The Friday soccer news starts with Arsene Wenger announcing he's leaving as manager of Arsenal at the end of the season. Wenger has been under intense criticism for the club's position in the Premier League and in Europe. Arsenal is in the Europa League semifinals, but it's a different era for competition among the London clubs. “After careful consideration and following discussions with the . . .
FIFA and the Formula 1 model
The soccer news starts with FIFA reportedly considering a version of the Formula 1 model. Racing's version of FIFA is the FIA that sanctions Formula 1. It's there that the similarities end. The Formula One Group schedules and promotes the races and is responsible for F1's commercial rights. Now, FIFA might be looking to change things. With reports putting a multi-billion dollar offer on the table . . .
Toronto down a goal in the Concacaf Champions League
The soccer news starts with the opening leg of the 2018 Concacaf Champions League final leaving Toronto FC with issues. Chivas takes a 2-1 lead back to Guadalajara for the second-leg next Wednesday. Playing in snowy conditions at BMO Field, Chivas took the lead when Rodolfo Pizarro scored just two minutes into the game. Jonathan Osorio equalized in the 19th, but Alan Pulido gave Chivas . . .
Toronto’s big night
It's Toronto FC's opening 90 minutes as the favorites to win the 2018 Concacaf Champions League. They host the first-leg against Chivas at BMO Field on Tuesday (8pm ET - Univision Deportes and go90 app) with a newly established track record of beating Liga MX clubs. Whether or not they can make it three-in-a-row, Toronto has shown that the level of competition between MLS and Liga MX is closer . . .
Manchester City wins the title
It came the day after they beat Spurs 3-1 at Wembley, so Manchester City's Premier League title celebration will wait for next Sunday when they host Swansea City. It's sort of fitting given the recent results that have called the City season into question. Lifting the Premier League trophy rights a lot of issues, but this is still a club that couldn't hang in the Champions League and couldn't . . .
La Liga’s dominance in Europe still in place
Friday's soccer news starts with the draw for the 2017-18 Champions League semifinals. On one side of the bracket, old acquaintances Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. On the other, Liverpool plays Roma in a rematch of the 1984 final. Well, a meeting of the same teams that once played for a trophy in a noticeably different version of the European club championship. Times have changed, and right . . .
The referee in the Champions League
Don't worry, We're not starting the soccer news with a hot take on yesterday's late penalty for Real Madrid in the Champions League quarterfinals. Quick recap, after giving up three goals at home to Juventus, their series was tied until a stoppage time incident. On what we're all going to agree was a 50/50 call for the sake of argument, referee Michael Oliver pointed to the spot. He then pointed a . . .
Roma pulls off a Champions League upset
Wednesday's soccer news with what we'll now refer to as the Roma turnaround. Trailing 4-1 after a Champions League trip to Camp Nou, Roma beat Barcelona 3-0 at home to advance to the semifinals. To put this kind of upset into context... let's be honest here. Roma pulled off a shocker, the kind of thing normally reserved for the video game system of your choice. Like we helpfully pointed out last . . .
How much does the 2018 Concacaf Champions League matter?
We start the soccer news with a new version of an old question. Thanks to Concacaf revamping the Champions League, for the teams most likely to lift the trophy it's now a short-run knockout tournament. Eight games from late February to mid-April to win the championship, rather than first having to navigate a group stage. What that means competitively is not a lot of difference, with MLS and Liga . . .
Problems for Manchester City
It was all going so well for Manchester City. Drawn into the Champions League quarterfinals against fellow Premier League club Liverpool, City was the obvious favorite. Now, they're three goals down and looking for a dramatic comeback at home on Tuesday. The Premier League champions in waiting for most of the season, they'll now have to wait a little longer thanks to a derby loss to Manchester . . .
