Soccer

Visit The Boston Globe Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Comment on this Scroll to top of page By Dan Shulman Globe Correspondent  September 21, 2018 It’s rare for two teams to have simultaneous nine-game winless runs. But for the Revolution and Chicago Fire, that was the late-summer reality for two teams vying for the final playoff spot in MLS’s Eastern Conference.With their summer skids snapped, the teams will meet for the second and final time this season Saturday night at Gillette Stadium in a game that could cripple the playoff hopes of the losing side. “This is more than likely going to come down to that last game against Montreal,” said Revolution coach Brad Friedel. “But in saying that, we can’t look too far ahead. We have to stay firmly focused on the next game.” Advertisement When Chicago and New England met in early June, they battled to a 1-1 draw in a physical affair, trading second-half goals while … [Read more...] about Revived Revolution face a Fire team that has finally shown spark

The tragedy of Unai Emery’s Arsenal could be seen when goalkeeper Petr Cech conceded a corner in the first half against Newcastle United. Arsenal were trying to play out the back. The two center backs, Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis Papastathopoulos, were by the right touchline and on the left, respectively. Hector Bellerin was above Mustafi with the ball. Bellerin was put under pressure and passed the ball down to Mustafi. Mustafi looked for a way forward before sending the ball to Cech. With a Newcastle forward bearing down on him, Cech immediately put the ball out for a corner with his first touch. Arsenal just had possession, and now, without advancing anywhere, had gifted Newcastle a goalscoring opportunity. Emery’s Arsenal are experiencing one of humanity’s most universal problems: They are not yet what they want to be. There’s a tremendous gap between the ideal Arsenal under Emery, the promises and the ideas, and the reality of the team that shows up on … [Read more...] about Arsenal can’t be what Unai Emery wants them to be

By Graham Dunbar The Associated Press Thu., Sept. 20, 2018 LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND—In a concession to women’s soccer, FIFA will start funding business-class flights for some of the Women’s World Cup teams travelling to France for next year’s tournament. Total prize money will also “significantly increase” from the $15 million shared among 24 teams at the 2015 tournament, FIFA official Emily Shaw said Thursday at the Women In Sports Law conference. The total sum will be confirmed by the FIFA Council, which meets Oct. 25-26 in Rwanda, she said. FIFA has been urged to close the gap between women’s and men’s World Cups in a new four-year cycle of tournaments and commercial deals that begins next year. In the current cycle, World Cup champion France earned $38 million (U.S.) from FIFA, while the United States got $2 million for winning the 2015 Women’s World Cup. FIFA has pledged to share $440 million in prize money … [Read more...] about FIFA to upgrade flights and prize money for Women’s Cup in France next year

Real Madrid probably isn’t better with Cristiano Ronaldo. He’s one of the best players in the history of the sport, and his individual brilliance got them out of a lot of sticky situations. Inevitably, there will be a big game this season — a Champions League knockout stage match or a Clásico — in which Madrid’s Plan A is not working, and their players look a bit lost without one obvious megastar to feed the ball to. But there’s a strong possibility that Madrid is going to be more fun without Ronaldo. He’s impossible to replace directly, so Madrid isn’t going to try. Instead, they’re asking a trio of players to up their games a bit, and those three players appear capable of doing so. Those players — Isco, Gareth Bale and Marco Asensio — currently look up for the task. It might sound contradictory, but those three are being granted more freedom and more responsibility at the same time. They no longer have to conform … [Read more...] about Real Madrid post-Cristiano Ronaldo is extremely fun

For the first time in his career, Cristiano Ronaldo has been sent off in a UEFA Champions League match. The “incident” occurred in the first half of the match between Juventus and Valencia, though it wasn’t much of an incident. Watch as Ronaldo makes what appears to be inadvertent contact with a Valencia defender, then mysteriously sees a red card. Ronaldo and his teammates were, justifiably, incredulous. And strangely, this decision didn’t come from a referee who’s new to the highest level of competition, but from the crew of German official Felix Brych, who is very experienced in the Bundesliga and Champions League. The only explanation I can come up with is that one of Brych’s assistants told him that Ronaldo had intentionally struck Jeison Murillo in the face. But on replay, it’s clear that any contact from Ronaldo’s arm to Murillo’s face was not only inadvertent, but not particularly hard either. It’s an inexplicable … [Read more...] about Cristiano Ronaldo gets red card for absolutely no reason