After a full week of preparation and training for all 20 teams, La Liga is back this weekend with a very important round of matches in the title race. The two leaders cannot drop any points as it gets closer to an important El Clásico. And for the all-time winners, this is a chance to show their strength and send a message to their biggest rivals.
Real Madrid arrives in this one in great form, unbeaten in eight matches and navigating a tough stretch of games brilliantly to stay neck and neck with Barcelona in first place. The two will meet at Camp Nou in less than two weeks and Los Blancos have two league matches until then to pick up six points, keep the unbeaten run going and play their biggest game of the season with all the confidence in the world.
This weekend’s game against relegation candidate Espanyol looks to be the perfect chance to win big at home and put pressure on Barça. After all, Espanyol is 19th in the table with just one win in its last seven and has one of the worst defenses in the league. The funny thing is Espanyol has been a Top 10 team on the road, so the team can’t be taken lightly. However, with Madrid having won four of the last five games against Espanyol and the urgency to keep up with Barcelona, there’s only one favorite to win this one.
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Looking at the lineup of the best eleven soccer players in the world for the year 2019.
The year 2019 is about to come to an end, and people like to read lists on the internet, so how about we determine the best eleven men’s soccer players of the year 2019?
The criteria isn’t all that specific, just basically the people who I thought gave the best performances of the past year in men’s soccer. I lined up my fake team in a 4-3-3, with actual assignments for left back and right back. Why? Why not. It’s more fun that way.
We’ll have a poll at the bottom with a notable omission, and you can let me know what else I screwed up on Twitter.
Let’s get to the Best XI for 2019.
Goalkeeper: Alisson Becker
Oblak was very hard to leave off, but Becker’s ability to play the ball with his feet opened up everything that Liverpool wanted to do. Along with Van Djik, he was the final piece of the puzzle that resulted in Liverpool’s Champions League victory.
Left Back: Jordi Alba
Marcelo was definitely in for a shout here, and I looked at Liverpool’s Robertson, but Alba is consistently fantastic for Barcelona. When your left back is technical enough to play anywhere on the field, that’s a good problem to have.
Center Back: Virgil Van Dijk
Runner up for the Ballon D’Or, Van Dijk is everything you want in a center back. He’s so good that he doesn’t even need to tackle that often — the opponents know not to even go near him. He sucks the air out of opponents’ attacks, consistently. That’s so hard to do.
Center Back: Kalidou Koulibaly
There are a lot of fantastic CBs alive right now, but none may be more gifted than Koilibaly, the rock at the heart of the Napoli defense. With respect to De Ligt, Ramos, Chiellini, and others … I’m giving it to Koulibaly.
Right Back: Trent Alexander-Arnold
One Ballon D’Or voter said Trent AA was the best player in the world last year, which is a bit much, but I feel confident giving him the nod over Joshua Kimmich as the best right back this year.
Midfielder: N’Golo Kante
Tim Groothuis/Witters Sport via USA TODAY Sports
Kante has struggled with injuries at times, and last season had to learn a new position, essentially, on the fly, thanks to the coaching of Maurizio Sarri. But he’s still my platonic ideal for a midfielder. He covers more ground than anyone, he plays beautifully, and he makes everyone better. Plus, that smile. THAT SMILE.
Midfielder: Kevin De Bruyne
With apologies to his teammate Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne is the most talented attacking midfielder in the Premier League, someone who has every tool in the toolkit. He can dribble, he can pass, he can shoot, and he can do it all with both feet. A perfect soccer player.
Midfielder: Frenkie De Jong
De Jong is an interesting one because now that he’s with Barcelona, they’re asking him to do a lot less than he was doing at Ajax last season. But Ajax’s run last season was part of 2019, and he was absolutely sensational. In he goes.
Forward: Kylian Mbappe
This was a hard one to include, because Mbappe’s been injured at times and Sadio Mane has been absolutely unbelievable for Liverpool. That being said, when he’s healthy, I’m not sure there’s a more unstoppable player alive (not named Messi) than Mbappe.
Lewa has been absolutely unreal this year for Bayern Munich, somehow improving on past seasons to be the best pure striker alive. Yes, I left off Cristiano Ronaldo. No, it wasn’t an accident. Lewa has been better, by a bit.
Watch Real Madrid vs. Paris Saint-Germain Live Online.
The Champions League group stage resumes on Tuesday with the top two teams in Group A facing off in a much-anticipated rematch. Early in the season, PSG embarrassed struggling Real Madrid, 3-0, at the Parc des Princes. Zinedine Zidane’s side has improved since then and will be hoping to exact some revenge at the Bernabeu in the penultimate matchday of the group stage.
Real Madrid’s form has become much better since that rough night in Paris. It’s currently level with Barcelona on 28 points atop the La Liga table. In Real’s most recent match, it scored an impressive 3-1 win over Real Sociedad with Karim Benzema, Federico Valverde and Luka Modric all finding the back of the net.
However, It’s not all smooth sailing for Los Blancos. Gareth Bale has once again caused a ruckus after being seen with a derogatory banner that showed his displeasure with the club. The already irritated fans of the club have been agitated even further following this latest incident. If Bale had any lasting support at the club, it’s gone now.
Just 14 matches into the new Ligue 1 season and PSG has already effectively ended the title race. It’s opened up a nine point lead over second-place with no real competitor for the title emerging.
As usual, the team’s primary focus will shift to the Champions League and getting over the hump in Europe’s biggest club competition. A new Neymar drama won’t help matters, though. The Brazilian superstar caused a scene this past weekend when he stormed to the dressing room instead of heading to the team’s bench after being subbed off. For as many problems as Neymar causes, there’s no doubt he can be the difference between PSG conquering Europe or crashing out.
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The next five weeks will go a long way in deciding who starts 2020 ahead in what’s been a fascinating title race so far. And for Real Madrid, the all-time champions, it’s about keeping up with the leaders, but this weekend’s test will be anything but easy.
Real Madrid is back in action looking to extend a five-game unbeaten streak, which shows Zinedine Zidane’s team may have finally found the consistency they so badly crave. The defense is a lot stronger than it was less than a month ago, the midfield is starting to look as dominant as it did during the Champions League three-peat, and the attack has slowly but surely come around with more and more players scoring goals and supporting top scorer Karim Benzema.
But to reach six games without a loss, the Madrid giants will try to find a way to beat Real Sociedad, which has probably been the most consistent team in La Liga this season and is fighting for a place in the Champions League next season. Sociedad loves to have the ball and attack, and Madrid loanee Martin Odegaard is one of the bright young stars in Spain so far this season. Sociedad will have no fear against the Real at the Bernabéu.
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U.S. Women’s National Team stars Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger are calling for their male counterparts to get behind their push for equal pay.
U.S. Women’s National Team stars Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger are calling for their male counterparts to get behind their push for equal pay.
The USWNT received class status on Nov. 8 in its gender discrimination lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation, which opens the door for any athlete who was a part of the women’s team national team camp or a game since Feb. 14, 2014, can now join the class-action suit.
But Harris and Krieger believe that in order for the equal pay fight to succeed, the members of the U.S. Men’s National Team need to be a part of the battle. In March, several of the men’s players spoke with Yahoo! Sports saying they support the women, and the USMNT players association released a statement in July which aimed to dispel a factsheet released by the U.S. Soccer Federation that claimed that the women have actually been paid more than the men.
“I think at the end of the day, we need men to step up, and we need these men to see our value and to see our worth and take a stance and say, ‘You know what? This is not okay. We need to make a change and our children need to make a change.’ And I think that is right now the (…) thing that’s missing,” Harris said, speaking to PowerPlays.news, which is a newsletter about sexism in sports which reporter Lindsay Gibbs launched in late October.
Mediation talks between US Soccer and the women broke down in August and a new trial date is set for May 2020, but Harris insists that she and the cause for equal pay needs, “boys and teenagers and adult men to really value and appreciate these women who are giving so much.”
Mexico soccer fans flooded the streets of Mexico City to watch their long-shot game against Germany. Two monitoring systems picked up an artificial temblor during the celebration of Mexico’s first and only goal.
Mexico soccer fans flooded the streets of Mexico City to watch their long-shot game against Germany. Two monitoring systems picked up an artificial temblor during the celebration of Mexico’s first and only goal.
