way To Barcelona
According to Polish outlet TVP Sport, Robert Lewandowski has informed Bayern Munich CEO Oliver Kahn that he's uninterested in extending his stay in Germany and would instead prefer a summer transfer to Barcelona after agreeing to personal terms on a three-year contract at the Camp Nou.
Man City Takes Control Of Title Race With Breathtaking 2-2 Liverpool Draw
The two best football teams on the planet exchanged cross-field rakers, 70-yard goalkeeper pings, marauding fullbacks, suffocating periods of pressure and jaw-dropping displays of skill on Sunday in a potential Premier League title decider that fittingly ended 2-2 between Manchester City and Liverpool at the Etihad.
Who's ready to watch them do it all again next Saturday at Wembley in the FA Cup semifinals?
Jürgen Klopp Finds ‘Real Joy’ In Studying Man City Ahead Of Sunday's Match Of The Year
MANCHESTER, England - Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp says it is simply a joy to carry out their analysis work on Manchester City ahead of Sunday's Premier League title clash at the Etihad Stadium.
The two teams, who have dominated the league over the past five seasons, are separated by just a point with leaders City hoping they can restore some breathing space with a victory.
Good For The Game? The Uneven Relationship Between Major League Soccer And The USL
The original purpose of this piece was to find players who began their careers in American soccer in the lower league and worked their way up to Major League Soccer — not players who went out on loan, rather athletes who signed for a USL or NPSL club, impressed at that level, and drew the attention of an MLS side.
But after a thorough examination of numerous MLS rosters, I found that this type of career path is almost nonexistent; such upward mobility is nearly impossible in American soccer.
Why Do We Take So Much Joy From Yelling ‘Shoot’ At Professional Athletes?
While everyone's been wasting their time arguing over the tactical masterplans of Pep Guardiola and Diego Simeone in the build-up to Manchester City and Atlético in the Champions League, a better philosophical discourse has been raging in the bottom half of the Premier League table, where Brighton manager Graham Potter is urging supporters to stop yelling "shoot" at his players while Burnley boss Sean Dyche is playing the devil's advocate by instructing his men to "kick it in the net."
3 Good Things (And 3 Bad Things) About USMNT’s World Cup Group
No, this isn’t some cruel April Fools’ Day joke. The USMNT World Cup group really is one perhaps the most interesting possible group the Americans could have drawn on Friday.
The U.S. will play England, Iran and the winner of the European playoff — Ukraine, Scotland or Wales — in the 2022 World Cup starting in November. It’s a fascinating group for many reasons, and one from which I think most USA fans will expect their team to advance.
Group B is set:
or or
The Door To Qatar: Which Continent Has The Most Difficult World Cup Qualifying Process?
"Absurd" was the word Italian defender Leonardo Bonucci used to describe the UEFA World Cup qualifying process after his team fell to North Macedonia in a single-leg playoff last week.
"You have to play a single game in which anything can happen as we have seen," the veteran center back said. "There are teams that qualified after losing four or five games; we are at home after losing only one in the 92nd minute. It is truly madness."