Ligue 1

The 39th season of Survivor premiered on Wednesday night — yes, Jeff Probst is still forcing people to eat bugs after nearly two decades. The original reality/survival gameshow can teach important lessons that can be useful in life and even in the soccer world. Chiefly: Trust no one.

Kasper Dolberg has learned this the hard way after his $75K watch was stolen, with a teammate at French club Nice having become the top suspect in the theft. 

Tuttosport officially narrowed its Golden Boy (best young player under 21) shortlist to 40 candidates, and before the list gets any smaller I thought it’d be fun to rank the candidates who I believe will end up in the top 10.

My Top Ten Golden Boy Nominees 2019:

#10  Vinicius Jr (Real Madrid)

Neymar returned to PSG for the first time this season on Saturday after a long injury layoff and nearly endless transfer drama. The Parisian fans jeered him relentlessly and viciously, angry he tried to leave. The response was an unbelievable Neymar bicycle kick in the 92nd minute to give PSG a 1-0 win over Strasbourg.

MLS youth academy coaching is about to get a serious revamp along with a fourth iteration of the visionary partnership between MLS and the French Football Federation (FFF).

Count Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo among the legion of Parisians happy Neymar did not bolt the French capital to return to Spain this summer. But she’s not content with Neymar sticking with Paris Saint-Germain — she wants the big-eared trophy.

Ahead of the 2019-20 season, French football instituted new laws calling for referees to stop matches if anti-gay messages come from the stands, a response to increased homophobia in Ligue 1 and 2. High-profile matches such as Nice-Marseille and PSG-Metz have already been halted for this reason.

In his ignorance, French Football Federation president Noël Le Graët has shown why the rule is so necessary.

The European transfer window slammed shut yesterday with Paris Saint-Germain at the center of everything. Neymar, reportedly the subject of three different bids from Barcelona, is staying put for another season, and the club further strengthened its ambitions by adding three-time Champions League-winner Keylor Navas from Real Madrid for $14.3 million and Mauro Icardi from Inter Milan on a season-long loan. PSG could sign the striker permanently next summer for a total of $76.8 million.

For the second time in three days, a Ligue 1 match was halted over homophobic messages from the stands. A PSG-Metz banner forced the stoppage of play in the first half of the match, 48 hours after the Nice-Marseille match was delayed.

Ligue 1 has new rules against homophobia in stadiums for the 2019-20 season, and those rules have been violated twice this week. 

Is there such a thing as a disastrous 4-0 victory? There is if you’re Paris Saint-Germain and you’re beating down on Ligue 1 opponents while waiting for the Champions League group stage to begin.

PSG laid waste to Toulouse yesterday at the Parc des Princes thanks to a brace from Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, a Mathieu Goncalves own goal and a towering header from Marquinhos, but the main story was the injuries suffered by star attackers Edinson Cavani and Kylian Mbappé.