Christian Polanco and Alexis Guerreros recap the midweek MLS Cup Playoff matches, interview award-winning baker Bryan Ford, recap the most recent USWNT win, and more.
Cheerful Conte has Napoli dreaming again after clinical win at Milan | Nicky Bandini
It is too early to talk of a title tilt by the 2023 champions but their mastery of small details and swagger bodes well
When Antonio Conte looks this happy, you know it is time for rivals to start worrying. The Napoli manager grinned broadly as he strode about his old stomping ground at San Siro, acclaiming players, clapping backs and dispensing belligerent bear hugs. “This is one of the best groups I have worked with in my career,” he told the broadcaster Dazn. “I’m breathing clean, beautiful air. I’m breathing the passion and the enthusiasm.”
His team had just beaten Milan 2-0, moving seven points clear at the top of Serie A after 10 games. A fleeting moment – the teams immediately behind them are yet to play in this midweek round – but still an astonishing turnabout for a Napoli side who finished 41 points behind the champions, Inter, last season.
Continue reading...Romelu Lukaku helps propel Napoli to statement San Siro win against Milan
- Belgian striker and Kvaratskhelia on target in victory
- Conte’s team now lead Serie A by seven points
Napoli extended their lead at the top of Serie A to seven points as goals from Romelu Lukaku and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia sealed a 2-0 win at Milan.
Lukaku and Kvaratskhelia both struck in the first half as Napoli extended their unbeaten league run to nine matches after their opening-day defeat at Verona.
Continue reading...Mario Balotelli returns to Serie A after four years to sign for struggling Genoa
- 34-year-old striker joins as free agent
- Genoa are third-bottom in the standings
Mario Balotelli has signed for Genoa as a free agent, the Serie A club said on Monday, marking a return to the Italian top-tier for the striker after more than four years.
Genoa, third from bottom in the standings, have scored just seven goals in nine league games. The club’s manager, Alberto Gilardino, will hope that the 34-year-old can add to the 52 goals he has netted in 141 Serie A games.
Continue reading...Juventus’ Yildiz seizes the stage in a glorious eight-goal Derby d’Italia | Nicky Bandini
An all-time classic clash between Inter and Juventus was rounded off by the Turkish teenager’s two-goal cameo
It had been a bonkers, record-setting, night – one of the highest-scoring matches ever in a rivalry that goes back 115 years – but not all the protagonists were enjoying themselves. “Thanks for the show!” said Zvonimir Boban in the Sky Sport studio to Simone Inzaghi at full-time. The Inter manager winced and forced a laugh. “The neutrals like you enjoyed yourselves. Me, a little bit less.”
Inzaghi had seen his team fritter away a two-goal lead in the final 20 minutes against Juventus, letting 4-2 become 4-4. To write it that way does a disservice to Kenan Yildiz, the teenager who came off the bench to score twice and turn the game on its head – writing his name into Derby d’Italia lore. Yet to tell it any other way would ignore the truth that Inter could have been out of sight before he did.
Continue reading...European football: Yildiz double earns Juventus point in 4-4 thriller at Inter
- PSG blitz Marseille with three-goal first half
- Kane and Olise on target as Bayern Munich win 5-0
Piotr Zielinski converted two penalties for Inter as they played out a thrilling 4-4 draw with Juventus, for whom Kenan Yildiz scored a late brace, in Serie A on Sunday.
The five-goal opening half began with Marcus Thuram earning a penalty, which Zielinski converted to give Inter the lead after 15 minutes. Juve equalised five minutes later through Dusan Vlahovic and then took the lead with a strike from Timothy Weah, all within a six-minute span. After Henrikh Mkhitaryan equalised for Inter in the 35th minute, Zielinski scored his second from the penalty spot two minutes later, handing Inter a 3-2 lead going into the break.
Continue reading...Norwich deny Middlesbrough with storming comeback in six-goal thriller
Norwich launched a storming comeback to secure a 3-3 draw with Middlesbrough in a thrilling Championship clash at Carrow Road.
The Canaries looked down and out when the visitors took a two-goal lead into the interval after going behind early on. But after seeing Tommy Conway being denied what would have been a hat-trick from the penalty spot midway through the second period, the hosts found another lease of life, with Borja Sainz scoring his second to pull one back almost immediately.
Continue reading...European football: Leverkusen rocked by Bremen as Napoli stretch Serie A lead
- Xabi Alonso blames ‘soft defending’ for last-gasp draw
- Napoli extend unbeaten run and go five points clear
Bayer Leverkusen’s sloppy performance in their 2-2 draw at Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga on Saturday that included conceding a 90th-minute equaliser was down to the German champions’ weak defending, Xabi Alonso said.
Werder twice came from a goal down to snatch a point and leave Leverkusen with a third draw in their last four league games. “The fact that Werder could come back was down to both sides,” Alonso, who led his team to an unbeaten domestic league and cup double last season, said. “We were too soft in defending and they used their chances.
Continue reading...Championship roundup: Sunderland beat Oxford to go five points clear
- Burnley in second and Leeds in third drop points
- Drama as Plymouth fight back to draw 3-3 with Preston
Sunderland cemented their position at the top of the Championship with a dominant 2-0 win over Oxford. After back-to-back away victories over Hull and Luton, they made it three wins in six days thanks to Jobe Bellingham’s 16th-minute header and Wilson Isidor’s first-time volley.
Burnley in second and Leeds in third dropped points, allowing Sheffield United to gain ground as they moved on from back-to-back defeats with a 2-0 victory over Stoke. Goals either side of the break from Kieffer Moore and Tyrese Campbell ended Stoke’s four-match unbeaten run. A minute’s silence was observed before kick-off in memory of the former Sheffield United player George Baldock, who died this month at the age of 31.
Continue reading...Messi’s every move shown on TikTok in winning Inter Miami playoff debut
- Jordi Alba lifts Miami past Atlanta in playoff opener
- Messi’s side can advance with win on 2 November
Lionel Messi’s every move was on display in his Major League Soccer playoff debut.
Every touch. Every shot attempt. Even when he wasn’t doing anything at all, it was shown.
Continue reading...Smith stunner rocks Portsmouth to seal Sheffield Wednesday comeback win
Josh Windass and Michael Smith returned to the Sheffield Wednesday lineup to spark a turnaround 2-1 victory over bottom-placed Portsmouth.
Smith was making only his second start of the campaign, having found himself behind Jamal Lowe in Danny Rohl’s pecking order, while Windass has missed recent matches.
Continue reading...Champions League update, Bradley Wright-Phillips talks Hudson River Derby, MLS playoffs, rap | The Cooligans
Christian Polanco and Alexis Guerreros discuss all the action from the Champions League before welcoming Bradley Wright-Phillips to talk about the MLS playoffs, having Ian Wright as a father, and his infamous raps.
Fenerbahce 1-1 Manchester United: Europa League – live
Former United manager José Mourinho was sent to the stands during a topsy-turvy game that ended fairly with honours even
1 min: There is some proper bedlam going on at the Şükrü Saracoğlu. What a noise! Good luck thinking.
The hosts get the ball rolling. It’s exactly one year to the day since United’s last win in European competition, that 1-0 Champions League victory over Copenhagen at Old Trafford.
Continue reading...Europa League roundup: Rangers rout FCSB, Roma get up and running
- Rangers win 4-0 at Ibrox; Roma beat Dynamo Kyiv 1-0
- Lazio go top of table; Ajax beat Qarabag 3-0
Philippe Clement insists Rangers’ desire and hunger in their convincing 4-0 Europa League win over FCSB at Ibrox was fuelled by being “sick of losing”. The manager came under enormous pressure after the 1-0 defeat at Kilmarnock on Sunday left the club six points off the top of the Scottish Premiership and the previous European game at Ibrox ended in a 4-1 win for Lyon.
There was an early reprieve when the Romanian side – formerly known as Steaua Bucharest – had the ball in the net only for a foul to be called. But Tom Lawrence opened the scoring in the 10th minute and the winger Vaclav Cerny fired in a double, one either side of half-time, before the second-half substitute Hamza Igamane scored his first goal for the club to wrap the game up.
Continue reading...Tottenham 1-0 AZ: Europa League – as it happened
Richarlison scored the only goal of the game as Tottenham earned a deserved third win of the competition
6 mins: Werner whips the ball towards the back post from the left. Moore makes a clever run but he does not make sufficient contact and the ball flashes wide.
Maddison chases a ball over the top … he almost gets there but he is beaten by the pace on the pass and the goalkeeper collects.
Continue reading...