Game Recaps

Atletico Madrid was close to one of its trademark wins against Barcelona — Diego Costa scored on a set piece and the defense shut the door on the other end.

Then Ousmane Dembélé stepped up with a great equalizer in the 90th minute to cap an intense top-of-the-table 1-1 draw at the Wanda. 

Barcelona came into the match with a one-point lead over Sevilla and Atletico atop the LaLiga table (Real Madrid far back in sixth after losing 3-0 earlier in the day). 

For all the reported leaks in the footballing world right now — Cristiano Ronaldo rape allegations, Financial Fair Play improprieties, Sergio Ramos testing positive for a banned substance — one leak is more surprising than any other this season. The one in Real Madrid’s defense. In particular, Thibaut Courtois stats with Los Blancos after a shocking 3-0 loss to Eibar on Saturday.

Tuesday night’s friendly match between Argentina and Mexico was a fittingly strange closing to a strange year for both nations: Mauro Icardi scored his first international goal at the eighth time of asking, and Paulo Dybala also opened his account in his 18th appearance. 

Germany’s inexplicably poor calendar year came to a close today with another bad result — Die Mannschaft drew with the Netherlands 2-2 in Gelsenkirchen after holding a two-goal lead through the 84th minute. 

What’s more, although Germany already knew it’d be playing in UEFA Nations League B after suffering relegation this time around, the final match of the campaign represented an opportunity to deprive the Dutch of a spot in the Nations League Finals, however, Virgil van Dijk’s 91st-minute equalizer sends the Oranje to Portugal next summer.

England and Croatia played out a testament to the UEFA Nations League in front of 78,221 Wembley spectators with the unique winner-takes-all circumstances in Group 4 making it immensely more enjoyable than a typical November friendly two years before a major international tournament. 

The Netherlands has had its share of troubles in recent years. The three-time World Cup runners-up missed out on the 2016 Euros and the 2018 World Cup.

On Friday, the Dutch looked like they’re back among the world’s elite, dominating World Cup champion France in a 2-0 win in the UEFA Nations League. Much of the praise must go to coach Ronald Koeman and the defensive efforts of the men in orange.  

The Scotland women’s national team gave the U.S. all it could handle on Tuesday at St Mirren Park, and although there was warm applause for Alex Morgan and an audible intake of breath amongst the 3,790 in attendance during the USWNT’s best passages of play, the Scots will have left their home supporters looking forward to next summer’s World Cup with keen anticipation. 

The18 is where soccer lives, but soccer definitely has an all-time home in Buenos Aires, located in La Boca neighborhood, and everybody calls it La Bombonera.

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