check out our archive of every Weekly Kickoff since day 1

The fans are all back - December 8th, 2020

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Ok so maybe we stretched the truth a bit here. We have a limited amount of fans in attendance in the English Premier League and elsewhere across the world. Yay for new things

In today's Kickoff:
Americans kicking a**
Premier League Recap
MLS Cup Playoffs
vs.

A great day to be American

Most of our attention tends to focus on the men that represent our country overseas, but we can't forget about the ladies who are playing over in Europe who are doing one heck of a job. Alex Morgan netted her first goal for the Tottenham Hotspur Women's club in their 3-1 win over Brighton & Hove Albion. Also, Sam Kerr completed her first ever hattrick for the Chelsea lady's team as she provided all the goals in their 3-2 win over London rival West Ham. Go on ladies!

Onto the men's pitch, we had an incredible day last Saturday across Europe over in England, Germany, and Italy from our lads representing the red white and blue. 3 Americans all scored on Saturday to help earn their clubs crucial points in the quest for domestic league glory.

Gio Reyna (age 18) - Borussia Dortmund

Dortmund found themselves down 1-0 early to Eintracht Frankfurt in their Bundesliga match last Saturday
Reyna started for Dortmund in a familiar position but couldn't find the back of the net in the first half
In the 56' minute Gio scored an absolute STUNNER of a goal from just inside the box to level the score and earn Dortmund 1 point in their 1-1 draw in Frankfurt

Christian Pulisic (age 22) - Chelsea 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Going into this season, Chelsea had high hopes for Christian as he proved to play a pivotal role for the club scoring and/or assisting in 7/9 final games of last season
Chelsea made a statement by handing Christian the #10 jersey
- Think of this as the #23 jersey for basketball but for soccer the #10 has genuine relevancy to the player's role in the club and leadership within the team - all the best players wear #10
Pulisic has missed 6/11 of his games this season due to a hamstring injury but last Saturday earned his first Premier League start of the season
Christian scored Chelsea's third goal in their 3-1 against Leeds to seal the victory for the blues
- Out with his hamstring injury and in with the new beard 🧔

Weston Mckennie (age 22) - Juventus

The Texas native came to Germany to play for Schalke in 2017 and has made a name for himself on defense and attacking down the field for the last few years
In a huge deal for the American, Schalke loaned out Weston to Juventus for the 2020/21 season
- Meaning Schalke still owns Weston and he's under their contract but Juventus is paying his contract for the time being while he plays for the club in Italy
Juventus faced off against bottom of the table Torino in an Italian derby with a crucial points on the line as Juventus were fourth in the Series A table
Juventus found themselves down 1-0 for the majority of the match so turned to Mckennie to turn things around as they subbed him on in the 71' minute
It only took Mckennie 6 minutes to find the back of the net as he scored Juventus's opening goal with a header off of Juan Cuadrado's cross
Juventus captain Leonardo Bonucci scored the match winner in the 89' minute for a crucial 3 points in a 2-1 victory over Torino

Way to go lads

Who needs the corner flag anyways?

Clearly not Jamie Vardy

After scoring a 90' minute game winner for Leicester City, Jamie Vardy created one of the most emphatic celebrations by absolutely shattering the corner flag while playing at Sheffield United. Maybe this is because his boyhood club is Sheffield Wednesday, which is a hometown rival to Sheffield United. Once a fan always a fan amIright?

And it wasn't just Jamie Vardy that was only one celebrating in Premier League stadiums. Starting last weekend, up to 2,000 fans were allowed in select stadiums. Even though this is just a fraction of what Premier League teams are used to hosting, having the energy from the home fans clearly made a huge difference for certain teams. Case and point: Liverpool & Jurgen Klopp (see GIF below)

The 2,000 fans in the Kop at Anfield were hyped after not seeing their team play since March. And we can't forget that since then, Liverpool won their first Premier League title ever as all the fans had to stay quarantined at home watching their beloved team lift the trophy for the first time. Fans at Anfield welcomed their club by singing, as tradition, the Liverpool's club anthem You'll Never Walk Alone. And don't worry, you're not the only one if this gives you goosebumps. This energy surely helped Liverpool in their 4-0 route of Wolves to keep their place in second in the Premier League.

Elsewhere at the top of the table, Spurs faced off against North London rival Arsenal. As for the Gooners (Arsenal), they were on course to have their worst start in 39 years if they were to lose this game against Tottenham. And thanks to the dynamic duo of Harry Kane and Heung Min Son, Spurs handed Arsenal a loss that would take them to what feels like an all time low point for the club. Son scored the opening goal in the first half with an absolute STUNNER from outside the box and later assisted Harry Kane with the second goal in the first half to secure the 2-0 to keep them atop the league.

Welcome back to all the supporters

It's the final...countdown!

doo doo doo doo!

Yes the finals are...finally here

Late last night, the Columbus Crew were anxiously waiting to see who they were going to face off in the 2020 finals this Saturday night. And with so much on the line, the defending champs Seattle Sounders had an up hill battle to pull off one of the most INSANE COMEBACKS we have seen this year.

Minnesota United FC, the 22nd club in the MLS who joined in 2017, scored the opening goal with a sublime free kick from Emanuel Renoso in the first half. Then Raúl Ruidíaz thought he tied it up 1-1 but VAR eventually overturned it (we've heard that before) after the video review showed he fouled one of the Minnesota defenders. It was then Bake Dibassy who took advantage of the 1 goal lead and extended it to 2 goals in the 67' minute in what most thought would lock up the game and send Minnesota to their first ever MLS Cup finals appearance.

However, Seattle had something else in mind. After Will Bruin scored in the 75' minute, the Sounders still needed 2 more goals to complete the much needed comeback being down 2-1...but the clock was ticking. Raúl Ruidíaz later got his revenge in the 89' minute as he scored to draw the game level. At this point, most thought we'd be heading to extra time to decide the winner, but again, Seattle had something else in mind. Gustav Svensson finished a beautifully timed header off a corner kick in the 93' minute to complete the improbable comeback and send Seattle to their 4th MLS Cup finals appearance in the quest to grab hold of their 3rd MLS Cup trophy. Scroll all the way down below to check out the highlights in this match of the YEAR 🤩

The Sounders will be playing the Columbus Crew who won the MLS Cup Playoffs back in 2008 while also making an appearance in 2015 but falling short to the Portland Timbers. The game will be hosted by the Crew in Columbus and will take place this Saturday, December 12th at 8 PM EST on FOX. Mark your calendars everyone 🗓

And they meet again

Today we have the greatest pleasure of watching the two greatest soccer talents alive play each other in a pivotal Champions League match. After Ronaldo wasn't able to play in the first Barca-Juventus UCL game due to COVID-19, it is now looking like the two GOAT's will suit up and play on the same field once again.

What's at stake?

Barcelona currently have 15 points in the group while Juventus have 12 points
This is a battle for who finishes first in the group and gets the easier draw going into the knockout stages
Given Barcelona won the previous match 2-0, it would take a 3 goal deficit in favor of Juventus for the Italian giants to go onto the top of Group G

Whose got the upper hand?

Despite Barcelona's impressive run in Champions League thus far, their results in La Liga are quite concerning
- Barcelona just lost 2-1 to Cádiz who (surprisingly) are 5th in La Liga while the Blaugrana are all the way back in 9th place
Juventus haven't looked as good in Champions League especially with their defeat to the Catalonians earlier in October but with a win against Torino last weekend and a 4th place ranking in Serie A, it could be argued that the Italians are looking like the stronger side in this matchup especially when you look at the teams on paper and the depth they provide

While Cristiano edges out Messi with 5 Champions League titles compared to the Argentine's 4 titles, their quest for glory won't be deterred too much regardless of the result in today's match at 3 PM EST. Get ready ya'll 🤠

Elsewhere in the World

Real Madrid have lost more Champions League group stage games since Ronaldo left in 2018 (2 years) than they did during the 10 years while he played for them

18-year-old Karim Adeyemi scores his first Champions League goal for RB Salzburg...and flips as a celebration

Kylian Mbappé reaches his 100th goal for PSG last weekend in their 3-1 win over Montpellier

Bayern and Leipzig drew 3-3 in a thrilling match with 4 goals in the first half

x2 17-year-old Jamal Musiala started for Bayern Munich in last week's match against Atletico Madrid and showed some incredible skills

Paul Pogba's agent Mino Raiola claims that his time at Manchester United is over ahead of their do-or-die UCL match against RB Leipzig

Champions League Matches

Goal of the Week

Antoine Griezmann (2 weeks straight) - Barcelona - Champions League

Match of the year?

Seattle Sounders vs. Minnesota United FC - MLS Cup Playoffs

RIP El Diego - December 1st, 2020

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The world is missing one of its brightest stars as the greatest soccer legend, Diego Maradona, passed away last Wednesday, November 25th. As we continue to mourn his death, we'll get you all caught up with what has happened elsewhere in the world of soccer

In today's Kickoff:
Remembering Diego Maradona
Premier League Recap
David Silva & Al Ahly
Schalke & Everton

The Golden Boy

Diego Maradona, who stood at a mere 5'5, made a name for himself playing for Boca Juniors, Barcelona, and then spent the majority of his club career in Italy playing for Napoli. He was even more celebrated when it came to international play where he represented Argentina and led them to their second FIFA World Cup win in 1986. Diego's unprecedented level of skill he displayed on the field and subsequent success that it led to earned him the nickname El Pibe de Oro (the golden boy).

What makes him one of the greatest to ever play? Let run through the accolades:

4x Footballer of the year (1979, 1980, 1981, 1986)
1x World Cup winner (1986)
3x domestic league titler winner (Barcelona - 1, Napoli - 2)
1x UEFA Cup winner (1989)
One helluva highlight reel

Not only was Diego a cultural icon for the people of Naples while he was playing for Napoli, but more importantly he was a living god that Argentines worshipped in the 1980's (and for eternity). To understand the context of Diego's impact, we have to take a quick history lesson about the Falklands War:

In 1982, the United Kingdom and Argentina had an undeclared 10-week war
Argentina invaded 2 British occupied territories: the Falkland Islands and South Georgia
649 Argentine & 255 British military personnel lost their lives along with 3 Falkland Islanders
Argentina surrendered after 74 days resulting in a British victory as they maintained sovereignty over the 2 territories

This unofficial war fueled years of outrage in Argentina, which was all directed towards British colonizers. This anger transcended its way into sports with the 2 countries beloved game of football. Now, lets fast forward 4 years into the 1986 World Cup quarterfinals where Maradona's Argentina faced off against England in arguably the most historically pivotal game of all time. The game recap:

Maradona scores the infamous opening goal in the 51' minute - "the hand of god"
Just 4 minutes later Maradona scores again but with no controversy as the goal is regarded as one of the greatest goals of all time
Gary Lineker scores in the last 81' minute but it is all too late for a comeback
Argentina gets its revenge on England and goes on to win the 1986 FIFA World Cup for the second time in the nation's history

Diego was filled with raw emotion and he never held back his true character on or off the pitch. As soon as he retired, Diego went on to coach for a variety of lower-tiered clubs across the world. Unfortunately, Diego's outlandish character and reported drug-use kept him in the limelight until this very day. But even at the young age of 60, Diego truly lived a fulfilling life that changed the world and inspired millions. May his memory will be a blessing

We're oVAR it

Whether you've been following the Kickoff for a while or just have been an avid footy fan for sometime now, you should be well aware of the installment of VAR - Video Assistant Referee - and its ongoing controversies. Unfortunately, this past week we ran into a few VAR rulings that had crucial impacts for some teams and fans are fuming.

Liverpool and Aston Villa were the unlucky ones this weekend given that both teams lost crucial points due to multiple VAR calls that many are still questioning. As for Liverpool, VAR disallowed a goal from Mohamed Salah in the first half and then another from Sadio Mane late in the game that could've sealed a victory over Brighton. However, with the Reds only up 1-0 they faced another controversial VAR decision that gave Brighton a penalty kick in the 92' minute. Brighton's Pascal Groß converted the penalty and ended the game 1-1 at the American Express Community Stadium.

In London, after a wild game against West Ham, Aston Villa thought they tied things up 2-2 in the 91' minute when Ollie Watkins found the back of the net with a beautiful one time finish. But in came VAR where they found a fraction of his armpit to be offside (while also ignoring a seemingly clear foul on Watkins), which disallowed the goal giving the Hammers the 2-1 win sending Jack Grealish and Ollie Watkin's Villa side home in a sorrow mood.

Elsewhere in the Premier League, Spurs and and Chelsea faced off in a battle for top of the league. Unfortunately for spectators, the match ended in a lackluster 0-0 draw. Potentially the biggest highlight was seeing Christian Pulisic make his return to the pitch as a substitute after missing 3 straight games with his hamstring injury.

We also saw both Manchester clubs back in action where the Cityzens took a commanding 5-0 win over Burnley supported by a Riyad Mahrez hat trick. As for United, they found themselves 2-0 down in the first half against Southampton but climbed their way back to a 3-2 win thanks to Edison Cavani being subbed on in the second half contributing to all 3 goals.

Winners

David Silva

One of the all time greats in Premier League history, David Silva (age 34), left Manchester City after 11 years to return to Spain and join mid-tier club Real Sociedad
Real Sociedad currently sit 1st in La Liga 1 point ahead of Atletico Madrid
No player has more assists, through balls, or passes in the final third than Silva

Al Ahly

Egyptian club Al Ahly defeated Zamalek, another Egyptian club, in the African Champions League 2-1
- CAF Champions League: It's exactly what it sounds like - imagine UEFA Champions League but for African clubs - it's a big deal!
Al Ahly is now crowned king of Africa for the 9th time, most successful in all of Africa, and will head to the Club World Cup where all continental champions of the world face off against each other

Sarah Fuller

No woman has ever played football for a power 5 NCAA football team (power 5 being a college that plays in the top 5 conferences - Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 12, ACC, and SEC) until Sarah Fuller was rostered as a kicker for Vanderbilt University
Sarah also plays for the Vanderbilt Woman's soccer team as their starting goalkeeper

Losers

Schalke

In an unprecedented bad start for the club, Schalke currently sit dead last in Bundesliga with just 3 points, all coming from 3 separate draws
Schalke now have the 4th worst winless run in the history of the 21st century at 25 matches without a win...sheesh

Everton 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

After starting red hot in the Premier League looking like potential title contenders, the Toffees have only won 1 in their last 5 matches having lost the other 4
Due to their great start, Everton have only moved down to 8th in the table but having been shut out twice in the past 5 games there is a lot of improvement needed over in Merseyside

Philadelphia Union

Last week the favorite to win the MLS Cup Playoff was upset by the New England Revolution 2-0
In 11 years as a club, the Union have have only reached as far as the conference semi-finals but with a solid roster going into next year they'll have their eyes set on the championship

Elsewhere in the World

Konrad de le Fuente (age 19) makes his Barcelona debut as a substitute in Champions League match against Dynamo Kiev playing alongside American Sergiño Dest - 8 total USMNT players have made Champions League appearances in 2020

‍Alex Morgan makes her debut for the US Women's national team for the first time since the USWNT won the FIFA World Cup in 2019 and for the first time as a mom

Juventus draw 15th ranked Benevento as Álvaro Morata scored the opener but got served a red card at the end of the game

Columbus Crew (3) beat newcomers Nashville (7) 2-0 in overtime to head to the conference finals of the MLS Cup Playoffs

🤕 Wolverhampton Wanderer's Raúl Jiménez suffers fractured skull in gruesome head collision with Arsenal's David Luiz

Champions League Matches

Goal of the Week

Antoine Griezmann - Barcelona - La Lifa

Match of the Week

Manchester United vs. Southampton - Premier League

Welcome back, Champions League - November 24th, 2020

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Champions League kicks off today at 12:55 PM EST so let's get you all caught up with what happened last week.

In today's Kickoff:
MLS Playoffs
Erling Haaland
🦁 Zlatan
Tottenham & AC Milan
Barcelona & Manchester City

Round 2...Fight!

Well, we're not in the second round of the MLS Cup Playoffs just yet...

The 3 remaining games of the first round will be played tonight starting with the newly conceived Nashville SC who won their play-in game and now face off against Toronto FC. The next game will be hosted by first ranked Philadelphia Union as they play the New England Revolution who also won their play-in game thanks to a last second game winner from Gustavo Bou. And finally our late night match will be played between the Seattle Sounders and LAFC.

Now before we head into tonights games, we can't forget to recap the absolutely insane matches that were played last weekend. Three out of the six first round matches ended in penalties and left MLS fans gasping for breath with some crazy finishes. Orlando and Dallas both won their penalty shootouts leaving NYCFC and the Portland Timbers in the dust packing their bags (aaand there goes our pick 🙁)

But our match of the week goes to Sporting KC vs. San Jose where we saw a 6 goal thriller. Two late goals came in stoppage time for both sides to force extra time. The game eventually went to PK's where SKC shutout San Jose to win 3-0 in penalties. You can check out the match highlights here.

So now you can check out the updated MLS Cup Playoff bracket below:

Haaaaland on

We're witnessing history folks. If you don't know the name Erling Haaland by now, you'll be sure to never forget it. At just 20-years-old, the Norwegian forward is making a name for himself at Borussia Dortmund. So let's run through some of his highlights thus far:

Last weekend Haaland scored 4 goals in just 32 minutes as Dortmund cruised past Hertha Berlin 5-2
Haaland has 31 goals in 30 games for Dortmund
In just 11 Champions League games he has scored 14 goals (for both Dortmund and RB Salzburg)
He scored 29 goals in 27 games for RB Salzburg
Has 6 goals in 4 UEFA Nations League games for Norway
Scored 9 goals in a U-20 World Cup match against Poland back in May...yes...9

After playing in Austria for RB Salzburg (another Red Bull owned team), Haaland had a big choice to make for which club he'd choose next. The 19-year-old at the time sparked interest from the biggest clubs in the world but decided to go with Dortmund given their rich history with developing young talent and he knew could make a big impact there. Erling surely hasn't looked back since as he's been finding the back of the net with ease and is looking like he's getting better with each game.

No matter what club he suits up for in the near future, we'll be sure to get to know Haaland as he continues to be potentially the best young talent in the world. Watch out Mbappé

Zlatan being Zlatan

Do we talk about Zlatan too much? Surely not. Whether it's on or off the field, Zlatan is always giving us something to talk about. So let's talk some more Zlatan!

The self proclaimed god continues to prove that age is just a number as he leads AC Milan to one of their best starts in the club's history. After scoring the opening 2 goals last weekend in Milan's win over Napoli, the 39-year-old continues to stay on top of Serie A as the leading goal scorer with 10 goals (Ronaldo sitting in second with 8). AC Milan are also on top of the league as they sit first in the league with 20 points having won 6 matches and drawn 2 on the season.

Here are some more Zlatan stats

He has now scored double digit goals in 14 seasons throughout his career
He has more headed in goals than any player in Serie A
He has become the oldest player to ever score 10 goals in Serie A
He has scored in 8 consecutive games, which is tied for longest of his career

Meanwhile on Twitter, Zlatan isn't so happy. The Lion has claimed that he never gave EA the rights to use his name and face on FIFA 21 and he's letting the world know. More updates to come on this news.

In an unfortunate reality, the Swede's age might be getting to him as he had to leave the game early with an apparent thigh injury. There is no update on the status of his injury but we hope this is isn't anything serious we're not sure where the world would be without Zlatan.

Winners & Losers

Winners

Premier League fans 🏟

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is allowing a limited amount of fans to attend Premier League and other British football matches starting December 2nd once their national lockdown ends
Stadiums across the UK fall into 3 different tiers, depending on their size, which allow for varying amount of fans to attend
- Tier 1 - no fans allowed
- Tier 2 - maximum of 2,000 fans or half the stadium's capacity
- Tier 3 - maximum of 4,000 fans or half the stadium's capacity
This new ruling will greatly benefit the lower tiered English football clubs as their revenue relies heavily on fan attendance

Tottenham Hotspurs

Spurs beat Manchester City 2-0 last weekend in a crucial match to keep them atop the Premier League table
Manager Jose Mourinho has led the team to one of the best start's in club history largely helped by incredible performances from their striker Harry Kane and Son Heung Min
Tottenham has allowed the fewest goals (9) in the Premier league this season

Liverpool

Despite having many of their star players on the sidelines due to injuries and illness, the Reds were able to win a pivotal match against Leicester City 3-0
Goal line technology took home the highlight from the weekend as it ruled out Roberto Firmino's potential goal by a margin of 1 centimeter
Liverpool sit second in the league only to be behind Tottenham's goal differential (Tottenham with +12 compared to Liverpool's +5) as they are tied on points (20)

Losers

Barcelona

The Blaugrana are off to their worst start in in 25 years as they currently sit 12th in La Liga
Long-time world class defender Gerard Pique suffered a serious knee ligament injury, ruling him out long-term, which may mark an end of an era for Barca
With Man City manager Pep Guardiola signing a 2-year contract, Messi's Barca exit is looking increasingly likely as he'd look to reunite with his old boss (Pep managed Messi & Barca from 2008-2012)

Manchester City

After losing 2-0 to Tottenham, the Cityzens are off to their worst start in 12 years as they're 13th in the Premier League table
City have scored a decade low 10 goals through 8 matches with a goal differential of -1
Their Argentinian striker Sergio Aguero is still ruled out indefinitely with recurring hamstring and knee issues

Arsenal

A bad start isn't something out of the ordinary for the Gunners but that still qualifies them as losers given they are 12th in the Premier League only scoring 9 goals through 9 matches
Arsenal drew Leeds United 0-0 this weekend further extending the open-play goal drought to 431 minutes + Nicolas Pepe drew a red card for pulling a Zidane-like headbutt
Mesut Özil, arguably Arsenal's best player the past decade, has been left off the squad's roster due to club disputes and recently was caught with a speeding ticket going 97 MPH

Elsewhere in the World

Leeds United become the first Premier League Club to establish a strategic partnership with Jay-Z's Roc Nation

Ronaldo scores 2 goals in the first half to secure Juventus a 2-0 win over Cagliari - Ronaldo has now scored 8 goals in just 5 Serie A matches

16-year-old Youssoufa Moukoko made his Borussia Dortmund debut - Moukoko signed a $12 million Nike deal when he was just 14

Women's Champions League announce the final 32 draw in full

Champions League Matches

Goal of the Week

Riyad Mahrez - Roma - Serie A

Match of the Week

Sporting Kansas City vs. San Jose Earthquakes - MLS Cup Playoffs

Playoffs? - November 17th, 2020

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Yes, you read that right. We're talking playoffs. But instead of heading overseas in Europe, we're going to take a quick dive into what's happening in the U.S. with the 2020 MLS Cup Playoffs.

Oh and we'll still cover what you missed last week elsewhere in the world, don't worry ;)

So is it Football or Soccer?

The truth is, we didn't even invent the term "soccer." In fact it is known that the first usage of the word "soccer" was in the mid 1800's by Englishmen who wanted to differentiate between Rugby Football and Association Football. So next time someone wants to blame the U.S. for being the only country to not say "football" we can now put some of the blame on our pals over in the UK, thanks lads!

Now let's give the official preview of everything you should know about the 2020 Major League Soccer Cup Playoffs:

How does it work?
Luckily, this isn't as confusing as European leagues make it in comparison to other American sports leagues.

Top 10 teams from the Eastern Conference & top 8 teams from the Western conference advance to the MLS playoffs
- seeds 7-10 in the Eastern Conference have a play in game to even out the bracket --> this is due to the Eastern Conference having 14 teams while the Western Conference has 12 (the league is expanding!)
Each matchup is single elimination game where the higher seed hosts including the final game

Who to watch out for?

Of course it's always good to follow the highest seeded teams in the tournament, where we have Sporting Kansas City and Philadelphia Union both at #1. However, most eyes will be focused on the Seattle Sounders and Toronto FC to meet in a rematch of the 2019 MLS Cup Playoffs. Both teams also met in 2017 where Toronto took home the championship but this time Seattle is attempting to defend their title as they look to add a third MLS Cup trophy in their 27-year history

Elsewhere, FiveThirtyEight has the Philadelphia Union as 25% favorites going into the playoffs. Despite the high odds, analysts and pundits believe they lack the X factor talent that teams like Seattle, Toronto, and NYCFC possess that can make the difference in a big playoff run. A well balanced team like Philadelphia will continue to be favorites but we still can't rule out teams like Columbus and Orlando to make a difference, but only time will tell who's going to take home the 🥇

Our bet?
The Portland Timbers

Yes, we know this one is coming in from left field...and by left field we mean from the Pacific Northwest region of the U.S. So do we have a legitimate reason as to why? No, not at all. Other than the fact that they've been in the finals 2 times in the last 5 years and won it all once, there's not much to this pick. 2020 has shown us that anything is possible so we're gonna go ahead and ride these 4% odds to win it all.

We Have Good News and Good News

Good news #1: Our beloved domestic leagues are making their return this weekend. After what felt like the longest international break ever, we can finally listen to Rebecca Lowe this Saturday morning for some good ol' Premier League while also enjoying the Bundesliga, La Liga, and Serie A

Good news #2: The next international break isn't until the weekend of March 27th. That means 18 straight weekends of domestic league glory

Now as you might remember from last week's Kickoff, we had a lot of international action from UEFA Nations League, Euro 2020 qualifiers, and some international friendlies as well. Here's a recap:

Euro 2021
4 matches took place to earn the final spots in the Euro 2020 tournament that is happening this upcoming Summer. Here's how it went down:

Slovakia overtakes Northern Island 2-1
North Macedonia defeats Georgia to make their first Euro appearance
Hungary scores last minute winner just after Iceland draws level to earn a spot in the Euros
Scotland beats Serbia 5-4 in penalties for first their major tournament appearance since 1998 World Cup

Here's a look at the final groups for the Euros. And don't worry, we'll revisit this in about half a year when the tournament starts June 11th

UEFA Nations League
FYI: Feel free to resort to last week's Kickoff to remember how the league is set up. And since each season goes on for ~1 year at a time there isn't so much progress that has been made with just last week's matches. Regardless, we still had some entertaining matches go. Here are all the results:

International Friendlies
There were a handful of international friendly games going on around the world outside of Europe. Essentially, these games mean nothing in the grand scheme of things. But for younger team like the U.S. this is a great way to develop our talent and showcase the world what we can bring for years to come.

The biggest takeaway from the week: there's a lot to look forward to with the new American squad

Of course we're not setting the bar that high as if we're one of the top teams in the world. However, as noted in our past Kickoffs, there's a clear surge in young talent that is keeping our hopes up high for years to come.

In our first friendly match we drew Wales 0-0. The U.S. side paired Sergiño Dest with our other Barcelona product Konrad de la Fuente (19 years old - Barcelona B team) but neither could break the deadlock. In our second match against Panama on Monday, we suited up a starting XI that consisted of 100% European based players. This is the first time since 2011 that the USMNT has done so and it led to a convincing 6-2 over the Panamanians.

As always, there's much to look forward to for this young U.S. side

Elsewhere in the World

Celebrities Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney buy Welsh club Wrexham AFC who currently play in the National League (5th tier British League)

Arsenal mascot Gunnersaurus makes his return to the pitch after being furloughed due to COVID-19 🦖

Superstars Luis Suarez and Mohammed Salah both contract COVID-19 over international break

Liverpool may win the award for most injured/ill roster of all time - 13 first team players have been ruled out thus far this season 🤕

Javier Mascherano announces his retirement after winning 21 major trophies in 18 years

Goal of the Week

Riyad Mahrez - Algeria - AFCON Qualifiers

Match of the Week

Nigeria vs. Sierra Leone - AFCON Qualifiers

A new-is soccer tournament - November 10th, 2020

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Welcome back to another edition of The Weekly Kickoff presented by Teemo Soccer!

First, we'd like to congratulate Connor Tukel for being the first person to answer the question correctly in last week's Kickoff

And in honor of the late and great Alex Trebek, we're gonna go Jeopardy! style with this week's quiz. Reply back with the correct question to get a chance to win a secret prize! - This quadrennial international soccer tournament was scheduled to take place Summer 2020, but due to COVID-19, has been postponed to Summer 2021

Now, let's kick it...

(Man) U Spoiled it!

From Tuesday to Sunday, clubs across England were busy last week having matches in Champions League, Europa League, and the Premier League.

Across Europe:
During the work week, the top teams from the Premier League 2019/20 season were competing against other European clubs in Champions League and Europa League. It was almost a perfect outing for every English teams who won their match against their European counterparts except for one (red) blemish: Manchester United

Liverpool, Man City, and Chelsea all won their Champions League games while Spurs, Leicester, and Arsenal also earned 3 points from their Europa League matches. However, it was only the Red Devils from Manchester who lost their match 2-1 against İstanbul Başakşehir...yeah not really sure the correct pronunciation on that one ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

In England:
We were really in for a treat heading into the weekend with some fantastic matches that were bound to shake up the league table

Southampton beat Newcastle 2-0 on Friday earning them top of the league (heading into last weekend) for the first time in club history
Manchester Utd bounced back after their Champions League upset to beat Everton 3-1
- Edison Cavani scores his first goal for Manchester United
- After having a red hot start to their season, Everton are now winless in their last 4 games while losing their last 3 matches
Crystal Palace beat Leeds Utd 4-1 in a thrilling match with all goals coming in the first half
- Biggest takeaway: we still don't understand VAR
Christian Pulisic remains out with a hamstring injury but that didn't bother Chelsea as they beat Sheffield Utd 4-1 on Saturday
Jamie Vardy earned Leicester a 1-0 win over Wolves as he converted a penalty bringing him level with Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton), Mohammed Salah (Liverpool), and Son Heung-min (Spurs) scoring 8 goals this season
- This win puts Leicester top of the table with 18 points
Neither Manchester City or Liverpool could find a way to pull ahead as the two clubs drew 1-1 in their highly anticipated match in Manchester
- Mo Salah converted Liverpool's penalty to bring them ahead 1-0 early in the match
- After Gabriel Jesus scored later in the first half, the Cityzens found themselves in a position to pull ahead as they earned a penalty...but Kevin De Bruyne couldn't convert from the 12-yard mark to make a difference in this pivotal match
Harry Kane scores the lone goal for spurs in their 1-0 over West Brom
- Kane had a momentous week as he scored his 200th Spurs goal (in all comps) in his 300th appearance in their Europa League match and then became the quickest player ever to reach 150 Premier League goals later that weekend

We'll sound like a broken record but with the Premier League as wide open as ever, you better grab your 🍿 because we're in for one hell of a season

Champions League Roundup

Things are starting to shape up as we are now half way through the group stages of the Champions League. Below you can find the updated standings of all 8 groups in Champions League thus far:

As you may remember from some of our previous Kickoffs, the teams who finish top 2 of their respective groups will move onto the knockout stage of the Champions League. Teams who finish in third will have a chance to compete in a different European club tournament called the Europa league (a lower-tiered Champions League). And as for those last placed teams...well that's the end of the road there

Here are some key headlines and takeaways takeaways:

After steamrolling through Group A, Bayern are heavy favorites to win the title as they have the largest goal differential (9) in the Champions League
Group B is wide open with the two initially favorited teams, Real Madrid & Inter Milan, in 3rd and 4th place struggling to salvage points against Shakhtar Donetsk and Borussia Mönchengladbach
English clubs are performing the strongest being led by Manchester City and Liverpool who have won all 3 of their games
After finishing as runner up to Bayern in last year's Champions League, PSG are in trouble as they have 3 points and sit 3rd in Group H

Don't worry guys, the group stages are only taking a 2 week break until matches resume the week of Thanksgiving on November 24th. Now there's nothing to distract you from work or classes during the week so get you can get your work done

We Have Good News and Bad News

**Please bare with us as we experiment with amateur drawings**

Ok bad news first? Alright.

Bad news: We have the international break. Which means there's no European domestic league competition this weekend. And that means no Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A, etc. :(

Good news: We still have soccer! However, this week players will be swapping their club kits for their international kits as countries face off against each other in the UEFA League of Nations.

Now we know what you're think, "another international tournament?!" And honestly, we feel the same way. But how can we complain when all that means is that we can watch more soccer! So the real question is: what is this new tournament? Let's do a quick breakdown:

Who is playing who?

55 countries are split into 4 Leagues according to their position in the 2020/21 UEFA Nations League Access List. Within each League, teams were subdivided into two pots (League D) or four (for Leagues A, B and C). The pots can be found here.

League A

Group 1: Netherlands, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland
Group 2: England, Belgium, Denmark, Iceland
Group 3: Portugal, France, Sweden, Croatia
Group 4: Switzerland, Spain, Ukraine, Germany

League B

Group 1: Austria, Norway, Northern Ireland, Romania
Group 2: Czech Republic, Scotland, Slovakia, Israel
Group 3: Russia, Serbia, Turkey, Hungary
Group 4: Wales, Finland, Republic of Ireland, Bulgaria

League C

Group 1: Montenegro, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Azerbaijan
Group 2: Georgia, North Macedonia, Estonia, Armenia
Group 3: Greece, Kosovo, Slovenia, Moldova
Group 4: Albania, Belarus, Lithuania, Kazakhstan

League D

Group 1: Faroe Islands, Latvia, Andorra, Malta
Group 2: Gibraltar, Liechtenstein, San Marino

How do the Leagues work?

Teams play each other home and away, with the four group winners of League A qualifying for the UEFA Nations League Finals, which feature semi-finals, a third-place match and the final. The group winners in Leagues B, C and D gain promotion and those who finish bottom of the groups in Leagues A and B will be relegated.

As League C has four groups while League D has only two, the two League C teams to be relegated will be determined by two-leg playoffs.

If a team due to participate in the play-offs qualifies for the 2022 FIFA World Cup play-offs (more on that below), the League C teams ranked 47th and 48th in the overall UEFA Nations League rankings are automatically relegated.

The semi-finals will be played on 6 and 7 October, 2021 with the final and third-place play-off to follow on October 10th, 2021.

Portugal won the innaguaral tournament in 2018/19 and will be looking to repeat this season. Click here for the list of who's playing this week.

Confused? Well...you're not alone. If you have any further questions feel free to reach out and email us. Otherwise, just go and enjoy some soccer!

Elsewhere in the World

In our match of the week, Bayern beat Dortmund 3-2 in Der Klassiker last Saturday to take top of the Bundesliga table

Lazio score a last second equalizer against Juventus, which send Juventus down to 5th in the league

Liverpool use their historic Melwood training ground for the last time on Monday as they transition into using their new £50m Kirkby facility 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Zlatan secures ANOTHER brace (2 goals) with one of them being in the last minute to rescue AC Milan from losing against Verona 🦁

Messi comes off the bench for Barcelona and scores 2 goals and provides a dummy assist for Griezmann in Barca's 5-2 win over Real Betis

Goal of the w̶e̶e̶k̶ year

Valentino Lazaro - Borussia Mönchengladbach - Budesliga (Germany)

Match of the Week

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Guess what today is? - November 3rd, 2020

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Pop quiz!

What is so special about this Tuesday in November 2020?

A) It's the first Tuesday of November during a general election year - it's Election Day
B) It is yet another Tuesday filled with Champions League!!!!

Got your answer? Good.

Because the obvious correct answer is...B

Sorry for those who answered A, you don't get anything. But for those who correctly chose B please reply to this email and we'll send you a prize shortly ;)

The U.S. is on

No no no this has absolutely nothing to do with the 2020 presidential election. We know the current political climate has caused a lot of divide in this country, which is why we wanted to shed light on something that should unite us all...soccer!

Our young lads playing overseas across Europe have made an impact for world class clubs like we've never seen before

Christian Pulisic (Chelsea - age 22) scored his first goal of the season in a Champions League 4-0 win against Krasnodar
- Pulisic currently sitting out after picking up another hamstring injury while warming up as he was ready to start for Chelsea's Premier League match against Burnley
Elsewhere in Europe, Gio Reyna (Dortmund - age 17) becomes the youngest American ever to start in a Champions League match and bags an assist in their 2-0 over Zenit
Sergiño Dest (Barcelona - age 20) starts for Barca in their 2-0 Champions League win over Italian giant Juventus
Weston Mckennie (Juventus - age 22) starts and assists for Álvaro Morata for the opening goal in a Serie A 4-1 win over Spezia
- Mckennie also made an appearance in their Champions League match against Barca
Josh Sargent (Werder Bremen - age 20) starts and scores in Werder Bremen's 1-1 Bundesliga draw against Eintracht Frankfurt

Wow...5 players 22-years-old and under playing pivotal roles for their European clubs. We didn't even get to mention a few other Americans who are playing for top clubs like Deandre Yedlin (Newcastle), Tyler Boyd (Beşiktaş), John Brooks (Wolfsburg), and Zack Steffen (Manchester City).

We know we've had our fair share of critiques of the U.S. men's national team in the past, but there is undoubtedly much to look forward to for years to come given our precedent strength in young talent. Fingers crossed 🤞

Premier League Roundup

England's finest clubs got off to a hot start last week as they all played their second round of games in the group stage of the Champions League. All 4 clubs managed to keep a clean sheet and combined to outscore their opponents 14-0 With all teams managing to stay undefeated, they all sit at the top of their groups heading into the third week of games in this stage of Champions league. Here are the results from last week:

Liverpool 2-0 Midtjylland
Man City 3-0 Marseille
Chelsea 4-0 Krasnodar
Man Utd 5-0 RB Leipzig

After the European matches during the work week, we were in for a delightful slate games during the weekend. Here are the results from each match:

Wolves 2-0 Crystal Palace
Man City 1-0 Sheffield United
Chelsea 3-0 Burnley
Liverpool 2-1 West Ham
Southampton 4-3 Aston Villa
Newcastle 2-1 Everton
Arsenal 1-0 Man Utd
Tottenham 2-1 Brighton
Fulham 2-0 West Brom
Leicester 4-1 Leeds

The biggest match of the weekend, Man Utd vs. Arsenal, might have felt a little lackluster but Arsenal fans surely won't be complaining. As for Manchester United, this seems all too familiar. Marcus Rashford had just reached 1 million signatures for his petition to fight child food poverty and then played lights out and scored a hat trick in an impressive 5-0 thrashing of Bundesliga leaders RB Leipzig. There's only going up from here, right?

Well, the Gunners had a different storyline to make. With a penalty kick scored by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, this would mark Arsenal's first win against a top 6 team (Man City, Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal) since 2015. This was also Arsenal's first win in Manchester against the Red Devils in 14 years. With a wide open Premier League this is surely a golden opportunity for a rather impressive Arsenal side to squeeze its way into a top 4 finish and dare we say...contend for the title?

Who's the ?

Ahh this debate never gets old. But in our unfortunate reality there are things that do get old, and those things include some of the world's greatest players. There are certainly people who will ride Messi 4lyfe or Ronaldo 4eva (was that too much?) but we can't forget to mention the other greats in today's game who are still banging in goals.

Zlatan Ibrahimovich
If you read last week's kickoff you should remember that this 39-year-old is still a living legend. Just to keep you up to date with the self-proclaimed god, here is a brief overview of Zlatan in 2020:

Defeated COVID-19
Leading AC Milan at the top of the Serie A table with 5 wins and just 1 draw
Scored twice in match last week against Roma
Scored a game winning bicycle kick against Udinese this past weekend
Leading goal-scorer in Serie A with 7 goals (+ 1 assist)
Considering coming out of international retirement to play for Sweden

Zlatan is surely one of a kind. Whether he is likening himself to a Lion, or is bangin' in goals like we've never seen, we should be sure to remember that age is just a number...at least for Zlatan

Robert Lewandowski
To share a prime with Messi and Ronaldo is quite unfortunate since Lewandowski has not (yet) won a Ballon d'Or (the award for best player in the world). However, at the age of 32, Lewandowski is outshining the 's in the start of the 2020/21 campaign. Let's run through his numbers:

Leading Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundesliga table with 5 wins and 1 loss
Led Bayern in a 4-0 route over Atlético Madrid 2 weeks back in Champions League
Scored a hattrick a weekend ago against Eintracht Frankfurt
Leading Bundesliga goal-scorer with 10 goals while recording 3 assists as well

Lewandowski is the favored candidate to win the Ballon d'Or if things continue the way they are. It would truly be a blemish to his trophy cabinet if that were the one thing missing for the Polak. And for things to continue the way they are, that would mean that Messi and Ronaldo need to continue to have sub-par seasons for personal stats and team performance.

It's only a few weeks in so we're not going to be too harsh but the season hasn't looked too great for either of the 's:

Barcelona equal their worst start through 6 games in nearly 2 decades as they sit 12th in La Liga
Messi hasn't scored in open play in 877 minutes since August
- He has scored 3 penalties and 1 free kick in all competitions this year (1 goal in La Liga)
Juventus sit 3rd in Serie A - not too bad but Juventus are always looking to do better
Ronaldo tests positive for COVID-19 2 weeks back ruling him for the following 2 weeks (including the match against Messi's Barcelona, which Juventus lost)
- Ronaldo's first game back he scored 2 goals in a 4-1 win over Spezia
- Adds to his tally of 5 goals on the year - tied for 3rd in Serie A
Ronaldo's biggest loss: his hair
- Let's call it...RoBaldo

Messi has a much more serious whole to dig him and his collapsing team out of but if anyone were to turn this around we know that the little man from Argentina can pull it off. And as for Ronaldo, let's just see what new hairdo he has in store ‍♂️

Today's Champions League Schedule

Tomorrow's Champions League Schedule

Elsewhere in the World

Barcelona's president since 2014, Joseph Bartomeu, resigns as he had been under heavy fire with tax fraud allegations, mishandling Messi's relationship, and what is widely known as dismantling the club's identity

Manchester City women's club beat Everton in the FA Cup Final to retain the title as defending FA Cup winners 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Gareth Bale scores his first goal for Tottenham Hotspur since his return to the club. Bale left Spurs in 2013 for Real Madrid and just this year was sent on loan back to Spurs to be reunited with his old club in North London. More goals to come for the Welsh speedster 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Goal of the Week

Gervinho - Parma - Serie A (Italy)

Match of the Week

How old is Zlatan? - October 27th, 2020

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We're back with another week of Champions League and boatload of amazing soccer. There's plenty of action to get all caught up with so let's check it all out.

Rivalry Week

Last weekend hosted 2 of the greatest rivalries European soccer has to offer. Even though no fans were allowed in the stadiums, the players on the field surely didn't hold back any of their energy. In Germany we saw the Rivierderby, the most historical German rivalry, which is between Borussia Dortmund and FC Schalke. The other match that took place was the world famous El Clásico, which was hosted by Barcelona this year as Real Madrid had to travel for a crucial away game.

Rivierderby

Dortmund cruises past Schalke in 3-0 shutout but miss a key feature of the team: The Yellow Wall
Assisted by English phenom Jadon Sancho, Erling Haaland scores his 5th goal of the year in 5 matches
17-year-old American Gio Reyna makes his 5th straight start since the start of the season for Dortmund

El Clásico

Madrid edge out the Blaugrana in a 3-1 win in Camp Nou
Messi finishes his 6th straight El Clásico with no goals or assists (but a spectacular hockey assist)
19-year-old American Sergiño Dest starts his third straight game for Barca

Another loss for Barcelona means they now sit 13th in the Spanish La Liga. As for Schalke, they're now second to last in the Bundesliga at 17th...yikes

Premier League Roundup

Question: What do Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City, Newcastle and Manchester United all have in common?

Answer: They make up the teams that sit 10-15 in the English Premier League table

And on that note, here are a few other headlines most would never have expected to hear 6 weeks into the season:

Liverpool's Virgil Van Dijk, PFA Player of the year in 2019, tore his ACL against Merseyside rival Everton last weekend. He is ruled out for the entire season with a recovery time estimated at 7/8 months. The reigning title winner's loss of their skipper blows the title race wide open
Aston Villa sit at 3rd in the league while also having the second highest goal differential (7) only behind Spurs (8)
Everton, who are atop the league, are looking like they are finally considered to be league title contenders come May 2021
Newly promoted Leeds United currently sit 6th in the league

Ok so maybe you predicted some of those or you don't find them surprising but either way we wanted to get you all caught up with the 2020/21 season.

The most anticipated match from last weekend was held in Manchester as Chelsea traveled to play Manchester United. The game ended in a scoreless 0-0 draw but surely didn't deprive us from any entertainment. Both team's had convincing stretches of dominant play but it is the Red Devils who will feel most disappointed they didn't come away with 3 points as they managed to get 14 shots off compared to Chelsea's 6 shots.

Some other headlines you should know:

Tottenham Hotspur's Korean sensation Son Heung-min leads the league with 8 goals just ahead of Everton's Dominic Calvert-Lewin's 7 goals
The Spurs also have another league leader in Harry Kane as he's assisted on 8 goals + scored 5 himself = 13 goals he's directly involved in, which is a Tottenham record
Aston Villa lead the league in defense by allowing a mere 5 goals this year. Next in line? Arsenal, who've let 7 goals find the back of their net

Champions League recap

As seen above, the group stages have been set for the start of the UEFA Champions League. So what does this mean? Let's do a quick review

The UEFA Champions League is the greatest tournament between Europe's top clubs (yearly), which comprises of teams who finish top of their respective domestic leagues
The tournament starts off in group stages where all teams in a group play each other twice - 6 total matches
- Just like in domestic leagues: a win is 3 points, a tie is 1, and 0 points for losing
The top 2 teams of each group (ranked by points) will move onto the knockout stage - starting with the round of 16
- Tiebreakers decided first by head-to-head points. If that's tied then head-to-head goal differential, and if that's tied then away goals scored head-to-head
Each knockout stage is a two-legged match. This means the score is totaled between 2 games to decide the winner in what we call an aggregate score
- Tiebreaker decided by away goals. If that's tied then the game goes to extra time; two 15-minute halves. If it's still tied...we get a penalty shootout!
  - i.e. If Inter Milan win 3-1 against Chelsea at home in Milan in the first leg but then Chelsea wins 2-0 the next leg then Chelsea moves on since the aggregate score is 3-3 with Chelsea scoring more away goals than Inter
The championship game is just one match winner takes all

In last year's Champions League we saw Bayern Munich take home the trophy with a 1-0 win over PSG in the final.

This year's start of Champions League has already been fantastic. Here's a quick recap of last week's best matches:

Shakhtar Donetsk 3-2 Real Madrid
Bayern 4-0 Atlético Madrid
Inter Milan 2-2 Borussia Mönchengladbach
Manchester City 3-1 FC Porto
Liverpool 1-0 Ajax
Manchester United 2-1 PSG

Some really exiting scores especially from Manchester United's win over PSG. Now let's take a look at this week's matchups

Today's Champions League Schedule

Tomorrow's Champions League Schedule

Elsewhere in the World

It's been over 2 years since Messi has played Ronald but the 2 may be reunited again come Wednesday in their Champions league group stage match. However, Cristiano Ronaldo tested positive for COVID-19, meaning he may have to delay this special occasion :(

Zlatan is still Zlatan: The 39-year-old (ding ding ding!) scores twice in the match of the week against Roma

Ajax win 13-0 against Dutch team VVV-Venlo...sheesh

Adidas collabs with Pharrell Williams to create 'Human Race' football kits for Juventus, Manchester United, Arsenal, Real Madrid and Bayern

Goal of the Week

Lorenzo Insigne - Napoli - Serie A (Italy)

Match of the week

AC MIlan vs. Roma - Serie A (Italy)

Champions League is back…and so is Teemo

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With Champions League kicking off this week, we're officially bringing back the Kickoff!

Things are starting to look different around here as we've unveiled the new Teemo Soccer logo along with the rebranded Teemo Sports website.

We hope you didn't miss us (or our old logo) but we're here to stay and keep you in the loop with the world of soccer. This week serves a quick reminder for Champions League but stay tuned for a recap of what happened this week and what to know going forward!

Today's Champions League Schedule

Tomorrow's Champions League Schedule

The Wait is Over - July 7th, 2020

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For the past two weeks, we have witnessed history in the world of soccer. Not only does England have a new champion but Teemo Soccer has officially launched on all social media platforms...’bout time right?

28 years in the making

Congratulations to Liverpool F.C. (cue Jürgen Klopp's laugh)

Since the advent of the Premier League in 1992, the reds of Liverpool had yet to finish top of the league for 27 years. During this time, they watched their biggest rivals Manchester United win 13 times and finished as runners up in the league 4 times. Being one of the biggest clubs in the world clearly isn't so easy...but after last week, the Liverpudlians can finally celebrate (while remaining socially distant).

Liverpool now make up of the 7 separate teams to win the Premier League title in just under 3 decades:

Manchester United - 13
Chelsea - 5
Manchester City - 4
Arsenal - 3
Blackburn Rovers - 1
Leicester - 1
Liverpool - 1

With the league title locked up, it doesn't seem like there's much to play for from Liverpool's perspective. Just last week, they faced off against Manchester City and were ripped apart in a 4-0 loss in Manchester. But no matter how they finish the season, they will remain champions of England and will be looking into 2021 to lift the trophy again.

Roc Nation (feat. Marcus Rashford)

Rapper, producer, and businessman Shawn Corey Carter (aka Jay Z) is growing his footprint in the world of soccer with his agency Roc Nation. Jay Z initially created Roc Nation in 2008 as a music record label. The firm has now grown into a full-fledged entertainment company, which creates and supports the careers of celebrities and athletes around the world.

Just last week, Manchester United's Marcus Rashford joined the Roc Nation agency. The 22-year-old is now part of the family that includes players like Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Romelu Lukaku (Inter Milan), Federico Bernardeschi (Juventus), and many others. Check out the list of players here.

Dropping (points) like flies

Hey Lionel, if you're reading this you may want to look away.

With the La Liga season winding down, things have looked increasingly worse for Barcelona...for a number of reasons. Let's count them!

Barca transferred out 23-year-old Arthur to Juventus in turn for 30-year-old Miralem Pjanic (the internet did not react so favorably to Barca)
Barcelona drew 2-2 to 16th placed Celta Vigo thanks to an 88th-minute equalizer from Iago Aspas
Barcelona drew again 2-2 to Atlético Madrid
Barcelona now sit 4 points behind Real Madrid with 4 games to go
Lionel Messi pauses renewal talks for 2021 contract

Not too much more to elaborate on here. Barcelona need Real to drop points ASAP if they want to win the league but Real doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Stay tuned, everyone.

Gigi sets a record

No, this has nothing to do with superstar model Gigi Hadid so wipe that drool off your chin...unless you're enthralled by the man pictured above.

At 42-years-old, Gianluigi Buffon has set the Italian league record for most appearances in Serie A. Buffon played his 648th game in Italy last weekend in a derby match for Juventus against Torino. Juventus won 4-1 and now sit 7 points clear ahead of the table en route for their 9th straight Italian league title.

Here are Gigi's accolades:

9x Serie A champion
5x Italian Cup winner
6x Italian Super Cup win
1x Footballer of the Year
1x World Cup winner
Most clean sheets in Serie A history

At this rate who knows when Gigi will retire. As they say, 42 is the new 24.

Ronaldo back at it

Welcome back to the headlines Cristiano! We've missed you here. But more importantly, we've missed your free kicks.

Ronaldo has not scored a free kick since he joined Juventus back in 2018, which for him would be like you not leaving your house for like 4 months...oh wait, too soon? Anyways, Ronaldo finally banged in a 30-yarder last weekend helping Juventus win 4-1 against Torino. With 25 total goals, Ronaldo is the second-leading goal scorer in Serie A. Lazio's Ciro Immobile has found the back of the net 29 times.

Check out Ronaldo's top bin here.