Imagine Lionel Messi, getting ready to play with his national team after another grueling yet fruitful season. He’s just come off a legacy-defining World Cup and a Ligue 1 title before shocking the world as he announced his intentions to leave Paris Saint-Germain to join Major League Soccer.
England’s Championship division is one of the most intense seasons in Europe. The 46 games played, just in the league itself, give players more opportunities to perform well but also for a team’s season to come crashing down. While there are additional games, every match means just as much in the Championship, if not more, as the teams compete for the right to move up to the ludicrously lucrative Premier League.
As we approach the halfway point in the season, destinies become clear. Moments become more important as every point carries increased weight in the race for the postseason. Hosting in the playoffs is great, but winning is better, and many teams have set themselves up for both outcomes after Matchday 17.
With a sell-out crowd of over 35,000 confirmed, free Women's Champions League Final streaming on YouTube and a historic matchup between Barcelona and Wolfsburg — two true giants of the competition — it doesn't get any better than the 2023 UWCL Final in Eindhoven.
While most European leagues are reaching their gripping conclusions, MLS is still very much up for grabs with 16 matchdays completed. The table has taken shape, but anything is possible in America’s top flight. From last-minute equalizers to incredible displays of impotence in front of goal, there was something for everyone on Matchday 16.
What is form but a spell to be broken? What are records but standards to be rewritten? Comfort and predictability have no home in MLS, especially not during Matchday 15. Across the league, teams and players alike found ways to buck their trends of frustration while others gave frustration a chance.
In July 2022 the great minds working at The18 put their heads together and tried to predict how the 2022-23 Premier League season would unfold. Looking back at our EPL predictions 10 months later we got a couple things right and several things very, very wrong.
Our predictions came out in two separate parts. The first prediction article had each of our individual picks for topics like the Golden Boot race, best American, teams relegated and more.
It doesn't sound like Lindsey Horan is coming back to the NWSL with the Portland Thorns anytime soon.
Rivalry Week in MLS is a special time. Chaos wrapped in pandemonium served with a side of unpredictability. The best sides find a way to rise above the volatility, to keep their heads when all about them are losing theirs. Rivalry week separates the wheat from the chaff, and MLS Matchday 14 embodied that.
In a word, forgettable. Following one of the most exciting matchdays of the MLS season, the league’s first foray into midweek play definitely did not live up to the billing, but there were still a few moments that caught our attention. Despite MLS Matchday 13 being promoted as a continuation of Rivalry Week, there were few games that truly fit that description, and it showed both on the field and in the scorelines.