England

With last night’s 2-1 defeat to the New York Red Bulls at Audi Field, D.C. United’s chances of hosting a Conference Quarterfinal playoff game took a massive blow. The Red Bulls leapfrogged United in fourth place in the Eastern Conference with the victory, and any chance of a United win was effectively damned by Wayne Rooney’s straight red card in the 24th minute. 

Wayne Rooney Red Card Vs. NYRB

Following Video Review, Wayne Rooney is issued a red card.

The privacy of some fans in England was at stake for fans in England this year in the Premier League. Manchester City was set to trial facial-recognition software in collaboration with Blink Identity, but the club said Tuesday it would not bring the technology to Etihad Stadium. Brondby had already introduced the technology and City was set to follow before a wave of backlash.

Paul Pogba was targeted on Twitter by racist assholes after he missed a penalty kick for Manchester United on Monday, the third player to receive similar abuse in the past week in England. On Wednesday, it was Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham; on Sunday it was Reading’s Yakou Méïté. 

It’s disgusting and heartbreaking — it needs to stop.

But Phil Neville’s plan isn’t going to solve anything.

FIFA is finally bringing back its street mode, now named Volta, amid many changes and enhancements to modes across the platform. Now, a big name, at least amongst Arsenal fans, is being added to help voice the new street mode. It's none other than Troopz from ArsenalFanTV. “Oh my days, fam!” as he would say.

It’s that time of year again: FIFA has announced the 10 finalists for the annual Puskás Award, the trophy given to the player, male or female, “judged to have scored the most aesthetically significant, or ‘most beautiful,’ goal of the calendar year.”

This most certainly wasn’t the case last year when Mohamed Salah scooped the award after Liverpool and Egypt supporters spammed the fan vote. The goal Salah scored against Everton back in December of 2018 hadn’t even won the Premier League’s Goal of the Month, so it was an awful joke to see it given the prestigious Puskás Award.

Christian Pulisic’s first Premier League start and Stamford Bridge debut wasn’t exactly the stuff of dreams. The 20-year-old American lasted 71 ineffective minutes against Leicester City before being swapped for Willian with the score level at 1-1, which is how it would end.

Pulisic spent his time on the pitch in the pocket of Leicester right back Ricardo Pereira. The Portugal international was Leicester’s Player of the Season last campaign, and with support provided by Ayoze Pérez out wide, Pulisic completed only one of five dribbles while getting dispossessed six times. 

Bernardo Silva was called for a foul for the filthiest 15 seconds of Premier League foot skills we’ve seen since the last time we wrote about an insane piece of Bernardo Silva skill, which, as it turns out, is quite often.

“You’ll Never Walk Alone” is the common refrain from Liverpool fans. What they don’t tell you is that if you’re a Liverpool goalie right now, that means you’ll probably never walk.

Such is the state of Liverpool’s goalkeeping injury crisis at the moment. Alisson was injured in the Premier League opener against Norwich and now it appears Adrian has been injured. 

Not during a match but after it — by a fan.

Kick It Out, an organization that advocates for players who experience racial abuse within the footballing world, has issued a call to action to social media companies in response to the Twitter abuse that Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham has received over the past 24 hours.

It can be hard to gauge too much from a UEFA Super Cup. Right before the start of the season, clubs have differing views on the importance of a one-off continental cup. 

It wasn’t hard to tell how much Jurgen Klopp cared, and his team played like it.