Radical proposals to change English football backed by heavyweights Liverpool and Manchester United have been met with swift criticism but Football League (EFL) chairman Rick Parry insists he will push forward with the plan.
Mexico has gone into the empty belly of the beast and defeated the Netherlands 1-0 at Johan Cruijff ArenA. The game’s only goal — a penalty converted by Raúl Jiménez — was fortunate in that Jiménez was offside before the foul that led to the spot kick, but Mexico’s play in defense, midfield and attack was superior to the Dutch’s over the course of 90 minutes in Amsterdam.
Here are my five key takeaways after watching Wednesday’s match on ESPN2.
#1. Tecatito is fun as hell.
The most astonishing set of results yet, in an already very unpredictable Premier League season, and the different environment in which the English top flight is operating have raised the prospect of unexpected champions.
On Tuesday the FIFA 21 soundtrack was revealed. Like the previous edition, there are separate tracklists for the regular mode and the Volta street mode, but we’ll be focusing on the 36 tracks that comprise the one that people actually play.
I’m happy to report that while I initially recognized some of the artists — LA Priest, Louis the Child and Tame Impala among them – I hadn’t yet heard a single track off this playlist, which amounts to roughly two hours of listening time.
In Champions League playoff action, Ukraine's Dynamo Kyiv will take on Belgian side Gent on Tuesday in the second leg of their tie.
If you had to speculate which player scored and assisted the most goals in English soccer in 2020, you might suggest Mo Salah, Kevin De Bruyne or maybe Manchester United headliner Bruno Fernandes. All of these would be very good guesses as all three players are among England's leaders in goals involvements this year.
But none of them lead English football in that category — that honor falls solely to Blackburn Rovers attacker Adam Armstrong.
Lionel Messi might have grabbed the headlines this summer for all the wrong reasons as he attempted to leave Barcelona, but on Monday morning they finally belonged to someone else.
Despite being just 17, a lot is expected of Ansu Fati and he did not disappoint, putting in a magical display as Barça thrashed Villarreal 4-0 on Sunday.
Many have pondered what life is going to be like at the Nou Camp once Messi finally leaves, and with the Argentine apparently seeing out the final year of his deal before moving on next year, Fati gave a glimpse of what that might be like.
With all due respect to the folks who work at NBC, we here at The18 are not done echoing the anger and disappointment at the broadcaster’s abrupt abandonment of soccer fans across the U.S. While we won’t go so far as to cry #PeacockOut (the streaming service has its place), we can’t stay quiet over the fact NBC’s greed is getting in the way of our enjoyment of the Premier League.