Kickabout

Manchester United diminishing on Amorim’s watch

Ruben Amorim is a professional football manager.

Under contract at Manchester United, it’s his job to assemble a coaching staff, train the first-team squad, advise on player transactions and oversee all aspects of matchdays, from picking the lineup and directing the tactics to making on-the-fly decisions regarding shape, substitutions and strategy.

Ultimately, he is paid — about $12 million per year — to win games. More practically, he’s at least required to produce results that show a certain trajectory, ideally while entertaining the club’s supporters.

At the same time, it’s his employer’s responsibility to ensure he has the necessary resources to perform to their satisfaction. They might, for example, back him with $420 million in the transfer market or revamp his training complex to the tune of $93 million — both of which, in this instance, they did.

NHL and Serie A: The beginning of a bizarre friendship

Canadian calcio fans will notice a curious crossover this weekend.

Saturday, while AC Milan hosts Cremonese on the first matchday of the Serie A season (1:45 p.m., FuboTV), some familiar faces will appear in the San Siro stands.

Toronto Maple Leafs winger William Nylander will be in attendance, as will Carolina Hurricanes centre Sebastian Aho, defenceman Miro Heiskanen of the Dallas Stars and 23 other NHL players.

No, they haven’t organized a Lombardian stag party, and they’re not starring in a new season of The White Lotus.

Paris FC looks to ensure nomadic existence a thing of the past

They are among the closest rivals in European club football. Literally.

Walk across Rue Claude-Farrère and you’ll find that Paris Saint-Germain and Paris Football Club are separated by no more than 20 metres. From a distance, the corner of the Auteuil and Borelli stands of Parc-des-Princes, where PSG plays its home games, seems almost to touch the adjacent stand of Paris FC’s Stade Jean-Bouin, appropriately named Tribune Parc-des-Princes.

The proximity ends there.

In purely sporting terms, this isn’t a rivalry at all. PSG and Paris FC have played just twice — both times in 1978, both matches ending in draws. When they finally meet again in January, it’ll be as neighbours who have tended to stay out of each other’s way, pretending the encounter isn’t awkward.

Müller sure to give Whitecaps attendance a shot in the arm

After spending his entire career at a single club, Thomas Müller wasn’t going to play just anywhere.

His loyalty to Bayern Munich, where he scored 250 goals and won 23 major honours over a celebrated 25 years, meant he was never going to wear another Bundesliga shirt. European clubs outside Germany, meanwhile, had known for some time that the World Cup winner was not at all interested in joining them, either.

It was rumoured he might retire at the end of last season, and if he didn’t his previous salary at Bayern — a reported 20 million euros (C$32 million) annually — would surely put off most suitors.

As it turns out, the 35-year-old is about to earn around five times less — as a Vancouver Whitecap.

Women’s Euros the gift that keeps on giving

Both semi-finals at the 2025 Women’s European Championship went into extra time. Two matches required penalties in the quarterfinal round.

That’s two thirds of the knockout games going past the 90 minutes.

At no point was it tedious. Quite the contrary, in fact.

This Euro, set to finish Sunday in Basel, Switzerland (11 a.m., TSN), has been compelling from the very first kick, the sort of event where looking away — even for a moment — invites the risk of missing something important.

Olivia Smith in elite company with world record transfer fee to Arsenal

When Arsenal signed Olivia Smith from Liverpool on Thursday, it marked just the second time the North London club had broken the world transfer record.

The first, in 1928, saw marksman David Jack join the Gunners from Bolton for more than £10,000 (about £800,000, or US$1.1 million in today’s money) and become the first footballer to break the five-digit barrier.

According to Arsenal historian Bob Wall, the deal was made in a hotel bar where manager Herbert Chapman had the waiter double up his Bolton counterparts’ gin and tonics. Jack, who is famous for scoring the first Wembley goal, would go on to tally 124 times for Arsenal, leading them to three titles and the FA Cup.

Here’s guessing current director Clare Wheatley, nearly a century on from the Jack transaction, was able to complete her own piece of business without resorting to Chapman’s trickery. What she and the legendary boss do have in common is a sense of history — or, as she called it on Thursday, a “special moment.”

Could Club World Cup’s massive failure be a harbinger for 2026 FIFA World Cup?

Last month, on a sweltering Tuesday morning on the northern outskirts of Madrid, Javier Tebas dropped in at the renowned ESADE Business School, where a student asked him how FIFA might improve its expanded Club World Cup.

“By eliminating it,” he replied.

Tebas, president of La Liga, is rarely shy with his opinions and has made no secret of the fact he despises the tournament that will wrap up Sunday in East Rutherford, N.J. In fact, he’s on a campaign to destroy it.

At another university on July 2, Tebas proclaimed that he would “Do everything possible to ensure (the Club World Cup) doesn’t happen again.” His argument is the event funnels obscene amounts of money to Europe’s biggest clubs, further separating the elite of the club game from the rest of the pack.

For Canada, the real Gold Cup starts now

After getting some rest, dressing their wounds and departing the heat of southeast Texas, the Canadian men’s national team will shortly get back to doing what they entered the Gold Cup to do. That is, playing football.

Ah yes, the football.

Twelve days is a long time in summer tournaments — more than half of this present championship — but that’s how long it’s been since Canada played an actual game against opponents actually interested in playing that game.

In that regard, credit to Honduras. They might have lost 6-0 back on June 17, but at least they turned up to play. It’s a pretty low bar, and yet neither Curaçao nor El Salvador scaled it in Canada’s next two Group B contests. Even worse, they didn’t try to.

Buchanan’s hot foot heating up at the right time

Tajon Buchanan, explained Inter Milan’s welcome message, hails “from the frigid climate of Canada.”

It was January 2024, and the Brampton-born winger had just joined the Nerazzurri from Club Brugge. A few weeks later, once the Italian giants had exhausted their tropes, he became the first Canadian to play in Serie A.

In retrospect, it was the right move at the wrong time. Then-manager Simone Inzaghi was famous for playing favourites with a squad that rarely changed from week to week, and Buchanan rarely got off the bench.

Then, at last summer’s Copa America, he suffered a broken tibia that kept him off the pitch for 116 days. The injury all but ensured he’d never crack the Inter line-up. He asked to go on loan and was picked up by Villarreal.

Arsenal women’s club continues to outperform on the big stage

If Arsenal hope to leave Lisbon with the Women’s Champions League trophy this weekend, they should get in touch with the city’s 3rd Criminal Investigation Squad.

They wouldn’t be reaching out for security purposes — although some extra vigilance might be helpful — but rather to connect with the trio of 20-somethings who broke into Estadio Jose Alvalade last Sunday morning, stole the trophy from the garage and took it on a three-hour bus ride to Porto.

The English club could use a few pointers, because thievery might be the only way to take the 10 kilogram piece of sterling silver from the possessive clutches of Barcelona, who basically own it.

Almost exactly a year ago, Barça Feminí beat OL Lyonnes 2-0 to retain the European crown. Aitana Bonmatí and Alexia Putellas, winners of the last four Ballons D’Or, scored the goals that decided the Final in Bilbao. The year before that, Bonmatí inspired a second-half comeback to topple VfL Wolfsburg in Eindhoven.

Infantino trades status for White House access

Earlier this week, reporters at Politico were shown a letter sent by Human Rights Watch (HRW) to FIFA president Gianni Infantino. In it, director of global initiatives Minky Worden expressed the organization’s “grave concerns” about next year’s World Cup, which the United States will co-host along with Mexico and Canada.

Citing the extralegal border detentions, anti-LGBTTQ+ discrimination and “chilling” clampdowns on freedom of speech that are the daily reality of the second Trump administration, HRW called on FIFA to use its leverage in effecting changes to U.S. policy.

If doing so proved impossible, the letter concluded, FIFA should “reconsider the hosting decision.”

It’s unlikely the envelope was even opened.

Real Madrid criticism at fever pitch

REAL Madrid Club de Futbol enjoyed a few hours of quiet on Thursday.

Archrivals Barcelona weren’t in action, having thrilled in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal against Inter Milan the night before. So at least the jealousy had cooled.

Quite briefly, they weren’t even the top story at their own club. Real Madrid Baloncesto had that honour after losing their EuroLeague basketball series to Olympiacos. Misery, at least for one evening, had company.

Oh, and things are miserable at Real Madrid — the football version. Miserable, and very, very loud. (Except for Thursday.) The mood is so bad amongst the team, the press and the fans that you’d never know Los Blancos are just four points off the top of La Liga with five matches still to play.

All or nothing for Barcelona

Rewind to five months ago.

On a Champions League Tuesday, at home to Stade Brestois, fans of FC Barcelona whistled at unpopular midfielder Frenkie de Jong, whose substitute appearance lasted a mere six minutes.

Given the mood at the Montjuic stadium, you’d think the hosts would have lost to their French opponents. In fact, they won 3-0.

Fast forward to the present and de Jong is set to sign a contract extension with the Blaugrana. Yes, his performances have much improved, but it helps that his employers are no longer dead set on dumping his salary. Manager Hansi Flick is also in line for a fresh agreement — and likely a raise.

World Cup drama already reaching fever pitch

You can tell from the urgency, tensity and even hostility of the past few days that we’re not far off from the men’s World Cup.

A year from now, we’ll be following the inter-confederation playoffs to learn the final two qualifiers for the competition proper. By then, December’s group stage draw will have mostly built out the brackets and determined the schedule.

Time is running out. Nerves are taut. You’d think the drama was already underway.

Well, it kind of is. And we needn’t look far to find it.

Canada has to take more chances in CONCACAF Nations League consolation match against U.S.

They got the match-up they were wanting. On Sunday, the Canadian men’s soccer team will face the United States in the CONCACAF Nations League finals (5 p.m., TSN & OneSoccer). Unfortunately, it’ll be in the tournament’s third-place game.

“A knife to the heart,” was how Canada manager Jesse Marsch described his team’s 2-0 loss to Mexico in Thursday’s second semifinal. “If you want to play football, you need to take risks,” mused his USA counterpart Mauricio Pochettino, whose players didn’t take enough in a 1-0 defeat to Panama earlier that evening.

Combined, the losing semifinalists launched 21 shots at their opponents. They also enjoyed the majority of possession, superior passing numbers and a more than two-to-one advantage on corner kicks.

Neither, however, suffered. Mexico and Panama, meanwhile, took their lumps, endured their pain and, despite being outplayed, hit back with devastating effect.

Panama, Canada and Mexico motivated foes at CONCACAF Nations League finals

What do you get when you bring a bunch of angry Canadians, aggrieved Panamanians and resentful Mexicans to the United States in March of 2025? Why, the CONCACAF Nations League finals, of course.

As the football fates would have it, these are the three countries whose national teams will look to topple the reigning and three-time champion Americans in Greater Los Angeles next week. One has had its sovereignty threatened; one its nationalized canal; and the other, take your pick – all by a U.S. government as belligerent as it is incompetent.

The recent 4 Nations Face-Off hockey tournament was bitter enough. Now add some royally peeved Central Americans to the mix. Things could get sour in a hurry. All three visiting sides want a crack at the States, suddenly thrust into the role of Enemy No.1 in a sport they’re just sort of good at.

Only Panama, however, are guaranteed to face the Americans. Needless to say, it’s a matchup they can’t wait to get started.

Sporting world on edge

I recently returned from Europe, where, as it has in North America, both formal and informal discourse continues to revolve around the new American administration and its assaults on territorial sovereignty, international trade and basically the whole of the post-war status quo.

Initially caught completely off guard — which they shouldn’t have been — the Europeans seem finally to be orienting themselves to this new reality, moving from the shock of the affront to a sharper sense of the moment.

At the same time I was reading, watching and listening to the commentary from back home, much of it rightfully questioning the lack of support from Canada’s trans-Atlantic friends, the general sense among the EU’s talking classes was this country’s government had won the first tariff stand-off with its southern neighbours — a victory that seemed to at once comfort and embolden our allies.

Another observation I made — and this is where sport, and world football specifically, becomes relevant — was the overseas media spaces (see the latest issue of The Economist for one example) have begun to critically weigh what a belligerent, inward-looking United States might mean for a range of global institutions. Given the 2026 World Cup will take place on this continent, it might be worthwhile, even prudent, to consider how this White House may attempt to reshape the sporting landscape along its ideological lines.

Mixed reviews for new Champs League format

The reviews are in, and they are … mixed.

“Exciting?” Depends who you ask. “Unpredictable?” Depends when. “Popular?” Yes and no.

On Wednesday, what was formerly the UEFA Champions League group stage will conclude, presenting a final, single list of standings to enthusiasts, disparagers and recent converts from one position to the other.

Will the 36-team table have done enough to head off further talk of a new European Super League? Was that even its purpose? The new format was fairer, though. Or was it? Can something be both fair and compelling?

Conte working managerial magic at Napoli

Their title-winning season hadn’t even finished when manager Luciano Spalletti announced he’d be leaving Napoli in the spring of 2023.

Barely a month after celebrating that first Scudetto since Maradona’s last in 1990, Serie A’s Miglior difensore, Defender of the Year Kim Min-jae, departed for Bayern Munich. Barely a month after that, Mexico’s first Italian champion, Chucky Lozano, moved back to Holland, from where he’d come.

One campaign, three head coaches and a 10th-place finish later, leading goal-scorer Victor Osimhen joined Galatasaray, pivotal midfielder Piotr Zielinski signed with Inter Milan and, as if the proud and so recently successful club hadn’t been sufficiently shaken, its ownership altered its badge.

It was into this turmoil that Antonio Conte arrived. What has followed is nothing less than a managerial master class.

Football a sideshow to instability plaguing Manchester sides

Pep Guardiola is “stable.” His words. Or, word. Which few people are taking him at. Not when he’s confronting fans in the street, scratching his scalp in frustration and slumping on the visitors’ bench, hands in pockets, while his Manchester City side huff and puff and lose to Juventus.

Ruben Amorim is on a “long journey.” That is, the new Manchester United boss and the club that hired him, and its fans, are on one together. And together they “will suffer for a long period.” Like they did last weekend when they lost 3-2 at home to Nottingham Forest. At least he’s honest.

On Sunday (10:30 a.m., FuboTV), the stable Guardiola and the suffering Amorim will face each other for the first time in the Premier League when the former’s City hosts the latter’s United in a quite dysfunctional Manchester Derby. And what makes the build-up to it so intriguingly weird is that neither manager is the most dysfunctional thing about it.

Take the guests, for starters.

Renaissance at Fiorentina

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Florence? Quick — this is rapid fire.

Okay. Now, football in Florence? Go!

There’s a very good chance — even a 100 per cent chance — you answered the first question with “Renaissance.” And if not that, then something Renaissance-themed: “Michelangelo,” “Medici,” “cathedral dome.” Fair enough.

The second question, for anyone who doesn’t follow Serie A, and hasn’t in quite a while, is probably a bit tougher. “Batistuta,” perhaps? Or “Luca Toni?” “Francesco Toldo?” “Dunga?”

MLS quarterfinals set for next weekend

If you listen closely, you can just about hear the silence.

Pleasant, isn’t it? The soccer calendar can get so full, so very full, and it’s sometimes nice to just relax and watch a holiday movie. After all, no one wants to think about sports on weekends in mid-November.

Take MLS, for example.

Now, you might be wondering, “What even is an MLS?” Fair enough.

Dutch club honours Canadian hero

It reads like a Hollywood script, only the studios could never conceive of something so audacious.

A one-eyed warrior carrying two submachine guns, one on each arm, and loaded with a sack of grenades, relieving a small city in the northeastern Netherlands of its Nazi oppressors… by himself.

Considering a summary of the Battle of Zwolle is enough to give you goosebumps. German belligerents: Wehrmacht, Gestapo and Waffen-SS. Allied belligerents: 1. Result: Allied victory.

Now, let’s fast-forward 80 years. The hero’s story is best told by this liberated town — and its local football team.

What a weekend of football action

There must be a room somewhere, or a clandestine conference call, in which the schedule-makers of 10 or more leagues agree to book some of European football’s most important derbies on the very same weekend.

Given most phone calls could instead be emails, and that this is a sport whose powerbrokers prefer to do their business in person, it’s fun to imagine the group of them gathered at a villa on Lake Garda, or perhaps in a rooftop restaurant overlooking the Golden Horn, or at least on a yacht anchored in Christianshavn, their sole purpose being to deliver a jam-packed, must-see, can’t-miss couple of days for supporters.

On second thought, it’s almost impossible to picture any sort of meeting at which the fans are noted on the agenda. So we’ll chalk it up to coincidence. But what a coincidence!

Let’s count ‘em up.

Canada-Panama friendlies anything but

They might be the two best teams in CONCACAF, and they’ve recently developed one of the North and Central American and Caribbean region’s most heated match-ups. No, it’s not Mexico-United States, although the border opponents will renew their enmity next week in Guadalajara. That’s yesterday’s rivalry. This fresher, more relevant animosity entangles a pair of innovative coaches, delivers reliably exciting soccer and animates almost everyone involved. JOHN LOCHER / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Canada’s Ismael Kone (right) knocks the ball out of the air against Harold Cummings of Panama during a 2023 CONCACAF matchup. It’s Canada-Panama, and their next encounter […]

Battle of Bundesliga titans

WHAT happens when an immovable object encounters an irresistible force?

It’s a riddle that physicists have wrestled with for as long as there have been physicists; a conundrum faced by the Bundesliga for as long as there’s been a Bundesliga.

Given their post-war dominance of German football, Bayern Munich would seem to be the immovable object. Except for a six-year spell in the 1970s, they’ve kept a rock-solid presence at or near the top of the table. In 2013 they began an unprecedented stretch of 11 consecutive titles that included a pair of treble-winning seasons.

Then they met the unstoppable force.

Winless Everton gets chance for victory against weak Valencia

We have heard them time and again — clichés about this league only really starting after Labour Day, that one at Christmas, another one in which “it’s still early” until the end of June; the list goes on.

High stakes in North London Derby

How to define Sunday’s North London Derby… Nerve-racking? Must-win? Weird?

Yes.

This latest encounter of archrivals Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal (Sunday, 8 a.m., FuboTV) will be unlike anything most fans of either club have ever seen. Literally.

In a funny-to-everyone-else development, the very serious Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) has banned Arsenal wearing their traditional red shirt for a Tottenham match — something that hasn’t happened in almost 40 years. It has “too much white,” apparently, and therefore “clashes” with their opponents’ home kit.

Liverpool holds upper hand in showdown with Man U

If Sunday’s Northwest Derby were to be played as a game of Dutch Blitz, the advantage would have to lie with Liverpool.

Speed is key to winning the contest of cards, as is a clear head for quick decision-making and agility in moving the hand you’ve been dealt from one pile to the next. When it all gets a bit nuts, a touch of good humour doesn’t hurt, either.

It’s a game in which sleek prevails over clunky, where lightness of mind beats doubt and deliberation every time.

Put another way, if you can acquire and register Federico Chiesa in 12 hours or less — and for only £10 million – you are already beating an opponent who needs about a week to land Manuel Ugarte for four times that sum.

No one cares about Saudi league

Does he want us to laugh? To groan? To sympathize? Maybe just look at him? There’s not much else to look at, after all — something he seems to finally understand. Cristiano Ronaldo threw a tantrum last weekend. That is, he threw one tantrum after the next as the Al-Nassr team he captains conceded four goals in 17 minutes to Al-Hilal in the final of the Saudi Super Cup. Many of his teammates, we’re given to believe, suck. VAHID SALEMI / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Cristiano Ronaldo could be wondering where the fans are as he plays for Al Nassr […]

Chelsea the laughing-stock of English football after ‘fundamentally stupid’ moves

With the Premier League season underway as of this weekend, how about a riddle to kick things off…

What has six goalkeepers, no shirt sponsor and a midfielder stranded in Spain?

Still thinking? Here’s the answer, phrased as a wisecrack: “Wanna hear a quick Premier League joke? Chelsea.”

Ba dum tss!

The Beautiful Game in a beautiful place

It is “the most beautiful game in the most beautiful place.” That’s how they’re selling it, anyway. Not that their sales job is all that difficult. Ticket-holders for Como 1907 football matches, if they happen to be seated on the east curve of Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia, will look out at the hillcrests of the Spina Verde. If they’re at the opposite end, they’ll see the dramatic slopes of Monte Boletto rising over the pristine waters of the glacial Lake Como. And if they’re watching from the north stand, they’ll be just behind the yacht club. Tim Hales / Associated Press […]

Scandal Overshadows Canadian women's soccer team's quest for Olympic glory

There will come a day when the exploits of Canada’s women’s soccer team will be recounted as events taking place on the pitch over the course of 90 minutes or 120 or penalty kicks. It will not be today, this weekend, or any time during the 2024 Olympic Games — and probably not in the foreseeable future that follows them. Which is a shame, because this women’s team, like so many before it, has enough of the remarkable for any number of those inspiring stories that supplement, and even prop up, the occasion of this quadrennial spectacle. No, it’s not […]

It’s Turkiye time at Euro 2024

What if the signature highlight of Euro 2024 is not a memorable winner, à la David Trezeguet’s golden goal, or an iconic strike of the ball, such as Marco van Basten’s majestic volley? What if — and it would be rather appropriate, given the nature of this tournament to date — it’s not even a sequence that ends with the ball in the back of the net, but rather preserves a result by keeping it out?

Peru soccer match a perfect opportunity for positive result

In tournaments at the highest level of world football (sorry, Gold Cup), the Canadian men’s national team has played seven matches – and lost them all.

Now, they’ve also come up against some elite opposition in those two competitions and part of a third. There was the Soviet Union and Michel Platini’s France in 1986, and 18 months ago in Qatar they faced Belgium and Luka Modric’s Croatia.

For Thursday night in Atlanta, in the opening match of the 2024 Copa América, they were assigned the greatest player in history and World Cup holders Argentina. Two hours later, quite predictably, they suffered that seventh defeat.

Yet Argentina suffered too. It wasn’t until the 88th minute that the all-timer Lionel Messi put Inter Milan striker Lautaro Martinez through to score an insurance goal and secure the three points. Canada had a number of meaningful chances, and a 1-1 or 2-2 draw would hardly have flattered them.

Individual accolades have eluded all-time great Kroos

The Champions League Final on Saturday will be a club football curtain call for one of the best, and among the least appreciated, midfielders of his generation.

He’ll be expecting, and expected, to dictate the tempo of a match after which he’ll lift the European Cup – his sixth, equalling Paco Gento’s all-time record.

Winning, after all, is something that comes naturally to Toni Kroos. Almost as naturally as the 30,000 passes he’s completed, give or take, over the course of a glittering career that, should Real Madrid beat Borussia Dortmund at Wembley (2 p.m., DAZN), will see him become the most decorated German footballer ever.

Even that won’t be the end. Not quite, as the 34-year-old will play in the upcoming European Championship, which Germany will host later this month. An international career that yielded a World Cup in 2014 appeared to be finished after an early exit at Euro 2020, but in late March he returned to Die Mannschaft for a friendly in France. He set up Florian Wirtz’s opening goal inside the first 10 seconds.

Barca paves way for ascension of Spanish women’s soccer

It will be a spectacular send-off.

As Barcelona’s blaugrana colours and the blue, red and white of Olympique Lyonnais shimmer on the nearby waters of the Nervión, projected by the illuminated panels of Estadio de San Mamés, women’s football’s team of the moment will be facing the team of the century in a much-anticipated Champions League final.

The symbolic conclusion to the club season, the match (Saturday, 11 a.m., DAZN) will also serve as a sort of going-away party ahead of the upcoming Olympic Games, where the women’s football tournament will commence in exactly two months.

Spain, the reigning world champions, will bring as many as eight or nine Barcelona players to the Games. France, which hosts them, will name six or seven participants from Lyon to a team it hopes will use home field advantage to win the gold medal.

Gunners, Red Devils heading in opposite directions

Keane vs. Vieira, The Battle of the Buffet, “squeaky-bum time”…

It wasn’t so long ago that Manchester United-Arsenal was generating career-defining rivalries, violent and occasionally bizarre confrontations, and quotes that instantly became part of English football lore.

Which is why, for a pair of clubs that used to meet at what seemed like every critical juncture, it’s startling to see them playing in two completely different seasons.

Arsenal, to their credit, are operating in the current one.

Mbappé era draws to a close at PSG

Over the next few days, barring a change of heart that would surprise even himself, Kylian Mbappé will play his final two home games for Paris Saint-Germain. The second of the pair, against Toulouse on May 12, will be less a match than a trophy presentation, as the champions-elect Parisiens will celebrate a third successive Championnat and sixth from the seven years Mbappé has spent at the club. Whether he and his teammates are in a celebratory mood will have been determined five days earlier, in his penultimate appearance at Parc des Princes. By then, they’ll have faced Borussia Dortmund […]

Klopp has given Liverpool fans plenty of reasons to smile

Standing on the touchline at Goodison Park, it finally sunk in. You could pinpoint the exact moment when it did. Dominic Calvert-Lewin had just evaded both Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold to connect with Dwight McNeil’s high, arcing corner. Almost pausing mid-leap with hang-time Michael Jordan would be proud of, his well-placed, downward header was even more impressive than the jump, and suddenly Everton were beating Liverpool 2-0 in the Merseyside Derby. And all he could do was smile. Jon Super / The Associated Press A Premier Legaue championship does not appear to be in the cards for Jurgen […]

Leverkusen putting the ghosts of ‘Neverkusen’ to rest

The day before the 2002 World Cup final, Germany superstar Michael Ballack was faced with an awkward question. He likely knew it was coming. Having picked up a yellow card in Die Mannschaft’s semifinal win over tournament co-hosts South Korea, in which he scored the only goal, the Bayer Leverkusen midfielder was asked about the booking that ruled him out of the showdown with Brazil. “Maybe it’s a good omen that I won’t be there,” he replied. Martin Meissner / The Associated Press Leverkusen’s Granit Xhaka: We believe in ourselves. Forty-five days earlier, Ballack’s Leverkusen side had lost the Champions […]

Securing top spot in Premiership will be much easier if Arsenal downs reigning champs

Sunday’s showdown with Manchester City is a must-win matter for Arsenal.

It may sound extreme, as nine games will still remain for both, but defeat would open the road for another City cruise to the title. A draw would merely delay that from happening.

If the Gunners are to lift a first Premier League trophy in 20 years, only a triumph at Etihad Stadium (Sunday, 10:30 a.m., FuboTV) will do.

Here’s the lay of the land.

Canada’s cultural reset

The kits are new, the general secretary is new and the squad hasn’t been this young since 2019. There’s a theme here, and it’s one the Canadian men’s soccer team will want to perpetuate when they play on this, the first weekend of spring.

A “cultural reset” is what interim head coach Mauro Biello is calling it, though “renewal” is a more poetic descriptor given the season, and “regeneration” a more accurate one.

Ahead of Saturday’s playoff encounter with Trinidad and Tobago (3 p.m., One Soccer) – the winner of which will qualify for the summer’s Copa America — Biello has been training a squad that includes just 15 of the 26 internationals who represented their country at the last World Cup.

As if to further emphasize the proverbial new leaf, five of the starters from Canada’s final Group F match were not called up for the week’s preparations. (A sixth, Jonathan Osorio, withdrew due to injury.) Notable among the omissions were goalkeeper Milan Borjan, the incumbent captain, and longtime defender Steven Vitoria, who turned 37 in January.

Time has come for Man U forward to prove he belongs

Marcus Rashford wants you to know how much he loves Manchester United, and that the club is lucky to have him.

If you doubt it, you can, as he writes in his Players’ Tribune essay published Thursday, ask his mum.

“I don’t normally like to respond to things said about me. It’s not in my nature,” he writes, before responding to things said about him for more than 2,200 words.

If United needed a distraction ahead of a Manchester Derby they’ll almost certainly lose (Sunday, 9:30 a.m., FuboTV), they got one. They didn’t need it, not another one, and certainly not from a purportedly selfless player who has gone and made it all about himself.

Managing has never been more complex

Call it stability, call it discipline. Ultimately, it’s all about control.

Granted, gone are the days when an all-powerful Sir Alex Ferguson-type figure could supervise the totality of English football’s biggest clubs. There are too many moving pieces nowadays, and too few larger-than-life personalities — nevermind what’s all at stake — for all that authority to be concentrated in a single person.

In a way, it’s actually made the job of first-team manager more difficult, what with administrative hierarchies to navigate and commercial relationships to nurture, or tolerate. It’s why the diplomatic Carlo Ancelotti, for example, continues to excel while someone such as Jose Mourinho, whose purely head-coaching acumen has never been his strength, is less effective than he was a decade or two ago.

Control — even the perception of it — has never been more tricky to impose at behemoth enterprises such as Chelsea and Liverpool. At the same time, it has never been as vital to on-field performance (as Ferguson’s former club, Manchester United, can attest). And it makes Sunday’s Carabao Cup final (9 a.m., DAZN) especially compelling, as its participants are at either end of the chaos spectrum.

Nigeria faces host Ivory Coast in Sunday’s Cup of Nations final

After all that, a dream final.

Not that Sunday’s conclusion to the Africa Cup of Nations (2 p.m., FuboTV) was in any way expected. No, neither Nigeria nor Ivory Coast, while traditional contenders, was much fancied to reach this point of the competition, initially planned for last June and July before being switched to this January and February.

Holders Senegal, featuring the likes of Sadio Mane, Edouard Mendy and Kalidou Koulibaly, looked a likely prospect to become the first repeat champions since Egypt won back-to-back-to-back titles between 2006 and 2010. The Pharaohs, led by Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah, seemed poised to do their part in creating a rerun of the 2021 final.

Both were bounced from the round of 16. So, too, were Cameroon and Burkina Faso, which meant that the four previous semifinalists had been prematurely wiped off the board. Even Morocco – just 13 months removed from a fourth-place finish at the World Cup – lost early, and each of Algeria, Tunisia and Ghana failed to make it out of their groups.

Shock and surprise continue at African Cup of Nations

It makes for gruesome reading. Cameroon — gone. Burkina Faso — gone. Equatorial Guinea — gone. Egypt — gone. Senegal — gone. Morocco — gone. Each of them, having begun the Africa Cup of Nations with designs on a semifinal or final, victims of an absolutely ruthless round of 16. Add group stage casualties Ghana, Zambia, Tunisia and Algeria to the list and you have a roll call of this ongoing tournament’s stunning brutality. SUNDAY ALAMBA / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Cape Verde’s Ryan Mendes (left) is tackled by Mauritania’s Ibrahima Keita during an African Cup of Nations round of 16 […]

Mourinho and Saudi Pro League, the perfect fit

ROME – José Mourinho loves a good story. That is, provided it’s about himself – “himself” being whatever character he’s pretending to be for his latest autobiographical yarn. Most recently, and it’s not the first time he’s brought this particular costume out from the tickle trunk, the now ex-Roma boss has been playing the part of a much-beloved child wizard. “Their coach is José ‘Harry Potter’ Mourinho, and he raises expectations,” he proclaimed after last week’s derby loss to Lazio in which his side lacked even the semblance of magic. Darko Bandic / The Associated Press files Having been sacked […]

Football club just one thing to love about ancient Sicilian city

PALERMO, Sicily — This place is old. Older-than-Rome old. That’s just going back to the Phoenicians, nevermind the Mesolithic inhabitants whose carvings can still be seen in the grottoes of Mount Pellegrino.

Remarkably, the Palermitano remain fluent in their history. Though it would be well near impossible to forget it. One has only to look at the Byzantine, Saracen and Norman layers of the city — sometimes within the same building — to get a sense of the cultures that have mingled here over millennia, that mingle still.

Or, just breathe through the nose in the Kalsa. Smells like an education.

Even the football here is infused with the past.

Africa Cup of Nations brings promise of world-wide excitment

Over the next few days, some of world football’s most high-profile players will be leaving their clubs mid-season to contest what might be the most significant Africa Cup of Nations ever held.

The tournament, which has a proud history predating the European Championship by three years, is set to be broadcast to a wider international audience than ever before, and host nation Ivory Coast is dedicating significant investment to ensure its success and cement its legacy.

Four stadiums have been built, transportation infrastructure has been updated and social projects such as hospitals have been prioritized. All told, the West African country will have spent more than $1.3 billion by the time the gold-plated trophy is lifted in Abidjan.

What non-Ivorians will notice, however, are the 24 star-studded teams that will make this AFCON one of the most – if not the most – compelling of its 34 instalments to date.

Cliches abound in Liverpool-Man U showdown

Sometimes, a well-worn cliche is all that’s needed for a big game preview.

Canucks display deficiencies in defeat

Chalk it up to the long-haul flights? Or maybe the inaugural venture of an interim manager? What about that inactive spell of more than three months?

Canada’s 4-1 defeat by Japan in Friday’s international friendly was so comprehensively thorough that they might be best to simply point to the date on the calendar: Friday the 13th. Because that was dreadful.

And doomed from the start.

The match in Niigata wasn’t two minutes old when the hosts went in front – Alphonso Davies’ give-away preceding failed clearances from Kamal Miller, Samuel Piette and Derek Cornelius, and ultimately Ao Tanaka’s deflected shot that rolled past goalkeeper Milan Borjan, who wouldn’t have got to it anyway.

FIFA, where ignorance is strength

It would almost be Orwellian if it weren’t so ridiculous.

On Wednesday — otherwise a typical, run-of-the-mill Wednesday — Gianni Infantino appeared on the screens of everyone who’d forgotten to unfollow FIFA’s socials and launched into one of his bizarre, rambling speeches.

We are divided, he reminded us, but FIFA and football can save humanity… etc., etc… that old chestnut. When he opened his remarks with “Hello, everyone,” you could just tell he sincerely believed he was speaking to every single person in the world, ever. Literally everyone.

Oh, and by the way, the 2030 World Cup will be held in six countries on two continents – as per, he emphasized, the unanimous decision of the Council.

Athletes complicit in sportswashing

Sometimes, they say the quiet part out loud, on purpose.

It’s not a slip of the tongue, the dupe from a gotcha moment, or even a remark betraying pitiful naivety. Rather, it’s a statement made without regard for consequences, because the speaker knows full well there won’t be any, that due to their power, wealth or the cowardice of others, they are beyond the reach of ramifications.

“If sportwashing is going to increase my GDP,” mused Mohammed bin Salman in an interview with Fox News last week, “then I will continue doing sportwashing.”

The Saudi crown prince had revealed his kingdom’s public wealth fund was buying up sports and entertainment properties, and acquiring big-name footballers to add profile to the domestic Pro League, not only to launder Saudi Arabia’s reputation but also boost its GDP by 1.5 per cent.

Super Soccer Sunday coming up

IF “two” is a coincidence and “three” a pattern, “four” is a super soccer Sunday, as a quadruple of major derbies will be contested in a quartet of countries on Sunday.

In order of kickoff times, that would be De Klassieker, North London, Madrid and Le Classique; the Netherlands, England, Spain and France. Count ‘em up. Then buckle in.

The first of two encounters between cities that really, really despise one another, Amsterdam’s Ajax and Rotterdam’s Feyenoord will get the day started at Johan Cruyff Arena (7:30 a.m., FuboTV). It’ll be a battle of the Eredivisie’s previous two winners, though neither are among the Champions League places after a month and a bit of the 2023-24 season. Ajax, accustomed to life at or near the top of the table, are 12th going into the match, having won just a single game so far.

Feyenoord, meanwhile, are unbeaten through five rounds and have outscored their national rivals by more than double this term. Mexico striker Santiago Gimenez paces the division with six goals, and new signing Calvin Stengs, who helped Royal Antwerp to a league and cup double last season, leads in assists.

All eyes on Milan derby

I recently showed my hockey-crazed nephew (a Bruins fan, but we won’t hold it against him) a paper copy of La Gazzetta dello Sport. Each year I subscribe him to The Hockey News — biweekly during the NHL season — and I wanted to see his reaction when presented with a similar-sized publication that comes out daily.

The jaw-hits-floor cliche has rarely been so appropriate.

Think hockey, baseball or gridiron football players and teams are heavily scrutinized? Compared with their calcio counterparts, they enjoy enviable anonymity — especially during the build-up to high-profile matches, such as Saturday’s Derby della Madonnina.

For example, if you were to buy Saturday’s Gazzetta (or Corriere dello Sport, or Tuttosport – there are three), your two dollars would furnish you with no fewer than 10 pieces of preview content, from full-length articles to columns to analytics, not including the front page. You’d see an image with expected line-ups in formation, statistical pie charts, player profiles, manager interviews, intricate tactical diagrams and reports on stadium condition and the game’s referee.

2026 World Cup closer than you think

The 2026 FIFA men’s World Cup will be the biggest sporting event in history. And the longest. In fact, it’s already begun.

Earlier this week, less than nine months after Lionel Messi lifted the trophy in Doha, qualification for the tournament co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States kicked off in southeast Paraguay. The hosts played Peru to a scoreless draw at Estadio Antonio Aranda, about 7,000 km. from Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca, the likely venue of the World Cup proper’s opening match just over 32 months from now.

Later Thursday evening, Colombia forward Santos Borre scored the first goal in a journey that, by the spring of 2026, will have already involved 208 national teams and almost 1,000 games. Argentina were in action, too, and with nine of the 11 players that took the field against France in December beat Ecuador 1-0 in Buenos Aires.

So the route to the next World Cup is already being travelled, though, incredibly, no one knows exactly where it will finish.

Canada’s soccer governing body likely past the point of recovery

Of the myriad ways Canada Soccer reveals its utter loathsomeness, the frequency with which it exhausts good, well-meaning people is at or near the top of the pile.

Say what you will about John Herdman, but the now-former manager of the women’s and men’s national teams has done more for the sport in this country than just about any non-playing figure in its history.

As incoming head coach of Major League Soccer’s Toronto FC, that influence will continue.

The manner of his departure from Canada Soccer, officially the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA), was itself a mercy. Under contract, he’d have commanded significant severance had he been sacked. In stepping down, he saved his erstwhile and cash-strapped employer the indignity of a bounced cheque. They deserved far less.

No one knows what to make of PSG

You have to go back more than a decade to recall the last time Paris Saint-Germain went winless in three to begin their Ligue 1 schedule. All the way back to when David Beckham played for the club, which won its first title in 19 years that spring.

Yes, there was a period — most of their existence, in fact — during which PSG didn’t dominate the top flight of French football. While it’s still early, the capital giants might be in danger of having their vice-like grip on Le Championnat loosened, however slightly.

Fail to win Saturday at home to Lens (2 p.m., fuboTV), and they’ll match that unfortunate streak of 11 years ago. Although, you’d hardly know there was even a match at the weekend, what with the ongoing drama that has shadowed the past few months.

Most recently, it’s been about the captaincy.

Treasure trove of talent on display

There are many ways to analyze a very good team.

Leadership, both on and off the field, is obviously an important measure, as are physical and mental fitness, ingenuity in training and execution, and coaching acumen that both positions the line-up to succeed and makes adjustments when it fails.

In the end, however, there’s really just a single overarching quantifier that shades all manners of appraisal.

“My ambition,” once remarked Louis van Gaal, “is that I have the best players who can collaborate with each other to form the best team in the world.”

Canada quickly becoming irrelevant

Speaking plainly in the moments following Canada’s group stage departure from the Women’s World Cup, captain Christine Sinclair remarked that the national team was in danger of being matched, and even surpassed, by rival programs.

It would have been a prophetic statement, had it been made five or six years ago.

Sinclair’s qualifier, “if things don’t change,” — a deserved dig at this country’s soccer governance — while part of the picture, doesn’t tell the whole story. Her other observation, that “there’s 23 players out there… and we didn’t get it done,” might better sum up what we’ve so far seen in Australia and New Zealand.

Yes, Canada and the United States are reigning Olympic and world champions, though the latter won’t apply just over a week from now and the former almost certainly next summer.

U.S. right-wingers turn on women’s soccer team

By virtue of their repetitive, tiresome and, admittedly, intimidating dominance, the United States women’s soccer team should be a difficult rooting interest not only in Canada but pretty much anywhere that’s represented at an Olympics or World Cup.

Of the seven Olympic Games at which women’s soccer has been an official sport, they’ve medalled six times — four times gold. They’ve also won half the World Cups to date — four of eight — and have never finished lower than third. Combined, their goal-difference in the two competitions is +143.

They’ve always been good, and they’ve always known it — playing with that confident American swagger which is all the more irksome because it’s justified.

Their top players down the years, from Michelle Akers and Mia Hamm to Carli Lloyd and Megan Rapinoe were, and are, household names, with compensation to match. Alex Morgan, who plays for San Diego Wave of the National Women’s Soccer League and ranks fifth on her country’s all-time goalscoring chart, earned about US$5 million in endorsements last year. And as Winnipeggers well know, the team has a very large and very loyal fanbase.

Canada crashes out of World Cup

It could not have gone worse.

From the attack, which was expected to struggle and did, to the defence, which had typically been so reliable but wasn’t, to the goalkeeping, heroic in Tokyo but a liability in Melbourne, the Canadian women’s soccer team was let down in every phase of the game at the 2023 World Cup.

There is no silver lining. No positives to somehow take away from a deserved group stage exit. No blue-chip prospects, for instance, who might at least have provided a glimmer of hope, however faint, of brighter days ahead for the demoralized Olympic champions.

In the short term, Canada’s defence of its Olympic gold medal begins in earnest in late September when they’re scheduled to face Jamaica in a two-legged qualification playoff for the Paris Games. That would be the same Jamaica side that held France to a draw in Sydney and is currently second in Group F.

Canada controls destiny at World Cup

“Win, and they’re in.” Or, more accurately, “don’t lose, and they don’t go home.” It’s really as simple as that.

Canada’s fading World Cup aspirations were jolted back to life in a matter of minutes on Wednesday. Comeback wins can do that. Now, with only a match against tournament co-hosts Australia remaining in Group B (Monday, 5 a.m., TSN), they find themselves in the enviable position of controlling their destiny.

Which, given that they went 152 minutes without scoring Down Under, is quite the turn of events. And yet, there are multiple ways to frame their campaign to date.

For the cup-half-full lot, they’re still unbeaten, haven’t conceded from open play and have trailed for less than a single period. The half-empties, however, could point out that they’ve tallied just once themselves (the equalizer against Ireland was a Megan Connolly own goal), are sweating over the fitness of captain Christine Sinclair and are reliant on Nigeria dropping points to top the group.

Shrewd coaching decisions propel Canada

You have to tip your cap to Bev Priestman.

Knowing her side required an adjustment, a spark, after drawing Nigeria nil-nil to open the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the Canada manager rang the changes.

In came Jessie Fleming and Evelyne Viens to start Wednesday’s Group B match against Ireland; out went Deanne Rose and captain Christine Sinclair. It was a brave new look to a Canadian XI — a first without its all-time leading goalscorer since 1999. And it did not go well.

Conceding early to Katie McCabe’s “Olimpico” goal, straight in off a corner kick, the Olympic gold medallists appeared lost, disjointed, very much a group with only two competitive matches played in more than three months.

Spain’s quick ascent to elite of Women’s soccer

They made it look so easy. A “peaceful irruption,” according to creatively oxymoronic Barcelona daily Sport. With only a cameo appearance from the world’s best player, no less.

Going through their lineup, watching them, you quickly forget Spain is making only its third Women’s World Cup appearance. The tournament in Canada was their first, and they didn’t win a match. Four years later in France, they beat South Africa in the group stage.

Friday’s 3-0 win over Costa Rica, then, was La Roja’s second victory in the history of its participation at this competition. A third will likely follow on Wednesday when Spain faces Zambia in Auckland (2:30 a.m., all matches on TSN); a fourth in Wellington on July 31 (2:00 a.m.), although 2011 champions Japan could provide a difficult test.

For a program ranked 13th in the world only two years ago, it’s quite the trajectory. They’ve since risen to sixth–one place above Olympic gold medalists Canada — and aspire to nothing less than lifting the World Cup in Sydney next month.

Canada’s women’s soccer team meets adversity head-on

At some point, you just run out of superlatives.

Shortchanged by their own association, they work even harder to prepare for a difficult group stage schedule. Hit by the setbacks of pre-tournament injuries, they reallocate on-field responsibilities and off-field leadership to fill the necessary gaps.

And dealt a further blow when a key player isn’t quite fit to start a World Cup opener, they rejig their line-up to not only remain competitive but also take the game to their opponents.

Someday, and hopefully soon, they’ll enjoy a set of scenarios that actually work in their favour, or at least not directly against them. But until then, Canada’s national women’s soccer team will meet adversity head-on because, well, that’s what they’ve always done.

Women’s soccer team enters tournament with some disadvantages, but lack of heart not among them

Canada’s 2023 World Cup will begin against a familiar opponent.

This country’s women’s soccer team faced Group B rivals Nigeria twice last year, winning 2-0 in Vancouver and coming from behind to draw 2-2 in Langford. They’ve also taken on the Super Falcons in a pair of previous tournaments, losing 1-0 in 2011 and drawing 3-3 in 1995 — a result that earned them a first World Cup point.

But Thursday’s showdown in Melbourne (9:30 p.m., TSN) will have less a quality of acquaintance than solidarity, what with the obstacles both sets of players continue to encounter.

That’s if the match even goes ahead.

Herdman brings stability to chaotic culture of Canada Soccer

One of the luxuries of having a competitive national men’s soccer team is that we can ask big-league questions without sounding ridiculous.

“Should this prospect or that earn a call up?” “Might the next opponent be better contained by a three- or four-man defence?” “How can we properly accommodate star players who might’ve played both Champions League and domestic football overseas before the international break?”

Or, as is being asked more and more of the Canada setup: “Has the manager brought the program as far as he can take it?”

It’s a query not all intended as a slight against John Herdman. Few figures have done as much for the sport in this country as the coach from Consett, England. With the men seemingly stalled out and his tenure in its sixth year, however, it’s also reasonable to wonder if he hasn’t done as much as he can for this group.

Hutchinson the gold standard for Canadian men’s soccer

As popular idioms go, few are as old and often-used as “swan song.” It can be traced to Greek mythology of the 5th century BCE and celebrates the last, poetic number the bird will ever sing.

These days, it’s mostly purposed in reference to performance. The film Phantom Thread was actor Daniel Day-Lewis’s swan song; the Requiem in D Minor was Mozart’s. In sport, Zinedine Zidane’s was the 2006 World Cup Final, where the France midfielder was sent off and his team defeated on penalties.

On Sunday, Atiba Hutchinson’s swan song will be sung in the last match of the Canada midfielder’s career, and his first international final.

At 40-years-old, and having played only 113 minutes for club and country this calendar year, he likely won’t start the championship match of the CONCACAF Nations League against the United States (7:30 p.m., OneSoccer/FuboTV). John Herdman did give him a quarter-hour on the field against Panama on Thursday, and in an ideal scenario the Canada coach would prefer to do similar on Sunday.

U-20 World Cup a launching pad for future superstars

It was about this time, all of 18 years ago, Lionel Messi launched himself onto the global football imagination with an otherworldly showing at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in the Netherlands. Twenty-six years before that, Diego Maradona used the then-World Youth Championship as a catapult to a similar stratosphere.

Little wonder Argentina holds the tournament in such high esteem.

Even beyond those all-time greats, the country has not only seen the likes of Oscar Ruggeri, Jorge Burruchaga, Carlos Tevez and Juan Roman Riquelme begin their ascent of the national pantheon at the biennial competition, but also revelled in the record six titles delivered by Los Cebollitas.

(It’s an apt comparison to Canada’s obsession with the World Junior Hockey Championship, which, like its soccer counterpart, began in 1977.)

Messi mess beginning of the end of freewheeling, free-spending era in Paris

PARIS—Lionel Messi is back in town. We think. For the time being. Probably.

Less than 24 hours after his Paris Saint-Germain side’s 3-1 loss at home to Lorient, the World Cup winner was attending a palm-weaving demonstration and having his picture taken with a gazelle. Everybody has a side hustle these days, and Messi’s happens to be a travel agency in Saudi Arabia.

Only, his regular, full-time employer has become concerned that this moonlighting in the gig economy is starting to effect his performance at work. It wasn’t lost on them — or anyone, for that matter — that the 35-year-old’s display over 90 minutes on Sunday was his worst of the season. Instead of recovering Monday and reporting back for training Tuesday, his private jet was touching down in Riyadh.

Serious employers that they are, PSG wasted no time in suspending their superstar for two weeks without pay. A public already riled by pension reforms and seething after May Day demonstrations found a regime to overthrow.

Coupe de France final likely to light up Paris sky

PARIS — This place is well-accustomed to fireworks, as we’ve recently been reminded. The smoke bombs, flares and pyrotechnics of protest, passion and fanaticism are so familiar in this sky that they add to the glow of the City of Light.

So it’s hardly surprising that FC Nantes would feel sufficiently at home here that they’d want to come back.

It was just about a year ago that the Pays de la Loire outfit beat OCG Nice in Saint-Denis to win the Coupe de France—their first trophy in more than two decades. It was a triumph that won’t be soon forgotten. Such was the sizzle of the ultra supporters that the club received a €50,000 fine and a stadium ban for February’s quarter-final tilt with Lens.

The punishment followed a UEFA sanction of only a week prior in which the Loire Stand (think Kop or Yellow Wall) was closed to the ultras for a Europa League play-off with Juventus, following a rather fiery lights show against Freiburg in the fall.

Man City treble would be a triumph of unlimited spending

There has never been much mystery behind the recent success of Manchester City.

Their partisans might point to the 2012 appointments of CEO Ferran Soriano and director of football Txiki Begiristain, and the ex-Barcelona pair has undoubtedly helped turn the 11-times relegated outfit into a bona fide juggernaut. But neither executive would’ve so much as considered the club to be a serious employer were it not for the resources backing it.

No, the foundational transformation at Eastlands came almost 15 years ago when Sheikh Mansour and his Abu Dhabi United Group purchased the club and injected unprecedented sums into its playing personnel. They’ve since filled the cabinet with six Premier League titles, two FA Cups, six league cups and three Community Shields.

Begiristain, to his credit, has spent the Abu Dhabi money remarkably well, and it’s also true that manager Pep Guardiola has his sides playing some of the most reliably watchable stuff in Europe. But the primary takeaway from the City project is nevertheless the quite predictable confirmation that money can buy pretty much anything, and lots of money can buy lots of everything. Maybe even the Champions League.

The football world has had enough of Ronaldo

When Cristiano Ronaldo joined Al-Nassr in December, he likely didn’t think he’d be trained by a manager whose most recent first-team experience was in the Croatian second and third divisions.

Men’s soccer team must approach upcoming matches with renewed vigour

Think back to a year ago.

Reinvigorated FC Schalke will provide a real test for Dortmund

Most rivalries in team sports require the opponents to be at least somewhat competitive.

Good news in world football

In case world football’s been getting you down, good news! Manchester City’s Sunday match at home to Aston Villa has become a children’s observation activity.

Club football weird and getting weirder

It bears repeating: because of this autumn’s World Cup, the European club football season is going to produce more frequent injuries, more bizarre results and more unusual tables than a typical campaign.