Friday, December 23, 2022

Premier League Returns

The Premier League returns on Boxing Day after its World Cup hiatus. One hundred and thirty-three Premier League players represented their countries in Qatar. Those progressing to the later rounds are questionable or already ruled out for this week’s games. Premier League managers have made the best of it during the break to work with makeshift squads of their available players. Many have taken advantage of warm weather locales for their practice work. Several clubs have engaged in friendlies. English Football League Carabao Cup matches took place just days after the World Cup final. Monday’s Boxing Day matches, and others scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, will tell which clubs are most successful at quickly reorienting their focus and shaking off the rust with the resumption of league play.

The break period has delivered news for several clubs which may bear on the balance of the restarted Premier League season. Cristiano Ronaldo has moved on from Manchester United. The unhappy striker was released from his contract with the Red Devils and is evaluating his future options. Arsenal also lost a striker over the break as Gabriel Jesus suffered a knee injury for Brazil and will be out for months.

Chelsea’s Armando Broja, not competing in Qatar, was injured in a friendly match for Chelsea and will miss the rest of the season. Liverpool forward Luis Diaz reinjured his knee while training with the club and will be out for months. Manchester United forward Jaden Sancho, who was left off the England squad, has been oddly training on his own apart from his Manchester United teammates. Manager Eric ten Hag has been oddly noncommittal on when Sancho may rejoin the club. Wolverhampton now has a new manager, Julen Lopetegui, and the former Spain and Real Madrid manager is reportedly targeting the January transfer window for a much need talent injection for the struggling club which is last in the Premier League.

Some young Premier League players may build off their World Cup success to play larger roles with their clubs. Manchester City’s Julian Alvarez and Brighton’s Alexis Mac Allister, who played unexpectedly large roles for World Cup winning Argentina, would be two such players. Mac Allister’s performance in Qatar has increased interest in the young midfielder by some of the league’s bigger clubs.

His absence from Brighton’ lineup earlier this week certainly didn’t help as the Seagulls were shot down by League One Charlton in the Carabao Cup. The Seagulls will try to pick themselves back up when they face Southampton Monday.

League leading Arsenal will get the first indication of whether they can weather Gabriel Jesus’ absence when the Gunners host West Ham in a London derby. Eddie Nketiah will need to step in at striker for the missing Jesus. Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard should be well rested as Norway, despite having Erling Haaland and Odegaard, missed the World Cup. West Ham, meanwhile, has lost every one of its league matches at the Emirates since 2015.

Tottenham Hotspur’s lineup has question marks and known absences for Spurs’ match at Brentford Monday. Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris won’t be available after standing between the sticks in France’s World Cup final loss to Argentina. Argentinian center back Cristian Romero will also miss the match versus Brentford. Ivan Perisic could be held out after playing for Croatia in the third-place game last weekend. England’s Harry Kane and Brazil’s Richarlison are also questionable to face the Bees. Brentford has none of those availability worries and Ivan Toney, scorer of ten goals in the league this season, should be well rested after missing out on the England squad. The future could be a bit more clouded for Mr. Toney, however, amid gambling allegations which have arisen against the striker.

Liverpool will have Mohamed Salah, a World Cup non-participant, ready to go when it visits Aston Villa Monday. The Reds will hope for better things ahead after a disappointing start to their season which has left them sixth in the table and seven points away from qualification for next season Champions League. The Reds travel to Aston Villa Monday. World Cup hero Emiliano Martinez will be unavailable for the Villans as the goalkeeper remains celebrating in Argentina with the permission of manager Unai Emery. Martinez has gotten a bit carried away with antics, which began with the taunting of opponents during the World Cup final penalty kicks. After Argentina’s win, he then controversially made obscene gestures with his Golden Glove award and later mocked France’s Kylian Mbappe by flaunting a baby doll with Mbappe’s face attached to it. The Villans had won three of four matches heading into the World Cup break after sacking Steven Gerrard and should provide a test for Gerrard’s former team on Monday.

Newcastle has shaken the top clubs by rising to third in the league. The Magpies look to continue the type of performance which resulted in five consecutive wins before the break and has seen the Magpies lose but once all season, when Eddie Howe’s side visits Leicester on Boxing Day. Leicester’s James Maddison, whose World Cup for England was derailed by a knee injury, is a question mark to start for Manager Brendan Rogers against Newcastle.

Fulham and Crystal Palace are level on points in the middle of the Premier League table as the two clubs approach their Monday London derby. Fulham has the far superior firepower led by striker Aleksandar Mitrovic who appears healed from an ankle injury. Crystal Palace, however, will be looking for a fourth consecutive Premier League win at Selhurst Park for the first time in its history.

A key matchup at the bottom of the table will transpire at Goodison Park where Everton will try to stay out of the relegation zone when it faces bottom of the table Wolverhampton. Everton is just a point above the drop zone as its fans prepare for another likely nail-biting fight for survival for a second straight season under Manager Frank Lampard. Julen Lopetegui makes his Premier League debut in charge of struggling Wolverhampton. The match on Monday promises to be low scoring. Everton failed to score in their last three matches heading into the break while Wolves are incredibly still in single digits for goals on the season.

Tuesday matches feature Bournemouth at Chelsea and Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford to face Manchester United. Chelsea was a mess before the World Cup break, losing their last three matches and failing to win any of their last five matches. Bournemouth ended a four-match losing run by defeating Everton in their last match before the league’s hibernation. Manchester United could have problems defending against Nottingham Forest in Tuesday’s match. Center backs Lisandro Martinez (Argentina)  and Rafael Varane (France) won’t be expected to play, and Harry Maguire was suffering an illness which caused him to miss United’s Carabao Cup win this week. Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Dean Henderson, on loan from the Red Devils, is prohibited form playing against his parent club.

Manchester City, whose players logged the most aggregate minutes at the World Cup, returns to action on Wednesday. Erling Haaland, however, will be well rested when the Citizens visit Leeds and US World Cup players Brenden Aaronson and Tyler Adams. Haaland had a goal earlier this week when the Citizens returned to the pitch in their Carabao Cup win over Liverpool. Leeds, meanwhile, enters the next phase of the Premier League season scrambling to avoid the relegation battle. Jesse Marsch’s side are currently two points removed from the drop zone. 


Carabao Cup

Manchester City defeated Liverpool 3-2 on Thursday to complete play in the Carabao Cup Round of 16. Erling Haaland unsurprisingly opened the scoring after only 10 minutes were played. Surprisingly, it was defender Nathan Ake, fresh from his World Cup adventures with the Netherlands, who scored the winner. Mohamed Salah had a goal in the losing Liverpool effort as he and Haaland both should be well rested for the Premier League restart on Boxing Day, neither star having participated in the World Cup. The Carabao Cup quarterfinalists are all Premier League clubs but for League One Charlton which eliminated Brighton on penalties after neither team could score from open play. Charlton is the tournament’s Cinderella dark horse as they currently face a relegation battle to maintain their place in the third division of English football. Charlton will face Manchester United in its January quarterfinal match. Manchester City, second in the Premier League table, will feel confident in the quarterfinals against currently relegation bound Southampton. The two other current Premier League relegation zone occupants face each other when Nottingham Forest and Wolverhampton meet. The remining quarterfinal match will see Newcastle and Leicester in a rematch of their coming Boxing Day contest. 

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Monday, December 19, 2022

World Cup News: Aston Villa Goalie Martinez and GOAT Messi Deliver Argentina World Cup Trophy

Argentina’s clash with France for the World Cup title came down to penalty kicks and Aston Villa’s Emiliano Martinez again displayed his proclivity for the unique art form. The goalkeeper seems entirely comfortable in the spotlight while those facing him face both pressure and the intimidation and distraction tactics of the Aston Villa man. The 6’4” Martinez, the hero in an earlier penalty kick shootout with the Netherlands in the quarterfinals, came up big again on Sunday. Tied at three goals apiece after extra time, Argentina scored on all four of its penalty kicks while France failed on two of its kicks against Martinez to give La Albiceleste the victory.

After Kylian Mbappe converted France’s first attempt in penalties, Martinez  was successful in saving the second attempt by Kinglsey Coman. A save wasn’t necessary on France’s third attempt. Some theatrics perhaps were. Before the kick of 22-year-old Aurelien Tchouameni, Martinez threw the ball far from the spot, forcing the youngster to disrupt his routine and chase after the ball himself. Unnerved, Tchouameni pulled his shot wide for a second France miss. Argentina’s Gonzalo Montiel then buried the fourth successful kick for Argentina to claim the country’s third World Cup and deny France a second consecutive World Cup title.

The penalty kick drama concluded a sensational back and forth clash featuring top performances from two renowned superstars. Lionel Messi, capturing his first World Cup, and Kylian Mbappe, denied his second, both delivered performances for the ages. Messi opened scoring with a penalty kick and triggered the buildup to Argentina’s second goal and a 2-0 halftime lead. France would not score until the 80th minute when Mbappe converted a penalty following a clumsy foul committed by former Manchester City defender Nicolas Otamendi. The France comeback continued as Mbappe delivered the tying goal just one minute later with a powerful strike in open play which would see regulation time end at two goals apiece. The momentum would then shift again as Messi responded in extra time with his second goal of the match to seemingly put Argentina on the cusp of victory. A called handball in the box on Argentina right back Montiel, however, delayed the celebration as Mbappe buried the penalty for his third goal of the game and again knotted the match. Montiel was almost denied his later chance for shootout redemption but for a stunning save by Argentina’s Martinez in the final minute of stoppage time.

Martinez would rightfully be awarded the Golden Glove for his tournament performance. Mbappe’s hat trick in the final secured the Golden Boot trophy by one goal over Messi. It will be Argentina’s Number 10, however, who will be most remembered as the headliner in a tournament where he secured the one major team trophy previously missing from his resume on a day where he established World Cup records for appearances and minutes played. The 35-year-old Messi received the Golden Ball award as the tournament’s best player after a match which was probably his farewell to World Cup competition.

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Friday, December 16, 2022

World Cup News: It’s Messi versus Mbappe

Argentina will face France in the World Cup final on Sunday. Lionel Messi will get one final chance to add a World Cup victory to his impressive resume and to deliver a third title to Argentina which would be the country’s first since 1986 when Diego Maradona led La Albiceleste to the championship. Messi’s PSG teammate Kylian Mbappe, meanwhile, will key France’s chances to become the first nation to win consecutive World Cups since Pele led Brazil in 1962. Fittingly, the two stars are level in leading the Golden Boot chase as they approach the final match. Depending on the results of their encounter, the two could become the first club teammates to finish 1-2 in World Cup goalscoring.

The final matchup shouldn’t be surprising, but Argentina needed to rebound from a shocking opening group stage defeat to Saudi Arabia. The Argentines won their remaining games, though overcoming a serious challenge from the Netherlands in a quarterfinal match which saw Messi and company relinquish a late two goal advantage before advancing on penalty kicks. A 3-0 semifinal win over Croatia featured a 34th minute penalty kick by Messi who then assisted on the second of two goals by Manchester City’s Julian Alvarez.

Alvarez’s brace continued a breakout tournament for the young forward who trails Messi and Mbappe by just a single goal in the Golden Boot chase. Other Premier League players such as Aston Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez, Brighton midfielder Alexis Mac Allister and Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez have all made their own contributions to Argentina’s run to the final.

France, meanwhile, made its way to the title by silencing the Atlas Lions of Morrocco in a 2-0 semifinal victory. The Moroccans had conceded only a single goal all tournament before France’s Theo Hernandez scored only five minutes into the semifinal encounter.

France then defended doggedly to clinch the win and its first clean sheet of this World Cup. A 79th minute goal by France’s Randal Kolo Muani sealed Morocco’s fate after a surprising and joyous run which saw the country become the first African side to advance to a World Cup semifinal. The Moroccans face Croatia in the third-place match on Saturday.

Sunday’s final will then feature the third and fourth ranked teams in the world with Messi and Mbappe leading dynamic attacks. A loaded French side has been getting goals from former Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud who, like Argentina’s Alavarez, has four goals to date, just one back of the leaders. Defenses which have had some shaky moments for both attacking oriented sides could contribute to some goal scoring excitement on Sunday to cap a tournament which has so far seen the fourth highest total goals among all participating nations in World Cup history. Two Premier League goalkeepers, Villa’s Marinez and Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Hugo Lloris will try to keep things under control. Lloris has improved through the tournament and had a massive save on a Moroccan bicycle attempt on goal in France’s Wednesday win. The French defense against Morocco was also bolstered by the play of Liverpool center back Ibrahima Konate who made his first start of the tournament. France defeated Argentina in the round of sixteen of the 2018 World Cup. Mbappe scored a brace in that game as the French would then march on to the championship. Lionel Messi will be trying for a different result on Sunday when he makes his likely final appearance on this stage. The match will establish the 35-year-old Messi as the man with the most career World Cup appearances. The 23-year-old Mbappe, meanwhile, will try to become the youngest player since Pele to accumulate two World Cup titles.  

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